Archive of Our Own ^beta

“All around me darkness gathers,
Fading is the sun that shone,
We must speak of other matters,
You can be me when I'm gone

Flowers gathered in the morning,
Afternoon they blossom on,
Still are withered in the evening,
You can be me when I'm gone.”

- The Sandman Volume 9 "The Kindly Ones", Neil Gaiman

“I could never really figure you out, you know?” Crocodile said idly while watching ice cubes clink around in amber liquid within the glass in his hand.

Robin returned a look of sceptical surprise. “Oh? And here I thought you were always the smartest man in the room, Mr. Zero,” she said with a teasing note to her voice. It was almost enough of a surprise in itself that she found enough confidence to tease around him, but then again, maybe not so much a surprise at all. Alabasta seemed like an eternity ago. Nico Robin had been allowed to bloom from the soil of the Straw Hats’… whatever they had going on. Crocodile had to suppress a snort at that mental image.

But that was the rub too. The person before him had had confidence back then, but it wasn’t Robin. Miss All Sunday had the quiet sardonic confidence of a businesswoman who got shit done. Even Crocodile had to admit she practically ran Baroque Works by herself and it wouldn’t have worked so well without her. Crocodile made the plans, Miss All Sunday handled the people.

He liked to think Miss All Sunday still came out sometimes. No doubt she was an asset against the Straw Hats’ many enemies considering her managerial skills and ability to orchestrate the battlefield with the utility aspects of her Devil Fruit. Miss All Sunday was more like a sideline fighter though, providing support. Together they had made a fairly good team that way when they fought, even if Crocodile knew she was capable of so much more. For there was a third aspect to the woman known to most as Nico Robin.

Nico Robin, Miss All Sunday and the Devil Child. The Maiden, the Mother and the Other One.

Crocodile would be amused by his own musings if it didn’t both intrigue and confuse him so. The Three-in-One was an ancient tale that seemed to appear in different incarnations in many cultures and religions. He was starting to wonder if there was some truth to it…

Of course, he could assume Miss All Sunday had been a mask and a role to play just as much as Mr. Zero had been for him, maybe more so. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that the woman who had agreed to meet with him against all expectations and catch up over a drink was the same person. He’d seen her arrive on their ship, curious if she had told the rest of the Straw Hats of his invitation and if she planned to sic them on him while watching from afar. It would be the logical thing, maybe get in some revenge for stabbing her back then. She did none of that though. He couldn’t hear what she said from this distance, but there was no sense of alarm from the others or any sign of anxiety from her. Robin smiled and laughed with them as they discussed heading into the city with the usual antics the Straw Hats performed, and looked more at ease among these people than Crocodile had ever seen her during her time at Baroque Works.

Crocodile could only get second-hand reports from what happened at Enies Lobby as getting reliable information about that fiasco besides ‘Straw Hat Pirate declares war on the World Government’ was difficult. He could see why, it was a PR nightmare for the Government. Crocodile was, of course, in prison at the time with little interest at the world outside after his downfall in Alabasta at the hands of a teenager in sandals who should have died several times over. But he had eventually been able to glean something about that incident, having found his interest peaked when he learned Robin had been at the centre of it all.

It must have been quite a shock to ‘Devil Child’ Nico Robin who was alone against the whole world to have people risk life and limb for her unconditionally. Now she had people who she could rely on and who would come to her defence if anything happened that she could not handle. He was not sure why it stung a little now that he could not have been that for Miss All Sunday, but she was right to feel that way at the time.

Miss All Sunday was reserved, with her guard constantly raised and an inability to trust anyone around her, least of all him. The woman who entered the tavern though simply greeted him with a complete lack of fear, neither of him nor of any other patrons of the tavern in which they had agreed to meet. A sharp contrast between the two, but understandable.

Yes, Crocodile could have assumed that Miss All Sunday was just a mask, nothing more, for the woman sitting before him, if not for the Other One. He had seen her, once.

‘Twas a stormy night, how appropriately. A massive storm had broken out over a large portion of Alabasta and he was holed up comfortably in Rain Dinners while Miss All Sunday had gone out to scout out the potential rumours of pirate troubles in a harbour town, one he could not recall the name of. But then Crocodile received a garbled message from her through the Transponder Snail, containing the words ‘Marine’ and ‘Ambush’. Before he knew it, he was out the door.

