Deeper Than the Sea

6: Vivi Nefertari

The girl who came rushing in through the door had hair that seemed an almost bluish grey—was it possible to have hair that grey and still look that young?—and everyone held their breath, expecting doom to come falling on them. However, the girl at once charged down Dr. Kureha with a wild look in her eyes. Dr. Kureha let out the breath she had been holding, but everyone else remained glued to the spot.

"Dr. Kureha, I've got the papers! Kuro is Krahadore, and I have no idea how he got here, but I know he's up to no good, so we've got to get Miss Syrup out of…" The girl trailed off as she realized that she was surrounded by people. "Oh, hello," she said awkwardly. "I didn't mean to interrupt. Dr. Kureha isn't usually very busy, and I sort of thought that I might come in here to practice my, um, acting-"

"Oh, hush," said Dr. Kureha, "you're embarrassing yourself."

"You know about Kuro?" asked Usopp.

Nami knew she'd seen the girl somewhere before, and was racking her brain for the name and identity that went with that face. She had a feeling it had happened at the beginning of the school year—ah, an exchange student, or maybe a transfer—but she still couldn't remember her name.

"Do I- how do you know about Kuro?" asked the girl, looking a little bewildered.

"How do we?" demanded Usopp, and the look of suspicion grew deeper in his eyes. "We know because the lunatic captured me, locked me up in a horrible, dark cell underground and in our attempt to escape, shot at us so we could barely make it out alive. So I would dearly love to know how you know."

The new arrival blinked. "Me? Well…" Her eyes flicked left and right around the room, and she looked entirely out of her element. It had, they would think in retrospect, to be incredibly disorienting to be accused—even just by implication—of something that one was victim to, and so they would find it quite understandable that she had frozen, almost unable to comprehend the animosity directed at her.

As it was, however, her delay in answering merely made her seem like a deer caught in headlights—and therefore more suspicious.

Had Dr. Kureha been a kinder person, she probably would have stepped in to avert the malevolent suspicion turned on Vivi, but she was not—in fact it quite amused her to sit at the side and watch the scene unfold before her.

"What are you doing for him, how much is he paying you, and what is his aim? Who are you?"

Nami suddenly had a pocket knife ready against the blue-haired girl's throat. The girl in question just continued to look confused. Nami wondered if she was slow.

"While we're asking questions," piped up Luffy, "is your hair naturally that color or did you dye it?"

"Wait, what?" the girl finally spoke up, pushing Nami away. "Why are you pointing a knife at me? And what's going on here? Who are you?"

"Kuro just imprisoned one of their friends and shot at three of them you see," Dr. Kureha informed her.

"Why? What does that have anything to do with…" she suddenly trailed off, glancing fearfully at the others present in the room. "…what we know?" she finished tentatively.

"What do you know?" demanded Nami, snapping her knife closed and sighing. "I take it you're not with Kuro, and Dr. Kureha seemed to know something about him, so I suppose you're with her?"

"Or you could say that I'm with her," chuckled Kureha. "Chopper, why don't you make our guests some tea? I think they're going to be a while."

"No thank you," the room chorused quickly, every mind thinking of how much the old woman might charge for a mere cup of tea.

"Don't be ridiculous," said Kureha. "I'll give you all fifty percent off. Now go make the tea, Chopper."

The boy scurried out of the room.

"Now, Vivi, why don't you tell them all about yourself?"

"Um, yes," said the girl called Vivi nervously. "You see, I'm from a small country south of Florida, off the coast of Mexico. We're an established country, though our country is made up of only one small island and the population is currently under fifty thousand. I transferred here this year to study politics here, since this is reputed as a wonderful school for the study of politics—or, at least, that's my cover. Actually, I transferred here a little late in the year—about a month or so after the first semester started—with different objectives in mind. You see, lately my country—Alabasta—has been having certain…problems. There have been unregistered imports and exports that set the records askew, but we haven't been able to figure out exactly where the exports go, or the imports come from. In fact, we haven't even managed to figure out exactly what they are, because according to the records, a little bit of everything is missing, but since all the records we have are in weight, we think that someone smuggled their goods in the other goods, and then removed them before the security check somehow.

"We're not certain who's doing this or what they're trying to accomplish, but we're certain that they come from here. In fact, I've been getting some reports from a friend of mine who's doing research for me back in Alabasta, and the name 'Kuro' came up. He's an escaped convict from Alabasta, and we think he's an illegal immigrant in the States. There was an oddly quiet prison break in Alabasta in January 1998—no broken locks or alarm or anything, just one prisoner mysteriously vanished one night. But I didn't figure out that he was Mr. Krahadore until just now. I'm sorry, I wish I'd figured it out sooner."

"Never mind that," Nami waved off the apology. "What do you know?"

"Not much," Vivi shrugged. "Just that he's involved somehow. But you said you got involved with him…?"

"Not me," Nami sighed, finally dropping her guard. "These three idiots over here were trying to save Kaya. It's a good thing they did, but from what I've heard of it, it was a dangerous adventure. Actually, that would be an understatement."

"I can only imagine," said Vivi, shuddering.

"May I offer my assistance in your quest for information, young lady?" swooned Sanji, finally seeing an opening. "After all, you, a beautiful damsel in distress from a foreign land need a valiant knight in armor to-"

"No, she really doesn't," Usopp interrupted, rolling his eyes. "She's been doing just fine on her own, and even if she did want help, it would be a partner, not a knight in shining armor permanently swooning over her and just getting in the way. Am I right?"

"Yes, now be quiet so that Vivi can tell us the rest of her story. Your name is Vivi, right?" Nami looked back at the girl just to be sure.

"Yes, Vivi Nefertari," smiled the girl prettily before promptly lapsing back to her troubled look. "Though I can't say that there's anything else to tell that would be relevant…"

"You said that Krahadore is an escaped convict, and possibly an illegal immigrant," said a weak voice from behind, and they all looked around in surprise to find Kaya sitting up and watching them all with strong—if tired—eyes. "My parents went through his papers when they hired him ten years ago, and I saw those papers when they died and everything passed into my keeping. They were perfectly in order for a man by the name of Ken Krahadore."

