Here we are, Chapter 29! Thanks for everyone who reviewed. And to the guest reviewer on CH 28, no this is not going to be a NarutoxHarem. Anyway, on with the show!
Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor One Piece
Chapter 29: Failure
While Naruto was fighting Smoker
BADA-BADA-BADUP. BADA-BADA-BADUP. BADA-BADA-BADUP.
Nami picked up the Snail as she and Usopp followed Luffy and Zoro, "Yes."
"Nami," Matatabi said, "There has been an issue."
"What happened?"
"Naruto had to run interference against Smoker," Matatabi informed, "And while I sent Myukuru to rendezvous with Vivi, it would seem she got caught up in the chaos. Vivi was forced to flee her post after Baroque Works found her. Chopper and I are moving to meet with her en route."
"We're not that far from there," Nami reported, ducking as someone flew overhead, "We'll regroup…."
"No," Matatabi interrupted, "Now is not the time for that. We do need to disrupt Baroque Works massing at the casino, so they can not trap Vivi between two groups. You need to scatter their force. I will contact you when we have Vivi."
Matatabi hung up and Nami sighed before turning to her companions, "Luffy, Zoro, head for the casino! We have to…."
"All right," Luffy exclaimed as he charged forward, Zoro on his heel, swords gleaming.
"Wait, I haven't told you the plan!"
"You should have let me explain the plan," Nami shouted as she whacked Luffy over the head with her Clima-Tact.
"But Nami," Luffy whined, "You said to go to the casino. I thought it was time to kick Crocodile's ass!"
"That's why you don't get to think," Nami yelled, finishing off her punishment of Luffy by sending him into the bars of the prison they had fallen into.
Luffy tried to pull himself up, but as soon as his hand closed around the cold bars, his strength faded and he slumped back to the floor.
"Ahh Nami," Usopp panicked, "I think you hit Luffy too hard!"
"Kuhahaha," a voice laughed in the dark room beyond the cage, "How do you like my Seastone cage, Strawhat?"
The room bloomed into light, revealing Sir Crocodile sitting at a small dining table, a glass of wine in his hand and a sly smile on his face.
"I-is that, him" Usopp stuttered out.
"Crocodile," Luffy growled out, "Fight me…."
He slumped again as he grabbed the bars, his arms stretching as he fell.
Crocodile maintained his smirk, "He certainly has a one track mind. Though I will admit, I did not expect to actually meet face to face. So I will give you credit there. A pity you couldn't rope that wild dog Smoker in with you. Men like him are a pain to deal with, but with the chaos that's about to engulf this country, I'm sure I can deal with him if needed."
"Just what are you planning," Nami said.
"All in due time," Crocodile said, "After all, we're still waiting for the guest of honor to arrive."
Vivi panted as she felled another of the Billions, her Peacock Slashers twirling around her hands as she faced down the Baroque Works members. She had been able to avoid them for a short while after she had been found, but they had cornered her in the back streets. Still, she had been a Frontier Agent and she showed that she earned that position.
Still, she was only human not a monster like Zoro or Sanji, and her enemies didn't seem to grow less numerous.
'Where is everyone,' she thought as another man lunged at her, sword gleaming in the early morning sun. She spun away from his attack and slashed his back with her own weapons. The man fell but another stepped up in his place. He swung his club, forcing Vivi to jump back, before she used her weapons longer range to counter.
A third man moved behind her and leveled his weapon, another sword, at her. She turned to dodge and attack, but lost her footing as she turned. She fell to the ground, 'No I can't fall here. I need to meet up with the others. We need to stop Crocodile!'
The sound of gunfire broke and the men surrounding her screamed as bullets struck them. Above them, a figure flew, twin gatling guns barring down at them. Vivi's eyes lit up with joy and relief as the figure resoled into a form she knew well.
"Is that a falcon," one of the remaining men said in disbelief, "With guns?"
"Doesn't matter," another replied, "Just shoot the bastard!"
