Sanji smiled, his eyes turning into hearts. "Aw yeah! I've never seen so many cute girls in one place." I wanted to whack him on the head, letting his guard down because of women.

I looked around at the rest of the crew. Luffy never had his guard up, Zoro still had a hand over his swords, Nami was smiling, but I could tell that she didn't buy into the "We love pirates" bit. Usopp had completely bought into it.

We docked and were met by a very tall man. "Wel-" He coughed, "Ma, ma, Maaaa! Welcome!" He said, smiling. "My name is Igarapoi, and it is my honor as mayor to welcome you to Whiskey Peak." I looked at the saxophone in his hand and got an uneasy feeling, there was something more to it...

"Oh..." Our captain looked up at him. "Great, I'm Luffy, nice to meet cha." Luffy pointed at Igarapoi's hair, "Nice hair, I like the curls." Igarapoi did have odd curls. I frowned, nothing about this town made me feel anything but uneasy.

"You'll find that this is a place that thrives on making liquor and music," I perked up at liquor, "Hospitality is a matter of pride in our town, the smiles run long and the liquor flows as bountiful as sea water." He was really selling this selfless act, I was impressed. "Would you permit us to throw a party in your arrival, so we may hear-" He coughed again, "Ma, maa, maaa- Your tales of adventure."

I exhaled as Luffy, Sanji, and Usopp gleefully made their thoughts known. They danced off, leaving Zoro, Nami and me to marvel at their idiocy.

"Idiots." Nami said dryly. Then she thought of something, She approached Igarapoi, "By the way," She held up the log pose, "How long until the log pose registers the magnetic field?"

"Log what? Oh, such boring details we'll have to keep for now." He said, then put an arm around Nami, "Surely you'll want to rest after your long journey. Now, let's prepare to party! Sing and be merry, entertain our guests!"

The island residents cheered even more as the mayor led Nami into a building, Zoro and I followed a little ways behind.

"This is an interesting development." I whispered to him.

"Very." He replied dryly.

"Any plans?"

"Drink, get drunk, and sleep."

I snorted, "You slept all day, through a freaking super storm, even, and you still need sleep?"

"A swordsman needs his sleep."

"You really are crazy." I tugged off my bandana and shoved it in my pocket, but tightened my pony tail.

We entered the building where the party was getting underway. Luffy was clearing entire tables of food, Usopp was telling lies about his "adventures", and Sanji was completely surrounded by women.

I squeezed my eyes shut, "Idiots."

"Tell me about it."

We moved over and sat by Nami. It seemed we had our own little semi-sane group forming in contrast to the other three members of the crew. The three of us sat there, watching the party carry on to its pique.

Igarapoi walked over to us, holding two mugs and a third person following behind with another, "Please, don't hold back on my account." He placed a mug in front of me and Nami and the third was placed in front of Zoro. I reached out and grabbed mine.

Nami waved her hands, "Oh no, I'm not drinking."

He smiled, "Don't worry-" He coughed, "Ma, ma, maaa. Don't you worry, that is a very special drink, made by using only the sweetest premium grapes, it contains all the flavorful benefits of a fine wine, but none of the alcohol." Nami and Zoro took their mugs.

I shrugged, and downed the whole thing. Sure it tasted like wine, but I could tell there was something more in it. I frowned internally, but smiled up at the mayor.

Nami hesitantly took a drink, "Yeah, you're right! This is delicious!"

"We had an excellent grape harvest this year. Now! To celebrate that harvest, our traditional toast competition!" The people around him all cheered raising their glasses.

I crossed my legs, accepting another mug of the strange wine. Zoro glanced over at me, I smiled, raising my glass to him, he took a drink, then looked back at me, I smiled wider, taking a small drink from my own glass.

"The rules are simple," The mayor said, "Make a toast, take a drink, this continues for as long as you can hold your liquor. The last one standing is the winner. Join us!"