"He could easily have forged the documents," Nami pointed out. "Just a few bribes to the right people and you've got your hands on fake passports, visas, birth certificates and even citizenship."

"Maybe. But Miss Vivi, you just said that he broke out of prison in January 1998. Do you remember when that month?"

"Hm…" Vivi looked thoughtful. "It wasn't that long after New Years' Day, if my memory is correct. I believe it was the third."

Kaya nodded. "But you see, that is quite odd, because he came into my parents' employment on the fourth of January 1998, with completed interview and everything."

Nami, Sanji and Usopp stared blankly at the blonde girl.

"That's certainly…odd," Nami said off-handedly.

Kaya nodded. "I wish I could access the study of my house: all the documents are there. I remember these particular dates because after my parents' death, I desperately clung to Krahadore and wanted some proof that he wouldn't leave my side. I found that assurance in the dates that proved how long he'd been with my family. After all, how could a man who'd been with us for ten years possibly be false to me?" She laughed, and the bitterness in her voice struck Usopp like a knife.

He was at her side in a moment. "Kaya, rest now—you can talk later."

"I'm alright," she smiled at him. Then she turned back to the others, her eyes serious. "I know that the documents in my parents' old study have more information: the date of the interview, the place where it took place, even his original application. It might help to see those."

"I hope so," Vivi said.

"Right, so I take it we're coming up with some sort of a plan to break into your house again, Miss Kaya?" Sanji asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kaya's eyes widened, alarmed. "No! Please—wait until Krahadore has gone, or…or something to that effect. They've already shot you, what if you die next time? No. We'll find a way to obtain the information we need by some other means."

"Like what?" asked Nami gently. "Miss Syrup, we don't have any other leads. All we know is that Kuro mysteriously disappeared from Alabasta and showed up in Maine the next day with a false identity and a respectable job. I doubt there's anywhere better to find information on this than the documents you just mentioned. I'm guessing that the information in Alabasta is less than useful; am I right, Vivi?"

"Yes," she nodded earnestly. "All the documentation left concerning Kuro is that he was convicted for murder, found guilty and then escaped from prison. All the records of his trial disappeared the same night that he did."

"Hm," said Nami thoughtfully. "Well then, we're just going to have to use the advantage of the fact that we have better planners working this time. It's no wonder that Luffy, Sanji and Usopp got shot at on their own—none of them has a subtle bone in their bodies."

"Miss Nami!" cried Sanji tragically. "But I'm wounded! How could you accuse me of such a thing when it was Luffy's lack of subtlety and Usopp getting himself caught that-"

"Hey!" demanded Usopp. "Now it's all my fault?"

"Quiet!" snapped the redhead, and the boys' mouths snapped shut. "Now. I don't care a whit who's fault it was that got you into that situation. The fact of the matter is that you did get yourselves into trouble for lack of subtlety, and we're going to remedy that by setting up an actual plan before you go barging in this time. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am," said Sanji and Usopp at once.

"And what about you, Luf- Wait, where's Luffy?"

They all looked around to find, for the first time, that Luffy was no longer present. Nami looked to Zoro in the hope that he would have noticed something, but the man in question was fast asleep against the wall.

Nami gritted her teeth, stomped across the room, and woke the teen with a merciless fist to the nose.

"Ow!" shouted Zoro as he woke, clutching his nose. "What the hell is wrong with you, woman? You practically broke my nose!"

"Is that an insult?" growled the girl threateningly. Zoro gulped. "I thought not," she said with a falsely sunny smile. "Now, do you have any idea where our dear Luffy is?"

"Somewhere around here, why?"

Zoro's response earned him another fist to the head.

"Now that we've established that Luffy's gone," Nami said, clapping her hands for attention—as if she didn't already have it, Usopp thought—"we need to spread out and find him before he does something rash. If he stayed long enough to hear the thing about the study, the moron might have decided that it would be a genius idea to break back into Syrup Manor and raid the study."

"Why don't we just let him?" groaned Zoro. "He's Luffy. He'll be fine."

Nami swung around to glare at him. "I don't know where you get that conviction from, but even if he would be fine, do you actually believe that he'd know what document to search for in the study?"

Zoro blinked. "What document?"

"My point exactly," Nami said, and punctuated this with another fist to Zoro's head. Zoro groaned, clutching his now-pounding head, and wondered if he should be grateful that she had apparently decided that she preferred hitting him than collecting debt for the time being.

"Oh, Miss Nami, if only your fist of love would strike me as well, how happy I would-" Sanji's swooning was broken of by Nami's fist to his cheek. He fell backwards—still swooning, apparently—and Zoro and Usopp snorted.

"Come on, people!" Nami ordered, clapping authoritatively. "Hunt for Luffy! Don't let him do anything stu-"

A scream of terror from down the hallway cut her off. Instantly, Nami, Sanji and Usopp were neck-to-neck racing down the hallway to skid to a stop and peer around the doorframe at its end.

Dr. Kureha was supremely unconcerned, for though she recognized the scream as Chopper's, she knew that he had a tendency to get rather more jumpy than necessary. Zoro had fallen back asleep, and Kaya watched nervously from the couch; Vivi crept after the three who had bolted down the hallway.

But the alarm was not a life-or-death issue, it seemed, for Nami growled, "Luffy," and Usopp and Vivi backed away cautiously while Sanji scarcely began to swoon before Nami's elbow struck his stomach and had him doubling over.

"Did no one ever teach you that you're not supposed to raid other people's kitchens?" the party in the living room could hear. "What a mess! I can't believe you—and you destroyed the counter. Luffy!? What were you thinking?"

"But I was hungry," whined the boy.

The thuds and painful whimpers that followed this statement suggested that Nami did not consider that a sufficient response.

"Chopper?"

"Y- yes, ma'am!"

"Take the tea to the others while I deal with this."

"Y- yes, ma'am!" Chopper was already running out of the kitchen in terror. "Here's your tea," he announced in a voice that was squeaky with terror once he reached the living room.