They wouldn't get there chance as the falcon swooped down and picked up Vivi, quickly soaring back to the rooftops. The falcon placed the princess on the roof and changed into a human form, avian features fading to reveal a pale face bearing purple lines running from his eyes.
"It has been some time, hasn't it Princess Vivi," the man said with a smile.
"Pell," Vivi said, joy evident in her voice.
"Please wait here while I deal with them," Pell said as he turned back into his hybrid form and took to the skies.
"Wait, that's Pell the Falcon," a Billion said, terror filling his voice, "The strongest warrior of Alabasta?"
"Indeed I am," Pell said as he circled above them, "Allow me to show you why I hold that title!"
He turned into a blur before the Billions could fire upon him and rushed a them, twisting as he flew.
"Flying Talon!"
Pell tore threw his Princess's enemies with his hand talons, sending all of them to the ground in bloodied heaps. He landed with grace beyond them, flicking his talons to clear them of blood.
Vivi watched from above as she caught her breath. "Thank goodness for Pell. Now I can met up with the others."
"If that's what you're doing, then you might want to know that four of them are already Mr. 0's guests."
Vivi turned in horror as Ms. All-Sunday waltz up to her, her eyes alight as she looked down at Pell, who had shifted back to his human form.
"Magnificent," All-Sunday said, "This is my first time seeing a flying man. The Bird Bird Fruit, Falcon model, correct?"
Pell regarded the woman standing next to Vivi, "Princess, is that one of the enemy?"
Ms. All-Sunday responded for Vivi, "You've done in my subordinates, what a pity. But onto more pressing matters. Mr. 0 requests that Princess Vivi join him for a meeting. Do you find that agreeable?"
"Nonsense," Pell spat, "That is unacceptable."
Vivi decided to take advantage of the back and forth between Pell and All-Sunday and moved to strike her former superior. The women proved why she was capable of being Crocodile's partner and deftly stopped Vivi's attack, grabbing her wrist before her Peacock Slashers could get close.
"Such a brash action is unbecoming of a princess, Ms. Wednesday," All-Sunday chided.
Vivi growled, "I'm going to make you pay for Igaram!"
"Wait, she's the one who killed Igaram," Pell said, his posture tensing further.
"How hypocritical," All-Sunday taunted, "losing your temper over something like that after doing the same to my men."
She twisted her arm and dragged Vivi to the edge of the roof. She thrust her free arm into Vivi's abdomen, her arm seeming to pass through the princess. Pell watched in horror as Vivi bent over in pain.
"Princess Vivi!"
Pell shifted into his hybrid from and shot up, "You'll pay for that!"
Ms. All-Sunday just calmly threw Vivi's stunned body aside, and brought her arms into a stance, crossing them with her palms facing up. Pell neared and grasped his sword. But before he could draw it….
"Tres Fleur."
Three arms sprouted upon his body. The two on his back pinned his wings while the sole one upon his torso prevented his sword from leaving its sheath. Unable to fly and prevented from attacking, Pell fell and skidded upon the rooftop. He rolled away, shifting back into his human form.
"Pell, are you alright," Vivi asked as she pulled herself in to a kneeling position.
"Princess, are you hurt," Pell said as he turned to face All-Sunday, sword drawn.
"Oh, did that look like I had really killed her," All-Sunday said with a little laugh, "It was just a little joke."
"You're a Devil Fruit user," Pell stated.
"That's correct," All-Sunday said as she grew three extra arms out of her own, "I ate the Flower Flower Fruit. I can make any part of my body sprout where ever I want. There's nowhere you can run from my ability."
"Run," Pell spat, "That's absurd. You and your Baroque Works are an enemy of Alabasta. It's my duty to stop you. Also, you need to pay for Igaram's death!"
"I'm sorry to hear that," All-Sunday said dismissively, "But I have no time to indulge you. We have a schedule to keep, after all."
Pell glared at All-Sunday before rushing at the woman, "Don't worry, then. I'll make this quick!"
