(A/N: Thank you so much to OneWhoReadsTooMuch and EbayUserGreen for your reviews. And to everyone who followed and favorited this story. ^_^)
Seeing that the weeping princess didn't appear to be making any sort of move, Luffy yelled out, "Vivi! Do something! Get us out of here!"
"Luffy-san..."
Laughing when he heard what he believed to be a desperate cry, Crocodile paused in his pace half-way down the long tunnel where he turned to say, "Finally starting to beg for your life, Straw Hat Luffy? But it's only natural. Everyone is afraid of dying,"
"If we...if we die, then who's going to kick your ass?!"
"Don't flatter yourself, small fry." Crocodile retorted back, the intimidating shadow that had formed over his eyes matching the one upon Luffy's own face.
"You're the small fry!" Luffy growled back. His words seemed to have struck a nerve with Crocodile, who snapped his fingers, this causing a tile that wasn't far from where Vivi sat to lift up. Two massive green claws latched onto the side, and Vivi's eyes turned big when seeing one of the bananagators pulling itself up.
"Well, this is your chance to abandon them, Miss Wednesday. If you wish to stop the rebellion that is,"
"Alright! Beat it, Vivi!" Luffy encouraged. The princess had stood up, readying herself and refusing to be further goaded by the Warlord.
"That's crazy talk! It's too huge!" Usopp exclaimed, looking at his captain as if he had lost his mind. "Vivi! Run! You can't beat it! But help us!"
"You're the one who's talking crazy!" Luffy huffed out.
Nami bit at her lower lip, her already large eyes growing bigger when something troubling caught her attention. "Wait! Look out the windows!"
"They're all waiting for their turn!" Usopp gulped out, shaking like a leaf where he stood when seeing the congregation of reptiles.
"We're pretty much being treated as food!" Zoro uttered out in annoyance.
Reaching into her purple bag, Toffee pulled out some of her needles. "Maybe I can at least blind the gator so Vivi has a better chance to fight it. Though I'm not sure I have enough small weapons to do the same for the others..."
"That'll only risk the bananagator going out of control and crushing that woman in the process," Smoker reprimanded considering the reptile was already formidable, having taken a large chunk out of the staircase. Not to mention the bananagator was incredibly fast despite its size.
Seeing Toffee gripping onto her senbon needles tighter when Vivi had been knocked to the ground, the marine captain continued, "I know you want to help, but there's nothing we can do unfortunately..." Smoker murmured, his own frustration clear from his tone as he listened to the pirates around him desperately yell for Vivi to get up.
A strange ringing tone halted the bananagator from eating the fallen princess, and Miss All Sunday pulled a little transponder snail from out of her white fur coats pocket. "What?" was her simple question to the unexpected phone call.
"Hello? Hello?" a male voice answered. "Can you hear me?"
"Yes, I hear you. You're a Millions, yes?" Miss All Sunday inquired, raising a brow when the person on the other line didn't seem to know what he was doing.
"Hurry and state your business! What happened?" Crocodile cut in crossly.
"Oh, I've heard that voice before. Heya. You've called the Damn Restaurant," the male on the other line replied, and it was clear he was smirking on the other line after Crocodile repeated his words in a pondering tone. "Oh, it sounds like you remember me. That's great."
"Quit fooling around, dumbass," Crocodile sneered out. "I'm certain we have all five Straw Hat pirates inside that cell. All that's left is their pet. Does this mean there are still others? Just who are you?"
"Me? I'm...Mr. Prince."
Sanji certainly seems fond of that strange name Toffee thought with a relieved smile, shaking her head when Usopp had to slap his hand over Luffy's mouth to stop him from blurting out their companions name.
"I see. Mr. Prince...Where are you?"
"Fraid I can't say. If I did, you'd come get rid of me. Though, setting aside whether or not you can get rid of me, I'm not so stupid as to give up information so easily. Unlike you, Mr. 0."
"Prince help! We've been caught! There's no time!" Usopp shrieked out, this causing Luffy to join in with his friends pleading cries.