Dr. Kureha calmly took hers, and the others followed her lead (Zoro, still sleeping, was the only exception) as they listened to Nami's lecturing, Luffy's whining and the occasional thud of a fist when Luffy proved too difficult.

When Nami finally emerged from the kitchen, she looked like the devil incarnate (because on the inside, she had already been that—a fact on which everyone present except Sanji—and maybe Kaya and Chopper—agreed). Chopper and Usopp gulped and backed away carefully.

But Nami herself seemed quite nervous as she approached Dr. Kureha.

"Erm, Luffy may just have trashed the kitchen and eaten you out of house and home…" Nami trailed off, and cleared her throat in an unsuccessful attempt to disguise her unease.

"Don't worry about it," said Dr. Kureha with a casual wave of the hand. "Just clean up the mess before I enter the kitchen, and I won't ask for everything of value that you all own."

At this, Nami and Usopp exchanged a look of sheer terror and rushed back towards the kitchen, Nami dragging Zoro along by the collar. Vivi looked between the nervous Chopper and Sanji—who was glancing back and forth between Vivi and Nami as if he couldn't make up his mind about something—before she decided to follow Nami and Usopp.

At this, Sanji too quickly downed his tea and politely took his leave of Kaya (and Dr. Kureha and Chopper out of respect—or maybe just fear).

In the kitchen, Sanji was introduced to the mess of the century surrounded by chaos. Sure, he had seen dirty kitchens before, but this was just ridiculous: pots and pans, broken dishes, and random bottles, wrappers and scraps of food strewn everywhere to the point where the floor was almost completely obscured from view. And yet these random scraps of food on the floor were still being picked up off the floor to sate Luffy's monstrous appetite.

Sanji shuddered. He looked at Miss Vivi trying to put away the dishes with Zoro reluctantly pretending to help but only managing to break more items while Miss Nami and Usopp attempted to force Luffy to stop eating, having given up entirely on talking sense into the boy. The sight made Sanji lose faith in human nature, and he wanted nothing more than to turn around, leave, and promptly delete the sight from memory.

But there was food, a kitchen, and ladies involved, so Sanji could not possibly abandon the scene. He clapped loudly with a sharp shout of, "Freeze where you are!" and successfully caught the attention of everyone, including the source of their troubles—though Luffy didn't have the grace to stop stuffing food into his mouth even as he stared wide-eyed at Sanji. Everyone else, however, had spun around to stare at him wide-eyed, and Sanji could not help but wonder at their tension. (Then again, of course they were tense, what with Kuro and Kureha both after their hides.)

"Right," said Sanji cheerfully. It sounded fake to his own ears. "Since obviously no one here has any idea what to do with a dirty kitchen—except my darling Miss Nami and Miss Vivi, of course, you're wonderful, my ladies!—I'm taking charge here. First of all, we need to get the human vacuum out of here. Usopp-" Then Sanji paused. Usopp knew how to clean up a kitchen at least—he'd helped out at the restaurant every once in a while—and could be useful to have around. On the other hand, Sanji wasn't about to subject a lady to having to deal with Luffy. That left… "Actually, scratch that. Zoro." He was almost as much a terror to the kitchen as Luffy anyway, Sanji reflected, looking ruefully down at the pile of broken china that was Zoro's doing.

"Good idea," Nami agreed, seeing where this was going. "Zoro, get Luffy out, and if he comes back in here or destroys anything else at all, the amount you owe me gets tripled. Are we clear?"

"Why the hell-"

"Are we going to argumentative to day?" smiled Nami so sweetly that Sanji swooned, Zoro glared death at her and Usopp and Vivi shuddered.

But after a moment's angry staring, Zoro took hold of Luffy's shirt by the collar and dragged him away from the food, the younger boy still flailing and screaming in passionate protest.

"Just shut up, my debt depends on this," Zoro growled.

"My stomach depends on this," Luffy replied sulkily, though he stopped struggling—though he did grab another bread crust off the floor just before Zoro dragged him out of the kitchen.

"Ah, my sweet Miss Nami," swooned Sanji, "how sweetly you manage to handle uncouth men like them!"

The wall that separated the hallway and the kitchen swore at Sanji in Zoro's voice.

"Are you taking charge of this place or not?" demanded Usopp, having had quite enough of the lack of seriousness that seemed to plague everyone present. "Seriously, you have mood swings like a pregnant woman."

Sanji spun around to glare. "Congratulations, you've managed to insult ladies, the children they treasure, and my masculinity in one breath. Would you like to do the dishes, or would your forehead be interested in becoming acquainted with my steel-toed shoe? It's new, you know."

Usopp gulped. Of all clean up jobs, he despised dishes. Passionately. Of course, Sanji knew this. "I'll do the dishes," he squeaked, gathering up the pots and pans and china that was still in tact as quickly as if it was the most exciting thing in the world.

"I'll dry the dishes," Nami volunteered, finding a dish cloth hanging on a railing that also served as the handle of the oven.

"I can put them away," Vivi added. "I come here every so often, so I know where most things belong."

"But forcing two young ladies such as yourselves-" Sanji's chivalrous protest was cut short by Nami.

"If you say anything about us not working I will introduce you to the concept of chivalry flowing into sexism, and everything Dr. Kureha takes in payment will come out of your property."

Sanji snapped his mouth shut, though he couldn't resist a brief silent swoon—Miss Nami was so controlling! Then he set about gathering up the scattered food, from which he cut off damaged and dirty parts while carefully preserving the parts that were still good. The whole time he muttered curses under his breath at Luffy for his wastefulness. Resolutely he stuffed the food into a clean plastic bag.

When he was done with that, he set about scrubbing the counters and mopping the floor, then checking each cupboard and drawer to ensure that everything was in order. Having completed this, and turning to find that the dishes party was still working, he wavered between Miss Nami and Miss Vivi a moment before realizing that he didn't really know where Dr. Kureha kept everything. So he went and offered to take over Nami's job, and the young woman was very willing to let him take over—no rant about sexism this time, Usopp noted wryly.

