The Sand Trap And Re-Enter Fire-Fist Ace 3...

Chapter 22.75 - The Sand Trap And Re-Enter Fire-Fist Ace 3...

They were just in front of the casino—it was in the shame of a pyramid with lots of typical plants and even surrounded by a lake—the front door on the other side of a bridge with Nami, Usopp, and Zoro all there.

Luffy was still running from Smoker and when he saw them there he yelled, "HEY YOU GUYS! LET'S GO! WE HAVE TO GET INSIDE NOW!"

"Right behind you!" past Usopp yelled without any problems at all as Luffy ran past them all and they were on the bridge. As soon as Luffy realized where they were heading, he began to scream out at the top of his lungs that he was going to kick Crocodile's ass..

"You know, that's not really a good idea," Brook said worriedly as they ran, more members of Baroque Works had appeared and were shooting at them. As memory Zoro went to deal with them, he finished, "Because if he's considered a hero here…?"

"Yeah," Nami answered, her heart beating hard against her chest, "But desperate times call for desperate measures!"

They went bursting through the front doors, though no one gave them any notice, even as Luffy kept screaming for Crocodile to come out so that he could kick his ass. Thankfully both past Nami and Usopp both hit him from behind. "That's not gonna make him come out here you loud-mouth dope!"

"Don't forget!" memory Usopp added as past Zoro caught up with them, "We're dealing with this country's hero! You wanna turn all these customers against us?"

"Alright fine!" Luffy snapped at them, "So what do we do?"

"Go looking through the crowds until you find him?" Franky suggested as past Usopp suddenly realized that they didn't even know what Crocodile looked like without Vivi and they realized that she wasn't anywhere in sight.

"VIVI! CROCODILE! COME OUT!" all three were now screaming out with Zoro shaking his head.

"What were you thinking?" Robin laughed.

"We weren't," Usopp admitted, also laughing at how they were acting. "There wasn't anything else we could do like this?"

"You idiot," Sanji yelled at Zoro, "Weren't you in charge of protecting her?!"

"Hey! I told her to go on ahead while I dealt with the jerks chasing us!" he shouted back. "I don't know what happened!"

"I got you this time Straw Hat!" yelled a voice.

"Smoker!" past Nami screamed as they all looked behind them to see Captain Smoker running across the bridge towards them. It was largely crowded, filled with people playing cards, rolling dice, or playing the slots. The noise and bright lights were a bit disorientating after their time in the desert.

"You think you can just stroll in anywhere you like and I won't find you?!" he demanded and they all turned and ran.

"Oh great!" memory Usopp yelled. "What's that refugee from an ashtray doing in a casino in Rainbase?"

"If you ask me I'd say he's developed a special affection for Luffy here!" Zoro joked. Again, the people hardly paid attention to them as they ran through the room, practically trampling everything in their path.

"Maybe so," Robin answered, not looking forward to seeing what happened next. "He must obviously see Luffy as a big threat since he escaped from Lougetown. He must've come here just for the sake of capturing him."

"You kidding?" Chopper gasped, "So he's going to keep chasing us?"

"Don't know, we haven't seen the guy since we left Rainbase, so maybe he gave up?" Sanji offered. On they ran, even running right over some of the guards like they were just bumps in the road. Something else happened as they ran through the crowd. A group of people were waiting for them, leading them to the V.I.P room.

"Did he just say the V.I.P lounge?" past Usopp yelled in shock.

"Hold on!" past Nami screamed out, "Do you think that it's a trap maybe?!"

"Yes, it was," Robin nodded, still can't believing how easy it was to catch them.

"Hey, don't these lounge things have free drinks for their guests?" Zoro in the memory asked.

"Why would you be worried about that?!" present-day Usopp yelled at him.

"I could really go for a drink," current Zoro said, his throat feeling dried up. He was so sick of travelling around through these memories without having a hard drink with him.

"It's not like we have a choice! Run for it!" Luffy yelled as they barged through the doors and down a long hallway. At the end of the hall, it split into two paths… there were a pair of signs there with one saying 'V.I.P's', and the other said 'PIRATES'. Naturally, they turned down the path that said 'PIRATES' and led them to a dead in where the floor beneath them opened up and they fell into the darkness and then faded.

"Didn't see that coming," Franky said with a dead-panned expression

"Can't believe we fell for that," Nami hissed, rubbing her forehead in annoyance. "I said that it was a trap but we all walked right into it."

In the next memory they were in a large room, with the windows like the aquarium… and so they supposed that they had to be under the lake. But what got their attention was that the five of them were inside a large stone and iron cage. Nami was already yelling at them all about this and Luffy just ignored her, looking pretty sick as he held onto the bars.

"Luffy!" past Zoro yelled as Smoker stood up and when Luffy turned, he struck him with his jutte, holding him down by the tip of his weapon.

"You know, I don't think that now is such a good idea to be picking a fight," Chopper said fearfully, remembering how strong this guy was.

"What's wrong?" Luffy asked, his tongue rolling out once again and his eyes becoming glazed over. "I feel so helpless. It's like when I fall into the sea."

The others were gathered around, each of them demanding to know what Smoker did to him. That was when he confessed all about the Sea-Prism Stone. How it somehow gives off a wavelength that is the same as the sea itself. Upon contact the material drains the victim's body of energy, and negates their Devil Fruit powers - having the same effect as throwing them into the sea. The tip of his jutte was made of it as well and he explained that this cage is also built of it, which is why he hasn't broken out yet.

Zoro slowly began to pull his sword out, looking ready to fight to fight him. Nami and Usopp tried to tell them to stop, that there was no point in fighting here.

"What did you want me to do?" Zoro asked in annoyance. "Wait until he let Luffy go?"

"Maybe, but there was no point in fighting each other in that little cage when we didn't know what was going on!" Nami snapped at him.

That was when an unfamiliar voice, one that was deep and relaxed with a hint of mockery, suddenly spoke up. "She's right… give it up." They all looked up to see a large chair it's back to them. "You're all gonna die together," the same voice said mockingly, "So why not make an effort to get along first?" the voice said.

"Huh, it's Crocodile," Smoker said and the figure in the chair turned to face them. It was here that they got their first glimpse of the villain that they crossed a desert and an ocean to reach. A tall man with a wide chest, broad shoulders, and a thick neck was sitting there in the chair. He also had nape-length, deep black-purple hair which is kept neatly slicked back with a long stitched scar above his nose that stretches across his face. But what they all noticed was that he was missing his left hand—and instead it was replaced with a large golden hook.

