Chapter 10: Bad end

Dialogue "sample"

Thoughts 'sample'

Author notes -sample-

Disclaimer: One piece and all of its characters belong to Eiichiro Oda.

Chapter 10: Bad end

"Depending on how you use them and train them, devil fruit powers can be very strong in battle. But I'm not like those idiots who are content to possess their powers. I have honed mine to perfection…You'll wish you never stood up to oppose me!."

Crocodile smashed his right hand against the sand.

"Desert Girasole!"

All of the sand around Luffy sunken down, creating a depression in the shape of a semisphere.

"What!, Whoa!!" Yelled Luffy.

The sand at his feet then started to move towards the lowest part of the depression, right at the center.

"I'm being sucked down by the sand!"

"Never heard of quicksand? it's a very convenient coffin, no grave necessary. The sand is being dragged into an underground river. I can detect that with my powers. There is no living being that can stand toe-to-toe with me in the desert." Claimed Crocodile with a sadistic smile.

"I'm not going to be buried alive!." Said Luffy while trying to outrun the quicksand.

"Gomu Gomu No BAZOOKA!" Luffy extended his arms up and then punched against the ground, catapulting himself in the air and out of the hole.

While airborne, He prepared his next attack. He extended his arm backward while twisting it.

"Gomu Gomu Rifle!"

Crocodile changed his body into a giant mass of sand and avoided it easily.

"Gomu Gomu No Whip!" Luffy cleaved Crocodile in half with his downward kick.

Crocodile reformed once more.

"Repeating the same thing again?"

He made a cutting motion aiming for Luffy's arm.

"Barchan!"

A mass of sand passed through Luffy's arm, seemingly cutting it out.

"Ow." Luffy fell down and clutched his arm.

"My arm!."

Luffy's arm had been momified. All water has been removed from it, leaving his arm looking like a brittle branch.

"It's a mummy, my arm turned into a mummy!." Said Luffy with intense pain.

"I just sucked the water out of your arm. Maybe I should kill you by sucking the water of the rest of your body." Smiled Crocodile.

"Luffy!, drink the water!."

"Ohh, I see!." Luffy understood.

He took the barrel and started drinking. His arm then returned to normal.

"Ridiculous, you are only delaying the inevitable." Said Crocodile.

He then went to put more water on his hands but there were only a few drops left.

"Vivi, I need more water!"

"We have no more...and we are in the middle of nowhere."

Vivi clenched her fists, feeling useless.

Crocodile gave them a smug smile.

"Oh? you are out? what a shame. If you give up this pointless struggle, ill give you both a quick death."

Luffy was not planning on giving up, so He went back to the offensive, this time trying to swallow Crocodile whole, which would have been amusing in a different situation.

Luffy was growing tired at this point and during a minor mistake, He was hit with Crocodile hook and brought to the ground.

He was struggling to get up and Vivi saw the Shichibukai preparing his left arm to give Luffy the final blow.

'I can't just stand here and watch, I need to do something! I can't just let him die here...'

She sighed.

'Well, I already went through this once...'

With a determined expression, She started running towards the duo as fast as her legs could take her.

"Crocodile!." Luffy stood up with difficulty and looked at his enemy.

"Come, Strawhat!" Said Crocodile.

"Gomu Gomu Pistol!" Luffy launched his fist against Crocodile with everything he had.

Crocodile managed to catch it and held it firm.

"I got you now."

Luffy realized what was about to happen when He saw the glint from Crocodile's hook, but He was unable to free his arm in time.

"Die!" Said Crocodile as He moved to impale Luffy.

Something passed in front of Luffy and stood in Crocodile's way.

"What!" Both of them were surprised when they realized what happened.

"Vivi!." Said Luffy in horror at seeing that his friend had taken the hit for him. Crocodile's hook was poking from her back and blood was pouring out.

"Oh?, well this is a bit out of order. But that is quite alright I suppose." Crocodile chuckled.

"Let her go!, YOU BASTARD!" Luffy screamed and pushed Crocodile back, freeing Vivi from his hook and taking her in his arms.

"Vivi!, please!." He called desperately.

"Lu-Luffy…." She wanted to tell him to run away but was unable to speak more with her lungs being filled with blood.

Her vision was becoming unclear but she saw Luffy charging back at Crocodile and continued to fight him.

'No…you can't win like that…' She thought.

A few moments later she witnessed the last thing that she wanted to see. Luffy being pierced by Crocodile's hook, just like she remembers it.

The Shikibukai then threw Luffy's body to one side and turned his attention back to Vivi.

"Y-o-u…b-a-s-st-ard" She managed to get out with difficulty and it was barely a whisper.

But Crocodile seemed to have heard it.

"Oh?, I finally get some emotion out of you, Princess." Said Crocodile, looking satisfied with himself.

She then understood what was the thing that she had changed, the thing that she should not have done. She remembers now how things were supposed to have gone.

During her first encounter with Crocodile at the casino, Vivi loses it the moment she sees Crocodile and attacks him. This seemed to amuse Crocodile who takes joy in others' misery. He then proceeds to humiliate Vivi by telling her all of the terrible things He has done to her country and enjoying her reactions. After being satisfied He left the casino thinking that she died.

'But I didn't give him that satisfaction…I knew He was not going to kill us right away so I didn't feel in danger. I didn't really react much after his recounting of evil deed because deep inside, I don't really consider this my home. His tale about the events in Arabasta just felt like watching news where something terrible had happened somewhere else in the world, yeah you can feel sad, but it doesn't affect you personally.'

She has underestimated how petty Crocodile could be, just because of something stupid like that. And now He was a lot angrier and more focused on destroying her than He originally was.

Crocodile stopped a few feet away from her and smiled.

"I could give you now a long monologue on how much I'm going to enjoy killing you and ruining your country…but I don't want to bore you"

Crocodile raised his hook in the air and prepared to slam it onto her head. He then smiled with satisfaction.

"Just die."