Journey to One Piece

122. The men in masks

Crocodile was lying in a small pool of blood where he had lost total unconsciousness. He lied down in the same way he was beaten down in Alubarna in the actual story. Only this time, Luffy didn't have to suffer twice and defeat him while using the flowing blood to act as the source of liquid. Luffy used the ninja techniques to make sure he was supported by water always. Of course, the water surrounding the underground also helped when he came running out.

And on top of that Luffy also made sure that Crocodile didn't get to touch his body or make the use of his hook to deliver poison to his bloodstream. Of course, Robin had given him the antidote too but he also was quite careful in his attacks.

He had already lived two lives. One was filled with accomplishments but had many regrets over the course of time and in the other life he had fallen from high grace and was forced to live a mortal life. So in a way he was quite experienced both in life and fighting tricks.

In comparison Crocodile's tricks seemed like a baby trying to hit a truck.

"Finally he will stop yapping about kicking Crocodile's ass. It was becoming annoying." Sanji said while looking at Crocodile. Smoker was the only one among the group that was conflicted. He came here to enquire about Crocodile since he had his doubts after coming to Alabasta.

And now that Crocodile was lying down he felt both ashamed and angry. Ashamed because the marine had let this piece of shit grow and angry because he was forced to get 'help' from pirates. It was such a huge humiliation.

"Luffy, what do we do now?" Zoro asked.

"We go to the capital and deliver this asshole to Vivi's father." Luffy replied.

Everyone nodded their heads while Vivi had small tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe that an enemy which for her seemed like someone impossible to take down was so easily beaten.

"I don't think I can allow Crocodile to be taken to the Capital." Smoker said. Those words were enough to ire everyone present. They looked like they would devour Smoker at this time.

"We saved you and this is how you pay us?" Nami shouted.

"You bad marine.." Ussop said.

"Hai.. Bad marines." Chopper shouted.

Smoker was visibly angry as veins popped up in his forehead but he didn't shout back. He looked at Luffy and Ken who seemed to be wanting an explanation from him.

"He is not alone in this whole mission." Smoker said.

"We know. He has Baroque Works under him and some officer agents. I have dealt with some of them." Ken replied.

"You dealt with officer agents? When did that happen?" Zoro and others were a little surprised.

"In Little Garden." Ken replied.

"And didn't bother to inform us?" Nami asked.

"It was nothing major. Now you see Smoker, you don't have to care about the Baroque Works. We can handle that small army of bounty hunters." Ken really didn't care about the Baroque Works nor the army who was charging at Alubarna. They could take care of them easily.

But Smoker shook his head.

"I am not talking about the small number of bounty hunters nor the officer agents that I have heard of. When I came to Rainbase in order to talk with Crocodile, I was caught because I overheard something that I shouldn't have."

"Overheard? What do you mean?" Luffy asked.

"When I came to Rainbase, I got to know that Crocodile wasn't at his office and thus I came out to get some air. But soon I saw Crocodile and stalked him silently. After sometime I got to see him having a conversation with two men. If it was some bounty hunters I wouldn't have cared but the thing is that the people he talked with didn't seem like bounty hunters. These men wore white dress and wore masks that covered everything of their body making it obscure for anyone to guess what kind of person they are. I don't think those brash bounty hunters had that much discipline to act near Crocodile in that way."

Luffy and others had creased eyebrows when Smoker said that. They couldn't understand why Crocodile went out of his casino to even talk with officer agents or some random bounty hunters. It only meant that these people were someone else!

"On top of that, Crocodile spoke to them as equals, so they must be important. It was because of those two men that I was discovered and caught." Smoker replied while clenching his fists. He was incensed that he was caught so easily and forcefully brought back.

"How did they catch you?" Ken asked. Ken thought Smoker had walked into the trap of Crocodile just like in the original story but it was nothing like that.

"These men had weapons just like the one you took from me." Smoker replied. Ken looked embarrassed and in the next moment he took out the Smoker's weapon. He didn't need it anymore. With a throw he returned the weapon back. Smoker was surprised but accepted his old weapon back.

"What more can you tell about these two men?" Ken asked. He was curious about how masked men suddenly appeared in Alabasta.

"Nothing more. Only thing unique about one guy was that he spoke too much and was almost spilling out the secrets until the other guy stopped him." Smoker recalled what he had seen and said.

Ken was in deep thought now. In Alabasta, the only person of significance was Crocodile. Nobody else interfered. But now this wasn't the case. Not only the officer agents know of the identity of Crocodile much earlier than the story but also a new player had just entered the game.

"Does it matter? Whoever comes and hurts the friends of Vivi-san, we will beat the shit out of them." Sanji said while his body was waving in front of Vivi. Vivi gave a distinct laugh seeing this.

"Smoker, can you draw me what they look like?" Ken asked. Somehow he felt that the situation wasn't as simple as everyone thought it to be.