Chapter Thirty: Vivi
Vivi was having a very up and down Thursday.
The good news: Mr. Four had beaten a student bloody with a bat during P.E. and Vivi had managed to get it on video.
The bad news: the student had to be taken to the hospital and Miss Merry Christmas wasn't going to get a chance with him until he regained consciousness, which according to word of mouth, may be a couple of days still.
Vivi didn't have a couple of days. She had until tomorrow before Nami would finish looking through the list of boys, and expect Vivi to have done the same with the girls.
She still hadn't managed to get any evidence against Mr. One, Miss Doublefinger, and Miss All-Sunday yet either. When she got back to class on after P.E., she was in a foul mood. Nami must have picked up on it. She didn't say much and mostly ignored her until the end of the day.
Vivi couldn't seem to ignore Nami, though. When the girl took off at lunch to go somewhere, curiosity made Vivi get up and follow. At first, Vivi thought that maybe Nami was headed off to see that boy that hung around her constantly, Trafalger Water or whatever. But instead she went to Miss All-Sunday's class and fraternized with a group of three boys.
Vivi recognized two of the three boys; Zoro and Ussop had shown up on her list of people to search. The blonde, Vivi didn't recognize, but Kohza had said that there was a new guy in school who was adept at sweet-talking the ladies, and by the way he tried to cozy up next to Nami at any given opportunity, this had to be the boy Kohza was talking about.
"Well, if it isn't a little white rabbit."
Vivi turned around and saw Nami's constant companion, Trafalgar Water, observing her idly.
"Excuse me?" Vivi responded, not sure where the reference came from.
"You," Trafalgar clarified. "You're a little white rabbit. You're all cute and fluffy but if you get too close to it and annoy it, it bites you."
How the hell did someone like Nami stand a guy like this? Vivi was annoyed with him already, and she had a high tolerance from working with Baroque Works.
"Whatever," Vivi dismissed. "Are you here to cuddle your girlfriend again?"
Trafalgar grinned, but it wasn't nice. It was like the smile one received after doing something incredibly stupid in front of your enemy.
"She's too feisty to cuddle," Trafalgar relayed. "But I do like to annoy her. She's cute when she's angry."
"Whatever you say," Vivi shrugged. "She doesn't seem like the type of girl who stands for that kind of crap, though."
"She doesn't," Trafalgar admitted. "But she's a good fuck, so I deal with her shit."
Vivi fought against a blush that threatened to flare on her face. He was so crude!
"TMI," Vivi told him. "You better get in there. That blonde is working hard to take your place."
"He does, and he's dead," Trafalgar shrugged. "I'll kill him."
"Fighting is prohibited," Vivi rattled off, suddenly feeling a huge wave of hostility roll off the tall navy-haired young man. He seemed dangerous…very dangerous. On the level of the agents of Baroque Works.
"Only on school grounds," Trafalgar grinned, walking past her and into the classroom with the others. Vivi didn't bother to stay any longer; she had to focus on the Baroque Works agents.
Which was easier said than done. Kohza came looking for her and told her that he had found Nami's file in the school records and was going through it, adding hints here and there that she was the Nefeltari heir. Vivi once again felt the guilt wash over her, and couldn't shake the feeling for the rest of the day. It was awful, sitting next to the person who Vivi was framing in her place.
"I think I'll have my list done tomorrow," Nami told Vivi as they packed up their bags after class was dismissed. Vivi sighed in harried frustration. "Do you need me to do some of your list?"
"No," Vivi replied, agitated at the thought that she had no time left. "I'm just preoccupied with some other things within Baroque Works."
As she spoke, Vivi stared at Miss Doublefinger's back as she erased the chalkboard, willing something to happen so that she would have the evidence she needed.
"Don't tell me that she's the problem," Nami snorted. "What, did Mr. Bones do something perverted to the student body again and have to be cleaned up after by Miss Perfect over there?"
The resentment in Nami's tone was surprising. Nami glared at Miss Doublefinger as if the woman had offended her in some way.
"Miss Perfect?" Vivi repeated. That was a new name for Miss Doublefinger.
Nami sighed. "I've only ever gotten A's on my papers. This bitch thinks that because I didn't use the sources that she prefers that she'll dock me an entire letter grade. Whatever. See if I care."
