Black Flame Of Distruction here finally bringing you the next installment of Logia Luffy Rumble-Rumble. Sorry for the long wait. This chapter brings everyone Luffy's first fight with Crocodile, as well as the escape from the cage so please enjoy.

"Your an Idiot!"Regular Human Speech

Can he be any stupider? Regular Human Thought

"Please Help Us!"Human Thought Speech

"One Sword Style: Lion Song!"Spoken Attacks/ Monster and Giant Speech

Raijin's Spear! Thought Attacks/ Monster and Giant Regular Thoughts

"I will help you Little one."Animal/Monster Thought Speech

"Come and Find me Asshole!" Phone Snail Conversation

Chapter 22: Straw-Hat's Counter Strategy Begins, Save Alabasta!

Last Time

Robin takes something out of her jacket and reveals it to be a Baby phone snail, which is the source of the ringing before she picks up the receiver and hears a male voice say hello and then ask if they can hear him, which she give an affirmative, as the person on the other line says he's never used a baby phone snail before, which annoys Crocodile who tells him to spit it out, as the voice stated calmly, "Oh that voice… I've heard that voice before… Welcome Sir… This is the shitty restaurant."

Now

Crocodile and Nico Robin stop in the middle of the tunnel, and the Shichibukai blows out some smoke and frowns in confusion. "Shitty restaurant…?!"

The voice on the other end of the snail responds, "Nice you remembered. I'm so happy."

That rings a bell with the Sand-Human: the last time he heard that phrase was when he called Mr. 3 awhile ago for an update on how things were going with the giants. Crocodile grits his teeth in frustration. All of the Straw-Hat Marine's should be locked away in the cage!… Does this mean there are other members? Meanwhile, the Marines watch the two Baroque Work's top executives, recognizing the voice on the Baby Phone snail as that of Sanji's, causing them to exchange knowing looks.

The croc attempting to eat Vivi is even looking back at his master and the female, distracted by the phone call. Vivi's eyes widen in surprise. Thats right, Sanji-san and Chopper-kun are still outside! That means all is not lost yet!

As Robin smirks, Crocodile glares down at the snail in annoyance. "Who the hell are you!?" The voice on the other end takes on a slightly mocking tone, "Me? I am… Mr. Prince."

The Shichibukai takes a puff of his cigar. "I see. Where are you Mr. Prince?" he asks, his voice dripping with poison. Don't fuck with me, boy.

His answer is a chuckle. "I can't tell you that. If I did then you'd just come and kill me, wouldn't you? Well whether or not you can still remains to be seen. I don't give out lots of "Info" easily… And I'm not a moron… Unlike you. Mr. 0."

The pirate glares at the snail in rage, but quickly takes a breath to calm himself, eventually setting into a smirk. "You're a Marine, aren't you? Don't answer that; I already know the answer. Here's the deal, I have your crew imprisoned in Rain Dinners, if you want to save their lives then give yourself up and I may just be merciful."

The line is quiet for a few moments before exploding into laughter. Finally, Sanji responds, "Oh that was rich! Thanks for the laugh. I have no worries about my crew, I'm sure they'll find a way out of their predicament… Well I think I'll…"

Just then, the conversation is cut off, and fighting can be heard. Eventually, a new voice comes online, much to the Marines' surprise. "Phew… Pesky bastard…Hello? What should we do with this weirdo?"

Crocodile smirks smugly. "Where are you?… Spit it out already."

The new voice responds back immediately. "Yes Sir… We're at the front gate of the Casino called "Rain Dinners" in Rainbase."

Eventually, the Shichibukai turns to leave with his partner, and the attacking b-diles crush the stairs, causing Vivi to fall… but not very far, as she has managed to grab the edge of the broken stairs, pulling herself up to face her allies. "We still have time until this room floods. I'm going to go outside to call for help!"

The Marines realize she's right, however, Luffy stands up and shouts, "VIVI WATCH OUT!", for Crocodile launches his hook at the Princess in an effort to stop her; it wraps around her neck and he pulls, sending her crashing back into the ground.

