Chapter Five: Princess Vivi and Ms. All Sunday

"Damn, Silas," Zoro laughed casually. "Captured already? You sure that punch wasn't just dumb luck?"

"A little help," she exclaimed barely through the hand squeezing her neck from behind, trying desperately to get air.

"I found this thing," he said casually.

He threw a baseball bat towards her. She caught it. Immediately, a wild thrill ran through her, and she felt near feral with excitement. She knew it was coming through her expression because Zoro was taken aback even through his usual indifference. She disregarded it because she put the bat between her captor's two arms holding her and rotated the bat hard. His hold broke free, and she went to run, but he grabbed her around her waist and pulled her back into his chest. Annoyed, she smacked him in the leg with her bat. He didn't budge. She then smacked him in the head, and he was stunned, but he didn't let go.

A smirk grew on her face as another thug ran over to her. She ran up his torso and kicked him in the head. It gave her the momentum to throw herself between the man holding her's legs and break the hold he had on her. She knocked him down by giving him a hard charley horse to his calf. She rolled across his back before standing in front of him to smash his head down with her bat. He was out.

When his friend ran forward, she just thought 'fuck it' and threw her bat at him. It smashed him in the head as well, knocking him out as well. The bat bounced off the ground, returning to her hand.

A large smile was growing on her face especially when she turned towards Zoro who looked as if he wanted to fight her. Hmm, who knew he was competitive when it came to violence? She wondered who would win.

"Who are these guys?" she asked casually, walking up next to him.

She watched as several more thugs kept running towards them from a distance. Wow, somebody paid big bucks to have them captured.

"Baroque Works," he said.

"Really? Pirate hunters? That's so boring," she said, disappointment lacing her indifferent tone.

"I was a pirate hunter," he said in the same casual tone.

"I believe that," she said with a casual shrug and tone.

She could tell it bothered him a little that she so casually dissed him like that. He didn't say anything, but the micro expressions were there. It mildly amused her.

"Do you want to take them, or are they all mine?" Silas said with a growing smirk.

"Don't be ridicu— oi, wait for me!"

She picked up several of the smoke bombs those dummies had on them. She threw three up in the air. Quickly, she swung her bat and hit them across the distance between them. They exploded in their faces. She ran over without hesitation and drop kicked the first one she came across.

She stood as one of them ran over to her. She swung her bat at him in a big spin until she was kneeling in front of them, knocking him down. Another came after her, so she jabbed him in the neck with the tip, hearing him gag as she walked him back. She bared her teeth in a feral grin to scare him. It worked. She heard from her right a man draw his gun. She spun around and smashed it out of his hands with a two handed downward swing of her bat. The gun broke. The other man recovered and came at her with a knife, slashing at her face. She ducked and on the backswing got him in the gut. He doubled over and fell to the floor. Her smirk grew even when the guy who was wielding the gun before she broke it, attempted to kick her in the gut. Unlike the other guy, she managed to block it with her bat. Unfortunately, the brunt of it did knock her down.

Silas looked over as Zoro finally decided to join in and cut the man down. She saw and understood what that smirk meant. This was a competition. He saw her as a man, a rival. She didn't feel like her ego was being challenged, but the idea of jabbing and poking at him in a playful manner sounded fun. To be seen as a man in this context was bizarre but also thrilling. It's been so long since she's felt anything remotely like this.

Just as she got she dodged and backed away from another pirate hunter. His leg ended up propped on the side of the building in his attempts to kick her. She raised her bat and smashed his leg, dislocating his knee cap. Then, she slid over to break the other knee cap. The bat, upon impact, shattered to pieces. The man was left wailing and crying on the ground.

"What a piece of garbage," she said with a frown at the broken baseball bat. "I would've made a better one."

"Look over here, pirate," Ms. Wednesday said.

She saw the blue haired girl hold a knife to Luffy's, who was still sleeping, neck. Without a word or a second thought, Silas threw her broken bat at the woman carelessly. It ended up hitting her wrist and knocking the knife across the street. That was easy.

