Chapter 38- A free Alabasta! Well, almost

The rebels were preparing to face off against the royal army {remember that thanks to Luffy's planning they are a couple of weeks ahead of time}, when a giant dragon suddenly flew above them and dropped a ton of Den Den Mushis with a note saying "Will start displaying shortly" on them. The rebels, of course, completely lost their minds about the fact that their 'secret' base was discovered. The rebel leader, Koza, immediately collected the Den Den Mushis and calmed the souldiers down. But when the situation finally calmed down, the Ded Den Mushis woke up and started to display a live recording. But besides the rebels base, the exact same thing happened in the royal capital.

At first, nobody believed it, Crocodile was the hero of Alabasta! why in god's name would he instigate a civil war?! But as the video went on and Crocodile talked more and more, some of them realized the truth. Crocodile spoke about his secret organization, Baroque Works, and how his agents planted the Dance Powder{ if you remembered the name for this thing raise a hand} as well as other important events. Slowly but surely Crocodile told about how Mr.2 transformed himself and planted false information, or how Mr.1 took down souldiers from both sides to continue the conflict. Crocodile was trying to sell himself high as to make Luffy spare him, but it only enraged the population.

Eventually, his long explanation concluded, and he asked Luffy to let him go and he would solve this conflict after he was freed. At that point, Luffy revealed the recording to him, and told him that an angry mob is at the royal capital. The rebel army took the hint and carefully marched to the royal capital with all their forces ready. They didn't drop their guard since they fought the royal army for what seemed like forever, and they didn't have any assurance that the video was real. Devil fruits did exist in this world, and if one developed an illusion one to a high enough level faking a video of this level was absolutely possible. But with all of their forces, they should be able to hold their own and even win against the army. As long as the army didn't ambush them then they still had a good chance at victory.

When the rebel forces arrived at the royal city, the guards put a very close eye on them as they camped outside the city, yet they did not attack. After an hour or so a giant blue dragon could be seen in the distance, and Crocodile was on his back with sea-stone cuffs that Luffy stole from a nearby marine base. "I assume everyone here has seen the video?", everyone nodded. "Good, then let's settle this. I'll give you Crocodile for a fair trial, and in exchange, Alabasta will be my territory". "Wait, we can't decide something like this on the spot. And we need to settle the rebellion problem before that". King Cobra, who was rescued by Sanji, pointed out. "*Sigh* this is why I took over the world back then... Politics are such a hassle, I just gave them undisputed evidence yet they still want something" Luffy complained under his breath.

Luckily for Luffy, nobody heard him. "How about this", Robin spoke up, "the rebels will be welcomed back into Alabasta with minimal punishment". "What?! how is that fair?" a voice came from the rebel camp. "It's extremely fair, actually this is heavily in your favor. Although you were manipulated you still murdered countless innocents for a fake cause, they retaliated but as the royal army they had every right to do so and as a result, they can't be punished. you are the criminals in this situation, King Cobra was innocent and all of the information you believed was false. That's not your fault, but that doesn't excuse what you did to the innocent people who fought for the objectively right cause. Normally, you'd all be brutally killed for treason, but because of the circumstances a year or so in prison is fine", Robin concluded.

"But..." the rebels who believed they fought for the right side refused to agree with Robin's judgment, but Koza stood up and spoke. "She is right. The poor conditions in the capital were because of us. We started a civil war against an objectively innocent side and caused it a lot of unnecessary suffering. We surrender and we will take any punishment given to us". King Cobra, being the kind ruler he is, immediately stood up and shouted "You were manipulated! it is true that you were in the wrong, but you will only get a small punishment and you will be welcomed back as citizens of Alabasta!". Upon hearing this, the rebels relaxed as they didn't want to give up since they feared the punishment.

"So what is your punishment for Crocodile?" Luffy asked. "DEATH!" both rebels and souldiers chanted alike. King Cobra had a pained expression, but he announced the punishment as anything lighter then this would be unjust for his crimes. "So be it", Luffy said and motioned for Zoro. Zoro stood above the kneeling Crocodile, covered his sword with haki, and slashed at his neck. only silence was heard as his head fell from the dragon's back.

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"Finally finished!" Luffy yelled in joy as he finished the negotiation with King Cobra about Alabasta becoming his territory. They were a little resilient at the start, but by shining a little light on the wrongdoings of the world government and guaranteeing protection they finally came to an agreement. Alabasta would technically be Luffy's territory, but they didn't need to pay tax or let him be a supreme leader. It was almost as if it was just in name, but in case of emergency, they did have to hand over the command to him. Plus they had to give him a lot of Dancing Powder as it would be a great asset to Nami with her expertise being controlling the wether. "Now, Chopper is at Drum island correct?" Luffy talked to himself.