Nami smiled apologetically, "Hehe.. no thanks, I'm fine, you can go ahead, I'd rather watch the competition."

Igarapoi smiled, "Did I mention that the prize is..." He pulled out a large bag of money, "100 thousand berries?!"

Nami was suddenly on her feet, mug held out, "Then fill 'er up!" she turned slightly to Zoro and me, "Zoro, Leanah, stand up and join us! You need the money don't you?"

I sighed. I did use the last of my money buying that hair tie... Zoro seemed a little more shocked, he looked up at her, "Huh?!"

And in a flash Zoro and I were more or less forced into joining the drinking competition.

I smiled, it felt like I was back with Shanks and his crew, except the drinks there weren't drugged. I toasted, "To my captains, old and new."

"Yeah, whatever." Zoro and I took another drink.

"Your turn." I said, grabbing another full mug.

He shrugged, "To... Swords?"

I frowned at him, thought for a moment, then raised my glass, "I'll toast to that." another drink. Two more mugs, "My turn so... Hm... rival who push us to do better?"

Now it was his turn to frown, then he just downed his glass.

"We done with making up toasts?" I asked, downing the mug.

"Yeah."

"I bet I'll drink more than you."

He stared at me, "Like hell you will."

"You didn't travel with a man who's motto was 'never not be drunk.'" I downed the mug, "Six."

His stare turned into a glare, and Zoro and I got into our own separate contest.

After mug 10 things sort of started blurring together, I think Luffy knocked out a chef, Sanji was covered in girls, and Usopp began telling far more outlandish lies than before.

After mug 13 Zoro said, "Ehm callin' eht quits. Good nigh'"

I laughed, a flush on my cheeks, "I told you you couldn't out drink meh Zoro! Hahahehehehahaha!" I rubbed my nose, "Mah first victory! Even eff etz not a showrd fight like I promised." I laughed more, then asked for another mug, raising it high, "One day! One day I will..." I blinked tiredly, "I will beat you. An I'll show that... that bastard." I downed the mug, then 'passed out' next to Zoro.

"Zoro, Leanah, Are you quitin' already? You wusses!" She let out a very drunken sounding shriek. I managed to tune out the rest of the party until things got quiet.

"You're not passed out." Zoro muttered.

"Neither are you." I replied.

Pause, "Fair point."

I opened an eye, "Guards are gone." I said.

He stood up, stretching, I did the same. He cracked his neck. "That was some act you put on there at the end."

I raised an eye brow, smiling, "Who said it was an act? I will beat you one day." I grabbed my bandana from my pocket, tying it around my head again. "You're not the only who made a promise." I saw a shadow pass the door, "Now we gotta get out of here, before they notice we're awake." Zoro started off towards a door, "Uh... Zoro... the back door is this way." I pointed.

He turned, blushing angrily, "I knew that."

I nodded, "Right you are, Mr. First Mate."

"I'm not the first mate."

"Were you the first member of the crew? Are you the one Luffy listens to the most?"

He stayed silent as we took the back door out of the house, and scaled up the wall. "Why are you following me?!"

"There's not much else to do... Unless you want me to stay fake passed out in there."

"Chs... Just stay outta my way."

"What ever you say, Mr. First Mate." A tick mark appeared on his head. I was now satisfied with myself. I suppose by this point I had set a goal to annoy Zoro at least once a week. Was that petty? Yes, it was very petty. Did I care? Hell no.

Zoro perched on the roof top, I joined him, I strained to hear what was being said below us.

"Well! Why don't you go try to kill that damn whale! We tried our best, ya know!"

"Mr. 9." I whispered.

"Yep." Zoro confirmed, "Damn, I knew those two would be nothing but trouble."

"Before you question the validity of my plan, you should see this." I could hear a paper rustle.

Zoro cursed, "They've got Luffy's wanted poster. Chs. The knew who we were from the moment we docked."

"Bounty hunters."

"WHAT?! 30 MILLION BERRIES?!"

