Chapter 37 (1/2)
Grandline, Paradise, Alabasta
Rain. In Alabasta. After years of drying vegetation and dwindling water the people stood dumbfounded and crying in hapiness under the cool blessing the heavens sent their way, finally taking pitty on the poor nation. Though others, who were partial to the reasons why there was no rain in the first place, stood under the downpoor nothing but stupefied. Absolutely baffled. Crocodile had lost a fight? But, how? When? And especially important: to whom did he loose?
Was that person maybe just a kind samaritan or did he have other neferious purposes to fullfill and the warlord simply stood in that persons way? Nobody had answers to those questions.
Nico Robin was one of those people who had no clue about what was happening and she didn't like it one bit. Throughout her whole life she had discovered that to stay alive she needed all the information she could get her hands on, no matter how unimportant it may seem at first, it may come in handy at some point in the future.
Having decided to try and find out what had happened she rushed out of their base towards the last location she knew Crocodile must have been in. Yes, it wasn't her best idea, if she was being honest with herself, after all who knew if the person that had beaten sir Crocodile was still there and may act hostile towards her. After all, she had been the partner of Crocodile for some years now.
After jumping on a carriage, Nico Robin speed of into the direction of the Sandora river, not minding the pouring rain that was pelting her on her way, and soaking her to the bone. So busy was her mind, trying to find out what the hell could have happened.
After a 15 minutes ride with the fastest she was able to find on her way out of the base, she arrived at the Sandora river. Though what she found was not what she expected to find.
'Wasn't there supposed to be some nobles ship landing at the shore?' she mused to herself with a mostly blank face. One conclusion she had come up with was that somebody atop the nobles ship had taken offense to something Crocodile may have said or done and taken him out as a result. Though that thesis had brought up a whole lot of other different questions. Foremost why that person hadn't taken care of the chasing pirate ship in the first place.
And so when she finally was confronted by nothing but a tiny ship, made for one person, mostly two, though that was stretching it already, she was expectedly baffled, alot.
Walking over to the ship, Nico Robin found the body of sir Crocodile, leaning against its hull, ripped clothes, with singe marks all over his body, and a faint breath that would have escaped most peoples notice. Next she spotted the one who most possibly was responsible for the condition of the warlord. A young man with broad shoulders and a height of at least 2,30m, short shaved hair, strongly muscled upper body and beige wide trousers, who at that very moment was sitting next to Crocodile, chewing with bulging cheeks on some meet, which seemed to taste pretty good, judging by his satisfied expression, until his eyes fell on her. Their intensity was jarring and she couldn't help but step back in reflex. He smiled at her in response to her reaction but that didn't lessen the pressure she felt coming from the young man. Suffocating. Gasping for breath, she couldn't look away from the young mans piercing deep blue eyes, until seemingly appeared as if out of nowhere right in front of her, laying a hand on her shoulder as if trying to calm her down while calmly saying: ”breath, woman. No need to be afraid.” before smiling once more at her and walking back towards Crocodile, lifting him up onto his left shoulder and shortly after throwing him onto the small ship, jumping right after him, after loosening the tows that held the ship at the shore.
”W-What is your name?” Nico Robin called after him, now realising that she had to at least get some information out of all this while enjoying the freedom that came from the mans absent pressure.
”Azul!” He called back before steering his tiny ship back up the Sandora river the way it had apparently come from. If she had to venture a guess, to find a marine base to get the bounty on Crocodiles head. But that didn't matter to her anymore. She turned around and started to plan how to get into the palace to convince the king to show her the poneglyph. After all there was only one purpose her life had left. Reading the acient stones.
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