Ch 25 Sweet home Alubarna

(Kind of sad that I didn't use 'Sweet home Alabasta' before...

I kind of just wanted to get the Alabasta arc over with already.)

Leo and the rest of the crew made their way out of the underground/water(?) room. Smoker was following at a distance behind them with indignation.

Leo looked at Nami, who he was still carrying.

Leo - "Are you planning to walk on you own any time soon?"

He didn't mind carrying her, it's not like she weighs anything to him, but he was getting annoying looks from Sanji.

Nami looked at him with a glare.

Nami - "This is payment for that stunt you pulled."

Leo - "Oh come on, didn't you find it a little fun?"

Nami - "Hmph! That has nothing to do with it, you should have listened to me."

Leo - "Fine, fine. I'm sorry."

Nami - "Good. You can put me down when we get to the exit."

Nami started smiling happily, while Leo could only smile wryly at her antics. Her smile was cute though, so he just let her have her way.

The crew were all chatting with each other as they walked. It was mostly Luffy ranting about not getting to fight Crocodile.

Meanwhile, Smoker was grinding his teeth in anger.

Smoker - 'What's the meaning of this? How did he make the Seastone cage dissappear? Why are pirates helping the Princess? And why are they just ignoring ME!?'

Unfortunately for Smoker, no one seemed to care about his irritation and continued to ignore him.

They soon reached the exit, where Nami finally, but reluctantly, had Leo set her down on her feet to walk for herself.

Stopping at the exit, leading to the main casino, Leo looked at the rest with a grin.

Leo - "We should probably start running from here."

The others looked at him with a matching grin, then together, they all burst out of the doors and sprinted for the casino exit, making no effort to be quiet.

Leo ended up picking Nami up once more, concerned that she might fall with her high heels. Definitely no ulterior motives, like having her hug him or seeing how happy she was.

They left Smoker behind. He was also letting them go, either because he felt indebted and wanted to repay it or he didn't want to fight Leo. Who could say?

It wasn't difficult to get out of the casino.

Leo made a clone when he got outside. The clone jumped straight into the moat to go steal the Bananagators and kill Mr.3, who was still stupid enough to return, only to get eaten by the Gators. No more chances for him. He just made an extra section on his Jurassic Park rip-off.

So, they continued their way out of the city. Again, no stealth.

Going East, heading for Alubarna, they were running and took only 15 minutes to leave the city.

As soon as they left, Leo made the Jeep and let everyone get in. Except for Nami, who wanted to change, so he made her a room and gave her, her clothes.

By some miracle, she only took a few minutes to change.

After Nami changed and got in the passenger seat, Leo started driving. As he did so, he looked into wing mirror and saw Crocodile standing on top of the city wall, angrily glaring at them.

So, with a mocking smile, Leo did what any sane person would do. He got Nami to hold the steering wheel, which she did with confusion, then he stuck his upper body out the window and flipped Sandy-boy the double bird.(middle finger x2)

Leo - "THANKS FOR THE GATORS, YOU SANDY BITCH!!"

He then dipped back into the Jeep, laughing his ass off because of the look on Crocodile's face. The others also looked out of the Jeeps confines and saw Crocodile, along with his furious expression, then joined Leo in laughing at him.

Infusing more Hellfire into the Jeep, making fire cover the wheels and their speed increase exponentially, leaving a trail of glass tracks in its wake. They quickly lost sight of Crocodile, but still heard something which made them laugh even harder.

Crocodile - "YOOOU BASTAAAAARD!!!"

Everyone - "HAHAHAHAHA!"

Luffy - "Shishishi! He's so angry!"

Usopp - "And did you see the look on his face! It was like-"

Usopp made a funny face as an imitation.

Luffy - "No, it was like-"

Luffy then made his own imitation.

This lead to the group mocking Crocodile while making their way to Alubarna.

After 30 minutes, they arrived at the river the splits Alabasta in two. Leo simply drove over it, which surprised the group, but they were growing used to his nonsensical powers.

So, 1 and a half hours later, they were nearing the West gate of Alubarna.

Leo could see 4 figures standing there and waiting for them.

Leo - "We seem to have a welcoming committee."

Everyone looked at 4 figures that were becoming clearer by the second.

In just a couple minutes, they arrived infront of the Baroque Works agents. They were; Mr.1, Ms. Double Finger, Mr.4 and Ms. Merry Christmas. Leo stopped 10 metres away.

He stared at the 4 agents. He was going to leave them to the others, it was just that he wasn't sure about Ms. Double Finger. Canon had Nami face her, but that was out of a necessity when she could no longer run for her life.

