"When you were fighting earlier, you didn't happen to take down that dark haired woman did you?" Run asks, passing a bottle of rum to Zoro. "I feel like we missed one of their leaders." The two men sit on the edge of a building, watching over the now silent town.
"I guess I must have missed her," Zoro tells him, lifting the bottle and draining it's contents quickly.
"Aah, whatever. I'm sure everything will be fine." The swordsman looks at the bottle in his hand for a moment before reeling back and tossing it towards the horizon, watching it sail over several buildings before exploding into thousands of pieces on the ground. "Ohh, good arc. Hand me one of the empties. I think I can put it in the main square from here." The swordsman passes one of the many empty bottles to the red head, the two men slowly standing with a grin on both their faces.
"Fifty Beli says you don't get anywhere close." The red head draws back, and begins to throw just as an explosion of gunfire sounds from the streets behind, causing Run to fumble his throw and put the bottle through a nearby window. "The hell?" Both walk to the opposite side of the roof, and look down to find Igarappoi firing away at two people. "Crap. We left Luffy down there, didn't we?"
"Ohh...whoops."
"Princess Vivi! Hurry! Escape!" Igarappoi yells, still firing volley after volley. To their surprise, however, that quickly comes to an end when his body is suddenly struck by an explosion from out of nowhere. Both Zoro and Run blink in surprise, watching the man collasp face first to the pavement.
"Igaram!" shouts Miss Wednesday.
"Did you think that we wouldn't ferret you out?" a man in a red trench coat asks. "That we wouldn't ferret out the spies in our organization?" The man produces two photo's from his coat, and holds them up for all to see. "Captain of the Alabasta Royal Guard, Igaram. Princess of Alabasta, Nefeltarai Vivi. You-" Everyone is surprised when Zoro and Run suddenly leap down from the roof, landing beside their still sleeping Captain and quickly rolling the swollen man across the street.
"Heh, 'scuse us, everyone," Run says, pacing backwards after Zoro. "Didn't mean to interrupt. We'll just be taking our Captain and be on our way." They disappear down an alley, away from the fight that they have no intention of getting involved with. They watch from safety as Mr. 9 rushes the two attacking, calling for Vivi to make an escape while he does so. The man he's charging, whom they call Mr. 5, remains still...and begins digging in his nose before pulling out a booger and flicking it at him. The resulting explosion sends the man sailing down the street.
"Wow, that's some dangerous snot," mutters Zoro, seconds before a hand firmly grasps his ankle. "What the hell?! Oi! Lemme go!" Igaram holds tight despite his attempt to shake loose.
"P-Please! Listen to my request, unreasonable though it may be!" begs Igaram. "Please, protect the Princess. Both of those two possess Devil Fruit abilities! There's no way that I can stop them! B-But the two of you! If it's the two of you, then you can do it! Please!"
"Why the hell would we do something like that? Let's not forget that you were dead set on killing us just a few minutes ago!"
"Please! I'm not asking you to do this for free! If you see the Princess home safely to Alabasta then you will no doubt be greatly rewarded! Please! I humbly beg this of you! Keep the Princess safe!"
"Is this 'great reward' for real?" asks a voice familiar to them, and they glance back to find Nami standing there. "If that's the case, then I'll gladly accept this offer in exchange for...one billion Beli. How does that sound?" Igaram stares at Nami as if she's grown a second head.
"O-One billion?!"
"Wait a second, you were blacked out not even an hour ago," Run says, watching her approach.
"Hah! As if I would do something like that in such a suspicious town," Nami tells him. "I was just acting. I could have kept going if I wanted to." Run fixes her with a doubtful stare but decides to keep silent none the less."So, what do you say? Your Princess is going to die without our help, you know."
"E-Even if you say that...a mere soldier like myself cannot promise such a vast sum," Igaram stammers. "B-But! If you were to save her, then you could negotiate a deal with the Princess herself!"
"Hah. Meaning I have to save her first." She nods firmly in response and then looks at Zoro and Run. "You two! Go save the Princess!"
