The declaration landed like a physical blow. King Cobra's face went from pale to ashen. "What?! You dare?! You show up in my palace, with a known criminal, and announce you plan to assassinate me and steal my throne?!" He tried to rise from the bed, a hand going to where a sword would normally be.
"Father, no! That's not it!" Vivi cried, rushing to his side and gently pushing him back down. She took a deep, steadying breath, her cheeks flushed with a mix of shame and resolve.
"When... When everything was falling apart, and I found out what Crocodile was gonna do, I reached out for help and these strawhats helped me. But even then I was very worried… I was desperate. Takuya calmed me down. I told him I would do anything he wanted if he would save Alabasta."
She looked at Takuya, then back at her father, her voice dropping to a whisper. "He said he wanted to marry me. And I... I told him I didn't mind if he became my husband, if it meant our people would be safe."
She turned to Takuya, her eyes pleading for him to confirm it. "You kept your promise, didn't you? The rebellion..."
Takuya's gaze was unwavering. "I did. The rebel army has been neutralized. Not a single life was lost, not a drop of blood shed. And as we speak, Luffy and his crew are dealing with Crocodile. The crisis is over."
King Cobra listened, his initial anger giving way to a wave of overwhelming shock and exhaustion. He looked at his daughter's determined face, then at the enigmatic man who had apparently saved his kingdom at the cost of his daughter's hand.
The weight of a king's duty—the safety of his people above all else—pressed down on him. He slumped back against his pillows, a long, ragged sigh escaping his lips.
He looked at Vivi, seeing the fierce protectiveness in her eyes. It wasn't the look of a victim, but of a queen making a hard choice for her kingdom.
"If... if Vivi has agreed to this... for herself… for the sake of Alabasta..." he said, his voice heavy with resignation. "Then as her father, and as a king whose first duty is to his people's safety... I will not stand in her way. The throne... it is a small price to pay for peace."
The room was silent for a moment, the magnitude of the decision settling in. Nami looked away, her arms still crossed, while Mira in the corner just gave a thumbs-up with her free hand, seemingly unfazed by the political upheaval.
"Now that we have an understanding," Takuya said, his voice low. He then took a final, deliberate step forward, closing the distance to the king's bedside.
He leaned down, his movement intimate and conspiratorial, bringing his lips directly to the old king's ear. His voice dropped to a whisper so faint and private it was little more than a breath, meant for Cobra alone.
Cobra felt the hair on his neck stand up as Takuya's words, laced with grave urgency, flowed directly into his ear.
"First, I know about the Poneglyph your family guards. I want to see it." A pause, then the whisper became even softer, yet every syllable was razor-sharp. "And second, a warning.
For your own safety, and the safety of your lineage, you must never reveal to the World Government that Queen Lily never returned to Alabasta after the void century battle. And you must never, ever let them know her full name was Nefertari D. Lily."
Cobra's breath hitched, his blood running cold. This was a secret buried so deep in the royal lineage he had scarcely dared to think of it himself.
The whisper continued, final and absolute. "And do not attend the Reverie this time. If you go... you will be killed. Silence is your only shield now."
Takuya straightened up, his expression once again unreadable, as if he had merely shared a pleasantry.
The effect on Cobra was catastrophic. All the color drained from his face. He stared at Takuya, his eyes wide with pure, unadulterated terror, his mind reeling not just from the secrets themselves, but from the intimate, terrifying manner in which they had been delivered.
This man wasn't just a powerful adventurer; he was a bearer of apocalyptic truths, and he had just pressed a weapon directly against Cobra's soul in the guise of a whisper.
The others in the room—Vivi, Nami, Mira—could only watch the silent exchange, seeing the king's profound shock but hearing nothing.
Only Robin, with her sharp intuition, could guess at the magnitude of what had just been communicated. The air in the room grew thick with unspoken dread.
From her chair, Mira, despite her beaten state, watched Takuya with a look of pure admiration, as if he'd just done the coolest thing she'd ever seen. She then looked at Nami and mumbled, "See? Told you he was the most awesome man I met." Nami could only roll her eyes in exasperated defeat.
In a grand, empty hall of the castle, far from the sacred tomb, Crocodile was trying to figure out his next move. His moment of plotting was shattered as the giant oak doors flew off their hinges.
"CROCODILE!" Luffy yelled, his voice a full octave deeper and echoing weirdly. He struck a muscle man pose, flexing so hard his vest strained.
"Takuya's cookies are the BEST! I feel so strong, I could arm-wrestle a sea king and win! Then I'd invite him to dinner!" He started shadowboxing a nearby pillar, accidentally punching a hole through it. "Whoops! See? SUPER POWER!"
He wasn't just standing there. He was vibrating, little cartoonish steam clouds puffing from his head with a "toot-toot" sound. Zoro facepalmed so hard it left a red mark on his forehead. "Oh, for the love of— He's not a superhero, he's a walking disaster!"
