Chapter 8

"Bring Down Alubarna!!!" shouted one of the rebels as their army charged through cannon fire and clashed with the guards at the gates.

"Don't let them get through!!!!" shouted the guards blocking the gates with their lives as they fought with the rebels.

It had been a few days after my brutal Smoker beatdown and I had already arrived in Alubarna. I was currently in the large tower near the palace where Crocodile had placed the cannon with a timer bomb. This bomb was meant to destroy the royal army and the rebels together since he knew they were inevitably going to end up fighting in front of the castle. This was supposed to be the pinnacle of his Operation Utopia where he got rid of both the royal army and the rebels.

That's what was supposed to happen. I got here a few dozen minutes ago and have already disposed of the goons who were supposed to fire this thing. I have also disarmed the bomb and dismantled it to see how such a powerful bomb was made. I was going to use some of this stuff for my future BFFs, I mean my future bombs.

Currently, I am using some binoculars to check up on Vivi. I was happy with how things had turned out as I could see her finally reach the palace after leaving Sanji fighting Mr 2.

I quickly put down my binoculars.

"It's finally time," I said happily. This was the moment I have been waiting for, where I get to beat Crocodile's ass in front of a large audience. This was sure to make the Navy take me seriously. I wonder how large my bounty is going to increase.

I quickly jumped off the tower and made my way to the palace.

--------Vivi's POV--------

Seeing the soldiers look at me for confirmation after rigging the whole palace with bombs, I quickly nodded.

Even though this palace has existed for 4000 years and is the pride of Arabasta, I have to do this. I have to get everyone's attention to explain the whole situation.

'I'm sure they'll understand and all the fighting will stop.' I thought as the soldiers slowly lit some matches but a familiar sandy tornado appeared out of nowhere and swept the guards high up into the air before dropping them on the ground in a painfully loud thud.

Knowing that had failed, my body couldn't help but freeze up as I could guess what was coming next.

On the rooftop in front of me, a large amount of sand started gathering and condensing, forming a familiar figure.

"Crocodile," I muttered as my body started involuntarily shaking.

"That's quite a treacherous thing to do, Mrs. Wednesday." said Crocodile with a cocky confident grin on his face, "This is soon to be my house."

In his hand was the unconscious body of my father and the king of Arabasta.

"Your Majesty!" shouted Chaka who was behind me and my fear only increased. Only then did I realize, we had left Luffy to deal with him. If he was here...

"W-Where is Luffy?" I asked.

"Huh? You mean Strawhat that rookie?" he responded his grin widening, "He's dead. He's buried in the sands of the Rainbase."

"If only he hadn't involved himself with someone like you, he would have lived a long life" he continued making my fear get replaced by another feeling, anger.

"There's no way he could be killed by someone like you!" I shouted back angrily.

Out of nowhere, two clattering small round ball-like things were thrown at Crocodile and Mrs All-Sunday. Before I could understand what was going on, the clattering objects suddenly exploded right in front of Crocodile.

*BANG!* *BANG!*

Chaka quickly transformed and rushed in front of me, protecting me from the full brunt of the bombs.

"Father!" I shouted. He was right in Crocodile's hand when this happened and I was now worried for the worst since Crocodile wouldn't protect him. But I was surprised when I saw a sand dome where Crocodile was when the smoke dissipated.

The dome also crumbled down after that and I was relieved to see my father unaffected by the explosion, but he was now awake looking around.

"Whoever is hiding here, show yourself," said Crocodile angrily and he turned to the side. I also looked where he was staring and there she was, Igaram's killer.

"Unhinged Jinx, what are you doing here?" asked Mrs All-Sunday genuinely confused.

"Hello....Robin," she responded, and that immediately shut up Mrs All-Sunday. Even Crocodile looked at her with some caution.

"Who are you really?" asked Crocodile as he placed Father down but his body was immediately immobilized by some chains made of hardened sand, "CP0?"

"What? No, don't lump me in with those losers." she responded casually, "I'm just a gal looking for some fun."

"It doesn't really matter, you are at the place at the wrong time," said Crocodile as some sand particles started floating around his golden hook. He quickly slashed his hand in her direction, "Desert Sparda."

A thin trail of sand immediately raced on the ground from Crocodile, zooming at Jinx at superhuman speeds in a straight line. Jinx just casually stepped to the side as the trail missed her by inches. A blade of sand instantly flashed from Crocodile following the small trail and missing the girl, who didn't even look fazed or bothered by the attack.

The girl swiftly pulled off her machine gun from her waist and pointed it at Crocodile who just smirked seeing it. Even I was confused. Didn't she know that Crocodile was immune to damage, so why was she bothering using her gun? I wasn't rooting for her or anything, I actually hoped these two monsters would finish each other off.

She pressed the trigger and for the first time since coming back to Arabasta, I saw Crocodile injured. Multiple bullets rained upon him, he took a couple of them before he ducked under the cement railing.