Thus it was not long before the once-disastrous kitchen was sparkling clean.

"I just hope that Dr. Kureha will find our tidying up sufficient," Vivi commented worriedly. "A lot of the food is gone, and half the china is broken."

"But this is Dr. Kureha we're discussing, Miss Vivi," Sanji pointed out. "Even if there weren't a single thing wrong when the kitchen when we were done, she'd still tell us to give her fifty percent of what we own just because she can." He felt rather moody as he pointed this out.

Vivi didn't miss the way his hand moved—practically a twitch—as if seeking something in his breast pocket before dangling at Sanji's side once more. This change of mind didn't seem to sit wel with him, an Vivi wondered if the pocket contained medication, or perhaps a flask of whisky.

Her question was answered when Nami said, "I can't imagine what Dr. Kureha would do to us if you smoked in here." She was looking at Sanji with hard, speculative eyes, she were watching for a reaction.

"Yes, Miss Nami." But his swoon wasn't as enthusiastic as it usually was. "That's why I stopped."

"I thought so." Nami narrowed her eyes. "But you ought to consider the dangers of lung cancer too, every once in a while."

Sanji blinked, and then a more enthused smile spread across his face. "Is my Miss Nami concerned for my health? Why, this is such a happy day of my life! My dear Miss Nami, I shall follow you for-" He was cut off as Nami kneed him in the stomach on her way to hand Vivi a pot.

"Ah, the power of love," choked Sanji. It sounded painful, Usopp reflected without sympathy.

"I belong to no one," Nami growled with such vehemence that Vivi took a few steps back." Least of all to perverted sexist morons like yourself!" Turning on heel, she stomped back to Usopp for another dish to dry.

"Tough love. How caring!" Sanji sighed this at her back, but Nami had apparently made the decision to ignore him. "But if you shall not be mine, then what shall I have to claim as my own? Miss Vivi, with all your sky blue locks and determined, steadfast heart—would you be mine to love and cherish for always?"

Vivi blinked down at the man kneeling before her and clutching her hand, wondering when he had recovered from Nami's fury and made it all the way across the room.

"Um," she said uncomprehendingly, blinking again. She was not entirely positive, but she thought that she might be missing something.

"No, she would not!" Nami snapped, punctuating the last word with a fist to Sanji's head. "Don't mind him," she told Vivi, "he's just a womanizing idiot who has no idea what he's talking about."

"Maybe we ought to be heading back to the others?" Vivi suggested tentatively.

"Yes, let's!" chirped Nami, suddenly her happy self. Vivi didn't know whether this was a prospect at which she ought to be relieved or frightened.

Back in the living room, they found Zoro and Luffy perfectly happily playing cards—a game of spit—with Chopper.

"How do you play spit with three people?" Nami wondered aloud.

"You can play spit with more than two people," Vivi replied, surprised. "Just divide the cards up differently—it takes longer, but three people isn't that bad-"

"I don't think they're actually playing spit," Dr. Kureha informed them, as if she had not just been the one to tell them that they were playing spit.

"Make up your mind," Usopp muttered under his breath. "Are they playing spit or aren't they?"

A second later his face met the wall.

"They call it spit, and the fundamentals seem to derive from spit," Dr. Kureha replied as calmly as if she had not just shoved a person's face into the wall. "But they're making up whatever rules suit the situation as they go along."

Then she stood and walked down the hallway. The party of four that had cleaned the kitchen did not have much time to be nervous, because she emerged from the kitchen mere seconds after entering.

"Good job. Last time the boy raided my kitchen, it took a week to clean up after him."

"Last time?" Nami repeated. "He's been here before?"

"Once or twice," smirked the doctor. "He and his brother have the unfortunate tendency to get themselves injured rather gravely."

So Ace was Luffy's brother, Nami reflected with mild surprise. Then she wondered if she'd thought that Ace had lied. No, not lied—I guess I just thought of it as some kind of joke. Seriously, how did two boys grow up in the same tiny town as she—one where everyone knew everyone else unless they were just students at the Institute, since those people came and went—and yet she never have seen them before, let alone heard of them? It was so improbable in Fuchsia that Nami felt a headache coming on.

But all such thoughts died like chickens in a slaughterhouse the moment that Dr. Kureha declared, "I'll take pity on you and settle for all the jewelry and other jewels of value that you"-she pointed at Vivi-"and you"-she pointed at Nami-"possess. That ought to be a passable sum, given Nami's love of jewels and Vivi's…ancestry."

The final statement would have caught Nami's attention had her jewels not been in jeopardy.

"But- but they're my jewels! And some of them have…sentimental value!" Nami was using every argument she could think of. "Jewelry and books are all I have left of Mom!"

"And most of the jewels you're thinking of aren't mine to give away," Vivi argued as well.

Dr. Kureha just sat back looking supremely unconcerned—and then she smiled. It looked like the Cheshire Cat's smile from Alice in Wonderland, and both girls went still at once.

"Very well." The doctor grinned up at the girls in a manner that was quite unnerving. "If you can convince Luffy's mother to give me her favorite necklace in payment, I'll spare you both."

Nami an Vivi exchanged a confused look. One necklace? Instead of two girls' full supplies of jewels, which the doctor herself had estimated to total to a considerable sum?

"In any case," Dr. Kureha went on, "you probably won't succeed anyway, since I've been trying to wheedle that thing out of her for years. I'll give you a week to try. If you haven't got the necklace to me by a week from today, you will give me all the jewels you own. But for now, tackle the issue of Kuro. Shouldn't you be tying to find a way to get into that study and steal those documents away from him before he decides to go destroy them? I'm sure he's aware that they exist."

"Oh!" exclaimed Vivi, jewels forgotten.

Nami sighed in resignation before turning to face the boys, all of whom were now playing the-game-which-was-referred-to-as-and-apparently-based-on-spit-but-was-obviously-not-spit-because-playing-spit-with-five-players-would-be-absurd. She spared a glance for Kaya, wondering how large a toll this stress would exert upon her weakened body. But the girl was sound asleep.