"What a fool," All-Sunday said, "Seis Fleur!"
Six arms sprouted, two upon the roof's surface that grabbed Pell's legs, halting his advance, and four upon his body, two out his back, pushing his arms away and two on his shoulders, putting his head in a lock.
Ms. All-Sunday calmly walked up to the man as he struggled against her hold. She looked at him with cold eyes.
"Speed? Power? Both are irrelevant to my powers. Clutch!"
All-Sunday's arms bent Pell backwards with a sickening snapping sound. The man let out a grunt of pain as he fell, the extra arms fading away as he hit the rooftop.
"Pell," Vivi screamed.
"Alabasta's strongest warrior, huh," All-Sunday scoffed, "Seems he wasn't worth much. Now Princess, the boss and your friends are waiting for you. I don't think Mr. 0 will appreciate being kept…."
"Phantom Kunai!"
Naruto ran over the rooftops towards Vivi as his mind raced.
'Something has to be blocking my power,' he reasoned, 'Even if there were killed, which I don't think happened, unless the ropes got destroyed I could still feel something. Just gotta keep calm, meet up with Vivi and the others and we can come up with a plan.'
Gunfire broke Naruto's train of thought, and he focused his attention to Vivi's rope. Immediately he felt Vivi's emotions; a spike of fear and worry, followed by a sweeping sense of relief and joy. Naruto picked up his pace, his best guess put Vivi only a few streets over.
As he neared, Vivi's emotions shifted again, fear overtaking joy. Then a spike of pain shot threw Naruto's chest, slowing him by a fraction, before he picked up his pace. He lowered his awareness as he reached the last rooftop before Vivi's, spying the princess kneeling as Ms. All-Sunday walked up to a man caught with limbs spouted from his body.
Naruto still could feel Vivi's anguish as the man was bent over backwards and All-Sunday turned her attention back at her. Naruto made the last jump, summoning a kunai and throwing it at the Baroque Works second in command.
"Phantom Kunai!"
All-Sunday backed away from the attack and Naruto landed on the rooftop, steel and ghostly kunai held in his hands.
"Sorry I'm late, Vivi," Naruto said, tilting his head towards the downs man, "That guy on our side?"
Vivi nodded as she moved to her feet, "He's Pell. He's one of heads of the army."
"Then we'll need to get him to Chopper quickly then. I'll handle her, you get him."
"You seem confidant," All-Sunday said as she stared the two down, "that you can take me down. If I recall, I was able to best you back at Whiskey Peak."
"I think I've got an understanding of your ability," Naruto shot back, "You can clone your arms onto people. That's how you flipped me and Usopp back on our ship."
All-Sunday raised an eyebrow, "I hadn't expected you to be so observant. Impressive, but even knowing what I can do, do yo think you can beat me?"
Naruto threw his spectral kunai as All-Sunday began to move her arms in front of her chest, intent on keeping her from using her powers. The woman was forced to move, her arms falling to her sides as she dodged Naruto's attack.
Then Vivi let out grasp as three arms sprouted from her body, two from her back restraining her arms, and one out of her sternum grasping her throat.
"Shit," Naruto cursed before he felt hands grab his legs. He looked down and saw a pair of arms growing out of the roof to hold his legs. He ran Spiral's flames to his lower legs and All-Sunday let out a gasp of a pain as the limbs vanished.
"Can't handle the heat, huh," Naruto said, raising a hand towards Vivi and invoked Spiral's fire around it, "Let her go, or you're going to get burnt."
"That certainly is a troublesome ability you have," All-Sunday commented, "But I still have a card to play."
She let up some of the pressure on Vivi's throat, but in the same motion, summon arms around the downed Pell, placing the unconscious man into a choke hold.
"Now, how will we end this stalemate," All-Sunday queried, tapping her chin with her index finger, "You can attack my limbs on the princess, and I'm free to choke our unconscious friend. Or you can try to free him and leave me to attack the princess. I suppose there is a third option where you attack me directly, but then I can kill both of them."
