1 - Crocodile and Yvonne

Two years after the Marineford War's events, we find ourselves in the New World.
A place where only the strong can survive, and where a couple of ex-lovers has to cooperate and overcome their differences once again in order to find their way back to their crews - and, maybe, their way back into each other's arms as well.

A place where the borders between good and evil aren't quite so defined, where pirates fall for a marine and marines can love a pirate, a place of daughters, sons, terrible fathers and faraway mothers, of desire for freedom and unspeakable violence, of people that strike fear into the hearts of common men and of people that, on one side of the barricade or the other, can still call each other friends.

--
I own nothing, Gravi wrote this

Yvonne would have usually argued that "It was a dark and stormy night" sounded much like a very uninspired beginning taken straight from some equally uninspired book - probably a cheap thriller story, poorly written, with boring characters, full of obvious twists and a banal resolution.

Now that she found herself cold, wet with rain and seawater and alone on some god-forsaken, minuscule island, however, she understood how that could be such a common start to so many horrible stories. Apparently, it happened more often than she'd have imagined.

Or maybe she had just been tremendously unlucky. One of the two.

She had abruptly woken up coughing on a beach, probably after being washed ashore by the tempest. She remembered helping her men on the deck, shouting orders to make sure she was heard above the thunder and the deafening sound of falling rain, trying to get some recruits away from the hem of the ship (that had been dangerously leaning towards the ocean)...

Well. That's what you get for trying to help when all you're supposed to do is yelling orders from a safe spot.

Thankfully, she was far from being helpless. She had quickly checked if she had her most important belongings with her, had sighed with relief when it came out that yes, her weapons were still safely attached to her (she had been lucky in her misfortune), and then started to walk away from the sea. The rain had quickly stopped too, a sign that the violent tempest that had thrown her off-board was dying as quickly as it had come up. She had soon spotted a little harbour, some lights in the distance, and she had resolved to hide her coat under a palm tree, burying it in sand after fishing out whatever usable money had been stored in the inner pockets (it was not much).
Hiding her grade and identity would have been safer since she was alone, she assumed. That way, she wouldn't risk to be attacked.

She got inside the only tavern in the whole town, asked to be pointed to the bathroom first and to be served a drink after - and there she was now. Sitting down in a little place she knew nothing about, hair still humid and dripping even after the quick restyling she'd done in the ladies' restrooms, looking just slightly more presentable than when she had entered the place, staring at some unknown liquor she was most definitely not going to drink, wondering what she was even going to do next.

This day, she felt confident enough to say, could not possibly turn any worse.

This wasn't the worst day in Crocodile's life so far. That wouldn't be fair to try to compare it to the days on which he was humiliated. There had been two of those ; and he'd probably loathe the two men at the center of these for the rest of his life.

This wasn't humiliating, it was infuriating. Due to an altercation with some Marines, his crew had to split up. Of course, he took care of the ship that went after him without much trouble.
If only one of those idiots hadn't damaged the ship's hull and made it sank, he wouldn't have almost died at sea, surprised by a stupid rain tempest.

Thankfully enough, he had washed ashore on a small nearby island. He had to throw away his fur coat - it was drowning him almost more than the sea itself, which was quite a feat - and to use his powers to try and dry the rest of himself up a bit before he walked towards that small harbour that he saw in the distance.

Thankfully enough, these poor wretches lived on an island so small they were probably isolated from the rest of the world. No one seemed to know his face, and he was even shown the way to the nearby inn. At least he could have a meal, wash off that sea salt that was making him infuriatingly weak, and he'd be able to leave by the next morning.

He pushed the doors of the inn open and looked around, lighting up a cigar he had just bought at the general store.

Crocodile was right in his assessment: this island was indeed so small, with such little contact with the outside world (aside from the occasional marine or pirate ship, but even those either just breezed by or only docked for a brief respite at the tavern. Ah, those were definitely good days for the local business!) that no one, aside from someone who made newspaper reading their only hobby, would have possibly recognized him.
Reason for which the rotound, red-faced keeper who was currently half-busy cleaning a glass and half-busy talking with a clearly drunk client sitting at the counter merely looked up and nodded at him to aknowledge his presence instead of. Well. Cowering with utter fear, for example.
His eyes were almost immediately trained towards the hook just afterwards, though, and his posture seemed to straighten a little - looking suddenly more cautious. "Evening, Sir! That surely's some weather outside eh", he exclaimed in a clear attempt to be friendly, taking note of the. Not exactly dry looking man who was standing at the door. "Come on in, take a seat! Can I get you anything?"

Yvonne didn't exactly raise her head from her drink, at least not right away. She was still busy trying to come up with something, anything that could bring her away from that place. Possibly after a good shower and some rest, of course. She thoughtfully tapped against the edge of her glass.

Maybe there was some way she could get her hands on a communication device, or maybe there was a chance to ask if someone was amenable to bring her at least to a larger island...

