Finally off that damn winter island, huh boyos?
Also I have no reason for posting this at midnight my time. I just forgot to do it.
Enjoy!
As usual, the second that the crew was out of danger the Going Merry descended into chaos.
Luffy had a pair of chopsticks stuck in his nose and mouth, making his face stretch into an odd and uncomfortable looking position. This caused both Usopp and Chopper to fall into a fit of laughter, while Johnny and Yosaku did their best to hold the laughter in as they guarded Marianne, who looked stunned. Zoro had already fallen asleep, Nojiko watched with a bemused smile as Nami attacked Luffy for trying to get her to put chopsticks up her nose, and Vivi just laughed along as she caressed Karoo.
"Can we just focus for two seconds?" Nami demanded as she ripped the chopsticks out of Luffy's nose. "And get this out of your nose!"
"But it's funny!" Luffy countered angrily, glaring at her. Nami looked totally exasperated, and Vivi couldn't blame her. She seemed the only one trying to calm everyone down.
"Go on, give it a go Chopper!" Usopp encouraged, a pair of chopsticks in his hands as he goaded the reindeer on.
"Ahoy, idiots!" Sanji shouted, reemerging from the kitchen with two trays full of mugs. "We've got to celebrate the additions to the crew! Gather round!" As the crew scrambled for a drink, Vivi noted that Sanji purposefully grabbed several away and delivered them to the ladies, herself included. She could only assume, as she took hers, that he had added his own flare to theirs so it didn't taste as bad. As everyone got their drinks, Luffy stood atop a nearby barrel and cleared his throat.
"Attention, you guys!" He shouted, making everyone look over. "It's time we celebrate our brand new addition to the crew! Chopper, it's so good to have you!" The reindeer blushed a deeper red than Vivi thought possible as everyone cheered his addition, opting to shove his head into his hat in embarrassment. "Not to mention our new friend Marianne!" There was considerable less excitement at this, but the pig-tailed girl didn't seem to be affected by it much. Vivi still wasn't a fan of trusting her, but she knew it had been Luffy's decision, not hers.
"Speaking of Marianne," Nami said before they could continue their celebrations. "What exactly is it do you know about Mr. Zero and his plan?" Marianne shifted a bit at this, looking uncomfortable.
"I don't want to act like I know a whole lot," she replied. "Because I'd be lying. That being said, I do know Mr. Zero's been in Alabasta for a long time. I know that he's behind the civil war there, in case you hadn't figured that out already." Vivi frowned and clenched her fists at this. So what she'd found out was true. He was at fault for that.
"So Crocodile is behind it after all," Sanji said as he lit a cigarette. "Interesting." Marianne's face paled at this.
"C-Crocodile?" She asked weakly.
"That's who you've been working for," Nami told her. "I guess the rumours that you guys didn't know your boss were true." Marianne swallowed hard, but nodded.
"They were," she said. "Speaking of that Mr. Zer- Crocodile called us on Little Garden. He wanted us to meet with him in Alabasta, but that was because he assumed that we'd dealt with you guys. No thanks to Mr. Three, of course." Despite the venom in her words, Vivi noted the former agent seemed sad when she spoke of her former ally. "We may be able to use that."
"How so?" Nojiko asked as she shed her winter jacket. "The other three are supposed to be with you, and they're no where to be found." Marianne nodded thoughtfully at this, rubbing at her chin.
"Sorry, but what's going on?" Chopper asked, sounding lost.
"Vivi's actually a Princess," Yosaku said as he gestured to her and Karoo. "Her country's been at war with itself for a few tears. Big baddie named Crocodile is in charge of it. We gotta take him out."
"Even though I never knew my boss was one of the Warlords..." Marianne said, trailing off.
"Warlord?!" Chopper screeched. "I knew I recognised the name!"
"Don't make me remember," Usopp said grimly, looking despondent.
"Who cares who he is," Luffy said flatly. "He's gotten in the way, we take him down. Simple as that."
"I admire your tenacity, Luffy." Vivi said with a weak smile. "It makes this a little easier for me." Karoo quacked, and Luffy laughed.
"Karoo thinks so too," Chopper said. "He's glad Luffy is helping you guys." Silence fell on the Straw Hats, all of them staring at Chopper.
"You can understand him?" Vivi asked incredulously. Chopper looked confused.
"Well, yeah." He said. "I'm still an animal at heart, so i understand their speech." Karoo quacked and jumped to his feet with joy. "Karoo seems glad someone can actually understand him too." There was more silence following this, before the crew erupted in glee again.
"You really are the best Chopper!" Luffy said as he picked the reindeer up and twirled him around, the Doctor overcome with embarrassment again.