Well, that was ironic. Miss Doublefinger had offended Nami.
"What do you mean, she cleans up after Mr. Bones?" Vivi inquired. Nami gave her a look of surprise.
"I have it on high authority that Mr. Bones sexually harasses the student body on a regular basis and this bitch cleans up after him," Nami relayed. "I thought that since that twat Bon Clay knew, that everyone in the organization knew."
Mr. One was the head coach on the swim team, and Miss Doublefinger was his assistant. Was it possible that Mr. One was sexually harassing the swim students? If he did, Vivi could certainly catch that on video if she went to practice. She'd need an excuse to be there, though.
"I don't suppose you know the dirt on Miss Crisp," Vivi mentioned, using Miss Merry Christmas' alias. Nami gave Vivi a look.
"No, why?" Nami asked.
"Just looking to cover my ass," VIvi offered as explanation. "I don't want to be on the wrong side of an altercation without having something to use as a shield."
"I get that," Nami shrugged. "Is covering your ass why you were following me today?"
Vivi snorted, irritated that Trafalgar had told on her.
"I actually was just curious," Vivi admitted, knowing that caught red handed she couldn't lie convincingly. "I don't know you very well, and yes, maybe a little of it is scouting to know if I am going to need to cover my ass."
"Well, you suck at spying," Nami told her. "I could see you and Trafalgar gossiping in the hallway in the reflection off of the window."
Oh. Vivi hadn't thought that Nami would pay that much attention to her surroundings when occupied by her friends. Well, that was a lesson learned.
"I don't much care for your boyfriend," Vivi admitted as they exited the class. "He's crude and seems a bit…off."
Nami chuckled. "You have no idea. And that's hilarious. All these secrets that Baroque Works knows and half of the members don't even know the things that count."
"Is there something to know about him?" Vivi asked. "You said to cross him off the list because—"
"Because he isn't the Nefeltari heir," Nami finished for her, though that was not what Vivi was going to say. "I never said he wasn't a person you shouldn't be interested in. But then again, the same could be said about Kohza. That boy is off the mark too, and I don't think it's because he goes to Crocodile's orphanage."
Vivi felt alarm at Nami digging at Kohza. She needed to steer clear of that.
"Kohza is different," Vivi agreed quickly, "but probably no more so than yourself. You seem to be not so normal for a girl your age."
"A tad defensive, aren't you," Nami assessed. She stopped in the hallway and faced Vivi. "I think you're hiding something about that boy. But whatever. It doesn't bother me, as long as he's not the Nefeltari heir."
"He's not," Vivi told her, recalling Kohza's troubled past. "He's far from it. He's not a bad person, but he's been dealt a bad hand. I think he does well for his lot in life."
"I believe you," Nami said. "But a word to the wise. Stay away from Trafalgar Water. Don't get wrapped up in his messy life if you can help it. You might not be able to get out."
With that said, Nami walked away, towards the boy she had just given warning about. Trafalgar Water stood waiting for her and went so far as to sling an arm around Nami's shoulders when she got near. Nami pushed the arm away, but it was back on her shoulder and held steady when she tried to push again.
Vivi wondered at Nami's warning. Trafalgar gave off bad vibes galore but Nami didn't seem to have a problem hanging around him. Or was it that she had been speaking from experience? Vivi had to file that thought for later. She went toward the changing rooms by the gym to go see if she could spy on swimming practice. Maybe she'd get lucky.
.o0o.
Vivi had never given anyone but Kohza her cell phone number, so when her cell phone went off and it wasn't a number she recognized, Vivi ignored the call. It was after nine in the evening and Vivi was uploading the latest videos she had taken on her phone to her computer.
Swim practice had been a disgusting success.
Mr. One was a sick bastard of a man. The poor girls on the swim team! Mr. One had sexually harassed every single one of them. There were seven girls on the swim team and each of them had to deal with overzealous hands caressing them in places they shouldn't be, and for one poor girl, Vivi was pretty sure she had suffered through an erection rubbing against her while Mr. One 'helped' her do her stretches.
