Another Nakama Omakes
Disclaimer: I still don't own One Piece or any of its characters. This is a fan-made work of fiction, aptly named FanFiction.
Little Garden Omake:
The Agreement:
-x-
Ricky had cleaned off of his clothes and fixed his injuries as best he could before he returned to the clearing where he'd left Ms. Goldenweek, Ms. Valentine, and Mr. 5.
Mr. 5 was still bleeding and burned from where Zoro had slashed him, Ms. Goldenweek was still out from when Tim had hit her, but Ms. Valentine appeared to be coming to. "Oh… you're awake…" he realized.
"Huh…" said Ms. Valentine as she slowly sat up and gingerly held her throat. Then she spotted Ricky. "YOU'RE STILL HERE! After that whore choked me out, I thought you'd leave and I'd never see you again! YOU CAME BACK FOR ME!"
"Actually… I'm just here to collect on the bet I made with Mr. 3," Ricky admitted. "Great, she's still hypnotized. The paint won't come off so I have to figure out a way to get her to remove her dress."
"NO! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME!" Ms. Valentine pleaded as she threw herself at him and hugged his legs.
"Calm down and listen to me for a minute," Ricky ordered.
"…" Ms. Valentine quieted and stared up at him.
"You're under the effects of the painter-girl's paint," Ricky bluntly explained. "Your feelings for me aren't real."
"YES THEY ARE!" Ms. Valentine argued. "I LOVE YOU!"
"Then take your dress off and prove it," Ricky suggested. "If your feelings are real, nothing will happen. If they're not, well… you'll be back to normal."
"Kyahahahaha," Ms. Valentine giggled, "If you wanted to see me in my underwear, all you had to do was ask." Ms. Valentine winked at him and grabbed the sides of her dress and began to pull it up. The second her white panties came into view, Ricky quickly turned around. "HEY! I'm doing this for you! The least you could do is look!"
"If you still want me to look when you're done, then I will," Ricky told her.
"Hmph," Ms. Valentine huffed as she pulled her dress the way off, during the process her yellow hat got pulled off along with it. The singed dress and hat hit the ground and Ms. Valentine stood there in her skimpy white bra and panties, and her white heels.
Snapping out of the hypnotic trance, Ms. Valentine stared around her in surprise. She eventually spotted Ricky. "ONE EYE!" she exclaimed. "I'LL FINISH YOU FOR GOOD THIS TIME!"
"Stop, you've already lost," Ricky told her.
"What?" she asked confused.
"You don't remember anything that happened when you were hypnotized," Ricky realized/explained. "The fight is already over. All four of you have lost. Look at your dress if you don't believe me."
Ms. Valentine glanced at her dress and saw the purple symbol on it. Then it finally dawned on her that she was standing in front of an enemy IN HER UNDERWEAR!
"YOU PERVERT!" she shrieked as she clutched her dress to her for cover.
"The painter girl put some fast-drying paint over the purple," Ricky informed her. "It made it impossible to smear. The only way to snap you out of your hypnotized state was to get you to take your dress off. Believe it or not, you're a lot less annoying now than you were when you were hypnotized."
"Then why are you still here?" Ms. Valentine demanded.
"One of the things that you shouldremember is that I made a bet with Mr. 3," Ricky reminded her. "My Nakama and I won the fight. That means I get to enact the Pirate's Code without repercussion."
"What do you want?" Ms. Valentine asked. She surveyed her outfit, she'd lost both of her lemon earrings over the course of the fight, her white heels were covered in dirt, her yellow hat was a little less dirty but still looked disgusting, her dress was torn, dirty, and stained with paint. The only thing she had on her that was in decent condition was her underwear. And she definitely wasn't going to part with that. "I… don't have anything of value on me. Mr. 5 always carried all of our money, and Mr. 3 and Ms. Goldenweek had all our supplies."
"Then I'll just take your umbrella," Ricky resolved.
"But then I can't float as high!" Ms. Valentine protested.
"Then I'll be doing the world a service," Ricky retorted, he turned away from Ms. Valentine and walked over to Mr. 5 and began picking his pockets. He came away with the Bomb Man's revolver, a sack of what he sensed was 250,000 berries worth of treasure, and his sunglasses. After organizing Mr. 5 things in his multiple pockets Ricky went over to Ms. Goldenweek and pulled the girl's blue backpack off of her and slipped it onto his shoulder, then carefully removed the girl's bracelets and golden necklace and placed the jewelry in his bottom left pocket.
