Chapter 20 – Mission to save a kingdom
The night was coming to an end, less than two hours before the Sun would start rising again. It was quiet, aside from sleep-talking from his Nakama, Vergil couldn't hear anything. Nami wasn't back yet and Zoro was probably drinking on some roof or something.
A sound of explosions caught his attention. It sounded like a bomb went off and it wasn't too far. Well, he might get some fun and check it out. He opened the doors and saw bounty hunters, unconscious and cut up. "Yeah," he looked back inside. "Luffy might misunderstand this," he sighed, the rubber man was gullible, to say the least and it could be a pain to explain everything to him.
The bounty hunters really were cut down by Zoro and as far as Luffy knew they were friendly. That was one side of the coin. The other one was more likely, Luffy would simply trust Zoro and ask first. Not to mention Vergil would confirm Zoro's story. However, just in case Luffy woke up, saw the bounty hunters on the brink of death, and came across Zoro while Vergil wasn't there and also not willing to hear any explanations it would be better to play it safe.
The chances were almost nonexistent; however, they were still just a bit higher than zero. With that in mind, Vergil went back inside and crouched down next to Luffy. "Hey, what an interesting thing to see, such a mystery," he exclaimed with a small smirk on his face as his currently overweight captain abruptly sat up.
"Where? What?!" Luffy was eager to see what Vergil saw.
"A whole town of liars," Vergil smirked and pointed outside.
Luffy jumped to his feet, which made his ridiculously large stomach jiggle. The confusion on his face was obvious as he tilted his head to the side. "Huh? But they gave us food."
Vergil nodded. "And they are bounty hunters. Every single one of them. It was a trap, but Zoro took care of it," he explained in small sentences, letting it sink in since he wasn't going with his usual meat analogies.
"All of them?" Luffy repeated and Vergil confirmed it causing Luffy to grin. "Shishishi, my crew is awesome!"
Vergil grinned at that. "You bet, come on now, let's find him and Nami, there might be someone else to fight," with most, if not all bounty hunters out of the way he was fairly sure it was safe to leave Sanji and Usopp sleeping there. "How about a race? You need to get rid of all that weight," Vergil suggested only to see Luffy stretching his arms and grabbing onto a nearby roof. "I didn't say where to," he sighed with a smile on his face as his captain flung himself up to the roof.
~X~
Nami could basically smell it, a big reward for saving the princess of an entire country. And with how desperate the situation was there was no way they could refuse her.
"Greatly rewarded, you say?" she revealed her presence to Zoro and Igaram. "Alright then!" she accepted with a wink and a grin on her face. "How about a billion beri then?"
"Nami?!" Zoro looked way to surprised when he saw her. Honestly, did he expect her to drop her guard?
Igaram was so shocked he started coughing, which prompted his throat-clearing habit.
"Weren't you out cold from all the booze?" Zoro questioned.
"Oh please, how could I just drink and let my guard down in a town that welcomes pirates. Talk about suspicious. I was only pretending to be drunk. I could've drunk a lot more if I wanted to," she bragged with a confident smile on her face.
"Yeah, yeah," Zoro looked away. "So why not stay with Vergil, it was safer with him."
"I wanted to rob them," she said it like it was the most obvious thing to do in this situation before she turned to Igaram. "So, how about it? Can you guarantee us a reward of 1 billion beri, Mr. Captain-of-the-royal-guard? Need I remind you that without our help your precious princess might die, you know?"
"A billion for a princess? Besides, what princess?" she looked up to the roof on her left and saw Vergil and Luffy, both slightly out of breath.
"What did you two do?" Zoro sounded just as puzzled as she was, Vergil and Luffy out of breath was surprising, to say the least.
"A race, sort of," Vergil explained.
"I won!" Luffy cheered.
"We were jumping from building to building with no goal in mind, though," Vergil added as he jumped down from the building and Luffy followed right behind him. "So, who is this princess?" he asked.