Miss Doublefinger was almost not a success until one of the boys stepped up to Mr. One to challenge his wandering hands on the girls, and then she swung into action. She had the boy on the ground in two seconds and was hollering about him having assaulted a teacher.
The boy had not even gotten close enough to touch Mr. One, let alone assault him. It was clearly a lie and the boy had been taken to the principal's office for discipline. Vivi wondered if the boy would be alive tomorrow.
All that were left were Miss Merry Christmas and Miss All-Sunday. But somehow, throughout the day tomorrow, Vivi had to find something on those two women before Nami proposed that the two of them present their findings to Crocodile. She was so close!
Her phone was ringing again. Vivi did not answer again and went back to editing her videos and readying them for upload. But soon her phone chimed again to let her know she had a text message. She frowned at it for a moment before reading the message.
It's Nami. Answer the phone.
Vivi was instantly distrustful. No one had Vivi's number but Kohza. How did Nami get it? Regardless, the phone rang a third time and Vivi sighed, knowing that if she didn't answer it, the routine would go on for the rest of the night.
"Hello?" Vivi greeted unenthusiastically.
"I have to see you, right now," Nami's insistent voice came through on the phone.
"I'm sorry, but I can't come to the orphanage right now," Vivi told her. "I'm in the middle of finishing up my list—"
"Don't bother," Nami interrupted. "I've found the Nefeltari heir. I need you to see this right away."
Vivi went cold. Nami had done what?
"Where do you live?" Nami insisted when Vivi gave no reply. Vivi felt anxiety rush through her. Nami was checking on the second year boys. Had she gone ahead and checked up on Kohza? The way their conversation went this afternoon, Vivi didn't put it past Nami. Vivi rattled off her address and Nami promised to be there in twenty minutes.
Twenty minutes.
How the hell was Vivi supposed to do anything in twenty minutes? First of all, she needed to call Kohza and warn him that Nami knew that something was up. He'd need to ditch the orphanage before word got out, but knowing Kohza, he'd just come straight to her and insist she go with him.
Vivi couldn't. She had to stay and finish what she started.
So the only thing that Vivi could do was subdue Nami. She was going to have to capture the redhead and hold her hostage until Vivi had the rest of the evidence that she needed. Of course, Nami going missing again would only add fuel to Kohza's plans to frame her as the Nefeltari heir. Maybe this was salvageable.
Vivi readied herself. She wasn't an assassin, but she was well versed in the martial arts. She had learned as a child, and had excelled until she had been forced to give up her previous life. But Vivi had a good memory and knew exactly how to subdue an attacker, so someone who wasn't expecting to be attacked was going to be easy pickings.
There was a knock at her door and Vivi let Nami in. She had her book bag slung over her shoulder and looked distressed as she entered the apartment. Vivi knew that her best shot at subduing Nami was to do it while she was distracted. Now was the time.
It was an all out beat down.
Vivi had her ass handed to her on a silver platter. Nami had not been so distracted that she didn't know an attack was coming, and had defended against it easily. Yes, Vivi could defend against an attacker, but that was where her teaching lay fault: she did not know how to effectively attack someone else. All of her teachings had been geared towards providing her with an exit strategy.
Nami had her on the ground and subdued in just under a minute.
"Well, safe to say, you know why I'm here," Nami said, tying Vivi's hands behind her back with the strap of her book bag.
"You can't! You can't give Kohza to Crocodile! He'll torture him to death, and make sure it's a slow one," VIvi pleaded as she squirmed on the floor.
"Kohza?" Nami repeated. "Why would I give Crocodile that idiot Kohza?"
Vivi stopped squirming. "Didn't you research Kohza's background?"
"I did," Nami agreed. "But he's just a street rat with poor decision making skills."
"Then why are you here?" Vivi asked after a moment's silence.
"I'm here to tell you how absolutely stupid you are," Nami replied. "Do you understand what's going to happen to you when Crocodile finds out who you are, Nefeltari Vivi?"
Vivi let out a shaky breath. "I have an idea."
"What in your right mind makes you try to buddy up to that man then?" Nami asked. "Are you stupid?"
"What would you have done?" Vivi shouted at her. She needed to calm down. Her audio device-blocking bulbs would block out normal conversation, but not shouting. "What would you have done in my place?"