So she turned back to the members playing the-game-which-was-referred-to-as-and-apparently-based-on-spit-but-was-obviously-not-spit-because-playing-spit-with-five-players-would-be-absurd and snapped, "Boys!"

Vivi was impressed at her ability to command all of their attention at once, by shouting that one word.

"We need to get certain papers from Kuro's—I mean Kaya's—manor. We're going to put together a group to do this…preferably one or two people, I think. Understood? Good. Alright! Now, I would suggest Usopp and someone else be the ones to go, since Usopp knows his way around best and runs the fastest."

"I'll go too," Vivi spoke up at once, before Usopp could protest that he had just come down with a terminal illness which would result in the termination of his life the second he entered the manor. "I'm most familiar with the Kuro case, and I'm sure I'll be quickest at identifying the documents we're searching for."

She had a point, but Nami hesitated to agree. The girl had seemed like a nice girl so far, yes, and she had valuable information. But they didn't know her well enough to really judge her allegiance. For all they knew, Vivi could be luring them into a trap. For the same reason, Nami had hoped that the second one to go would be Sanji, since he was capable of fighting—given his history of brawls and the like—and would probably make their chance of escape more likely in the instance that they were caught by guards.

She considered going instead of Vivi, but this would be inefficient as she might be more used to paperwork than the boys, but she would still have to read through everything in the study to find what they needed, and she would be of no fighting value.

Thus Nami came to the conclusion that Vivi had to go. So she tried to think of a way to work around this handicap. She could sent Usopp, Vivi, and Sanji, but Vivi's presence would result in Sanji swooning more than helping. In addition, in the instance that Vivi did turn out to be an enemy, Sanji would doubtlessly be no help at all. He would probably offer his hands to Vivi to handcuff.

Sending either Luffy or Zoro was out of the question: Luffy would be too loud and Zoro would get lost, and Vivi and Usopp would be too busy to keep an eye out for them. In which case the best solution would be…

"Alright. Usopp, you're the guide. Just get everyone else where they need to go, and then back out of there again. Vivi, you're in charge of finding the papers we need—I trust that you're more used to this sort of thing, so you won't have to read through everything. Luffy, Zoro, you two just go with them, and if the guards try to attack you, knock them out. And Luffy, make sure that Zoro doesn't get lost: follow Usopp, for the sake of everything good and evil, and drag Zoro along behind you if you have to. Zoro, make sure that Luffy doesn't make a sound. We want to be stealthy"-the boys looked blank, and Nami checked herself-"I mean, we want to be very sneaky about this, so just be quiet and make sure Luffy is too. Got it?" They nodded. "Good."

"Great," sighed Zoro, standing and stretching. "I get to beat up people."

"I thought you were only sending two people," Luffy complained.

"Hush," snapped Nami, not all that happy with the size of the party either. Whatever else they may be, they definitely would not be inconspicuous. She could only hope that they wouldn't have any falling outs amongst themselves.

"But I must protect Miss Vivi!" cried Sanji tragically.

"You're staying here and protecting me," Nami snapped in irritation.

Sanji's eyes lit up. "You wish to spend more time with me? Ah, the joy! My love has reached you!"

But Chopper was now looking tragically up at Nami, the only one still sitting at the spit table, and this distracted Nami, for his eyes were so tragically cute, like that of a lost puppy. "I'm not going?" But Nami would not let cuteness or pity sway her.

"No," she replied calmly. "And neither am I. We've already got too many people going as it is. We need quiet and inconspicuous—we can't exactly wage a mini war on them. Not," she added, "that I expect those members to be exactly inconspicuous. But it's the best we've got."

Usopp suggested drawing a floor plan of the mansion and discussing the courses of action which they each were to take before they left, but Nami rejected this idea at once. Usopp already knew his way around, Luffy and Zoro's attention spans would leave the entire discussion flying in one ear and out the other on both of them, and Vivi just needed to find the papers they needed, in which a floor plan would help no one.

So a mere two minutes later, the four who were supposed to go were half-shoved out of the door.

"So…how are we getting in?" Usopp asked once they were all standing on Dr. Kureha's front porch.

"Through the door?" guessed Luffy.

"Climb the wall," Zoro suggested.

"I thought you were here to make decisions like that," Vivi pointed out with a small frown.

Usopp looked hopelessly at Luffy and Zoro, and then helplessly at Vivi, and sighed. "Fine. Follow me, and…I'm sorry if I get us into trouble."

This was not reassuring, Vivi thought as she steeled herself and followed. Luffy and Zoro were beside her.

At the end of the walkway, when they reached the street, Usopp hesitated. Now came the million dollar question: to go straight through the front gate, to go around the back and clamber over the wall, or to find the passageways that Kuro had used?

It only took him a minute to make his decision.

"Right then, we're going into the Institute, so please—act normal, will you?" Usopp winced even as he said this, knowing well that this would probably be a near-impossibility for the pair of boys—"Not that way, Zoro!" "Shh, Nami said to be quiet!" "But you're going the wrong way!"—and maybe even for himself. He looked down at his trembling knees.

Usopp opted not to say anything as they approached the gate. His knees were still trembling, and Luffy and Zoro were still arguing (and growing increasingly louder), but it occurred to Usopp that that might possibly make it seem more as if this were any ordinary walk. Maybe he could blame his shaking knees on the exhaustion of having to sit through the loud, irritating arguments.

As they walked through the gate, Mr. Gen didn't bat an eye. In fact, he looked rather tired today. Well, thought Usopp, all the better for us. They walked straight along the main road as if they were heading to the school. They turned left into the courtyard that served as the entrance to the high school, and there Usopp casually led them inside—and straight through the building to exit twenty yards later on the other side of the building.

"Mr. Usopp—what are we doing?" asked Vivi, now supremely confused.

"Shh!" hissed Usopp. "I'm trying to think. If I could just figure out where it is and how to open it… Hey, Vivi, could you shut those two up and try to keep them from getting separated?"

