Just because something flies through the sky doesn't mean it's a bird. Sometimes it's just a guy who got his ass kicked.
Crocodile soared through the air before crashing down unconscious among the rubble.
Inside the shattered obsidian prison, Luffy lay sprawled out, breathing hard. His body was a mess, not a single inch of skin looked undamaged. Blood stained his vest, bruises covered his arms, and his knuckles were bleeding.
Marcus waved his hand and the remaining obsidian blocks vanished in an instant. He immediately tossed over some cooked steak and milk.
Luffy caught them reflexively and started eating without even sitting up properly.
"Why not just give him a golden apple?" Robin asked, watching the strange recovery process.
Marcus shrugged. "I offered once. He said steak and milk feel better, more satisfying to actually eat, you know? He likes the act of eating."
Made sense in a weird way. For someone who lived to eat, the experience mattered as much as the result.
Within minutes, Luffy was back on his feet, looking completely recovered. The wounds had closed, the bruises had faded, and his energy was back to maximum.
"Marcus, give me one of those golden apples."
"Huh?" Marcus blinked in surprise. "You sure? Thought you didn't like those."
"That guy..." Luffy frowned. "He didn't use his full strength at the end. I want to fight him again."
Marcus stared at his captain, completely lost for words. The guy had just won a brutal fight against a Warlord of the Sea, and somehow he was pissed about it?
But he pulled out a golden apple anyway and tossed it over. As Luffy caught it, he pointed toward Robin, who was still standing awkwardly to the side.
"Hey Luffy, quick thing. Her name's Robin. Since you beat up her boss and left her homeless, I invited her to join the crew. Are you okay with that?"
Luffy glanced at Robin, then nodded once. "Got it. No problem."
Then he turned and walked off in the direction Crocodile had been launched.
Robin just stood there. "That's it? That's all the discussion we get?"
Marcus just shrugged helplessly.
Even Cobra looked baffled by how casually the whole recruitment had gone down. This was possibly the most important decision a pirate crew could make, and it had taken all of five seconds.
---
Luffy found Crocodile lying motionless in the crater he'd made on impact, surrounded by broken stone and sand.
"I know you're faking. Get up and fight me again."
No response. Crocodile just lay there like he really was unconscious.
But Luffy had felt it during their final exchange, that moment when their fists were about to collide, when Crocodile's will had surged forward. For a split second, he had even seen a vision of his own defeat flashing through his mind.
So why? Why hadn't Crocodile followed through with that power?
He had won the fight, but it felt hollow.
"Hey! I know you can hear me."
Still nothing.
Frustrated, he placed the golden apple on the ground beside Crocodile's head. "This is food made by my crewmate's ability. It'll heal you completely. Eat it and get up so we can fight again properly."
Only silence answered him.
He stared at the supposedly unconscious Warlord, then snorted, a puff of white steam shooting from his nose. "Fine. Next time we meet, I'll be way stronger. So strong you'll have no choice but to look up at me!"
He turned and walked away, leaving the golden apple behind.
After Luffy's footsteps faded into the distance, Crocodile's eyes slowly opened. He stared up at the tomb's ceiling, his gaze empty and unfocused.
Effort? Passion? Dreams?
He'd had all those things once. They'd been crushed, ground into dust by reality and by men stronger than him. Nothing had changed since then. Nothing ever would.
"Why is it... every time I fight you, I get this stupid illusion that I could just let go of everything and enjoy the battle?" he muttered to himself.
His eyes drifted to the golden apple sitting beside him. He picked it up, examined it for a moment, then tucked it into his coat without eating it.
Then he stood up and walked away, step by step, disappearing into the shadows.
---
Back in the tomb, Luffy was still sulking when he rejoined the group.
Marcus couldn't figure it out. "You won the fight. Why aren't you happy?"
"I didn't win. Not really. That guy... he kept rejecting me the whole time."
"Rejecting you?" Marcus was confused. "What does that even mean?"
"It's just... that feeling of him not wanting me to get close." Luffy struggled to put his thoughts into words, his face scrunched up in concentration.
Marcus had no idea what his captain was talking about. "You're enemies. Of course he doesn't want you close. That's kind of how fights work."
"No, it's different. It's like... ugh... that feeling, you know?"
"No, I really don't know."
Luffy opened his mouth to try again, but movement at the tomb's entrance cut him off.
A group of men in white suits appeared, their faces hidden behind masks. CP agents.
One of them pointed directly at Marcus. "Target confirmed. 'Miracle Builder' Marcus detected. Commence arrest."
Marcus stared at them. "You're arresting me? Are you serious right now?"
He looked to his left where Luffy stood, the future Pirate King. Then to his right where Robin waited, the Devil Child with an 80 million berry bounty. And these idiots were going after him, the guy in the middle who'd been minding his own business?
"Wrong target, boys."
The CP agents never stood a chance. Luffy's fists moved in a blur, and within seconds, all of them were unconscious on the floor. Except one, Marcus had specifically held that guy back from getting knocked out.
He grabbed the terrified agent by his collar. "Why the hell are you targeting me? I haven't even done anything to piss off the World Government."
The agent trembled. "Y-you created that miracle in the sky over Katorea. The higher-ups are very interested in your abilities, so they ordered—"
"Alright, I get it." Marcus cut him off with a light punch, and the agent joined his colleagues in dreamland.
So that was it. The floating island stunt had attracted way too much attention.
Robin stood frozen. When she'd first seen the CP agents, her instinct had been panic, they'd found her, someone had betrayed her, she'd have to run again. After years of being hunted by the World Government, that response was automatic.
But for the first time in her life, the CP agents hadn't even looked at her. They'd completely ignored her existence.
She turned to stare at Marcus. Was this what having allies felt like? Being part of a group so dangerous that you weren't even the primary target anymore?
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Marcus asked, noticing her expression. "You're thinking something weird, aren't you?"
Robin covered her mouth, a small laugh escaping. "No, not at all."
Marcus muttered something under his breath but didn't push it. This whole thing was just a minor inconvenience anyway.
The bigger picture was what mattered, and in Arabasta, the pieces were already falling into place.
Without Poisson, the new king who'd been supposed to take over, and without Cobra, the old king who'd abdicated, the royal army had no leadership.
Without Crocodile, the guy pulling the strings, Baroque Works had collapsed.
And with the surviving CP agents all busy chasing Marcus, nobody was left to interfere with domestic affairs.
Koza led the rebel army straight into the palace. They executed the nobles who resisted on sight, then systematically began identifying every aristocrat who'd committed crimes against the people.
Almost none escaped judgment.
The rebels discovered things that made even hardened soldiers sick, underground chambers full of slaves, torture rooms, evidence of decades of corruption and abuse. The nobles who'd looked so refined and cultured on the surface had been monsters behind closed doors.
Vivi led many of the raids personally. She witnessed the nobles begging for mercy, their crimes laid bare before her. And she felt nothing but fury.
The great purge swept through Arabasta's nobility. By the time it ended, nine out of ten nobles had been executed, and Koza was still worried about the ones who'd slipped through the cracks.
But Vivi didn't regret her choice. If she'd stopped the rebellion like she'd originally planned, if she'd prevented the war, she might never have discovered the horrifying truth about her country's rulers.
The age of corrupt nobility in Arabasta was over.