"Blue-haired girl, Miss Wednesday," Zoro answered and Nami went back to negotiate with Igaram.
"See, with these three nothing could harm your princess," she said confidently.
"I, I'm afraid I can't guarantee such an astronomical sum since I'm merely a single soldier," Igaram tried to avoid agreeing.
"Which way did she run?" Nami heard Vergil asking but chose to ignore it at the moment. "Oh? Are you saying that the princess of your kingdom is worth less than a billion beri? Pay up," she grinned innocently, knowing full well the man had no other choice but to accept the help no matter the cost.
Igaram coughed up more blood, his wounds didn't look all that good. "In that case, I'm sure that as long as you return the princess safely back to our lands you can directly negotiate with her yourself, and receive that much money."
Nami smirked. "So basically, you're telling us to save her first."
Igaram's eyes narrowed slightly, she could see how desperate he was. "There's no time for negotiating! Even now, as we speak, the princess' life is in danger!"
Nami stood up, there was no other option. "Fine, fine," she said, running her fingers through her hair. "We'll save your little princess first. Alright then! Go, Zoro!"
"Why should I go?! Why do I have to help you with your dirty money-making schemes?!" he demanded.
"Oh, don't be so stupid. My money may be mine alone, but a contract I make is a contract for our whole crew!" she explained, it was reasonable.
"What kind of retarded unfair logic is that?! How old are you?!" Zoro demanded.
"Perfectly sound logic, right Vergil, Luffy?" she turned to her other Nakama and blinked a few times.
"Right! And Vergil called dibs on them!" Luffy said with a large grin on his face.
"He already left?!" Nami and Zoro yelled at the same time.
Luffy just laughed, finding their reaction more than a little amusing,
Nami sighed, well, it didn't really matter. Vergil would do just fine, no matter how strong the enemies were. "Well, it's all the same to me," though she really didn't understand why Vergil of all people went to save the girl.
"Curse my uselessness," Igaram sounded so devastated, he was completely and utterly defeated. "If I were only stronger I could protect the princess…!"
Nami's eyes softened a bit. "Don't worry. Vergil's monstrously strong," she assured the man.
"If anything were to happen to the princess then it would be the end of our kingdom…! She must survive, no matter what!" Igaram declared with such conviction Nami had to believe him.
"Hey, old man, mind telling us what's going on?" Zoro asked.
"Yeah, since we're going to help," Luffy sat down, Nami could see it in his eyes, he already decided to help, even if they didn't officially have a deal with the princess.
~X~
Vergil ran across the roofs, trying to find the girl, she couldn't have gotten too far in such a short time, that much he was certain of. He finally saw her, sitting on a large duck talking to a muscular pink-haired woman. Behind her, he noticed a pair, a blond girl with an umbrella in her hand, and a black-haired man in a brown trench coat with number 5 on it.
The princess took off and the muscular lady stood there, ready to defend her. She was already beaten up so she likely didn't stand a chance. And as the man lunged towards her Vergil jumped between them. He blocked the man's attack with his forearm only to get an explosion in his face.
He heard two gasps behind him and a sound of duck stopping in its tracks.
"Ah, so you were the one making explosions," he spoke up as the smoke settled. His forearm was a bit singed, but it was hardly what he would call damage. "Next time put a bit more power behind it."
The man backed away, shocked that someone could just take his attack like that.
"Devil?!" the princess exclaimed.
"Stay where you are, I'm here to save you," Vergil told her and glanced back at her with a small smile on his face. "You really didn't look like you wanted to kill anyone. You're a spy, right?"
"Indeed. Now, get out of our way unless you want to die, I'm a human bomb that can make any part of my body explode. You can't defeat me," the man seemed confident, too confident for Vergil's liking.
Vergil grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up in the air. "Detonate then. It'll be the last thing you do," the look in his eyes promised death, his eyes, cold, calculated eyes of a killer sent chills down the man's spine.
