Chapter 21
Canard à l'Orange

Ace and Eli soon found Zoro sitting comfortably on the edge of a roof. The young man was drinking a bottle of alcohol while observing the street below.

"Mr. Bushido !" Eli called out cheerfully.

Of course, the name earned her a heavy glare from the swordsman, or perhaps it was the chirpy tone of her voice.

"Yo," Ace greeted, sitting next to him.

The green-haired young man grunted some kind of greeting and handed him his bottle, but Eli intercepted it on the spot.

Eli thanked the swordsman before swallowing down the fiery liquid. The fire-jump she had just experienced had sobered her up so violently, she actually needed a drink to snap back. The burning sensation in her throat made her wince, yet she welcomed it and took another gulp. The jump might have been quite enjoyable if Ace had just warned her beforehand. She glanced at him, taking a mental note to be more on her guard from now on. It seemed that mischief was one of his new characteristics. She handed him the bottle, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

"So, who are the two newcomers ?" Ace asked.

He was referring to a tall, dark-skinned man with sunglasses, and a blond woman who wore a short dress and boots and carried a bright green umbrella.
They were talking to Miss Wednesday and Igarupoi.

Zoro shrugged. "Don't know."

"There are spies among us and the boss sent us here to eliminate them," the dark-skinned man said as they listened from the roof. "Those people know the boss's real identity, and that shouldn't be allowed."

Eli smirked observing them. She was right; boots and sunglasses were a must for a secret-agent look.

"The betrayers are the people who have secretly disappeared from Alabasta..." the woman specified.

Interesting... Eli thought. First secret agents, and now double agents... This was getting more and more exciting.

The pirates watched as the mysterious duo approached Igarupoi and Miss Wednesday, stopping before them.

"I won't let you touch her !" Igarupoi yelled, shooting several cannonballs at the duo with his saxophone. The explosion created a large wall of smoke. He swung around to look at Miss Wednesday beside him. "Escape, NOW !!"

However, before the blue-haired girl could do anything, the umbrella woman kicked her in the head with an annoying, high-pitched laugh.

And the smoke was already dissipating.

"The betrayers are Igaram, the leader of the royal guard of Alabasta, and the princess of Alabasta, Neftari Vivi," the dark-skinned man stated sharply while showing a picture of Miss Wednesday. "And the boss ordered us to kill you both."

Eli's eyes widened. A princess, too ?! The situation was getting more and more interesting.

The man then put a finger in his nose, took out a booger and flicked it swiftly toward Igarupoi, or was it Igaram now? creating a mighty explosion.

"His boogers are really dangerous !" Zoro commented in awe.

"This is just... gross !" Eli winced.

Miss Wednesday, whose real name was apparently Vivi, turned and yelled at the top of her voice, "CARUE !" The trio on the rooftop watched in amazement as a large duck came running toward the princess for her to jump onto. They ran away closely followed by booger-man and umbrella-woman.

Igaram looked up at the three pirates. "Pirates ! Please, I beg you ! Protect the princess !!" the man pleaded. "We can pay, I promise ! Just please protect her and take her to Alabasta !"

Eli blinked in disbelief. The man had just tried to kill them and he was now begging them to help him.

"That's very interesting," a familiar female voice said. "How about 1 billion beli ?"

"Nami !" Eli exclaimed cheerily. The three crewmates jumped down to join their navigator.

Damn ! I should have called her Miss Beli, Eli scolded herself.

"Hey, didn't you get drunk and fall asleep ?" Zoro asked.

Nami raised an eyebrow. "How could I sleep peacefully in a town that welcomes pirates ?" She turned to face Igaram. "So, will you pay us 1 billion beli to protect your precious princess ?" she asked, smirking.

"I.. I don't know... I don't have that sort of money !" the man said with hesitation. "But if you take her safely to Alabasta, I'm sure the king would pay you what you ask for."

"Perfect !" Nami said. "Now go, Zoro !" She pointed in the direction where the princess went.

"WHAT ?" Zoro yelled. "Do it yourself !"

Ace and Eli started laughing.

Nami crossed her arms and sneered at the swordsman. "Did you forget ? You still owe me, Zoro."

Zoro frowned. "When was that ? Stop making up stories."

"I lent you 100 000 beli in Loguetown so you could buy your swords, and you still owe me 200 000 beli of interest that you promised," Nami told him with fake sadness in her eyes. "Don't tell me you are the kind of person that can't keep one little promise, Zoro...."

Oh, using the 'promise'... she's playing dirty, Eli thought, amused.

Seeing he could never win this kind of fight against Nami, Zoro left to find the princess mumbling insults.

