Lara's POV;

“Oh, my.” I was following Luffy to the temple and just came across Tashigi. Her wounds were only painful, but she looked to be mentally crushed.

She heard me and looked up. It took her a moment, but recognition flickered in her eyes and a short look of disgust crossed her face. “What are you doing here?”

“Just following Luffy, someone has to make sure that he doesn't die. That idiot is sadly too important”, I answered with an amused smile. She looked at me with incomprehension, not understanding what I mean.

I shrugged and strolled past her. I could faintly make Luffy's aura out. Yet, I was stopped when she grabbed my ankle. “You have to help, there is a bomb that will kill everyone in this city.”

I answered while patting her head reassuringly. “Don't worry about that, Lia has taken care of it.” With that said I continued and followed Luffy. His aura was at a higher placed than Crocodile's, but that was changing rapidly.

I reached the stair to the underground temple and went down. The first problem came only a few minutes later. The whole thing was coming down when Luffy went inside. Me coming later only left a blocked entrance in my way.

Great, now I have to either wait or find some other way. Hmm, isn't there a way for me to use vibrations? I put my hand on a bolder and let it vibrate. It shook violently before a net of cracks formed on its surface.

Aha, then let's change the frequency. A few tries later and I finally found the correct frequency to change rock and stone into small pebbles and sand. I only had to supercharge it, otherwise, it would've taken too long.

Now I had my drill and pulverised a few boulders before the mistake in my plan showed itself. What good is a tunnel if it isn't supported? After taking a few boulders out the roof decided that it would like to meet the floor. I had to jump back or the tonnes of rock would have crushed me.

After letting a few curses lose I accepted that following Luffy through this way wasn't going to work. I walked back out and searched the ground for Crocodile's or Luffy's aura. Both were getting weaker. My weaker skill in Observation Haki didn't make it easier.

I found them somewhere in the middle of the city. This temple must be large. I could feel the tremors coming from under the ground. Seems like Luffy isn't down yet, he might even win. Blood acts the same as an Armament Haki coating in this case.

I decided to wait for a moment and was surprised when a white light on the horizon blinded me. The rumbling of an explosion came shortly after, followed by a small earthquake, that shook the whole city.

This must have been the bomb Lia was tasked to get rid off. I would have put it in my inventory, it's never a mistake to have a bomb at hand. But this is also okay.

However, I still am not in a position to fight Crocodile. Should I destroy the ground? It bears the risk of them getting buried under the loose stones. Better wait and see, worst case, Luffy dies.

Would be interesting to see how the world changes then. Wouldn't be hard for Lia and me to do some of the things that Luffy did. Only changing some things about the timeline might be rather easy, with our knowledge about the world.

Anyway, I knew that this was not happening, at least not now. The reason for this was the bloodied body of Crocodile. He was just now punched out of the ground. Looked kinda cool of the street exploded outwards with him flying up from hundreds of hits. All of them hitting him with a wet crunching sound.

Crocodile was definitely down. Luffy might be weaker than Lia and me, but he's still fairly strong physically. He's just too stupid to use tactics. Crocodile left a fine mist of blood during his flight over to the plaza and I decided it would be a good idea to get Luffy, Cobra and maybe Robin out of the collapsing temple.

I jumped down into the hole and passed half a dozen layers of temple rooms. Luffy really is physically strong if he managed to punch Crocodile all the way through the rock.

A single Geppo stopped my fall and I landed safely on the deepest level.

“Who're you?”, asked a male to my left. I turned around and saw the somewhat bloodied form of King Cobra. His face and shoulder must hurt, but there were no wounds on his legs. He should be fine for a few more hours.

“Oh hey, Lara. Good that you're here. It means that I can sleep now.” Luffy, who was laying next to me grinned up at me and then promptly fell asleep.

I answered with an open smile. “as Luffy said, I'm Lara. Two of my crew should have spoken to you. Nojiko and Josef, they came with Igaram.”

He looked less wary, now that he knew who I am. “What happened in Rainbase then? Your friends said that you would take care of Crocodile.”

“Yeah, we confronted him. My sister fought him, but he escaped before we could harm him more than superficial. Sorry, but a Logia user is hard to follow when he's in his own element. Fighting him inside these ruins would have been way easier than in the middle of the desert.

At first, I tried to follow you inside the temple, but it began to collapse. Following you wasn't possible. I did manage to follow you from upwards and I was just contemplating how to get down to you when Luffy punched him out.” He looked a bit guilty when he realized that he was at fault for the collapse.

“What about the bomb? We felt the tremors”, asked the king next, real concern in his tone.

“Don't worry about that, my sister took care of it.” I only replied absentmindedly. I was searching for Robin. I know that she will survive this, but helping her out now would still be good.

However, I couldn't find her she must have already fled the scene. Well, not my problem. I turned back to Cobra and Luffy. Luffy was by now almost clean, the rain has washed most of it off of his skin.

I grabbed him, hoisted him over my shoulder and then turned to Cobra. “Are you able to stand on your own?”

He nodded and pushed himself up with a grunt. “We have to get out, the people will be confused. Now is the perfect moment to set things right.” He then beckoned me to follow him through a hidden passage. It wasn't destroyed and led us back to the surface.

We were walking through the deserted town in silence. Some signs of fighting could be seen here and there. “Can I ask you a question?” He suddenly asked.

“Sure”, I answered.