He smirked evilly at them all from where he sat, as if he had this whole thing planned out from the very start. As soon as Smoker confirmed that it was Crocodile, Luffy was growling as everyone stared.

"So…" Franky said quietly, "That's Crocodile."

"Yeah, and I can't say that I miss this guy," Zoro stated grouchily.

Smoker finally pulled his weapon off Luffy as he glared at him. "Huh, you're every bit the lowlife sea scum I imagined," he stated.

"My, my," Crocodile said silkily, getting up from his chair. "You're every bit the wild dog I've heard you were Smoker. Unlike your superiors you've never really believed I was on your side have you? And of course, you were right."

"That's what makes Smoker different from most of the Marines who foolishly believe that the Warlords are loyal to the Government," Robin said softly, glad that her past self wasn't seen just yet. "The World Government should know better than to believe that they can control them. As far as I'm aware of, none of the Warlords except for Kuma is truly loyal to them. And Kuma is now a human weapon… a puppet."

"You know Smoker, I have a feeling you'll die bravely in the line of duty," Crocodile went on, "I'll be more than happy to inform the government that you put up a valiant fight against the vicious Straw Hat Pirate here." He stepped out from behind the desk and walked calmly over to them. "I haven't the vaguest idea what really brought you to this country, but I'm guessing you're on your own. We both know that the government would never order you to come to this land. They have every confident in me, a Warlord of the Sea."

"Listen to that smug voice of his," Usopp hissed, his hand now itching towards his slingshot, "This guy thinks that he can control people however he wants!"

"He could," Robin said sadly. This was the reason that she went to him, those years she worked for him didn't make her happy or proud of what she was doing, and she always had to stay on guard for any betrayal. And in the end, he did betray her as well…

"You big old bag of wind," Luffy yelled, rolling over to glared at him, "you're Crocodile?" He got up and grabbed hold of the bars, "Come and fight me like a man you big dumb…" but his voice became slurred as Usopp yelled at him to let go of the bars.

"Straw Hat Luffy," Crocodile said smoothly, "I congratulate you on getting this far, and I promise to dispose of you neatly and efficiently. Once our special guest of honor has made her appearance."

"A guest?" past Nami repeated anxiously.

"While even as we speak, my partner is on the way to fetch her," he said. And so he calmly sat down at the table to enjoy his meal, which only made everyone angry that he was so calm with them trapped like this. But with nothing else they could do, the only thing was to wait.

"His partner?" Brook said softly, looking to Robin, who was looking away, looking embarrassed. "He meant you didn't he?"

"He told me to go and get the princess," she answered simply.

"You didn't hurt her did you?" Sanji asked. He didn't sound angry or anything… just curious.

"A little," Robin answered, "But nothing serious." No… it was the man who was known as Pell the Falcon that she really did a number on.

No one criticized or scolded her for that as they went back to watching the whole scene. It was ironic… even having finally met the one who orchestrated the whole mess in Alabasta, Luffy and the others with him were unable to do anything to get at Crocodile because of the cage they were in.

It seemed to take forever as they waited. Crocodile merely sat at the table, enjoying his meal while Luffy and Usopp passed the time copying people with Zoro catching a quick nap. But over time, Nami seemed to grow more and more angry and finally ended up smacking the two to get them to stop clowning around.

"Get serious! How can you two screw around when we're in this desperate situation?!" she yelled.

"Well we can't get out so what else is there for us to do?!" Luffy demanded.

"The fact that we can't get out is the reason it's so desperate!" memory Nami screamed out, "If we don't do something soon we're gonna wind up dead! And why are you sleeping?!" she turned to Zoro and knocked him awake.

"What was I doing?" Zoro demanded her.

"Well, you weren't doing us any good asleep!" she barked at him.

"Didn't you coming up with any ideas to how we were supposed to get out of that dump!" he growled back.

Crocodile seemed to be growing tired of their talk and looked to her as he said, "You're certainly a high-spirited young lady."

Memory Nami smirked back, telling him that he better enjoy it while he could because as soon as they got out of this cage the boys were going to kick his ass which Luffy yelled out confidently. Crocodile didn't seem the least bit concerned.

"Your crewmembers seem to put a lot of trust in your talents Straw Hat Luffy," he said in amusement, "How foolish. I think trust is completely unnecessary."

"Yes, and he has never trusted anyone…" Robin whispered back.

"Well, look at where that got him!" Usopp said bitterly.

"Who does he think he is sneering at us?!" memory Nami demanded as Usopp tried to tell her not to say anything she'd regret before she made him angry.

"Yeah, at the moment I couldn't have cared less," current Nami said intensely. "Just that everything about this guy made me angry.

"Crocodile!" yelled a voice above them and up on the stairs were two women. Vivi and Robin.

"Vivi!" the ones in the cage called.

"We sure that's you?" Franky asked Robin, seeing the cold and expressionless look on her face—and not really believing that was the same woman who was standing next to him.

"I wonder that myself," she answered back softly, looking at the person she had once been.

"My humble greetings Vivi, royal princess of Alabasta, I mean Miss Wednesday," Crocodile said mockingly, leaning back in his chair, "I complement you on evading all our assassins in order to get this far."

Vivi was shaking in rage as she glared down at him. "You have no idea what I'd do, or how far I'd go to see you dead Mr. 0," she whispered, her voice trembling before she snapped, much like how she did at the desert when she smacked Luffy.

"I WISH YOU HAD DIED IN YOUR CRADLE YOU MONSTER!" she screamed as she charged at them. The ones in the cage screamed at her to let them out instead, that she couldn't take him on her own, but she ignored them as she pulled out her weapon. She threw it, striking his head as he had causally stuck a cigar into his mouth. At first it looked like she had done it, for his head was gone.

Brook, Franky, and Chopper let out cries of shock at seeing his missing head. But there was no reason for them to yell.

"Not gonna work," Smoker said and the rest of Crocodile's body had turned to sand, spinning around like a small tornado and his body, still missing his head, appeared behind Vivi and grabbed hold of her. "Feel better?" he asked discourteously, "As a native of this country, you should surely know that I have the power of the Sand Sand Fruit."

"Sand Sand…?" Brook repeated carefully.

