Another Nakama Omakes
Disclaimer: One Piece is owned by Funimation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV, Shueisha, Shonen Jump Manga and Eiichiro Oda. No money is being made from this story.
Ms. Goldenweek's Operation: Free Baroque Works VIII
-x-
The moon was overhead as Ayako climbed out of Banchi's carriage followed by the six escapees. "Well, this is it," Ayako announced as she walked up to the Spider's Cafe. "Um... Mana's gonna be really mad at me, I'd better go in first to take the brunt of her anger instead of you guys."
Kreeek... Ayako pushed the swinging doors opened and stepped inside. Sure enough, Mana was seated behind the bar. And she looked pissed.
"Um... hi?" Ayako greeted her.
The blonde's blue-green eyes nearly turned red as she stormed around the counter towards her. "WHERE! HAVE! YOU! BEEN?" she yelled. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED I WAS? 'Mana, I'm going out for tea with a strange man!' WAS THAT SOME KIND OF JOKE? I thought you'd been kidnapped by some pervert! I'VE BEEN WORRIED SICK ABOUT YOU!"
"I... um... got bored," Ayako answered, "Benny came in and we decided to go on an adventure."
"WHO THE HELL IS BENNY?" Mana demanded.
"Oh... uhh... Mr. 2," Ayako replied. "His name's Bentham. I call him Benny. He's my friend."
"And just where is this new friend of yours?" Mana seethed as she clenched her fists, "I've got a few choice words for that jackass too!"
"He's in prison," Ayako told her. Mana blanched. "He stayed behind so that I could escape." Ayako glared at Mana, "So don't you dare insult him!"
"OOH, DON'T YOU GET SNIPPY WITH ME, YOUNG LADY!" Mana snapped at her. "I AM WAY TOO YOUNG TO BE THE MOTHER OF A SNARKY TEENAGED DELINQUENT!"
"Hey, you're not my..." Ayako protested.
"THAT'S IT, YOU'RE GROUNDED!" Mana announced. Ayako tried to protest but Mana steamrolled right over here. "Now you'd better give me a damn good reason why you and Mr. 2 went on some harebrained adventure to a prison, or you'll never set foot out of this café again!"
Kreeek! "They came to break us out." Both Ayako and Mana tensed as Ms. Double Finger walked in and came up on Ayako's right side.
"Hey, give the kid a break, blondie!" Ms. Merry Christmas barked as she walked up on her left. A large shadow fell over Ayako as Mr. 4 stepped up behind her. Lassoo and Mr. 13 slipped between them and stood in front of them while Ms. Friday landed on Ayako's shoulders.
"Um... Benny and I thought that we should break the other agents out of prison so we could give them the second chance that the Straw Hats gave us," Ayako explained. "They have dreams too."
"And in exchange you pissed away your second chance!" Mana pointed out. "I can't have six wanted criminals staying here!"
"What's six more?" Ayako questioned. "That brings the total to eight, nine when Jun visits us." Mana opened her mouth but this time Ayako cut her off. "Benny showed me a recent newspaper. The World Government ignored the fact that the King cleared us. They lumped you, me and Jun with Mr. 3, Benny and Ms. All Sunday as Baroque Works Agents that are still at large."
Mana's eyes narrowed, "Oh, did they? We'll just see about that." She turned towards the back. "I've got a letter to write. You can help yourselves to something to drink." She paused and jabbed her finger at Ayako, "You're still grounded, so you're washing all the dishes."
"Awwww..." Ayako whined.
"By the way, are you hiring?" Ms. Double Finger inquired. "I've got experience running this old place and working the bar."
Mana let out a sudden laugh, "Kyahahahaha! That gives me an even better idea! You're hired!" Ms. Double Finger grinned as she sashayed her way around the bar while Mana ran to the back.
Ayako looked back at Mr. 4, "You know, we plan to gain publicity by using a delivery service." The large man's eyes widened and the vulture perched on her shoulders ruffled her wings.
-x-
Black Cage Hina stalked across the badlands flanked by Jango and the real Fullbody as well as fifty of her Black Cage Corps.
"So you're saying there were criminals here under our noses all this time?" Igaram the Captain of the Royal Guard questioned as he led her towards the Spider's Café.
"Yes," Hina answered, "And Hina's here to take them away." They reached the Spider's Café. Hina raised her hand and signaled her men, they broke into two groups and in less than thirty seconds the café was surrounded. "Fullbody, my snail…" Fullbody handed Hina a receiver then lifted a special Transponder Snail with a speaker on its mouth up over his head. Hina brought the receiver to her mouth and addressed her new captives. "Attention all Baroque Works Agents, you are all under arrest. We have the café surrounded. Come out and surrender yourselves immediately or we will be forced to take you by force. This is your first and only warning." To Hina's slight disappointment, they actually complied.
Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine came out first, followed by Mr. 4, Ms. Merry Christmas and their dog. The otter Mr. 13 flew out on the vulture Ms. Friday then came Ms. Double Finger and finally the elusive Ms. Goldenweek. Jackpot! Hina had captured almost all the remaining agents in one go. The only one missing was Nico Robin, Ms. All Sunday.
Hina blinked in surprise when Igaram walked passed her and stood with the agents with his hands up. "Captain Igaram, what are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm afraid I'm a former Baroque Works Agent as well," Igaram confessed, "I'm… maaa maaa maaaa… surrendering myself."
"And so am I," the doors swung opened and Princess Nefertari Vivi walked out followed by a man in green with a crown and a large dark skinned woman in a red and white checkered dress.
"P-Princess Vivi..." Hina stammered in surprise. Could she arrest the Princess and Captain of the Alabasta Royal Guard for associating with criminals? "Hina's confused..."
"Then allow me to explain," Princess Vivi offered. "Four years ago, I discovered a secret criminal organization known as Baroque Works. I had Igaram write to the Marines for aid in flushing them out. They told us to direct our query to the resident Warlord Sir Crocodile and that he had the World Government's full confidence."
"And how exactly were we supposed to know that he was a traitor?" Hina questioned.
"You weren't," Princess Vivi agreed, "So we followed your advice and contacted him. Naturally, he claimed to have used all his resources but found no signs of such an organization. He assured us that everything was fine. But I knew what I'd found so Igaram and I managed to infiltrate the organization so we could get to the bottom of things ourselves. We became Frontier Agents and were given the codenames Ms. Wednesday and Mr. 8." Vivi motioned to the man and woman beside her, "These two were our former partners Mr. 9 and Ms. Monday. We spent years undercover in Baroque Works until eventually we discovered that the man pulling all the strings was Alabatsa's hero, Sir Crocodile. Since he had the World Government's 'full confidence' I knew that I had to deal with the situation myself. I was fortunate enough to meet an incredible group of pirates who not only agreed to return me home but said they'd fight Crocodile for me."
"So you admit to aligning yourself with pirates!" Hina noted.
"Of course I did," Princess Vivi answered, "The Marines couldn't be trusted to handle things. You left us alone while a Civil War was threatening to break out. The only Marine that was present in my country when it mattered was Captain Smoker, and he was only there because he'd followed the pirates to my country from Loguetown."
"The Marines have made a point to never get involved with politics," Hina insisted.
"Very good then," Princess Vivi replied with a smile, "Then since you weren't involved with the discovery of Baroque Works, you weren't involved with the investigation of Baroque Works, you weren't involved with the situation in his country that was caused by Baroque Works and despite popular belief, you weren't involved with the defeat of Baroque Works, it would only make sense that you aren't involved sentence of Baroque Works."
Crap. Clever Princess. Hina had been tricked.
"With that being the case," Princess Vivi continued as she pulled a roll of parchment out from somewhere in her robes, "This is an official document signed by my father the King of Alabasta and myself on how we have decided to deal with the agents of the former criminal organization known as Baroque Works."
Hina could already tell that this wasn't going to end well. Princess Vivi unrolled the parchment and began to read it aloud. "'The Baroque Works Officer Agents formerly known as Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine have been granted a full pardon for eliminating a terrible bomb that would have killed a million people. In gratitude for their services to Alabasta, Mr. 5 has been granted admittance to the Royal Guard and Ms. Valentine was awarded ownership of the Baroque Works property known as the Spider's Café.'" Princess Vivi looked up from the document. "If you have any questions about the bomb situation, you can ask Captain Smoker and his two officers. Once again, I was left to deal with a situation caused by Baroque Works while your Marines at most simply gave my pirate friends directions."
Princess Vivi went back to the document, "'The former Baroque Works Agents known as Ms. Double Finger, Mr. 4, Ms. Merry Christmas, their dog Lassoo, Mr. 13 and Ms. Friday are sentenced to three years of community service as punishment for their crimes against Alabasta. Their sentence will be served under a probationary status at the Spider's Café where a monthly stipend will be provided to cover their basic living expenses.'" Princess Vivi looked up again. "My father and I always preferred the notion of rehabilitation over incarceration. We decided that their time could be best spent helping the country that they nearly helped to destroy."
Damn it. Damn it! DAMN IT! Hina just lost eight potential prisoners. But there was still one left that she wanted.