"You're not going to kill anyone today," Naruto growled as his mind tried to come up with an out.
"Oh but I could," All-Sunday responded, her tone light with a lilt of playfulness.
Naruto, desperate to resolve this situation without death, turned his focus solely to All-Sunday, hoping to find something he could use to tip things back in his favor. At first, he couldn't sense anything. His heart was beating too loudly in his ears, his body too tense. Then he took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
Then, once his heart began to slow down, he could feel something from All-Sunday. A calm, cool sense of detachment radiated off her, like the things happening were just a game. There was no malice in her threats, no building thrill as a kill drew near. And that seemed, weird to Naruto.
His mind played what he knew of Ms. All-Sunday. She is the second in command of Baroque Works, who let Vivi discover who was the head of that organization. She killed Igaram, but let them go, even offering to give them an Eternal Pose to avoid the issues with Little Garden's long Log Pose reset time.
'Just what is going on with her? It's almost like she wants us to win.'
Before Naruto could act on his observations, Vivi spoke up, "Naruto, stand down."
Naruto glanced back at Vivi, who had a resolute look in her eyes, "Wait, Vivi I think…."
"No," Vivi said, her tone iron, "We are at an impasse. Mr. 0 wants to speak with me, and he already has some of the crew. We don't have any other choice."
Naruto leveled his gaze at All-Sunday, "Who does Crocodile have?"
"Your captain, the swordsman, the girl and the long nosed one."
Naruto sighed and dismissed his powers and put away his kunai, "Alright, let's go meet your boss."
Sanji moved through the passages under Rain Dinners, unseen. It seemed to him that not many walked these hidden hallways, and even less ever saw them. Still, he moved silently through them, searching for anything to use against Crocodile. He approached a door and found it open.
He entered what appeared to be an office of some kind. A number of bookshelves lined the walls, and a sturdy wooden desk sat in front of a set of tall windows looking to the water. Sanji went to the desk and began to sift through its contents.
'Nothing here either,' Sanji thought as he reviewed the paperwork. More pointless things about the casino. The only other thing of note was a Baby Transponder Snail. Sanji put the paperwork back in order, and, after a moment of thought, left the Snail in the drawer. He began to leave the office, but paused as he passed the bookshelf.
One book stuck out just slightly from its neighbors, an oddity in the otherwise orderly office. Sanji gingerly pulled the book from the shelf, a history tome of some sort, and opened it. Between the pages, folded neatly, were a number of papers.
Sanji moved back to the desk and turned the book over, dumping a number of folded papers upon the desktop. He picked one up and opened it. His visible eye widened as he read the page; a list of weapons due in the port at Nanohana this morning. He unfolded another page, finding it to be a list of the Officer Agents, complete with an overview on their abilities.
He went through each page, skimming each to quickly note which files were the most needed. The most notable was an itinerary of events titled "Operation Utopia." The page indicated that today was when these events would take place, the first happening within the hour.
Sanji had what he came for, and pocketed the papers. Even if the rebels and the citizens didn't believe that Crocodile was behind everything, they now had insight into what Crocodile had planned. Before he left the office, he re-opened the drawer and pocketed the Baby Transponder Snail.
Sanji placed his ear to the door, listening for any sign of people. His hand was inches from the doorknob when he heard light footsteps.
'Three people I think,' he thought and waited for them to pass. He then carefully opened the door, and peeked out. Sanji caught just a flash of blue hair as it rounded the corner. He'd known those locks anywhere.
'Vivi!?"
Sanji moved to follow, making sure to remain silent. The hallway around the corner wasn't long, and led to a door. In this doorway stood, Vivi, Naruto, and Ms. All-Sunday.
"Crocodile!"
Sir Crocodile and the captured Straw Hats looked as Vivi called out her country's tormenter.
"Vivi," Luffy shouted, "Naruto!?"
