The Morning Sun Will Rise!

Burning up

On Rainbase, in Crocodile's hideout, Crocodile smashed the glass table, where he had placed the snail once, in pieces.

"How the hell did the 3C's get to know about my plan?!" He shattered a chair on the floor in anger.

"What is your next plan, Sir Crocodile?" Robin asked as she sat on the chair where she was listening to the call. She can't help but visualize a certain strawhatted teen, Monkey D. Luffy, from the voice of Cyra. The real question was why would Monkey D. Luffy calls himself Cyra? Is he Cyra himself or was he playing around?

Crocodile glared at Miss All Sunday seething in anger. He could dispose of the woman in a flick of his fingers but he didn't dare. He needed as many people as he could gather to fend off the 3C's.

"It's safe to assume that the Strawhats are no longer a threat to us considering the 3C's habits," Crocodile calculated. The 3C's tended to go against any and all pirate crew which would cross their paths. "Mr. 3 and Miss Goldenweek may also have been eliminated." There was no way those two could have even been able to put a fight against the 3C's.

"What now?" Robin asked as she stood up. A part of her felt that the Strawhats weren't down. But why should she care. Her hand slipped inside her pocket feeling the cold glass of the eternal pose. She wondered for the first time why she got the eternal pose.

"Gather all the numbered agents up to 10th rank," Crocodile ordered in an instant. At least with them he would have a good chance if he got cornered by the 3C's. Three people. And yet a whole army of his gathered bounty hunters seemed less in comparison to them. "Order them to keep in touch with the others. We need to be prepared."

.

"Captain Smoker! We've intercepted a highly peculiar call!" A marine shouted as he rushed towards his captain to play the black snail for him to hear.

"What?!" Smoker omitted after hearing the call once and at once called Tashigi, who was obsessing with the new katana she had got, to hear it too.

"Do you need something captain?" Tashigi asked as she dashed out to the deck.

"Listen carefully to this conversation," Smoker stated, his two cigars between his teeth.

"It's from a call that we intercepted just now. Shall I play it back now, sgt. major?" A marine who was wearing the black snail on his wrist asked for confirmation, which he got in the form of a nod from Tashigi.

"Crrk... tsst..." The black snail croaked.

"... Mr. 0... Strawhats... Princess Vivi... 3C's... Deal..." It was a gruff voice, most probably of an adult.

"... Nothing... Bad guy... ass kicked..." This voice was childish and this is what worried Smoker as it kept on budging him that he had heard this child at least once but he couldn't pinpoint it.

"...crrk.." The snail croaked before going back to sleep.

"Strawhats? As in the Strawhat Pirates?!" Tashigi spluttered. "And the 3C's?! What are they doing in the beginning of the Grand Line?!"

"There is something big going on," Smoker replied narrowing his eyes at the black snail wanting it to tell them what the conversation was about. "But this is the first lead we have about the Strawhat Pirates."

Tashigi nodded and then pointed her finger at the prisoner who was tied to the mast of the ship. "Could Mr. 0 have anything to do Mr. 11?" Tashigi asked.

"Good point. If these numbers are their code names and there's talk about deals then we might be dealing with a secret criminal organization." Smoker answered. "And this might be the first lead about the whereabouts of the 3C's."