Still, the man grabbed Vergil's arm. "Full Body Explosion!" he yelled.
"Zone of Protection," Vergil formed the shield of lightning around his body. The explosion engulfed him, damaging his clothes and actually causing some pain, but lightning withstood it for the most part.
"W-What the?!" the man cried out, not understanding how the devil was still standing.
"Mr. 5!" the woman bellowed jumping in the air for some reason.
"I warned you," Vergil punched the man's cheek before slamming his knee into Mr. 5's guts and as he doubled over he went and planted his elbow into Mr. 5's neck, sending him down into the ground. "It didn't even take lightning?" he looked down at the unconscious man. "Pathetic, Baroque Works."
"10,000 Kilo Press!" the woman was heading straight for him from above.
Vergil considered just stepping to the side and letting her hit the ground, but that felt like it wouldn't take her down. An idea popped in his head, and he eventually did step back a bit just before the woman hit the ground where he stood. Vergil gathered electricity around his fist and slammed it into the ground. "Grounding!" he let electricity flow, go through the ground, and electrify the woman and her partner.
For a few moments, he just stood there, no sounds were coming, she wasn't moving. Vergil sighed and crouched down to pull the woman out. She was unconscious, just like her partner.
"I don't believe it; just like that… Two officer agents…" the princess gasped in utter disbelief.
"H-how were we supposed to defeat that?" the other woman asked as Vergil walked over to them.
"Come on, that curly-haired guy asked for our help," he said, pointing back to where he came from.
"Why should we trust you? You're our enemy," the taller woman demanded while the princess just observed him.
Vergil sighed, maybe he should have taken Nami with him, that way she could do the talking. The princess didn't look like she trusted him and he did scare her not too long ago. And it wasn't the first time he threatened her either. "Look, I don't have the full picture, but I figure you're a princess that infiltrated a criminal organization for some reason. I kind of like people with guts so here I am, saving you. Besides, if I didn't come here, you'd be dead anyway, so even if I am your enemy you don't have anything to lose seeing as you should have died like two minutes ago."
"Miss Wednesday don't listen to him! Run!" the tall woman exclaimed, looking ready to attack despite the fear.
Vergil sweatdropped, she saw him fight and still wanted to fight for her friend. Oh well, he had to respect that.
The princess looked him directly in the eyes before slowly nodding. "Take me back to Igaram," she requested and then looked at the other woman. "Thank you, but I feel like I can trust him, at least a bit."
Vergil nodded and turned around, taking the girl with him. They didn't say a single word and he could basically feel her caution. Finally, after ten minutes they reached the spot where Luffy, Nami, Zoro, and curly-haired man were. Luffy was sitting on a barrel, Zoro sat on the stone fence and Nami was leaning against the wall.
"Igaram!" she jumped off her duck and ran to the man's side.
"Vivi-sama, are you alright?!" Igaram asked, finding enough strength to sit up against the wall.
"I am, the devil saved me," she nodded, looking over Igaram's wounds. Her hands were shaking slightly, she felt guilty for leaving him behind.
Igaram looked at him and nodded. "Thank you."
Vergil shook his head. "I wouldn't thank me yet, you've got Nami to deal with," he smirked slightly, motioning towards the navigator.
Nami mirrored his smirk and walked over to him. "Mind elaborating that, hm?" she hit him over the head lightly.
Vergil just chuckled at that. "Just saying the truth," he replied making Nami roll her eyes.
Igaram managed to get up. "I need to take care of something. Vivi-sama, please consider accepting their help," he advised.
"You sure you can do it on your own?" Zoro asked and the man nodded.
"Were they strong?" Luffy suddenly asked while Nami began explaining her demands to Vivi.
"Nope, quite weak actually. One of them could make explosions out of any part of his body and the other seemed to be manipulating her weight. They aren't really a threat," Vergil explained.
"Your clothes are torn though," Zoro pointed out.
