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tumbling-darkling · 2 years

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The candles in the circle flared a bright and brilliant green, the lines of the blood drawn circle lighting up the same hue as Nightwing and the bats of Gotham were held back by the cultists.

They were too late.

For weeks, there had been a series of disappearances and summons, monsters of various kinds being brought into Gotham and causing death and destruction. While the Gotham knights had been able to quickly locate and fight the creatures coming through, they weren’t easy battles. The beasts had unique power sets, each one showing different kinds of abilities in powerful ways.

They also were aware that all of the beasts were connected based on a common ability they all shared otherwise: they all held abilities similar to martians. While each creature they took down had unique abilities, they all shared the ability to fly, turn invisible, or go through solid objects. The knights had been lucky that the intangibility was not permanent, that the creatures needed to be solid to land hits, and with precise timing could eventually be taken down.

Red Robin had been able to analyze the first beast the group encountered and create a containment cell that the creatures couldn’t phase through, but it had taken a lot of time and effort, as well as a few escaped beasts when they also realized they needed something else to limit their extended abilities after the beasts tore apart the cell through other means.

The bats were exhausted, and had only recently managed to find the source, but it was too late by the time they located the cultists. Based on the information they gathered, they had been building up what was described as ‘ectoplasm’ in the area with all the summonings, their end goal being to summon a supposed ‘Pariah Dark’. A king of ghosts. Tyrant of the undead. They believed that by giving the ghost king Gotham, he would reshape the living world into a paradise and spare them the fire he would use to rebirth the planet.

It was insane.

And the bats were too late.

The cultist were aware that the bats where on their tail, they set up traps and percautions, all of Nightwings brothers and sisters were incapacitated or trapped, even Batman had been restrained in the middle of the circle. ‘A knight as a sacrifice’ the cultists had whispered.

Was this it?

Was he going to watch his father die and be unable to stop it?

This couldn’t be it…

It couldn’t!

The bright green lights began to get more intense, so much that Nightwing couldn’t look directly at the circle any longer.

Then the light snapped off, a blast of mist erupting from the circle and shrouding the room, dropping the temperature and even leaving frosty tips on clothes and hair. Nightwing carefully focused on the circle, expecting Batman to be nothing more than pieces and a beast to stand over him, blood ok it’s maw as it got ready to burn the world down to ash.

Instead, he spotted two shadowed figures within the mist, Batman still recognizable in a similar position as before, and a lankier figure… floating above him.

Then the mist blasted away as if a huge gust of wind chased it from the centre of the room… and revealed his older brother being the floating figure.

Daniel James Fenton, originally Daniel James Grayson, was floating above Batman with a hand outstretched, a very surprised look on his face as he made eye contact with Nightwing.

He looked like how he always looked, his hair an absolute mess of tangles that was pushed to the side, pale blue eyes like crystals that held both kindness and a hidden danger within them, a NASA hoodie covered in holes from being constantly worn, torn jeans with dark stains, and rough hands that belonged to a fighter. All packed into a 6’4 lanky giraffe of a man, who sometimes looked more like the wind could knock him over based on his horrible eating habits. Danny had been raised away from Dick, and he only discovered he had an older brother about 8 years ago, reconnecting with him and slowly building a bond with him and his older sister.

But he never knew his brother was some sort of Meta.

Danny glanced down at Batman, then back up to Nightwing, and finally his eyes trailed to the rest of the restrained Bats, “Either this is a weird dream or someone tried to do something stupid.”

“Oh great, who messed up the summoning circle?” One of the cultists complained, catching Danny’s attention.

“Summoning? Who were you summoning?”

“Quiet, ghost!” A cultist hissed. “Go cause some chaos or something while we figure out how to summon the dark king!”

Ghost? What did that cultist mean, ghost?

Danny’s eyes instead brightened, a familiar mischief dancing in them as he grinned, slowly floating to the ground and letting his feet touch the ground. “Oh, the dark king? Did nobody tell you?” Danny asked with a tilt of his head, and suddenly Nightwing noticed frost spreading from his brothers feet with every step he took towards the cultists, “the infinite realm has been under new management for the past decade! The dark king is no longer the king, and gets to spend eternity in nap time!”

The cultists exchanged confused looks before one brave one spoke up, “then who is the new king?”

“You summoned him!” Danny laughed. But it echoed in an unnatural way, and there was a new burst of light that erupted from his brother, light engulfing his entire form before dispersing and revealing he changed.

