With the broken body of Crocodile cuffed up and arrested by the Marines, both the Royal Guard and the Rebel Army managed to calm down enough and hear out their Princess along with the help of Igaram as they explained everything about Baroque Works and Crocodile's plan. From her time undercover as Miss Wednesday, meeting the Straw Hat Crew and their voyage back to Alabasta.
However there was still something that nagged her that she outright refused to believe along with everyone else who travelled with her with the news from not just Crocodile but the other Agents that worked for him to say that Morgan D. Ford had squared off against Crocodile.
"Morgan's dead?" Sanji asked with an almost blank expression as unlike Usopp, Chopper or Vivi, he hadn't been privy to this.
"NO!" Chopper yelled as he turned into his Heavy Point out of anger; "No! There is no possible way that Morgan could've been beaten, let alone die at the hands of some scummy pirate Warlord!"
"Morgan's a monster in hand to hand….There's never been an opponent we fought on our journey here that he hasn't kicked ass in!" Usopp agreed as he fought back as angrily as he did with Miss Merry Christmas.
Zoro was the first to point out the obvious thing since Nami looked like she took a punch to the gut; "But did you ever see Morgan go in and out of a fight unscathed?" He mentioned as he had been around their captain the longest; "In the fight against Buggy, he got his face cut up and lost a ton of blood same as he did with Kuro…"
Sanji followed up; "Don Krieg wasn't any better, Morgan got beaten and burned up by the time that he floored Krieg…And that's not counting him jumping in against Arlong and having that gnarly bite on his shoulder…"
Nami and Vivi were struggling the hardest to accept this fact, much less because he was the captain but more so because the promise he made that he'd come back to them stung worse than anything.
"I…"
"DOCTOR! SOMEONE…PLEASE GET THE DOCTORS!" One of the guards yelled out as they saw the rubble shake from where Cobra was dragged into by Crocodile for the underground treasure room before collapsing to reveal the opening.
——A Few Days later——
Morgan D. Ford groaned as he felt his consciousness returning and strained his eyes as the light from above made his eyes ache; "Okay, first off…Ow….Secondly….Did I die again?" He thought to himself as he tried to sit up in the bed but found himself unable to move for three different reasons.
The first being that his entire body was wrapped up in bandages from head to toe along with his severely damaged clothes left to the side.
The second being that Nami was laying next to him on the bed, it looked like she had been patched up too to a lesser degree but she had her arms gently laced around his neck as she held him close.
The third being that Vivi of all people was slumped over his bed, half her body was sprawled over his legs while her lower half was sat in a chair nearby.
Either way; Morgan couldn't move much and in a smaller way…He didn't exactly want to even if they were to wake up. "N-Nami? Vivi? What are you doing in the Afte-"
"MORGAN!" The two yelled out as they realised he was awake now and hugged him tightly.
Morgan made every effort not to groan out in pain as they squeezed him tightly but found himself surprised when he noticed their eyes water up; "Wh…What's going on? Why're you both so upset, I'm okay now." He said to try and reassure them.
"We thought you were dead, you dummy!" Vivi yelled at him as she held on to him while trying to hold back her tears; "Crocodile said that he killed you out in the desert and…And I couldn't help but worry even if I didn't believe him!"
Nami then chimed in as she had equally as much to say; "Usopp and Chopper heard it too, You had us all worried about you when we got to the Palace and you didn't show up!"
Morgan frowned as he realised that they were kind of right; "I'm sorry…I didn't mean to worry any of you, but…" He apologised and started to explain everything about how Crocodile stabbed him and left him for dead; "So then I raced to the Capital and followed after Crocodile…The rest is what you saw."
Nami looked angry but relented as she pulled him in once more for a gentle hug as she sighed; "This idiot…He literally clawed his way to the capital just to keep up his promise."
"Morgan…" Vivi started but realised that telling him to slow it down wasn't going to help and joined the pair in their hug as she finally found her chance to really be safe around the two.