Vergil looked down, his clothes really did look like he took a good hit. He shrugged, not really caring about it. "I gave him a free hit and he didn't use it well enough."
"I refuse!" Vivi's declaration got their attention. "But you have my gratitude for saving me just now," her eyes were hard, unwavering.
"Why? You're a princess, right? A billion beri should be like nothing for a princess," Nami pointed out.
"And the country would likely be economically devastated," Vergil chimed in ignoring Nami's glare.
"Have you heard of a kingdom called Alabasta?" Vivi asked.
"No, can't say that I have," Nami admitted, her arms were now crossed as she waited for an explanation.
"It's a highly civilized country within the Grand Line. And it used to be a peaceful one at that too… long ago," Vivi began and after Nami prompted her to keep going she continued. "It's on the verge of a civil war. In recent years, a call for revolution has emerged. The citizens began committing acts of insurrection, causing the land to fall into chaos," she clenched her fists, but she didn't tremble, not yet anyway. "One day, I heard the name of a secret organization: Baroque Works!" her eyes narrowed at the mere mention of the name, her anger was on full display for them to see. "I discovered that they were responsible for inciting the rebellion. Aside from this, however, I was unable to procure any further information. So I went to Igaram, who had looked after me since I was a little girl."
"The chikuwa-haired old man?" Luffy asked, gesturing at the shape of Igaram's hair.
"Chiku-, ah, yes, that's him. I decided to infiltrate Baroque Works. I thought that if I did, I could find out who was pulling the strings and what his plans were," she was coming to the conclusion of her story.
Vergil remained silent, his eyes fixed on the otter and vulture sitting on the roof.
"Well, aren't you a brave princess," Zoro commented, there was a small hint of admiration for Vivi's guts.
"So what exactly is the deal with this 'Ideal nation' Igaram-san told me about?" the moment Nami asked that the answer came to her on its own. "Wait, don't tell me…"
Vivi nodded. "Yes, it's as you might expect. Although the boss has hinted at the goal of creating an ideal nation Baroque Works' true objective is to take over the kingdom of Alabasta! And if I don't hurry back to my home to stop the revolution and tell people about Baroque Works things will go exactly as they planned!"
"I see; I guess that explains why you refused. A country on a verge of civil war wouldn't have any money to spare," Nami realized, she understood it well, the situation Vivi was in.
"How come he managed to get the people to rebel?" Vergil asked, he shifted his gaze to Vivi, expecting the answer.
Vivi looked him in the eyes, still not entirely sure what to make of him. "Alabasta is a desert kingdom. When Boss came to the country a drought began everywhere but in Alubarna. Later, someone planted Dance Powder in the royal palace and it instigated a rebellion. That's the gist of what happened," her answer sounded honest.
Vergil was fine with it, he believed her and from the looks of it, she wasn't doing this for the sake of keeping power. If she was she wouldn't infiltrate the organization personally.
"What's the Dance Powder?" Zoro asked.
"It's used to make artificial rain; however, it takes rain from nearby areas. So people thought the king was stealing their rain," Nami explaining prompting Vivi to nod.
"So who is this Boss anyways?" Luffy asked curiously and with an actual grin on his face.
"You mean the Boss' true identity?!" Vivi went into a bit of a panic mode as she waved her hands in front of her. "Please don't ask me! In fact, you're better off not knowing! If you knew Baroque Works would come and hunt you down!"
Nami laughed uncomfortably at that. "Yeah, just leave us out of it. I mean, a guy who's planning to take over an entire country must be one incredibly dangerous person!"
"I'd be willing to fight," Vergil shrugged, it would be a good way to test their strength in Grand Line.
"Right?" Luffy grinned at him, completely agreeing.
"It could be exciting," Zoro shared their enthusiasm for a potential fight.
"SHUT UP!" Nami screamed at them. "He's dangerous!"