"GUM-GUM... SPINNING TOP OF DOOM!" Luffy yelled, not attacking Crocodile, but grabbing his own feet and rolling around the hall at insane speed, chewing up the expensive carpet and smashing into suits of armor. "WHEEE! I'M A DESTROYER BALL! A HUNGRY, SUPER-POWERED DESTROYER BALL!"
Crocodile just stared, his golden hook looking less menacing and more confused. "What... What in the world are you doing? Are you having a seizure?"
Zoro's eyes twitched violently. "Will you STOP destroying the scenery and just hit the sandy idiot already, you rubber-brained moron?!"
Meanwhile, Sanji was having a full-blown existential crisis. But not about Crocodile. Every time he looked at the Warlord, he saw Takuya's smug, wife-collecting face.
"That... that lucky, harem-building, impossibly charismatic JERK!" Sanji fumed, actual little smoke rings puffing from his ears. "He's got Nami-swan! He's got Vivi-chan!
And now that supermodel archaeologist! All of them are flocking to him! How?! Why?! Does he just walk up to them and say 'be my wife' and they just say YES?!"
He grabbed his own hair, his voice rising in panic. "And what do I have? NOTHING! I'm surrounded by men! A moss-headed swordsman, a lying sniper, a talking reindeer, and a rubber idiot! I cook them delicious food! I'm a gentleman! AM I GAY?! IS THAT IT?! IS THIS A GAY PIRATE CREW AND NO ONE TOLD ME?!"
He turned his burning, confused rage onto Crocodile. "YOU! This is all your fault for having a stupid, sandy, single face that mocks my loneliness! ANGRY KICK OF ROMANTIC FRUSTRATION!"
He began kicking Crocodile with furious, flaming kicks, not like a cool fighter, but like a man trying to kick his bad luck away. "TAKE THAT! AND THAT! HOW COME HE GETS A QUEEN AND A SUPER-SPY AND I CAN'T EVEN GET A DATE?!"
Crocodile, now being kicked repeatedly by a chef having a mental breakdown, was utterly lost. "WHAT DOES YOUR LOVE LIFE HAVE TO DO WITH MY WORLD DESTROYING EVIL PLAN?!"
Chopper, meanwhile, was still pumped. "I'LL HELP TOO! ARM POINT!" He grew big and muscular. He took a mighty swing at Crocodile, who simply turned to sand.
Chopper's fist went right through him, hitting a wall instead. He tried again. And again. Each time, he just punched a new hole in the castle wall or disturbed a different pile of sand.
After the fifth try, Chopper shrank back to his normal size, puffing with exhaustion. He sat down on a broken piece of marble, pulled out a giant lollipop, and just started licking it, watching the fight like it was a bizarre stage play. "Well, I tried my best. My best just... makes more holes. Go team!"
Usopp, from behind an overturned table, was the world's most enthusiastic and terrified cheerleader. "YEAH! GET HIM, LUFFY! WHOA, NICE DODGE, ZORO! THAT KICK WAS FIRE, SANJI! LITERALLY! DON'T MIND ME, JUST CHEERING AND HAVING A HEART ATTACK OVER HERE!"
He was peeking over the table, blowing a whistle and waving a tiny flag he'd pulled from his pocket. "TEAMWORK! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! SHOW THAT SANDY, SINGLE LOSER WHAT FOR! ...Wait, that came out wrong!"
Crocodile, now being spun around by a cookie-crazed Luffy, slashed at by an embarrassed Zoro, kicked by an identity-crisis-ridden Sanji, and loudly (and incorrectly) insulted by a cheering Usopp, felt a profound and deeply personal sense of injustice.
"WHY ARE YOU ALL SO WEIRD?!" he screamed, his voice cracking with emotion. "I'M THE COOL, CALM VILLAIN! CAN'T YOU JUST HAVE A NORMAL, SERIOUS FINAL BATTLE?!"
Finally, Luffy's cookie-powered brain had a semi-coherent thought. He saw a decorative fountain with a statue spouting water. "AHA! WATER!"
He ran over, drank directly from the statue's spout until his cheeks looked like water balloons, swallowed it all with a gulp, let out a massive burp that shook the windows, and then yelled, "GUM-GUM... WET AND WILD BUMPER CAR OF DOOM!"
He didn't coat himself. He just became a bouncy, water-logged, rubber ball and started ricocheting off the walls, ceiling, and floor, smashing into Crocodile over and over and over again.
BONK! "MY RIBS!" BOING! "STOP IT, YOU MADMAN!" THWACK! "THIS IS UNDIGNIFIED!"
Zoro, seeing his chance, didn't even bother with a fancy technique. While Crocodile was dazed, dripping wet, and complaining about the lack of dignity, Zoro calmly walked up.