"Say, Morgan…I heard about your little talk with Vivi, I never thought you'd be interested~" Nami decided to change the subject and smirked as she decided to tease the two.
With a blush from both Morgan and Vivi, they started to fumble on their words but Morgan was the first to say something; "W-Well, I uh…"
"Honestly, I really lucked out when I ended up with feelings the guy who could attract a princess~" Nami decided to confess once more as she snuggled up to him on his left side; "I don't mind if there are other girls that you like…Heck, I think you should enjoy yourself at the very least for what you go through, but just promise me one thing."
"A-Anything…" Morgan said with a fair amount of surprise that Nami was legitimately okay with this.
"Just…Don't leave me behind…Not as a Navigator, but as someone who honestly cares and loves you more than anything in the world…" Nami said in a softer tone as she gently gripped onto his chest and gazed up at him in the eye.
"Why would I ever leave you? I thought I made it clear back at Arlong Park that I was gonna be there for you no matter what, whether as a Captain or as a person." He would admit with a similar smile on his face as he returned Nami's look.
"And what about me~?" Vivi asked with a mock pout; "Aren't you going to give your princess some attention too?" She playfully chided him as she leaned up to kiss his cheek but felt herself erupt into a heavy shade of red when both Nami AND Morgan returned the favour.
"Like either of us would forget you~" Nami cooed softly and provided a wink before looking to Morgan with a sly smirk; "Now…You're still resting up from your injuries so we can't really do anything too "strenuous" on you…But we can still make sure that you know just how much the two of us appreciate you…Right Vivi~?" She asked as Vivi looked confused at first but then quickly smiled though her blush still coated her cheeks.
"Absolutely, so how about we show you something to help you relax~" Vivi said in a soft tone as she reached for her robe top and Nami started to undo her's.
Morgan felt his chest thumping faster and faster as he saw more and more skin getting exposed from the pair of them.
"You better be thanking God for this one, Captain~ Because I don't think that anyone is lucky enough to see this cute of a navigator…and an Arabastan Princess this open for the kind of fun we have in mind for you~" Nami smirked as the two descended on him. "Now to finish where we left off back in Whiskey Peak~"
——About a couple of hours later——
BAM!
The door opened up as the other members of the Straw Hat Crew rushed into the room since they heard the news about Morgan.
"MORGAN, WE HEARD YOU WERE AWAKE AN-uh….Huh?" Usopp yelled out as nearly everyone else was bandaged up to varying degrees but they weren't expecting to see Nami and Vivi under the covers with Morgan on either side.
Nami had the biggest grin on her face while Vivi's face was crimson about what they had been doing along with being caught like this; Their clothes being strewn across the room and with her long blue hair down, thankfully the bedsheets covered up their bodies but it still didn't change the fact that they essentially caught Morgan in the act…or rather post-act.
Usopp was shocked and did his best to cover Chopper's eyes; "M-Morgan?! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" He asked in a shocked and confused tone while trying to hush Chopper about his numerous questions.
Zoro blankly stared like he wasn't sure what he saw was real or not, but then looked towards Sanji since he knew that the cook nearly blows a gasket in jealousy whenever Nami even smiled in Morgan's direction but THIS was gonna be something else.
Sanji looked like he was carved out of stone; Sure he may have been okay with Morgan's desire to pursue a relationship with either of them, however no amount of goodwill or genuine affection for them would ever make him stop feeling those burning pangs of jealousy of seeing Morgan with a girl on each arm.
Speaking of Morgan; despite the fact that he went through what should've been any man or woman's dream, he was still recovering from the dehydration, poisoning and blood loss so he was winded and literally dried out on top of the assorted injuries. "G-Guys?" He would wheeze as he tried to sit up; he figured that being caught with his pants down or in this case off, there's no point in trying to dismiss this like it didn't happen. His already bandaged up body seemed to have more clawmarks on it and his neck was practically covered in lip/bite marks on top of that. "You guys're okay." He remarked with a wide smile on his face as he felt even happier seeing that regardless of being patched up; everyone wasn't too injured.