"Yes, exactly. No matter how strong you pirates may be, you'd be no match for a member of the Shichibukai, Crocodile!" she absolutely said it.
Vergil's eye twitched at the slip of the tongue, she didn't intend for this to happen.
Nami's jaw dropped and her eyes widened in utter horror.
Luffy's jaw dropped as well, though far less than Nami's. And he wasn't afraid, just surprised that Vivi let it slip.
Zoro sweatdropped, slightly annoyed at the way they found out. "Didn't you just say his name…?"
And Vivi, she covered her mouth as if that would change anything.
"Say, those wouldn't happen to be part of his organization?" Vergil pointed at the vulture and the otter. Just as he said it the vulture took flight with the otter on its back.
"A Shichibukai she said! Whoa!" Luffy was more than a little excited.
"Heh, not bad," Zoro smirked.
"Guess we'll start this off with a band," Vergil completely agreed while Nami was screaming her heart out at Vivi. "Should I save her again?" Vergil wondered.
"If you have a death wish," Zoro and surprisingly Luffy said at the same time.
Vergil smirked at that and wrapped an arm around Nami's waist before pulling her away from Vivi. Poor girl just kept apologizing. "Easy now, it'll be fine," he tried to comfort Nami, and instead she turned her anger at him.
"We just barely entered Grand Line and already we have a Shichibukai chasing after us! What do you think is going to happen to us now?! All because of one slip-up! I'm not as monstrously strong as you guys! I don't want to die because you had to save a princess!" she tried shaking him by the shirt and when that didn't really work she turned to punch his chest repeatedly, not that that worked either.
Vergil sighed, he still had his right arm around her waist. "Look, you can't tell me you don't feel at least a bit of sympathy for the girl," he pulled her a bit closer and she finally stopped hitting him.
"That's beside the point," Nami muttered and Vergil knew, despite her fear she really did feel sorry for Vivi. She understood for the most part how Vivi felt. In a way, they had similar circumstances, a man that was taking everything away from them, a home they would die to protect and hardly anyone to trust. "Why didn't you do something?" she demanded weakly.
"Take a look at Luffy and Zoro, they are willing to fight, they are excited about this. Come on, Nami, there was no way we could just ignore what's happening here. Let them know we're coming, it doesn't matter. Once Crocodile figures out his agents failed to kill Vivi he'll know she's working with someone, we can't have the element of surprise no matter how you look at it," he explained, sure, he could have killed the animals, but that wouldn't change anything, not as far as he was concerned. He looked at Vivi and saw the utter shock on her face. It was clear what she was wondering. Was he really the same devil that threatened her, that frightened her?
"Fear not! It'll be ar- Ma-ma-maa~ It'll be alright!" Igaram returned carrying four stuffed dummies and wearing an outfit that looked exactly like Vivi's. "I have a plan!"
"Igaram?! W-what's with that outfit?!" Vivi demanded, not really sure how to react to the way Igaram looked.
"Whoa! You can definitely pull off that look!" Luffy was impressed, though, Luffy was easily impressed when it came to many things.
"Enough about that and just listen to me. Once Baroque Works network learns of what happened, they'll be sure to send pursuers right away. More so since you even defeated Mr. 5 and his partner. Just to let you know, before his bounty was frozen Crocodile had an 81 million beri bounty," Igaram revealed causing Nami to go into another fit of panic.
"That's four times Arlong's bounty!" she leaned her forehead against Vergil's chest, realizing that no matter what she said the situation wasn't getting any better.
"By the way, have you decided on whether or not to safely escort the princess back to Alabasta yet?" Igaram inquired, looking at Luffy.
Luffy nodded. "Sure. Fine by me," he said with a grin on his face.
Igaram smiled, it looked like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. "Now then, Vivi-sama. Please hand me the eternal pose to Alabasta."
That caught Nami's attention. "Huh? What's an eternal pose?"