"You think that's all I have, you brute," she scoffed. Then, a smirk appeared on her face as she began to sway with her arms raised in the air. "Look at my body."

Silas didn't. She did, however, see that Ms. Wednesday began to spray perfume in the air. Immediately, Silas held her breath. She was not going to breathe in poisonous gas if she could help it.

Then, the blue haired girl mounted her giant duck and charged her. Silas merely sidestepped, and off the two went while Ms. Wednesday screamed about how stupid Karoo was being. Silas couldn't help the small chuckle.

Luffy began to stir. It was clear the perfume irritated his nose because his face was scrunched up. He still wasn't quite awake yet. That was probably for the best.

Just then, Zoro walked over and sheathed his swords carelessly. And, Silas finally noticed that all the action was over. People were just on the floor groaning in pain and bleeding.

"Oh look that, no more bounty hunters," she said casually.

A groan from her left made her look over. It was the big wigged mayor who tricked them.

"Oh look, he's still conscious," she said in acknowledgment.

"D-don't patronize me," he said, clearly angry at his own ineptitude. "I-I have to ask a favor."

"Didn't you try to sell us to the government?" she questioned, unimpressed.

"Please, I'll pay you!" he said desperately, holding onto her pant leg.

Suddenly, out of the window, came Nami with beli signs in her eyes. It seemed she didn't party as hard as the others. Or perhaps, money motivated her so much it could wake her from a coma. Either way, she was all ears and read for beli in her pocket.

"How much?" Nami asked.

"I don't care, just save our princess!" the mayor said.

"A princess? Pay us one billion beli," Nami said with an absolute thrill.

"One bill— are you crazy?!"

"You said she was a princess. Pay it or the deal is off. Then, she'll fend for herself."

Silas was almost impressed with Nami's level of Machiavellianism. The orange haired girl was absolutely ruthless like a pirate usually is. Still, Silas knew the worst in terms of ruthless individuals.

"Fine, just save her!"

"Zoro!" Nami said, turning towards him with a determined look on her face.

"What?" he groused.

"Save that princess," she said.

"No."

Silas had to suck in her lips to hide the smile from showing. She knew what was coming. Nami got her way because she knew she could kick these boys' asses, and they wouldn't strike back. Not to mention, she was very authoritative to begin with and didn't allow for that kind of nonsense.

"What?" Nami said tightly.

"No, I'm not that lovesick chef. I'm not doing it," he said with his arms crossed.

"Have you forgotten that you took out 200% interest rate with me when you borrowed that 100,000 beli?" she said.

"I got the swords for free, and I gave you the money right back," he said incredulously.

"That means you still owe me 200,000 beli," she said. "We'll call it even when I get me one billion beli."

Silas had to muffle the laughter with her hand when she watched Zoro begrudgingly stomp off to go find the princess. He probably guessed right that it was best not to pick a verbal fight with Nami. Eventually, she sobered up and stopped laughing.

"Wait, if you were awake this entire time, why didn't you help?" Silas asked Nami simply, not angry or offended.

"I knew you could handle it," the orange haired girl winked and playfully bumped her in the arm.

"What do you want?" Silas asked in the same tone, straightforward and neutral.

Nami was clearly caught off guard. It seemed the men she's dealt with took her flirtations at face value. Silas knew what was up. She wasn't mad at the other woman pulling out the tricks she knew worked. However, the look of confusion was quite funny to watch. It was worth it for Silas.

"I, uh, why would you think I'd want something?" Nami said awkwardly, scratching the back of her head, sticking her tongue out, and winking.

She understood why Nami was successful in gaining favors from men. She knew what her assets were and which charisma she could pull off when she needed to. But, the difference was that Silas didn't hold any sexual attraction to women. It wouldn't work on her.

"That's very cute, but I don't still understand why you're giving me those doe eyes."