"For those morons!?"

As I recall, we saved your ass, Mr. 9... I thought bitterly, reaching for my sword. Zoro stopped me.

"Wait." He leaned forward, trying to listen to the rest of the conversation.

"Don't be foolish," Igarapoi said, "Appearances can be deceiving. That goes fo-" He coughed, "Ma, ma, maa! That goes for all of you."

"I'm sorry."

"Our prey has been trapped, and that's news the boss will enjoy. For now we'll confiscate everything of value from their ship."

Value? I chuckled slightly, Unless they manage to find Nami's money stash there's nothing of value on Merry.

"So... What should we do with them now?"

"Kill them?" Mr. 9 suggested.

I grit my teeth, I really wanted to hurt Mr. 9 now. "If we kill them the bounty drops 30%." That was a very logical way of thinking about it.. "The government prefers to hold public executions." A shiver went down my spine. "Now go, I want them alive."

Zoro silently drew one of his swords, changing to a cross legged position. He smiled evilly, I stood full height next to him, a hand hovering over both Ami and Ana.

"Hey," He called down to them, "Sorry to interrupt."

I smiled, "Would you mind letting our friends rest? They're tired from the turbulent trip."

Our 'sudden' arrival was met with disbelief and shock. Someone exited the building, "Hey, Mr. 8, Ms. Monday! Two of them escaped from the room when we weren't looking!"

Ms. Wednesday glared up at us, "They're right over there..."

Mr. 8 did the same, "Sneaky wretches, you should have stayed asleep with your friends!"

"A good Swordsman never makes the mistake of letting his guard down."

"Especially in a town that welcomes pirates." I slowly drew my swords.

Zoro's smile morphed into a smirk, "Judging by the scowls and cheep costumes, I'm guessing you're all bounty hunters."

"Your specialty is robbing drunk pirates who are stupid enough to fall for your hospitality. Certainly original."

Zoro stood up, "I count about a hundred of you scum-bags, give or take, and I'll fight every single one of you."

I glared at him internally, Of course he'd leave me out of the fight... I almost sighed, and after that long day of sailing I was ready for some more fighting action.

"You hear me," He called in a challenging manner, "Baroque Works?"

Everyone below us reacted in utter horror, "How do they know our name!?" I had to fight to not smile, they just lumped me in with Zoro, which, on a normal day, probably would have bothered me, but, this day I made an exception.

I stood tall, chuckling. "Zoro was famous throughout the East Blue as a bounty hunter, the best."

"Your company tried to entice me with a job offer, naturally I said no." He seemed to be having fun, "Do the same rules still apply? Employee identities kept secret, cheesy code names, the bosses identity and whereabouts also a mystery? Baroque Works, the criminal group that faithfully carries out their orders like herded sheep. Heh, that's some secret."

Mr. 8's face darkened, "This is a surprise. If you know all of our secrets, then we are left with no other choice but to kill you both, and two more gravestones... shall be added to the cactus rocks tonight." He smiled evilly, almost as if it was meant to scare us. He laughed, "Kill them!"

I just barely glanced at Zoro, he gave an almost imperceptible nod, and we were gone. We both jumped off the roof faster than you could blink. No trace of us ever being there. Boy was it fun to see the shock on their faces.

"You really gonna take on all of them?"

"I said I was." He glanced down at his swords, "'Sides, this is the real field test for my new swords."

I nodded, "Right, I've got yer back though, in case anything goes wrong."

He nodded, and we went our separate ways.

Ms. Wednesday was the first agent to speak, "Th... They disappeared..."

"They're gone!" Mr. 9 shouted.

"What?" Mr. 8 was understandably confused, "But how could they just disappear?!"

The Baroque Works agents all looked around, trying to find us. Zoro and I stood in the middle of the crowd, staring up at where we had been, "Funny," I said, "I don't see anything."

