Chapter 8

"I see, this might make the situation more difficult. Right, now I'm in the middle of negotiations with the marines on the situation of Alabasta. They do not believe that their intervention or the intervention of Germa 66 is warranted. A bunch of bureaucrats, I tell you. Anyway, I don't have time to deal with all of your problems. Just keep an eye on the girl, be her shadow. If she wants to leave the organization leave with her, if she wants to continue her meaningless attempt at spying on baroque works then keep working for baroque works. Its not complicated. Even your weak little brain can understand what I'm asking you to do. She is our key to those oil spills, I do not want a single scratch on her royal face when she reunites with her father. Got it?"

The king brutally hung up as soon as Sanji confirmed that he understood. The click of the transponder snail echoed in the room. Sanji gritted his teeth in annoyance at his father's dismissal and lack of precise directions. This is how things always happened. He would be given an important mission that his father would burden him with impossible expectations and overconfident plans and directions. But as soon as the situation changed from what his father had planned, everything depended on Sanji to solve it without any guidance or "brilliant" strategy to follow. How predictable.

He sighed and ruffled his hair in exasperation. He looked around him, his things were already packed in his small black suitcase. he closed it and placed it near the door. The transponder snail was tucked away in one of the inside pockets of his black suit. He had two guns hidden beneath his vest and knives safely tucked in his sleeves. He personally preferred close combat but he kept the guns in case he met someone that he knew he would not be able to defeat. Living under the same roof as his superhuman brothers had taught him to have a surprise advantage on his opponent always. He was still weak and that meant that he had to always be more prepared than his opponent in a fight.

As he was checking that he had everything, and tightening one last time his tie before going to check on Vivi, he heard the sounds of foot steps walk in front of his door. This was weird since Vivi had stopped earlier to inform him she was going downstairs to check on her huge pet duck and probably meet up with Mr. 8 as well. He heard the foot steps stop in front of his door, so quickly he stood to the side in case the person was looking through the key hole or planning to burst through the door as a surprise attack. But the latter did not happen, since they continued to walk down the corridor. Even though he could still hear them, it was obvious that the person was trying to move as discreetly as possible. He pushed his ear against the door From the sounds he could hear, he deduced that the intruder was pick locking the giant safe between his room and Mr. 8's.

Spending his life hiding from his brothers had taught him to rely heavily on his sense of hearing when he could not risk to take a peak in case his brothers were still around. He stayed as still as possible, listening to the small clicks and clinking coming from the old and sturdy lock. The person behind this risky action appeared to know what they were doing because only a few minutes later he heard the lock give up and the creaking of the door opening.

He knew that the safe was practically empty. The islands funds had been almost inexistent these last couple of weeks. The boss was not giving them any remunerated jobs, and since they were not allowed to leave the island without his order, so the only money they earned was from the pirates they captured and sold to the marines. But even though there was nothing to steal he could not let a thieve roam around the town like they owned the place. Capturing this person might land him and the princess back on the boss's good side.

As soon as he heard the person enter the safe room, he silently left his room and reached the opened door. When he looked inside, he caught a glimpse of familiar ginger hair. Standing in front of him looking through the empty boxes and lockers was a very disappointed Nami. She was completely unaware of the blond man standing behind her. She was completely focused on her fruitless task. He took a few minutes to silently admire her from afar. He really did not expect to see her again and so soon. But he was not unhappy to be given a second chance to see her pretty silhouette and her beautiful red hair. Okay this had been fun but now back to business. He stepped forward, grabbed her arm and forcefully made her turn around and shoved her against the wall. He quickly grabbed both of her wrists. She was trapped between him and the wall. Time for the interrogation.

"So what is the straw hat's beautiful navigator doing here? Weren't you invited to a party?"

He smiles at her surprised expression; it appeared that she had recognized him.

"You!"

"I prefer the name Mr. nine, if you don't mind." He smirked at her glare. She had regained her bearings.