"The hell?!" demands Zoro. "Why the hell should we?!"
"Huh? Isn't it obvious? Because you still owe me." Zoro shakes his head and points a finger at the red head in response.
"Nope. Red here is gonna cover my debt."
"100,000, right?" Run asks. "The money is still on the table in-"
"Three-hundred thousand, actually," Nami corrects them. "You borrowed one-hundred thousand, but it was three-hundred percent interest, or did you forget?"
"I returned what I borrowed!" Zoro tells her. "I never spent a single Beli!"
"That doesn't matter," Nami says simply. "You may have repaid the hundred-thousand but you still owe me two-hundred in interest...BUT I suppose I could call it even if you do this." Her eyes narrow slightly. "Or are you saying that you can't even keep a single promise?" The swordsman groans in response and goes running off down the street.
"I thought you were a navigator not a loan shark," Run says, watching Zoro disappear down the street. "How do you sleep at night charging that kind of interest rate?"
"Like a baby, actually. Now, go! My money is mine but my contracts are yours! So, go repay your debt!" Run groans and goes chasing after the swordsman. He catches up quickly with Zoro, the two men dashing through the streets of the town following the sounds of explosions and resulting clouds of dust. By the time they've caught up, Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine have cornered Vivi who is riding on the same large duck they'd seen before. Mr. 5 digs in his nose, much to their disgust and produces a booger which he promptly flicks at Vivi.
"Nose Fancy...Cannon!" shouts Mr. 5. Zoro surges forward, intercepting and slicing the snot in half. Both pieces explode violently behind Vivi and Zoro...and the swordsman quickly raises his sword in front of himself with a rather disgusted look on his face.
"Aaaah! I friggin cut a booger!" exclaims Zoro. "I can't believe I cut his friggin' booger!" Run slowly comes to a stop beside the swordsman, reaching out the pat him on the shoulder in an attempt to console him.
"W-Well...it had to be done," Run assures him. "On the bright side, it was an impressive cut."
"It's the two of you again?!" exclaims Vivi, glaring at the two. "Why now of all times?! Don't either of you ever give up?!" She produces some kind of strange weapon, whirling it around a finger as she prepares to attack...only to be stopped by Zoro who cuts the weapon in half with ease.
"Don't jump to conclusions," Zoro tells her. "We're not here to fight, we're here to rescue you."
"Here to rescue you?" echos Mr. 5 calmly. "Aren't you the two who defeated all the lowly bounty hunters who call this town home? Why would either one of you want to do something like saving the Princess of Alabasta?"
"Got a debt to repay," Run tells him. "So, unfortunately, we can't just let you do as you please."
"You're willing to die for a debt? Well, it doesn't really matter. You're our enemy regardless of the circumstances."
"THERE YOU ARE!" bellows a voice from behind the two, causing everyone to focus intently on it. Luffy stands several meters away from them, breathing heavily as if he's run a marathon.
"Luffy, we're got things under control here!" Zoro shouts back. "Wait, don't tell me that damn woman has YOU in debt, too?"
"I'll never forgive you, Zoro, Run! FIGHT ME!"
"H...HUH?!" grunt Zoro and Run, staring at the man.
"I think there's been a big mistake here, Luffy," Run explains. "Let's all just calm down an-"
"You shut up!" demands Luffy. "Don't think I don't know you had a hand in it, too!"
"I don't even know what I did, though?" Luffy cocks back, and launches a punch at the swordsman, who dodges his attack, and then the next one. He chases Zoro around, who does his best to dodge while attempting to explain the situation. "Jeez, can't you just listen to what someone is trying to tell you?"
"In fighting at a time like this?" mutters Mr. 5. "Whatever. Let's just finish the mission." They charge forward, ignoring the wildly swinging Luffy and the dodging Zoro. Mr. 5 cocks back, aiming his attack at the red head. "I'll take care of you first!" Mr. 5's fist makes contact with the red head, and a massive explosion follows, obscuring the two from view completely for several long moments.