Sanji couldn't help but laugh at this, saying with some amusement, "Sounds like my crew's right by your side. In that case, I'm gonna-"
Hearing the distinct bang of a pistol being fired, the Straw Hats unleashed startled gasps when another male voice spoke up, "Hello! We've caught him! What should we do with this strange man?"
"Where are you? Tell me!" Crocodile demanded with a slight growl.
"T-the front gate of a casino in Rainbase named Raindinners!"
"That useless moron!" Zoro shouted out, his palm making contact with his forehead. "That bastard better be alive!"
"SANJI!"
"Y-you probably still shouldn't scream out his name like that, Luffy..." Toffee said meekly. It was also not helping with Usopp spinning around in place while wailing out the cooks name either.
"Our hope..." Nami sniffled out, her hands clasped together and tears pouring down her cheeks.
Amused by the distress the Straw Hats displayed, a cackling Crocodile started to depart once again. Yet he ended up pausing when he heard Luffy screaming out Vivi's name, only to see that she had escaped from the bananagator. She had managed to make it up onto the half destroyed staircase, something that made Crocodile's hand ball into a tight fist.
"There's still time before this room fills up with water! I'm going outside to get help!"
"Yeah! There's no way he kicked the bucket just now" Usopp decided once having calmed down. "If Vivi can just free him-!"
"And Chopper's outside, too! We might have a chance!" Nami added, looking hopeful once more.
"Look out, Vivi!" Luffy abruptly shouted when Crocodile sent his sand at the blue haired female, knocking her off of the stairs. And the poor girl ended up crashing painfully onto the ground with a pain filled cry.
"Enough of your nonsense!" Crocodile said lowly, showing no remorse to the barely conscious woman. "If you love your friends that much, you can all die here together. The water will soon turn this into their feeding ground and submerge the entire room. I'll drag your cheeky Mr. Prince here too, if you'd like. Hopefully you don't mind corpses!"
"DAMN IT!" Luffy roared, his rage shaking the entire cage when Crocodile had finally left.
"I should have thrown my needles into Crocodiles eyes..." Toffee grumbled, finding herself really hating the Warlord's smug and unfair nature.
"He would have just turned to sand if you had," Zoro mused.
"Vivi!" Luffy shouted when noticing the girl struggling to pull herself up.
"T-they've always been there to help me all this time...I refuse to just let them die..." the slightly bloody and scuffed up princess declared. And when the bananagator lunged at her, Vivi managed to avoid it's attack, leaping onto the reptiles back and then up onto the staircase.
"Yes! She got away!" Nami gasped out with immense relief. Though just when Nami said this, the massive gator chomped through the stairs. This caused Vivi to scream while the impact of the attack made the walls crack, breaking the windows and allowing the water to gush into the room.
"Now we got less than 20 minutes until this room's submerged," Usopp whispered, holding onto the cells bars in a death grip.
"What about Vivi?!" Toffee cried out, sighing when seeing her still sitting upon the half-broken marble stairs.
"Everyone! Hang in there a little longer! I will bring back help! I promise I won't abandon you!" Vivi called back, a strong look of resolve within her brown eyes.
"Yeah! We're counting on you, Vivi!" Usopp and Luffy yelled out together as they watched a brave Vivi dash off.
10 minutes later...
"AAAAAAH! THE WATER! THE WATER!"
"WE'RE GONNA DIE! WE'RE GONNA DIE! Once this cage is submerged, it's all over for us!"
Her face slightly red, Nami stuck her arm out of the cage, wiggling it around like a worm and shouting, "Hey, you stupid gator! Come and get me!"
"Eeek! What's come over you, Nami!" Usopp screeched out when her arm was nearly bitten off by the bananagator lunging at the cell.
Leaning sideways where it looked like she was about to pass out from that scare-for her eyes had rolled into the back of her head-Nami regained her composure rather quickly and declared fiercely, "I'm making that guy mad, to get him to bite the cage apart!"
"I get it! Great idea!"
"Come and get me, you stupid banana!"
Massaging his temple where he could feel a dull ache forming there, Smoker uttered out bitterly, "What were you saying about these loudmouths having a way at making you feel at ease?"