She saw the eye roll and the dramatic sag in her posture. Then, the orange haired girl straightened up and let out a frustrated sigh. It was quite immature, but then again Silas didn't know how old the navigator was. She'd guess the younger at about sixteen years old. It would make sense for a beautiful girl to throw a fit when she didn't get what she wanted. She'd imagined she usually got her way.

"Can you just save the princess and help Zoro? Please," she said, throwing her hands in the air from incredulity.

"Why didn't you just say so in the first place?" Silas shrugged, still not upset despite the attitude Nami was giving her.

"Just go!"

Silas left to catch up with Zoro.

Unbeknownst to her, Luffy had awoken. She watched, turning her head to follow his trajectory of running into Zoro and smacking him with his distended belly. The rubber man managed to ram the swordsman into the side of the building, shattering it. And the collateral was a girl who favored the raincoat and umbrella fashion and a man who wore sunglasses in the dark like an asshole.

"How dare you attack these nice people!" Luffy shouted angrily.

"You don't get it, Luffy. It was—"

Luffy ended up punching Zoro in the face, not letting him finish. Silas watched in astonishment at the open violence between them. Was this a part of what it meant to be a man interacting with another man? Whenever there's a dispute, should she just solve it with violence amongst her fellow boys she was disguised amongst? It sounded about right.

Zoro seemed to accept it. He simply drew his swords, all three of them, and pulled his durag down over his eyebrows

"Fine, you want to fight? Let's fight."

Suddenly, she felt the presence of someone behind her. She was on high alert considering she was almost choked out earlier today. She spun around quickly and kicked whoever was behind her in the gut. Turns out it was the blonde girl in the raincoat. She spat out blood and cursed angrily at Silas.

"That's my partner, you—"

Another kick but this time it was to his face. He kneeled over, and she performed a cartwheel, kneeing him in the center of his back. He fell down with a cough. She ended up standing on his back before she stepped off without a care as he groaned in pain under her feet.

"You three are monsters," the princess said, astounded.

Hmm, she never saw herself as a monster with monstrous strength or skills. Most of the time when she fought as a woman, no one acknowledged it or finished the fight for her. Many men wouldn't fight her either when she presents as a woman. Therefore, she couldn't really get a reputation as a monster.

"Silas!" Luffy roared.

She looked over just in time to see Luffy rampaging towards her as well. Like before, she sidestepped out of the way. He ended up barreling away before skidding to a stop. She turned to look at him, seeing the rage in his face.

"What did I do?" she asked, dumbfounded.

"You beat up these nice people too!"

"They're not nice," she said simply.

"They fed us and—"

"Enough!" Nami shouted, punching Luffy in the head.

Silas winced as a now skinny Luffy fell to the ground, rubbing his scalp. She was then shoved out of the way when Zoro rushed through, looking to finish that fight. Undeterred, she straightened up and brushed the dust off her sleeve.

"Luffy, you'll— aaargh!"

This time Nami punched Zoro square in the head. Once more, Silas winced. The orange haired girl didn't play around and didn't put up with that kind of nonsense.

"Are you the princess?" Nami said with an upbeat tone and smile as if she didn't just give her fellow crew members brain damage.

Ms. Wednesday hesitated but eventually replied, "Y-yes."

"We're hired to help you. Let's negotiate prices," Nami said with a wicked smile reserved for a charismatic politician.

After explaining it several times and several different ways, Luffy finally understood the situation. Usopp and Sanji were still out cold from the booze and partying. They were snoring softly on the ground. The chef was mumbling something about Nami, and Usopp seemed to be having a nightmare about giant ants. Interesting. She hoped they would get it faster than their captain.

"… coup… civil war… Alabasta…"

"Wait, I've heard of Alabasta," Silas said offhandedly.

They all looked at her, and oh shit now she had to explain a few things. Maybe, she should do a better job of censoring herself.

"I hear it's a worn torn kingdom that's experiencing an unprecedented drought," she said. "Why would someone want to take over and rule Alabasta unless they love it unconditionally like you do?"