"I-It's not like your approval means anything to be, asshole!"
Naturally, it all went to hell in the morning. Again.
"Let me ask one more time," Sanji said with an angry scowl on his face. "Did you or did you not eat all of our rations?"
"No," Luffy replied immediately, face reminiscent of a small child lying through their teeth. Sanji saw through this of course, kicking the Captain in the head and shouted obscenities while the other men on the crew hastily chowed down on their portion in silence to avoid punishment. It had been the Captain's idea after all, he could take the fall for it.
"Better catch some fish, you guys." Nojiko said as she rubbed the bridge of her nose as Luffy groaned. "Or else we'll starve on the way there."
"On it," Usopp said, Chopper fishing next to him.
"What do you mean he's like a hero?" The crew all turned to Vivi, Marianne, Johnny and Yosaku as the bald swordsman asked this question. Vivi just nodded as everyone else approached.
"The Warlords are government sanctioned pirates," she said. "No one cares what it is they get up too, as long as they're protected. And from what I know, Crocodile does a good job of that."
"Which is the perfect cover," Marianne continued from in between the two swordsmen constantly guarding her. "No one would ever suspect the great Crocodile of doing something so nefarious."
"What exactly is he doing?" Nojiko asked. "You never said." Marianne nodded, eating her crackers quietly. How they'd escaped Luffy's assault on the stores, Nojiko would never know.
"He's working to create an ideal country," Marianne said. "What that means is anyone's guess, but everyone in Baroque Works works for him in the hopes that they'll have a good standing when he does create this country."
"On top of Alabasta," Vivi hissed, looking angry. Marianne nodded.
"Precisely," she said. "I can only assume he's funding the insurgents behind the governments back in order to sow chaos. Then once the dust clears he takes what he wants. Presumable after the whole country goes up in smoke."
"We'll stop him," Luffy said, having recovered from his beating. "Isn't a problem."
"Doubtful," Marianne replied. "He'll most likely deal with any of us with zero issue, so we'd need a good plan to get back at him. Not to mention that he can use his Warlord privileges to just put out a personal bounty on us."
"He can do that?!" Usopp screamed. "We're dead meat!"
"He's essentially with the Marines, so yeah." Marianne supplied. "Now that I know Mr. Zero and Crocodile are one in the same, it makes sense. Crocodile is well known in these seas. Pretty decent Warlord from what I've heard. All he's gotta do is say we're dangerous and need to be dealt with, and anyone looking for some chunk change will come knocking. Not just Baroque Works, either. I'm talking anyone who wants money. The only advantage we have right now is he thinks you lot are dead."
"Wait, what?" Nami asked. "Why does he think that?" Marianne let out a soft chuckle.
"Part of Mr. Three's glorious plan," she said. "He told Mr. Zero after you defeated us on Little Garden that you were dead. His plan was to kill you before you reached Alabasta, so that it wasn't technically a lie. Now that that's fallen through, Mr. Zero will learn eventually it wasn't true. Only upset is he doesn't know yet."
"Then we should use that to our advantage, right?" Vivi asked. "I mean, if he thinks we're dead than he's bound to have lowered his guard a little."
"Doubt it," Marianne replied as he chewed on her crackers. "After all, I didn't even know who he was until last night, and I'm one of the top ranking agents. I imagine he's probably being more cautious then ever before now that his plan is coming to fruition. I would be."
The crew sat in silence for a moment, taking in what they'd just heard. For a moment no one spoke, but the silence was soon interrupted by what sounded like an underwater explosion. Looking forward, Vivi saw that the ocean was boiling ahead of them, spewing steam into the air.
"What's that?" Yosaku asked in confusion.
"Hot spot," Nami answered.
"Do we need sunscreen?" Johnny hypothesised. Nami laughed at this.
"No, silly." she replied. "It just means there's an underwater volcano down there. It's spewing up fresh magma and boiling the water."
"There are volcano's underwater?" Chopper asked incredulously.
"Yep," Nami said as the ship approached the hot spot. "In a few million years, a new island will probably have formed here for the magma being spewed out. Cool, huh?"
"Good thing we have our trusty geologist," Nojiko teased, punching Nami's shoulder lightly. Nami blushed a little.
"I made it a habit to learn all things about the ocean," she said pointedly. "So of course I know about hot spots."
"Do we avoid it?" Sanji asked.
"Nah, we'll be fine. Get back to work, we'll pass through it before you know it."
And so they did. The crew returned to their positions as the Going Merry passed over the hot spot, the only thing it changed was the occasionally complaint that the steam was making someone sweat. That was, of course, until Luffy thought he hooked a fish for them. Vivi hadn't been looking, but she heard some of them scream.
