221 Chapter 221

221

Sir Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords, was a bit irritated, it had been two days since he last made contact with the Baroque Works agents he sent to Drum Island. Now, this usually wouldn't be a problem since he himself ordered Mr 3 to not make contact unless it was important.

But the main problem was the Newspaper he was reading:

[New Ruler elected in the Sakura Kingdom! Formerly known as Drum Kingdom!

<A picture of the new kingdom's flag was shown. With people cheering in background.>

After the previous ruler's execution by his own people, the citizens have elected King Dalton as their new ruler.

<A picture before Wapol's execution as he was tied up.>

<Another picture of Dalton being crowned the new King by people>

After the end of the tyrannic ruler Wapol, the Sakura Kingdom finally found its peace.

The island had suffered much at the hands of their former ruler. The Island which was well known for its doctors…] The paper went on telling about the history of the old kingdom and such.

But Crocodile didn't pay much attention to the rest. He had suspected that something might've happened to his agents, but now he was sure. If the Mr. 3 pair and Mr. 6 pair were successful in their attack then today's newspaper would have pointed out the other attack.

Or something along the lines of an unknown group taking over the kingdom and such. But there was no such thing.

That brought a lot of questions. And the fact that now that he tried to get in contact with them, his calls were getting declined proved his point.

Crocodile had a lot of things in mind. He was called a few hours ago by the Navy to assist them in the defense of the G-3 Base, where Jack the Drought had wanted to free some of his crew that got captured.

Obviously, Crocodile declined, as a Warlord, unless it was from the Five Elders themselves, one could avoid such tedious tasks. Jack was one of Kaido's men, and Crocodile didn't want himself to be put in the radar of that beast, not yet at least.

His plans for Alabasta were years in the making and were going well. Why stop now at the critical moment? The Straw hats were a thorn to his path, especially since they had Princess Vivi with them.

Mr. 2, Bon Clay, was called in and was currently making his way to Alabasta. When he arrives, his final plan for Alabasta will be set into motion.

The room to his office opened and Miss All Sunday walked in. "Sir Crocodile, we might have a problem…"

Crocodile frowned but let the woman continue. Nico Robin was well known for gathering information.

"A marine evacuation ship from the G-3 base came to Alabasta port." She said, "And I'm pretty sure 'White Lady' Kuina and 'Man-Demon' Gin were seen there. But the other Straw Hats are yet to be seen."

A small smile traced on the pirate's face before he started laughing, "Kuhahahah… That's not a problem my dear… can you make it so as to invite our guests here? I might want to have a little chat with them."

"I will see what I can do." Nico Robin nodded.

Crocodile wondered why two members of the Straw Hat pirates were on that ship but didn't pay that much thought into it. Capturing them would be good, and maybe with them captured, he could exchange Princess Vivi for them.

A mistake that he would regret later.

Crocodile would have gone to the Navy evacuation ship himself to capture the pirates, but going there might bring more problems then he needed.

He was considered a hero in Alabasta, so of course seeing him there, the civilians and marines might request his help for the G-3 base. And Crocodile didn't want to be put in a position where their image could be ruined. So he opted to give the job to Nico Robin.

"Oh, and take Mr. 1 with you," Crocodile said, "He will help you if the pirates get rowdy."

.

The port was now mostly cleared out; the rest of the civilians and the injured were being taken care of by the marines. X-Drake had woken up from his injuries a while ago but he didn't join the battle, it wasn't needed. The battle was won. Jack and the rest of the Beast Pirates were either killed or captured. A lot had happened while he was unconscious, it seemed.

He was glad to see that Sinbad and all of his friends were relatively unharmed due to the incident. But that wasn't even the surprising part, it seemed that while he was knocked out a certain group of pirates came along and helped the marines.

It was none other than the Straw Hat pirates. He really missed a lot of things while he was unconscious. But honestly, he didn't care. The situation was taken care of, lives were saved and a tragedy was averted. That was the main point, who cared if they had to work with pirates to do so?

Currently, X-Drake was overseeing the last of the civilians filling the ship, the Straw Hats had already left and no one tried to stop them.

Especially, since the civilians were praising the Straw Hats for helping them. Mainly two pirates were praised more than the rest. A pink-haired pirate who's name was Coby, and a pirate with a long nose who's name was Usopp.

He also heard Captain Kujaku, Vice Admiral Tsuru's granddaughter praising someone called Nami. Vivi was also mentioned by her, but it seemed she didn't know about her relation with Sinbad.

As the day started to end, the last two evacuation ships were finally filled. And their destination was the Alabasta Kingdom. The whole of Nanimonai Island was in ruins, it would take time for the G-3 base to be rebuilt.

Many lives were lost, both marines and pirates died. But then again both parties were willing to die in the sea, what made X-Drake sad was that many civilians died as well. Bodies were being counted and identified.

The Beast Pirates had lost the battle, and now most of them were captured, and to top it all off. Just to make sure another attack like this didn't happen, Vice Admiral's Cancer's unit was sent on his way to the G-3 base and Admiral Kizaru was tagging along with him as well.

Other than the prisoners, the G-3 base would mostly be empty. Any ranks above Captain were commanded by Fleet Admiral Sengoku to stand by. They didn't want another attack to happen, and so measures were taken, but the civilians were deported from the island in case another battle broke out.

But X-Drake doubted it would happen.

The marine wondered if this could've been avoided. If only they had received help sooner…

"There you are," A voice called out, bringing X-Drake's attention back to the present as he looked at Sinbad's figure who was wearing casual clothes, rather than his marine outfit. "We haven't eaten since morning… the chefs cooked some stuff up. We have to be quick if we wanna get some!"

The Zoan user smirked. "Heard a princess came to save you?" he said, "How was it meeting your long lost cousin… heard she was quite the looker~" He wiggled his brows.

"Eww… she's like my baby sister you sick bastard!" Sinbad choked on his drink, coughing. "Get those thoughts away from your dirty mind."

X-Drake chuckled, before he gave his friend a knowing smile. "Eh… if that's the case, then you wouldn't mind if I hit on her?"

"Dude, what happened to the bro-code?!"

X-Drake just laughed, and after a while Sinbad joined in as well.

"It's good that you guys are alright." X-Drake said, "This day could have gone worse."

Sinbad nodded, he had nothing to say.

X-Drake smiled at his old friend, but a question still bugged him. "Sinny, what happened to the request we sent to the other marines? Specifically, what about Vice Admiral Vergo? He was supposed to be here. This was his base after all."

Sinbad blinked, before his mood shifted. X-Drake got a feeling he wouldn't like what he was going to hear.