"Hm? You don't know? Simply put it's a log pose that can eternally record a magnetic field. A normal log pose records the magnetic field of an island to guide a ship from island to island. However, the magnetic field recorded by an eternal pose is never forgotten. No matter where you go it will only point to that very island," he showed them the eternal pose. "That is what an eternal pose is. This one, in particular, has recorded the magnetic field of Alabasta. Now then, Vivi-sama, I shall take this log pose and set forth for Alabasta. While dressing up as you and taking these 4 dummies to represent these 4 wanted pirates. And while agents of Baroque Works chase after me, you are to travel on the normal route to Alabasta on their ship. I haven't sailed to Alabasta using the normal route myself, but there should be around 2 or 3 logs to record along the way. Take care, and may we meet again in our homeland," with that being said it didn't take them long to get to the ship Igaram prepared.
"I hereby leave the princess in your care," he told all of them and offered his hand to Vivi. Of course, she immediately took it. "The journey ahead of you may be dangerous so please, be careful."
"You too, Igaram," she said.
Igaram set sail while the crew watched him leave.
"Aww, he left. He was such a funny guy too," Luffy complained, though he understood why Igaram had to go.
"He's always been so dependable," Vivi said, one could hear in her voice just how much she cared about the man.
But just as they turned around to leave a huge explosion went off, there was no mistaking it, it was Igaram's ship. The entire crew stood, shocked at the sight in front of them.
"It can't be," Nami gasped.
"That's too fast," Vergil narrowed his eyes. If they were this quick, then they had to know.
Luffy's eyes were overshadowed by his hat and he clenched his jaw before turning around. "He was a fine man!" he yelled and Vergil saw anger in his eyes. Luffy quickly began heading back to Merry and Vergil followed.
"Nami! How's the log?!" Zoro was right behind them as well.
"I-It finished recording!" Nami replied, still shocked over what happened.
"Then let's hurry up and get going!" Zoro ordered, there was no time to waste, no matter what they couldn't stay on the island.
Vergil had a bad feeling about this, something wasn't right. No matter how quick their network was it was too quick. Someone was expecting this to happen. So once they set sail that someone was probably going to make a move.
~X~
And as the ship set sail, slowly leaving the river his worries turned out to be true.
"Be careful not to crash your ship into the rocks near the shore. And congratulations on your escape," a voice they didn't know spoke up behind them.
When they turned around they saw a beautiful black-haired girl with blue eyes wearing a relatively revealing cowboy-like outfit.
"What a nice ship this is," she commented as if she wasn't an intruder. Her calm demeanor was chilling, it looked like she was confident she could take them all on her own. "I must tell you, Miss Wednesday, I met up with Mr. 8 just a little while ago."
Vivi's eyes widened as the realization hit her. "Are you saying… it was you who did that to Igaram?!"
"Hey! Why are you on our ship anyways?!" Luffy demanded.
"What are you doing all the way out here, Miss All-Sunday?!" Vivi demanded but the woman just kept smiling, that mysterious confident smile she had since she revealed herself to the crew, it infuriated Vivi. No matter what she could never read this woman.
"Who is it this time?! Whose partner is she?!" Nami questioned.
"She's Mr. 0's partner! She's the only one who knows the Boss' true identity, which is why Igaram and I tailed after her, to find out who the Boss was as well," Vivi explained.
"Well, technically, it was more like I let you tail after me," Miss All-Sunday revealed, and from the looks of it she wasn't lying. Someone that managed to get on a ship as small as Going Merry without being noticed wasn't going to be so careless.
"Oh, so she's a good guy," Luffy guessed, after all, that did allow Vivi to find out who the enemy was.
"I already knew that! And I bet you're the one who told the Boss that his identity was leaked!" Vivi was certain of it.
"Oh, so she's a bad guy!" Luffy changed his mind.
"Well, she's neither really, she's a girl," Vergil pointed out, though seeing how saying bad girl or good girl would sound… Yeah, Luffy might as well keep calling her a good/bad guy.