"We caught an okama!" Luffy screeched. Vivi had no idea what that meant, but as she rushed over she soon found out.
Luffy pulled a man onto the Merry, a man wearing a bright pink coat with swans attached to his shoulders. She could see why Luffy had cried out in surprise, as the mans face was covered in makeup that the water was washing off. How had they fished up some unfortunate soul in drag makeup?
"Thank you so much!" The man shouted as they finally pulled him aboard. "To think my life was saved my mere pirates! My life is in your debt."
"What the hell were you doing swimming, anyway?" Nami demanded as he wiped at his face, which only screwed up his makeup more.
"Well I wasn't planning on it," he said. "I just ended up in the drink. And seeing as I cannot swim, it was very unfortunate."
"You can't?" Luffy asked. "Why's that?"
"Why because I ate a Devil Fruit!" The man replied. This seemed to garner Luffy's interest.
"Oooh!" He said, stars in his eyes. "Which one did you eat?! What can you do?!" The man laughed.
"Allow me to show you!" He shouted.
With this, he slammed an open palm into Luffy, which sent him flying back through a wall.
"Luffy!" Zoro shouted, unsheathing his swords.
"How dare you hurt Big Bro!" Johnny and Yosaku shouted, also unsheathing their swords. Vivi noted at this moment Marianne had disappeared. The man laughed.
"Fear not!" He announced. "It's all apart of the show! Watch this!" Vivi watched in completely disbelief as the man brought the hand that struck Luffy up to his own face.
And he changed into Luffy.
"What the hell!" Luffy shouted as he reappeared from the cabin. "Just what the hell do you think you're-?! Woah!" Luffy's anger immediately turned to glee as he saw what happened. "You're me! What is this?!" The man just laughed.
"You can call me Bon Clay!" He replied. "I ate the Clone-Clone Fruit, and have gained the ability to take on the appearance of any man, women or child! This includes their strengths and abilities, barring other Devil Fruit powers of course." With this, he ran a hand across the whole crew save for her, as she was watching from the railing above. Vivi watched as he turned into everyone one at a time; from Luffy to Usopp to Chopper to Nojiko to Nami. Everyone watched in surprise, not sure what to say.
"This is so cool!" Luffy shouted as Bon Clay laughed in Nami's voice. "You're awesome!"
"Indeed!" Clay agreed. "I can remember every single person I've ever copied. I even copy their bodies, not just faces!"
"He then flashed the entire male crew with Nami's body, and Vivi flinched at this. This wasn't good.
Everyone had their own reaction of course. Zoro, Chopper and Karoo barely seemed phased, while Luffy, Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku's eyes nearly popped out of their skulls from the view. Sanji, though, hadn't been looking at the time. And by the time he turned to catch a glimpse, Nami had already smashed her fist into Bon Clay's skull and sent him into the dirt as himself.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Nami fumed angrily as the men gaped. "Don't just show people my naked body!"
"Show me your naked body, Nami-swan!" Sanji pleaded with tears in his eyes. "I didn't get to see! Show me again Mr. Bon Clay!" Sanji also received a kick to the skull, sending him into the same hole in the cabin Luffy had made.
"You're so beautiful Big Sis Nami!" Johnny said as he saluted, tears flowing out from behind his glasses.
"Truly a sight to behold!" Yosaku agreed.
"Don't think being nice is going to save your asses!" Nami shouted as she turned on them. "Both of you are gonna scrub the deck until I can see my damn reflection in it and - do you really think I'm pretty?" Vivi snorted as Nami's vanity showed itself. She had no doubt the poor guys were still gonna scrub the deck, but at least they'd calmed her down somewhat.
"Ship starboard," Nojiko said, breaking everyone out of their respective arguments. "That your guys, Clay?" Vivi turned her gaze to lock, seeing that a sip was indeed coming toward them. It was the same sickly pink as the coat Bon Clay was wearing, and the figurehead was a swan. Yes, it was definitely his guys.
"It is indeed!" Bon Clay shouted, jumping onto the railing of the ship as his own approached. "My dear pirate friends, I cannot thank you enough for your help! If our paths cross again one day, I would love to see you again! After all, we're friends now!"
"Don't go!" Luffy shouted with over-dramatic tears in his eyes. "Join our crew!"
"I cannot!" Bon Clay replied, also crying now. "I have prior obligations! However, know this! We have formed a bond here today, all of us! We will meet again, I know it!" With this the man jumped ship back to his own, and they began to pull away. "Let's go, men! We have our mission!"
"Yes sir, Mr. Two Bon Clay!" The crewed shouted, pulling off into the distance quietly.
The Merry, however, once again exploded in chaos.
"Did they just say Mr. Two?!" Usopp shouted.