"It's a Logia power," Robin answered. "Crocodile has the power of sand. This fruit is quite powerful, even among Logia. Not only can he control and become sand, he can also create quicksand, set off sandstorms and absorb liquids."

Crocodile's head suddenly reappeared and he asked something that made them all feel cold. "Want to become a mummy?"

"So Vivi-san knew?" Brook whispered quietly. "That he had this kinda power?"

"If she didn't, I'd be very surprised," Robin answered as Luffy began screaming at him to leave her alone, warning that if he hurt her he'd have to deal with him.

"Then why didn't she tell any of you about it?" Franky demanded loudly. "You could've spent that time walking trying to figure out a way to beat him!"

They all shrugged, not sure how to answer that as Crocodile forced Vivi to sit in the chair opposite of him. "I trust you'll be comfortable there," he told her. "I must say that your timing is perfect. The party is about to begin isn't that right Miss All-Sunday?"

"Party?" memory Nami asked as memory Robin pulled out a watch. "It's exactly noon right now," she said softly, "Time for Operation Utopia."

"What are you all talking about?" Franky asked, now lost to this whole thing.

"This was Crocodile's true plan from the very start," Robin answered as Luffy asked what this was about. But Crocodile just laughed insanely at that, looking back to Vivi.

"It will mean the demise of the Kingdom of Alabasta, Miss Wednesday," he said, "I'm going to wipe it off the face of the map as if it never was. All people, great and small, will be sucked into eternal darkness as they rive in agony. Let Operation Utopia… begin!"

"Ok, is it just me or is this guy completely insane?" Sanji asked.

"It's not just you," Nami muttered as Crocodile laughed darkly at his sick and twisted plans. Vivi struggled against the ropes that now bound her to the chair, demanding to know what he was planning on doing to Alabasta. She let him know that if he planned on killing her father, he'd be dead before he could even get close to him. But he didn't seem bothered by that. Instead, he let her know that he didn't think that her father was even worth killing and instead he was going to let him face something crueler than death. Vivi demanded to know what she was going on, screaming that he tell her what he was planning. Crocodile smirked and confessed his whole plan to her. How he planned to finish this country once and for all.

He had his agents kidnap her father and when Mr. 2 disguised himself as him, he was going to have him attack the citizens, believing that the king had betrayed them. Here, the rebels would have the motivation they wanted. They would soon storm the capital and that would be the end of it all…

He laughed again as they all glared at him.

"How horrible," Brook whispered, stunned at hearing all this.

"This guy doesn't deserve to live, he's got no soul," Sanji hissed, wishing that he could've kicked this guy's sandy ass for what he put Vivi through.

"Listen to that power-dripping laugh, he's enjoying all this!" Franky roared out, smacking his fists together. "He's dead if I ever met him!"

"Well… do you like it?" Crocodile asked her, as if asking for her option on this whole plan. "The operation you once participated in is now reached fruition. If you listen closely, I'd wager you can hear the howls of the kingdom. And they all scream the same thing… protect Alabasta… protect Alabasta… protect Alabasta…"

"SSSSSTTTTOOOOPPPPP IIIIITTTTT!" Vivi screamed out, sounding close to crying again. "HOW ARE YOU SO CRUEL?!"

"He's sick," Zoro said, his hand on his swords.

"Taunting her like this," Brook said furiously, "It's like he's rubbing it all in her face!"

Crocodile only chuckled. "It's heartbreaking isn't it? Their love for their kingdom will be what destroys it."

That was too much for Luffy. He charged at the cage again and was now attempting to break it apart with his bear hands.

"He won't be able to get through those bars," Robin said rubbing her wrists. "After all, Sea-Prism Stone is as hard as diamond. Breaking it is almost impossible."

"Is he stupid?" Smoker suddenly asked Zoro in the background. "Didn't he hear what I said before?"

"I'm sure he did, he just doesn't care," Usopp said knowingly.

"He's definitely stupid," memory Zoro admitted, a smile on his face. "But… that's also the reason he's our captain."

"Why else would we keep him around?" Nami said scolding, though they all knew that she didn't mean a word of that.

"Crocodile…" Luffy snarled, "I am so gonna… kick your… ass."

"You know what?" Crocodile said, as if bored. "I've had to make so many moves to be able to get to this point. The sabotage to enflame the citizens… manipulating the royal army…" he looked back to Vivi, "Do you have any idea to why I'd go to such lengths? To destroy this country?"

"As if I'd understand anything inside your foul mind," Vivi snarled.

"Why did he?" Chopper asked, suddenly wondering that very same thing.

"He was looking for something," Robin answered. "For apparently there was a weapon that was hidden somewhere here. One so powerful that it was given the name of a god. The Pluton…"

"The-the Pluton?!" Franky yelled, his eyes wide and feeling as if he had been struck in the chest.

"Pluton?" Usopp repeated lost.

"You've heard of it, Franky-san?" Brook asked, also wondering what they were talking about.

Franky took several deep breaths. "Yeah. My mentor… the man who taught me everything I know about shipbuilding, Tom, was taken away by the government because of that. See, according to legend, the Pluton was an ancient weapon that was so powerful that it could destroy an entire island with no problems. The ancient shipwrights of Water 7 had created the designs for a counter-weapon should the Pluton ever be awoken. It was passed from master to apprentice for years. But two years ago, when the government tried to take them, I had no choice but to destroy them."

"You had them?" Chopper asked in surprise.

"That's why they wanted me as well as Robin," Franky said, sharing a look with her and she nodded before Franky went on, "I don't know what this weapon can do, or where it is, but I do know that it's got some serious power."

"And that's what Crocodile was searching for?" Zoro asked, "It was in Alabasta?"

"Rather the poneglyph that talked about the Pluton was there," Robin answered. Vivi suddenly knocked her own chair over. Usopp and Nami called worriedly to her as Crocodile looked down at her. "Well, well… what are you trying to do Miss Wednesday?"

"Stop you!" she said fiercely, "I'm gonna stop you! There's still time! If I can just get to Alubarna east of here…" she dragged her body across the floor. "If I can get there before the rebel army I may be able to stop them! I'll never give up while there's a chance!"

Crocodile only chuckled.

"That bastard!" Sanji growled, "Laughing at a woman's helplessness! He's a dead man! Hell with it, death's too good for him!"

"Somehow I'm going to stop you!" Vivi declared, glaring fiercely at him, "Just watch! You won't get away with this!"