"Let me guess, Mr. Nine is your bounty hunter code name? Like Mrs. Wednesday and Mrs. Monday and Mr. 8. Are all the people in this town named after numbers and week days?"

"Darling, I don't think there would be enough week days for everyone." He calmly replied. He tried to hide his shock at finding out that she knew their real jobs. She rolled her eyes at his words.

"Don't call me darling. And don't change the subject. You and Mrs. Wednesday led us into a trap. After pretending to pass out because of that stupid drinking game, I overheard your coworkers talk."

"Oh, they did the drinking game? Did you go against Mrs. Monday. She's really good at it."

"I won of course. It was too easy; your people are lousy drinkers." She boasted. He thought her smugness was incredibly cute. He saw her mood change the second she realized that the subject had been changed.

"How could you? Wee helped you guys out and you gave us to a town full of bounty hunters!" She was angry. Very angry. Sanji suddenly felt weird; it was a strange feeling that made him feel slightly unwell. Was it guilt? He never had felt guilty about his actions or the victims he left behind. This girl was making him feel emotions that he usually ignored. This was getting dangerous. It was time for him to take this interrogation to the next level. He took out in a few second the small dagger hidden in his right sleeve. He placed it smoothly under her chin. He saw her face become paler at the sight of the weapon and later the feel of it near her neck.

"Listen sweet-heart. Don't take this personally. I have nothing against your crew. But this is my job. And I'm just following orders. Now you're going to tell me who else of your little friends is awake and being a nuisance. I believe that if your strutting around like you own the place that probably means you have back up somewhere…" But before he could even finish his sentence, one of the walls exploded and crumbled to the ground. He just had time to move them both to the ground away from the destruction. He laid on top of her, automatically protecting her from the pieces of walls falling on them.

When the dust had settled around them, they both looked to their right. There was a huge whole in the wall looking out on the street next to the building. And Sanji could not stop his eyes from rolling in exasperation at the sight of the green haired pirate standing on the roof of the building next to theirs. It was obvious that he was behind the explosion. The man was holding three swords, the third one was in his mouth clenched between his teeth. Ridiculous, he thought. And so were the words that came out from the green idiot's mouth.

"Nami, is that you? Now is not the time to flirt with the enemy." He said loudly before jumping down the building and landing gracefully on the street. Nami was not pleased by the unwarranted accusations.

"Flirting?! Can't you see the knife in his hand!?" She yelled in anger. But before Sanji could interrupt the argument another explosion happened a few streets away. He had an idea of who was the creator of that one. And it was not a good sign for any of them. Especially now that he noticed the presence of the other agents of his team standing in the street just a few feet away from the swordsman. Unlike him, Mr.8 who looked battered and beaten seemed to take it as a good sign.

"The top agents number 5 and Miss Valentine are here; they will show you the real power of baroque works. The boss probably sent them to give you a lesson."

Sanji disagreed, if this fight against Zoro had only started tonight, then the agents should not already be here. It would have taken time for a report to reach the boss and for the boss to have sent the two agents; they were probably here for another reason. And from the way the two silhouettes were walking towards Vivi and her duck, Sanji's mission was going to become even more complicated.

He hurriedly got up and without any hesitation jumped out of the building. He made sure to land on one knee between the princess and the two agents. Mr. 8 still did not understand the situation.

"Please help us, this man has destroyed our base."

"Help you?" The blond woman chuckled at her partner's words while twirling her umbrella.

"Don't make me laugh." The man was as obnoxious as Sanji remembered. They had been recruited around the same time. And the man thought he was the most powerful thing on earth just because he had a disgusting devil fruit power. And the word disgusting was no exaggeration. The man's booger explosions gave him the creeps.

The man continued blowing up his own ego. And that stupid bimbo continued to giggle dumbly to all of his words.

"The boss sent us here to apprehend the spy that has infiltrated our agency; the princess Vivi of Alabasta herself."

He saw Mr. 8 and the princess's confused expressions turn to ones of horror and the pirates' and Mrs Monday's become even more confused. They were all finally on the same page.