Chapter 9

"I won't let you hurt the princess!" The middle-aged man yelled before aiming his hidden guns on the two higher officers.

Idiot thought Sanji. The man had just revealed himself as another Alabasta spy. The two agents had said nothing about other spies. Mr. 8 could have at least tried to play the part a bit longer at least until he and the Princess had a better chance of escaping. This attach had been futile and reckless. Agent five too easily sent him flying with one of his bugger bombs against the wall behind them. Can't the world give him a break? Why couldn't other people make his mission a bit easier instead of fucking everything up until he had to fix things by himself?

At least, the princess had had time to run away on her duck. But it wouldn't be long before the two assassins caught up to her. Especially with that Kilo Kilo fruit and that ugly umbrella, Miss Valentine would be able to spot the bright yellow running duck in seconds. It was up to him then to get to her before everyone else and get her off this island as quickly as possible. But as he was about to run off in the princess's direction, something grabbed his angle in a tight grip. He looked down to see Mr. 8 had reached out from his position on the floor to hold his ankle and desperately stop him from leaving. Huh, the man was still alive. But he could easily see that the royal servant was using his last strength to keep his foot on the ground.

"Please, help the princess" Sanji could hear the pleading in his voice. He tried to stop his eyes from rolling at the man's pathetic display. He noticed that man's eyes were going from him to the two pirates standing a bit behind him. Mr. 8 was insane if he thought these pirates would help them after what Baroque works and Vivi and himself tried to do to them.

"She has to get back to Alabasta, please keep her safe. Please..." The old man said before falling unconscious. Sanji shook off the hand around his ankle. He really hoped the man hadn't left any blood stains on his good suit. Apparently, no one was going to give him a break today. Mr. 5 smirked while picking at his nose. He was probably collecting the biggest bugger possible. He flicked it their directions without warning. They all dove to the side. Nami screamed while covering the top of her head with her arms. Unconsciously, he grabbed her by the upper arm and dragged her behind him. He led him to a street alley away from the two agents' eyes. He noticed the Marimo following behind them. He probably thought Sanji was kidnapping his crewmate. They stopped at the end of the alley hidden in a small hidden corner; Nami was out of breath leaning forward on her knees. He immediately let go when he noticed his hand was still around her arm. Zoro was the first one to speak. He seemed to have chosen to ignore the blond man's presence.

"Nami, we need to find the others and get out of here. Usopp and Luffy are probably still a sleep back at the main building…"

"What?! No way!" Both men suddenly noticed her eyes glowing with greed, when she finally lifted her head up in their directions.

"Did you not hear them? That blue haired girl is a princess. Imagine the amount of money she must have back in her kingdom. If we get her there, we might get payed a lot of money!" She was smiling widely at them.

"Now is not the time for this, you witch!" The green head yelled in anger.

But the red head chose to ignore is outraged expression.

"Its decided. We'll save the princess and then demand the money when we bring her back." She mischievously rubbed her hands together. "Zoro, go save her!" She ordered confidently her angry crew mate.

"What?! I don't take orders from you. Witch!"

"You still owe me for the money I leant you last time!"

The next ten minutes were spent watching the two argue back and forth about money Zoro supposedly owed the navigator. Sanji looked at them and felt like he was watching a quick paced tennis match. He knew he should leave them and go help the princess; this was just a waste of time. However, seeing the bossy side of this woman was captivating. But the argument seemed to come to an end by Nami's last well-chosen words;

"Zoro, I thought you were the sort of man that kept his word." The swordsman swore loudly before leaving them in a run.

Sanji decided that he should probably do the same, however as he was turning away from the red-haired girl smirking victoriously; another explosion happened right next to them. They had been found. Well at least that meant that the enemy had not found the blue haired princess yet. He heard his ex-coworkers cackle behind the cloud of dust and smoke. He started to take out his guns. He thought that in this situation, they would be needed. Devil fruits were opponents that needed to be dealt with seriously. But as the two agents emerged from the smoke screen and walked in their direction, a huge shadow stood in front of them. Miss. Monday was facing away from them in her traditional boxing fighting stance.

"Mr. 9, I want to help Miss Wednesday. Will you?" she asked him without looking back.

