Pirates on Rocks' Ship 996

"Hmph... if that's the case... then we have no choice but to fight! You have your honor, and I have my justice!" Smoker slowly drew his weapon and said.

"boom!!"

The flames and smoke collided again, resulting in a violent explosion.

Meanwhile, inside the Albana Palace, watching Jakka fight Crocodile, Aokiji turned to Nico Robin and asked, "Is this what you wanted to do?"

“No! What I want to know... is only the Poneglyphs!” Robin shook her head and said.

"Even if it hurts them, you're willing to do it?" Aokiji asked, looking at the soldiers' corpses scattered on the ground and the king nailed to the wall.

“Even without me, they would still be the same, or even worse!” Robin said with a light laugh.

After all, without her help, Princess Vivi would never have known Crocodile's identity and might have died at the hands of Baroque Works long ago.

At the palace gates, Princess Vivi shouted loudly to all the royal soldiers, "Royal soldiers... I order you to raise the white flag and surrender immediately!"

"what?"

"Princess Vivi is actually asking us to surrender?"

"Your Highness... if we really do this... then the future of this country..."

Weiwei's order surprised the soldiers of the royal army, who all looked on in confusion.

"Look! That's... Kou Sha! He's the leader of the rebels!"

"Did he do something to Her Highness the Princess?"

At this moment, Kosa, who appeared behind Princess Vivi, was also discovered by the royal army, and the discussions became even louder.

"Listen to me, everyone... We no longer care about winning or losing this war, we just want everyone to stop!" Weiwei shouted loudly to all the royal soldiers as if she hadn't heard the discussion, "Please, raise the white flag!"

"I will also inform the rebels that this war is pointless!" Kou Sha, who appeared behind Weiwei, also said loudly.

Soon, the rebel army broke through the defenses and arrived in front of the palace. However, in front of them, besides the royal army, there was also Kosa, who was holding a white flag.

"Chief!?" Kaby was astonished to see Koza on the King's side, waving a white flag.

"Stop! Rebels!" Kosha shouted, raising a white flag. "The war is over! The royal army has lost its will to fight! Brothers, put down your anger and lay down your weapons... The war is over!"

"Is...is this true, Lord Kou Sha?" Countless rebel soldiers looked at Kou Sha and asked in disbelief.

However, thanks to Kou Sha's words, the rebel army gradually stopped, and Princess Weiwei, standing on the palace, finally breathed a sigh of relief. The rebellion... had been stopped!

"boom!"

But at that moment, someone in the King's army camp shot and wounded Koza.

"Damn it...those royal troops...they actually made a move!" Upon seeing Kosha shot, the rebels immediately became enraged again.

"Kousha!!" Vivi on the palace wall was shocked to see Kousha shot. She was about to say something when she suddenly noticed that a sandstorm was sweeping across Albana.

"Bang bang bang..."

In the chaos, not only did some members of the royal army fire shots, but some members of the rebel army also took advantage of the confusion to fire shots. They all had one thing in common: the Baroque Works emblem was on their arms.

Meanwhile, Crocodile, having dealt with Jaka and unleashed the sandstorm, said to Robin beside him, "You take Mr. Cobra and go first!"

"Crocodile...aren't you ignoring my existence? Even though you are one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, I have said that Nico Robin must stay!" A cold glint flashed in Aokiji's eyes as he spoke to Crocodile.

"Guhahaha... Admiral Aokiji... This is the desert! No one can defeat me in the desert!" Crocodile said with a loud laugh.

But as soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly thought of someone, a guy who was near Albana and had given him a good beating.

Robin glanced at Crocodile, chuckled, and said, "Well then... I'll be leaving now!"

With that, she used her power to put King Cobra down and then planned to leave.

"When did I let you leave?" Aokiji stretched out his hand, and ice spread towards Robin, though at a slower speed than usual.

"Crescent-shaped dune!" A dune blocked the ice's path, immediately halting its advance. Crocodile had intervened.

The hot and dry air of Alabasta limited Aokiji's abilities, but gave Crocodile a great advantage.

At the same time, two powerful auras suddenly erupted from the west of the city, as if someone was fighting in the west of the city.

Aokiji paused, realizing that such a powerful aura was enough to threaten him.

