Chapter 9: Chapter 9: All Sunday Ethics Spiel
[POV Albert]
"Well, that was disappointing", I said aloud, looking down at Crocodile, lying fetally crumbled up in the sand, completely unconscious.
'Anyways, I'd better call Robin before doing anything else". And with that thought, I grabbed my Den Den Mushi from my pocket and quickly dialed her number.
She, once again, picked up on the first ring. "Mr. Blue Sky, what's your status? You hung up quite abruptly last time".
"Waddup Sunday, just wanted to say hi from before. Didn't I say I'd call you back?" my air was upbeat as always when I called her. "Anyways, you wouldn't believe who I'm here with. Say hello to Miss All Sunday, Crocodile… oh wait, he's sleeping right now, I forgot, hehe~".
"… Albert, is this real?" Her voice was quiet as a mouse.
Hearing her hesitation, I immediately straightened myself up as I spoke. "I am telling the truth. He showed up in Nanohana right after I defeated some invading pirates. Crocodile agreed on the spar, and I managed to cuff him with seastone. He is currently unconscious before me. We're in the desert, on foot, about thirty minutes outside the city".
"I..I… I don't know what to say. I'm shaking right now. I didn't.. I didn't think things would be this easy. Is this real? What should I do, Albert? Albert?" I could hear her breathing heavily into the line, clearly panicking.
I made an effort to compose my voice as I answered her doubts. "Okay, calm down. We've gone through this scenario already. In case we apprehend Crocodile, our first course of action is to bring him to the Rainbase casino, where there is a suitable holding cell out of seastone. Then, after accumulating the necessary evidence, I contact both the Marines and the royal family while you hide at a hotel in the city. That clear?"
"Mhmm." I imagined her nodding at my words. I could see the Den Den Mushi's lips tremble slightly. 'Funny how that works', I mused.
"If I start running with Crocodile now, I think I should be able to reach Rainbase a little after midnight. Before I arrive, I need you to collect all the papers and documentation to make the case. After that, I'll need you to clear a path for me in the pyramid so nobody notices my entrance. Before dawn, we'll have everything ready to make the calls". I spoke slowly and matter-of-factly to sound reassuring.
She audibly sighed, "Okay, I will have everything ready before you get here".
"You okay, Robin?" I asked her after a long moment of silence.
"I'm fine. Just hurry up and get here; see you". She rapidly excused herself and closed the call.
I looked down at the sleeping phone-snail in my hand, then over at the body of Crocodile. '*Sigh*, I'd better get going'.
I threw the warlord over my shoulder and started sprinting northwest.
[Robin POV]
"You okay, Robin?" I could hear Albert asking from the other side of the line, worry evident in his voice.
How could he be that calm? He should have just finished fighting a warlord of the fucking sea, and here he was worrying about me. Not that I was feeling fine at all.
"I'm fine. Just hurry up and get here; see you". I made a quick escape from his overwhelming concern and ended the call.
I immediately broke down into a mess of shakes and quivers. I knew it was horrible of me, but sometimes I wished I had never met that man. Without him, I would still be living inside my little bubble of Teflon, where all of my awful actions would just slide off, masked as necessary evils for my survival. In just one conversation, he'd made me realize just how far I had fallen from the person I once was, the ideals I once held. And now, for the first time in my life, I had willingly thrown away my safety net, not for my survival, not because I had another gig lined up, but because it was the right thing to do.
'What a scary person', I concluded. 'I haven't even known him for a week, and he just waltzed into my life, straightened my warped conscience, took down my warlord boss, and is about to save an entire country from civil war; and for what, because he finds me interesting?'
I pulled myself together and got to work. No matter how uncomfortable it felt to actively undermine the protection I had built up around myself over the years, it was something I had to do. It was just a Band-Aid to rip off.
The paperwork I had already gathered prior, so I just brought it to the room we would be making the call. It was Crocodile's personal office, the place his private Den Den Mushi was located, and with that, our only chance to contact the royals directly.
I then made my way to the security room on the third floor. The two night-watches monitoring the live video feeds were knocked out and tied up in a matter of minutes, after which I picked up the transponder snail responsible for communication with the patrolling guards.
"Vice-president, Miss All Sunday, speaking, identification number: 012108. New instructions have come in; please execute order 22 immediately. I expect everybody away from their post within the hour". I gave a simultaneous command to everyone on active duty through the snail.
Order 22 dictated that visual transponder snails be turned off and guards permanently leave their shift without anybody replacing them. This directive was initially purposed for when Crocodile acted personally as a member of Baroque works in the building and couldn't be observed by anyone. It was a rare occurrence but not unheard of.
I smiled at the guards slowly packing up and leaving their posts.
I leaned back on the comfortable control room chair and let out a deep breath.
'Now, I can only wait for Albert'.
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Almost on the dot, only three minutes past midnight, Albert made his arrival. I met him at the entrance to the casino in a much better mental state than when he had called me. Strewn over his shoulder was an unconscious Crocodile – an absurd sight. Crocodile was always a person who seemed so far out of reach for anyone around him. So powerful, untouchable, really. To see him in such a vulnerable state was bizarre, to say the least.
Usurping the uncanniness of Crocodile was the man beneath him. Albert had not a single scratch on his body and was not winded in the slightest after running for hours. 'What a scary person', I once again repeated in my head like a mantra.
"Sup, Robin. Is everything ready?" he greeted me with a friendly grin.
I inwardly thanked the gods that the man before me was not a bad person, as I greeted him with a smile, confirmed his inquiry, and let him inside the base.
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