Luffy and Zoro were yelling now. Nami's idea of having them watch each other was a total failure. I'm going to rub that in her face like a dirty rag when we get back, Usopp thought bitterly.

He knew that there must be a passage somewhere that led to the basement of Kaya's house—that would be their safest method of entry, since earlier the guards hadn't seemed to be inside; only outside.

Usopp stopped and closed his eyes, trying to remember. He had no idea how far he had walked after Kuro had blindfolded him behind the school. He had thought they had been walking in the direction of the faculty housing and the college buidings, but given that he was blindfolded, that didn't have to be true—it was too far off anyway—and logistically, the passageway was probably nearer the wall that separated W.G. Institute and Kaya's property.

Now that he had established that much, he just had to find some sort of entrance. It had been a downwards slope when the light had begun to disappear behind the cloth that covered his eyes, as he recalled. In which case the entrance probably wasn't just a cleverly disguised trapdoor in the dirt.

He looked around. What were the other options? A tree? But the trees were too thin. There would be no space to move before his head had to be underground, and Usopp couldn't remember any sheer drops. The wall itself was unlikely for the same reason.

Unless, he suddenly realized, the passageway went along the wall—if the descent took place within the wall, and then curved in the direction of Kaya's manor after they were underground.

Usopp tried to remember if there had been any curving involved, but it had been so disorienting to walk blindfolded that he had never even known if he was walking straight. Occasionally Kuro would roughly straighten him by turning him by the shoulders, but given that he never knew if he was being straightened because they were turning a corner or because he was wandering off in another direction, this was nothing to go by.

"Feel along the wall," he instructed the other three once they came in sight of the wall. "But don't go far!" he quickly added for the benefit of Luffy and Zoro. "Just feel around and see if you can find some latch or something: there ought to be a secret passageway somewhere around here…"

"How do you know?" asked Vivi, surprised. But nonetheless, she was quick to follow his instructions and begin to feel along the wall for something that might be a latch or a hidden mechanism of some sort.

"Because I have superpowers that usurp everyone else-" No, this wasn't the time for that. Usopp deflated. "I don't. I know that Kuro took me along passages somewhere, but I don't know where. It could be anywhere…"

"Maybe it starts from the other side," Luffy suggested.

Usopp wheeled around, glaring. "Why would you say that?" That was what he had thought initially.

Luffy blinked. "Because I don't see any secret doors here."

Usopp sighed, somewhat let down, but still feeling somewhat smug that he obviously possessed more common sense than this boy who had previously rejected his friendship. "If it's a secret door, you can't see it," he explained, and his superiority made him patient. "Sometimes you can feel it, but sometimes you can't. Just feel around: you know, push and flick and pull randomly, and maybe you'll come across something eventually."

Luffy looked at Usopp long and hard, and for a few moments, Usopp wondered if the boy was going to argue—on what grounds, he was not entirely sure, but Luffy seemed to live in a world that defied all conventional logic, so he suspected that it would be a meaningless, pointless argument that would just be a waste of time.

But Luffy said nothing—merely shrugged and proceeded to do as Usopp had instructed. Relieved yet slightly baffled—and somewhat disappointed that he would not get to set the boy straight again—Usopp heaved a sigh and set back to their task.

It was only to be expected with such a random search based on no solid information but on mere guesswork: by the time ten minutes had gone by, they had only covered three square yards of area on the wall, and Zoro was abruptly straightening with the sort of demeanor that declared to all who would see him that he was fed up.

"I'm done," Zoro declared aloud. Usopp looked at him, wide-eyed and jumpy with alarm and annoyance.

"What do you mean, 'you're done'?" Usopp demanded." We haven't found a thing yet! We've got to keep looking, and quickly, because otherwise-"

"Exactly. We need to hurry," Zoro agreed. The glint in his eyes reminded Usopp why he had feared Zoro Roronoa. Zoro was not merely a strong idiot like Luffy, for though Luffy and Zoro were both mentally morons and physically strong, Luffy was just plain emotionally retarded—otherwise defined as 'permanently happy'—whereas Zoro knew how to redirect his energy into the use of his strength to his advantage. Thus Zoro was capable of being far more malicious than Luffy, and so he was more dangerous.

"Luffy said there was nothing here," Zoro growled, "and there's nothing here. Face it. Now we can just climb over the wall or something."

Usopp's jaw dropped at this protest. "But- but I know there's a passageway here somewhere!" he practically wailed.

"I don't see any," Luffy repeated calmly. "I think they must be on the other side."

Usopp sighed again, this time in total, complete resignation to the world and its hatred for him: such simple logic could become so flawed when it came to Luffy! But Usopp didn't bother arguing, as the point had been made. They didn't have the time to be running around in circles on a meaningless wild goose chase.

"I suppose this means we'll be going in over the wall after all-" Usopp's concession was ruined when Zoro and Luffy both attempted to climb the wall immediately. "Not yet!" Usopp hissed at them, grabbing them both by their collars and dragging them backwards so that they fell down off the wall.

"Why?" asked an obviously puzzled Luffy at the same time as Vivi attempted to begin to explain to them the concept of caution. Usopp appreciated their efforts—Luffy's effort to understand what was going on even though it was quite clearly some distance beyond him, and Vivi's effort to bring peace into their broken group—but this was really going too far.

"Quiet!" Usopp ordered when he felt that the unorderly, loud, obnoxious chaos had continued on quite long enough, thank you very much. It took a few moments for the order to set in, during which time he considered trying to drag them apart, but within the next ten seconds all three had stopped arguing and had focused their attention on Usopp.

"We're going to do this quickly, but quietly," Usopp began at once, forgoing any admonitions he might have liked to deal out, as he realized that his men—and woman—had exceedingly short attention spans. "First, I'll go in with…"

Usopp trailed off for a moment and looked Luffy and Zoro up and down, trying to gifure out which was tougher.

"Zoro. We'll hurry across the yard and find a safe entryway, get inside and hide. Once you see that we're safe—or- or being chased by guards and leading them in the other direction"-he had to add that possibility because he was the mature adult here, but he desperately hoped that wouldn't happen-"then Luffy and Vivi go in."