Leo glanced at Nami for a second before deciding what to do. He wouldn't have her fight this one, unless she wanted to.

He turned to those in the back and called out to them.

Leo - "Zoro, you should go fight the bald dude. Usopp and Chopper, you should go fight the the old woman and the fat guy. Watch out for baseball timer bombs."

Zoro nodded and got out of the Jeep. Leo wasn't worried about him, he actually thinks it will be too easy for him. With all the training/sparring they do, he should be stronger than his Canon self, along with Luffy and Sanji, who wouldn't want to be left behind.

Usopp wasn't too eager however.

Usopp - "What!? Why do I have to fight!!?"

Leo - "It'll be a good experience for you, a step towards your dream. I already said that I won't let you die, so what's the problem?"

Usopp started grumbling, but he still got off the car with Chopper.

That was when Nami pointed something out.

Nami - "That's three, but what about that woman?"

Leo looked at her.

Leo - "Well, she's a woman, so Sanji is useless against her..."

Sanji - "Hey!"

Leo - "Luffy is gonna fight Crocodile, so he should save his energy for that."

Speaking of Luffy, he appeared to be getting fidgety in anticipation of his fight.

Leo - "So, that leaves you. If you want to fight her, then have at her. Though, you will be at a disadvantage. She has a Devil Fruit and with this terrain, you would be a clear target. The choice is yours."

Truth be told, he didn't want her to fight this battle. He was worried about her. There was no way he would let her die, but he didn't want her getting hurt fighting a battle she had very little chance of winning.

She noticed his worry and it made her feel warm inside. She thought over the matter quickly. She didn't want to be a burden and get protected all the time, but she understands from the way Leo described it, that she would have low chances of winning.

Nami - "... Thanks for asking my opinion, but I think I'll skip this one. But! You have to help me get stronger, so that I can help next time."

(A/N: I know this is a bit farfetched, but I did say I would make some changes. Plus, she did want to be able to fight as well, especially when they were helping Vivi.)

With a resolute look in her eyes, she stared into Leo's. Seeing the look, he smiled.

Leo - "Gladly."

He would be happy to help her become stronger. Not only would it mean she could protect herself and he wouldn't have to worry as much, but it will also mean she can feel more like part of the team, rather than being the only non-combatant.

With that decided, Leo made a clone. It would be responsible for keeping Usopp and Chopper alive, as well as killing everyone once the battles were done.

It really confuses him that the crew don't actively kill their opponents. Sure, their opponents die every now and then, but it's mostly because they couldn't hand their injuries or didn't get treated.

Take the 100 people at Whiskey Peaks that Zoro beat. Only about 5 actually died or had severe injuries, and the guy was freaking cutting them! This means he was going easy on them(obviously). It would have been way easier to just cut them to pieces, but he avoid killing blows instead. The cause of death was blood loss.

Anyways, C.Leo didn't waste time and immediately got rid of Ms. Double Finger. Using Penance Stare, she got to know how it feels to be pierced by sharp spike on every point of her body, then died.

<Low Mortal - 23.77%>

Leo had already started driving away, towards the southern gate.

Less than five minutes and they were there. To save time, he had started driving up the wall, so they were at the top already.

Getting out of the car, Leo blitzed through all of the guarded soldiers and killed all the Baroque Works agents, the arrived back where he initially was. All anyone saw, was him disappearing, reappearing moments later and then a few hundred soldiers dropping dead.

<Low Mortal - 24%>

Vivi quickly started explaining what was happening and prevented the army from trying to attack them.

Leo - "Well, now that that's done."

He turned to Luffy and gave him a barrel of water.

Leo - "Crocodile's weakness is water. You need to either have water on your body or his to be able to hit him... Try going to the Palace to find him. Vivi, you should go with him."

Luffy - "Alright! Let's go kick his ass!!"

Luffy then started dragging a confused Vivi in search of Crocodile.

Sanji - "Hey, wait up! Don't drag a woman around like that! Especially not one as beautiful as Vivi."

Sanji started running after them with hearts for eyes.

Honestly, Crocodile might not have arrived yet, but it shouldn't be long before he does. He was incredibly pissed off thanks to Leo, so he should have rushed over to kill everyone.

Nami - "What are we going to do?"

He shrugged.

Leo - "Go watch their fights? Make sure nobody dies accidentally."

Nami - "'Accidentally...?'"

She looked at him with a deadpan expression.

Leo - "What? Life is unpredictable. Anything is possible."

Nami just sighed with a hand on her forehead.

Nami - "Let's just go..."

