Lia's POV;

“An oasis in the desert, a fitting description for Rainbase”, I said while looking at the city from the higher position of a dune. Lara and I have reached the town that is used as Crocodiles headquarter. There is indeed a stronger presence inside the town. It does not feel as strong as this CP agent Lara fought, but that was because the strength of one's presence increases with his or her skill in Haki.

I don't know how good he is with Haki. He was overly reliant on his Logia status in his fight against Luffy. But then again, he did not need anything else against Luffy. Rubber isn't exactly the strongest Devil Fruit. And during the War of the Best, he used at least some form of Haki against Joker.

“Do you have a plan against him?”, asked Lara from behind me. We were still sitting on the duck.

“I thought about infusing my Devil Fruit with Haki and punching him around for a few minutes and then using sea stone pebbles to immobilise him.” We used rock-paper-scissors to decide who can fight against him. I won.

Lara poked me in the sides and I flinched away, “Don't think that you are strong enough to take him easily. He only was this arrogant against Luffy because the idiot had not a high bounty. We do, so expect some more seriousness from him.

A single unprotected hit and you are out of the fight. Having your Observation Haki active at all times is a must. Your Armament might not be strong enough to cancel his power. And be prepared to fight without air, he might use sand to destroy your lungs from the inside”, she warned sternly.

I nodded and turned around to give her a kiss. “Yes dear now let's go, I want to drink something nice. A strawberry shake would be the best now.” The duck under us understood what I wanted and began to run towards the city. It stopped near its outskirts and let us down. It saluted briefly and then run off as fast as it could, back to Alubarna. I think it hasn't forgotten how Lara was touching its rips while muttering about grilled duck.

I adjusted my robes a little and then grabbed Lara's hand before walking into the street that would lead us to the main plaza. On our way, we found many street vendors and could see the everyday life of people that life in a desert.

Some were drinking tea in the shadows of a palm tree, others were bartering over some spices or silken clothes. It really felt like a bazaar. But it was clear that water is still somewhat abundant in this town. The prices were 'cheap' for something that should be rare and almost none existent in this country. We haven't found anyone who would sell strawberry shakes, but I got a nice fruit drink.

“The people are looking happy, you wouldn't believe that there is a civil war raging in the rest of the land”, commented Lara. She was happily munching on a spicy grilled chicken stick.

“Yes, how far behind do you think are the Straw Hats and Smoker?”, I asked. I haven't felt Luffy so far. And I didn't bother to remember Smoker's aura. He would only sparingly come arccos us.

“Hard to say, I think maybe a day or two? If I remember correctly then Igaram showed up directly after the fight against Crocodile. For all we know they might as well be on their way to Rainbase right now,” replied Lara with a frown. She was also flipping through a One Piece manga to prove her memories.

“The time frame of One Piece is fucked up. They did the Alabasta Arc, Skypia Arc, Enies Lobby Arc, Thriller Bark Arc, Sabbaody Arc, the Impel Down Arc, the War of the Best, and countless other minor fillers within a single year. It's as if they only need a single week between each island.” She continued in some form of a rambling.

Lara hates it if she can't explain something. It is especially annoying for her to use our Devil Fruits, they act according to our wishes, yet not always. Their power isn't influencing their user, yet they can if the user wants to. And they ignore physics whenever it is convenient for the user, but follow them when it is wanted.

Luffy should have been brittle whenever he is on an ice island, yet he is not. At least at the start, where he couldn't control his metabolism. Smoker's smoke should not be able to hold something, but it can. Yet it is also able to flow freely around things. Kizaru should not be able to move precisely with his light ability, it's too fast.

Or Lara's vibrations, her sword does not get hot from them, however, the attack on organs cooks them from the fast movement. And I am not pushed away from my pressure shots, but am able to use the same thing to fly around. And Kuzan shouldn't be able to move around when he is in his ice form, ice is the form of unmoving water. If it gets moved it breaks.

Sometimes it's easier to just smile and accept that this is a fantasy world and not everything is explainable.

“But the Marine presence is already high, it wouldn't surprise me if Smoker is already here”, commented Lara a moment after passing a squad of Marines. It was already the fifth since we stepped inside Rainbase.

“Didn't Smoker went to Rainbase directly after his confrontation with Ace and Luffy? The Straw Hats first went to this dried up village. Him being here long before they are is to be expected.” I nodded to what she said and pulled her out of the way of another Marine squad. She was too occupied with the manga and her food.

“Here it is”, I announced when we were in front of the large casino.

“Gaudy,” was Lara's only comment before we walked inside. And indeed, it was gaudy. A big ass golden crocodile atop of a big ass pyramid that is built on top of a lake. But casinos have to be like that.

“Let us gamble on a few games before we do anything else”, suggested Lara. We walked over to a blackjack table and began to play. I won a few games but lost most of them. Lara had a little more luck. She won a little bit more than what she lost. Still, it was by far not what would have happened in our last life. Lara would have sacked the whole casino by now.

“Excuse me Misses?”, asked a man in a black suit. He stood in front of three others. It was clear that he was also speaking with me and Lara.

“Yes?”, I asked and declined another game. They look like they are from this place and another game might not be possible.

"The manager wishes to speak with you, would you two please follow me?”, he asked with a practised smile. I glanced over to Lara and saw her nodding in acceptance. So we both stood up and followed the three into a hallway. On a crossing were two signs. The left had VIP written on it and right had Pirates written on it. The three guys took the left way.