The man appears two feet from the girl's crash point, growling. "Cut that Bullshit out!" He stands over the now unconscious Princess for a moment, but then, he shakes his head. "Let's go." As the room begins to fill with water finally, he smirks. "If you love your friends so much Princess, then you can die here with them. The water has already filled the crocodile feeding room and is now starting to flood this room as well. I think that I'll bring the punk "Mr. Prince" here as well… As a corpse! Hahahaha!"

With that, the two exit from the room, slamming the door behind them, as the Straw-Hats keep yelling at Vivi to wake up, as the b-dile begins to close in on her. Isn't there anything, anyone can do? Anyone… wait! There's someone actually right here! Argh, stupid, stupid, Monkey D. Luffy! Lord Sengoku would have my hide at that lack of thinking! I got a crew, I need to use it. He turns to Apis, "Apis-Chan, can you use your powers to get that croc to leave Vivi alone?"

The little blond haired girl gulps before responding, "I can try Commodore Luffy." Closing her eyes, she focuses the powers of her Whisper-Whisper fruit on the croc; connecting to its heart, sensing a great deal of hunger and rage from it. Eventually, she succeeds in garnering it's attention to herself, allowing her to telepathically communicate with it. "Croc-san, I know that you are hungry, and that you are angry at us for invading your territory. But please don't eat my friend!"

The bananadile glares at the little girl and snorts with disdain. "Stupid little human Hatchling… I do not take orders from one weaker than myself, I follow only the orders given to me by the Bull with the name of my kind. Continue to interfere and you will be the first I devour after I finish the other snack." With that it huffs and turns back towards Vivi.

"I'm sorry Commodore… I couldn't get it to listen."

The Straw-hat wearing teen just ruffles her hair a little with a slight smile. "Its okay Apis-kun, at least you tried. Guess we'll have to think of something else."

Up in the casino proper, Crocodile and Robin walk out on to the floor to the excitement of all the patrons and the staff, as he discusses with the assistant manager about the goings on in Nanohana. As they make their way to the front entrance Robin smiles coyly and remarks, "As popular as ever I see." To which the pirate responds lowly, "Bah.".

Back in the room, the croc lunges at Vivi, preparing to eat her… but the princess is now awake again, and thus finds her resolve not to let others continue to save her. She cuts the croc's tongue and uses its head as a springboard to make it back up onto the stairs, however before she can celebrate this, the monster rears up and takes another chunk of the stairs off with its teeth. This has the unfortunate side effect of breaking the windows around the room, causing the water to start flooding in faster, leaving the crew only 20 minutes until the water gets to a level where they will drown. The dust clears, and it turns out that Vivi is still unharmed. "Listen everyone! Just hold on a little bit longer! I'm going to go and find help! I will not allow you all to die!"

Usopp throws his arms in the air and excitedly yells out, "Go Vivi, Go!" and so the Princess turns and runs out the door.

In front of Rain Dinners, Crocodile and Robin find all their men laying on the ground in varying states of unconsciousness and death, suffering from blunt force trauma. "Ararara. Someone cleaned house here right and proper." Robin could not help her inherited expression of surprise.

Crocodile however frowned. "So do we still have Millions to get that Mr. Prince?"

"I am afraid not. Between that and what Pell has done, all the Millions in town have been wiped out… Oh!" One of the Millions is not quite as unconscious or dead as the others. "Who did this?"

"A… blond… marine menace… with a stolen Transponder Snail," the man coughed. "He called himself… Mr. Prince."

The sand user snapped around. "Where is he?" he hissed.

"He… he… escaped. Towards the south of town. Ow. Check please…"

Just in this very moment, Crocodile sees someone running away and, having had enough of the Marines, he goes after the person, turning his legs into Sand to propel him through the air. "Stand still, you gnome!" and is lead on a chase. Robin simply stays behind and just smiles and chuckles to herself.