"That was Mr. Two?!" Luffy asked in disbelief. "But he was so cool!"
"How did he not notice us?!" Nami asked. "Vivi was right there the whole time!" Vivi didn't know either. Surely if he was so close to Baroque Works inner circle he knew something right?
"I'd heard rumours about him," she said. "That he was very powerful, even if a little...weird."
"You mean ga-" Zoro was cut off as Nojiko clocked him in the head.
"So now we know," she said. "Except his little parlour trick is a problem now. He got to touch all our faces."
"So?" Chopper asked.
"It means he can turn into any one of us," Nojiko said. "If we aren't careful, he might trick us on the battlefield. Turn into Nami and find me, for example. I wouldn't be able to trust her. Er, him. Whatever. Point is that's not good."
"Nojiko-swan has a point," Sanji agreed. "Not unless we stick together at all times, we can't trust each other. And...Wait. Where's Marianne?"
It was at this moment the rest of the crew noticed the former agent no longer anywhere on the deck.
"She's gone!" Yosaku screeched in surprise. "We only looked away for a second!"
"She probably got on board Mr. Two's ship!" Usopp shouted in fear. "She betrayed us!"
"I'm right here." Everyone turned to watch Marianne step carefully out of the hole Luffy had formed in the cabin, munching on more crackers. Vivi spared a thought to wonder where she was getting them. "Did you think I'd stand out where Mr. Two could easily identify me? No thanks."
"You knew that was him?" Nojiko asked.
"Yes," she answered quickly. "I thought that was obvious." Nobody responded, so she continued. "Look, I couldn't say anything because if I did I was risking us being found out. We were already playing risky with Princess Saviour over here being around. So I hid until he left."
"Well now what then?" Nami demanded. "He's got a copy of all of us save you!"
"Guess you guys can trust me now, huh?" Marianne asked. No one laughed. "It was a joke, chill out. Mr. Two's ability is easy to bypass. Watch." Everyone watched as Marianne walked up to Luffy, pulling out a marker. She pulled out his left arm, drawing an X on his forearm.
"There," she said. "Problem solved."
"How?" Luffy asked, inspecting the X.
"Because Mr. Two's ability only copies appearances at the time of his first touch," Marianne said. "So if our appearance changes after we've been copied..."
"He shows up how we looked before," Nojiko finished, a smile on her face. "That's smart, Marianne."
"It's nothing," The painter replied, hiding her burning cheeks underneath her hat. "Now, come and get one, all of you. So we know who's real and who isn't when the time comes."
At the same time, as the Straw Hats continued on route to Alabasta, there was another happening in the very same leg of the sea. However, it involved neither the Straw Hats nor any of their friends. Some ways beyond them, sat a certain ship with a 3 emblazoned on the side. Next to it sat several Navy ships, all attached to it.
"This is all your fault, Mr. Three!" Ms. Valentine's shrill angry voice came. "Why did we get so close?!"
"How was I supposed to know that the Navy was around here?!" Mr. Three countered. "I thought we'd be in the clear!"
"Right," Mr. Five complained. "Because there's nothing suspicious about our ship."
Currently, the three 'former' agents were tied to the mast of one of the Navy ships, seastone cuffs around all their wrists. It had happened in the blink of an eye, really. The ships had come close, and suddenly they were beset on by Marines, and they'd been cuffed. Taken captive, but by who? Who was the Captain here?
They soon got their answer as the cabin to one of the door opened. A massive man came out of the cabin, several cigars in his mouth. Ms. Valentine recognised him, he'd led the Marines in their charge. He walked up to them and knelt down before them.
"Let me guess," he said as his cigars stayed in his mouth. "Baroque Works?"
"H-Huh?" Mr. Three said. "What do you mean?"
"You're with Baroque Works," The Captain clarified. "Aren't you?"
"We have no idea what you're talking about," Mr. Five replied. "We were just on our way to-"
"Cut the crap," The Captain said as he grabbed Mr. Five's skull. "You already got identified. No need to hide it."
"Identified?" Ms. Valentine demanded. "What moron incorrectly identified us?" The Captain chuckled, stepping aside for them to see.
All three agents laid eyes on the cuffed Mr. Eleven, who chuckled weakly at them.
"Hiya guys," he said. "Long time no see."
"Now, here's what's gonna happen." The Captain said. "You're gonna give me all the info on your little crime org, and then you'll help me take in down."
"And who exactly said we were gonna help you?" Mr. Three demanded.
"I did," the man said. "I'm Smoker, by the way. The guy who might be able to sway your level sentencing you'll serve in Impel Down. Now, start talking."
One thing at a time. I will try to do Alabasta quickly though. As quick as I can anyway.