This means that they don't want to imprison us, that is interesting. What could Crocodile want from us then?

We reached a big decorated door and were led inside. There we found a long table for meetings with Crocodile sitting on the head. Robin was standing to his right. And in the background was a large Banana Gator, swimming in the lake.

“Slicer Lara and True Shot Lia, what are two of the newest big names on the Grand Line doing in my casino?”, asked Crocodile the moment the three suit wearing goons have left us.

I glanced at Robin but she had only her fake calm smile. Is he testing us or did Robin not tell him about us? Must be the first one, we had not such a high bounty when she tried to blow our ship up.

“Please, don't try any of these stupid games. Your secretary must have told you about us and our involvement”, said Lara in a bored tone.

Crocodile stared or glared at us with half-lidded eyes before starting to laugh loudly. “Yes, you two are indeed not the same kind of bug that is this Straw Hat.” He still called us bugs. I glanced over to Lara and asked her silently if it's okay to kill him now, but her eyes told me that she still wants to see how this works out.

“So what do you want?”, asked Lara calmly. Robin smiled a little while Crocodile frowned lightly. Seems like he wanted to make us react to his insult.

“No small bugs indeed”, he mumbled, for normal people to quiet, but not for our ears. “I want Igaram, and maybe give you a place beside me. A Warlord of the Seas can always need highly skilled personel”, he then said with a benevolent tone. As if working under someone would be good.

Anyone under someone is a goon, no matter who. I may be listed as the First Mate, but am of equal position to Lara.

“Sorry to burst your bubble, but Igaram is already in Alubarna. Probably even informed the king about your plans and involvement. And as for working for you, well, how about no!” declined Lara. She was grinning and this made Crocodile's face morph into an angry expression. It worked especially good with his large scar. How did he get that one anyway?

“Is that so? Then what reason do I have to keep you two alive? You obviously know too much,” threatened Crocodile. Robin was also crossing her arms in her signature move, yet she hasn't done anything for now.

“What makes you think that you can kill us?”, asked Lara back. She was now flexing her finger for a Rankyaku. A weak version, but enough for a diversion.

“A pity, you two first seemed to not be of the stupid kind.” He almost sounded mournful, if there wasn't the malicious intent. Robin also interpreted his words as the go for her attack.

“Seis Fleur!” Two arms came out of my and Lara's back, they tried to grab our heads in a clutching position, but stopped midway.

“What?”, asked Robin wide eyed. She put more power into her arms, but they were immobile, rooted in position by our Armament Haki. They themself haven't turned black, but the skin they were on made them not useable.

Lara swished her finger in a wide arc and the force blade of air was sent off. It also was enhanced by her Devil Fruit and left a visible ripple effect. This thing would cut into anything like a chainsaw and not like a sword.

Robin was forced to stop her attack and evade by ducking under the attack, while Crocodile did nothing. The blade grew bigger the farther it was away and cut through Crocodile with a crunching sound. It continued and hit the large glass window behind him. A short sawing and high pitched crunching sound informed me that the glass was at least damaged.

Nothing happened for a moment and we waited for the dust to settle. Dust that strangely enough always blows up when something gets hit, even in perfectly clean places.

“That was not very friendly, my secretary only wanted to give you a hug”, drawled Crocodile's voice out of the clearing smoke screen. He was perfectly fine and hasn't changed his sitting position. Robin was also back on her feet, but a little shaken from what happened. It was invisible, but her heartbeat was very fast.

“Let's take this somewhere else, you might not want to have your casino destroyed. Well, more than what it already is”, suggested Lara with a gesture at the cracked glass. A large Banana Gator was inspecting the crack.

“You will pay for that!”, replied Crocodile darkly. He really makes a good impression of a gang boss. The author of One Piece is great. Still, it wasn't what Lara wanted to hear, so I flung a pebble at Crocodile. He evaded the pebble with a slight move of his head. However, he wasn't my real target.

The pebble hit directly at the weakest place of the crack and the window couldn't hold the massive pressure of the water any longer. It's not that it could to begin with, I had to add a small counter pressure to let it hold this long.

The Banana Gator and thousands of tons of water began to flood the VIP room. A room with four Devil Fruit user in it. Robin's head whipped around the moment the pebble hit the glass and her body was moving only a second later. She was sprinting towards a side door. Crocodile himself was glaring at me before dissolving into sand.

Behind us the door clicked and was probably locked. “Could you please open the door for me?”, I asked Lara with a friendly smile. Lara smiled back and cut the door and the three goons behind, with her sword, in two.

We then used a few Soru to leave the quickly flooding room and hallway. A moment later we were out of Rainbase and standing on a dune. However, before one of us could say anything Crocodile reformed out of the sand and send a sand cutter at us.

Evading it wasn't hard, only a short skip to the side.

“I liked that room, well, taking your bounty will be enough for the repairs”, he said, still not taking us seriously. Even after seeing us using two of the Marine Skills. We have to change that. I pull half a dozen pebbles and flick them all at him. Only one of them is made out of sea stone. No reason to waste my supply.

Crocodile evades all of them, some by dissolving his body completely others by normal means. The sea stone pebble flies through a large hole in his chest.

So it doesn't work if there is nothing to hit? That means that I have to at least hit the sand.

“Don't think I am a fool, I know about your use of sea stone”, said Crocodile while flinging sand bullets at us.

Lara jumps away, while I start to use Kami-e to evade the dozen or so bullets. So how should I do this?