Behind her she hears a sound which the patrons inside the Casino feel as a rumbling, and think it an earthquake. However, it soon becomes obvious that the bridge to the casino has been destroyed; Vivi, who is still stuck with the crowds inside becomes worried that now, she can not seek help. Sanji then reveals himself to her, wearing a pair of eyeglasses and playing a slot machine, causing her to light up in happiness. "Sanji-san!"

"Hey Vivi-chan." Noticing her eyeing the main gate, he smiles. "Oh, that. I destroyed the thing so Baroque couldn't get in any longer. Was actually quite funny – I tricked them into thinking they had me, then I used Chopper as a decoy so that it would give me the freedom to enter the casino and destroy the bridge." He took a look around. "Where are the others?"

"Downstairs, in the VIP Lounge, in a sea-prism stone cage. You need to get them out of there!"

Shaking off his ingrained flirtiness, the blonde nodded grimly. "Show me the way, princess."

Back inside the Room, the water has now risen to a level where the devil fruit users are now sitting on the only bench in the cage so as not to get wet and lose even more strength then they have already. We need to get out of here… Nami so doesn't want to drown like that. Maybe that 'dile can break the cage… "Hey bananahead! I bet you can't break this cage with your dinner inside."

"What the hell, Nami?!" Usopp yells. "Are you trying to get us killed?"

"Just run along. We can't break that one, so I'm trying the croc. – Oh, poor crocci, not getting fed… since the humans are stuck in a cage… But then again, I wouldn't expect a living handbag to be that smart– ah!"

In that moment, the very ticked croc does an impressive attempt but ends up breaking its teeth on the Seastone cage.

Usopp turns to look at a calm looking Luffy and Smoker and deadpans, "How the hell are you two so calm? You're the two highest ranks here, think of something to do!"

In answer, Smoker just blows out smoke from his cigars and responds calmly, "What do we know about Crocodile's goals?" as the others look at him weirdly, with the exceptions of Zoro and Luffy, as he continues on, "That woman with the Shichibukai… She's an outlaw who has been on the run from the World Government for the past 20 years. The Price on her head is nearly 80 Million Beli."

This is almost as much as Crocodile's bounty. "What is your point?" Usopp asks, the surprise on his face mirroring that of Nami.

Smoker cracks his neck. "With the two of them joining forces, this is no longer just the takeover of a nation. If we do not do something now, this will develop into a disaster that will envelop the entire world." Nami's, Tashigi's, Apis's, and Usopp's shock at this revelation is evident.

Just in this moment, Luffy turns to the cabin-girl again. "Apis-chan, I just got a great idea. Use your powers to find the Croc that swallowed the key, get it in here, and convince it to cough up the key for you."

The little blonde girl shakes her head sadly before responding back, "I don't think that will work Commodore. I couldn't get the first one to listen to me for more than a few seconds."

Tashigi comes over and bends down to the girls level, lifting her chin to look her in the eyes. "Don't let one failure get you down Apis-kun, instead, use it as motivation to become stronger, and never give up. I know you can do what the Commodore asks, you're a Marine, I believe in you."

This show of confidence from the older woman ignites a fire within Apis that immediately shows in her eyes, as she nods her head, closes her eyes, and begins to use her Whisper-Whisper powers to find the croc with the key. While Apis is doing her thing, Luffy gives a nod of approval to Tashigi for her motivational words. After a few minutes the little blonde finally finds and connects with the right croc, convincing it to come into the room, which it does, entering from one of the broken windows.

Just then, the entire scene is interrupted by a well-known voice. "Make sure to never make noise when you're eating your meal." The water outside the cage suddenly parts, and the first croc can be seen in the air; just below its stomach is Sanji, the leg pointing skywards in a kick. "Anti-Manner Kick Course!" The croc spits out some stair stone, and flips mid air, landing back in the water on its back, completely out of it.

Sanji turns to the new croc, preparing to knock it out as well, but is interrupted by Apis. "Don't Sanji-san! Buro-kun is my friend!"

The older blonde looks confused for a moment before catching up. Right, her devil fruit is capable of communicating with animals… hope this works.

Apis smiles and turns back to Buro. "It's ok now Buro-kun. Could you please cough up the key you swallowed and present it to Sanji-San?"

