Coco: Hey, guys, it's me and I'm back with another chapter for you. Things are finally picking up as the crew is getting ready to reach Alabasta. In the next few chapters, Wren should be running into a familiar face from the past. I'm quite excited for their meeting as I love writing the two of them interacting XD But anyway, let's get started shall we?


Wren sat in the woman's quarters with her notes from earlier in front of her. She had come down here after getting some tea from Sanji, so she could get some peace and quiet as her rowdy comrades never seemed to know when to relax. She could even hear Sanji out there yelling at them now from above.

"How many times are you going to read over that?" Havel asked with a tilt of his head as he hopped up onto the desk she was seated at. "Surely, you have it memorized by now."

"I just want to make sure to be prepared." Wren said.

She then picked up her teacup to take a sip of the soothing chamomile tea Sanji had brewed.

"I wasn't planning on all these extras for this mission." Wren said. "It was going to be hard enough on my own with Lorelei aware of my betrayal."

Havel hummed in understanding as he sat down and curled his fluffy tail around his body.

"Vivi is the most worrisome." Wren added. "She's motivated by trying to protect everyone in her country—this includes the rebel soldiers. It is sad that their rebellion is mostly fueled by the deceitfulness of Crocodile who is playing them and the royal army against each other. However, this is going to be a major battle, which means blood with be spilled either way. She's naïve to think she can save everyone."

Some people were going to be hurt. Some might even die, but that is how things are in such situations as this.

"Cutting the head off this snake is our best strategy," Wren said. "With Crocodile out of the picture, Baroque Works will crumble. It might not stop the war from happening completely, but without Crocodile and his organization there to meddle, stopping the war before it escalates to the point of no return will become possible."

"Vivi won't see things like that." Havel pointed out.

"I am very much aware." Wren replied.

She then finished her tea and set the cup off to the side out of her way. She would be sure to take it up later to clean. She also shut her notebook, which she sent away with a wave of her hand. Once it was gone, Wren sat back in her chair and crossed one leg over the other.

"I see you're still only sticking to the simple spells." Havel commented. "Usually, a mage at your age would be capable of much more than teleporting a small item away, or simple soothing potions like the ones you made Nami. How long has it been since you've actually practiced anything more difficult?"

Wren frowned though wasn't surprised Havel was calling her out. She knew it would happen eventually.

"I don't know," Wren said honestly. "I haven't had the need to use much magic lately."

Havel scoffed as he stood back up, so to move over to plant himself right in front of Wren.

"You can't lie to me, Misce." Havel told her. "Not only am I your familiar now, but you know we Fae can read the hearts and minds of humans. Maybe not enough to know what they are thinking exactly, but enough to know their intentions or emotions at least."

Wren's frown deepened. She knew that. She can't read humans as well as a full-blooded Fae, but she had the same ability.

"You don't practice your magic because you fear it." Havel said. "While you've always seemed to despise your human side because you think it makes you weak and leaves you vulnerable to the temptations humans often fall victim to, you've always been afraid of your Fae heritage and the magic power that comes along with it. You've lived nearly your whole life rejecting both halves of yourself, and while you've been doing quite well and have become strong, your physical strength alone won't always be enough."

Wren sighed wondering how things turned into a lecture so quickly. She shouldn't have let Havel come along if this was how things were going to be.

"You are going to be going against Crocodile—a man with the same title as the man you wish to defeat in the future." Havel said. "You shouldn't take him lightly and use all means at your disposal against him."

"It's a little too late to try and pick up that kind of magic to fight Crocodile now." Wren said. "We'll be in Alabasta soon."

Havel nodded knowing that was true, but there were some things Wren could do to help her odds.

"The first step is allowing yourself to use the magic around you." Havel said. "As a mage you have the power to draw on nature and turn it into magic power—that is the gift your ancestors developed many, many years ago. It isn't the same magic that the witches or the alchemists use. You have to let it in, and not keep it at bay as you have been."

Havel was going to continue his lecture, but he and Wren both sensed someone coming towards the hatch that led to the woman's quarters. The person turned out to be Sanji, which had Wren relaxing her posture. Said man, who had his sleeves rolled up, walked down the stairs while grumbling something about annoying captains and fridge raiders.

