Chapter 87

Alabasta,

inside the underground funerary palace of the capital, Alubarna.

Under Crocodile’s intentional destruction,

many of the funerary palace’s load-bearing pillars were destroyed,

and the entire space began to collapse rapidly!

Luffy took a deep breath,

his whole body inflated like a balloon,

and then he twisted himself into a spiral,

and sprayed all the air in his stomach toward the ground!

Under the reaction force of this airflow,

Luffy shot into the sky,

heading straight for Crocodile on the ceiling!

"Gum-Gum, Storm!"

Seeing this,

Crocodile roared immediately,

condensing four giant sand blades,

and slashed at Luffy, who was charging up with his fist!

"Desert, Sables Spada!"

When the giant sand blade collided with Luffy’s fist,

it was instantly blasted into scattered sand!

Subsequently,

the fist continued its momentum and smashed into Crocodile’s face,

and blood splattered out instantly!

"Ah!!! Ah!!! Ah!!!"

With Luffy’s roar,

the next second,

his rubbery, freely stretching fists rained down crazily on Crocodile’s entire body!

Looking at it,

one could only see the afterimages of Luffy’s fists!

Under this rain of fists,

the already severely injured Crocodile had no power to resist,

and his whole body was being beaten like a piece of torn rag!

Crocodile’s body had already been pressed against the top of the underground funerary palace,

and now,

under Luffy’s constant bombardment,

Crocodile was actually driven into the rock layer,

and was still moving upward!

The ground at the top, covered with countless layers of rock, had cracked inch by inch,

and the ground in a large area of Alubarna began to tremble,

and several buildings on the surface collapsed one after another!

A moment later,

with a roar from Luffy,

his right fist slammed into Crocodile’s abdomen,

and then he stretched his right hand,

driving Crocodile straight out of the ground!

Accompanied by the first rain in Alabasta,

Crocodile fell freely from the sky,

and crashed heavily into the center of the battlefield in the city!

Crocodile had established Baroque Works,

and laid out plans in Alabasta for years,

but in the end, under this punch from Luffy,

everything fell through,

and vanished like smoke!

A moment later,

the severely injured Crocodile was handcuffed with Seastone handcuffs by Tashigi, who had arrived,

and Luffy also escaped from the collapsed underground funerary palace with the current King of Alabasta, Cobra.

At this time,

the members of the Straw Hat crew sat slumped to the side,

talking to each other,

while Chopper was busy treating everyone’s wounds.

Upon hearing a familiar name,

Crocodile opened his eyes suddenly,

turned his head to look at the Straw Hat crew,

and asked one of them:

"Wait, your name is Nami?"

Hearing this,

Nami, holding her Clima-Tact, turned to look at Crocodile,

nodded,

and asked in return:

"What’s wrong?"

Ever since the Straw Hat crew arrived in Alabasta,

the series of events had made Crocodile forget his previous agreement with Li Xiao...

Oh no, to be precise, it was a debt!

Right now,

until the battle ended,

and everything settled down,

when he heard the name Nami,

did he suddenly remember this matter!

Everything settled,

and when he heard the name Nami,

he suddenly remembered this matter!

After a moment of silence,

Crocodile said slowly to Nami:

"In the basement of the Rain Diners, there is a sofa in my office, and there is a vase in the southwest corner of the sofa!"

"Turn the vase three times clockwise and three times counter-clockwise to open a secret room!"

"Inside the secret room, there are 800 million Berries!"

Listening to Crocodile’s words,

at first,

Nami was still confused,

until she heard about the 800 million Berries,

and her DNA was instantly activated!

Her eyes began to glow,

turning directly into the shape of Berries!

However,

a moment later,

when the golden light of desire in Nami’s eyes slowly faded,

she actually smiled quite freely,

and said to Vivi, who was beside her:

"The money in the Rain Diners was all earned from the people of Alabasta, so it should belong to you!"

"Vivi, use these Berries to build this country well!"

Hearing Nami’s words,

Crocodile was stunned!

At this very moment,

he remembered the advice Li Xiao had given him before leaving!

"If a girl named Nami comes before me in the future, then these 800 million Berries can be given directly to her!"

So,

had he already predicted that this girl named Nami,

would give this money to Princess Vivi of Alabasta?

In other words,

as early as that time,

he had already foreseen his own failure!

He had already seen that in the near future,

his years of layout and planning,

would all be completely erased by the Straw Hat crew!

Thinking of this,

Crocodile couldn't help but gasp!

He only felt that the man who had cut the entire desert in half with one sword,

had instantly become even more unfathomable!

At this time,

Crocodile’s mind couldn't help but recall,

the words Li Xiao left behind when he departed!

"When I achieve success in my cultivation, I can also cut an island with one sword, why would I need Pluton?"

Thinking and thinking,

Crocodile couldn't help but fall into deep thought...

At the same time,

Li Xiao, who had just left the Florian Triangle riding the clouds and mist, suddenly sneezed!

Li Xiao rubbed his nose,

and muttered in a low voice:

"Strange, with my current physique, I would still sneeze?"

"Could it be that someone is scolding me behind my back?"

If Li Xiao had known what was happening in Alabasta at this moment,

he would definitely have slowly put three question marks toward Nami!

Heaven is my witness!

He really just simply wanted Nami to take the money!

Otherwise, when Crocodile was arrested and imprisoned by the Navy,

wouldn't the debt that originally belonged to him be cheapened by the Navy!

Did this silly cat not understand what this money was all about at all?

——————————

Half a day later,

on an island in the Grand Line,

Li Xiao stood on the shore,

handed the News Coo 100 Berries,

and then took a newspaper from the News Coo.

Li Xiao looked down at the newspaper in his hand,

and when he saw the front-page headline of this newspaper,

Li Xiao was slightly stunned!

The protagonist of today’s front-page headline,

was none other than Crocodile!

Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea,

due to interfering in the internal affairs of Alabasta,

and inciting the public to cause internal riots in Alabasta,

had now been defeated and arrested by Navy Headquarters Colonel Smoker!

Next,

Crocodile would be transferred to the underwater prison—Impel Down for detention,

and at the same time, his title of Seven Warlord of the Sea and related legal rights would be stripped!

Furthermore,

after this incident,

given Smoker’s excellent performance,

Navy Headquarters specially promoted his rank,

from Navy Headquarters Colonel to Navy Headquarters Commodore!

Also promoted with him was his subordinate,

Navy Headquarters Master Chief Petty Officer—Tashigi!

In fact,

regarding this report,

it wouldn't be accurate to call it fake,

but it couldn't be called true either!

To be precise,

it could only be considered half-true and half-false!

The true part is,

Crocodile did interfere in the internal affairs of Alabasta,

caused mass riots,

and has now been arrested by the Navy,

and stripped of his title of Seven Warlord of the Sea and legal rights!

And the false part is,

the one who defeated Crocodile was not Smoker at all,

but the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates—Monkey D. Luffy!

It was just that for the sake of the Navy’s face,

therefore,