Laughing awkwardly, Toffee rubbed at the back of her neck. "A-at least there not screaming about dying anymore and are trying to break out...But everyone! If we do die, I've drawn pictures of all of us so we'll be remembered!"
"WHY AM I BEING EATEN BY A BANANAGATOR IN MY PICTURE?!" Usopp screeched out.
Smoker snorted at this. "So you do have a morbid side after all,"
"I'd be more amazed if she didn't," Zoro said with a small snort of his own. "Besides, shouldn't you guys be trying to get out of the water?"
Noticing that Toffee, Smoker, and Zoro were standing on the bench where they were completely avoiding the water that had entered inside their confinement, Nami and Usopp shrieked out together, "YOU COULD HAVE TOLD US TO DO THAT SOONER!"
The navigator and sniper shrieking even louder when the bananagator bit at the cage, Toffee found herself feeling a little bad for the unique alligator who now had tears in its eyes after breaking a few of its teeth on what must have been some incredibly tough material.
"Hey, you guys..."
"How can you keep so composed?!" Usopp exclaimed at the white haired male.
"You think up something, too!" Luffy ordered, pointing his finger at Smoker.
"How much do you guys know? What exactly is Crocodile after?" Smoker inquired, crossing his arms and completely ignoring their comments. "That woman who was at Crocodile's side...She's had a price on her head by the World Government for 20 years. The price was over 70,000,000, as I recall."
"The World Governments has had a price on that woman's head since she was a child...?" Toffee questioned in shock.
"That's what your surprised about? Your family and you are in the same boat," Smoker voiced, giving the girl an indifferent gaze. "Anyways, the moment those two joined forces, this became more than just a simple coup. This can only develop into a matter that the whole world will get dragged into, if they're left to it."
"The whole world? What does that mean?" Nami asked with a stupefied gaze.
"That does seem a little far-fetched," Usopp added with a nervous look.
His arms folding over his own chest while he wore an irate expression, Luffy cried out, "What are you guys talking about? I don't need any excuse like that to kick his ass!"
Smoker closed his eyes since that was all well and good, but there was still a major problem. One the straw hat wearing male had yet to notice despite standing directly in the middle of it. "I see...So how are we getting out of here?"
"AAAAAH! IT'S UP TO MY THIGHS!" Luffy yelped, his bug-eyes gazing down at the rising water. "I'm kind of starting to lose my nerve..."
Seeing Luffy's head leaning backwards similar to a slinky, Usopp wailed out, "This is bad! Toffee! Use those assassin skills of yours to do something!"
"Assassins aren't miracle workers, you know," Toffee spoke with an awkward smile. "If it wasn't for this water, I could have Heartless-kun go out and find the key for us...The only help I can give us all at the moment is a quick and painless death before we drown or we're eaten...But I'd rather not do that and I don't think Vivi-chan would be happy with that choice..."
"I WOULDN'T BE HAPPY WITH THAT EITHER!"
It really was beginning to look like there was no way out of this mess. So the group was surprised when hearing a sudden voice say, "Try as hard as you can not to make any noise at mealtime." The bananagators eyes bulged out of its head when a powerful kick was placed upon its underside, and it flew up into the air, coming down with a hard crash that splashed Smoker and the Straw Hats from its impact.
One hand resting in his pocket while his other arm, which held a cigarette extended out toward the cage, the figure addressed in a rather cool manner, "Hey there. Been waiting long?"
"PRINCE!" Usopp and Luffy sung out together, holding onto each others shoulders while swaying happily from side to side.
"Thank goodness," Nami sighed out with a smile of relief; both from the fact that their cook was okay and that they were saved.
Zoro was more irritated at the sight of Sanji and growled out, "Stop goofing around and find the key already!"
"Nami-swan! Toffee-chwan! Do you girls love me now~?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm in love, now hurry and open this up!" Nami replied with a click of her tongue. Toffee could only watch the dancing cook with a confused expression, feeling speechless by his always strange behavior.
"Okay~!"
"That guy is an interminable idiot, huh?" Zoro grumbled to the navigator who he had moved up next to. Nami just nodded at this while staring at a heart-eyed Sanji with a blank expression.
