"What the fuck?" Blueno and Marco each exclaimed. Perona looked down at her nails and shrugged.
"So which way to Sweet City, Blue?" she responded.
"Oh you owe me big time! Lucci can never know I was on the Moby Dick, he'll mope about all the missed opportunities," Blueno said resignedly.
"Oi!" Marco shouted
Blueno waved him away, "This way, we have to walk north. You know– that door was closing soon, I'm not sure how long is left but lucky you called when you did. Another day and it's closed." he said.
"So CP9 really can sneak in anywhere?" Marco asked, side eyeing the burly man.
Blueno smirked, "We pride ourselves in being able to blend in anywhere, I'm usually a bartender," he said proudly.
"A bartender, huh? An assassin making drinks is not my idea of a good time" Marco said gulping.
Perona joined in, "Hah, his drinks sure do taste like poison!" she said
Blueno shouted, "Hey! My drinks are popular!", making the other two shrink from the volume and he cleared his throat a couple times,saying,
"But anyways, this better wrap up by tonight because I'll be on the move the rest of the week. New job came in and Spandy is in a tizzy over that girl again."
"Huh, she must be important? Even Mihawk knows about her, all the warlords do,if they can't capture her– they've been told to kill her " Perona said, side-eyeing Blueno for any clues.
Blueno cleared his throat again and adjusted his tie, responding, "Well, I'm not at liberty to say—" ,"Oh c'mon Blueno," Persona said exasperatedly, and Blueno nodded his head towards Marco, who threw his hands up, and Blueno shrugged at the Princess.
"Hmpf, another time Blue, another time," the Princess said, crossing her arms.
"Heh, it's not like we don't know the government is after the "Devil Child" , she's had a bounty on her head since she was just a child," Marco said.
Blueno gasped, "How do you know?" he said, yelling.
"Oh please, we're the Whitebeards! We know everything," Marco said, smirking.
Blueno frowned deeply and Perona laughed. "Oh thank you Marco, I won't forget that face for a while, horo-horo-horo, Blueno your face is priceless," Perona said, still laughing.
"Hmpf, whatever,I'm not confirming or denying," Blueno said haughtily.
"Oh,Bluey, hon, we're passed that," Perona said, wiping a tear from her eye.
"So spill," Perona said with her hands on her hips.
"Yeah, well—" he said, loosening his collar, "Hmm, well, how to put this delicately—only Lucci knows—hey, it's need to know! And we don't really need to know. Lucci only knows because he asked the Old Man, and the old bulldog told him. But it caused a big ruckus and only your grandpa vouching for the grumpy guy got him off the hook. But it's the type of info that could get you killed Pinky, so better for all of us. You never know who's listening," Blueno said whispering, looking around.
"Oh Fuck off Blue," Perona said pushing him.
"Oh alright kids, settle much further, Blue?" Marco said while walking backwards ahead of the other two.
"Ehh, watch your tone, Marco the Phoenix!" Blueno yelled while Perona elbowed him.
Marco smirked, "Pinky loves violence, doesn't she Blue," Marco said snickering.
"She does but with a family like hers I can't really blame Pinky. That family of hers needs multiple, MULTIPLE counselors to sort them all out," Blueno exclaimed.
"Hey! My family's great! Stop bad-mouthing us– fourth rate agent!" Perona said annoyed.
"How the FUCK do you know? Fuku literally did the rankings yesterday!" Blueno yelled.
Perona smirked and shrugged.
"Ugh, well, we're almost there" he told her.
Marco muttered a "Finally" up ahead and Perona jogged up to meet him.
"So, shall we discuss a game plan?" she asked.
"Oh, I thought we were going in guns blazin'" Marco responded, smirking.
"Oh Enel, your smirk is infuriating," Perona said, rolling her eyes.
"Careful, you might just stay cross-eyed," Marco said laughing while Perona pushed him.
"But, I figure we scope out the place first, see what's up. Can you track your brother with haki?" Marco asked.
"Ehh, I can, but my range is really wide right now, I'm still working on it," Perona said blushing.
"Well, I didn't even expect that much, so good for you," Marco said earnestly.
"Hmpf, whatever, fuck you too," Perona said heatedly.
"Hey, I didn't mean any offense," Marco said defensively.
Perona side-eyed him and tilted her head inspecting Marco closely.
"Ugh, you're so arrogant but I guess truce for now" Perona said, holding her hand out while frowning and looking away. Marco chuckled and she turned to look at him furiously, and he said, "gomen, gomen nasai, truce," he said, shaking her hand.
"I can also track my brothers, Ace & Sabo are attached at the hip and I'm sure Lucky isn't far behind. They seemed pretty friendly in Alabasta and those two don't make friends, so believe me, Lucky is gonna be with them," Marco told Perona seriously.
Perona nodded her head, "Lucky doesn't make friends easily either, so I'm sure whatever trouble there is, those three will probably be in the middle of it," she said.
"I know the place a little, so I can lead us around," she continued. Marco nodded his head in assent. They walked quietly the rest of the way and let Blueno lead the way.
After what seemed like hours, Blueno came to stop at an elaborate, gaudy and colorful door.
"This is it. This entrance is located near the forest. It's alive so be careful," Marco looked at him doubtfully and Perona nodded her head, already familiar with the Seducing Woods. It seemed straight out of a fairytale until the flowers tried to kill you, thought Perona.
"Seriously?" Marco asked.
"Yes, it's part of Big Mom's powers, everything on the island is connected to her," Perona said. Marco looked skeptical but asked, "So we can't sneak in without alerting Big Mom?"
"We can try but the Seducing Woods reports to her and the townspeople will report us right away, there are probably officers or a minister stationed nearby. It has to be pretty bad for that distress signal," Perona said.
"Now that I think about it, the forest will try to block our exit, everything moves around out there, so haki will come in handy like you said earlier. We should focus on our brothers to lead us out," she suggested.
"Huh, this should be interesting," Marco responded.
"So, this is the only door I have to Whole Cake Island so if you need a quick exit you'll have to walk through the Woods again and that might be difficult. So good luck!" Blueno screamed and kicked them both through the door. "And fuck both of you, I'm not a taxi!" he said while shaking his fist in the air and slamming the door shut.
A/N: A little snippet of what's to come. Thank you to everyone commenting and liking my story. I really appreciate hearing your words. Some of you are very kind :)