"Is something wrong, Sanji?" Wren asked as Havel hmphed at being interrupted.

There was no telling when he'd get the chance to try and speak with Wren like this again. Sanji turned to the long-haired girl while trying to give her a reassuring smile.

"Nothing you have to worry your pretty little head about, my dear." Sanji said. "I just came to check on you. No one has really seen you much in the last few hours."

Wren blinked wondering how long she's been done here. She didn't think it was for that long, but perhaps she lost track of time.

"I was just looking over a few things." Wren said. "I didn't realize how much time had passed since I started working, I suppose."

Sanji nodded while glad to see nothing was wrong. He had been worried after the first hour had passed, and she hadn't returned to rejoin the others above.

"Now about that question I asked," Wren began. "What's wrong? You were grumbling about fridge raiders."

Wren could only suspect that he meant Luffy and possibly Usopp and Chopper. Sanji sighed while sitting down on the couch, which folded out into a bed when needed.

"Luffy ate all the food we had." Sanji said frowning. "And so, did Chopper, Usopp, and that damn duck. Now I can't cook anything for you or the other two lovely ladies on this ship!"

He had really wanted to make a special lunch for the ladies, and even make a lovely tea, which he knew would please Wren. However, even the tea leaves weren't spared during Luffy's raid. He had only managed to make that single cup for Wren this morning before she had come down here.

"They ate everything?" Havel asked with a frown. "Even the fish I had hidden in the back of the fridge?"

"You had a fish hidden the fridge?!" Sanji snapped at the feline. "Where did you steal that from, furball?!"

Havel blinked at Sanji before turning away from the blonde, which had the cook growling in aggravation.

"Not telling," Havel said stubbornly.

Wren almost chuckled at Havel's behavior as Sanji looked ready to skin the cat alive.

"Everything will be fine." Wren said. "Alabasta shouldn't be too far away now. I believe we can last a day or two without food."

Sanji sighed supposing so, but he didn't want anyone on the ship going hungry. He knows what that's like, and wouldn't wish it on anyone. Unknowingly to him, Wren understood that same feeling. During her time on that slavers ship, she went many days and nights without food. Only getting enough to keep her alive.

"You needn't look so worried." Wren said as she reached out the scratch Havel's head.

This caused the feline to turn around and purr as he leaned into Wren's touch.

"As I said, Alabasta is close by." Wren reminded him. "We will be able to eat and restock on supplies once we arrive."

"Yeah." Sanji said as he nodded though the worried look didn't completely leave his face. "But even if we fill our stomachs in town, we still have a long road ahead of us."

His worried expression turned more into a thoughtful look as he wondered how much food he'd need to get in town, so they could survive the rest of this ordeal without starving to death. He felt a tap on his forehead, which brought him out of his thoughts. He blinked while looking at Wren as she was in front of him.

"You are overthinking things." Wren said as Havel climbed onto the couch to sit next to Sanji. "You shouldn't waste so much energy on worrying about something that hasn't even come to pass yet."

"Whatever you say, Darling~" Sanji said as he did that goofy love-struck chuckle of his. "It makes me so happy that you worry about me, Wren-chan."

Wren shook her head at Sanji's behavior, but she was honestly starting to get a bit used to it. Even if she still didn't fully understand it. She then blinked when sensing something or someone new on the ship. She frowned wondering who was on their ship. This presence didn't feel hostile. However, it made her a bit uneasy.

"Is something bothering you, Wren-chan?" Sanji asked.

Wren didn't reply right away as she debated whether or not to concern Sanji with whoever was on deck. The others seemed to be remaining calm as she didn't sense any of them moving in for a fight. Though she was still curious on how this new person came to be on the Going Merry.

"It seems as if there is someone new onboard." Wren said.

"Someone new…where could they have come home?" Sanji wondered as he stood up.

Growing used to Wren's odd ability that seemed to allow her to sense when others are near, Sanji didn't question how Wren knew about this person. Sanji went to hurry up the stairs, but Wren tugged him back by his shirt.