Noticing the other person sitting up on the ruined staircase, Luffy called out, "Vivi! Way to go!", his words making the princess smile and give Luffy a thumbs up. She had came through for all of them just like she had promised.
Jabbing both of his hands in his pants pockets seeing a good number of the bananagators now on land, Sanji mused calmly, "Here they come, one after the next," His right leg slowly rising up into the air, he continued, "Bunch together as much as you like, and come get me, you damn bananas. Anyone with manners as poor as yours, who would attack a lady, gets some table manners beaten into them, but good."
"Sanji! There isn't any time for that! One-second strikes! No, make that one-instant strikes!" Usopp exclaimed, karate chopping at the air for emphasis.
"Take out the third one who just came in," Smoker spoke up suddenly.
Luffy gawked at him. "What? You can tell?"
"Are your ears just for show? His growl is the same as the one who swallowed the key, isn't it?"
"That's impressive that you could hear such a small detail like that, Smoker-san!" Toffee praised with a smile.
Smoker closed his eyes at the girls words, the slightest patch of pink on his cheeks even if he thought her admiration was unfounded.
Trusting someone who was technically their enemy, Sanji landed his strong kick on the reptile where some sort of strange ball came shooting out of it's mouth. Everyone was confused by this, feeling even more bewildered or even angered to see the presence of Mr. 3 emerging from the wax ball.
"Oh! W-water! It's water!" the Baroque works agent announced in a hoarse voice. "It's a miracle!"
Now that Toffee thought about it, the guy did look pretty emaciated compared to the last time they saw Mr. 3, and he was slurping down the water around him as if he hadn't had any in days. Strangely enough, this was enough to return him back to his more healthy guise.
"I'm alive again! I thought I was dead there! That rotten Crocodile! He may have tried to get rid of me, but he didn't try hard enough! The moment I was swallowed, I squeezed out the last of my power to create this Wax-Wax Ball." Blinking when he noticed a key, he bent down to pick it up. "Huh? What's this?"
"Aaaaah! Hand that key over to us!" Luffy, Nami, and Usopp yelled out while struggling to reach out and grab for it.
Eyes comically popping out of his head, Mr. 3 squawked out, "It's you guys! What? This key...? Hold on...A room forcefully leaking water...an iron cage...and this key..." A sinister grin crept up onto his face. "I know what's going on, now."
"You're Mr. 3, are you? Hand over the key, quietly," Sanji said in a much too nonchalant manner, having caused the glasses wearing male to shrilly scream from how silently he had approached him.
The smile returning to his face, Mr. 3 tossed the key away where it landed in an area of the room where multiple banangators lurked. "I don't know who you are, but you appear to be on their side! If you want the key, go find it! However, whether or not you are able to find it, I won't be responsible!"
"You bastard..." Sanji hissed out through clenched teeth. "That was a good for nothing thing to pull..."
Eyes lighting up at a sudden idea, Usopp brought up, "Just a minute, Sanji! Couldn't his wax-wax power make a key to this cage?"
"Indeed." Sanji agreed, his own dark smile rising up on his features-something that made the black haired male gulp. After placing some well deserved kicks on a screaming Mr. 3, the agent then weakly walked up to the cage where he turned his index finger into a key, freeing everyone within. "Nicely done, candle man." Sending Mr. 3 crashing into the nearest wall, Sanji turned to Nami with a more charming delivery, "Let's get moving. There's little time."
"Yeah. I'm sure the first route they took is toward Alubarna," Nami remarked.
"But there are still so many banangators that way!" Vivi mentioned with a troubled countenance after walking up to the others.
"Um, not exactly..." Toffee voiced with a meek smile. Zoro and Luffy had already ran ahead, taking down any bananagators that were in their path. The reptiles sort of looked like they were forming a bridge the way they were scattered and stacked about.
"And after I had that much trouble with one of them...!" Vivi whimpered out, covering her mouth and turning away in shame.
"No, their strength is just abnormal, so don't worry about it," Usopp explained, trying to console the downhearted girl.