"Oh, my!" laughs Miss Valentine. "It looks like Mr. Red Hair wasn't...much of...a..." Her words slowly die off as the smoke begins to clear, revealing Mr. 5 and Run. Mr. 5's fist has connected with the red head's now inky black cheek, and his head is turned slightly but he is standing strong regardless. Run's own fist firmly connected with Mr. 5's chin, the two having exchanged blows in a rather impressive manner. Mr. 5's body pitches side-ways and he falls motionless to the ground while Run cracks his neck. Vivi and Miss Valentine watch in wide eyed surprise as the now exposed skin of his upper body returns to it's tanned complexion. "What...did you do...?"
"Huh?" Run grunts, his brow furrowing and his hand coming up to dig in one ear. "Dahahaha~! MAN, THAT WAS LOUD! MA! MA! OI! DOES ANYONE ELSE HEAR, LIKE, A RINGING?! KINDA LIKE A HIGH PITCHED 'EIIIIIIII', YA KNOW?!"
"You!" growls Miss Valentine. "I won't forgive you for what you've done!" The woman leaps skyward, surprising the red head by actually floating higher and higher still as if using her umbrella to ride an up draft. "I'm going to crush you with the power of my Kilo-Kilo Fruit!" The woman rapidly begins to descend in his direction, and Run looks up at her before actually smiling.
"OI, I CAN SEE UP YOUR SKIRT!"
"Wh-Wh-What?!" Her face flushes a crimson that would put Run's hair to shame, and she quickly grabs the hem of her skirt. "Y-You per-" She smashes into the ground several feet ahead of the red head who continues to dig in his ear for several moments until sound finally seems to return almost with a soft 'pop!'. He turns his attention to Zoro and Luffy, still fighting in the middle of the street as though there is nothing at all going on around them. A powerful blow from either one of them, separates the two of them, sending them smashing through buildings opposite each other.
"I...I want to run but...I'm not sure if it's exactly safe," Vivi mutters spurring her mount to inch forward. Of course, before she can get too far the two come crashing through out of the buildings, onto the street in continuation of their fight.
"Aah, I'd wouldn't. Huh?" Noticing Miss Valentine slowly pulling herself out of her self created crater.
"No one takes a peek up by dress!" screams Miss Valentine, face still flushed crimson and making sure to keep the hem of her dress pushed down. "You'll pay for-" A shadow falls over her and she looks up at the red head, his hand outstretched in her direction, the skin inky black. "W-Wait." He flicks the woman in the forehead and her head snaps back sharply. She follows it straight back, falling motionless to the ground. With Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine taken care of now, Run turns his attention back to Luffy and Zoro's fight, surprised to find it broken up by none other than Nami.
The woman stands between the two looking down at the two of them disapprovingly, hands on her hips. It's certainly an odd sight to say the least.
"I mean, honestly!" Nami yells at them. "What were you two thinking? You almost cost us our billion Beli reward!" She picks the two of them up by the backs of their shirts before looking at Vivi and Run. "At least one of you managed to do the right thing and keep her safe. The two of you should try to be more like Run!" The red head chuckles a bit uncomfortably in response, deciding it best not to tell her he had ever intention of joining the fighting. Even though she's holding them, the two continue their fighting.
"What are you talking about?" Vivi questions her. "Why did you save me?"
"Aaah, it's like this...let's you and I make a contract, huh...?"
----
Luffy's laughter cuts through the night, echoing through the otherwise silent streets of Whiskey Peak. He sits cross legged on a barrel, across from Zoro and the now shirtless Run who occupy a pair of crates. Thankfully enough, after a little bit of time his hearing has more or less returned in full, and the ringing in his ears has completely subsided. After taking some time explaining everything that had happened to Luffy...well, it seems as though he can't help but laugh.
"Jeez, if that was the case you should have said so!" Luffy tells them, grinning from ear to ear. "I just thought you two cut 'em down cause they made you some bad food!"
"Idiot! YOU'RE the only one who would do that!" Zoro yells back. They had tried to explain it to him but he just wouldn't listen...but there's no need to explain all that to him again. No one got seriously hurt, after all.