Ace and Eli laughed again at the girl's manipulative act. She was good, really good. They also silently decided to never borrow money from her even if their lives depended on it.

Assuming that Zoro could handle the task alone, Ace and Eli decided it was time for the rest of the crew to wake up. They walked to the tavern to do so. Apparently, Luffy had already left. Usopp and Sanji were the only ones still sleeping heavily.

"They are so cute," Eli said, seeing Sanji and Usopp lying side by side.

"My dear Elisabeth..." Sanji whispered in his sleep while taking Usopp's hand in his.

Oh god ! Eli slammed her hand on her mouth to keep her laughs inside.

The girl gently elbowed Ace's ribs, and crouched next to the love-cook.

"Sanjiiii," she whispered softly in his ear.

The young man mumbled unintelligible wooing sounds and brought Usopp's hand to his lips. Ace and Eli tried as much as they could to refrain from laughing out loud. Usopp opened his eyes, and quickly became aware of the situation he was in. His waking face instantly morphed into something between shock, fear, and soon rage.

As he started yelling at Sanji, Ace and Eli couldn't hold it anymore. The pair convulsed before the lovely hysterical couple.

After a few minutes, they managed to calm down and the four of them walked slowly to the ship, Sanji and Usopp averting each other's gazes. They stepped over several unconscious hunters on their way.

Ace and Eli told their two crewmates everything that had happened that night, about the trap, the hundred bounty hunters, the real identity of the mayor and Miss Wednesday, and now the pirates' money-fueled mission to take the princess safely to Alabasta.

Eli was surprised that Ace didn't mention the fire-jump. He could have taken this opportunity to ridicule her, yet he didn't. Maybe he was getting softer... but she wouldn't ! The girl remembered she had revenge to take for the time he had read her book, and with the fire-jump added in as well, her wrath would be merciless.

The girl was ecstatic as she reached the part about Princess Vivi. The blue-haired girl was a princess, for frak's sake ! You don't meet a secret agent princess everyday.
She must be every little girl's role model, Eli thought. She couldn't wait to hear the rest of her tale to write it down in her book.

"So, Miss Wednesday is a princess ?" Sanji asked, lighting a cigarette.

"Yup," Eli replied happily.

"I knew it," Sanji said with sparkling eyes. "From the moment I saw her, I knew she was out of the ordinary !" The young man started laughing goofily, his cigarette producing heart-shaped smoke. Eli wondered what perverted images were playing in his head, but she soon decided that it was probably best if she didn't know.

"Who's that... or WHAT'S that ?"

Usopp was pointing at a giant yellow duck sitting there on the Merry.

Eli leaned forward while narrowing her eyes to observe the creature.
"I think... I think it was with the princess."

The duck nodded quickly.

"Oh, did you see that ? He nodded !" Eli babbled, kneeling in front of the animal. She wrapped her arms around the duck's soft, feathery neck and held it tight against her. "You're so cute, you know that ! Oh yes you are, yes you are..." She went on in a cutesy, babying voice.

"I think it's scared of you, Twig," Ace pointed out, looking at the pitiful animal who was trying to get away from the pushy girl.

"No he's not !" Eli let go of the duck and sat on her feet. "Give paw !" she ordered, holding out her hand to the duck.

The frightened animal ran to hide behind Sanji, leaving Eli behind. The girl pouted under Ace's 'I told you so' look.

Sanji slowly turned and observed the duck insistently.
"Duck confit, fois gras, canard à l'orange..." the cook started to list.

The animal gulped. "WAAAAK !" it quacked loudly, running to the other side of the ship and soon pursued by blood-lusty Sanji and hug-lusty Eli.

Thankfully for the duck, the chase was soon interrupted by the rest of the crew's arrival.

"We have to leave !" Nami declared sharply. "Now !"

Preparing the ship's departure, Vivi told them the rest of the story. The princess and the royal guard captain Igaram had infiltrated Baroque Works and found out that their boss had planned to conquer their kingdom, Alabasta. Vivi also told them that the boss was Crocodile, one of the powerful Shichibukai. Luffy grinned at the mention of Mr. Zero's identity.

"A Shichibukai already, huh...? Should be fun."

Eli and Nami both looked at him suspiciously.

"Don't get any ideas yet, Luffy," Eli warned him.

Nami nodded in agreement. "Shichibukai are nothing but trouble. We want to avoid him at all costs."

After a few more moments of preparation, Eli realized something. "Where is Igaram ?" she asked, looking around questioningly.

The princess bit her bottom lip as tears threatened to flow from her eyes. Nami took the poor girl in her arms.