Nami snorted. "Gotten the fuck out of One Piece, for starters. This country is the most crime ridden in the world. You stay here, it's like saying, 'come get me'."
"You think it's easy to just walk away from your life?" Vivi asked. "You could just walk away from everything and everyone that you loved and be happy?"
Nami flicked Vivi in the forehead. "You are dumb. Seriously. That's exactly what you've done in order to join Crocodile's organization."
"I'm not happy," Vivi muttered petulantly. "And I have an end game. I can bring down Baroque Works. I'm almost there."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Nami dismissed. "You need dirt on Miss Crisp, Miss Blue and Mr. Bones, right?"
"Miss Crisp and Miss Nico," Vivi corrected. "I'm down to those two. I've collected evidence to use on the rest of them."
"All of them?" Nami wondered.
"All of them," Vivi confirmed. "All the Millions, Billions, Weekdays, and Numbers."
Nami whistled. "How long have you been at it?"
"Since the beginning of the school year," Vivi told her.
"Not bad," Nami praised. "No wonder Crocodile says you're his best intelligence agent. Was it you who informed on me when I was in the Sawshark yakuza?"
"No," Vivi admitted. "That came from an outside source. I never met him."
"Too bad," Nami lamented. "Listen, I've got good news and bad news."
Vivi propped her head up so she could look at Nami.
"Good news," Nami said, pulling out a cell phone, "is that Miss Crisp is covered. I got video of her today attacking another teacher. Bad news: you're still fucked."
"Why?" Vivi asked with trepidation.
"Because Miss Nico's never going to have a weak link," Nami told her. "I've working on that woman for a week now and she's got no openings. I know she's the top assassin in Baroque Works, but the problem is that she's thorough. She leaves behind no links. In order to catch her in the act, you're going to have to die, because you won't make it through an altercation with her alive."
Vivi plopped her head down on the floor. Damn it.
"But I'm so close," Vivi moaned. "So close to being done with this."
"It never ends, you know?" Nami commented, releasing Vivi from her binds. "You'll never be safe. You're going to have to face that you'll be a target for your whole life. Even if you did decide to leave One Piece."
"That's not very reassuring," Vivi complained.
"It's the truth," Nami shrugged. "And personally, I'd rather hear the truth than have someone lie to my face."
"What should I do?" Vivi asked absently. "If I can't win, and I refuse to lose, what do I do?"
"Bribe," Nami replied. "You could bribe Miss Nico. She's way too smart of a woman to be in Crocodile's organization for just money. She could make tons just doing assassination by itself. The money's not the draw. You have to find out what is."
Vivi considered that. Vivi didn't know Miss All-Sunday all that well, but Nami had been in class with her for half a semester and was very keen on instincts. If Nami thought Miss All-Sunday could be bribed, it might be a possibility.
"How do I even approach her?" Vivi wondered aloud.
"Hey—I don't have all the answers," Nami retorted. "Some of this you need to figure out on your own."
"You mean like what I'm supposed to present to Crocodile in terms of who the Nefeltari heir is?" Vivi predicted. "He's going to be expecting something. Soon, too, now that there are two of us working on it."
Nami shrugged. "You could frame someone you don't like."
Vivi felt a pang of guilt at the mention of that plan. "No, I don't want to do something like that."
Anymore, she amended mentally. She'd have to tell Kohza tomorrow that using Nami was out of the question, especially now that she knew the truth.
The silence between them lingered for a few minutes while VIvi contemplated what to do. Yes, her father probably had enough money to bribe Miss All-Sunday, but as Nami had said, she probably wasn't in it for the money. Vivi had to figure out what she ultimately wanted.
"I'll have to ask tomorrow," Vivi predicted. "There's no time left."
"Good luck," Nami bade, grabbing her book bag and heading for the door. Vivi followed her.
"Can I ask you something?" Vivi inquired, standing in front of the door to keep it closed. Nami eyed her suspiciously, but shrugged. "Why aren't you turning me in to Crocodile? Your time within his organization would be over if you did, and that's all you've talked about since I met you."
Nami sighed and looked away. "I'm not a cruel or bloodthirsty person, despite what your nosing into my background may have told you."
"I didn't nose—" Vivi started. Nami waved her off.
