Elsewhere,
In Alubarna, the capital of Alabasta, the rebels had already clashed head on with the royal army.
Citizens of Alabasta, herded by conspiracy and deception into slaughtering one another, were now striking down their own countrymen without mercy.
And up in the sky, the "Five Kilometer Annihilation Bomb" had been carried into the air, primed to explode.
The Straw Hat Pirates and the others stared up at the heavens in a daze, faces heavy and grim.
When Vivi saw her people truly begin to fight, destroying and killing without a bottom line, she finally broke.
She stood atop the city wall, hollow eyed, her face slack, like someone with a terminal illness who had already accepted the end.
Again and again she screamed, mechanical, drained, as if her heart had died first.
"Please stop fighting."
"Please stop fighting."
But no one listened.
They kept killing their own.
Seeing Vivi like that, Nami's eyes filled with tears. She urged the others to stop the war, even if they could only save a handful of people.
And then, a single figure climbed the steps.
Footsteps steady.
He reached the high tower, walked to Vivi's side as she kept screaming, and looked down at the battlefield below.
His eyes were flat. Unmoved.
Vivi noticed him at once and snapped into a fighting stance, hatred and despair twisting her face.
"Mr. 2, why are you here?!"
"…" The newcomer looked a little speechless. Only after a pause did he speak, voice low.
"I'm not Bon Clay."
Long hair fluttered. A black suit beneath a black coat. On his shoulder perched a handsome bird.
The moment he said that, Vivi froze. Then something clicked, and her scalp went numb.
"Y you are…"
"Yes. I am."
It was Ozz.
He looked down at the chaos, at countless soldiers dragged into war by a single strong man's scheme, and his gaze stayed cold.
Wasn't this the tragedy of the weak and the ignorant?
But Vivi, drowning in despair, clutched at him like a lifeline.
She dropped to her knees beside him, sobbing as she begged.
"Please, Lord Ozz, save Alabasta! If it's you… you can definitely do it!!!"
Ozz was her only hope now. If he moved, then everything would be solved.
Feeling a slender body cling to his leg, Ozz rubbed his chin. His expression barely changed, as if he were thinking.
"Stop everything, huh. I suppose I can do that, but…"
"Why should I help you?"
The corner of Ozz's mouth lifted, almost imperceptibly. Crimson light flickered in his eyes, like he'd spotted something amusing.
Vivi immediately blurted out her promise.
"I we will offer our loyalty! Alabasta has absolutely no intention of opposing you, please believe me…"
"And also! My pirate companions too! They have goodwill toward you, they have ties with you…"
"Really?"
Before Vivi could say more, a shout suddenly tore in from the distance.
…
"I'm going to send you flying, Crocodile!!!"
Deep underground, with the royal tomb about to collapse and Crocodile smugly certain he'd escape, that roar rang out.
After another fierce exchange,
Crocodile still stood there, arms spread, ready to welcome victory, smiling as if the world already belonged to him.
"This moment has finally arrived…"
"My great ambition is about to be realized!!!"
But when he turned and saw Monkey D. Luffy, battered, bleeding, still standing, doubt flickered across his face.
"You can't beat me!!!"
That stubborn will, refusing to die, did look like the seed of a real pirate.
"Still talking big before you die?"
Crocodile remained confident. In the collapsing underground chamber, he strode toward Luffy, who was drenched in blood.
"I told you, didn't I? A brat like you can't change anything."
"Do you even understand how vast the world really is?"
Crocodile's eyes were filled with arrogance and disdain. After years at Ozz's side, his gaze had grown absurdly lofty.
"Even if it's pity for you in your final moments…"
"Let me tell you the truth."
"It's not just me, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. The darkness of this world is far deeper than you think."
"And the ambition I'm about to achieve is only a tiny piece of what that man, Black Spear, invested."
"The entire underworld he controls, and the research he conducts, that is the ultimate darkness that toys with the whole world!!!"
"And you… what can you possibly do?"
Luffy didn't answer.
He lowered his head. Shadows covered his face. His posture stayed straight.
"Shut up."
"Hm???"
Luffy's expression sharpened into something rare for him, cold and deadly serious.
"So much crap!!!"
"I only want to send you flying!!!"
Blood smeared across his body, and that blood gave him the one thing he needed.
Contact.
A stretched rubber bullet of a punch slammed into Crocodile's stomach.
Caught off guard, Crocodile spit out a mouthful of blood.
One punch, one kick, and the tide started to flip.
Staring at this brat, Crocodile couldn't help recalling words he'd once said with utter contempt.
"Rookies like this, I've seen too many with Ozz."
"Trash like this, the sea has as many as it wants."
"Ozz really thinks any random newbie can fight me back and forth?!"
Now he only felt his face burning.
"You… you brat with no clear background…"
"Who the hell do you think I am?!"
He was Crocodile.
A Warlord of the Sea.
An ally of the world's strongest.
Even Marine Headquarters couldn't do anything to him!!!
And yet now he'd run into a reckless idiot.
A reckless idiot who wouldn't die.
Dodging Crocodile's furious strike, Luffy clenched his teeth and roared.
"I don't care who you are!!!"
"I'll surpass you!!!"
He kicked Crocodile up into the air, then forced his way through sand blades and sandstorms.
"Desert Spada!!!"
"Gum Gum…"
"Storm Gatling!!!"
Countless blood soaked fists hammered Crocodile's body, smashing through the ground and blasting them out of the underground chamber.
Crocodile's eyes rolled back as he collapsed into a pool of blood.
Luffy stood there, drenched in red, eyes wide, shouting with absolute conviction.
"I said I'd send you flying, so I sent you flying!!!"
"I don't care about the Seven Warlords of the Sea!"
"And if Ozz Uncle ever does something like this, hurting my friends, destroying someone else's country, doing this kind of bastard thing…"
"Then I'll send Ozz Uncle flying too!!!"
That roar was so loud it drew everyone's attention.
Including Vivi, who stood above with her face turning white, instant despair crashing down on her again.
And Ozz, who had to bite back a smile.
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