Cain and Ace's faces were dark as they stared Crocodile down. Red light flickered in both of their eyes, as if their Conqueror's Haki might erupt at any moment.
Hearing the voices behind him, Crocodile's face visibly filled with confusion.
His throat moved slightly.
"Hah?"
BOOOOM—!!!
Cain casually swung his staff.
In the blink of an eye, the heavy sand beneath them was smashed into a deep crater.
Crocodile's upper body was blasted apart, scattering into sand.
Cain's eyes were ice-cold.
"I told you not to move."
His eyes widened, terrifying red light surging in his pupils as a vast wave of Conqueror's Haki erupted from him with thunderous force.
"Ace?!"
Luffy's delighted voice rang out.
"You're okay now, Luffy."
Ace quickly stepped forward and helped Luffy up.
Then he turned to look at Crocodile, who was slowly reforming, and released his own Conqueror's Haki as well.
The two waves of Conqueror's Haki clashed violently.
The invisible pressure shook the surrounding sand until it trembled and rustled.
At that moment, Cain and Ace had never been more united in purpose.
Crocodile, who had just reformed his body, was covered in cold sweat.
When he caught sight of the iconic Whitebeard skull mark on Ace's back, a thick wave of unwillingness surged in his eyes.
He had actually been forced into such a miserable state by three brats and that hateful Whitebeard too!
'Everyone of them deserved to die!'
Crocodile glanced at Luffy.
Without another word, he turned his body into a storm of sand, trying to seize the chance to escape.
But Cain did not give him that chance at all.
"I already told you not to move."
Cain stomped heavily on the ground.
The long staff in his hand became wrapped in pitch-black Armament Haki, and with a vicious swing, he struck the sand in midair and sent it flying backward.
Immediately afterward, Cain's body suddenly expanded, transforming into his human-dragon form.
His dragon-like body spun rapidly, stirring up violent gusts of wind.
"Tornado!"
The raging whirlwind instantly swallowed every scattered grain of sand.
Crocodile desperately tried to control the surrounding sand and break free, but Cain did not give him even a breath of room.
A scorching dragon breath erupted from Cain's dragon mouth.
"Since you love playing with tornadoes so much, why don't you try this one?"
Seeing this, Ace immediately raised his hand and added another burst of fire.
In the blink of an eye, flames spread across the sand, then exploded violently into a massive pillar of fire.
The scorching dragon breath and flames fused together, instantly becoming a blazing inferno inside the whirlwind and trapping Crocodile firmly within the flaming vortex.
The intense heat roasted the sand.
Crocodile used all his strength to move the sand caught in the vortex, trying to build a barrier, but there was no way he could withstand that terrifying heat.
"Heh. Stay nicely inside the cage you made yourself."
Cain spoke coldly, then withdrew from his human-dragon form.
The moment his words fell, Ace raised his hand and pulled back all the flames inside the tornado.
The raging wind dispersed with them.
All that remained was a huge glass prison formed from melted sand that had cooled and solidified.
Crocodile was trapped inside in a half-sandified state, completely unable to move.
Cain watched Ace absorb the flames back into his body and felt oddly uncomfortable.
Using his heat breath and storm to amplify Ace's flames, then combining them into a flaming tornado that melted the sand and let it harden into glass—that part was fine.
But the heat breath had come out of his mouth, after all.
Seeing it absorbed like that felt kind of gross.
"Ace, Cain, you guys…"
Luffy looked at the two who had suddenly appeared, his eyes instantly turning red.
"Luffy, were you moved by how cool we looked just now?"
Ace wrapped an arm around Luffy's shoulder and grinned.
Cain also stepped forward and reached out to rub Luffy's head.
"Yuba… Yuba's okay. That's so great!"
Luffy's eyes were red as he shouted happily.
GRRRR—
The three of their stomachs growled loudly at the same time, instantly shattering the warm atmosphere.
"Ah, I'm starving! I want meat!"
Luffy clutched his stomach and wailed.
"I knew you'd be like this. Here."
Ace took a few pieces of smoked dried meat from the backpack behind him and handed them to Luffy.
Luffy accepted them without the slightest hesitation and began chomping down in huge bites.
Then he looked at Ace and Cain, who were also eating dried meat, and curiously asked how they had ended up here.