"Eh-hem," Princess Vivi cleared her throat before she returned to the thrice damned document, "'The former Baroque Works Frontier Agents known as Mr. 9 and Ms. Monday are to be given a reduced sentence of one year of community service to be served at the Spider's Café on account that they proved to be friends of the crown and risked their lives to save the Princess from an assassination attempt by two Officer Agents." Mr. 5 began to whistle while Ms. Valentine suddenly found her nails very interesting. Princess Vivi looked up again, "Not only did these two save my life but over the years that we spent together at Whisky Peak, they became my friends. They have earned my trust so they are going to serving in more of a supervisory role during their sentence at the Spider's Café. They will be sending me reports on the status of the others."
"And what about her," Hina growled as she jabbed her finger towards Ms. Goldenweek. "She's the escape artist that broke six prisoners out of my prison. She and a wanted criminal infiltrated my ship, assaulted my men, assaulted me, broke into my prison, freed six prisoners and then she escaped with them on a stolen Marine ship. She's clearly still displaying criminal tendencies."
"You're right," Princess Vivi agreed, "But she also was the first to abandon the organization, aided my friends in locating Crocodile's bomb and aided in the defeat of a Baroque Works Officer Agent." Mr. 5 started to whistle again. "Clearly someone needs to keep an eye on her. I nominated myself." Princess Vivi raised the document again, "'The former Baroque Works Officer Agent known as Ms. Goldenweek will be sentenced to one year community service to be served as the Princess' personal assistant.' My country is recovering from a Civil War, something your Marines are once again not involved with, so I need all the help I can get. I'll keep a close eye on this one."
And just like that it was over. Hina had lost all nine of her prisoners, eleven if she included the two Frontier Agents and thirteen if she included the Princess and the Captain of the Royal Guard.
"As you can see, I have the matter well in hand," Princess Vivi announced as she rolled up the document and tucked it away. "I'd offer you and your Marines something to drink but I'm afraid the Spider's Café isn't quite up and running yet. You'll have to wait for the Grand Reopening like everyone else. I trust that you and your men don't need an escort back to your ship?"
"No, we'll find our way back," Hina conceded. "We're done here, men. Return to the ship." Princess Vivi nodded and the thirteen former Baroque Works Agents made their way back into the café while Jango, Fullbody and the Black Cage Corps turned and headed for the shore. But after such a humiliating defeat, Hina couldn't resist at least one last parting shot.
"Oh, little mouse," Hina called after the escape artist, "I thought you'd like to know what happened to your little friend… Bentham." The girl stopped. "He was sent to Impel Down along with Crocodile, Daz Bones and Galdino. I pulled some strings and made sure to inform them of your little friend's history of infiltrating and escaping prisons. He's going to be spending the rest of his short, miserable life on Level Three, the Starvation Hell. Normally it's reserved for criminals with bounties over fifty million berries… but we both know that he's a special case. While he's there he'll be exposed to immense heat and deprived of food and water. He'll be kept on the brink of death and in a mere month he'll be a cracked shell of his former self."
The Black Cage Corps had made some headway and the other former agents were all inside. They were alone now. Hina walked up to the girl and took note of her horrified expression.
"And you know what the best part is?" Hina asked, "There's nothing you can do to help him." Hina reached out and cupped the girl's chin so she could stare her dead in the eye. "Because the second you set one toe out of line, Hina will be there to catch you." Hina released the girl's chin then turned and followed after her men.
Call her cruel, but after having her ship infiltrated right under her nose, being stripped to her underwear, having her prison's reputation tarnished, being stripped to her underwear again in front of thirty of her men and then only catching one of the Baroque Works Agents that had caused it all, she'd been utterly humiliated. Now the Princess had gone and pulled the rug out from under her and snatched her prisoners away from her while she was forced to stand there stupidly while she was humiliated again. After being utterly humiliated twice by two girls half her age, Hina had to take her victorious where she could get them.
Ayako watched the woman almost saunter after her men, her eyes narrowed and she whispered, "That's what you think."
The tale of 'Escape Artist' Ayako had truly begun.
-x-
And that's the end. Why'd I write this? Three reasons, 1. I love the character of Ms. Goldenweek. Operation: Meet Baroque Works is my favorite cover story because it gives you a glimpse at the hidden potential of an often overlooked side character. 2. Fifth Rider of Armageddon used Miss Goldenweeek in Spiraling Shark and it lit a fire under my ass to finally write out this idea that I've had for a couple years now. 3. Let's just say, further down the line in the story a certain robot bear sends a certain pirate of my own creation back to Alabasta. He'll be looking for help in breaking into a certain prison to save someone and Ayako will jump at the chance to go along and free her captive friend. I've got big things planned for 'Escape Artist' Ayako.
'Till Next Time...
Peace!