A thank you to OnePiecefan202. The attempts to retrieve Andrea and Luffy's insistence on her staying will become quite amusing later on
Now... this is a lengthy chapter! Please enjoy :)
I do not own One Piece - that is property of Eiichiro Oda
Chapter 52: This Ain't a Scene or a Kidnapping
The navigator on the marine admiral's ship paled as he saw the latest wanted poster as well as the attached note as to the reason for the massive increase for the Straw Hat's captain. Bracing himself for the devil fruit user's reaction due to both the news and the time he would deliver it, he knocked tentatively on the admiral's cabin door then after a moment, received confirmation to enter. Before he could be ranted or raved at, he shoved the wanted poster at the magma fruit user who swallowed the question he was about to spew. After glancing through the posters, he was handed the report that came with the posters. "This is fishy. Why would Andrea be kidnapped by her own brother?"
"Considering how she spoke of him, tis unlikely," the navigator agreed. "You heard those rumors about him defeating Crocodile correct?"
"Of course. That came up when I was in an emergency conference call with the other two admirals earlier today. Also apparently Smoker told the higher ups to eat shit." A wry smirk crossed his face as he remembered the pride with which Aokiji had when he delivered that news. He held the report tightly before glancing back at his navigator. "I'll look into this in the morning. We'll stay anchored as there is little point to continuing to Alabasta if she isn't even there," the admiral reasoned.
-That morning-
Igaram was nursing a sore jaw that he obtained from his wife after bursting in on the dress making session for Vivi's speech when Chaka came up to them. "Just wanted to let you know… there is a battle breaking out on the coast and while this normally wouldn't concern us but…"
-Meanwhile-
"I just want them to fire their damn cannons!" Luffy proclaimed as he stood on the Going Merry's figurehead to goad the marines. "I'll just bounce it back towards them!"
Usopp flailed in panic as he looked and saw how many metal spears were stuck in the ship. "Luffy, if these break through the hull, our ship will sink so stop goading them. We should just give back Andrea and slip back away."
Luffy's eyes hardened dangerously as he glared at the sniper. "My sister is sleeping. I will not disturb her to give her away like that," he maintained stubbornly. A couple more spears were launched at the ship and the crew could hear an enraged scowling from below deck.
Nami sighed as she massaged her forehead. Things just had to get this complicated. "Well think of something," the redhead demanded in annoyance.
Chopper emerged in his giant human form and was waving planks around frantically. "I can't cover anymore holes they make!"
"We can't really just protect each side like this," Sanji reasoned as he counted out the ships. "There are eight boats which already is a disadvantage."
The marine ships merely got closer and when they saw who each other were, the taunts only began to fill the sky. "Oi! Hypnotizer dude, I thought you were a pirate?"
Sanji noticed to his displeasure that the other marine who was hurling insults at them was some idiot who had caused trouble at the Baratie before. "Luffy, who is that weird guy with the heart glasses?"
Fullbody shook a fist angrily. "We meet yet again, you violent chef. We will sink you all! I'm much stronger now."
"We have to save that marine before sinking the ship," Jango muttered as he pulled out a circle attached to a string. "I'm not some mere monster of a pirate anymore anyway. Now please look at this circle."
In the commotion, no one noticed a cannon being set up until the ship that Fullbody was on had been sunk. Usopp puffed out his chest proudly while Luffy cheered happily. "That all went according to my calculations!" the sniper boasted with good reason.
"Good job long nose," the okama admitted before pointing to the south. "Sink those two ships and we can make our escape by rushing there."
However, the former foe of the Straw Hats was tackled by his subordinates. "Mr. Bon Kurei sir! We have bad news. Black Cage is here."
The okama paled considerably, even under his excessive amounts of make up as he looked dramatically at the marine ships. Luffy saw the fear and merely tilted his head in confusion. The okama took it upon himself to explain. "Black Cage Hina is the local marine commander around here. We need to escape now!"
-Meanwhile-
Hina glanced briefly at a dossier about the Straw Hat pirates before tossing it to the side. "Hina wants the ship steered towards them with the others falling back," she flicked her hair to the side before continuing. "The other boats being there will get in the way. Our priority is to secure the marine, Andrea then to apprehend the Straw Hats."
"Yes ma'am!" shouts of confirmation rang out on the ships under her command.
-Meanwhile-
The former Mr. 2 was flailing about in a mass panic as he motioned to the ships when he noticed Luffy's lack of urgency. "Why aren't you moving the ship? There's a small chance to escape by heading south! Otherwise, the ship will sink."
Luffy shrugged his head to the side as he adjusted the blanket on his still dozing sister to be more comfortable. She murmured sleepily a thanks and he glanced at the okama. "Just go which way you want but we're going this way." The former agent's eyes bulged in disbelief as he looked for a voice of reason among the crew.