It turned out that not long ago, Ace and Cain had run into that giant crab—the very same one Nami and the others were riding with Vivi.
After learning that the two of them were hungry, Sanji had given them some food.
After talking for a bit, Cain finally realized that they had not been on the right side of Alabasta's royal palace at all!
They had actually ended up on the complete opposite side, which was how they had stumbled into the others by accident.
The two had originally been planning to head over to the royal palace and take a look.
But the moment they heard that Luffy had stayed behind alone to hold off Crocodile, Ace could not sit still and immediately rushed off to support him.
Cain also followed right behind.
They arrived just in time to see Crocodile about to swing the hook on his left hand toward Luffy.
The two of them attacked at the same time.
Cain swept his staff out and directly scattered the raging sandstorm tornado, while Ace raised his hand and formed flames, steadily clamping down on Crocodile's hook.
That was roughly how things had happened.
While the three of them were talking, a cool female voice suddenly rang out.
"Oh my. It seems I'm no longer needed here."
Nico Robin walked out from some unknown corner, her calm gaze resting on the three brothers before her.
With a casual gesture, she pulled Luffy's straw hat out from where it had been buried in the sand and lightly tossed it over.
"Ah, thanks. But you…"
Luffy caught the straw hat and looked at her with some confusion.
"It's nothing." Robin spoke faintly.
"I was simply curious about why you fight. You who carry the name 'D'…"
Before she could finish, the sound of staggering footsteps came from nearby.
Pell, deputy captain of the Alabasta Kingdom Guard and wielder of the Bird-Bird Fruit, Falcon, came stumbling over from the side.
Panting heavily, he questioned Nico Robin.
Robin ignored him. She merely reminded him calmly to care more about Straw Hat Luffy since, after all, Luffy was the benefactor who had escorted Princess Vivi.
After saying that, she turned and left calmly.
Pell froze in place, then collapsed onto the ground.
He and the three brothers stared awkwardly at one another, and for a moment, the scene became strangely silent.
"Oh, right! Vivi and the others! We need to hurry over!"
Only then did Luffy remember the important matter and quickly speak up.
Cain and Ace exchanged a glance before immediately deciding to go together.
Fortunately, Pell still had some strength left.
He spread his wings and carried them, then shot up into the sky.
"Hey, Cain, Ace, teach me Haki!"
Luffy clung to Pell's feathers and shouted excitedly.
"Sure. But I'll only be responsible for theory and insight. Ace can handle the other parts," Cain said casually.
"Why me?" Ace raised an eyebrow and shot back.
"Look at how weak your Haki is! Just treat teaching Luffy as practice. Otherwise, with you like this, you still want to go find Blackbeard?"
Cain roasted him without the slightest mercy.
"Fine, I'll teach him! You should know, my Haki was personally taught to me by Pops!" Ace said it with full confidence.
"Pops?"
Luffy tilted his head and asked.
"He's the captain of our pirate crew. One of the Four Emperors, Whitebeard," Ace explained.
Then he turned toward Cain and asked,
"My Haki was taught to me by Pops. What about you? Where did you learn yours?"
"Me? The old man beat it out of me."
Cain said it as if it were nothing.
"Damn… You really had it rough."
Ace clicked his tongue.
Luffy and Ace both thought of Garp's teaching methods at the same time, then violently shook their heads.
Better to let Ace teach him!
…
After everyone had gone far away, Nico Robin's figure appeared in the same place once again.
She activated the power of her Flower-Flower Fruit as several arms broke through the sand and shoved the glass prison over with force.
From the shattered cracks, Crocodile slowly seeped out in the form of sand.
Unwilling fury burned in his eyes as he gritted his teeth and growled, "Straw Hat Luffy! Whitebeard!!"
He turned to look at the woman behind him, his tone carrying a hint of accusation.
"Why didn't you act against them just now, Nico Robin?"
"They aren't opponents I can handle." Robin spoke faintly, her tone calm and without a ripple.
"Besides, Boss, I saved your life this time. If I hadn't suddenly appeared and drawn their attention away, you'd probably be at their mercy by now."
Crocodile snorted coldly.
His sand-like body slowly condensed back into shape, and his voice turned vicious.
"Let's go. To the palace."
…
While Luffy and the others rushed anxiously toward the royal palace to save Vivi's country, far across the sea, another princess of another nation had also begun her journey!
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