"I don't know his motivations. I can't tell you the boss of Baroque Works name," Vivi said, looking away. "It's very dangerous and will immediately put a target on your back."

"I'm not afraid," Luffy said immediately.

Nami smacked him and said, "You should be."

"Nami's right. Crocodile is a very dang— oh shit," she said, covering her mouth with wide, horrified blue eyes.

Everyone looked at Vivi with a slack jaw. How did she let that slip so easily? Wasn't she a spy? How did she survive as a secret agent? It was such an easy slip of the tongue. It was crazy.

"How are you a spy?" Nami said incredulously, shaking Vivi.

"Did you say Crocodile? As in the Seven Warlord Crocodile with an 80 million beli bounty on his head?" Silas said with raised brows.

Now, the crew who was awake and Vivi looked over at her. What? Silas thought this was public information. Did they not keep up with basic politics? The newspapers those aggressive pigeons delivered weren't that much to purchase. The warlords allegedly kept the balance between pirates, marines, and the world government. Silas didn't see how that worked, but perhaps the government just liked dangerous pirates technically under their boot even though they still committed atrocities without consequence. It sounded like a farce to her, but no one asked her.

"What? I keep up with the news," Silas said casually with a shrug. "Anyway, yes, he's dangerous, and now he probably knows we know. We've got a target on our back."

"Don't say that so casually," Nami whined depressively.

Suddenly, the mayor walked over with a bad drag costume. She was aware that doing drag especially as a woman was difficult. Femininity was difficult to master. And, well, poor Mayor Igaram wasn't pulling off the Princess Vivi look. Luffy began to laugh despite the seriousness of the situation with Baroque Works was. Maybe five or so years ago, Silas might have laughed, but it hit a little too close to home now.

"Wha…," Vivi began, horrified.

"I think he's trying to look like you," Silas said casually.

"That's so mean," Vivi said with her head in her hand.

"Princess, I'm going to be your decoy," he said. "I swore I would protect you since you were a child. I'm not letting anything happen to you."

With that, he left the room without so much as letting Vivi object. The princess and all of the Straw Hats sans the sleeping Usopp and Sanji peered out the door. Vivi looked as if she was going to follow suit and stop him, but Silas grasped her by the scruff of her shirt to keep her from leaving. It's Igaram's choice, so let him do so.

He waved at them, giving Vivi a small smile. It was clear he was scared, but he was bound by a parental love he held for Vivi. It was rather sweet and admirable.

As he left the dock in his small ship and started heading out for the sea, a large explosion befell him. Once again, everyone was slack jawed but horrified this time. Bits of the ship fell and sunk into the ocean. There was truly nothing left.

"Let's leave," Silas said simply.

"Agreed," everyone said except for a shell shocked Vivi

There was a loud yawn behind everyone and obnoxious long winded groans. They turned around and were met with Usopp and Sanji waking up. They stretched and looked like they had a wonderful nap.

"Nami-swan!" Sanji said obnoxiously with hearts in his eyes. "My dream did come true."

He truly was insatiable. He didn't know that man just died, but he couldn't read a room worth a damn. She felt everyone give him a weary look. Immediately, Sanji deflated and reverted to aloof, serious exterior. He picked out a cigarette and lit it to take a long drag. Silas was numb to the smell by now. However, the immediate change in demeanor was a little jarring though.

"What happened?" he said.

"Igaram died, and we're being hunted by Baroque Works because we know the boss's name," she said casually.

He coughed, probably taking a bad puff.

"Seriously? All that happened? It's not even sun rise," he said, recovering and using his serious tone he used for men.

"Hmm?" Usopp said sleepily, still stretching.

"Come on, we're setting sail," Silas said, tilting her head towards The Going Merry.

She left without another word and boarded their ship. They set sail quickly. Good, this island clearly wasn't safe. That poor man died almost immediately as Vivi's decoy. Silas couldn't help but laugh a little when Sanji and Usopp ran to hop onto the ship.

"I told you we were leaving," she teased with a short laugh.