"And that's that," Ricky concluded. "Take care Airhead. I'm not sure how the paint works, but I'd suggest washing it off before putting your dress back on again. Otherwise things could get awkward for you and your fellow agents."
Ms. Valentine stared after him as he headed off but Ms. Goldenweek opened her eyes and sat up. "Wait!" she called out. "Please… leave my paints."
Ricky turned around and raised an eyebrow, "Why would I leave the things you get your powers from?" he asked, "Especially after what you put me through at the expense of your fellow agent?"
"If you take those, we'll have no way off this island," Ms. Goldenweek meekly told him. "We don't have a Log Pose and Mr. 3 will most likely flee the island and leave the three of us here to die."
"Die?" Ricky repeated, "It's not that bad here. And you've got the nose-picker and Airhead with you. You'll hardly be defenseless."
"You don't understand," Ms. Goldenweek attempted to explain. "When Mr. 0 learns that we failed our mission, he'll send the Unluckies or a higher ranking agent to kill us. That's what Mr. 3 and I just finished doing before this. Mr. 6 and Ms. Mother's Day failed their mission and Mr. 3 was ordered to kill them. We're all disposable tools to Mr. 0."
Ms. Goldenweek pushed herself up to her knees and outright begged, "Please!" She pleaded. "I don't want to take over Alabasta. I didn't even want to in the first place. The only way I could think of to survive getting off this island without a Log Pose is by taming a bird like you did. To do that, I need my paints. Please, I'll do anything."
Ms. Valentine got progressively paler as she listened to Ms. Goldenweek and Ricky's conversation. Ms. Goldenweek was right, this was the second mission that she and Mr. 5 had failed. Mr. 0 would send someone to kill them. Without her umbrella she couldn't float them off the island, and they couldn't escape by boat because they didn't have a Log Pose. Their fate rested in the hands of pirate that she'd personally attempted to kill on multiple occasions. He was perfectly within his rights to tell them to drop dead and walk off. That's what she would do in his situation. There was no way a dirty pirate would be willing to save their lives, especially after whatever had happened when she had been hypnotized.
Ricky took a deep breath and surprised Ms. Valentine by saying something she never expected, "What did you have in mind?"
"I… I don't know," Ms. Goldenweek admitted. "Everything I have of value is in that backpack. There's some tea and a Transponder Snail back at Mr. 3's hideout but I doubt you'd be interested in that."
"I'm not that big of a fan of tea," Ricky admitted. "I prefer booze."
Ms. Goldenweek looked over at Ms. Valentine and then down at herself, "You already took everything else we have of value. Would you take our clothes?"
"As much as I like that cloud shirt, it wouldn't fit me," Ricky commented, "And I don't think Nami would care for your fellow agent's dirty dress."
"Like your little girlfriend could ever get her udders into it," Ms. Valentine muttered.
"Ms. Valentine, we're trying to convince him to help us," Ms. Goldenweek reminded her, "Insulting his girlfriend isn't going to help our cause."
"She's not my girlfriend," Ricky objected, "but I would appreciate it if you didn't insult her. Go help her wash the paint off of her dress. I'll think it over while you're gone and tell you my decision when you get back."
Ms. Valentine and Ms. Goldenweek glanced at each other. They had both tried their best to kill him. If they wanted him to save their lives they would need to get back in his good graces. The best way to do that would be to do as they were told.
"Let's go Ms. Valentine," Ms. Goldenweek resolved as she headed off towards the jungle. "There's lake of some sort over this way." Ms. Valentine stood up and held her singed and paint-covered dress in front of her as she walked backwards after Ms. Goldenweek.
Ricky glanced over at the unmoving form of Mr. 5 and started thinking."She seemed genuinely desperate," he thought to himself. "She may have kicked me in the jewels but that's hardly grounds for leaving someone to die."
"They're still enemies," a darker, more cynical part of Ricky pointed out. "Offering to help them is just gift wrapping a chance for them to hurt you."
"She said she didn't care about Baroque Works anymore," Ricky recalled, "Helping them would go a long way in convincing her to leave the company."
"Why would any of them leave?" the cynical part of Ricky countered. "There's chivalry and there's stupidity. With a Captain like Luffy you can't afford to be stupid."
"A Captain like Luffy…" Ricky repeated. "Wait! That's it! Luffy has a way of changing people. He brought out the dreamers in the rest of the crew. Maybe by exposing them to Luffy and the others we can get them thinking of their own dreams and to abandon Baroque Works."
"That's way too risky," the cynical part of Ricky stated. "It's one thing to give the girl back her paints. It's another entirely to take them off the island on the Going Merry. The blonde and the bomb man could sink the ship with a thought."
