Nefertari Cobra

"What deal?"

Only Lott could exchange a few words like this with Crocodile. Anyone else would have long since been sucked dry by the Sand-Sand Fruit.

"Come be my crewmate." Lott looked at Crocodile with a smile.

"Why should I be your crewmate? What makes you qualified to have me as your crewmate?" Crocodile's eyes narrowed, his expression turning somewhat hostile.

Lott shook his head. "I don't want us to come to blows. Hear my reasons first."

Crocodile stared at Lott for a long while before nodding for him to continue.

"I know why you came to Alabasta. It's nothing other than the Ancient Weapon Pluton. What would you say if I told you I knew where Pluton was?"

Lott drummed on the table, waiting for Crocodile's answer.

At Lott's words, Crocodile shot to his feet. "Impossible! How could a seventeen-year-old brat like you know where Pluton is?"

"Never mind how I know. The Poneglyph in Alabasta does indeed contain information about Pluton, but it's only one of the clues. Besides, activating Pluton requires a key."

"Even if you got the Ancient Weapon, how would you activate it without the key? Do you think you're capable of protecting this Ancient Weapon? And do you think the World Government would let you obtain Pluton?"

Crocodile froze. He had only wanted to obtain the Ancient Weapon and had never considered what would come afterward. Only when Lott raised these points did he gradually begin to feel that this would not be so simple.

Lott teleported to Crocodile's side and said, "Do you think the World Government and the Navy couldn't think of what you can?"

Crocodile backed away a few steps. "You... you... who are you? Why should I believe what you say?"

He could not believe that a brat could know about Alabasta having a Poneglyph that contained information about the Ancient Weapon Pluton.

"I am who I am, a young man who couldn't be more ordinary." Lott looked calmly at Crocodile.

"How do you know all this? Could it be...?" Crocodile turned to look at Robin.

Lott snapped his fingers, drawing Crocodile's attention back to him. "Of course Robin-chan didn't tell me. She doesn't know there's a Poneglyph here."

Crocodile thought for a moment, then nodded. He also believed Robin would not do such a thing.

Then he asked, "Then who exactly are you?"

"Me? I'm a pirate. But I have a dream that doesn't belong to a pirate. I want to overturn this world and establish a new order, so there will be no more wars."

"No more pirates or Celestial Dragons, only adventurers and an army of the people."

Having finished, Lott simply looked at Crocodile.

"Well? Isn't my dream more thorough than yours?"

Crocodile had no grand ambition like Lott's. All his painstaking scheming to obtain Pluton was practically no different from a clown's antics.

Only after a long while did he raise his head. "Fine! I'll go crazy with you this once!"

It wasn't as though Crocodile hadn't wanted to fight. It was only when he actually met these five that he realized any one of them had a presence many times stronger than his!

But after hearing Lott's interpretation of this world, he was also willing to try helping Lott change it.

Lott held out his hand, and Crocodile extended his as well. The two shook hands.

"Welcome to the Lott Pirates. One day, you'll be glad you made this decision!"

Seeing Crocodile join, Kuro and the others all wore smiles.

[Ding. Congratulations, host. Find crewmates mission progress +2. Rewards obtained: Paramecia Devil Fruit ×2, System Space 50 × 50, Skybreaker upgraded to top level, hat matching Robin's cowboy hat ×1, cigar matching Crocodile's ×1, Senzu Beans ×1,000.]

Lott looked at Crocodile, then turned to Robin. "Well, interested in taking a look at that Poneglyph?"

A gleam flashed through Robin's eyes at Lott's suggestion. She nodded. "I'd like to see it."

It wasn't just Robin and Crocodile who were interested. Kuro and the others also wanted to see this wondrous way of recording history for themselves.

"Then let's head to the palace."

"Hello, Mr. Lott. His Majesty ordered me to welcome you here. Please follow me."

As soon as Lott's group arrived outside the palace, they found a soldier already waiting there.

Lott nodded. "Thank you for your trouble."

Robin found this rather amusing and shot Crocodile a look. Look at the respect he gets.

Crocodile shook his head helplessly.

Watching the soldier ahead of them, whose legs kept trembling, Lott touched his chin in amusement and asked, "Am I that frightening?"

The soldier said nothing, but his steps grew noticeably unsteady.

After climbing a long flight of stairs, they entered the great hall.

The atmosphere in the hall was extremely tense, with everyone poised for a confrontation. Lott's lips twitched almost imperceptibly. So they had taken his group for a bunch of villains.

He looked up, and there in the seat of honor sat the king of Alabasta, Nefertari Cobra.

Sweat had already begun to bead at Cobra's temples as he calculated how he could stall Lott a little longer, giving Igaram more time to take Vivi farther away.

Lott cleared his throat. "Nefertite D. Cobra, I've long heard of your name."

Cobra's pupils contracted. "What did you say? How do you know that name?"

His mind instantly churned like a storm-tossed sea. Apart from the genealogy locked in the vault, very few people knew that name. Even his own daughter Vivi didn't know it.

He had no idea where Lott had learned that name, and his heart instantly sank to rock bottom. He knew that one wrong move today could spell utter ruin.

"Nefertite? D.? Nefertite?" Hearing the name, Robin kept feeling it was familiar, as though she had seen it somewhere before.

Lott didn't answer directly. "Never mind how I know. Could I speak with you alone now?"

After a little thought, Cobra nodded his agreement. Having heard Lott speak that name, he also wanted to know how Lott had learned it.

"Your Majesty, you mustn't! Please don't stay alone with him!" As a royal guard, Chaka was utterly unwilling to hear that his king intended to face this great pirate with a bounty of 1.2 billion alone.

As far as he knew, pirates were a bunch of murderous villains who committed every conceivable evil. If his king stayed alone with Lott, his life might be in danger.

"Chaka! I know what I'm doing. Leave us. I also wish to speak with Mr. Lott alone."

Chaka wanted to say more, but faced with Cobra's resolute gaze, he could only lead the royal guards out of the hall.

Cobra looked at Lott's group and asked, "What is it you wish to discuss with me in private, Mr. Lott?"

He had already put life and death out of his mind. As soon as they received word that Lott had arrived in Alabasta, he had sent Pell and Igaram to take Vivi out of the country.

It was dark now. Presumably, they had already escaped somewhere safe.

Lott drew a chair over with electromagnetic attraction, slowly sat down, and said, "The Nefertari, one of the twenty royal families from eight hundred years ago, and also part of the D. Clan. Because they refused to settle in the Holy Land Mary Geoise, they are no longer recognized."

Cobra abruptly rose to his feet. "You... how do you know?"