"Yes." He replied coolly at her question. If he wanted Nami and her crew to work with him he needed to state his position on the subject now. Perhaps, this might help convince them to let him travel with them to Alabasta. He even noticed the pretty navigator's eyes widen at their words. She turned to them and blurted out:

"But aren't both baroque works agents, why would you help a spy?"

"I've known her and worked with her for a year. I am proud to call her and Mr. 9 friends. The least I can do is help them and distract these two while Miss Wednesday get away." Sanji was surprised to be counted in Miss Monday's group of "friends". But her reason, even though Sanji had a hard time understanding it, seemed to satisfy and impress the red head; so, like the talented improviser he was he nodded in confirmation at her words. He might just use that as an explanation if the others ask; a bit too emotional for his taste but it could work.

He grabbed the navigator's hand and ran. He shot a quick "thank you" in Miss Monday's direction. He undoubtedly knew that this woman was volunteering to do a suicidal sacrifice; this would probably be the last time they saw her alive. And she was doing all of this for the weird notion of "friendship". Father would have called her a dumb and weak. But Sanji was not sure if this time he would agree with the man as he saw for the last time her determined expression while facing the two powerful agents.

Sanji and Nami ran through alleys and streets. He was not sure where the princess had gone but he thought that starting looking close to the docks would be a good start.

"Are you really going to help us?" He heard the girl behind him ask. She was out of breath but he could hear a bit of suspicion and curiosity in her voice.

"Yes." He simply answered her again.

He knew the navigator still did not completely believe him. But she continued running behind him and changed the subject for now by asking question on Baroque Works and the enemy agents.

"Zoro will protect her until we arrive, tell me more about this organization." They were at a jogging pace now, zigzagging through alley ways and streets. Sanji thought that the more his new allies knew about the situation the better. So, he told her everything he knew about baroque works. Its ranking system, its anonymity; its secret goal of creating a state, and that the boss's identity was secret. They called him mr.0.

However, as he's about to start explaining some of the other agents' powers, at least the ones he knew. But he was suddenly interrupted by the sound of another explosion ahead of them. It could not be Mr. 5 and his partner since the two were supposedly still behind them. Perhaps, Mr. 0 had sent other top agents to help finish the jobs. Not good. He thought. He picked up their pace when he heard the sound of another loud explosion. He could have sworn he saw one of the buildings in the distance crumble. Really not good.

When they finally arrived at the destruction scene, both of their mouths dropped in shock. Zoro was fighting. If he did not completely loath the green idiot, he would even say that his fighting skills were impressive. But the opponent he was fighting really was the shocker. He was exchanging fists with Luffy of all people. What the hell was happening here. Why were those two fighting? And where was the princess Zoro was supposed to be protecting. When he finally spotted, the girl and her duck were in the middle of the plaza looking terrified by the brute force these two were showing. He would stay there and watched show a bit more the fight itself was impressive.

But he chose to finally move when he noticed that the fight was getting closer to the princess who was still frozen in shock. The building right next to her crumbled to the ground from the force of one of Luffy's punch. No way was his mission going to get ruined by that stupid straw hat. He ran across the plaza and stood in front of the princess. As one of the walls of the building's was about to fall on them, he kicked it with one of his strongest movements. It had taken him a really long time to master it by letting the palace's head chef teach him during his small breaks in secret. He was grateful for the man's advice and teaching. Because without it he would never have had the skills and technique to be able to split the wall falling over them into two separate parts. The wall fell around them, leaving them intact. As soon as that was done, he grabbed the duck's leash and led the two as quickly and discreetly possible across the plaza where Nami was still standing. That zone was the less destroyed and so in his mind the safest for now.

It seemed that the girl was completely focused on the fight. She barely noticed them standing next to her. The two other straw hats were still completely focused on their pointless fight. As he watched them, he noticed from his peripheral view that the red head girl next to her shaking. Was she sad or maybe crying? Maybe it was shocking to see her two friends fight? Maybe she was scared? But those theories quickly disappeared as soon as he saw the girl walk towards the two and slamming her fists on both of their heads.

"KNOCK IT OFF!" She yelled at her two crewmates.

He heard Vivi yell in shock at the display of power and anger from the red head girl. This was not a lady you should make angry, Sanji thought. But he had to admit that unsurprisingly he found her scary and bossy side very attractive.