"Neither do I," He replied, playing along. We smiled when they all noticed us, it took them a lot longer than I would have expected from trained bounty hunters.

They pointed their guns at us, "Just who do you think you are?!" "Fire!"

Duck, roll out of the way, and gone in a flash.

"Incompetent morons, they just shot each other!" Mr. 8 shouted.

Mr. 9 whined, "Yeah, and the pirates got away!"

I chuckled from my hiding spot.

"Rah! Just kill them, their only a man and a girl!"

I stepped out from my hiding spot, sliding Ami over Mr. 9's shoulder to the blade touched his chin. "There's one question you've got to ask yourselves..." I said darkly.

I looked over and saw Zoro doing about the same thing to Mr. 8. "Will two gravestones really be enough?"

"There they are! Get 'um!" They raised their guns, much to the number agent's distress.

"No! Don't shoot! You're going to shoot us!" Mr. 8 raised his saxophone over his head, "Igarapa!" and tiny bullets flew from the instrument, I raised an eye brow. I knew there was something off about it.

I quickly pulled my blade back, and retreated to the shadows again. This next part was all Zoro's. Meaning I could wander around town. Hm... surely they've got non-drugged wine somewhere around here... I slipped through the alley ways, checking in buildings every so often.

"They couldn't have gone far! Let's find them men!" They were close.

"Whoop!" I ducked into a building just in time for them to run passed me, "Gah, it'll be harder getting around than I thought..." My brow creased, "And it'll probably be even worse after the actual fighting starts..." I heard gun shots. "That was quick." I remarked dryly, quickening my pace to get to the outskirts of town.

I scaled a building, Nothing better than roof top jumping to get around! I thought. Then rethought that, Zoro was on a roof top not far away, "Shit!" I ducked down and hopped off the building. "Man.." I booked it into a building. To be fair... He's doing a good job taking them all off of my course so he can fight them himself. I sighed and searched this building.

I heard a panicked cry, "He's heading straight for us!"

Then a much calmer voice, "Two swords style, Hawk Wave!" I blinked.

"Come on!" I whispered angrily. He was right above me! I walked through the room, then stopped, Scratching? Why is there a scratching sound? My internal question was answered when a group of people fell through the ceiling. I jumped back, "Damn!" I ran out of that house, "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!" I walked away, being careful not to step on any unconscious or dead people.

The next house I went in... I hit pay dirt. "Finally!" I grabbed a bottle, then heard a tremendous crash. I knew I shouldn't worry... but... I walked out and looked up at a cloud of dust rising from the roof.

A horrible shriek came from the rooftop, the dust cleared, and there was Zoro, standing with a hand on Ms. Monday's head. I strained to hear what he was saying. "-ong muscle-woman? Didn't you want to pit your strength against mine? Well, I guess you lost." I moved closer to get a better look. "Is that all you got for me, Baroque Works?" I could see he had blood on his face, and he licked it off. "Cause you're gonna need to do a lot better than that."

I stared at him in awe mixed with horror. The agents just seemed to being in utter shock.

"No way... He.. beat Ms. Monday! That's not possible!"

Mr. 8 seemed to come to a sudden realization, "That's it! The marines must have made a mistake on that poster."

Mr. 9 nodded, "That makes sense, I can understand why this guy would have a 30 million berry bounty on his head. He must be the real captain of those pirates, and she must be his first mate." I glared daggers at the 'king'.

"Yeah, they must be... It seemed strange that that weakling would fetch such a high price..." Ms. Wednesday said.

Mr. 8 seemed undeterred, "Even if this guy is the captain, this is getting disgraceful. The boss put us in charge of this town, and he's not going to be very pleased if we lose to one measly pirate and his first mate."

I swear to god, the next time someone calls me Zoro's first mate, Heads. Will. ROLL!

"Well then," Ms. Wednesday said, smirking, "It looks likes we finally get to fight."

I opened the wine bottle, "Oh this isn't good..."