Leo then picked her up and started running after the other three, making Nami disoriented by the blurry images passing by.

Moments later they stopped, standing on top of the Palace.

Leo put Nami down on her feet, only for her to go into a crawling position, using a hand to cover her mouth.

Nami - "I think I'm gonna be sick..."

Seeing her look a little green, Leo laughed embarrassedly.

Leo - "Haha... Sorry. I might have went too fast."

For the next 5 minutes, he knelt beside her and stroked her back to make her feel better.

When she finally felt better, she started silently glaring at Leo. Leo just awkwardly stood there scratching the back of his head, looking around for something to use as a distraction.

Fortunately, the distraction came to him, when Luffy went flying through the air with Crocodile coming after him.

This left Leo wondering where Vivi and the simp are, so he made a clone and sent it in the direction that those two just came from, then continued watching Luffy and Crocodile fight.

C.Leo ran in the direction Luffy flew from and quickly found Vivi, her father and one of the head guards, Chaka. They were tending to Vivi's father, who was bleeding a fair bit. It seems Crocodile took his frustration out on him.

Sanji was also present, but he was out of commission. He wasn't hurt, no, he was bleeding from his nose, unconscious near the also present Robin. Robin had her head down, her hat casting a shadow over her face and Leo could feel that she was conflicted right now.

Leo shook his head and walked over to Vivi.

C.Leo - "Hey, Vivi, how is he?"

Vivi turned to him with tears in her eyes. Chaka also turned to him with vigilance.

Robin also raised her head a bit to look at him.

Vivi - "He's really hurt. Please! Will you go get Chopper!?"

C.Leo - "Sure."

Using a link that they share, he found that Zoro, Usopp and Chopper had finished their fights already, so he got the other clone to bring them over.

Seconds later, a portal opened up and four people came out, though one of them was being carried. Zoro and Usopp had a lot of bandages on their body. Zoro was still walking though.

Neither of them were hurt as badly as their Canon counterparts, so that is good.

The moment Chopper came through the portal Vivi shouted him, asking for help, so he scuttled over and started tending to the King.

Robin was shocked to see that there was two of Leo, but didn't show it.

Robin - 'Just how many secrets do you hold...'

The clone that just came through the portal and placed Usopp on the ground, looked over to her, gave her a smile, nodded at her and then dispersed.

Zoro looked at Robin for a moment and then at Leo curiously.

Zoro - "Why is she standing there? Aren't you going to get rid of her?"

He was mostly just curious about why Leo hadn't killed her. He seems to kill everyone else they have been against. Except for the bunch at Whiskey Peaks.

C.Leo - "Just leave her be. She doesn't have any bad intentions towards us and she doesn't deserve to die by my standards."

Zoro nodded and left it at that. He had spent enough time with Leo to know that he had some standards and won't just kill every enemy he comes across. Even if it seems like he does...

The head guard had other thoughts however and started angrily berating him.

Chaka - "How can you say she doesn't have bad intentions and that she doesn't deserve death!!? She is sided with Crocodile and is part of the cause for the Kingdoms dire circumstances! She is a vile criminal that deserves to executed!!!" (Sorry, I don't really know his personality)

Robin's head sunk and guilt seeped into her heart.

Leo looked at him coldly.

C.Leo - "I don't appreciate being shouted at. If it wasn't for her, this Kingdom would have fallen and you wouldn't have even known how. She purposely let Vivi follow her and discover Crocodile's identity as the Head of Baroque Works. If she wanted, you, Vivi and her father would be dead right now. She has her own reasons for doing what she has done and while I don't agree with what she's done, I don't believe she deserves death. You have no right to question me or my decision."

Leo proceeded to ignore him. Chaka was angered by this and about continue arguing, and maybe attack, but he was stopped by a hand gripping his arm. It was the King, who was staring at him sternly.

Robin was astounded that Leo had just defended her. Never would she have expected that someone she had only met twice, and only had a single conversation with, would speak in her defence. She doesn't even know how he knew so much about her, but she was grateful that he had done this for her.

With her head lowered, she smiled softly. How long had it been since someone had done something like this for her or anything for her without having ulterior motives. It made her happy.

While all of this was happening, Luffy and Crocodiles fierce battle was coming to a close.

Proving Leo's hypothesis that Luffy had gotten stronger. The fight had only been a few minutes, but he had quickly taken control of the fight, soaking Crocodile in water and punching the hell out of him.

Not to say that it was completely one-sided, Crocodile had inflicted his own share of damage on Luffy. He had also started using his ace, his hook. After taking the guard off of it, letting him deliver attacks that have poison in them, so Luffy had been poisoned.