"Don't bother lying," Nami dismissed. "I know you've got Kohza fucking around with my file at school."
Shit. She knew about that?
"The point is," Nami continued, "that I know what Crocodile has planned for you. I've pretty much been through it and don't wish it on anyone. My plan was to find out who Crocodile was looking for, tip them off, and then try to frame someone in his organization."
Vivi felt a tiny bit better that Nami would have done the same as her. But only a tiny bit.
"You threw a wrench into the works," Nami accused. "I'm going to have to seriously rethink what my plan is now, and I may even have to frame that idiot who thinks he's my boyfriend just to buy some time."
Vivi gave Nami an odd look. "You aren't his girlfriend?"
Nami gave Vivi a sly look in return. "Oh, honey. You have no idea what kind of relationship we have. Let's just say it's not consensual."
Vivi blanched at that.
"I gotta go," Nami told VIvi, moving her out of the doorway. "I got to get back to that hell-hole they call an orphanage or Crocodile will lose his shit. He wasn't happy about me going out 'after hours' as it was, but I told him it was about the Nefeltari heir and he agreed to an hour. I'll see you at school tomorrow."
Vivi let Nami out then, overwhelmed with all that she had taken in that evening. Nami knew everything. She had evidence on Miss Merry Christmas. Miss All-Sunday would have to be bribed.
It was nothing less than a whirlwind Thursday.
.o0o.
Vivi got to school early the next day in order to intercept Kohza. Not that Kohza and Nami didn't get there at the same time, but Kohza had a way of knowing by the looks Vivi gave him that she needed to talk to him. And she did.
Kohza was on guard the moment he got off the bus. Nami was behind him, her usual irritated self. Her ire only grew as the boy Trafalgar Water joined them. Vivi's distaste had only grown for that boy.
"We've got something to do before school," Vivi told Nami. "I'll see you in class."
"The downstairs boy's bathroom is the best place for snogging," Trafalgar told them with a lewd grin. "And more, if you're so inclined."
"You're disgusting," Nami growled at Trafalgar, and dragged him away towards the school.
No, Vivi didn't like Trafalgar Water at all.
"What's the problem?" Kohza asked as soon as Nami and Trafalgar were out of hearing range. Vivi gave him a look and handed him a piece of paper. Kohza read it.
Nami knows everything. Including that we've been messing with her file. We can't use her anymore.
Kohza's jaw tightened with every line he read. When he was finished, he crumpled up the paper and pulled out a Zippo, lighting the tiny ball of paper on fire and letting it turn to ash on the ground before stomping on the remnants and grinding them into the cement.
"So what do we do now?" he spat. "We've got no time left."
"I know," Vivi tried to console him, but Kohza was in a dark mood and wouldn't be pulled from it. "I'm going to speak to Miss All-Sunday today. If all goes well, we should be set to put things into motion today. If not, well, I'd rather fall to Miss All-Sunday than Mr. Zero."
Kohza gave her a sharp look.
Vivi ignored the look, since it was the truth. They made their way into school and couldn't really talk anymore about their plans. True, writing things down couldn't be over heard, but getting rid of the paper trail involved lots of burning and Kohza had been lucky to get away with burning Vivi's note from that morning without getting yelled at.
Vivi joined Nami in class and the two of them actually had to pay attention to class since neither of them was looking for the Nefeltari heir anymore. It made the day go slow. When lunch came, Nami stood from her desk and turned to Vivi.
"You should come with me," Nami offered up. "Miss Nico might be there during lunch."
Vivi took a deep breath and stood from her desk as well. She followed Nami down the hall to the classroom that Nami frequented for lunch and saw that Miss All-Sunday was not in class. Vivi's shoulders slumped in disappointment but she also had to admit to herself that she was a little glad, too. Miss All-Sunday was terrifying.
"Nami!"
Vivi turned to the loud proclamation, even though it wasn't directed at her. She watched as a boy with black hair and a scar on his cheek loped unevenly through the rows of desks and clamored for Nami. He embraced her as he reached her, laughing as he did so.
"Luffy?" was Nami's muffled reply, since she was practically enveloped in the boy's arms. "It's too soon for you to be at school, isn't it?"
