【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

"Got it, let's go!" Zoro said as he walked in the opposite direction of them.

"Zoro, you're going the wrong way!" Qi said helplessly. To be honest, at the speed they are going that they deviate from the direction from time to time, can they really reach the rainy land in one day?

"Green algae head, this is the north!" Sanji laughed.

"I'm heading north!" said Zoro angrily.

Not long after, the two started fighting again. Fortunately, Nami punched them in time and successfully prevented them from spending any more time in the desert.

Due to the heat and lack of water, Usopp and Luffy kept shouting for heat and water.

"Chopper, aren't you tired today?" Zoro said with a smile as he looked at Chopper beside him. They had been walking for almost a day, but Chopper hadn't fallen down yet and needed to be dragged away.

"Well, I have to work harder today," Chopper said, panting.

"Not bad, Chopper." Sanji praised.

"Even if you praise me, I won't be happy~" Chopper said shyly.

"Luffy..." Vivi looked at Luffy, who was holding the stick in front of her and breathing heavily due to the heat, and said with a smile, "Thank you. If it weren't for you, I really wouldn't have such a strong determination."

"Really? Then you have to treat me to a meal!" Luffy responded tiredly, "After we kill Crocodile, you have to treat me to a meal until I die of fullness."

"Well, I promise you!" Weiwei said happily.

"Weiwei, you have no idea what you agreed to." Qi teased with a smile.

……

"Why on earth is this happening?" Nami sighed, looking irritably at the iron cage bars in front of them.

She really didn't know how they got into this situation, she, Luffy, Odd, Zoro, Usopp, and a smoking marine, all somehow missed a step and fell into some kind of cage. She could see only a table and a fish tank full of crocodiles outside... so they couldn't ask anyone for help.

They had just traveled through a day's desert and successfully arrived at the Rainland from Yuba. Then, in order to prevent the crocodiles from noticing that they had arrived at the Rainland, they arranged for the excited Luffy and Usopp to enter the town to buy supplies.

In fact, this was an extremely wrong decision, especially when they were chased by the navy and entered the casino run by Crocodile, which made them fully realize how wrong this decision was. Nami looked at the dazed Luffy and Usopp in front of her and couldn't help but shed tears of regret.

"How stupid are you guys?" Zoro complained, "How can there be pirates so obedient? Just because it says pirates go this way, they really follow it!"

"This is a very clever trap!" Luffy concluded.

"Ah, there's nothing we can do about it." Usopp agreed.

"No way! The enemy didn't set any traps for you to escape. You rushed in on your own, you idiots!!" Nami couldn't help but scream in madness.

Qi put his hand on the bars of the iron cage. He could feel the difference of this bar. When he put his hand on it, he had a vague feeling of being rejected and the bar was unusually hard.

"But I've been feeling weak all over since the beginning... Am I hungry?" Luffy grabbed the railing and slid down it weakly.

"You guys are so noisy!" Smoker, who was sitting in the back, attacked Luffy, and at the same time he was annoyed that he would make such a low-level mistake.

"Are you okay, Luffy?" Usopp asked in surprise, because he had been holding on to the railing like Luffy just now, but he didn't feel any discomfort.

"Be careful!" Zoro saw Smoker attacking and warned hurriedly.

But he didn't need to worry, because before he reminded him, Luffy had already dodged Smoker's attack with the warning of his Observation Haki.

"Do you know what this cage is made of?" Qi asked. He didn't care about Smoker's sudden attack because Luffy could easily avoid it. He was more concerned about another question now. "If we want to get out of here, we must first understand the material of this cage."

"It's useless." Smoker held the weapon in his hand and still pointed it at Luffy. "This cage is made of seastone, which is specially used to deal with people with special abilities. It has the same characteristics as the ocean, which can prevent the Devil Fruit user from using his abilities and make his body weak."

"But this is also a good opportunity to catch you all in one fell swoop..." Smoker said as he tightened his weapon in his hand.

"Hey, hey! There's no need to kill each other if we're trapped in this iron cage together!!" Usopp shouted in horror.

"That's right, after all, you are all going to die together soon." A voice suddenly sounded from outside the cage.

"Crocodile!" Smoker bit his cigar hard and said with a gloomy face.

"I didn't expect I could catch a navy, did you, smoker?" Crocodile asked with a sneer, "But don't worry, I will report to the higher-ups that you died in the line of duty."

"Hey! Crocodile! I'm going to beat you to pieces!!" Luffy shouted angrily at the people outside the railing.

"Straw Hat Luffy, I didn't expect you to find this place, but I will destroy you soon because there are still VIPs who haven't arrived." Crocodile said with a smile, "So, wait a moment."

"You are so arrogant! As long as we leave here, they will beat you away!" Nami shouted angrily at Crocodile outside the cage. She hated him. The cold smile on his face reminded her of Arlong. But with Luffy by her side, she was no longer afraid. She believed that Luffy would definitely defeat Crocodile like he defeated Arlong. "Right, Luffy!"

"That's right!!" Luffy yelled "Come on, Crocodile!"

"It seems that you are a captain who is very trusted by your crew, Straw Hat Luffy..." Crocodile smiled grimly, "But trust... is the most useless thing in the world."

"Crocodile!!" At the same time, Vivi stood on the stairs and shouted at Crocodile, "I will kill you myself!!"

"Wait, Vivi, save us first!" Luffy shouted, but it was obvious that Vivi was controlled by anger and could not hear what Luffy said at all.

"Peacock!" Vivi swung the weapon on her little finger and attacked Crocodile with "Chain Rings!!"

Everyone looked at Crocodile in surprise as his head was easily blown off, but they all knew that Crocodile was not so easy to die. Sure enough, Vivi was caught by Crocodile in the next second.

At the critical moment, Ms. Quan Rizhou, who had appeared on their ship before, told Crocodile that the Utopia plan had begun.

"Is this the most important operation he mentioned?" Qi thought of what Ace had said before about Crocodile's other intention. What was that? What made him have to seize power to get it?