Second Wind

40

Luffy twitched in agitation in the face of the situation he was currently in. He was trapped in a cell surrounded by seastone at all sides. He had considered using geppou to get out, but the ceiling was seastone was well. How troublesome. On the other side of the bars stood none other than Crocodile, and on the inside sat Smoker, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and himself. The fact that they were all in this cage again was extremely frustrating. From Zoro's annoyed expression, he could tell that they were both thinking the same thing. How the fuck are we here right now? It was ridiculous. The chances of them ending up in this situation again were lower than the chances of either one of them losing to Croc in a fight.

Usopp hummed thoughtfully. "A most cunning plan indeed," he said with his arms crossed.

"My ass," Luffy mumbled.

"I think you're hardly one to refute that claim Strawhat, seeing as you fell for it," Smoker pointed out. Luffy turned to him with an outraged expression.

"Like I give a shit what you think! You're the reason we're in this stupid situation, Smokey!"

"Stop calling me that!" Smoker shouted.

"No!" Luffy yelled stubbornly. "Go get high on your smoke somewhere else, you stupid cloud! Why do you even smoke two cigars!? It makes no sense! If you weren't a smoke logia your lungs would be tumors by now!" he ranted. "Fucking White Blunder!" He stopped and caught his breath.

"You done?" Smoker asked emotionlessly.

"Yea..." Luffy said, taking a deep breath and exhaling. "Yea, I'm done."

"Let's not fight amongst ourselves," came the smug voice of Crocodile. "As prisoners doomed to the same fate, you should make peace with each other. Hell, you could even-"

"And you!" Luffy shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Crocodile. "Stop being such a Croc! Always walking around with your I'm such a Croc attitude! It's annoying!" Crocodile looked extremely amused by the fact that his prisoner was shouting at him.

It was then that Robin walked in with a captive Vivi and set her down on the chair in the middle of the room. Crocodile welcomed her and finally explained his plan to her, smirking all the while, just to upset her. It was working. "Wipe that shit eating grin off your face, Sandman," Luffy said. "This was a complete and utter fluke! The chances of this plan of yours actually working were less than the chances of you actually getting a hit in on Whitebeard!" Crocodile was seething at this comment, but Robin spoke up before he could retaliate.

"Doesn't that just make you look even more foolish, Monkey-san?" she asked.

"And you," he said, pointing at her with a pout. "Stop being mean, Robin."

She sighed. "Will you stop calling me that?"

"No!" he yelled stubbornly.

"You know, I find it amusing how you go along with your antics as if the threat of death doesn't even concern you," she said. "Perhaps you're a little oblivious to the situation you're in? One could even say you're on the losing side of this game," she said with a smile. Luffy developed a tic over his eye at this comment, but then took a deep breath and sat down.

"Fifteen minutes," he said simply. They both looked at him in confusion. "I give you fifteen minutes at most, and then we're out of here." Zoro smirked at his wellfound confidence.

"What kind of nonsense are you spewing?" Crocodile asked with an annoyed expression. Evidently he was still irked about the Whitebeard comment. Luffy just looked at Robin.

"Fifteen minutes," he repeated. "Set your watch." Robin raised an eyebrow and checked the exact time just to humor him, smiling all the while. Crocodile seemed even more annoyed by this act, but then he just smiled as well.