"I came to visit!" the boy, Luffy answered. "And I'm good. I just have to not over exert myself. Whatever that means."
He finally let go of Nami and Vivi saw that Nami looked to be in shock. She stared at the black haired boy in wonder and almost—was it longing? No, it couldn't be. Vivi was just imagining it.
"It means sit your ass down you over active clown!" Nami hollered at him, but she didn't look in the slightest mad. "You're going to pop your stitches or something. You just got out of the hospital. Are you trying to put yourself back in?"
Luffy didn't look at all affronted by Nami's words. He just dropped, albeit a little gingerly, into the nearest desk and grinned up at her all the same. Nami pulled a chair from a nearby desk and sat down with him. Gradually, the other three boys approached too.
"And who is this lovely creature?" the blonde boy asked, gently taking Vivi's hand and placing a kiss on the top of it. "Mine eyes are surely too weak to see all the beauty that is before me, but I can see the loveliness of that which is this young lady."
"This is Vivi," Nami introduced. "And she has a boyfriend. So lay off of her, Sanji."
Sanji looked crestfallen for a moment. "But of course. Such loveliness cannot walk this world alone. You must have a knight in shining armor to stand at your side. Where may this knight be, so that I may see if he is fit to be guardian of such beauty?"
"He's a second year and he's in gym class right now," Nami relayed. "His name's Kohza."
Vivi turned bright red. "He's not my boyfriend."
Nami rolled her eyes. "You shouldn't have said that."
In the meantime, Sanji seemed to swoon at the news. He was down on one knee as he grasped one of her hands in both of his, and was staring adoringly up at her. Vivi suddenly knew that she should have played along with Nami's charade.
"Sanji-kun," Nami introduced, pointing to the blond. In turn, she pointed to the others as well. "Ussop, Zoro, Luffy."
Vivi nodded in greeting to all of them except Sanji, who was going on about her loveliness again and searching for a chair to let her sit down. Abruptly, he pulled one out from under the green haired boy named Zoro.
And then suddenly, Vivi wasn't the object anymore. Sanji and Zoro were tossing insults at each other and had a hold of each other's uniforms. Vivi worried that they would progress into a fight, but it never got beyond insults.
Lunch was, for lack of a better word, a spectacle. Luffy stole food from everyone, and no one seemed to mind. He ate like he'd never eaten before. It took about ten minutes or so, but finally Nami stopped him, citing busting his stitches again. But it was a chaotic spectacle. Sanji and Zoro never stopped insulting each other, Luffy continued to try to steal food, Nami stopped him and corrected Ussop, who was telling the most ridiculous tale about how he'd been in a gun fight.
But was it a ridiculous tale? Vivi had to wonder. Nami had obviously been shot three times and Ussop claimed to have been shot as well, yet no one corrected him on that statement. Luffy was obviously recovering from some sort of wound that had kept him hospital bound until recently too.
"And then lover-boy swoops in to save the day."
Everyone stopped and looked at the new intrusion. Trafalgar Water had finally shown up. He leaned in the doorway of the classroom, watching them all for who knew how long, waiting for his turn to jump into the fray, it seemed.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Nami replied, still trying to curb Luffy's appetite by detaining his hands.
"Lover-boy," Trafalgar said again. "The blonde. Not that one. The other one with the scar on his face."
Luffy looked up at Trafalgar for the first time. "Sabo?"
"The blonde lover-boy who showed up to save the day and rescue the princess—," Trafalgar patted Nami's head and she let go of one of Luffy's hands to swat at him, "—and blow up the building. That's how the story ends, right?"
Ussop, who had been the teller of the tale, looked a little wary about answering.
"So what?" Nami asked, finally looking up at Trafalgar. "What's your point?"
"Don't got one," Trafalgar told them as he pulled up a chair and scooted it very close to Nami. "Except that the Lover-boy didn't get the girl, did he? I did."
And in front of everyone, he leaned over and kissed Nami. She put up with it for a moment before she pushed him away.
"You have onion breath," she accused. "Eat a breath mint."
Trafalgar grinned. "Whatever you say, baby."
Nami rolled her eyes and sighed. She looked at Luffy.