Amused by this pathetic attempt, Crocodile told her that he and Miss All Sunday were about to meet her father in Alubarna themselves. But before he left, he held up a small key.

"The key to this cell?!" Luffy yelled. "Hey! Give it!"

"Like he's going to give it to us because we asked," Usopp whispered sarcastically to himself. Crocodile merely smiled as he let the key drop as Vivi struggled with the ropes. She was able to rip them apart just as she made a wild snatch, but it was too late, Crocodile opened up a trap door and the key fell down a long shaft.

"It won't be too long until the rebels and the royal forced begin their battle to the death," Crocodile said. "Even if you hurry to Alubarna from here, who knows if you'd make it in time?" he turned back to her, "To stop the rebellion you'd need to leave at once Miss Wednesday. Will you do that? Or will you try to save your friends instead? It's your choice, but if you chose the latter, it doesn't help that I accidently dropped the key into the Banana Gator's den."

"Banana what?" Chopper said, never hearing of such a thing.

"Think of them as Terminator Gators," Usopp whispered, shivering at how enormous those things were.

Vivi gasped as she looked down the hole... "Banana Gators!"

"What are those things?" Luffy called, before he shouted, pointing to the window, "Look out the window! There's an alligator growing outta that banana!"

And as they looked, Brook shrieked at the giant gators with banana-shaped growths on their heads. Gators so big that they could've easily swallowed even someone as big as Franky in one gulp.

"In case you haven't noticed that's not the only one!" memory Nami screamed in panic.

"It looks like we're in an aquarium," Usopp yelled, sounding scared out of his mind, "I hope we're not the fish food!"

"What weird bananas," Luffy said to himself.

"How can he think that?!" Chopper screamed in fear as Usopp yelled the same thing at him. But Vivi gasped in horror as she continued staring down the hole.

"What now?" Luffy called worriedly. "Vivi what happened?"

"Really, what else could've happened here?!" Franky demanded.

"A big Banana Gator swallowed the key to your cell!" she cried.

"Things just went from bad to worse," Nami sighed, glaring at Crocodile. "We were lucky that we made it out of that mess alive. "What a nightmare that was."

"Well then go down there and make it spit it out!" Luffy yelled as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You gotta be kidding, she's a breath mint to that thing!" Brook said fearfully, staring at the great size of the gators. Vivi looked up and yelled back that she didn't stand a chance; explaining that Banana Gators were so strong and dangerous that they even preyed on Sea Kings.

"They weren't that tough," Zoro said in a bored way.

"Quite comparing everyone to you superhuman freaks!" Usopp yelled at him.

"Sorry," Crocodile said, not sounding sorry in the slightest, "You might've had the key if I hadn't accidently… dropped it. And now there's no telling which one of my pets swallowed it."

"You jerk!" present-day Usopp yelled.

"Yeah! You dropped it on purpose!" Chopper added as they watched Crocodile start to leave through a hallway behind them, one made of glass and they could get a full look at least a dozen gators. Explaining further that Crocodile decided to flood the room they were in, so he presented Vivi in front of Luffy and the rest, the choice between getting to Alubarna in time or saving Luffy and those with him before the room completely filled with water in one hour. As Crocodile was explaining this challenge to Vivi, he ended up laughing at the rebels and about Toto still digging away his life in Yuba. It was then that he confessed that he was the one causing the sandstorms as well as the drought to drive the people here insane.

Vivi's face was livid. "I will kill you!" she shouted.

He just turned and headed through the door as the water began pouring into the room. Usopp freaked out at the sight of it, screaming for Vivi to help them and that he wanted to live a lot longer than one hour. Zoro than snapped at him to calm down, but Usopp was past hearing, screaming that they were going to drown like rats if they didn't get out.

Vivi however seemed to have lost the will to fight. She was crying, unsure of what to do. She knew that even if she left for Alubarna they'd kill her before she got there. She even came out and said that she knew the only way to end it was to kill him, but admitted that she was too weak to do so. But Luffy was still there, telling her that he knew that she could get them out.

"How Luffy?" she cried desperately out as Crocodile looked back at him.

"So you're finally starting to beg for your life, Straw Hat Luffy?" he said barely interested, "There's no shame in that. It's only natural, everyone's afraid of dying."

"I wouldn't say that," Sanji said, thinking back to that brief moment in Lougetown where he smiled when he thought for sure he was going to die. "Not everyone's like you Crocodile."

"I'm not begging!" Luffy snapped. "It's just that if I die, who else is gonna be able to kick your ass!"

"Don't worry," current Zoro said. "I would've done it if there was a problem."

"Sure you could," Sanji said sarcastically. "You were barely alive after dealing with that Mr. 1 guy."

"Better than you fighting a perverted ballerina," he retorted and the two were going at it with swords and kicks with Nami grinding her teeth together, wanting noting more than to kill them both.

Crocodile looked over them all as they glared at him. "Don't flatter yourselves," he said, "You small fry."

"You're a small fry who thinks he's a big shot!" Luffy retorted. Crocodile didn't seem concerned as he snapped his fingers together again and another trap door opened so that one of the Banana Gators reared its ugly head.

He turned back to Vivi and said, "You're right Miss Wednesday, I would've had you killed had you left for the capital, and of course I plan on doing the same thing here."

Vivi stared up at it in fear, clutching her weapon as it growled at her hungrily

"She's out of her league!" Sanji said, furious that it took him so long to get here and how he couldn't protect her.

"Again, you're never around when we need you," Zoro said, rolling his eye.

"Vivi!" Luffy yelled just as Zoro said that so Sanji didn't hear that remark. "You show that gator!"

"Is he nuts? It's too much for her to handle! She has to get out of there!" Brook cried out anxiously.

Past Usopp and Nami stared at him. "Are you crazy? It's too big!" Usopp yelled, "Vivi! Don't listen to this idiot! Get outta there! But ah… get us out to!"

"How can she do that without fighting?" Franky screamed out exasperatedly.

"Crocodile wasn't going to let her just leave either," Robin added sadly.

"She only has to beat one of them!" Luffy countered to them.

"NO! Look out the windows!" memory Nami cried and past Usopp screamed to see the gators were all lined up, one after the other.

"THEY'RE ALL WAITING IN LINE TO EAT US!" he screamed.

"At least we won't drown like rats," Zoro in the memory offered.

"Yeah, but getting eaten by a ginormous alligator isn't the way that I wanna go either!" he snapped back.