The two of them glared at her, and she returned it with a smile. However, when she turned around, her smile dropped. Who was that sitting on the helm? She was head to toe in purple garments. She wore a cowgirl hat, not fully laced up vest, short a-line skirt, and boots. She had black hair with fringe bangs and blue eyes that were filled with a mature, detached mirth. Silas didn't know who she was, but she was willing to bet she destroyed that ship Igaram was on and killed him. She wasn't one to mess with.

"Who are you?" Silas asked neutrally.

"That's Ms. All Sunday," Vivi said, looking terrified.

"You say that as if I know who that is," Silas said in the same neutral tone as she looked at Vivi.

"She's second in command of Baroque Works!"

"Oh… well, damn," she said simply, crossing her arms over her chest.

Sanji, of course, had hearts in his eyes. He was twirling around and complimenting Ms. All Sunday like the true simp that he was. It seemed he would never find a woman scary or take her as a serious threat. It would be impressive if it wasn't so ridiculous.

Ms. All Sunday smirked amusedly as she flicked her thumb. What looked like a small hourglass flew towards Nami, and she caught it. Silas, curiously, leaned over and looked over at it unabashedly. The label said 'Alabasta'. Hmm, interesting. Was it a logue post intended to skip all the way to Alabasta instead of going through those other two islands first? That would be awful nice and convenient. Why would Ms. All Sunday give this to them? Was it a trap, or was she suddenly having a change of heart?

"Why would you give this to us?" Silas asked curiously, looking into those blue eyes. She didn't find anything there. Ms. All Sunday had an incredible poker face that didn't reveal a thing.

"What is it?" Luffy asked loudly.

"It's a log post that takes us straight to Alabasta," Nami said, fascinated with the hourglass.

"Little Garden and Drum Island are dangerous. If you wish, use that log post that I pulled off of Igaram before his ship sank," Ms. All Sunday said casually.

Vivi scowled and her teeth clenched. "How could you kill him? Get out of here!"

"Fine, use the log post or don't. Ultimately, it's your choice," she said casually, unaffected by the princess's anger

Suddenly, Ms. All Sunday disappeared in a flutter of pink rose petals. They looked over and saw her sitting on top of her turtle ship before sailing away without a word. They were all so transfixed that nobody could stop Luffy from grasping the log post straight to Alabasta and smashing it onto the ground. Everyone looked at him incredulously.

"Why?" Silas sighed.

"Only I get to pick our route and adventure!" Luffy said while childishly puffing out his chest.

Nami didn't hesitate in punching him in the head. All of them winced including Luffy.

"You idiot! Princess Vivi needs to get to Alabasta now!"

"No, I'm the Captain!"

"I guess we're heading to Little Garden," Silas sighed, folding her hands behind her head as she walked off to go relax somewhere on the ship.

Eventually, everything calmed down once more. Surprisingly, this part of the grand line wasn't topsy turvy weather and patterns like it was getting to the previous island. It was a relief. She wondered why the grand line was selectively insane and not at other times.

"Is the sea going to be like this for the rest of the trip?" Silas asked with her arms crossed while leaning against the railing.

"I hope so," Nami said with a sigh.

"I wouldn't count on it," Vivi said. "The grand line can't be predicted."

Before Silas could say anything, Luffy shouted, "Silas! Get down here!"

Oh, right, she was seen as a man. It seemed she needed to blend in with the other boys if she wanted to keep this up. Alright then, she spared one last look at the girls before turning around and dropping down onto the main deck. She walked over and plopped down in a spot next to them. Both her feet were flat on the ground with her knees up. She rested her arms on her upright knees as she looked at the others. It was a very masculine sitting style; it felt right.

"Need something?" she asked Luffy.

"Silas," Luffy whined. "I want a fishing pole. Will you make me a fishing pole?"

"Sounds easy. The first thing I'm buying on Little Garden is a forge and whetstone," she said.

"Yeah, make me a badass sword."

"You already have three."

Everyone laughed including the stressed out princess.