Mario sprinted through the city, but as he neared the central plaza, the air grew thick. A localized sandstorm was brewing, whipping through the streets and reducing visibility to a few meters. Through the gritty haze, he saw the hulking forms of the Baroque Works "Billions" clashing with loyalist guards. The chaos was contained but brutal. He moved like a phantom through the fray, delivering precise, non-lethal blows to any Billion in his path, clearing a route without breaking stride. His destination was a specific rooftop.
He found Usopp perched high above the chaos, the sniper's focus absolute.
"Take that! And that! Fire Star! Metal Star! Tabasco STAR!" Usopp yelled, each shot finding its mark with impossible accuracy, disabling Billions with a mix of pain, confusion, and disabling strikes.
"Good job, Usopp," Mario said, appearing silently beside him.
"GYAAAA! MARIO! YOU ALMOST GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK!" Usopp leaped into the air, clutching his chest. Mario couldn't help but laugh.
"What's the situation?" Mario asked, his eyes scanning the battlefield below.
"It started just a second ago! Crocodile's in the palace, I saw him!" Usopp reported, not taking his eye off his slingshot's sight. "He threw some guy in a white suit off the plateau near the king's mansion. I guess he didn't like the look of the town? Because he screamed, 'ATTACK! Kill them all!' And then all hell broke loose."
Mario nodded grimly. With his grand plan collapsing, Crocodile had reverted to brute force, unleashing the sleeper agents and Billions hidden within the city. The west gate would be the main thrust.
"Listen, Usopp, you need to get to Chopper and the others. Help them in any way you can. And after that... you need to find a bomb."
"A b-b-bomb?!" Usopp stammered, his bravado faltering.
"Yes, a bomb. Crocodile rigged the whole game. He wanted maximum chaos so he could later play the savior."
"That son of a bitch! But... are you sure?" Usopp asked, his voice a mix of fear and doubt.
Mario smiled, placing a firm hand on his shoulder. "Listen, Usopp, I know you can do it. Didn't you just help me stop a war?"
"Huh... I guess I did," Usopp said, and Mario could have sworn his nose grew an inch with the burgeoning pride.
"So, listen, Vivi will be here soon with the revolutionary army to help fight the Billions. You need to help Chopper, and I need to go help Luffy."
"Right, right, fine. Okay, I can do this," Usopp said, taking a deep, steadying breath.
"Good!" Just then, Mario's sharp eyes caught movement in an alley below. It was Igaram, very much alive, shielding a small child—the key witness against Crocodile. A Billion was creeping up behind them, sword raised.
Soru.
Mario vanished from the rooftop and reappeared in the alley, his fist connecting with the Billion's jaw before the sword could fall. The man crumpled.
"Wha—? Who are you?!" Igaram spun around, shielding the child, his expression a mix of shock and suspicion.
"It's fine, Sir Igaram. I'm with the Straw Hats," Mario said calmly.
"How can I trust that?" Igaram demanded, his grip tightening on the child.
"You don't have to. But Princess Vivi is outside the main gate, standing before the entire revolutionary army. She could use your help." With a final, reassuring smile, Mario vanished again, leaving a bewildered Igaram in his wake.
He was heading for the palace. A primal instinct screamed at him. The final battle between Luffy and Crocodile had already begun.
Mario's speed had increased by a notch, a newfound burst of energy fueling his dash through the chaos of Alubarna. But navigating the war-torn streets and finishing off the countless Baroque Works agents in his path was still a relentless grind. One jumped from a rooftop, a knife glinting. Mario didn't break stride, meeting him with a crunching jump that sent the agent spinning. Another, a hulking brute, swung a massive club. Mario pivoted, a faint shing of iron-hard flesh meeting the blow as he used Tekkai to block it, the impact jarring but harmless.
He was a whirlwind of, a paradox of violence and mercy. Squads of the king's loyal guards, misled by Crocodile's machinations, also charged him. He disarmed them with precise, non-lethal strikes—a well-aimed kick to a sword hilt, a sliding trip that sent a line of them tumbling. They mostly stopped, confused, when they saw he was deliberately sparing them, shattering their weapons instead of their bones. Mario wanted to save as many people as he could, even those trying to stop him.
Finally, the palace stairs were in sight. He was close. Then, a shrill cry from above sliced through the din of battle. His eyes snapped upward to the palace plateau, where a small, straw-hatted figure pinwheeled against the blue sky.
„Is that…?" Mario muttered, his blood running cold.
„UAAAAAA!"
„Luffy!"
THWUMP.
Luffy landed on top of Mario with his full, rubbery weight, driving the air from Mario's lungs in a pained oof.
„Ugh! Gasp! MARIO!" Luffy immediately sprang up, his confrontation with Crocodile forgotten in the joy of reunion, and wrapped him in a bone-creaking hug. „Where have you been! Are you okay? Who hit you?"
Mario groaned, seeing stars. „You did!" he wheezed, rolling his eyes as he pushed himself up onto his elbows.
„Ah! Sorry, I guess I did. Shishishi!" Luffy grinned, scratching the back of his head. The grin vanished as quickly as it came, replaced by a stormy scowl.