White hair replaced the black hair, whiter than snow itself and even slightly glowing in the low light, he wore a black lightly armoured suit with white accents, a black cape hanging off his shoulders and drifting in non existent wind that also seemed to affect his hair. Inside the cape seemed as if Danny had taken the night sky and sewn it into the cape itself. His skin became a deep blue, green flecks speckled his cheeks and nose, his eyes now black with toxic green irises that glowed in a menacing way in the dark of the warehouse. Around his neck seemed t be a crown, but as if the aurora borealis had been forged into one. His teeth were sharper to match his sharpened grin, his ears pointed, and the air around him sent off a chill that settled into everyone’s bones.

“You know, I’ve noticed a few of my subjects have been going missing. I couldn’t seem to find them when I went looking where they usually would be. But they must be here, thanks to your little stunts.”

“Y-you’re the king?” A cultist stuttered.

“Forgive us for not realizing-!”

“Please, we have set up offerings! Sacrifices!”

Nightwing was shoved forward just as the rest of his team was, and Danny frowned at the act.

“You think this is what I want?” He asked with a tilt of his head.

The cultists began to shift uneasily, “well… the books said to appease the king, we must spread death and ectoplasmic destruction.”

The crown flared, “did you kill people? In my name?”

The cultists flailed, “well, of course! It’s to give you more power-!”

It was if the lights went out, darkness engulfing the warehouse like a deep dark wave. Screaming was heard in the dark, and Nightwing couldn’t do anything but listen.

As fast as it began, it was over. The light returned, and Danny, no longer glowing and terrifying, was knelt next to Batman, undoing his restraints as he set him free.

The cultists were nowhere in sight.

The moment Danny had finished freeing Batman, he stepped over to Nightwing, and easily set him free from his own restraints, easily standing back with a carefree smile like he didn’t just admit to being the king of the dead. “Sorry if I freaked you out, Dickie. Just had to put on a fancy show to make sure those idiots don’t try to pull anymore of those stunts.”

Nightwing froze.

“You…?”

Danny grinned, that mischievous glint returning to his eyes, “know? I’ve known since the day we met. Why do you think Bruce and your family keeps managing to avoid death?”

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moongothic · 4 months

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Crocodad AU where immidiately after having left Dragon and his baby boy Crocodile finds an 11 year old Robin. And while he's 100% only recruiting her so they can make a beeline for the Poneglyph and Pluton in Alabasta by the two of them... Crocodile accidentally sorta kinda adopts Robin.

At this point Robin's been running for her life from the Government for three years so her deep trust issues and fear of betrayal are starting to take root in her little heart. Like perhaps they haven't taken fully over yet, and being still a child I'm sure Robin might've still had that genuine hope that she could find a safe place to stay in. But I'm sure the though of "what'll he'll do with me once he gets what he wants?" would be nagging at her at the back of her mind. Meanwhile Crocodile's struggling between the pain and hurt he's already gone through and given him his trademark trust issues, as well as the aftermath of The Dragodile Divorce. But he also has his Fresh Paternal Instincts and probably misses his baby. So when given a small, scared child who is running for her life, being chased by the very same Government that'll want his son dead if they ever find out about him... Yeah that might fuck with your brain a little

You know this post was supposed to be just that first paragraph and just a few footnotes from the following two paragraphs. And then I kept on Having Thoughts. And I kept on writing them down. And oh no what happened when did this post get so long (Look I was going to either kept on writing my Additional Thoughts in the tags or I just put them in the actual fucking post)

Like considder this: based on this one SBS, we can kinda tell that if Crocodile was given a chance to raise a child, that child would be a spoiled little shit, right

So in this scenario, where Crocodile's looking after lil Robin, would he be kind of torn? Unsure how to feel about her?

Because on one hand, this strange child would have the potential to not only ruin his plans, strip him of his Shichibukai Privileges by outing him and his plans to the World Government, but also put his son in grave danger by extension (if she found out about him having been involved with the Revolutionaries and/or having a child). But on the other hand, his paternal instincts could make him want to spoil this poor little girl rotten. But only because he needs to (perhaps literally) buy her trust so she'll behave. No other reason, he doesn't feel sorry for her one bit, no sirree. (But maybe he did feel sorry for her, since his son could very well end up exactly like her. Poor little thing) (Which is why he needs to nuke Marijoa out of orbit as soon as possible, no matter the cost, and this child can't get in the way of Crocodile protecting his son) (But also this is a child. Like how bad could she be. Besides all he really needs to do to win her trust is be nice and make her feel safe, right?)

