"Run, Admiral Sakazuki! I'll stay behind and cover your retreat."
Akainu gritted his teeth and glared bitterly at the pirates behind him as T-Bone helped him flee.
Alabasta was Crocodile's territory, after all. A group of stranded Marines had arrived, and they were soon discovered.
When Crocodile learned that Akainu was among them, he nearly died of fright, thinking his scheme had been exposed.
Until he found the Pluton Blueprints, he had no confidence in facing a Marine Admiral.
Crocodile even went to Tamalis himself to observe them in secret, ready to flee at the first sign of trouble.
The Marines couldn't stay in Alabasta forever anyway. Once they withdrew, he could return and continue searching for Pluton.
But after watching for a while, Crocodile realized something was wrong.
Akainu was clearly having trouble moving. The bastard was injured—and badly, at that.
For a moment, Crocodile was tempted to kill Akainu outright.
But he hesitated.
After all, his main goal right now was to find the Pluton Blueprints, then fight his way back into the second half of the Grand Line. Even injured, Akainu wouldn't be completely unable to fight back.
Besides, Akainu's intentions were unclear. What if Marine reinforcements arrived soon?
If he failed to kill Akainu, or someone saw him doing it, he would be in serious trouble.
After some thought, he accepted Nico Robin's plan to have someone else do the killing.
Rather than having Baroque Works act directly, he had its officers spread word among the pirates that Akainu was in Tamalis and gravely injured, leading to the current situation.
Watching a Marine Admiral who normally towered above everyone flee like a beaten dog still felt immensely satisfying to Crocodile.
He wasn't the one attacking the Marine Admiral, so the Marines would have no grounds to