"DON'T JUST GLOSS OVER WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT RIGHT NOW, YOU UNDESERVEDLY LUCKY BAS-" Sanji yelled but got clocked in the back of the head by Zoro.
"Considering the state he's in and what we heard, I say it's probably better that we let him have this one." Zoro mentioned as he looked at Morgan; "Just try not to make this kind of thing a habit, okay?" He asked Morgan and Nami since he figured that the navigator would've most likely been the instigator on this.
The embarrassed look on Nami's face and her nervous giggle didn't exactly deny that either but she was starting to get annoyed with everyone staring; "GIVE US SOME PRIVACY, DAMN IT!" She yelled and threw her shoe at them while holding the sheet up to cover her chest, prompting Usopp to essentially rush everyone out of there.
"Heh…Some first time, huh?" Morgan chuckled as he glanced to Nami as he lightly ran his fingers along her bare back, smirking a little as he saw the Navigator shiver from his simple touch.
"Y-You're not off the hook yet! I still need to give you a piece of my mind so you better be ready to be banged like a snare drum!" Nami growled back at him with a pout since despite all the open talk, he still put himself in a very dangerous position.
"Um…Nami, I think you mi-"
"I SAID WHAT I SAID!" Nami shouted with a blush on her face as she reached her leg over to straddle Morgan.
"I don't know if I want to join in or feel worried for Morgan's body at this rate…"
——Another hour later in the Dining Hall——
The Straw Hats were all back together and chowing down on the feast that they had been promised since they landed in the desert; However Morgan seemed to getting a lot of weird looks from everyone in the Royal staff including the cooks when they saw the plates in front of him pile higher and higher.
"How can a man in that kind of shape pack away all that food and not gain any weight…." Vivi bemoaned as she watched in a mix of awe and shock as Morgan demolished a whole bird in one sitting.
"Welcome to my world…" Nami agreed as she chowed down on a plate of sweet fruits.
"The guy trains extensively every damn day like I do plus he gets more physically active; It takes a lot to maintain that kind of bulk." Zoro explained as he drained a bottle of alcohol.
"Still…That kind of stomach is almost as monstrous as his strength…" Both Usopp and Chopper agreed as they ate from their own plates.
"So what exactly happened down there?" Sanji asked with a terse look on his face, he still wasn't ready to act all buddy buddy after seeing Morgan in bed with both Nami and Vivi.
"Well…After I went after Crocodile…." Morgan began to explain.
——Earlier——
With a yell that echoed through the room over the sound of crashing rocks; Morgan swung his arm up as hard as he could into Crocodile's chin and drove it upwards with as much power and force as he could manage; "SHORYUKEN!" He screamed out as he thrust his fist upward and sent the now unconscious Crocodile flying upwards into the air and breaking through the ceiling to let the sunlight shine through.
"He…He did it…." Cobra thought to himself as he watched Morgan scream out a cry of victory and then clutched his bleeding shoulder as he headed over to the injured two.
"You won't make it out of here…" Robin said out loud as she tried to stagger to her feet while making the two arms on Morgan's shoulders vanish; "If this trap that Cobra activated doesn't bury us all underground then the poison that Crocodile put in your system will." She explained to Morgan as she gave him a look of defiance before holding up a phial of a purple liquid for Morgan; "But since you did my job for me, I won't be needing this anymore…An antidote for that poison in your system."
Morgan took it and drank it without hesitation and a sigh of relief as the burning from the poison stopped; shocking both Cobra and Robin before he grabbed onto them both.
"H-Hey, what are you-"
"I'm getting you out of here, considering it payback for the antidote." Morgan stated like it was just a matter of fact. as he hoisted Robin over his shoulder and used his other shoulder to help Cobra to keep his balance as they headed out.
"Leave me here! I have nothing else up there so just save yourself and the king if you know what's good for you." Robin would argue back at him as she could see how much he had been bleeding out even with the poison gone.
"You and I still need to have our little talk, so until you can see just what it was that you did to me and my ambitions, you're not walking away from this argument quite yet." Morgan pointed out as he carried the two through the crumbling ruins and towards the exit.