Luffy huffed while bellowing out, "Dammit, I can't go all out, soaked in water like this!" And as if the walls could hear him, they began to crumble, allowing more water to enter into the destroyed room. "AAAAAAGH! THE WALLS ARE CRUMBLING!"
"Idiot, that's overdoing it!" Sanji lectured with a small scowl.
With the passageway Crocodile and Miss All Sunday had traversed down falling apart and the water coming in even quicker, everyone was swept away. Nami quickly grabbed onto Toffee when seeing her struggling to breathe and swim while Vivi grabbed onto Usopp who had been knocked unconscious by a stray rock. Yet despite the strong currents, they all managed to make it to the surface and freedom.
"Sheesh, you guys with your abilities sure bear some hard risks, huh?" Sanji mused, pressing on a bloated Luffy's stomach, after dragging him ashore, and causing water to spurt out of his mouth like a mini fountain. "You okay there, Toffee-chan?"
Coughing up water herself, Toffee grasped onto her slightly aching chest and wheezed out, "I-I think so. Thank you, Nami-chan..."
"Don't mention it. At least you had a reason for not being able to swim," Nami said through small tired pants of her own, frowning over at Usopp. Vivi was yanking on the snipers nose while struggling to yank him out of the water.
Zoro was the last to emerge from the channel of water, carrying an unconscious Smoker, something that startled Sanji.
"Hey now, Zoro, what are you bringing the enemy along for?!"
"Back off! I didn't want to," Zoro shot back begrudgingly. "He was this close to dying, after all."
While the others weren't too happy about Smoker's presence and were discussing other matters, Toffee approached the hacking marine with concern and placed a hand on his drenched shoulder. "Are you alright?"
Not saying anything to the female's worry, he lightly pushed her hand away and stood up; pulling out his jitte and lunging at Zoro who blocked the not too shocking attack with his sword.
"Roronoa! Why did you save my life?" Smoker demanded suspiciously.
Shoving away Smoker's weapon, Zoro stated in a calm manner, "I was just following the captain's orders. I don't think you necessarily have to thank me. It was one of his whims. Pay it no mind."
"Then you'd have no gripes with me carrying out my duties here, right?"
"See? Didn't I tell you? That's what you get for saving a marine," Sanji derided.
Frowning lightly at Zoro and Smoker who were having an intense stare down, Toffee blinked when hearing Luffy and Usopp shouting-the two of them having finally woken up. And a small bead of sweat trailed down the former assassins head when Luffy directed his attention on Smoker, holding up his fists and asking the white haired male if he wanted a fight. Hadn't he asked him to be saved, though?"
His focus now on Luffy, Smoker closed his eyes and said something that took them all by surprise.
"Go. But this is the only time I'm letting you off. Next time we meet, consider yourselves dead."
Hearing the sounds of voices closing in on them, Sanji said with a smirk, "Come on, let's go. The marines are coming. Which way is Alubarna?"
"Over there! Straight to the east!" Vivi chirped out with a smile.
"Hey, Luffy! Toffee! Hurry! What are you doing?!" Zoro exclaimed when seeing the two just standing around. The others had already taken off.
Staring at Smoker for a bit longer, Luffy gave a wide grin and happily claimed, "You're not unlikable, you know?"
Smoker seemed stunned for a moment, his nose turning red and he slammed his weapon at Luffy while shouting out, "Get going, already!"
Toffee giggled when Luffy dashed off after dodging the attack, walking up beside Smoker where she voiced, "Luffy's right, you know. You're a lot more understanding than some marines can be...Thank you," Giving the tall male a soft smile Toffee added, "But you never struck as the type who'd get flustered easily. It's kind of cute."
More of his face turning red this time, Smoker said through gritted teeth, "L-leave! Before I lock you up the same way I've done those idiots you call brothers!"
Toffee just laughed at this, giving a small wave to the stubborn male and then running off herself; easily catching up with the others where Zoro turned and gave Toffee a small smirk.
"You and Luffy are both nuts, you know that?"
"Yeah. You're probably right about that." Toffee confirmed with a relaxed grin.