Crocodile on the other side was also taken aback. Although he didn't sense it as clearly as Aokiji, he knew that two powerful figures were fighting in the west of the city.

While the two were still wondering what was going on, Nicole Robin had already left with Cobra.

"How could this be... how could this happen...?" Princess Vivi looked at the royal army and the rebel army fighting each other again in disbelief, her heart filled with frustration.

"Weiwei!" Just then, Sanji arrived with the heavily injured Usopp and Chopper.

“Mr. Sanji… Mr. Usopp… Tony…” She glanced at Crocodile and Aokiji, who were still facing off, and ran down from the palace, calling out.

"Weiwei... what's going on? Why is there such a big sandstorm all of a sudden?" Zoro and Nami also rushed over from the other side.

"Everyone..." she said, sobbing slightly as she recounted what had happened.

"Luffy... lost too?" Nami asked in disbelief.

Sanji and Zoro also wore serious expressions.

They were well aware of Luffy's fighting strength, but they never expected him to be defeated by Crocodile. Crocodile truly lived up to his reputation as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.

"Yes! But since Jaka rescued him, he should be fine!" She nodded slightly and replied.

"Where is that guy now?" Zoro asked, gripping his weapon at his waist.

"He's still inside, confronting the Marine Admiral. Nico Robin has already left with my father! Everyone, there are less than five minutes left before the plaza explodes! What do we do?" Vivi was now completely panicked and had lost her usual composure.

"Weiwei... calm down!" Nami immediately stepped forward to comfort her, "Now is not the time to panic! First, we must stop the explosion, and second, we must find Luffy! I don't believe he can be defeated so easily!"

“That’s right! Vivi, that guy is going to be the Pirate King, he won’t fall so easily! You have to believe in him! Now we need to find the gunner first! If the explosion’s power is five kilometers away… then the gunner is 2.5 kilometers away from here, and we don’t have time!” Usopp nodded and said.

“No…maybe that gunner…is nearby!” Princess Vivi shook her head and said.

“That’s right… because that guy is Crocodile… a guy who doesn’t care about the lives of his comrades! He would definitely do that to ensure accuracy!” Nami nodded and said.

“Then all we need to do is find a high vantage point. For a sniper, having a commanding view is always the best!” Usopp said, gesturing with his chin.

"Everyone, there's no time for discussion. Let's set off, searching for cannonballs and Luffy at the same time!" Nami gave the order, and everyone began to split up and move out of their respective areas.

Chapter 302 Meeting

"fire punch!"

Just as Aokiji was about to attack Crocodile, a burst of flame suddenly descended from the sky, blocking Aokiji's ice attack.

"The second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates... Fire Fist Ace!" Aokiji glanced at Ace and said softly.

"Aokiji, where are Robin's men? I advise you not to do anything rash. The vice-captain has come in person. If you don't want to start a world war, you'd better not do anything rash!" Ace said to Aokiji.

"First mate...you said Reina has come to Alabasta?" Aokiji asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Hmph, Fire Fist Ace, I told you, you can't stop him! Aokiji, Reyna has arrived in Albana, but he was stopped by Mr. Garp!" Smoker, who was following closely behind Ace, said loudly to Aokiji.

"Mr. Garp?" Aokiji was taken aback, completely not expecting Garp to come to Alabasta as well.

"Hahahaha... Fire Fist, if I hadn't stopped her, Nico Robin would have died at Aokiji's hands. Now that your people are here, I can leave!" Crocodile's eyes lit up when he heard their conversation, and he said.

"Where do you think you're going?" Just as Crocodile was about to leave, Aokiji immediately stopped him. He knew what Crocodile's goal was, so he would never allow him to leave.

"Fire Fist Ace, aren't you going to stop Aokiji? I'm going to find Nico Robin now, and if you don't stop him... Aokiji might catch up with you! Hahahaha..." Crocodile dodged Aokiji's attack and said to Ace.

Ace originally didn't care about Crocodile, but now that Crocodile said this, he had no choice but to stop Aokiji. If what Crocodile said was true, he would have a hard time explaining it to Reyner.

“Ace… I heard that Straw Hat Luffy is your brother? It’s a pity… he was just killed by Crocodile!” Aokiji suddenly remembered that Smoker had said before that Ace was Straw Hat Luffy’s brother.