Unfortunately, even that voice of reason was against him. "We have a meeting on the east coast at 12 to meet," the orange haired navigator informed in a very matter of fact tone.
The okama snorted as he turned away. "So troublesome. There is treasure worth waiting for I suppose. Go die for all I care," he declared miserably.
Luffy laughed at the misunderstanding. "We're going to pick up a friend," he proclaimed very happily to the okama's surprise.
The man dressed as a woman quickly got over his shock as his heart was deeply touched. Standing on the edge of the ship, he addressed the crew on his little boat that was putt putting happily next to the Going Merry. "If we run away now, we are not worthy of being okama! We have to sacrifice ourselves for our friends or we will never be in peace!" He turned dramatically back towards the Straw Hat crew with tears in his eyes. "Straw Hat Luffy and you crew of rascals, listen to me."
The decision was made to pretend to be the pirate crew and although skeptical, the crew of the former Mr. 2 was very loyal to him and followed his orders to the letter. They fooled the marines and led them away from the Going Merry. As the okama leapt onto the marine vessel after unveiling the ruse, he could barely hear Luffy's voice over the sounds of battle. "Bon-chan! We'll never forget you!"
Zoro heard a soft sniffle and out of the corner of his eye, saw a lone tear travel down the marine Andrea's cheek.
The commotion had allowed them to get to the east coast of Alabasta with relatively no other problems and the crew slumped around on the deck as they could hear part of Vivi's speech which was being broadcasted across the nation. The green haired swordsman saw his grumpy captain pout towards the coast as if willing Vivi to magically pop out of nowhere. "That speech is definitely Vivi's."
Sanji took a deep drag on his cigarette as he strained to hear part of the words. "That's the ceremony planned in Alubarna. I suppose she decided not to come."
Luffy snorted in annoyance. "It sounds like her alright…"
His first mate attempted to nudge the rubber man out of his slump. "We need to go. It's almost 12."
The stubborn captain shook his head. "I know she'll come! I bet she's over there so let's dock and look for her."
Shrieks alerted them to Usopp's panic long before the sniper ran down to the middle of the deck where most of the crew had congregated. "The marines caught up with us," he wailed.
As Zoro tried to get information out of Usopp, Sanji attempted to persuade Luffy away from this folly. "Just forget it. She's a princess of a reborn country now. That's different than the rogue princess who wanted to save her country and that's who was with us."
A shout had alerted the Straw Hats to the coast where they saw Vivi in a beautiful dress waving to them accompanied by her duck companion, Carue. Luffy motioned towards the coast confidently, "I told you she'd come. Let's turn towards the coast."
"I'm here to say goodbye," the princess murmured sadly on the loud speaker attached to the snail in her hands. Luffy's eyes widened in surprise as she continued, "I can't go with you all. Thank you for all you have done for me."
The ships that were about to catch the Going Merry paused in confusion as one of the marines had used a pair of binoculars to identify the lone figure as the Princess Vivi. "Shouldn't she be at the ceremony in Alubarna?" the men wondered.
Vivi took a deep breath before finding the courage to finish. "I still want to go with you but right now, I love this country too much so I can't go." Tears started running down her face in sorrow. "Even if I want to stay here, if there is the slightest chance we meet again, will you have me as a friend?"
The marines were now in a tizzy over what they heard. "The princess being a friend of the Straw Hats? How unlikely and suspicious!"
Luffy was about to shout an answer to Vivi when Nami covered his mouth. "You idiot," the navigator hissed in annoyance.
"She stopped you from making a big mistake," the wistful and sleepy voice of Andrea intoned as she sat up. Her eyes were heavy with sleep and with the blanket wrapped around her, she could be mistaken for a burrito. "Look who are around you, little bro."
Maintaining the cover on her captain's mouth, Nami continued the explanation. "We can't answer her since the marines saw her. If they realize we are her friends, she'll be marked as a criminal. So we need to part quietly."
Luffy nodded as he understood what she meant to say. Unwrapping the bandage that had been on his arm, he stuck the left arm marked with an 'X' into the air and watched as his crew followed suit. Andrea watched the scene proudly and noticed the princess and her faithful duck raise their lefts. The Straw Hat captain gave a small smile before ordering his crew about. "Let's set sail guys."
"Wait…" Andrea looked at the marine ships on the horizon. "Why don't you let me go with them?"
Luffy looked at her with a sneaky smile. "You need to get stronger sis and I don't want you with them right now."
-A little later-
Hina scowled as she sent her arm through a pirate to apprehend him. She scowled at the Den Den Mushi in her other hand. "You make Hina mad, Smoker."
"But you appear to be well informed," the logia's voice rang out smoothly from the snail next to the marine captain.