——Back with the others——
"What exactly did she do to you?" Nami asked curiously as she looked him over; "Wait…She didn't do anything weird, did she?" she asked him as she gave his body a quick glance over.
"No, but because of her…That Devil Fruit you had is gone." Morgan explained; He didn't want to make people worry but he also knew that he couldn't lie about something like this so he explained what he remembered, starting with him getting mortally wounded in one moment and the next where he got a foul taste in his mouth and suddenly realised that his body had been permanently altered.
"SHE DID WHAT?!" Nami yelled out in a mix of outrage and barely contained anger towards Miss All-Sunday.
"Wait, Nami had a Devil Fruit?" Zoro asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, Nami is just so full of mysteries~" Sanji crooned to himself, completely missing the point as he revelled in Nami's supposed mysticism.
"Why didn't you tell us about this?!" Usopp asked dramatically as he stood up; "Don't you know that we could've gotten a big advantage on our side if we had something like that?!"
"Because something like that is a 70-30 coin flip on it's potential at the best of times, Usopp…Would you really take that chance if it got you a bad power PLUS the ability to stop you from swimming?" Morgan pointed out as he peeled a piece of fruit.
"Plus Devil Fruits go for REAL good money with the right seller so I'm not gonna pass that up!" Nami added with a greedy belli symbol gesture.
"Of course they do…Besides, how do we know that Morgan didn't just eat it from the start when he realised that he couldn't win?" Sanji added, not saying it to cast judgement but out of a separate point of notice.
"Sanji, how long have you been with us? Because throughout this entire journey, I've had that Fruit on the Merry AND I even offered it to him once or twice." Nami mentioned; "Each time he refused it and told me to keep it safe…He wanted to be Pirate King without relying on Devil Fruit." She added to further stick up for Morgan, who seemed to feel a knot of guilt from omitting his words.
"YOUR HIGHNESS!" A Guard yelled out as they rushed into the dining hall with several parchments in hand; "This is bad, this is VERY BAD news!" They remarked as they rushed towards Vivi and slammed the poster down for everyone to see; It was a very beaten up looking Morgan standing but on the verge of passing out.
"That's…That's you, you stood there for a few seconds after getting the king free and then you passed out in the middle of the street." Usopp mentioned.
MORGAN D. FORD
EPITHET: STRAW HAT MORGAN
PREVIOUS BOUNTY: 45 MILLION
NEW BOUNTY: 120 MILLION
WANTED: REQUESTED ALIVE OVER DEAD
Nearly everyone in the room was shellshocked by the fact that Morgan received a gigantic boost in his bounty already but their Captain seemed to be the most surprised at this. "I…That's a lot to take in…"
"Morgan, that's not just a lot…That is over DOUBLE your previous Bounty!" Nami pointed out as she flicked his ear; "Though, I guess considering that you were seen taking out Crocodile…That's to be expected."
"A Pirate Warlord is still a Pirate." Zoro shrugged as he noticed another poster behind Morgan's and untangled it; "Huh, says I got one too."
RORONOA ZORO
EPITHET: PIRATE HUNTER
BOUNTY: 75 MILLION
WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE
"Wait, you get a bounty as well?" Morgan asked out of curiosity as he eyed it; "Well, now you can't really call yourself Pirate Hunter with a Bounty on your head."
"It was because of Whiskey Peak for starters…Then I managed to lay a beatdown on Mr 1." Zoro explained with Nami looking both confused and jealous.
"Aw, come on! I beat the crud out of Miss Spikey Boobs, that should've gotten me a bounty too!" Nami grumbled as she crossed her arms though Vivi and the Guard still had their look of concern.
"The Marines are still in Arabasta rounding up the remainders of Baroque Works so who knows when they're going to turn to come back on you all…" Vivi pointed out; "Smoker might be willing to waive his search temporarily but for how long?"
Morgan nodded as he looked to Vivi; "Then come with us, he knows that you were linked with us so he's going to put two and two together eventually."