"It's best not to rush into things." She told him. "We should try to remain unseen if this person does turn out to be hostile. It leaves us the element of surprise to help the others if needed."

"Yes, ma'am~" Sanji said as he did one of his little dances. "I'll follow your lead whatever it may be."

If Havel could roll his eyes, he would at the blonde's antics. He then followed after the two as they headed for the storage room above. Once above, Wren and Sanji peeked out the window in the door that led out to the deck. Outside they could see the others talking to…a male ballerina wearing a very…flamboyant outfit. Wren narrowed her eyes.

'Mr. 2…what could he be doing here?' She wondered. 'And if he's here…does that meant Lorelei is nearby as well?'

She didn't wish to be crossing paths with the young girl just yet as it was too soon. They haven't even reached Alabasta yet, and if they ran into trouble that got them noticed now, that would make things all the harder in the end.

"What the heck is that?" Sanji asked as he tilted his head.

"What the heck is what?" Havel questioned as the clamored onto Sanji's shoulder to try and get a look himself. "I can't see anything."

Sanji frowned trying to push the furball back, but the cat was rather insistent on trying to see. Wren hushed them both as she watched Mr. 2 stand up. Suddenly he hit Luffy so hard in the face the boy went flying. Sanji stiffened while getting ready to rush out, but Wren got between him and the door.

"Remain calm." She told him. "Luffy is fine."

Sanji remained stiff, but stayed in place. His eyes then widened when he saw that man had turned himself into Luffy.

"How…how did he do that?" Sanji asked.

Wren looked back out the window to see Mr. 2 demonstrating his devil fruit abilities as he started turning into members of the crew. When he turned into Nami and pulled open his shirt to show that even his bodies change, Wren quickly slapped her hand over Sanji's eyes. He blinked in confusion wondering why Wren was covering his eyes. Wren, who removed her hand once Nami punched Mr. 2 over the head, had a feeling he would have made some kind of loud noise if he had seen what just happened, which meant giving away their location.

"It's the ability of the Mane-Mane no Mi." Wren replied. "The one who eats it gains the ability to turn themselves into the clones of others. A troublesome ability to deal with."

Sanji could see why, but he still didn't know who this weirdo was or how he got on their ship. Mr. 2 kept displaying his ability to Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper who seemed taken with the ballerina. When his face briefly turned into the face of King Nefertari Cobra of Alabasta, Wren's eyes narrowed.

'He's somehow managed to copy King Cobra's image,' Wren thought. 'That isn't good at all…'

"This keeps getting weirder by the second," Sanji said as the boys—minus Zoro—started dancing with Mr. 2.

Wren couldn't disagree with him there. They don't even know the man and yet their acting as if he's been around their whole lives. They are all way too trusting. Wren then stiffened when she sensed a ship with a large number of crewmen heading their way. One person…had an aura much stronger than the others.

'…Lorelei…' Wren realized then spoke out loud. "Havel, we need a masking barrier, now."

Havel blinked wondering what was up, but he moved to Wren's shoulder while taking a piece of her hair into his mouth. Sanji stepped back curiously as he watched both Wren and Havel glow a dull green color. The energy around them spread out to over the whole room. The room glowed green as they did, and when Sanji looked down at his hands, he was glowing as well.

"What is this?" Sanji asked.

"A masking barrier." Wren said. "It hides our presences from everyone outside this room. Those, who can sense others' voices like I can, won't be able to feel our presences as long as the barrier stands."

Sanji tilted his head wondering why Wren would suddenly put this barrier up. She hadn't seemed too worried about that ballerina sensing her, so he didn't understand what had her concerned now. He looked back out the window to see the ship that pulled up next to the Merry. The ballerina jumped up onto the railing of the Going Merry to greet those who came to get hime. Amongst the group, a young girl who seemed Vivi's age. She looked annoyed with the ballerina who was saying farewell to Sanji's crying crewmates.

Something about how the girl held herself made Sanji feel like she was more dangerous than she looked. Her eyes suddenly cut over to where he was hiding with Wren and Havel, which had him jumping back from the window.