"Just what exactly is your objective?!" Vivi wasn't stopping her questioning but even with her aggressive demeanor, it was clear who had the upper hand in the conversation.
"Now, now, no need to get so worked up," she sounded like she was scolding a child. Which was probably how she saw Vivi anyway. "I only let you follow me because you looked so desperate. And it was just too amusing to observe. A single princess who foolishly thinks she can take on the entire Baroque Works organization and save her kingdom."
That completely set Vivi off. "Don't underestimate me!" she screamed. It was a clash of hot and cold, passion and one could say indifference, desperation and amusement. The two were opposites and it was clear.
At once two-thirds of the crew reacted. Zoro pulled out Wado Ichimonji, Nami prepared her staff, Sanji pointed a gun at the woman and Usopp pointed his slingshot. The last two woke up and were now in front of the kitchen doors, on each side of Miss All-Sunday. Seeing as she was sitting on the railing it looked like she'd have nowhere to go.
"Hey, do you understand what's going on?" Usopp asked Sanji.
"No, but what I do know for sure is that this woman's a threat to my lovely Miss Wednesday," Sanji replied.
Miss All-Sunday wasn't in any way concerned by being surrounded. "Would you please mind not pointing such a dangerous weapon at me?" Before anyone could see what she had done both Sanji and Usopp fell down to the lower deck and Nami and Zoro had their weapons knocked out of their hands.
"What?!" Zoro gasped.
"It's a Devil Fruit!" Vivi realized.
Vergil narrowed his eyes, it was a Devil Fruit, but he didn't get what it was. How could she so easily disarm them? This woman was trouble, and he smirked.
"Whoa! She's a real beauty!" Sanji, now that he could take a look at her seemed like he fell head over heels for her.
"Fufufu, no need to get so riled up. I haven't come here on any orders nor do I have any reasons for fighting you people," Miss All-Sunday spoke, and not a moment later Luffy's hat was thrown off his head and into her hand. "Su you're the captain of the Straw Hat pirates, Monkey D. Luffy."
And that, of course, got Luffy all riled up. "Gimme back my hat! So you are trying to pick a fight with us, are you now?" he yelled at her.
"I've now decided to see you as my enemy so come at me!" Usopp yelled from behind the mast, almost as if he was trying to put words in Luffy's mouth.
Miss All-Sunday still had that same demeanor. She even put Luffy's hat on top of her own. "How unfortunate, small-time pirates having to look after a princess targeted by the entire Baroque Works organization and a lone princess having to entrust herself to a sew small-time pirates. But above all, how unfortunate your route pointed out by your log pose is."
Her statement surprised them all.
"The name of the next place on your journey is, 'Little Garden' even if I weren't to lay a single finger on you it's more than likely that you'd still never reach Alabasta. Without even meeting Crocodile, the curtains will close on your mission and lives," it almost sounded like an ominous warning, but a warning nonetheless. Still, she did say she was amused by Vivi tailing her.
"As if we'd just roll over and die! Now give me back my hat!" Luffy was focusing on only one thing, his hat.
"Yeah, how dare you! Y-You, big meanie!" Usopp continued shouting from behind the mast, obviously frightened of her.
With a flick of her finger, she tossed the hat back onto Luffy's head. "Enough howling, anyone could put up a brave front. Yet to know of the difficulty that lies ahead and still rush in is an act fit for fools only," it wasn't only the hat she tossed them. She tossed something to Vivi as well.
"An eternal pose?!" Vivi was more than confused by this.
"You'll be able to skip right over your future troubles with that. The needles of that log pose points to an obscure uninhabited island located right before Alabasta. Moreover, the route you'll be navigating is unknown to Baroque Works so you won't be followed by anyone either," Miss All-Sunday revealed.
"What? Is she actually a good person then?" Nami wondered.