If Crocodile looked very sceptically at himself, he could say it was because he couldn’t lose the one person who could read the Poneglyph, but … it was something more than rage at his plans getting ruined that chased him out into the storm that night. Due to the rain, he had to take Banchi rather than being able to ride the desert winds, and the potential weakness of not being able to use his Devil Fruit to its full power should probably have made him hesitate, but it didn’t. Again, he could argue that knowing there were Marines meant that they couldn’t touch him as a Warlord, but it didn’t cross his mind at the time. Miss All Sunday was his. End of story.

Of course, Banchi had been extremely reluctant to go out into that miserable weather but turned a 180 once Crocodile explained that Robin was in danger. After that, Banchi moved at record speed across the soaking wet desert with a chill settling into their bodies the longer they were out there. A churning gut feeling about Robin’s safety now spurred both of them on and he had to trust the giant turtle knew their way despite the rain which came down in sheets and made visibility almost zero. It didn’t take long for Crocodile to reach the town and he hoped to whatever god or entity could be listening that he got there on time.

He wasn’t.

In the distance, he could see the shape of Robin’s favourite Bananawani, the F-Wani Alexander whom she raised from an egg the past couple of years. Even with the obscuring rain, Crocodile knew the poor creature was dead, lying in a diluted pool of his own blood. He had died defending his beloved human companion, from the looks of the terrible wounds on his body. But where was- His eyes were drawn to the smaller shape at the large gator’s side. His own heart skipped a beat at the feeling radiating from her. He could swear her form was glowing as the very air crackled around her. Was there lightning? Probably-

Crocodile stumbled as the ground cracked open and he fell back for stability against Banchi’s shell, the large turtle grunting in worry and anxiety but staying put for her humans. There was a thundering crash as the earth itself protested at being forced open by an unknown force and then from every crack, arms rose like the damned souls of hell grabbing anyone in range to drag them down with them. Crocodile cursed and pushed Banchi back out of the range of the claws pulling screaming figures into the chasms throughout the nightmare landscape before him.

Fires broke out as oil lamps throughout the town crashed down from the unnatural earthquake and lit everything flammable alight, creating a raging inferno despite the heavy rain. The moisture just turned into an immediate fog that blanketed everything in a haze of red, the sound of hissing steam audible over the roar of the flames but only drowned out by the screaming of men getting crushed by a sea of arms.

Crocodile looked up and stared at a creature-… devil? illuminated within the smoke and steam, forming a massive figure with demonic wings that encompassed the entire town. It was laughing.

He found himself waiting with Banchi until the rain finally overcame the inferno and the last of the screams died out. The silence under the rainfall was deafening, and wordlessly, Crocodile walked up to the girl kneeling in the middle of the broken plaza and put his coat around her before picking her up and taking her back to Rain Dinners on Banchi’s back. That was the last rainfall Alabasta would experience for the remainder of the time he was there. Crocodile wasn’t sure if Robin even knew what happened that night, and he didn’t want to ask.

“Robin! Robin!” came a childish voice, which pulled Crocodile out of his memories. He watched the small reindeer climb onto the counter of the bar, then gasp and cry out in shock at the sight of him. Several arms popped out of the side of the bar preventing the reindeer from falling onto the ground. “AH! Why is he here!?” the… boy? shouted, grabbing onto Robin’s arms for comfort.

Robin giggled, which was another surprise to Crocodile. He’d heard Miss All Sunday chuckle, but it was never with any genuine mirth. “It’s okay, Chopper, he just invited me for a drink. Don’t worry about it, I will keep you safe,” she said as she transferred him into her lap. He wondered if he should feel offended. However, being defeated by Straw Hat Luffy felt like a lifetime ago, especially after seeing the Straw Hats conquer Wano. He could of course be a threat, but that seemed rather uncouth after inviting a lady for a drink.

Watching Nico Robin coo and fawn over an adorable animal-person made Crocodile wonder what would happen to the world if anyone took her newfound family away from her.

He’d pray for the world.