Of course, while I'm suggesting Crocodile could have some parental instincts, realistically, he hasn't actually spent any time being, you know, a father to a child (looking after his newborn for an unknown though short amount of time aside), so it's possible he wouldn't even know how to parent Robin even if he wanted to, would he? (Like taking care of a newborn and an 11 year old kid aren't the same either) So if he was kind of just emotionally flipflopping between No Trusting Ever and It's Just A Kid for God's Sake, Crocodile trying to be nice to Robin to make her feel safe and then telling himself to stop being so soft and vunerable... Yeah that would make for an absolute mess of a relationship. (Not to mention, let's be real, dude's a scary motherfucker too, and a bloody giant compared to itty bitty baby Robin. He could keep on accidentally scaring the shit out of Robin (who would be On Fucking Edge To Begin With) by just Being Himself. Like for example, can you fucking imagine if he caught Robin trying to cheer herself up with a little "dereshishishi" only to tell her to stop because "it was stupid"? 'Cause I can imagine him doing that, and boy howdy would that make Robin feel bad)

Or who knows, maybe Crocodile was just Born To Be A Dad, maybe he just Fucking Gets It. Like Crocodile is canonically pretty good at manipulating people to do what he wants them to do (see: how he played Vivi like a fiddle), so knowing Robin's position and understanding how she feels, maybe he COULD completely nail how she needed to be treated. Not being too familiar but still making her feel safe and happy, knowing exactly when to be stern and when to spoil her, etc. Dude just goes off and wins the Dad of the Year Award while being a deadbeat dad himself. The only thing Crocodile would have to worry about then would be making sure HE doesn't get too fond of her. And certainly that could never happen, he's so in-touch with his own feelings and so grounded, he's not a softie, get outta here. Or maybe he does but never realizes until it's too late and good luck backpedalling on those emotions now dumbass

Alright so, the reason I went on that whole rmble is just that like. I'm so interested in the relationship Robin and Crocodile already have in canon. I'm so facinated and curious about how the two feel about each other, considdering they did spend 4 whole years of their lives together as criminal business partners, though neither ever trusted the other. A partnership that was only ended because Robin betrayed Crocodile, out of her own trauma. (God, I want to see these two "reunite" so bad, I want to know how they feel about each other now after the timeskip and Robin joining the idiot in flipflops who foiled Croc's plans)

My question here is just that... if they had met 13 years earlier, would things have been different? Especially if Crocodad Real? Because as I mentioned in the begining, Robin would've been on the run for only 3 years by this point, as opposed to 16 years before running into Crocodile. Simultaneously, this would be before Crocodile went onto spend an entire decade all alone, slowly losing his marbles in his emotional solitude. They'd both be emotionally traumatized, yes, but would it have been as bad in this scenario? Like I did start this post kind of joking about Crocodile adopting Robin, and for clarity's sake I don't think they'd have like a father-daughter relationship nececarily. But it would be a strange relationship still, because we'd have two broken people, both struggling to trust anyone. One who had lost her mother and her only friends, leaving her all alone and afraid while running for her life. The other a father who had just given up his son whom he probably missed dearly. Both having these holes in their hearts from loss of family, holes that could not be filled with replacements. But could they find comfort in each other anyway, because they still as people occupy similar roles to their respective loved ones? If they both could just get over those trust issues?

Okay I've been going off on the Emotional Side Of Things for this AU Concept, THERE'S PLOT TOO

So if Crocodile did pick Robin up like 19 years ago, that should be before he set up base in Alabasta, long before he had built is homebase and financial empire etc.

Now the thing is, while we don't know when, where and how Crocodile learned about the Ancient Weapons, Pluton specifically and how the lead on it would be in Alabasta... Considdering Crocodile did once upon a time aim to become Pirate King, it would make perfect sense if he had learned about Poneglyphs during his past adventures, as he would have needed to get the Road Poneglyphs to find One Piece. And while the World Government did bury the truth about why Ohara had been burned down and why Robin had been given her bounty (remember, the WG claimed it was because she had sunken a fleet of battleships, which she had not, it was because she could read the Poneglyphs), considdering this is a Crocodad AU specifically, you could totally make an argument Crocodile could've learned about what actually happened to Ohara from Dragon and co. So, just to make this AU work, you could just assume Crocodile learned about the concept of the Ancient Weapons from Dragon. And who knows, maybe he overheard the truth about why Robin had been given her bounty from Dragon too (maybe Dragon was able to get intel from Garp in secret) or while going to Marijoa himself to attend a Shichibukai meeting or something IDK.

Maybe he learned about Pluton being in Alabasta before finding Robin by accident, and maybe they made a beeline for Alabasta the second Croc recruited Robin. Travelling takes time and the guy would've most likely had to find an Eternal Pose to Alabasta just to get there (also canonically Robin didn't enter the Grand Line until her 20s so they should've met in West Blue probably, since that's where Ohara was) Or maybe Crocodile had to haul Robin around for a few months while looking for That Missing Piece of Information that would lead him to Alabasta. (Imagine the two travelling from like island to island, library to library, Crocodile trying to find that leads while Robin's just so excited about ALL THESE BOOKS (she's helping too with the research) (but to her, research is playtime, so she's just having the time of her life) (Also, notice how Crocodile's Theoretical Child is a fucking loser ass nerd? Yeah Crocodile would encourage Robin reading and studying, surely. And that would be fucking cute))

But like, once they set sail to Alabasta...