„CROCODILE!" he yelled, punching his own palm in frustration. „That son of a bitch cheated!"
„What happened?" Mario asked, finally getting to his feet and brushing the dust from his overalls.
„I was just about to pummel his ass!" Luffy began, his body elongating and snapping back with his agitation. „But I couldn't do much—, he kept attacking the king! I had to protect that old guy!" He gestured vaguely toward the palace. „And just as I was ready to take him down, he went for a killing blow on the king. I tried to save him, and that's when that sun-chick—"
„Sunday," Mario supplied, his voice low.
„Yeah, her! She bound me with her strange power! Arms popped up everywhere and I couldn't move!" Luffy's fists clenched, his whole body trembling with the humiliation of it. „And then he... he didn't even throw a punch. He just looked at me, smirked, and blew me away with a sandstorm!" He pointed a furious finger back up at the plateau. „So I almost had him. Almost."
The admission hung in the air, charged with Luffy's raw fury and a rare hint of tactical defeat. Crocodile hadn't just beaten him; he'd outmaneuvered him.
Mario's expression was grim. He placed a steadying hand on Luffy's shoulder. "Almost doesn't cut it. Not here."
He noticed that Luffy had two wet bandages around his hands and smiled. "You just need to hit him the right way. And you're not going back up there alone."
A new squad of Baroque Works agents rounded the corner, their weapons drawn. Mario and Luffy turned in unison, their stances shifting from conversation to combat.
"Ready?" Mario asked.
Luffy cracked his neck, a fierce grin spreading across his face. "Yeah. This time, I'm gonna knock his sand into a jar!"
Mario and Luffy finished the agents in the blink of an eye. A final "Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" met a flurry of precise, strikes, and the last of the Baroque Works forces fell.
Without a word, the two comrades sprinted up the grand steps, bursting onto the main plaza in front of the mansion.
It was deserted. The silence was deafening after the constant clamor of battle.
„Damn it," cursed Mario, his eyes scanning the barren terrain. The fight had moved.
„Where is he? Where is he?" Luffy spun in circles, his fists clenched and ready, his frustration palpable. „That sandy bastard!"
„He must have taken the king somewhere!" Mario said, his mind racing. But he already knew where. The tomb. The secret chamber beneath the mausoleum. The problem was, Mario had no idea where the entrance was located.
„Let's search together!" said Luffy, undeterred. „He can't have gotten far!"
So they did. Mario and Luffy sped behind the mansion, their eyes catching a narrow, sand-blown path leading away from the main gardens. They exchanged a single glance, a wordless agreement, and sprinted down it. Pushing past withered hedges, they saw it in the distance: the ancient, imposing structure of the mausoleum.
„There!" Mario pointed not at the tomb itself, but at a heavy stone hatch thrown open just beside it, revealing a dark descent. They plunged inside, the oppressive heat giving way to a cool, dank darkness. They sprinted through the corridors, but it was not a straight path; it was a labyrinth of identical stone passages.
They didn't mention this in the manga!
Mario cursed in his mind, his Soru useless in the confusing twists and turns. Precious minutes bled away as they backtracked and guessed, the sound of their own footsteps echoing mockingly. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, a faint light glowed at the end of a long hallway, leading to a vast, illuminated chamber.
As they closed in, Mario's blood ran cold. There, in the center of the room, was Crocodile. He held a struggling, gasping Nico Robin by the throat with one hand.
„No. Not today."
Soru.
In an explosion of speed that left cracks in the stone floor, Mario crossed the chamber in an instant. But raw speed wasn't enough against a Logia. As he lunged, he focused, drawing upon a power he'd honed, a will as hard as iron. A dark, shimmering gloss—like polished obsidian—flashed over his entire body.
Busoshoku Haki.
He didn't throw a punch. He became a cannonball. He body-slammed Crocodile with the full force of his empowered mass. There was a solid, crushingTHUD—the sound of a real impact, not the shifting of sand. Crocodile's eyes widened in utter shock an instant before he was ripped away from Robin and sent flying across the chamber to crater against the far wall.
Mario, his Haki receding, stumbled to a halt, catching a collapsing Robin in his arms. She gasped, her eyes wide with shock and disbelief, staring at the man who had just done the impossible.
„Told you. The sun will come," Mario smiled, his voice steady despite his heaving chest.
„YOU..." Crocodile snarled, pushing himself out of the indentation in the wall. Sand dribbled from a cut on his lip—a real injury. He stared at Mario, his composure shattered. „How…? A nobody…"
„AND ME!"
Luffy launched into the chamber, landing with a force that shook the very foundations. He stood tall, his fists already wrapped in thick, water-soaked bandages that dripped onto the dry stone floor. His eyes burned with a fire that promised an ending.
„Time to end this," Luffy declared, his voice echoing with finality.
"And there it is," Mario smiled, gently moving a stunned Robin to the safety of the wall where a horrified King Cobra was already scrambling to his feet. Both monarch and archaeologist were frozen, shocked to the core not just by the rescue, but by the revelation of the two powers now standing against the tyrant: the unbreakable will of a rubber man.