"W-Why would you give such a thing to me?!" Vivi couldn't help but question the intentions behind the seeming act of kindness.
"It's probably a trap," Zoro assumed and it was definitely an option.
"Oh, I wonder about that," still the woman was cryptic, to say the least.
But Luffy already made a decision. "Enough wasting time with that!" he exclaimed and grabbed the eternal pose before crushing it in his hand.
Nami immediately kicked him down. "Are you an idiot?! She came out all the way here to teach us the safest route to Alabasta! What are you going to do if she turns out to be a good person?!"
Yet Luffy fixed his eyes on Miss All-Sunday. "Don't you dare think, that you can choose the path of our journey!"
She remained silent for a few moments. "I see, how unfortunate," she commented and stood up.
"She blew up that chikuwa mister so I hate her," Luffy declared as she began walking away.
"Luffy, can I?" Vergil suddenly spoke up loud enough for everyone to hear. Miss All-Sunday stopped to look at him. So far she barely even looked at him, but now her blue eyes were looking right at him.
"Yeah," Luffy couldn't know what Vergil had in mind, but he trusted his first mate.
"Zone of Protection," in an instant, lightning engulfed Going Merry, not only that, it was surrounding his neck as well, she wasn't getting him that easily. "You aren't leaving that quickly, Sunday Girl."
"Oh, is that so?" she asked, smiling confidently. She even sat down on the railing again, in that same confident, completely open position she did before. "I can't say I'm disappointed."
Vergil, on the other hand, leaned against the mast, he put his hands in his pockets and grinned. "Already taken a liking to us, huh?" he smirked, he wasn't in the hurry.
"Vergil, what are you doing?" Nami hissed at him.
"Taking a hostage," Vergil explained nonchalantly.
Miss All-Sunday seemed amused at that. "Leonidas Vergil, Black Thunder of Warriors of Volos, there are quite a few rumors surrounding you."
Vergil raised an eyebrow. "You humans flatter me," he replied.
She mirrored his movement. "Us humans?"
"Hmm? You're an interesting one, aren't you, Sunday Girl?" Vergil commented. "How about you join us on this, what'd you call it again," he paused for a moment as if he tried hard to remember. "Yes, difficult route?"
Before the woman could reply Luffy poked Vergil in the shoulder. Having gotten Vergil's attention, as well as Miss All-Sunday's, he pulled Vergil a bit closer as if he intended to whisper. "Does she know about camping?" he asked, but he definitely didn't whisper.
Vergil couldn't resist the urge to facepalm. "Probably," his demeanor changed when talking to his captain, he wasn't playing any kind of game, he was simply honest with Luffy.
"Camping?" The rest of the crew and Vivi repeated. They had no idea what Luffy was talking about.
Amusingly, neither did Miss All-Sunday. "I have to admit I don't follow you, captain-san," she said, though no one was as amused about it as she was.
Luffy seemed taken aback by that. "You don't? Then forget about it, it's a secret," Luffy requested making everyone aside from Vergil and Miss All-Sunday fall to their back in utter shock.
"Fufufu," she chuckled before turning her attention back to Vergil. "So, you're taking me as a hostage," she wasn't a hostage and they all knew it, but she seemed willing to play along, if for no other reason than for her own amusement.
Vergil smirked. "Not for long. I'd like you to contact Crocodile," he said and at that, even she couldn't help but be at least a bit surprised. Vergil's yellow eyes clashed with her bright, blue ones, he couldn't read her, but she couldn't predict his every move either
Whisky Peak – Completed
So, how about that? I do hope it at least surprised you.
Answers on reviews:
Big thank you to Guest, Drago pirate, Guest, and Zovc-Y, I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter.
KP360 – I absolutely agree with everything you said about the last two chapters. Also, hopefully, the change I made in this chapter lived up to the promise from the previous author note. Naturally, thanks for the review.
Sagicknight – Thank you, I'm glad you're fine with how much I'm skipping.