"You know, if we weren't all about to die here, it'd be pretty funny," Zoro said nonchalantly.

"How can you be enjoying this?!" Usopp demanded, pointing at themselves in the cage. "This was a nightmare! From beginning to end!"

"Yeah, how did you all get out of that?" Chopper asked, feeling a little bad that he wasn't able to help. But then again, if he had been there, he'd probably have been shoved into the cage with them.

Vivi glared up at the gator, it opened its mouth wide as it growled. She tried to fight, but she had to dodge as it rammed its head right into the stairs, taking the steps out with a single bite like it was cardboard. They were all screaming for her to run, as she started bleeding. But at that moment, something else happened. They received a call from the Transponder Snail that Robin had and a familiar voice sounded from it.

"That's your voice, huh Mr. Prince?" Robin asked as Sanji sighed happily at his nickname.

"Prince?" Franky said in confusion. "Who?"

"ME YOU IDIOT!" Sanji yelled, breaking off the fight with Zoro. Luffy was about to call out to Sanji, but Usopp covered his mouth. "Shut up, they don't know about him so let's keep it that way! Sanji was inside the cabin when Mr. 2 showed up so they never met! He's our Ace in the hole so zip it!"

"They say that someday your prince will come to your rescue, and it's true!" Sanji declared lovingly to Nami, who rolled her eyes.

That was when the past selves realized that Sanji and Chopper were both still outside. Sanji, nicknamed as Mr. Prince, began talking to Crocodile. It sounded like he was mocking him and showing off, but soon there were the sounds of gunfire and yells. Another's voice was saying that they dealt with him as they stared in horror as the Millions member told Crocodile to meet them in front of the casino.

"You just had to get yourself caught," Zoro said angrily. "How pathetic was that?"

"Just when I thought that you were all saved," Brook sighed.

"Hey," Sanji said to them all, "That was the point! You honestly think that I'd be that weak to be taken out by those Millions guys? It was a trap! I made it seem like I'd been captured to lure that damn gatorman outside. Chopper was acting as the decoy and while he was kept busy, I destroyed the bridge outside before I found Vivi so that I could bail Nami and the idiots out!"

"So that's what happened," Nami said as Usopp and Zoro growled at the insult.

"It was clever," Robin admitted. "We went to go out and check. Now only were the remaining employees taken out, but the destroyed bridge cost us a lot of time so that by the time that we finally made it back, you all were gone and the Banana Gators were all beaten up."

"Oh man, I really need to see how this ends," Franky said eagerly, pulling out another bottle of cola and drinking it excitedly as if expecting a great big show.

"If he's not dead he's gonna wish he was!" memory Zoro yelled with Luffy and Usopp freaking out behind him. "Cause I'm gonna kill him when I next see him!"

"Like you could kill me," Sanji said to him.

"Please, in a fight to the death, I'd clearly win!" Zoro reminded him coolly. Crocodile smirked, telling them that he'd be there.

"Is this wise?" Robin asked, reminding him that most of Baroque Works doesn't know who he is. But Crocodile dismissed it, reminding her that he owned the casino. They wouldn't wonder why he would be going to check out the trouble in front. Meanwhile Vivi was trying to climb up the destroyed stairs. The gator realized that his dinner was getting away, turned back to her. Luffy yelled at her, wanting to know what she was doing and she declared that she was going to help 'Mr. Prince'.

"Got it!" memory Usopp yelled. "There's no way he kicked the bucket! Not that guy! If you can get him free then I'm sure that he can get us free!"

"And Chopper's out there to!" memory Nami added, "So we might actually have a chance of getting out of here!"

"Don't worry my love!" Sanji declared. "You're knight in shining armor is almost there for you!"

"You couldn't have hurried up could ya?" Zoro asked him. "Though I guess that's too much for you to handle."

"You are about this far away from the beatdown of a lifetime!" Sanji roared at him.

"Bring it on! I'll cut you up into little pieces!" Zoro yelled back.

"SHUT UP!" Nami screamed at them, "GOD YOU TWO ARE GIVING ME A HEADACHE! WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO? KEEP YOU TWO IN SEPARATE CORNERS OR SOMETHING?!"

As Vivi got up the stairs, Crocodile used his powers and his hook to pull her back down so she was smacked against the floor, knocking her out. Water was spreading as Crocodile and Robin made it to the upper stairs and were looking down, with Crocodile claiming that if she cared so much about her friends, she could die here with them before he added that he would be back with Mr. Prince after he killed him.

"Come on girl!" Franky cheered Vivi on as she slowly started to get back up once Crocodile and Robin left.

Struggling hard for breath, she pushed her face up so that they could see the blood dripping down. "They've been there for me all this time," she whispered to herself as the ones in the cage still cheered her on. "They've never let me down, so I can't let them down. And I won't let them die like this."

The gator went for her, but she used her weapon to slash its nose and it drew back in pain.

"There ya go!" Franky yelled as Chopper and Usopp cheered excitedly on. She then used the gator like stairs as she jumped back to the steps above them, the others encouraging her all the way. But when the gator went back for her, the force that it had when it hit the wall cracked the windows and even more water spilled in; gallons of water were pouring through the cracks.

"At this rate, the walls won't last much longer!" Franky called hurriedly. "It's gonna break apart!"

"At the rate it's flowing we don't even have an hour left!" memory Usopp yelled, "We'd be lucky to have twenty minutes!"

"Vivi?!" Luffy called, his attention still on the stairs as Vivi pulled herself out of harm's way. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine!" she screamed back, "I'm going to get help so just hold on! I will get you out of there! I'm not going to abandon any of you! I promise I'll be right back with help ok?!"

"Ok! You can do it Vivi!" Usopp and Luffy screamed as she turned and ran off.

"This explains a great deal," Robin said, a part of her always wonder just what happened here that day. Pirates were a lot of things, but the one thing you could always count on them being, it was that they were resourceful when they wanted to be.

It was only a few minutes later until Luffy and Usopp were screaming their heads off.

"ALL OF US ARE GONNA DIE!" Luffy screamed as Usopp shrieked about the gators. "THE WATER'S GONNA BE UP TO OUR NECKS ANY MOMENT!"

"HEY! HEEEEYYYYY!" memory Nami screamed, sticking her arm through the bars. "HEY YOU STUPID GATOR! IF YOU'RE HUNGRY COME AND GET ME!"