'Can she sense people like Wren?' Sanji wondered as he watched Wren peek out.

Wren looked at Lorelei as she seemed to be scolding Mr. 2 who jumped over onto the other ship. The man pouted at the teen who turned away and gave the order to get going.

"That's right!" Mr. 2 shouted. "Let's get out of here!"

"Yes, Mr. 2—Mr. Bon Clay, sir, Ms. Halloween, ma'am!" The men shouted.

As they sailed away, Wren made sure they were far out of the range of Lorelei's observation haki before stepping out of the room onto the deck. Sanji followed after her as she and Havel dropped the barrier.

"Wren, Sanji, you two just missed it!" Usopp said. "Mr. 2 and Ms. Halloween were just here."

"Yes, we saw." Wren said. "To think we would run into them by chance."

Luckily, Lorelei hadn't noticed her, however, nor seemed to know the Straw Hats were wanted by Baroque Works. Or at least those who have run into Baroque Works agents so far.

"I had no idea those two were Mr. 2 and Ms. Halloween." Vivi said looking bothered.

"Vivi, you mean you didn't know just by looking?" Luffy asked in disbelief.

Wren found that hard to believe as well. Vivi and this Igaram that Wren was told about infiltrated Baroque Works and even managed to become officer agents, so it was hard to understand how they didn't know their fellow officers. Lorelei had that kind of information in the matter of a week. Though Lorelei is also trained for missions such a infiltration, intel gathering, and sabotage.

"Nu-uh." Vivi said with a shake of her head. "I've never met Mr. 2 or Mr. 1 and their partners. I don't know much about any of them, or what their powers may be."

She then leaned against the wall behind her to slide down onto the deck. Wren's brow quirked when seeing how bothered Vivi seemed to be with the entire situation.

"Though I have heard rumors about them all." Vivi continued. "I've heard about Mr. 2 and Ms. Halloween. Apparently, Mr. 2 is a very tall ballerina, talks like a woman, and always wears a swan coat. The coat says Bon Clay on the back. As for Ms. Halloween, I never really heard what she looked like. Everyone to ever encounter her, only ever reported a thick mist and floating lights whenever she's near, and usually those who enter the mist…they don't come out…"

Usopp and Chopper gulped as they held themselves together. Ms. Halloween sounded really scary.

"You do know that you described the gentleman just here perfectly, yes?" Wren questioned.

Wren couldn't fault her for being unaware of Lorelei's appearance as the girl has obviously done well in keeping it a secret. Something Wren taught her how to do a long time ago.

"Yeah, how did you not know?" Zoro, Usopp, and Luffy asked.

Though Luffy dropped that bit of conversation when seeing the troubled look on Vivi's face.

"What wrong, Vivi?" He asked.

"I saw something in his memory." Vivi said. "In the faces that he showed us…one of those faces belonged to my father—Nefertari Cobra , my father, the King of Alabasta."

"That's not good." Zoro said. "If he can remember the face of a king that easily, Mr. 2 has the potential to cause a lot of trouble."

"Can't disagree with you there." Sanji said as he placed a cigarette between his lips. "Though what's more troublesome was that he apparently got so close to the king so easily to copy his face to begin with."

Wren would suspect that Lorelei had a hand in that, but even if she didn't, Mr. 2 could easily waltz himself into the palace if he was wearing the right face.

"Looks like we let a really bad guy get away today, huh?" Usopp asked.

"So, that guy is our enemy?" Chopper asked.

"Yes, but even if he did get away, now isn't the time to be picking fights." Wren pointed out. "If we had tried to stop him or capture him, Crocodile would surely take notice of one of his important player's absence. We don't need that kind of attention on us before we even reach Alabasta."

Zoro hummed as Wren did have a point. Now wasn't the time to be bringing attention to themselves. They couldn't lose the element of surprise just yet. Especially since Sanji, who had been pretending to be Mr. 3 at the time, managed to convince Crocodile they were all dead.