"In case you hadn't heard," Nami told the confused boy, "Trafalgar is my boyfriend. He's just in a mood and trying to establish dominance over you because he knows I like you better than him."
Luffy laughed. "I like you better than him too."
Nami actually cracked a smile. It was an odd sight. Vivi saw the beautiful girl that was supposed to be there instead of the hardened, grouchy one that was usually there. She could be a stunner.
"Yeah, but you don't have wild, passionate sex with him," Trafalgar rebuttaled. Zoro got up from his seat.
"That's it, I'm out," he announced. "I won't listen to stories about anyone's sex life. No thanks."
"You rotten cur," Sanji insulted Trafalgar. "Take such vile words back! How dare you insult the virtue of Nami-swan."
Nami, however, looked resigned. Like she'd known that this was going to happen and could do nothing to stop it. Luffy leaned over to Nami and whispered something into her ear. Nami gave him a sorrowful look before nodding. Luffy whispered again, and she shook her head.
"What's all this noise?"
Another newcomer. Vivi looked to the doorway of the classroom and saw two students there: a third-year boy and girl. The lavender haired girl looked shocked for a moment, before her look turned furious. Then she left the room and walked briskly down the hallway. The boy watched her go for a moment before addressing those in the classroom again.
"Luffy, you're supposed to be taking it easy."
"I am, Ace," Luffy assured the other boy. "I sat down."
Ace sighed heavily. "Uh-huh."
Conversation died out and no one ventured to restart it now that Ace was there. Ace gave them all a look of irritation before striding into the classroom and over to Luffy.
"Time to go," Ace announced, trying to help Luffy out of the chair. Luffy looked absolutely crestfallen.
"But lunch isn't even over yet," Luffy whined.
"I know," Ace agreed. "We have to beat the crowd of students in the hallways. We're going to take you back to the old man so he can take you home."
"Lame!" Luffy cried, trying to wrench himself out of Ace's grip. He must have pulled the aforementioned stitches, because suddenly he was bent over and clutching his middle.
"Way to go, Luffy," Ace sighed. "You better hope you don't start bleeding, or you're headed straight back to the hospital."
The others said their goodbyes to Luffy and watched the forlorn boy travel with the upperclassman out of the room and down the hall.
"So how was the downstairs bathroom?" Trafalgar asked, leaning towards Vivi.
"You're disgusting," Vivi returned. It was becoming her new favorite saying around him.
"You might as well go, Trafalgar," Nami told him. "I can see Miss Nico on her way back to class, which means lunch is almost over. You have to be on the other side of campus for afternoon classes, don't you?"
Bless Nami for trying to get rid of the vile Trafalgar Water. She was not very successful at it. Trafalgar just grinned at her and took one of her hands.
"I was thinking of ditching this afternoon to go visit the downstairs bathroom," he said. "You should come with me."
"No thanks," Nami returned flatly. Vivi stood from her seat, intending to corner Miss All-Sunday before she got to the classroom. Miss All-Sunday stopped short of the classroom, though, and waved for Vivi and Nami to come to her. Vivi shared a look with Nami before they headed out into the hallway.
And that depraved ass Trafalgar followed again.
"I have just received word," Miss All-Sunday began, "that all afternoon classes are cancelled. An announcement will be made momentarily. All operatives are to report to the west gym in twenty minutes."
"What's going on?" Nami asked. Vivi looked at Trafalgar in apprehension, but he didn't seem confused at all. He must have been an outside operative that Vivi hadn't been told about.
Damn it, she should have checked up on him when she had the chance.
"We have found the Nefeltari heir," Miss All-Sunday told them. Vivi and Nami shared another look.
"Who?" Nami asked, her voice hard. Thankfully someone could keep their senses right now, because Vivi was too in shock. Her mind was racing with the idea that Crocodile had found her out.
Miss All-Sunday gave Nami a sly look. "Someone hiding in plain sight. Right under Crocodile's nose in the very same orphanage that he maintains. One of his very own operatives."
Vivi felt a stab of fear that it was Nami that Crocodile had identified as the Nefeltari heir. Kohza had been putting in little hints in her file since she'd gotten assigned to help Vivi on Tuesday. What if Kohza hadn't had the time to remove those hints from her file yet?
"Kohza."