"When Straw Hat Luffy escaped, you seemed pretty happy," she smiled around her cigarette as she looked on the horizon. "Despite the marine Andrea being captured, things went rather smoothly it seems," she muttered contemplatively.
After ribbing his fellow captain a bit, Smoker hung up the Den Den Mushi with a satisfied smirk as he lounged out on the deck of his ship shirtless while smoking his trademark cigar. The creak of a cabin door alerted him to a familiar presence. "Smoker-san," Tashigi murmured softly as she stepped out of the cabin.
"Hello, pretty lady. Do your legs feel better now?" The swordswoman blushed profusely at her captain's casual comment.
"Please don't call me that," she stated softly as he poured her a cup of coffee. "Thank you," she croaked as she sat on a chair next to him. She glanced at the desk before them to see two wanted posters containing really familiar faces.
"You recall Straw Hat Luffy's partner I believe. The man known as Roronoa Zoro killed around a hundred bounty hunters at Whiskey Peaks and defeated the man known as Daz Bones within Alabasta." Smoker took a drink of coffee while Tashigi processed the news in shock.
"Daz the Assassin?"
Smoker nodded as he continued to explain. "That's what he was referred to as in the West Blue but here he was more commonly referred to as Mr. 1. He was yet another of the famous recruits that Crocodile gathered for his organization but yet he was so easily defeated. Now with this in mind, Tashigi," he gave a small smile at her as he took a brief sip of coffee. "We will pursue the Straw Hat crew."
"Yes sir!" she chirped happily.
-Meanwhile-
"Those marines aren't chasing us anymore," Zoro noted cheerfully as he polished his swords and he had even been kind enough to allow Andrea to polish her dagger with his supplies.
"*Sigh*"
"I guess we lost them. Pity for me," Andrea chuckled as she buffed her blade and glanced at herself in the reflection.
"*Sigh*"
"What's with you guys?" Zoro demanded as the depressing sighs were annoying him.
The glare from the swordsman did little to deter the sadness radiating from the rest of the crew who was hanging over the railing of the Going Merry. The sorrow was almost tangible with tears running down each of their faces. "We're lonely!" the crew collectively stated.
"Stop being a bunch of cry babies," Zoro ordered in annoyance at his captain and the crew. "I can't believe you lot still won't accept her not coming with us. If I knew you all would act like this, I would have dragged her aboard." Andrea snorted at his logic while the crew started to insult the swordsman.
"You're such a barbarian!" Chopper declared with a dramatically pointed hoof.
"Despicable," the navigator scowled. "And you had the nerve to insult me when I joked about asking Vivi for the money!"
"Shitty devil," sneered Sanji as he puffed some smoke around him.
"Three swords," Luffy muttered just to have Usopp nudge him.
"That's not really an insult," the sniper sighed at the captain's lack of cleverness.
"Four swords then!"
"You just added one…" Usopp facepalmed as Zoro waved off his crew.
"Fine. Just sit there bawling then." He was about to turn back to his precious swords when he noticed Andrea tense and tighten her grip on her dagger.
"Ah… we're finally out to see. Good work everybody," a sultry voice purred as the woman it belonged to strode out of the ship's cabin.
Zoro hands flew to his blades immediately and the clink of the blade being drawn was in tune with the adrenaline about to flow. "You must be here for revenge."
Nami shrieked as she backed away. "Why are you here?"
"Oh, such a pretty lady!" Sanji cooed as he looked lovingly at the female specimen before him.
"We have an enemy onboard!" Usopp shouted loudly as he felt dangerously close to wetting himself.
Chopper attempted to hide himself behind the mast to distance himself from the foe that everyone was worried about. "Who are you?" he demanded in fear.
"Oh you're alive," Luffy stated simply as he tilted his head. "I guess my sister didn't kill you."
"That's something that will change," the marine snarled as she charged forward with her dagger. Zoro and Nami also dashed forward with their weapons only to be disabled by the paramecia's devil fruit.
"There's no need to be so angry and to point your dangerous weapons at me," Nico Robin simpered as she reached behind her to pull out a chair.
"When did you board our ship?" Nami howled in rage as she recognized the clothing that the brunette was wearing as her own.
"I was simply here reading and then I took a bath. Oh and I'm assuming these clothes are yours so just so you know, I'll be borrowing them." Robin gave the navigator a smile that did not reach her eyes before turning to her fellow paramecia. "Monkey D. Luffy," she murmured kindly as she addressed him.
"What?" Luffy had no idea why she was here and started to pick his nose.
"You forgot what you said didn't you? What a shame." Robin tutted before turning to unfold her chair.
"Don't pick your nose! And what did you tell this beautiful lady?" Sanji demanded as he rushed to defend this maiden's honor.