Buro looks at the little girl then to the blonde man, "Alright Hatchling, I will give the metal food to the Human Bull." The croc proceeds to regurgitate the key to the cage, opening his mouth and presenting it to Sanji on the edge of his tongue. The chef takes the key from the croc's tongue, nods his head in thanks, and unlocks said cage, causing the Marines to rush out.

Luffy grins. "I knew you could do it Cabin-Girl Apis, good work." The little blonde smiles brightly at this praise. The young Commodore clears his throat, getting his crew's attention. "Alright everyone, let's get the abyss out of here, then we can discuss what we do from here." Everyone nods. Apis says goodbye to her new animal friend. They find out that they can't exit from the front because of Sanji blowing up the bridge, so they search for another exit, and find a secret entrance at the back of the Casino.

Once they get out into Rainbase, they get some distance from the Casino, before stopping in an alleyway. Luffy decides its time to get to business and addresses his crew, "Alright listen up. Crocodile means to start a Civil War, and in the Chaos created by that war, take over Alabasta… We cannot and will not allow that!" Each of them nod and voice their approval of this, as Tashigi asks, "What is our move Commodore?"

The Straw-hat wearing Marine smirks before responding back, "I'm glad you asked Master Chief. Here is our move, first off Captain Smoker I want you to contact Headquarters and request back up, tell them everything that's going on and that its a request from Commodore Monkey D. Luffy, also take Apis-chan with you." The Smoke-Human nods his head at this, as Luffy turns back to Zoro, "Lieutenant, you and the Master Chief will gather the Unit here in town and head to Alubarna to speak with King Cobra's top men and try and keep the fighting from starting until the rest of us get there." The swordsman nods his head in acceptance.

Then he turns to Nami, Usopp, Sanji, and Vivi, "The rest of us will take an alternate route to Alubarna from Zoro and Tashigi, our objective is to head off the rebel army and try to talk some sense into their leader. Vivi do you know of a faster way to get across the desert?" The blue haired girl shakes her head at this, as Luffy sighs, "Oh well, looks like we'll just have to huff it. Alright everyone you have your orders! Move out!"

They all salute and say in unison, "Yes Sir!" before Smoker, Apis, Zoro, and Tashigi head off to do as they were ordered. Luffy and his group proceed to head towards the exit out of town. While all this is going down Crocodile and Robin return to the Casino, having lost "Mr Prince", and the Shichibukai being ready to just kill the Marines himself. When they enter the room they find it flooded as expected, but the cage door open, the original croc floating at the top KOed, and the rest just swimming around.

The Pirate screams out in rage wondering what happened, while behind him Robin just smirks to herself. That Luffy is as good as Father said he was, then again he is the grandson of Garp. It seems they may just succeed in stopping this fool's plans after-all.. The Shichibukai turns to his partner and tells her they're going after the Marines.

As Luffy's group get outside of town, they see a giant Crab, and riding on top of it is none other then Chopper and Eyelash the camel. The Doctor waves to them, "Hey Guys!" Usopp is shocked at the huge crab, but Vivi exclaims "Thats a "Moving Crab"! We can ride that across the desert and cut down our time to get to Alubarna by a lot." Luffy nods at this and they all proceed to hop on top of the crab, as Chopper tightens his hold on the reigns, smiles, and proclaims, "Okay! Here we go! DEPART!"

However as the crab gets going Luffy suddenly senses an incoming attack and moves quickly, kicking Crocodile's hook away as it tries to grab Vivi, and follows it back to its source, landing 10 feet in front of the Shichibukai. The Straw-hat wearing Marine turns his head back slightly, YOU GUYS GO ON AHEAD! I'LL CATCH UP AFTER I WHIP HIS ASS!" This causes the Pirate to glare at him heatedly.

Vivi becomes concerned, however Nami waylays her fears with a simple statement, "Commodore Luffy is the one person you never have to worry about, when it comes to the strength of our crew… That man is on a whole other level from the rest of us. Crocodile doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell." Seeing the conviction in the female Marine's eyes at this statement Vivi nods her head before turning back and yelling, "SEE YOU IN ALUBARNA LUFFY-SAN!"