"Ah, Princess Vivi," Crocodile said with a welcoming wave of his arms, "Or would you prefer to be addressed as Ms. Wednesday? Either way, I must say you did well to avoid my assassins to make this meeting."
"I'd go to the ends of the world," Vivi snarled, "If it meant seeing you die, Mr. 0!"
Crocodile smiled, "Oh I'm afraid the only thing dying you'll see is your worthless country, Ms. Wednesday."
Vivi snapped and rushed at Crocodile, Peacock Slashers spinning, "If it wasn't for you, Alabasta would still have peace!"
"Peacock String Slasher!"
Vivi's weapon flew at Crocodile's face. The man was unconcerned was the spinning blade passed through his face, cutting off the top of his seat in the process and sending a spray of sand into the air. The rest of Crocodile's body crumbled into sand as well and began to swirl around Vivi.
"Perhaps you should calm down, Ms. Wednesday," Crocodile's disembodied voice sounded. The sand began to swirl around Vivi, tightening like a snake. Then, in a flash of blue, Leaf's Protection stood around the princess, preventing the sand from reaching her.
The sand twitched and reformed into Crocodile, who stood between Vivi and the stairway, where Naruto had rushed past All-Sunday and stood, a phantom kunai in one hand, steel in the other, and Spiral's flames spinning around the both arms.
"And you must be the one that beat Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine," Crocodile said calmly, before he tilted his gaze to All-Sunday, "Any reason you didn't stop him."
"His ability counters mine," All-Sunday provided, "But I believe your own are more than enough to overcome him."
Crocodile grunted, "Is it time yet?"
All-Sunday pulled put a pocket watch, "Almost 7 O'clock."
"I have some time to kill then," Crocodile said, turning his gaze to Naruto, "Perhaps you can provide some entertainment?"
"Yeah, yeah," Naruto said, "You're not the first guy I've fought with sand powers. And I know how to fight you Logia guys. Phantom Kunai!"
Naruto launched his ghostly weapon at Crocodile, who simply turned to sand and moved like a sidewinder to evade. As sand, Crocodile flew towards Naruto, who kept up a barrage of Phantom Kunai. The logia dodged the attacks and rushed at Naruto, reforming right behind Naruto.
Naruto twisted around and drove a flaming punch into Crocodile's abdomen. Crocodile reflexively turned into sand at the moment of contact, and smiled. The sand rushed out from the 'wound' and encapsulated Naruto's arm, crushing down hard enough to break Naruto's concentration and dismiss his ability.
Crocodile took a moment to enjoy Naruto's stunned face, "I am a Sand Man that ate the Sand Sand Fruit. Did you think a little heat would bother me?"
He brought his hand up and grasped Naruto by the neck, "Perhaps a demonstration will help drive that point home?"
In an instant, Naruto felt his body dry up. From his lips to his toes, all the water disappeared from his body. Naruto could heard the crew cry out for him, imploring Crocodile to stop, but he was losing conciseness due to what Crocodile was doing, and where he was doing it from.
Satisfied, Crocodile relented and threw the desiccated ninja to the ground.
"You bastard," Luffy shouted, "I'm really going to kick your ass! Let me out of here!"
"Calm yourself, Strawhat, "Crocodile said, "Your man's not dead. Not yet anyway. Besides, I believe Ms. Wednesday here is entitled to hear just what I have planned. After all, she did contribute a small part. Kuhahaha!"
While Crocodile explained how, at that very moment, Mr. 2 was causing a massacre in Nanohana, disguised as the king, Sanji slipped away. He moved back into the office he had vacated earlier and pulled out the snail.
He dialed up Matatabi's number. It rang for a second, then she picked up with a somewhat frantic, "Yes?"
"It's me," he said, "We've got a small problem."
And Cut. So Naruto just learned how not to fight Crocodile. Hopefully things will go better the next time a Straw Hat tried to fight him. Thankfully, Sanji's part of the mission was a success, I wonder what they can do with that info.
Anyway, as always, leave a review if you feel so inclined, let's me know you care.
See ya!