"So I'll have to watch over the wall while you and Mr. Zoro find a place to hide," mused Vivi, obviously having already taken into account Luffy's total, absolute lack of subtlety, and that he would therefore be a terrible choice as the one to be left on the lookout.

"Exactly," Usopp replied, rather proud that at least someone was proving capable of comprehending his brilliant plan. His brilliance would have been wasted if it had been left up to Luffy and Zoro.

"But then what do we do if they see us first?" Vivi wondered. Usopp hesitated, considering this. That would, indeed, prove problematic, since his plan relied entirely on the guards not noticing them. He need not have thought so hard on how to remedy this issue, however, for Luffy spoke up almost immediately.

"We run the other say," Luffy declared quite calmly.

Usopp blinked. "Why?" was his instinctive response so he went with that, but after he asked it, he discovered that that word alone felt completely inadequate to express his total, utter lack of comprehension of that plan. So he went on. "You should try to find another way in, not totally abandon the mission!"

Luffy looked at Usopp, cocking his head slightly to the side as he stared thoughtfully (could Luffy ever even be thoughtful?) at him. Luffy was silent, so finally Usopp dismissed his unease and turned back to Vivi.

"Just don't let that happen, okay? Now come, Zoro!" With that, he ordered Zoro to the top of the wall. Zoro glared but obeyed, and reported that the coast was clear.

And they climbed over the wall. However, the guards were quick to hear the thud of feet landing on the other side, and three came rushing around the corner at once. Usopp screamed bloody murder, courage running out instantly as he dove to hide behind Zoro. Unfortunately, this apparently alerted more guards to their presence, and five more came rushing around the house.

Zoro immediately made for the house and was blocked by two guards, whose bullets he dodged effortlessly and knocked out immediately. Bu when three more came after him, shooting as they went, he was forced to back away, and by the time he leapt back over the wall, his arm was bleeding.

"Not going to work," Zoro panted—Usopp's screams as he ran in circles were still audible. "What do we do?"

"Run the other way," Luffy replied, and taking Vivi and Zoro each by the hand, proceeded to do just that.

"But, wait, Mr. Luffy!" Vivi gasped as they ran around the corner of the high school and proceeded further. Luffy didn't answer, and they had run past the high school altogether by the time she tried again. "What about Mr. Usopp? And you're getting into the Wildlife Preserve! The animal research area is dangerous—there're bears!"

"We'll be alright," Luffy replied, before addressing Zoro's demands as to why he didn't just turn around and fight. "Usopp said to find another way in if we couldn't get in this way."

"But how're we going to enter from-"

Zoro's demand was cut off when Luffy stopped at a stretch of wall where he proceeded to kick it with all his might.

"Ow!" yelped Luffy, clutching his toes. Vivi and Zoro stared at Luffy. Luffy scowled at the wall and kicked it again. "Ow!" Luffy yelped again.

"Is there a reason for this, or-" Zoro was cut off as Luffy kicked the wall a third time, and this time to did not yelp in pain.

Rocks slid aside to reveal a human-sized passage that proceeded both to the left and right. Zoro blinked. Vivi was nervous.

"Mr, Luffy," Vivi asked tentatively, "Do you even know your way around in these passageways?"

"Nope!" Luffy declared cheerfully. "But I'll hope we get to Kaya's house, and maybe we will!" With that, he started down the passageway to the right.

"Mr. Luffy," Vivi tried again, concerned, "If you're not sure, shouldn't we at least head in the direction of Ms. Kaya's house?"

Luffy stopped and looked around, puzzled. "That's what I'm doing."

It was at that precise moment that Vivi realized that while Luffy might have been the one to know where and how to access the passageways, she was probably going to have to be the one to lead them.

"Ms. Nami asked you not to let Mr. Zoro get lost, right?" Vivi pointed out. "So why don't I go first? I'll hold your hand and you'll hold Mr. Zoro's, and maybe this way none of us will get lost."

"We won't get lost because we're holding hands?" Luffy pondered, apparently somewhat puzzled. Vivi held her breath. "Okay."

At this, Vivi breathed a long sigh of relief until Zoro began to argue that he did not want to walk down the hallway like a grade schooler. "It's not because we doubt your ability to get there on your own," lied VIvi. "It's so that we don't get separated in the dark."

So that was how they ended up making their way carefully down the dark passageway to the left. As far as Vivi could tell through all the staircases and turns, it was only a one-way path, and this disconcerted her, for she had expected there to be all manner of forks and branches that she would have to navigate.

When they finally reached the top of a particularly long staircase, they hit a dead end. "No," gasped Vivi, ready to despair.

"Kick the wall," suggested Luffy. Vivi was skeptical, but after a thorough examination of the wall, there seemed no other option, so she did so.

The first attempt felt like it broke her toe. The second hurt her ankle. Luffy then kicked the wall in her stead, and the wall opened to reveal a room containing a desk and a great many bookshelves.

Vivi looked incredulously at Luffy, who grinned and declared, "See? It was easy."


At Dr. Kureha's house, a different sort of crisis was taking place—this one was not quite as dire in the sense that it was not a matter of life and death. In fact, most people in the house were not aware that anything was even wrong.

Nami paced up and down the living room, wondering what she would tell the others. Not the truth, obviously—no, to tell the truth now would be out of the question, because it would worry them and the matter of Kuro was far more important at the present. But on the other hand, she could not afford to miss swim practice today either: the wrath of her teammates was not something that she was prepared to face.

That left only one option, the way Nami saw it: she had to sneak to practice in such a way that would avoid catching anyone's attention. Then she had to sneak back before her teammates realized where she had come from and Dr. Kureha's household realized that she had deserted them in a time of crisis.

Oh well, she decided. The lesser of two evils, I suppose. And that was why she climbed out the window and snuck around the house, through the neighbor's lawn to get to Gosa street, and from there along Kokoyatsu Road for a time until she climbed the wall at the far side of the high school—after all, she did not want to be too close to Kaya's house when she crossed the wall, just in case they were still hanging around there and saw her.