"Knock it off!" Nami growls, glaring at the three of them for a moment before turning back to Vivi. "So, what do you say? After seeing how strong these three are...it's a pretty good deal, right? I mean, a billion Beli should be nothing to a Princess."
"I can't," Vivi tells her. "I appreciate you saving me but I have to decline."
"Really? But you're a Princess. A billion Beli shouldn't be-"
"Do you know about the kingdom of Alabasta?" While Nami responds in the negative, Run's ears immediately prick up and Vivi begins her explanation. Alabasta used to be peaceful, and prosperous...but that was all so long ago. Now, the kingdom is gripped by civil war, one that is tearing the country and it's people apart. And, that it is ALL the fault of the organization, Baroque Works, who is manipulating the people. She tells them that with the help of Igaram, the two infiltrated the organization with the intention of exposing both the reasons for this civil war and the identity of the person in charge.
She explains that the man in charge intends to tear down the current rule and in doing so create an 'ideal nation'. Now with her cover more or less in tatters she intends to return home as quickly as possible now in order to help her people. It is very much a story that tugs at one's heart strings, and one that offers up more information to the red head. He'd gathered from his conversation with Robin before that this Crocodile guy was a rather slimy bastard but perhaps that didn't truly do him justice.
"I see," mutters Nami. "Well, I guess that explains why you can't make a contract with me. There's not a lot of money to be had during a civil war, after all."
"So, who's in charge?" Luffy questions her, earning her attention quickly.
"The Boss' identity?!" screams Vivi. "How could you ask that?! You saw what happened earlier! Baroque Works will come after you, too, if they think you know!"
"We'll pass on that!" laughs Nami, sweating nervously. "These people are trying to take over a whole country. Obviously these people are insanely dangerous."
"Good! No matter how strong you all are you'll never be a match for one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Crocodile!" Vivi covers her mouth with both hands while all four stare at her in surprise. "Aah..."
"You just said it," Zoro points out.
"Dahahaha~!" Run laughs, watching Nami and Vivi panic. "Well, we're in now. Told ya the road to gold would lead to ruin, Nami." Nami immediately rounds on the red head, delivering a series of blows to the top of his head that raises several knots quickly. "Owie! What did I do?" Noticing something on top of one of the near by buildings everyone looks over to see a bird and a sea otter sitting there for several moments before flying off into the night sky...much to the horror of Nami, who immediately begins panicking.
"What was that bird and sea otter?!" cries Nami, shaking Vivi violently. "We've only just entered the Grand Line and already we're being targeted by a Warlord! It's too much to handle!" After a moment she releases Vivi, turns on her heel and begins walking away.
"Where are you going off to now?"
"I'm leaving! They don't know our faces so I'm running away!" She hasn't made it more than three steps before she notices the sea otter in front of her, holding perfect likeness's of the crew...and then again it flies off into the night sky. "Aaah! Now there's no running away! Why me?!"
"Guess that means all four of us are on Baroque Works hit list now," Zoro chuckles, much to the irritation of Nami.
"Fear not!" calls a familiar voice, earning their attention. Ingram stands several feet away...dressed as Vivi. He has a number of dummies tucked under his arms. He explains to them all that he is going to use himself as a decoy, and sail straight to Alabasta in an attempt to throw Baroque Works off their trail. Naturally, this confuses Luffy since this is the first he's heard of it, but after explaining everything to him he agrees to accept her onto the ship and ferry her back home to Alabasta...
----
"Alright! Now, I am Princess Vivi," Igaram tells them. "Now, please give me the Eternal Pose." They stand at one of Whiskey Peak's shores with Igaram's ship of choice moored close by. The man in question seems completely committed to his masquerade.
"Eternal Pose?" Nami echos, confusion showing on her face.
"Think of it as a kind of permanent compass," Run tells her. "It's a tool in the same vein as a Log Pose except it'll only ever point to a single destination. Once an islands magnetic field has been loaded into an Eternal Pose it will never change." After a moment of silence, Princess Vivi and Igaram say their goodbye's and the man climbs aboard his ship to set sail for Alabasta.