"NAMI!" Sanji and Chopper cried out in terror.

"ARE YOU NUTS NAMI? WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" memory Usopp screamed as the gator went for her arm. For one horrible moment, they thought it did, but she pulled her hand out of her sleeve as she declared, "I'm trying to lure that gator in close enough that he'll bite this cage apart!"

Once they all realized what she was doing, they were all yelling at it, Usopp snapping at Luffy that it's a gator, not a banana because he kept taunting 'the weird bananas'. But soon, their taunts got to it as it opened his wide mouth and headed straight for them.

"Here it comes!" Brook yelled, expecting to see the cage destroyed…

"WATCH OUT!" memory Nami screamed as the teeth came down on the cage, all of them cowering and covering their heads, but it was too strong for the gator for all of his teeth cracked and broke apart.

"That had to hurt!" Chopper yelled, almost feeling that pain as he thought about his own teeth being destroyed like that.

"THE CAGE IS TOO TOUGH!" Usopp screamed, looking ready to start bursting out in tears.

"THE BANANA DIDN'T EVEN DENT IT!" Luffy screamed dejectedly, just as Smoker spoke up, in a surprisingly disinterested voice—as if he couldn't care less to what was happening to him.

"We're all about to die!" memory Usopp snapped at him loudly, "How can you just sit there like that?"

"You should be trying to get us outta here too!" Luffy added just as angrily.

But rather than answer that he asked a question. "Tell me something. How much do you guys know? What exactly is Crocodile after?"

They all looked surprised at the question and then Smoker went on to talk about Robin, about how the government had been after her for about twenty years and about her bounty. He also admitted that if those two are planning something, and if they aren't stopped here, there was a chance the whole world could get dragged into this. Luffy ignored him, claiming that he didn't need any other reason. He was still going to kick Crocodile's ass no matter what.

"Not in there you're not," Sanji muttered as the water suddenly reached up their legs. At this rate, they'd be lucky to survive another ten minutes at this rate.

"I see," Smoker said in a skeptic voice to Luffy's declaration, "So… how do you intend to get out of here?"

But no one was listening as they were all beginning to freak out again at the ever-rising water.

Just then, that same voice from over the Transponder Snail spoke up. "It's really impolite to make a lot of noise at mealtime like you were doing. I'll teach you to behave." And then the gator was suddenly flying, the impact of the kick was so great that the water seemed to part around them… "BAD-MANNERS KICK COURSE!"

"They have the manners of a reptile," Sanji said smugly as his past self looked to the large dent in the gator's stomach and was out before it hit the floor.

"Maybe that's because they are reptiles!" Usopp said to him angrily.

"Hey guys," memory Sanji said, looking to them. "Been waiting long?"

"YEA! IT'S MR. PRINCE WE'RE FINALLY GONNA GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" Usopp and Luffy cheered together, doing a kinda jig, tears of relief in their eyes.

"Thank you," memory Nami gasped in relief as Zoro snapped at him to hurry and find the key. But Sanji was once again swooning at Nami, asking if she loved him yet.

"Umm, sure," she said, though it was clear from her tone that she didn't mean a word of it, "And I'll love you even more if you hurry up and open this cage!"

"Really?" the current Sanji gasped out at her.

"Shut up," she told him firmly as Luffy was giving Vivi a thumbs up from her place on the top of the stairs. She only smiled back as she returned the gesture and Sanji turned back to the gators that were crawling up into the room in droves. Each on was baring their teeth at him as he turned back to them all calmly, "More dinners with bad manners huh?"

"They look hungry," Chopper said nervously.

"Relax, Mr. Prince is here to deal with them all," Sanji said proudly.

"Please, you only took out two of them," Zoro reminded him, "Me and Luffy took them all out."

"Why I'm gonna…" Sanji threated as his past self, raised his foot, looking ready to fight them all. He was claiming to take his time for going after Nami. Usopp was screaming that they didn't have time for chivalry and to hurry up and take them out.

"Ok, who wants to be a purse?" Franky asked, grinning evilly, "And who wants to be a wallet?"

"They would make one heck of a handbag," Brook stated, nodding.

"Too bad that we didn't think about it at the time," Nami sighed. "Gator… especially Banana Gator skin is really valuable. We could've made a lot of money off just one of them!"

"I don't care about that!" Usopp yelled, "I just wanted Sanji to stop talking and just give them the boot already!"

Minor surprise came when Smoker helped them out by telling them that the third gator that just came in was the one with the key.

"Hey," Luffy said, looking back at him, "How do you know that, Smokey?"

"Guess your ears aren't as big as your mouth," he snapped back, "Isn't that one's growl the same one who swallowed the key?"

Luffy and Usopp stared back at the gators, hearing their growls and Luffy admitted that he couldn't really tell.

"I see," Brook said eagerly, "That one growl was deeper than the others!"

"Dang you got some sharp hearing for someone without ears," Franky said in amazement. Past Sanji took his advice and went straight for that gator, and when he did, something large, round, and white came spitting out of its mouth.

"What's that? An egg?" Chopper asked at once as a large, perfect round ball came bursting out and hit the floor, splashing water everywhere.

"It can't be," Robin said in disbelief. But they found out what it was very quickly Everyone got a shock when the 'egg' suddenly cracked open and Mr. 3 was there, looking as dried up as a mummy and he dove his face into the water.

"Yes! Water at last! It's a miracle!" Mr. 3 gasped out.

"What the hell was Mr. 3 doing inside the belly of a Banana Gator?" Franky yelled out.

"Crocodile," Robin answered. And she quickly explained that when Crocodile assembled a meeting with all of his Officer Agents at Rain Dinners, marking the first time they know the true identity of their boss. Crocodile informed his agents of the goal of the Baroque Works and gave them their final mission and their respective parts in overthrowing Alabasta. Mr. 3, who snuck in after the other members came to ask for another chance to defeat the Straw Hats. Crocodile was certainly surprised by this revelation since, after the call from Little Garden, he assumed that all of the Straw Hat Pirates and Vivi were dead. Disappointed with Mr. 3, Crocodile dried him up and fed him to his Banana Gators.

"Well, I guess that's one way of knowing when you're fired," Zoro stated as they stared at Mr. 3, who was drinking all the water around him to rehydrate himself. He didn't even notice them as he recovered and began talking to himself that after Crocodile fed him to the gator, he used his powers to create the wax ball and survive. That was when he noticed something attached to the wax ball and picked up the key.