The courtyard had even been turned into a desert thanks to Crocodile's ability. At this point, Luffy was using his own blood as the necessary liquid to land attacks on Crocodile.

Both parties were breathing heavily with a bit of distance between them.

Crocodile - "You irritating fool! I have worked too hard and for too long for you to get in my way! Desert Spada!"

He shot a crescent sand blade at Luffy. Luffy dodged tiredly by jumping to the side, but stumbled because of the poisons affect on his body. Crocodile took advantage of this and dispersed his body into sand, then appearing behind Luffy, swinging his hook at his back.

Luffy, seemingly sensing the attack, spun around and punched towards Crocodile's face. Their attacks landed at the same time, sending Luffy skidding across the ground and Crocodile flying through the air, extremely dazed.

Luffy rolled to his feet and shot his arm back while twisting it.

Luffy - "I made a promise to Vivi... That I would kick your ass and help her save her Kingdom! AND THAT WHAT I'M GONNA DO!!! Gum Gum RIFLE!"

His arm shot forwards at a high speed, using every last ounce of his strength in one last attack. Landing right at Crocodile's solar plexus as he fell to the ground, knocking him out completely and sending him crashing through the Palace walls.

After waiting a moment incase Crocodile got back up, but seeing that he didn't, Luffy threw his head back and flung his arms into the air then roared.

Luffy - "I WON!!!"

Letting the whole Palace learn of his victory, he then fell forwards having passed out, but Leo had made sure to catch him.

Leo quickly went back to Nami and picked her up, then went over to where everyone else was gathered.

Leo - "Battle's over everyone. Chopper, patch Luffy up would ya."

Handing Luffy over to Chopper and placing Nami down, he turned to leave for a moment.

Leo - "Be right back."

He was obviously going to finish off Crocodile.

He went to where Crocodile's unconscious body was lying. He wanted to use Penance Stare and make him suffer for his misdeeds, but that won't work with him unconscious.

So, he poured a bunch of water on him, but that didn't work and he was still unconscious. Because he couldn't be bothered waiting for him to wake up, he just pulled out the Jitt he stole from Smoker and rammed it through Crocodile's heart, then took his soul.

<Low Mortal - 24.53%>

(I'm going to say Crocodile had around 60 tons worth, but because he lacked any real fights after going to Alabasta, he became sloppy. So, 30 from Crocodile and the other 23 is from Mr.1, Mr.4 and Ms.Merry Christmas.)

Picking up Crocodile's body, he went back to the group and tossed the body to the side.

The King, Chaka and Robin were surprised to see Crocodile dead. Vivi wasn't very happy that he had once more killed someone, but she didn't say anything this time. The others were expecting this.

Leo looked around.

Leo - 'I feel like I'm forgetting something...'

Fortunately, Robin ended up telling them all about an important matter.

Robin - "Congratulations on your victory, but you probably shouldn't get comfortable yet. There is still the rebels to deal with and there is also a bomb in the clock tower."

Leo - 'Oh yeah...' "Thanks for telling me about the bomb. As for the rebels, I've sorted that out already, so no worries."

His clone, that had yet to dissappear, went and took care of it. Less than a minute later, a huge explosion happened a few miles up in the sky above Alubarna.

Leo - "All done."

Robin stood there with her mouth open, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. They had spent years plotting the takeover of Alabasta, but all that was ruined by basically one man's interference.

Seeing that no one was paying attention to her, she decided to leave. It didn't seem like she would get what she did all this for in the end... But then, she heard a voice in her head.

Leo - ["Go to the West. The Royal Mausoleum."]

When Leo asked for Psychic powers, telepathy was included in his powers. The range just isn't that great.

Robin froze for a moment, but soon started walking again. She was exited and hopeful, wondering if this would be what she worked so long for.

With hurried steps, she made her way to the West.

Leo then turned to Vivi and her father.

Leo - "The matter is mostly settled now, but you two should go and address your citizens."

That was the moment that a certain weird haired man made his entrance.

Igaram - "What he says is true. The Kingdom is not completely out of trouble yet."

Vivi recognised his voice and spun around to face him excitedly.

Vivi - "Igaram! You're alive!!"

After a heartfelt reunion, Vivi and her father got up and left the Palace to go speak to everyone. It had also started raining.

Leo and the other just sat down and relaxed.

Meanwhile, with Robin, she had quickly arrived at the Royal Mausoleum, where Leo's clone had been waiting for her. This was the same clone that went to deal with the bomb.