The others looked confused and a little excited at the prospect of having Vivi join their crew however the only ones who didn't look on board or happy about it were Nami and Vivi.
"You know why that can't happen right?" Zoro pointed out as he sat up; "Not trying to be a bad guy but it's too risky to bring her along."
"You don't know what you're talking about Mosshead! Vivi can bring some much needed sophisticated charm to the ship that Nami provides in abundance!" Sanji snapped in when he heard Zoro's comment.
"But he's right though…If Vivi willingly admits that she's our ally and starts to travel with us, it's going to make our journey even harder!" Nami pointed out as she argued back at Sanji; she was more than willing to bask in his compliments but everyone's safety took priority this time.
"I'm next in line to be a ruler of Arabasta…If they find out that I have a link to a pirate crew, especially one that is shown to be strong enough to take on a Warlord…Good intentions or not, the World Government won't see things like we do." Vivi mentioned even though it saddened her to bring up that particular reason.
"Plus as a Princess, shouldn't her duty be to her Kingdom first and foremost?" Usopp added as they heard the bustling of noise outside; "That doesn't sound good."
"The Marines are on their way!" A Guard yelled out as the marching got louder and louder when the forces were mobilised.
——Meanwhile——
Smoker was tense to say the least; The fact that he had multiple officers working overtime to ensure that Luffy didn't rush out of their base and chase down Crocodile was one thing, but once he explained that the Warlord himself was responsible for not just trying to seize control of an entire kingdom and declare it a military state, the fact that Morgan D. Ford and his crew were responsible for his downfall and not the Marines was enough for him to report it back to Headquarters.
Their simple response? To up Morgan's bounty and promote both Smoker and Tashigi up a rank while ignoring the fact that Smoker was all but admitting that the Straw Hats were the heroes in this incident and not the Marines.
"Damn, They'll accept that a government mandated pirate was able to mount a coup but the moment we say that a pirate was relatively in the right; they bury their heads up their own asses!" Smoker grunted as he grabbed a cigar.
Luffy looked incensed as well; He heard the revelation that his "brother" was dead and his first immediate thought was to run out roaring about kicking Crocodile's ass, it took about 5 Marines, several minutes of Smoker's yelling and a tranquilliser strong enough to floor at least 7 camels to stop him. Once the chaos died down, the news about Morgan being alive and Crocodile was in cuffs; something else dwelled on his mind about why the World Government was adamant on letting the Marines take the credit when they barely did anything. "I don't understand, why reward us when we weren't the ones to beat Crocodile?" Luffy asked Smoker as he and Tashigi were discussing their next move.
"Simple, The Straw Hats are on the wrong side of the law; We tell people that Pirates saved an entire kingdom while the Marines sat on their hands…And we'll end up being made into a laughingstock." Smoker elaborated with a scowl while Tashigi nodded.
"When people start relying on evil to save them, then it won't just be the Marines in their firing line; The Warlords, The World Government…Even the likes of the Admirals and the Five Nobles will be treated with scrutiny." Tashigi pointed out too as she sharpened her sword; She had also been humiliated when she tried to square off against Miss All-Sunday with Cobra as her hostage.
"But I know Moggy! Sure he's a Pirate but he's also got the right thing in mind…Sure he might not share food but he never acts out of malice or spite." Luffy mentioned as he recalled that Morgan could've easily started trying to kill him from the moment he became a pirate.
As much as Smoker was hating to admit it; Both the fact that Luffy had a solid point and that he knew firsthand that any other pirate would've left him to drown back at Rain Dinners played heavily in his mind. "Which is why we're not going to be arresting them…Quite yet at least…"
"Actually, that is EXACTLY what you're going to do, Captain Smoker…" A woman's voice announced from the doors as a slender lady with pink hair and a cigarette in mouth walked in and earned some frantic salutes from the Marines.
"Captain Hina…" Smoker grumbled stiffly as he pulled up a chair for her to let her sit, if a fellow captain like her showed up then it meant that either backup arrived or he was being replaced.