Crocodile was completely bewildered. Straw Hat Luffy was Portgas D. Ace's brother? He had never heard of this before!

"What? You killed Luffy?" Ace looked at Crocodile, his eyes filled with murderous intent.

Ever since Sabo died, Ace swore that he would never let anyone hurt Luffy. But Luffy died in Alabasta. What angered him even more was that he was also in Alabasta, yet he couldn't stop it from happening.

"Firefly Fire Daruma! Crocodile, prepare to die!" Without saying a word, Ace launched an attack directly at Crocodile.

Seeing this, Aokiji turned to Smoker and said, "Crocodile will launch an artillery barrage on the plaza at 4:30 PM. The Alabasta princess should be searching for the gunners now. Gather the soldiers to help! Leave Nico Robin to me, don't interfere! Otherwise, you won't be able to withstand Reiner's wrath!"

Smoker paused, looked at the clock tower standing in the center of Albana, and said, "We only have less than five minutes left. Finding a sniper... will be a bit difficult!"

"Do your best!" After saying that, Aokiji glanced at Ace and Crocodile who were fighting, and left the palace to head towards the Alabasta Cemetery. He had heard King Cobra say that the Poneglyphs were there.

On the other side, after being bandaged up and replenishing enough food and water with Pell's help, Luffy carried a large water bucket and headed towards the palace with Pell.

On their way, they encountered Vivi and the others who were searching for the sniper. Everyone was happy to see that Luffy was alright, but time was running out and the time before the shelling was approaching was getting shorter and shorter, so Bell joined the search team, while Luffy headed towards the palace alone.

"Huh...that woman is...Crocodile's partner...following her will definitely lead us to Crocodile!" On the way, Luffy encountered Robin and the King, so he changed course and ran towards them.

Meanwhile, Ace and Crocodile, who were fighting in the palace, were somewhat exasperated.

"You idiot! Aokiji has already gone to deal with Nico Robin. If she gets caught, she's dead!" Crocodile roared angrily as he dodged Ace's attack.

"No matter what, you're dead!" Ace was no longer angry. He knew Luffy was dead, and now the most important thing was to save Nico Robin. After saving Nico Robin, he could deal with Crocodile.

So Ace transformed into a flame and chased after Aokiji in the direction he had left.

When Nico Robin and Cobra arrived at the Royal Tombs, they discovered they couldn't get through... because a battle was raging there.

"Robin...are you alright?" Upon seeing Robin, Reina immediately jumped out of the battle and stopped fighting Garp.

"I'm fine!" Robin was taken aback, but then she remembered Aokiji saying he would take care of her, so she smiled and said, "Aokiji did say he would take care of me, but he didn't do it!"

"He's smart enough to know what's good for him, otherwise... hmph!" Reina snorted twice, glanced at Karp, and showed no intention of continuing to make a move.

When Garp saw Reina stop, he didn't continue his attack either. However, after seeing Robin, he knew that Aokiji had failed.

"And who is this...?" Reina glanced at Cobra next to Robin and asked, feigning surprise.

“This is the King of Alabasta, Nefertari Cobra!” Robin said with a smile.

“So it’s King Cobra… I’m so grateful for your help many times before. Don’t worry! I won’t stand idly by when it comes to your kingdom’s affairs! But Robin has her own ideals, so you can just take her to see the historical texts in your collection. You don’t need to worry about anything else!” Reina said with a smile.

Cobra was taken aback, completely failing to understand Reina's meaning.

“In a few minutes, Crocodile is planning to bombard the square in front of the palace. Can Lord Reina stop such a thing?” Cobra asked after thinking for a moment.

"Hahaha... I told you, don't worry. It's just a few shells. Neither I, nor that old navy man over there, nor even that brat Aokiji are a threat. If we want to stop it, we have plenty of ways, so you don't need to worry!"

"And you must trust your daughter and her companions! They're not the kind of people who give up so easily! As for Crocodile, they'll handle it themselves. Even if something unexpected happens, don't worry. I promise you, Crocodile won't appear in the Kingdom of Alabasta after today! How about it?" Reina said with a smile.

"Since you have such ideas and capabilities, why didn't you make a move sooner?" Cobra asked, puzzled.