"Just please leave us alone," whimpered Usopp from behind the mast as he was scared of the woman who disabled two of his crewmates and the now agitated marine so easily.
"Don't lie to me. I didn't say anything!" Luffy whined as he genuinely tried to think of what he might have said.
The former Baroque Works agent sat on the chair she set up before smirking at the captain. "I remember clearly so just take responsibility."
The atmosphere felt heavy at the combined gloom and dangerous killing intent radiating from the most unlikely of pairs: Sanji and Andrea. Chopper looked around in confusion as he completely missed the other way the statement could have been taken and was surprised to see Sanji attempt to choke his captain while Andrea stood behind him cracking her knuckles angrily. Luffy was confused, irritated and just plain annoyed as he shoved away Sanji and when Andrea tried to tackle him, pinned her to the ground easily and sat on her back. "You two really are weird." He glared at the raven haired stowaway who just giggled at the antics. "What do you want?"
"Let me join your crew," she smiled calmly as the crew exploded in a mixture of shock, lust, confusion, and anger from the various people onboard.
"Just because you fed bullshit to Crocodile about the poneglyph and held an antidote to the poison that was in my little brother's veins doesn't give you the right to demand a place here." Andrea snared unhappily before her eyes widened. "Oh my… you really took his words about him not wanting your life to end as the temple collapsed to heart didn't you?"
Robin merely chuckled. "Now I have nowhere to go so let me stay," she reasoned simply and was highly amused to see Andrea's rage increase even more as Luffy's face showed his mind was made up.
"Oh I didn't realize it like that. Okay then. You can stay," he stated before turning to the crew. "We got a new crewmate!"
"Luffy?!" the crew shouted again, in a mixture of shock, lust, confusion and anger.
"She's not that bad," he reasoned and while the words somewhat quelled the crew, he noticed his sister with a pointedly rebellious look on her face. "Be nice sis and don't be a bossy bitch."
"If it wasn't for the fact three or rather now, four of you could disable me, I would kill her and find my way to a marine vessel." Andrea slumped onto the deck of the ship in defeat.
It did not take long for the woman from Ohara to integrate herself with the more gullible and easily fooled of the crew. Telling her tale had the ears of everyone and she had amused Chopper and Luffy with her devil fruit powers while simultaneously frightening Usopp with her stories of how she was a rather decent assassin. "Idiots," a harsh voice intoned above the table where the archeologist and the sniper were sitting. "I know you were the vice president of that evil organization and was Crocodile's partner. Just because Luffy is ok with it and fooled doesn't mean the same for all of us. One wrong step and I'll get rid of you. I know for a fact I have back up too."
Robin chuckled as she pulled out a bag from her shirt. "So I suppose I'll keep these jewels for myself," she bemoaned sadly just to see the navigator zoom to her side immediately.
"Ah… I really like you!" Nami proclaimed as she nuzzled the bag of gems happily.
"Nami really got bribed…" Usopp couldn't believe his eyes as Zoro and Andrea shared his sentiments.
"Underhanded…"
"Yet a predictable and exploitable weakness," the marine completed the swordsman's thoughts as she surveyed the dark haired woman with intense dislike. Their disbelief only increased on seeing Sanji practically pirouette onto deck bearing a dessert for their newest crewmate. "He scares me sometimes in a weird way," Andrea admitted.
"He's just that type of guy," Zoro admitted as he continued to glare at Robin. "We must be the strong foundation of this crew."
Usopp nodded as he stood tall. "We really need to watch over the crew for its safety."
"Oi! Usopp!" the sniper turned towards his captain who had widened his eyes and had a couple of Robin's hands sticking out of his hat. "I'm Chopper!"
The swordsman and marine watched in disgust as yet another crewmate fell to the charms of the clever woman. Before they could vocalize their irritation, Robin came up to the pair. "You two look rather cozy. Am I interrupting?"
"Why would we be cozy?!" both shouted in shock as they looked at each other. "I/she got/has a boyfriend!"
Robin merely giggled as she looked back towards Luffy. "Is it always this cheerful on the ship?"
"Yeah, they are like that a lot," admitted Zoro who still held a bit of suspicion for her.
"Really?" Robin said as she smiled charmingly.
"Yeah. That's just how my dumb little bro is like," Andrea snorted but before she could rip into Robin with righteous fury, a familiar ringing rang through. "Luffy! Where the hell did you put my Den Den Mushi?"
"Oh it's here!" he cheered as he found where he hid her bag to prevent her from escaping them easily. Before the marine could reach for it, her little brother took it upon himself to answer. "Hello?"
"… Whoever this is, is Andrea-san there?" The familiar voice made Andrea's eyes widen with relief and warmth while Robin's heart burst with fear.