"While I understand what you're saying, having him on the other side isn't a good thing," Nami said as she stepped forward. "If Mr. 2 realizes we're the ones Baroque Works is after then he can use the memories, he got earlier to transform into any one of us. We won't even be able to trust our own friends."

Wren wasn't too worried. It was true that Mr. 2's ability was troublesome. However, with her observation haki, she could sense any foul play before it happened. It can't tell her if what's in front of her is a copy or not, but she would be able to warn her the moment someone goes to hurt her. The others weren't that lucky though, so she could understand their concern.

"Really?" Luffy asked not looking worried.

Though that might be because he doesn't really understand the situation, they were in.

"I'll explain it again," Nami said.

"No, wait, hold on a sec," Zoro cut in a he put his hand on Luffy's shoulder. "Luffy's slow, but he's right not to be scared. Just hear me out on this one, and I think you'll agree. It's actually a good thing that we ran into Mr. 2 when we did because now, we can prepare and beat him at his own game."

Wren tilted her head as she was curious about this plan Zoro had going on in his mind.

"Not sure if we want to waste time listening to any of your ideas, Moss Head," Sanji sneered.

Zoro growled looking ready to pick a fight, but Wren stepped between the two men while holding up her hands.

"Now, now, there isn't a reason to fight." Wren said before looking to Zoro. "I'm quite interested in hearing this plan of yours, Zoro. Please, share with us."


After Zoro explained his plan and they caught sight of the Baroque Works Billions earlier, Wren sat in between Sanji and Karoo on the deck of the ship as everyone was tying bandages on their arm. Havel, who had a bandage around his front right leg, sat off the side batting away at a rolled-up ball of bandages with his tail swishing happily.

"There you go, Sanji." Wren said as she finished tying the bandage around his arm.

"Thank-you, Wren-chan." Sanji said as he smiled at her.

After taking the ball of bandages away from Havel, who hissed in annoyance, Sanji untangled a bandage from it to put around Wren's arm. He tossed the ball carelessly over his shoulder after that with Havel chasing after it.

"Just make sure and tie it tight." Zoro said as he was using his mouth to tie his bandage around his arm. "I don't want anyone fooled by the enemy's disguises."

Wren nodded her head in understanding as Sanji was tying the bandage tightly but not uncomfortably around her arm.

"What a good plan." Vivi said as she was helping Nami with her bandage.

"We'll always know who our friends are." Nami said. "Just look for the bandage on their arm."

As Sanji was making another knot in Wren's bandage, said woman looked at Karoo, who seemed be having trouble with his bandages, in concern. Sanji then let go of Wren's arm since she was ready to go, so Wren started working on getting Karoo untangled from all his bandages.

"We know that someone with his powers is among the enemy, so we need to really be on our guard at all times." Zoro said.

Wren, who almost had Karoo complete untangled, hummed in agreement. Though Mr. 2 definitely wasn't high on her list of concerns. Chopper even if a bit frightened stepped up determinedly.

"So, what should I do to help out against this guy?" He asked.

"Just do whatever it is you can do." Usopp said. "You're not expected to do anything more, Chopper. And if you get overwhelmed, just run."

Wren, who was putting a bandage around Karoo's wing, sweat-dropped as she wondered if that could be counted as a pep talk.

"Sounds like the pep talk he's always giving himself." Sanji said.

Karoo quacked lightly, and it almost sounded like a laugh. Even Havel seemed to be snickering off to the side as he rolled the bandage-ball between his paws.

"Whatever it is I can do." Chopper said. "I got it!"

A few minutes later, everyone had their bandages on, and were ready to reach Alabasta.

"Hey, I can see the island now!" Luffy called out.

"Let's stop at the town called Nanohana." Vivi said. "We have to hide the ship."

That was fine with Wren as landing in a town gave her the chance to dig up any fresh news there might be concerning Crocodile or anything else that might be important.

"Okay, no matter what happens on that island remember," Luffy began then put out his fist with the others doing the same. "This thing on all our arms is a sign of our friendship. Now, let's land, okay? And eat…oh, and help Vivi."

"That's a side note?" Luffy's friends—besides Wren—asked with deadpanned looks on their faces.