C.Leo - "Hey. Well, if you just follow me, I'll take you to the Poneglyph."

He then turned and started walking. Robin followed him, but there was a couple questions that were nagging to be answered.

Robin - "How do you know so much about me and why are you helping me."

C.Leo - "... Well for one, I can read minds, but I already knew a bit about you even before meeting you. Like the reason the World Government destroyed your home and branded you a criminal. And as for why I'm helping you... I don't know. I have no real reason. I gain nothing, but I lose nothing either, not even time considering this is a clone. Just think of it as a whim, sympathy for you or as a gesture of friendship. Whichever you like. We're here."

As they were talking they arrive at the entrance to the tombs, so he started walking down the stairs.

Robin was contemplating his words. It was a surprise that he could read minds and that he knew what really happened to her, considering not many people did, but she didn't know what to think about his reasoning. Whim, sympathy or friendship, all of them are strange reasons to help a stranger like he is. Even if he can read her mind.

Leo decided to ask her a question while they walk.

C.Leo - "Tell me, Robin. What will you do once you find out what happened in the Void century? Will you reveal it to the world? Or keep it to yourself? Do you want revenge against the World Government for what they did to your people?"

Robin looked towards him and answered frustratedly.

Robin - "Of course I want revenge! They killed everyone I cared about and made me live a life on the run! But how could I possibly get revenge? I can't possibly fight the World Government, so I at the very least want to know what it was that they didn't want to be discovered! After that, I don't know..."

C.Leo - "... What if I told you, I could get you your revenge? That I could torture every single person in the World Government and even allow you to kill them with you own hands?"

She stopped in place and looked at him like he was crazy. Seeing that he continued walking, she quickly followed him again.

Robin - "Aren't you a little too overconfident...?"

C.Leo - "Not really. I'm confident that I'm one of, if not the strongest person in this world and even if I'm not, it wouldn't be difficult for me to become so."

Robin genuinely couldn't help thinking that Leo had a few screws loose.

Robin - "... Okay... Let's say I believe you... I would have to ask, what do you want in return?"

C.Leo - "Honestly...? There is nothing I want, that you can give, that I can't take if I really want it. So, I guess it's free."

She seemed to take offence to this.

Robin - "And how do I have nothing you could want!?"

C.Leo - "The only thing you have that I could want, is knowledge and your Devil Fruit. Both things I can get easily by killing you, but that doesn't interest me, so therefore you have nothing I want."

Hearing him say it again, her brows furrowed. Did he really think she had such little worth. Her frustration made her speak impulsively.

Robin - "Well, what about myself?"

She immediately regretted it and internally screamed about how unlike her this was.

Leo was the one to freeze in place this time. He never expected to hear this from her

C.Leo - "As beautiful as you are and as tempting as an offer that is, if you nor I love each other, then I'm not interested in such things."

He didn't know what was going on in her head as he wasn't reading her mind, he only read minds when needed, but he was seriously considering it right now.

After that, they walked in silence until they reached a big set of doors. They went through the doors and saw the Poneglyph.

Leo was kind of curious about what was actually on it. In Canon, Robin said it was just the history of the Kingdom, but it was theorised that she lied and didn't want to tell Crocodile about Pluton. So, he decided to go and read it.

Moments later and he was done.

C.Leo - "It's actually just the Kingdoms history... That's disappointing."

Robin's head spun towards him.

Robin - "You can read it!?"

C.Leo - "Yup. I understand every language in existence. And that's not a brag, just stating it."

Robin - "Have you read others?"

C.Leo - "No, this is the first. But, I do know where a couple are."

Robin - "Hmm..."

She went back to reading the Poneglyph. It wasn't as simple to read for her. She had to decipher it, whereas it was like reading his native language to Leo, thanks to God. Still, it didn't take her much longer than Leo, showing just how smart she was.

C.Leo - "It's funny that Crocodile did all this to get a super weapon, but would have only gotten a history lesson."

Robin chuckled in agreement.

C.Leo - "Well, now that we're finished here, is there anywhere you would like to be dropped off at before I leave?"

She shook her head.

Robin - "No thank you, I'll make my own way out. Thank you for bringing me here."

C.Leo - "No problem. Bye."

He then dispersed, leaving Robin alone with her thoughts.

- With Leo -

The crew had been lead to some guest rooms in the Palace and ones who had fought were sleeping. Leo was lying on a bed when he got the memories from his clone. After reviewing the memories, he closed his eyes and relaxed.

(I was thinking of getting Haki from Crocodile, but that felt too easy and I thought of a better way to get it, but in a weak state so he has to train Armament Haki at the very least.)