He pulled a short, sturdy sea prism stone rod from inside his shirt—a piece of rubble he'd pocketed after they broke out of the cage.
"Hold still," Zoro muttered, looking bored. He poked Crocodile in the side with the rod.
The moment the sea prism stone touched his wet skin, Crocodile's powers vanished. "Wha—? Hey!" He instantly became solid and utterly normal, a look of pure shock on his face.
Before that shock could even settle, Zoro, in one fluid motion, reversed the grip on one of his swords and delivered a sharp, precise BONK to the back of Crocodile's head with the sword's hilt.
THWACK!
"Oof!" Crocodile's eyes rolled back into his head, and he crumpled to the floor like a sack of potatoes, completely unconscious.
Then, with practiced efficiency, Zoro produced some rope (also seemingly from the room where they were caged) and tied the unconscious Warlord into a neat, professional bundle.
"There. It's... It's done." Zoro looked away, deeply ashamed of the entire circus that led to this simple conclusion. He sheathed his sword with a final, embarrassed sigh. "Just... please don't tell anyone about... any of this."
Sanji delivered one final, rage-filled kick to a nearby wall, since Crocodile was now tied up. "AND THAT'S FOR MAKING ME QUESTION MY LIFE CHOICES!" he screamed, dust falling on his head.
Crocodile, beaten, bruised, tied up, utterly humiliated and knocked out lay in a heap. He had been defeated not by heroes, but by a team of lunatics led by a captain high on magical cookies.
A single tear of pure, unadulterated frustration rolled down his cheek. This was not how he saw his day going.
Luffy's bouncing finally slowed to a stop. He stood panting in the middle of the destroyed hall, covered in dust and dripping wet. He saw Crocodile tied up on the floor and immediately struck a pose. He put his hands on his hips, puffed out his chest, and thrust one fist into the air, a giant, goofy grin splitting his face.
"VICTORY FOR THE SUPER COOKIE POWER!" he yelled triumphantly to the ceiling. "THE EVIL HAS BEEN DEFEATED BY THE HERO, LUFFY!" He held the pose, waiting for applause that didn't come from anyone but himself.
Zoro immediately turned his back on the entire scene, pretending to be intensely interested in a cracked painting on the far wall. His ears were bright red with secondhand embarrassment.
"I don't know any of these people," he muttered to the painting, which depicted a very stern-looking former king. "I'm just a tourist. A lost, very lost, tourist."
Sanji, his rage still not fully spent, stalked over to the unconscious, tied-up Crocodile. "This is for... for existing in a world where Takuya gets all the women!" he snarled, and delivered a swift, sharp kick to Crocodile's bundled-up side.
The body jiggled limply. "And that's for having a face I don't like!" Kick. "And that's because I'm STILL ANGRY!" Kick.
Usopp, seeing the coast was clear, strutted out from behind his table, puffing out his scrawny chest. He placed his hands on his hips in a mirror of Luffy's pose, striking a dramatic silhouette against the wreckage.
"BEHOLD!" Usopp declared, his voice echoing with false grandeur. "ANOTHER GLORIOUS VICTORY FOR THE GREAT CAPTAIN USOPP! With my brilliant tactical guidance and fearsome reputation, I was able to direct the battle from the rear lines, a true master strategist!
The mere sight of my mighty Kabuto was enough to shatter the villain's will! He never stood a chance against my overwhelming... uh... overwhelming aura of bravery! Yes! I defeated him without even lifting a finger! A new legend is born!"
He nodded sagely, looking immensely pleased with himself.
Chopper, who had been watching everything with wide, innocent eyes, gasped in awe. He scurried over to Usopp, his little hooves clattering on the marble.
"WOW, USOPP!" Chopper cheered, his eyes sparkling with stars. "You were amazing! You really did it! You beat him with your aura! That's the coolest thing I've ever seen! You're so brave and powerful!"
He jumped up and down, completely buying every single word of Usopp's outrageous lie. "The Great Captain Usopp! The villain-queller! The aura-warrior!"
Usopp beamed, patting Chopper on the head. "It was nothing, my little friend. Just another day for a hero of my caliber."
And so, in the ruined hall, the scene was set: a superhero-posing Luffy, an embarrassed Zoro, a vengefully-kicking Sanji, a boastful Usopp, and an adoring Chopper, all standing over the thoroughly defeated and unconscious body of what was once one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. It was not a dignified end.
If my story made you smile even once, that's a win for me. That's what I want to live for—brightening dull days and reminding people that joy still exists. My dream is to keep getting better, to someday reach legendary level of storytelling.
If you can support me financially please join my patreon from the fic's bio, cause I don't know why Webnovel doesn't show my patreon link and honestly speaking I really need money. And if you can't it's alright, just adding few words of appreciation and power stones will be enough motivation I need.
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