“Why did you help in saving this country? You are pirates, why are you helping us? Or better, what do you want in return?” He was serious and somewhat wary of my answer. Most likely thinking that he and his people are now in a position that would not make it possible to protect the country if I suddenly decide to attack.

“Hmm, there is more than one answer to that question. Luffy would say that it is the right thing to do. Nami would ask for compensation in form of money. Nojiko would answer that it would be a tragedy to have a country with such a rich culture destroyed. Sanji would have done it for Vivi's smile.”

“And you?”, he interrupted.

“Hmm, I would say because it is fun.” He looked at me in confusion.

“Fun? Please elaborate.”

“Sure, I and my sister are on the Grand Line to have fun. We are not interested in glory, riches, ideologies, or other things like that. We only want to have fun. And what is more, fun than helping a princess freeing her country from a big evil? That is stuff that is told in bedtime stories.

Or in short, an adventure.”

He thought about my answer for a moment and then began to laugh. “I guess I can live with that. It is better than some plot that concludes in the destruction of my country. At least you are honest and don't fake good interest in this country's people.”

We turned another corner and came across the rest of the Straw Hats, as well as Jo, Lia and Nojiko. “Hi, guys. Luffy didn't need help, he beat him on his own. But you might want to take a look at his wounds Jo.”

“It's good to see you well my elven angel.” Sanji tried to come closer but tripped and wasn't able to stand up on his own. Zoro opened his mouth but closed it without saying anything. He then sat down and started to sleep.

Chopper looked to be fairly okay. His fruit gives him higher physical resistance. Sanji looked to be wounded and tired. Zoro was cut up, like always. Nami was fairly well, only a few cuts, nothing dangerous. Ussop was fully enclosed in bandages and plaster. All of them already had gotten first aid by Chopper, they now were only dead tired.

Of course, none of my crew had any wound. Nojiko was even helping Zoro to walk, while Jo was helping Ussop.

Vivi came running from the plaza “Guys! And papa,” she hugged her father and smiled at the Straw Hats. “Thank you, it's finally over. You should treat your wounds.”

Zoro cut in while sitting down. “Stop bothering us, Vivi. You should go to the plaza, we're fine.”

“Yes, the fighting might have stopped, but without you and the king it won't seem like a real end.” Agreed Ussop, the rest of us nodding along.

“Right, let's go back.” Vivi agreed with a big smile.

“Vivi, we are pirates. Us folks aren't good with politics”, said Sanji from his position. He has forced himself up to sit and was lighting a smoke. He was acting, his hand was shaking.

“Yeah, I'm hungry”, added Chopper. “And I want to go to the palace and rest”, came from Nami.

The king and princess nodded in understanding and left on their own. The moment they were out of sight Sanji slumped down and fell asleep. The rest of the Straw Hats following his example.

“Let's bring them to the palace. Out here they might get arrested”, suggested Nojiko. She put Chopper on her head and picked Nami up.

“Seems like I have to patch their captain up”, grumbled Jo while lifting Luffy on his back. He only finished the first aid, there was more to do.

“Who gets whom?”, asked Lia. She was looking at the remaining three.

“I take Ussop,” I said and grabbed one of his legs. Lia grabbed Zoro and put him on her shoulder. With that done we began to walk to the palace.

“Ladies? What about Sanji?”, asked Jo from a few metre behind us. None of us three had any intention of touching the pervert.

“What do you mean Jo? We have everyone of importance”, I asked back with a smile.

“But”, he tried again. “Everyone of importance Jo, everyone of importance.” Jo looked down at Sanji, pulled him under some cover against the rain and then followed us back to the palace. He might fetch him later, but now he had his hands full with Luffy.

Inside the palace, Jo started to work on Luffy and after that also on Zoro. A soldier brought Sanji in as well. He got treatment from a normal doctor. The rest of their crew only needed sleep.

“So, did you fight him?”, asked Lia. We were sitting on a balcony, watching the people dancing in the rain.

“No, couldn't get to him. Luffy beat him on his own.” I answered with a frown and sipped on the fruit drink we got from Igaram's wife.

“Hah, so it's still me who was better against one of the Warlords”, laughed Lia. “Who do you think will get the credits?” She then asked.

“Hmm, Smoker will most likely tell the government that both us Kage and the Straw Hats were responsible. He has seen your fight and Tashigi knows about our help with the bomb.

It won't matter in the end. Luffy will get his higher bounty, Smoker his new position and we only got a change recently. Another one would look strange.”

She drunk some of her own drink and nodded. “Yeah, thought so too. We should leave quickly. I don't want to fight Hina. Her giant metal harpoons are annoying. Jonny and Yosaku also only have Noa too look after them.”

Yeah, deflecting these big lumps of metal would be annoying. “Then let's wait until Nami wakes up. I'm sure Nojiko wants to say her farewells.”

“Let's do that. I also need your help for some close combat training and Armament. I have seen that I need some more training for these things.”

I agreed and told her about my own problems with long distance attacks. The rest of the day was then used to speak about new training methods and possible solutions for our weaknesses.

The next day Nami woke up and we allowed Nojiko to wish her farewell before we took a squad of ducks back to the ship. We didn't even inform the king of our departure. None of us was thrilled of staying any longer. Not with the Marines trying to get inside the palace.

Especially not when Jo is almost as sought after as Robin. His knowledge about the Pacifista is dangerous for the World Government. We reached the hidden dock a few hours after sunrise and were greeted with an explosion that only narrowly missed the Shadow.