Luffy gives them a thumbs up in acknowledgment as the crab speeds off into the desert, as he stares down Crocodile. Robin giggles lightly as she addresses the pirate, "Hahaha… Seems the Princess just ran out on us." Crocodile just grunts before replying, "It doesn't matter, our agents in Alubarna should be done with their missions soon. Call them and tell them to kill Vivi if they see her."

At this point he turns his attention back to the Marine, "I believe that your games have gone on for long enough… "Straw-Hat Luffy"." Luffy just shakes his head and begins to loosen up his muscles as he replies to the pirate, "You know Vivi… She is so weak, but she tries to save every person she can. She can't stand to abandon anyone, so she is always in pain. She wants this rebellion to end without a single person dying."

Crocodile laughs at this, "Without anyone dying? Thats a laugh… There are so many weak and mushy fools out there just like that… They do not know True battle. You agree with me don't you kid?" Luffy looks him in the eyes at this and with confidence answers his question, "Yes. As a Marine I have been trained to accept that death in war is an unavoidable outcome. However as long as you remain alive, Vivi will fight you to her grave. Thats why right here and now, I'm ending your life!"

The Shichibukai's response to this is to laugh even harder, "Kuhahahahaha! Thats absolutely ridiculous… You seem to be beyond saving. Oh well this should be a good example of what happens to those who conspire with others. They all die because of it… I've left hundreds of people like that in the dust."

Luffy cracks his knuckles, "Well then that just makes you a moron." hearing this Crocodile grits his teeth in rage, while Robin giggles and the pirate asks, "What's so damn funny?! Do you want to die too Nico Robin?" The undercover Marine just shrugs her shoulders responding, "Well if thats how you feel about it, then do as you wish." She begins to walk away to get distance from the two men, "Also what happened to your promise not to call me by that name?" Crocodile asks her where she's going and she says she's heading towards Alubarna, to which he calls her a crazy woman.

Suddenly the pirate throws something near the Marine's feet, and when the boy looks down at it he sees a small Hourglass and looks at it questioningly. Crocodile decides to get rid of the Marine's confusion, "I'll give you 3 minutes to "Kill" me. After that however, I won't have anymore time to play with you. Any problems with that?" In answer to that question Luffy begins to spark with electricity, and as it crackles around him he gives his verbal response, "No problem with that, because it won't even take me a minute to end your life."

Luffy takes his fighting stance, and launches himself at Crocodile, his legs turning into lightning, allowing him to close the distance to fast for the pirate to react, as the Marine plants an electrified fist into his gut. The punch causes the Shichibukai to spit out blood before going skidding across the desert, heading back towards Rain Base, however the teen appears behind him in a flash of his element and lands a solid kick to his back, sending him flying back the way he came.

Crocodile shakes the cobwebs from his head this time, and is just in time to become sand and escape from a falling axe kick by Luffy. When he reforms he decides it's time for him to counter attack, however when he goes to move he feel's some stiffness in his stomach, and when he looks down to that area he sees that a small part of it has become quartz, the part where the Marine's fist connected upon his first strike.

The man growls slightly at this, before he breaks the quartz and reforms that part of his stomach with his Sand-Sand Fruit powers. He looks at the patiently waiting Marine with a scowl, before turning his right hand into a loose blade of fast moving sand, and a moment later he stabs it into the ground shouting, "Desert Spada!" as it extends along the ground like a torpedo, splitting everything in it's path including the ground itself on its way to Luffy.

Luffy himself lifts his left arm and hand up into the air, as they start to glow and spark with golden lightning, before he brings them down in a cutting motion while intoning, "Perun's Axe!" The lightning takes the shape of an Axe blade as he strikes the ground and sends a wave of lightning at the wave of sand. When the two attacks meet the heat from the lightning instantly turns the sand to quartz and shatters it, and what is left is a trough in the ground as well as pieces of sparkling quartz laying around it between the two men.