Crocodile had blankly stared back at the man when he had commented on the weather. It actually took all of his willpower to not snap and bang his head against the counter - that wouldn't have been wise, given that he was weakened by the sea water and that the townsfolks here mercifully didn't know him, so at least he wouldn't have to expect a Marine ship to show up anytime soon.

"A glass of your strongest alcohol, a warm dish, and a bedroom with a warm bath for when I'm done," Crocodile said in his quiet, deep voice, while he threw a look around, trying to spot an empty table.

There seemed to be one right next to the one occupied by a figure with red hair.

"Right. Coming right up", the keeper answered back, quickly hurrying to fulfill the orders. He didn't look very bright an individual, but even without his fame preceding him Crocodile was still the kind of person one felt like it was better not to disappoint.

Yvonne's finger froze in its movement, a couple of millimitres shy of hitting the glass again when that voice prepotently made its way through her thoughts. She barely threw a glance behind her shoulders, towards the door. Her body seized up, and, contrary to what all her instincts screamed to her, she was unable to immediately turn back towards her glass like she should have.

Oh, this must have been a joke.

Crocodile's gaze met Yvonne, and he simply stood there for a few more seconds. He looked unfazed from the outside, but his stomach actually made a flip when he recognized her.

There was some history, between the two of them. They hadn't been able to give it any proper closure, either - Yvonne had been temporarily called back to Marineford right before the Strawhats showed up in Alabasta, leading up to his capture and trip to Impel Down.

Unfortunately, no matter what he felt right now, if a Marine commodore was there, he'd have to make sure she'd leave him be. He slowly made his way towards Yvonne, and stopped next to her.
Time had been kind to Yvonne, he distractedly thought to himself.

Yvonne bit the inside of her cheek, her lips drawn to a tight line as she observed Crocodile slowly walk up to her table. He truly had not changed one bit from when she had last seen him. Some people just have all the luck of the world.

The thought brought bitterness along with it, and she fastidiously shoved it away.

When he stopped next to her, and unfortunately ignoring him was not an option she could pick, she straightened her back and raised her chin at him. "Sir Crocodile", she greeted him flatly, without averting her eyes from his. Her eyes darted towards the door again for a brief second, as if she was expecting to see other pirates barge in just after him.

"Commodore. Mind if I sit there?" Crocodile replied back, showing the empty seat in front of Yvonne. He followed her gaze briefly, almost expecting some troops to come inside the inn, but thankfully it was only some more regulars. And she was dressed as a civilian, so he guessed she might actually be alone there, be it on a scouting mission or something else.

Even if she got an inkling he might have actually been as alone as she was on that island (Crocodile wasn't surely the kind to walk around alone, for how fearful of a man he was - if his men weren't right behind him, then he was possibly on his own), Yvonne's posture didn't relax, not even minutely. She squinted at him, before she turned to glare at the seat he had gestured for. "If you must", she answered in the end.

She didn't want to cause a scene - and she most certainly wasn't looking for a fight. Not in this place, surrounded by innocent civillians, and not with him.

Crocodile sat down in front of Yvonne, and kept on studying her attitude for a while, before he came to a logical conclusion. The nervousness, the civilian clothes, the fact that she looked like she just came out out of a bath...
"I take that the tempest surprised you as well?" He finally spoke out, with a tiny bit of amusement in his voice.

Yvonne, who had lowered her gaze on the table as she fully intended to get back staring at her full glass and look at Crocodile as little as she physically could, raised her head again when he talked, looking almost offended. She pursed her lips with the same vaguely disappointed expression she usually reserved to her men when they said something particularly stupid. "Clearly", she answered with a little scoff. "The weather has been particularly awful during these last two days." And one of her navigators had probably been negligent at his work. She paused. "... as well?", she asked casually. Of course she had taken note of his wet hair and clothes, but she hadn't remotely thought that a tempest could take Crocodile by surprise.

Crocodile looked rather unimpressed, and arched a brow. "Do I look like someone who was ready to face such a storm to you?" He was still mostly wet with sea water, and some traces of salt actually showed up on his skin as it dried up. "At least it's good to see that you're here on your own. No doubt I could have fought off whichever team you'd have travelled with, but at least I know you won't try your luck in arresting me."

"No. But you do look like someone who would want to be particularly attentive towards the weather forecasts", Yvonne replied candidly. "I remember you to be a man who doesn't like leaving things to casualty." Especially if it would involve seawater, she thought, eyes catching on the patches of dried salt on his face. She paused to focus her attention on her full glass again, lifting it up to study it. "You sound awfully sure of yourself. What makes you so certain that I wouldn't try my luck?", she asked then.

"Because I know you, Yvonne, and I also know you're far from stupid," Crocodile countered with a quiet voice, before he took a long drag of his cigar, and then looked at her in the eye. "You're not equipped with any seastone accessories right now, and we both know that trying to arrest me in a town filled with civilians would lead to many casualties."