The three in the cage were yelling trying to reach through the bars to grab it and he freaked out as soon as he saw them. Obviously still having traumatic flashbacks to what happened at Little Garden. They could see the stunned look on his face change slowly as he put two and two together.

"Now I see what's happening here," he said an evil smirk uncurling on his face.

"He isn't…?" Brook asked carefully.

"Oh, he did," Zoro sighed.

"Mr. 3 I presume?" memory Sanji said, stepping up to him and Mr. 3 jumped in shock at that, demanding to know how Sanji knew who he was.

"Really?" Franky asked, looking around as if expecting someone to explain to him why this guy asked such a stupid question, "Doesn't he realize what he did to his hair?"

"And you would know all about strange hair," Usopp said as Franky pressed his nose down for three seconds and created a large, blue afro.

"He's got brains, but no common sense," Nami sighed.

"Well, your hairstyle kinda gave it away," memory Sanji answered back, holding his hand out to take the key, "I'll take the key, toss it here."

"Sure thing!" Mr. 3 yelled with a toothy, malevolent grin, "Here it goes!" And then he tossed the key as far away as he could. They all watched in horror as it went flying and landing in the water, right in the middle of all those gators.

"Damn him!" Franky yelled furiously.

"I don't know who you are," Mr. 3 said, turning back to Sanji, still cackling insanely, "But if you want the Straw Hats free you're no friend of mine! Good luck! You'll need it with all those alligators around, trust me I know!"

"Jerk," memory Sanji snarled, looking ready to give him a beating.

"Better find it soon," Mr. 3 taunted them, "That water's rising!"

And he wasn't kidding, the others were all yelling out, looking desperate now.

"It doesn't matter," Robin informed them, "that key was a fake anyway. Crocodile showed me that he had the real key as we were heading back to the room."

"Wait! You mean that he never gave us a chance to escape at all!" Nami yelled as her past self screamed out that they were almost out of time.

"I was surprised as well," Robin explained. "But it seems that you didn't need it after all."

"How did you get out then?" Brook asked hurriedly.

"Lousy, good-for-nothing wax guy," past Sanji hissed. But Usopp suddenly cried out, "Wait a minute Sanji! He might be good for something! Like using those wax powers to make a key!"

"So that's what happened," Robin laughed a little. "I see…"

"Crocodile was the one who fed him to that thing," Zoro said, "And Mr. 3 had the brains to protect himself when he was kicked out of the gator's gut."

"It's like fate had planned this all along," Brook whispered in awe.

"Well, we got him out of that thing, so it was the least he could do to repay us," Sanji said as his memory self grabbed hold of Mr. 3. It wasn't hard for him to 'convince' him to help them out. Sanji beat him to within an inch of his life before he let up enough for Mr. 3 to turn his finger into a wax key and opened the door. "Nice work, candleman," he said, "Now there are just two more things to do."

He planted a note to Mr. 3's chest, 'Mr. Prince was here' and then kicked him hard enough that he went flying against the wall and knocked out. Everyone was piled out of the cell and Sanji said that they had to hurry because he didn't know how much more time they had before Crocodile came back. Memory Nami agreed saying that they had to hurry and stop the rebels before they reached Alubarna and that they should be able to get out through the hall that Crocodile was about to take before. But Vivi cried out that the hall was filled with Banana Gators…

Not that they had to worry. Luffy and Zoro had just taken care of them all. "THAT'S IT!" Luffy yelled out, practically roaring with energy, "I CAN TAKE ON HUNDREDS OF THOSE WERID BANANAS!"

"Amazing as always!" Brook called out as Chopper's eyes lit up.

"You guys are so cool!" he gasped out.

"Well," memory Nami said, as they stared at them, "That's problem solve."

Vivi turned away, suddenly crying in shame after seeing how easy they took care of them all. "And I had so much trouble with just one of them." Usopp was trying to comfort her, saying that she shouldn't compare herself to their insane strength… but that's when things got worse as it always did.

The walls all cracked and broke apart and as the water came rushing towards them, the memory faded as they were bombarded with water. Luffy was yelling something at Zoro but they couldn't hear him over the roar of the waves.

"That… was something," Franky whispered as they appeared in the outside world once again, now stepping outside the cover of the trees so that he could breathe in the fresh air without feeling stuffed up.

"It was just our luck. After we finally got out of there, we almost drowned," Usopp sighed, sounding close to tears, coming to stand beside Franky. "That's how it always is."

He looked up from his half-depressed state and noticed something in the distance. Frowning a little, he moved his goggles down to get try and see it better, realizing that they looked like a couple statues in the distance. But before he could point them out to the others, the memory came back and they were all outside the casino. They were all a little taken aback by how low the sun was… they were in that cage for longer than they thought. And now they were at the very edge of the lake. Vivi and Nami had dragged Usopp up—who apparently got hit pretty hard by some of the debris, with Vivi on land trying to pull him up by his nose by the time that Sanji brought Luffy back up as well.

"Why?" Usopp demanded. "Why do you always grab me by my nose?!"

Nami only shrugged helplessly at him when past Sanji got up as the girls yelled at Usopp to wake up and help them to pull himself out of the water. "Jeez," he said as he stood up and Luffy gasped for breath. "Why would a pirate want Devil Fruit Powers if it means he can't swim?"

"I still wonder that," Sanji muttered, though he did understand the temptation. After all, there had been one power that he wanted more than anything. He sighed, but he supposed that it no longer matter at this point as Zoro finally came up… but to everyone's shock, he had Smoker with him.

"You saved him?!" Franky yelled with jolt. "After everything that he put you through?!"

Chopper beamed proudly up at him but Zoro shook his head as past Sanji spotted them and began to tell his past self off for doing something like that. That he was their enemy and he should've just left him down there. That was when Zoro snarled back that he didn't want to do it so he should just shut up.

"Whatever!" Sanji said, "We gotta get moving guys! We've lost too much time already. Vivi can we still make it?"

"I don't know," Vivi admitted as she rung out her robes. Sanji then turned to Nami and asked if she still had the perfume and asked to put it on.

"What was the point of that?" Brook asked, not getting it.

"So that Chopper could find us," he answered as if it was obvious.

"Yeah," Chopper agreed, covering his blue nose at the memory of that smell, "It was so strong that I could pick it up even from far away. I was getting us a ride to Alubarna."