"Igaram is dead..." Nami said quietly, looking down sadly. "He tried to act as a decoy to cover our escape, but his ship exploded." She shook her head slowly. "That means Baroque Works is already after us...."

"We shouldn't linger here then," Ace said gravely.

The pirates left Whiskey Peak with the first light of the day peeking over the horizon to guide them.

"It's a good thing you got away from your pursuers," an unknown female voice said from behind them.

The crew quickly swung around to face a mysterious woman. She was in her mid twenties, tanned and had black straight hair. She wore a seductive dark purple cowboy outfit. The woman had a gentle smile on her face, yet she gave out a malicious aura that froze Eli on the spot.

"You... !" Vivi muttered darkly. "It was you... You killed Igaram !!" Her voice rose to a yell.

"Who is she, and who is her partner ?" Nami asked urgently, looking at the angry princess.

Vivi looked like she was afraid to answer those simple questions. She glanced nervously at the mysterious woman and then looked down, biting her bottom lip.
"...Miss All Sunday," Vivi finally managed to say, looking at Nami, "and her partner is... Mr. Zero... the boss." She was almost trailing off as her head drooped slowly.

Vivi... Eli looked at the princess with sympathetic eyes.

This meant that the mysterious woman was one of the officer agents who were trying to hunt Vivi and the pirates down. Why wasn't she attacking them ? And why was she so relaxed ? The woman was alone against eight pirates, yet she was casually sitting and smiling as if she were a friend.

She's way too arrogant, Eli thought, clenching her fists.

Vivi jerked her head toward the woman. "What do you want from me ?!" she yelled furiously.

Suddenly, Usopp and Sanji stealthily slipped behind the woman with guns in hand and threatened to shoot her down, but they were thrown away instantly by an unknown force.

"Those things are dangerous," Miss All Sunday said nonchalantly. "Don't point them at me."

The crew gawked. So the woman had the power of a devil fruit... but she wasn't the only one. Ace took a fighting stance, glaring at Miss All Sunday. Zoro joined him, hand resting threateningly on a sword hilt.

"Calm down, I'm not here to fight you." She smiled looking at the nervous pirates. "So you are the captain, Monkey D. Luffy, right ?"

Using her power, she picked up Luffy's hat and put it on her head.

"HEY ! Give me back my hat !!" the boy yelled angrily.

"You shouldn't get involved with this princess heedlessly," Miss All Sunday told him, smiling.

Eli frowned and, in a flash, she appeared behind the woman, took the precious straw hat, and gave it back to Luffy.
"Don't touch our captain's hat !" she said sharply.

"My my !" Miss All Sunday laughed. She rested her chin in her hand. "I actually came here to help you," she began. "You see, your next destination is Little Garden. It is a very dangerous place. If you go there, you might not even be able to face Crocodile in Alabasta." The woman tossed some sort of hourglass to Vivi. "Use this Eternal Pose to avoid Little Garden."

Vivi looked up at the woman with disbelief. "Wh... Why are you doing this ?"

The pirates stared at the woman doubtfully.

Must be a trap, Eli thought. Why would the woman help the enemies otherwise... ?

"What a tricky woman," Ace said, folding his arms. "Why don't you tell us why you're helping us first ?"

"It's a trap," Zoro added, frowning.

Miss All Sunday smiled. "Decide on your own if it's a trap or not."

Eli gritted her teeth angrily. The woman was trying to manipulate them with her little mind game.

Without any kind of warning, Luffy took the Eternal Pose from Vivi's hands and smashed it.

"You don't get to decide our route !" he yelled.

Miss All Sunday chuckled. "That's a pity." She walked toward the railing. "If you are lucky enough, we shall meet again..." she said before jumping on a giant turtle riding alongside the Merry.

"Who would want to see you again !" Luffy yelled, glaring at the woman who quickly disappeared in the morning fog.

What a troublesome woman...

to be continued

Betaed by Iwin Ulose.

Three days for this one (busy week end). I hope you liked it :)
Like always, thank you for reviewing !

Nah ThexWhitexPhoenix, lychee is way to good to give up, and now she had discovered the delicious mango liqueur I think she's done for !
Thank you Shibo26 I'm glad you think like me. ! and ? deserve their own space. Join my cause !
Lazy kaaaayyytee ! Thank you for not being too lazy too review though :)
Eli is a mysterious girl iBeautifullyBroken, don't try your aiming skill with alcohol though might not work for everyone.
It was mango this time Art-sama ! Anyway I loved naming Zoro too I wonder why he didn't like Mr. Caterpillar though... I though it fitted perfectly :P