Despite the cold bout of irritation that washed over her at Crocodile's words, Yvonne remained impassive on the outside. Well, she knew he was right even before he had answered, of course. She wouldn't have tried to fight him. Even weakened like he probably was right now, he was still dangerous, and times stronger than her. And as he had just reminded her, he wouldn't care about the casualties.
"Well. Good to see I'm remembered for my lack of stupidity", she quipped back softly. "You're right. The only thing I want, right now, is to find my way out of this island and reunite with my men. I am not equipped for a fight, least of all a fight against someone like you."
She took a quick sip from her glass, out of instinct - just to grimace at the taste and quickly put it down on the table, pushing it away from herself. Urh, why had she even asked for alcohol, this was disgusting!

Crocodile nodded, and looked at her glass of alcohol. His seemed like it would take a little while to arrive, and he was almost tempted to take her glass and drink from it.
Almost.

He let out a small smile, however. More to himself than for her.
"Gin was never your thing, was it. It's too cheap."

"... you're right, once again. But, you're being kind - calling this dish-rinsing water gin is too high of a compliment anyway", Yvonne answered, throwing a glare towards the transparent liquor as if it had personally offended her. She ignored the little tightening of her heart as she realized that he remembered some of her preferences. "If you've ordered some, I suggest you to send it back as soon as it comes. I assure you they don't have anything worth your time in their cantine", she added with a small smile of her own. If it's not at least old enough to drink itself, it's really not worth my time, had been the exact words back then.

Thankfully, the patron of the inn came along with Crocodile's drink and both their warm dishes before she had the time to feel sad about it.

Crocodile straightened up on his chair for the time it took the inn owner to give him his meal. Surprisingly enough, as Yvonne suggested, he sent back his drink as soon as he knew that it was gin, and requested some wine instead, that hopefully would still be drinkable, even if cheap.

"So. Care to tell me how you ended up washing up on this island, to kill time?"

Yvonne quietly accepted the dish - she didn't send back her own drink though, even if she wasn't intentioned on having anymore of that. She raised a brow at Crocodile when he offered an opening for a talk.
She had not been expecting him to stay around her at all, in fact. Since he had clearly understood already that she wasn't a menace in any way.

Well. Nothing bad with some casual conversation, she supposed.

"It's not a very glamorous story", she answered with honesty. "We received a distress signal from some colleagues nearby, but got caught in a sudden maelstrom. We tried to navigate out of it, without much success, and I fell in the ocean as I tried to put the ship back en route. Then, I woke up on the beach." She sounded very casual, for being someone who had just risked to die. "What about you?"

Crocodile quietly huffed through his nose. He thought for a second about hiding the true reason for his presence here unknown, but taunting her felt a little too tempting right now.
"Well I suppose me and my crew were the reason for which you received a distress signal," he replied just as casually. "Can't say for sure what happened to your colleagues, but I'm fairly sure that the sink that sank was getting some assistance as I made my way out of there."

Yvonne threw him a little, tight-lipped glare as she went through some morsels of her food. Of course he had been the cause of that signal. Any fear she felt for the possible grim destiny of her colleagues was drowned by a new pang of irritation - and some hilarity. "You made your way out of there?", she repeated, unable to hide the amusement in her voice. What now, was he trying to impress her? "Hm. If you word it like that, it almost sounds like you didn't end up plunging into the sea like a rock." She gently shook her head. "I would say I'm surprised you made it out alive, but that would be a lie, I'm afraid." Crocodile was a resourceful man, after all. However terribly he used said resources.

"I am a resourceful man," Crocodile simply replied, echoing Yvonne's thoughts. Rich, coming from a man who owed his survival to sheer luck in that one case.

"Speaking of which, would you happen to having a working snailphone on you?" He asked Yvonne nonchalantly. Eh, the island was so small he doubted he'd find one here, and he had lost his one along with his precious coat.

Yvonne let out an incredulous chuckle as she kept on eating from her plate, taking care of cleaning her hands after she was done with yet another part of it. "You didn't just ask me that", she murmured, raising her gaze to meet his again. Almost challenging him to repeat himself. "No, I don't have a working snailphone. Maybe it's still sinking in the ocean as we speak. And even if I did have one, do you really think I'd let you near it?" She threw her nicest smile at him. A smile that said clearly that if she had a snailphone, she would have probably destroyed it before he had the chance to even try and threaten her for it.
"From what I've gathered, there isn't a single working device on the whole island. I'm afraid we're both a little stuck at the moment. Unless a resourceful man such as yourself has a brilliant, emergency plan to deploy in these situations?" Maybe she was taunting him. Who knows.

Crocodile scoffed. "It wouldn't be wise to share it with you now, would it?" There was no plan yet. But cut him some slack - he needed a full night of rest before he could think of one. If the weather could get sunny and dry enough however, he might try to travel by sand over the seas. It was quite dangerous, however; he was no navigator, and the weather could change drastically from one area to another.

He could technically bring Yvonne along with him, but the wisest plan would probably be to get themselves a ship.