Mr. 9 got a cocky look on his face, "Something you may not know, in Baroque Works the smaller an agents number is the greater their power, as well as their rank in the company. Take us for example, I am Mr. 9 and he is Mr. 8, we're single digit agents, and don't forget Ms. Wednesday." I took a drink from the bottle, he was really going at this speech thing, or at least it seemed to me he was.. "Our abilities are much greater than the riffraff you've been fighting against so far tonight."

Zoro smiled, "I've found that fancy titles mean nothing when it comes to fighting," He looked over at me, "The strongest wins, and that's it."

I shrugged, crossing my arms. Why'd you look at me? I'm not the one yer proving this too. I thought bitterly.

A brisk breeze swept in, everyone was silent, until Mr. 8 attacked, "Igarapapa!" Zoro dodged the attack.

"Let's go, Ms. Wednesday!"

The blue haired woman smiled, "Of course, Mr. 9!" The 'king' began jumping up the building as Ms. Wednesday whistled, "Come here, Carue!"

A large duck sped passed me. No, I'm not kidding. A duck. I blinked, "Oh dear lord..." I turned I had a feeling this battle would only go from bad to worse for the agents. I rubbed my eyes with my free hand, all the excitement was getting to me.

To think that just a few days ago I was sitting, bored out of my mind, in Lougetown. I sighed again, taking another drink. One of the bounty hunters stumbled into the ally way. "Hey!" He shouted, drawing a knife.

"Hm?" I glanced at him, Really? I'm two drinks in and now I get to fight? I wasn't even really in the mood anymore. I drew Ami, he ran at me, I dodged and hit him easily in the back of the neck with Ami's hilt. "Pssshhhh... You're not bounty hunters... Yer amateurs." I walked back to the house I got the bottle of wine from. Crashes, screams, more crashes, that horrible fanfare. I pinched the bridge of my nose, I need sleep...

Things went quiet. I took a deep breath in, the battle was over. I set down the bottle I had been drinking from, and grabbed two more, then jogged over to the building. I approached Zoro carefully, "Yo."

"Hm?" He turned slightly, I held up one of the bottles, "Oh, Thanks."

"No problem." I tossed it too him, then walked over and sat down, "This town is stupid."

He nodded, popping his bottle open. "You get into any trouble?"

"There was one guy, hardly trouble. Though I did almost get smashed when you cut that hole in the roof." I pointed towards the hole, then opened the bottle taking a drink, "You did good." I took a drink.

"Thanks."

There was an explosion. I turned slightly, "What was that?"

"I donno."

We continued drinking, sitting in silence, starring at the sky. Such a picturesque moment.

Movement below drew my attention, I squinted down at the Baroque Works agents, "There's two more down there."

"What?" He looked as well.

There was another explosion, "You will not lay a hand upon our princess! Not while the captain of Alabasta security still stands!"

"Igaram!"

"Igaram, captain of Alabasta royal security, and princess Vivi Nefertari of Alabasta Kingdom, we have come here in the name of the boss of Baroque Works to see that you are both eliminated."

I clicked my tongue, "Oh dear."

Zoro wiped off his bottom lip, "This could be good... I left Luffy down there with 'um."

I glanced over at him, "You did what now?"

"Heh, I didn't think this would happen."

I looked down at the blue haired woman, Vivi... have I called her that before? Do I... know her? Wait... That's not important right now, My captain is down there with two very bad people... Aha Luffy 'll be fine. I finished off my wine, tossing the bottle to the side, What have we gotten ourselves into?

Author's note:

Yay Whiskey Peak! Whoop! Still a little bit to go with Whiskey peak, then Little Garden. I have something Special planned for April 1st, but I'll only be able do get it done and have it be continuity, I don't really know how well any of my original ideas will be received, but... Eh, Write for the self, not the people. Not saying I don't love you and your reviews. Anway, up next: Luffy Vs. Zoro

Your ever willing author,
Kari910