Chapter 37

Grandline, Paradise, Alabasta

Rain. In Alabasta. After years of drying vegetation and dwindling water the people stood dumbfounded and crying in hapiness under the cool blessing the heavens sent their way, finally taking pitty on the poor nation. Though others, who were partial to the reasons why there was no rain in the first place, stood under the downpoor nothing but stupefied. Absolutely baffled. Crocodile had lost a fight? But, how? When? And especially important: to whom did he loose?

Was that person maybe just a kind samaritan or did he have other neferious purposes to fullfill and the warlord simply stood in that persons way? Nobody had answers to those questions.

Nico Robin was one of those people who had no clue about what was happening and she didn't like it one bit. Throughout her whole life she had discovered that to stay alive she needed all the information she could get her hands on, no matter how unimportant it may seem at first, it may come in handy at some point in the future.

Having decided to try and find out what had happened she rushed out of their base towards the last location she knew Crocodile must have been in. Yes, it wasn't her best idea, if she was being honest with herself, after all who knew if the person that had beaten sir Crocodile was still there and may act hostile towards her. After all, she had been the partner of Crocodile for some years now.

After jumping on a carriage, Nico Robin speed of into the direction of the Sandora river, not minding the pouring rain that was pelting her on her way, and soaking her to the bone. So busy was her mind, trying to find out what the hell could have happened.

After a 15 minutes ride with the fastest she was able to find on her way out of the base, she arrived at the Sandora river. Though what she found was not what she expected to find.

'Wasn't there supposed to be some nobles ship landing at the shore?' she mused to herself with a mostly blank face. One conclusion she had come up with was that somebody atop the nobles ship had taken offense to something Crocodile may have said or done and taken him out as a result. Though that thesis had brought up a whole lot of other different questions. Foremost why that person hadn't taken care of the chasing pirate ship in the first place.

And so when she finally was confronted by nothing but a tiny ship, made for one person, mostly two, though that was stretching it already, she was expectedly baffled, alot.

Walking over to the ship, Nico Robin found the body of sir Crocodile, leaning against its hull, ripped clothes, with singe marks all over his body, and a faint breath that would have escaped most peoples notice. Next she spotted the one who most possibly was responsible for the condition of the warlord. A young man with broad shoulders and a height of at least 2,30m, short shaved hair, strongly muscled upper body and beige wide trousers, who at that very moment was sitting next to Crocodile, chewing with bulging cheeks on some meet, which seemed to taste pretty good, judging by his satisfied expression, until his eyes fell on her. Their intensity was jarring and she couldn't help but step back in reflex. He smiled at her in response to her reaction but that didn't lessen the pressure she felt coming from the young man. Suffocating. Gasping for breath, she couldn't look away from the young mans piercing deep blue eyes, until seemingly appeared as if out of nowhere right in front of her, laying a hand on her shoulder as if trying to calm her down while calmly saying: "breath, woman. No need to be afraid." before smiling once more at her and walking back towards Crocodile, lifting him up onto his left shoulder and shortly after throwing him onto the small ship, jumping right after him, after loosening the tows that held the ship at the shore.

"W-What is your name?" Nico Robin called after him, now realising that she had to at least get some information out of all this while enjoying the freedom that came from the mans absent pressure.

"Azul!" He called back before steering his tiny ship back up the Sandora river the way it had apparently come from. If she had to venture a guess, to find a marine base to get the bounty on Crocodiles head. But that didn't matter to her anymore. She turned around and started to plan how to get into the palace to convince the king to show her the poneglyph. After all there was only one purpose her life had left. Reading the acient stones.

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After making himself comfortable Azul checked his passengers condition once more and focused fully on steering his ship up the river, to find a marine outpost. After all these months he had had nearly no funds left and it came as a blessing in disguise that Crocodile survived his last attack.

Not wanting to look a gifted horse in its mouth Azul decided to make the best of this situation and so decided to just hand the man over to the 'authorities'.

After a few hours of traveling Azul reached the town at the entrance of the Sandora river, called Nanohana. Jumping off his ship, and tying it to the pier, Azul picked up Crocodile and went looking for the local marinebase, which he found after a while of asking around.

Walking inside the base, Azul was greeted by a young woman who seemed to be bored out of her mind, until her gaze fell on the body of sir Crocodile, that was still ontop of Azuls shoulder, which made her spit out the tea she was drinking at that moment, before stuttering a "p-please wait here for a m-moment" and rushing up the stairs to get her commanding officer who soon after came down. I was a large man, with lime green hair and a white jacket, smoking two cigares at the same time and a weapon hefted to his back.

"I'm captain Smoker. I was told you brought in Crocodile?" the man asked with an unconvinced face. After all Crocodile was a prominent figure, possessing the rank of a warlord for a reason.

Though his disbelief was promptly shattered when Crocodiles body landed right at his feet, which caused his eyes to widen slightly in response.

"How in all hells did you manage that?" He asked the young man that was standing before him, looking him up and down in a new inspecting light.

"He wasn't that much of a challenge. I expected more from a warlord appointed by the marines. Hell, the man didn't even know how to control haki! He would get utterly stomped in the new world..." The young man said in a bored voice, seemingly not all that invested in the conversation.

"Hmm, so I take it you know haki then? What's your name?" Smoker asked with sharpening eyes. If the man truly knew how to use haki than it made him very dangerous, even to someone like him, a smoke logia user.

"Yes, I know how. My name is Azul. Now can I get the bounty from his head please? I wanna get some shopping done before leaving this island." Azul responded while sticking his finger inside his nose. What was it recently that made his nose start itching when he was talking to annoying people?

"Ye, wait a moment. No need to get moody. Just trying to get some infos on you..." Smoker responded, after nodding to one other subordinate to get the money from the safe while Smoker bent down to Crocodile, and after taking some seastone cuffs from another shelf cuffing him in them, before he was carted of to a cell to wait in, until another marine ship would pick him up, bringing him straight to impel down.

"Here you go Azul. Have a pleasant journey." Smoker said, handing the brought in money over to the young man, who without looking into the briefcase turned around and walked out the door with a lazy wave of his hand over his shoulder in parting.

Smoker meanwhile gave orders to contact Impel Down to send a warship for Crocodile. He himself had some phonecalls to make. 'The higher ups won't like it that one of the warlords positions became free without any notice. And of course it has to be me that delivers these news. Just my luck...' Smoker grunted to himself in thought before walking into his study and picking up the transponder snails mic to do what he had to.