Nami had to jog all the way across the W.G. campus to get to the dorms to retrieve her swim gear, then all the way back to the high school gym, so she only barely made it out of the changing rooms on time.

"That was close, Nami!" called Kuro-Obi from the poolside. "You sure you have the guts to cut it this close?"

Nami stopped a moment to glare steadily at him, but then tossed her hair and squared her shoulders. She wore an expression of practiced disinterest.

"The guts, of course. It's my pride that I won't let you stomp on."

"Pride?" sneered Kuro-Obi. "You try so hard, yet-"

"Oh, just leave it," sighed Choo. "Why do you even talk to her? It's disgusting."

Nami sighed and rolled her eyes as if this was an everyday thing—which, in fact, it was. Kuro-Obi, captain of the swim team, was quick to criticize and victimize her, and Choo, his vice-captain, was hardly any better. Their best friend Hachi seemed to join them in their games more for form's sake than anything, and everyone else on the team awkwardly turned blind eyes to the doings of their captain—not that they knew half the story anyway.

"So?" Nami snapped, impatient with the thought of what could be happening to Luffy, Zoro, Usopp and Vivi even as she attended swim team. "Are we going to train, or are we going to stand here talking and snapping at each other's throats?"

"Well, as long as you'll be the victim, that second option does sound appealing," Kuro-Obi leered.

"Oh, do calm down," drawled their coach as he strolled leisurely up to them. "I'm sure our resident kitten has better sense than to let you victimize her, isn't that right, Nami?" Coach Arlong's jibe, lost on most of the team, set the hairs at the back of Nami's neck on end, and she bit her lip to restrain herself from giving Arlong the satisfaction of her anger.

There was only a moment's pause before Arlong declared, "Everyone in the pool, 5 laps for warm-up!"

As she dove into her lane, Nami seethed internally. She could hear the smugness of victory in Arlong's voice, and she wondered, as she had everyday for the past four years, why she had allowed herself to fall into this situation.


The primary fault with Nami's plan lay in the fact that she had not very seriously considered the repercussions of the smuggling party returning before she did two hours later. By the time she returned, they had searched the house for her upside down, and her appearance in the living room with her usual demeanor of casual belonging did nothing to avail the surprise in the eyes of all present—and worse, the suspicion in the eyes of certain members of the party, such as Zoro and Usopp. There were even flickers of something in the eyes of Kaya and Vivi before the two of them erased the looks by what Nami deemed was sheer goodwill.

But the oddest thing was how no one said a thing, because the silence did not continue for more than a second, thanks to Luffy, who went bounding forward to ask of Nami, "Where were you? We searched all over and just couldn't find you!" He didn't bother waiting for an answer. "We found the thing you were looking for, you should've seen Vivi, she was amazing! She just would flip through pages and pages of stuff, and me and Zoro only had to wait for five minutes!"

"Zoro and I," Nami wanted to correct, but there were a few more pressing points just then. "What happened to Usopp?"

His absence from Luffy's brief account was not the only cause for concern; there was also the fact that Usopp had even more bandages wrapping around his person than before, while Luffy, Zoro and Vivi did not, at the very least, appear to have sustained too much physical damage.

"They," Usopp glared vehemently, his indignation overriding his new suspicion of Nami for a few moments, "left me to the wolves and found some other way to get in."

Vivi shifted from foot to foot, for she wasn't entirely certain whether or not she should mention the secret passageways at this point in time. Zoro did not appear to be very interested in the discussion to begin with, and Luffy, to all appearances, found the things too common to be worth any attention. Her indecision gave way to hesitation, and as the talk was now bouncing enthusiastically back and forth in the group, this also meant that there was little chance for her to speak.

"I take it you set up a plan that didn't quite work, then," Nami sighed dramatically. "You know, if you went with 'sneaky' rather than 'brute force'…"

"I tried!" Usopp declared indignantly.

"Indeed," snorted a skeptical Sanji.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Usopp demanded.

"That it's highly unlikely that any plan of yours was remotely subtle."

"I'll have you know that I can be far more subtle than you-"

"Are we telling the story, or arguing over terminology?" yawned Zoro. "If you're arguing, go into another room. I can't sleep."

"What are you?" demanded Sanji. "A bear trying to hibernate? I swear, you just exist to eat and sleep! You're an insult to all humanity!"

"Sheesh," replied Zoro with a roll of his eyes, "That's a nice way to address a potential customer. What are you, on drugs?"

"Boys!" snapped Nami before the situation could erupt into any further chaos.

The ensuing fight was only averted because of Sanji's dedicated determination not to upset a lady; otherwise, there seemed no notable reason why anyone should listen to her. Zoro, at least, seemed determined not to heed her. Nami considered bringing up the debt he owed her, but was afraid to learn how far his suspicion would sink her authority, and so did not do so.

Thus there was still a heavy tension hanging over the group as Usopp recounted his traumatic experience of being chased around by guards for "hours and hours and hours" until the rest of the group arrived and dragged him into the house, out the other side, out the gates, and down the road to Dr. Kureha's place.

Vivi was certain that this would be the part where Nami turned to her for an explanation as to how they had gotten in, and readied herself to explain about the passageways. Nami turned to her; but the documents seemed to be her concern when she asked, "And have you gone through the papers?"

"No," said Vivi, taken aback. "We didn't get the chance, because we were looking for…" She trailed off, uncertain as to whether she ought to have mentioned this, since it appeared that they were all going to be ignoring the fact that Nami had vanished for a time.

Then again, reflected Vivi as realization slowly dawned on her, maybe Nami knew about the passageways to begin with. It would be the most reliable way to disappear and then reappear hours later, as Nami appeared to have done.

The thought made Vivi shudder. Could she trust no one anymore?

Author's Note: And that's it for this time. Feedback is much appreciated! Love it? Hate it? Wish it were shorter? Feel that there's too much diversion from the main plot? Tell me!