"RORONOA!" screamed a voice and Smoker had turned his jutte to Zoro, who blocked it with one of his sword. "Why did you save my life?!" he demanded loudly, looking ready to fight him then and there.

"Wasn't my idea. Really, it was all Luffy, not me," current Zoro said, still in a bad mood at that.

"Wait, Luffy?" Robin asked in surprise.

"If it was my choice I probably would've left him down there," Zoro grunted as his past self glared at Smoker and told him the whole truth. That seconds before the room was destroyed, Luffy had told him to go back and get him despite his protests. Smoker pulled his jutte back as he registered what he said.

"All I did was follow my captain's orders," memory Zoro said coldly, "that's it. So wouldn't read too much into it if I were you. It was one of his crazy whims, pay him no mind."

"Even so," Robin smiled. "That doesn't surprise me in the slightest."

"Luffy-san… you are a true man! A true man with a big heart!" Brook sobbed out.

"Which is why we let him stay as captain," Nami added, smiling proudly. "No matter what the problems he causes us, it's why we went with him in the first place."

Franky sobbed out until Smoker put his Jutte back onto his back and asked, "And you wouldn't have any gripes with me carrying my duties and arresting you, right?"

"Jerk!" current Usopp hissed. "We didn't have to save him and he wanted to arrest us."

"But he didn't," Nami reminded him.

"See?" past Sanji demanded, "I knew it was a bad idea. This is what you get for saving a marine."

Robin looked on sadly. Most of the Marines these days did go by 'absolute justice'. While she knew that they wish to maintain law and order by apprehending criminals, the techniques that they use can often be no better, or in some cases even worse, than the pirates they seek to wipe out, trampling the rights or needs of civilians in order to pursue its own ends.

The only question she had here was what kind of justice did Smoker follow?

Memory Usopp and Luffy were getting back to their feet, yelling out about getting to Alubarna. That was when Luffy noticed Smoker and turned to face him, looking ready to fight. "You want some? Bring it on!" Luffy yelled as Usopp begged that they just forget him and run for it.

There was a very tense silence as Smoker looked to them all. For a moment they thought for sure that he going to just ignore what they did for him and try to capture them… but whether it was because they had saved him, or because he knew that they had a bigger issue with Crocodile to deal with, he finally answered.

"I should… but you just saved my life," he said quietly just as the sounds of his men could be heard. Smoker just looked at them long and hard before he slowly closed his eyes. "Go," he said and they looked at him, as if wondering if they heard him right. "This is the only time I'm letting you Straw Hats off, got it?" Smoker added, as if to make sure that they didn't read too much into this show of mercy. "When we next meet… it's gonna be as enemies."

"I can live with that," current Usopp said at once.

"Really, that was the best we could hope for," Nami agreed firmly.

"And he stopped the Marines from coming after us for the rest of the rebellion," Zoro added, remembering how those Marines kept telling him which way to go to get back to the town square. "So all in all, I'd say that it was a good trade-off."

"That is good to see," Robin smiled. If only more Marines were like Smoker… someone who follows what he thinks is right and doesn't care what others, even his superiors, say about it.

Everyone stared at him, some of them even broke out into smiles as Sanji declared that was their cue to get out of here. The others all ran off, but Luffy stood where he was for a few seconds longer, Zoro calling after him to hurry up. Luffy looked back at Smoker for another long moment before he smirked. "Hey, you're not such a bad guy, Smokey!"

Startled at what he said, Smoker's face grew red from either embarrassment or anger, they didn't know. "WOULD YOU GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE, STRAW HAT?!" he roared, attacking him which caused them all to start running once again. Past Zoro smirking behind him as they ran to catch up with the others.

"Does he always have to push his luck like that?" Nami sighed as they began running again.

"That's what he does best," Sanji breathed, "We just have to live with it."

"Hurry!" past Usopp cried out, "Those Marines are hot on our heels!"

"ALRIGHT GUYS!" Luffy cried out, taking the lead. "WE'VE GOT LOTS TO DO SO WE'RE NOT GONNA STOP UNTIL WE GET TO ALUBARNA! ARE YOU WITH ME?!"

And the memory faded with their voices all cheering out in full agreement.

"Now that was unexpected," Brook said as they stopped running to realize what they had just witnessed. "I was truly beginning to think that you wouldn't have been able to get out of that horrible experience!"

"We almost didn't," Nami moaned. "And I'm glad to see that we made it out of that mess alive.

But Usopp was still looking around, trying to find those statues that he saw. As the crew talked about the cage and everything that happened, he went off, up a slight hill to get a better look around them.

"Whatcha doing, Usopp?!" Chopper yelled behind him.

"You see something?" Sanji called.

"I'm not sure!" he yelled back as he reached the top, "But I thought I saw something a second ago before that last memory and… and…" but his voice trailed off as he stood there, staring in front of him with his back to them all without saying a word.

"Usopp?" Nami called after him in concern. "What's wrong?"

But Usopp didn't answer. He just stood there, still as a statue himself, unable to believe what he was seeing. The others all looked at each other in concern before a soft wind came blowing at them, carrying a single flower petal on its breeze.

It fluttered over and landed on Chopper's own nose as he looked at it in surprise. The crew's eyes followed it with their glances before they looked into the direction where it came from, the same direction that Usopp refused to look away from.

"Hey, Usopp!" Zoro called as they began to walk up the hill as well, Usopp still frozen where he was to them as they went up to join him. "What are you looking at?"

But still Usopp didn't as they all joined him to get a good look at what had caught his attention so much.

"Long-nose if you don't tell us what the hell the problem is then I'm…" but Franky's voice got caught in his throat as they looked in front of them. There was silence from each of them—so thick that it was almost deafening—and no one able to believe what they were seeing, convinced now that this was just a dream.

Two stone monuments were standing there, side by side…

"It can't be…?" Nami whispered, her body cold and numb, her eyes as wide as dinner plates as she tried to accept what it was in front of her, her hands up and covering her mouth.

"But it is," Robin whispered, her voice sad.

The petal that Chopper had had come from a bouquet of flowers as the wind made a soft ringing noise from all the rusted swords surrounding the area… but their eyes were drawn to the smaller of the two… a familiar name engraved there.

PORTGAS D. ACE

"It's Ace's grave…?" Zoro whispered, all of them in stunned shock as the next breeze swept over them all. Though the air was warm… they were all cold inside.