"But neither of them can swim," Ricky argued. "They can't afford to sink the ship while they're on it. And during that time they'll be exposed to the spirit of the Straw Hats."
"They'll betray your crew," the cynical part of Ricky insisted. "Letting them on the ship would allow them to learn the crew's weaknesses. There's a Warlord out to kill you're crew. Don't help him by letting his henchmen do it for him."
"They won't be his henchmen when we're through with them," Ricky countered. "I have faith in people and I have faith in my Nakama."
"You also talk to yourself," the cynical Ricky pointed out. "Not only talk, you've been arguing with yourself for the last two minutes. Should the crew's safety really depend on you?"
"I won't leave them here to die," Ricky decided. "She said that when Crocodile learns they failed their mission he'll try to have them assassinated. That means they're desperate enough to agree to anything. I'll just make them promise not to damage the ship or hurt my Nakama."
"You're being foolish," the cynical Ricky snapped.
"I'm being optimistic," Ricky replied. "Anyone can be great when given the chance. A little time on the Going Merry and some exposure to the Straw Hat mentality will show them that they can be more than lackeys. My Nakama gave me a second chance after they learned about my blood-crazed rampage. These three should get a second chance to make something out of their lives." Ricky eyed the still unconscious form of Mr. 5. "I'll just have to make sure to keep an eye on them while they're on the ship."
Ms. Goldenweek and Ms. Valentine eventually returned. Ms. Valentine's dress was damp but it was free of paint and the blonde was idly scratching her side.
"Did you come up with anything?" Ms. Goldenweek inquired, clearly trying to hide her nervousness. "I'll do just about anything for those paints."
"I'll do you one better," Ricky announced. "I won't just give you the paints, I'll help you get off the island safely."
"You will?" Ms. Goldenweek questioned, "How?"
"If you promise to stay out of the war in Alabasta and not to use any of your abilities on my Nakama, I'll convince my crew to take you off the island with us," Ricky offered.
"Can you really do that?" Ms. Goldenweek asked hopefully. Those two conditions were nothing compared to staying alive.
"As long as you tell them you'll stay out of the war, I can do the rest," Ricky answered. "The other Officer Agents would never suspect that you'd leave the island on your enemies' ship."
"There's just the drawback of being on a ship full of mangy pirates," Ms. Valentine pointed out.
"You'll find that my ship can be very relaxing," Ricky informed her. "And with the combined abilities of my Nakama, you couldn't be safer."
Ms. Goldenweek and Ms. Valentine shared a glance, they didn't want to die. And that's what would happen if they stayed here. Mr. 2 or the Mr. 1 pair would be sent here to assassinate them. Ms. Goldenweek's plan of hypnotizing a bird and flying to safety was dangerous but One Eye had offered them a much safer way off the island on his ship. All it would cost them was agreeing keep out of Baroque Work's operations in Alabasta. But once their failure reached Mr. 0 the other Baroque Works would try to kill them on sight, so they'd be lying low and pointedly avoiding Baroque Works anyway. They'd be safer if Baroque Works didn't know where they were and the last place anyone would look for them would be with the enemies they'd failed to eliminate.
Ms. Goldenweek tilted her head to the side and Ms. Valentine nodded prompting Ms. Goldenweek to nod back. Having finished their silent conversation, they turned back to Ricky.
"Do we have a deal?" Ricky asked as he held out his hand.
"Deal," Ms. Goldenweek agreed as she reached out and shook his hand. "We'll stay away from Baroque Works and in exchange you'll give us safe passage off the island in your ship. And during which we won't use our abilities on your friends."
"Glad we could come to an agreement," Ricky resolved. "Wake the nose-picker and update him on the situation. Then we'll meet up with my Nakama."
Ms. Valentine's mind was a buzz as she idly scratched an annoying bug bite on her side and went to wake her partner. If their roles were reversed she'd have walked off laughing and left him stranded. But despite their attempts to kill him he was offering them safe passage off the island. Just what had happened while she was hypnotized? Was this pirate always this trusting? Although with an organization of assassins soon to be out for their blood they had little choice but to accept. The question was: would they survive on a pirate ship with this crew of freaks?
-x-
This is just a little scene showing Ricky's thought process before deciding to give three enemy Baroque Works Agents a second chance by bringing them along on the Going Merry. As you can see, he had the matter in hand from the beginning and the only person he really had to convince was himself. Also, Jun was unconscious the whole time so he never agreed to anything, which made it easier for him to betray them in Rain Base.
'Till Next Time…
Peace!