Looking at the aftermath of the attacks colliding, The Shichibukai shows worry for the first time ever, This isn't good, his powers instantly turned my sand to fused quartz glass, and the only way that could be is if his lightning exceeds a temperature of 1900 Kelvin. Dammit, I never expected this brat to be good with his powers, looks like I'll have to retreat for now.

He comes out of his thoughts to see Luffy holding his right hand up towards him, as lightning is gathering at his palm, sparking dangerously. Luffy scowls at the pirate, "You should never get lost in your own thoughts during a battle, it could cost you your life. Just like it's about to now." He finishes charging his attack and intones, "Raijin's Spear!" as a large wave of lightning shaped like a spearhead, rushes right at the Sand-Human.

Crocodile turns his body to sand and manages to evade the attack, as it hits where he was standing and turns the area to quartz. He reforms 20 feet behind the Marine, and proceeds to turn his hand into a blade of sand again, "You think I'll let you hit me brat? You don't know who you're messing with! Let's see you counter this!" He proceeds to stab his hand into the ground again naming his newest attack, "Desert Girasole!"

This time however, instead of splitting the ground he causes the area in front of him to collapse in on itself and create a huge pit of quicksand, which Luffy gets caught in. The Shichibukai laughs his head off as he turns to walk away, "Have fun digging yourself from your sandy grave Straw-Hat! I told you that you were 100 years too early to screw with me! Guahahahaha!"

His laughter dies off when he hears crackling from behind him, causing him to turn his head slightly to see what the Marine is planning, however thats a mistake as theres a flash of lightning in front of him and he gets a fist to the face, sending him flying to the left. When he rights himself he sees Luffy standing there with a look of boredom on his face, as he crosses his arms and comments, "You know I thought that fighting another Logia would be more fun. That it would be a challenge to fight one with a few more years of experience than myself… But it seems that your sand can't match up to my Lightning."

Crocodile grits his teeth at this, before looking over and realizing that the sands in the hourglass have run their course, and smirks. He summons up a small tornado of sand in his hand, "I have no more time for you Straw-Hat, your 3 minutes are up." as the tornado of sand starts to spin faster and hits the ground, picking up speed and growing larger as he intones, "Sables!" as he sends the massive tornado of Sand off to rampage.

Luffy uncrosses his arms as his body turns completely to Golden colored Lightning, as he releases the lightning into the air around himself, beginning to heat it. When the air gets hot enough he claps his hands, "Kari Clap!" As the heated air and lightning around him explodes in a large Thunderclap, neutralizing the sandstorm completely. However as he looks around for the Pirate he realizes the man is no where to be found, coming to the realization that he used his last attack as a distraction to escape and head off to Alubarna.

He then turns slightly back towards the town and speaks, "You can come out now… Captain Lady Nico Robin." The named woman suddenly appears from the direction of Rainbase, and proceeds to walk up to the younger Marine. She proceeds to smile and asks, "Oh? How long have you known I was there Commodore-san?" the 17 year old smirks slightly before replying, "For quite some time. In fact I knew the moment you walked off that all you'd done was dematerialise into temperature to watch the fight, somewhere that Crocodile wouldn't be able to see you but still within the range of my Observation Haki."

The woman giggles at this, placing her hand to her mouth to try and stifle herself, "Well it seems you're just as good as I'd heard, Grandson of Garp." The Straw-hat wearing Marine drops his smirk before he replies back, "And you are as good an actress as I'd heard, "Ice Shadow" Lady Nico Robin, daughter of Admiral Aokiji."

This ends Robin's laughter, her expression turning stern. "So you know the truth about me. Not many people do, I must say I am impressed that you're trusted enough to have that information."

Luffy shakes his head. "It shouldn't be any surprise, after all, your father is my senpai – he has been trained by my grandfather as much as I was. On top of Kizaru-sensei training my devil fruit with me. Although I'm quite curious as to why you've joined up with Baroque Works, as far as I'd heard your days as an Undercover Organization Buster were over."