Sure, Crocodile could try to do it The Slow Way that we know he tried in canon, building trust and creating his little empire etc. But also, in canon, Crocodile couldn't have jumped into action head first because without Robin, even if he had found the Poneglyph he couldn't have read it and found the location of Pluton. Crocodile choosing to do it the slow way may have been partially because he didn't have much of a choise and it could've felt like the smarter move long-term.

But in this scenario, he already has Robin. Yes, he could do it the slow, secure way.

But what'd be there stopping him from infiltrating Cobra's palace and kidnapping him (in the night, when nobody suspects a thing), demanding Cobra to spill the beans lest Crocodile kills him and/or his pregnant wife* (*Vivi was born 10 months after Luffy so depending on how long it's been between Crocodad leaving Luffy behind and this scenario... Yeah either the wife is there, still pregnant, or there's a newborn Baby Vivi)

Like it'd be a risky move but depending on how ballsy Croc's feeling and how confident he feels in being able to kidnap the king without being noticed... Yeah he could probably do it. And I'm sure he'd have no problem killing Cobra either, if anything it'd be required if he didn't want the Government to find out he was out to find Pluton, and god knows Cobra would tell on Crocodile if left alive. I could see Crocodad being maybe a little iffy about killing Baby Vivi though (it's not like the newborn baby could report him to the WG anyways), but if nothing else, he just needs to be able to pull off the bluff of his life to convince Cobra to do as he's told. And we all know Crocodile's good at convincing people.

The only question is, how would Robin take that?

Watching Crocodile go into Full Murder Mode, hearing him say he'd kill a pregnant woman/a newborn baby if he didn't get what he wanted? Like yeah, I'm sure 11 year old Robin would be fine with that, that wouldn't make any alarm bells go off in her head at all, it'd be fiiiine. IT WOULD NOT BE FINE, SHE'D BE SCARED SHITLESS. That fear of "what will he do with me when he gets what he wants"? Well, Robin may not have found the answer to that question in particular, but she certainly found the answer to the opposite question, and it's not good

So say Cobra, kidnapped (perhaps with Baby Vivi) by Crocodile in the night, guides the two to the Poneglyph under the tombs. Crocodile puts Cobra out of his misery because he's not needed anymore. And he asks Robin to read the Poneglyph for him.

Robin, who has spent the last little while, be it weeks or months with Crocodile, him having become her "guardian", the thing keeping her safe. Crocodile, who has now shown how cold blooded and cruel he can be. Robin, who might be scared out of her mind. Of him.

And the Poneglyph says Pluton, the thing Crocodile wants, isn't there. It's in Wano.

What's she going to do?

EDIT: I wrote a sequel post, enjoy

#Moon posting #OP Meta #Sir Crocodile #Crocodad #Nico Robin #THIS POST WAS AN ACCIDENT. I DON'T KNOW HOW THIS HAPPENED. WHY DID I WRITE THIS. WHAT DEMON POSSESSED ME #I'm sure someone's written this already right #Right #Surely this fanfic already exists #Please tell me it exists #I dunno what to tell you I am not immune to a Juicy AU #Anyway on a more wholesome side of things: Robin accidentally calling Crocodile ''dad'' and he just inhales and swallows his whole cigar #Nearly chockes to death. Gets burns on his throat.#Robin feeling less alienated because of her DF ability because Croc has seen weirder AND is made of sand himself #If anything if they're literally by themselves then Robin being able to literally lend a hand to Croc at any time could be extremely useful #Like. In regular life situations. 'Cause Croc only has one hand. And Robin as many as she wants. Perfect duo.#(Also if they were travelling on like a small ship then it'd probably be built for a Tall Motherfucker like Croc right)#(Robin's ability would just make the ship more accessible to her and Croc would find that independence good)#Robin still gets a codename because Croc can't have anyone realize who she is. Maybe she even wears like a mask or summin' in public #If Crocodile's openly trans and the news of him transitioning recently broke out. Like. No avoiding that convo eh #Baby Robin's like ''...I read in a book once that some reptiles can change sex but I didn't know crocodiles could do it too''#''💦.../Humans/ can't do that normally either''#''Hmmmm. Weird. I don't think being a girl would suit you though'' // ''...I'll take that as a compliment''#I just. I think they could have really cute interactions if they warmed up to each other after a little while #And I'm Extremely Normal about that

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