Robin chuckles mirthlessly at this. "Well you heard wrong. I did ask that man to allow me to finally come into the light, but he convinced me to take one last Undercover assignment. HQ has been wanting to get an agent inside B.W for some time and uncover its inner workings and who runs it. So naturally I was chosen to do so as the best Undercover Operative in the Marines."

Luffy nods his head at this before letting loose a sigh, "Well I'd love to sit around and continue to talk with you Nico Robin, but I think we both need to be getting to Alubarna for the final stretch. I hope not to have to fight you when the time comes to finish Crocodile." The Undercover Marine smiles a bit seductively at this, "Oh? Is the grandson of Garp afraid of little ole me? Don't be scared Monkey D. Luffy, I don't bite… Much. In fact, I probably bite less than your Shichibukai girlfriend."

At this the Straw-Hat wearing Marine glares at the older woman, sending a clear warning to her not to speak on that subject. So Robin turns around and heads for a waiting transportation crocodile while throwing some parting words over her shoulder, "Well I'll see you in Alubarna "Straw-Hat" Luffy. Do put on a good show when you finally end Crocodile's life. Bye." And with that she takes off.

Luffy sighs again before he turns in the direction of Alubarna, and begins to turn himself into lightning again. Within the span of 30 seconds his entire being is golden lightning, before he rockets into the sky as a large bolt and heads in the direction of the capital city of Alubarna.

Back with Smoker and Apis, the two followed the teen's orders, finding the Marine station in Rain Base, and contacting Headquarters. After informing the higher ups about the situation in Alabasta he got about what he expected, disbelief, and outright denial that one of the Shichibukai could do such a thing. When he Informed them that not only was he present for the man's own admission of guilt, but so was Luffy, thats when they all began to listen.

As many of the higher ups know that Luffy is just like his grandfather in many ways, but the most important is that the boy is no liar. Fleet Admiral Sengoku decided that the situation warranted backed up, and so ordered all ships in the area to head to Alabasta. Shortly after Smoker was contacted by an old friend of his, Captain Hina, who said she was only a few hours from Alabasta and could meet the Logia user at one of the ports, and so the man picked up Apis and using his powers, flew to the nearest one to wait.

Tashigi and Zoro did as instructed as well, gathering the Rainbase Garrison, and giving them Luffy's orders. The highest ranking Marine in the unit happened to be a Chief Petty Officer who did not like East Blue Marines trying to take over his unit, however that was quickly put to bed by Zoro, who knocked the man out and told the rest that any others who have a problem following orders can join the Chief in being court-martialed.

After that all the men fell into line, and the green haired Marine left the explanation of their further orders to Master Chief Tashigi, while he leaned back on a wall and closed his eyes. The swordswoman grumbled about her fellow officer's laziness, then explained to the unit that their orders were to head to Alubarna and speak directly to the Generals of the Alabasta Army, in an attempt to stop a possible Civil War. Understanding their orders the Men and women all saluted and got ready to move out.

After 15 minutes, Tashigi, Zoro, and the Rainbase Unit get underway towards Alubarna. With most of the members of the Straw-Hat Marines heading to Alubarna, as well as All the remaining Officers Agents of Baroque Works, and the Rebel and Loyalist Armies on a collision course, the final battle of Alabasta draws near.

Annnd Cut. Well there you have it chapter 22. Next chapter will begin the climax of the Alabasta arc, with everyone arriving in Alubarna and beggining their final fights. Now unlike in canon the fights wont be as hard. Like Zoro vs Das Bones will be a bit more even as Zoro has been learning Shave and Iron Body from Luffy. Sanji vs Bon Clay will be way more evenly matched and even lopsided into the Chef's favor since he's been learning Shave, Iron body, and Storm Leg, especially the last one. Usopp and Chopper vs Mr.4 and Miss Merry Christmas will be more in the former 2s favor as they have a bit more training and Usopp wont be fighting up close and personal, he'll be sniping from a distance with his new rifle. As for Nami Vs Miss Monday well that will end up being Nami and Tashigi Vs Miss Monday and will be a much more even fight then in canon. Anyway as always please read and review. Until Next time.