"There he goes," mutters Luffy, watching the ship shrink into the distance. "He sure was a funny old guy, all the way to the end."
"Aah, yeah," agrees Run. Seconds later, there's a flash and a deafening boom. "What the hell?!" Flames illuminate the entire shore, shooting high into the night sky as the what's left of the ship rapidly sinks into the inky depths of the sea. Everyone stares on in shock, unable to believe that explosives had been planted on the ship the whole time.
"That woman...it's...it's got to be that woman!" growls Vivi, staring at the rapidly sinking ship. "She did this! I'll never forgive her!" Vivi runs off without another word, disappearing into the town again. Luffy, unfortunately, follows suit, yelling about how great of a person Ingram was as he does so.
"C'mon, gimmie a break. Zoro, I'm going after Vivi." Run dashes after the woman quickly. Unfortunately, she's gotten a bit of a head start on the red head and so as he jogs down the main street he glances down every branching street for any sign of her. The red head rounds a corner, nearly bowling over someone in the process and catching the person in question as they bounce off of him. "Aah! Sorry about that, Robin...wait, Robin! Talk about good timing. I was wondering where you got off to."
"Sorry," Robin says as Run helps her back to her feet. "Run, I need to tell you-"
"MISS ALL SUNDAY!" bellows a familiar voice, drawing their attention to Vivi who rapidly closes in on the two. Run turns quickly as Vivi draws near, weapon whirling around and then lashing out...only to meet air. The woman slides to a stop, surprise and confusion flashing across her face as she turns back in their direction. The red head stands between Vivi and Robin, his hands raised in front of himself.
"Alright, let's all calm down," Run tells her. "Fighting isn't going to get us-"
"Get out of my way!"
"You know I can't do that, Vivi. There's not going to be any fighting."
"Miss All Sunday...I won't forgive you! I'll never forgive you for killing Igaram!" Her words are accusatory and anger burns in her eyes and voice...but she makes no move to challenge the red head or get to Robin. It seems that she's quickly come to the conclusion that she won't be able to get past Run.
"I had nothing to do with that," explains Robin. "The Unluckies must have planted those explosives while I was busy."
"You're lying!"
"Had I wanted to kill Igaram, I would have done so in a far less...obvious manner, Vivi." Run glances over his shoulder at her and then looks back at Vivi before motioning down the street.
"C'mon, we need to leave," Run tells them both. "We'll talk about it on the ship."
"What?!" demands Vivi. "That woman is a part of Baroque Works!"
"Yeah, and she's also a member of the crew. Now, c'mon..."
----
Fog wraps the ship, obscures their vision as they navigate the shallow channel back out to open sea. The crew is gathered on the deck in a heavy silence as they stand across from Robin and Run. After boarding the Merry and setting sail, Robin had come clean to the rest of the crew. From her joining Baroque Works to leading Vivi and Igaram to discover the identity of the person in charge, and then more or less abandoning her position in the organization to visit and then sail with Luffy and Run. She even goes so far as to explain that she's known the two of them for over a decade.
"You expect me to believe any of that?!" Vivi shouts at her. "I don't care what you say! I'll never forgive you, Miss All Sunday! I'll-"
"Robin wouldn't kill the funny old guy," Luffy finally says, interrupting her. "I've known her for years. She wouldn't do that kinda thing!"
"Well...far be it from me to doubt a lady's word," begins Sanji. "But how do we know you're not lying?"
"I trust her," Run tells them all.
"Well, you're not exactly an unbiased party, either." Sanji pauses to take a brief drag on his cigarette. "Baroque Works is after our lives. She says she's left it but she can't exactly prove it...which makes it hard to trust her. If we can't trust then we can't have her on the crew."
"She hasn't done anything to hurt someone on the crew," Nami tells them. "Yes, she can't prove that she's left Baroque Works but...there have already been plenty of opportunities for her to hurt us."
"W-Well, Nami has a point," agrees Usopp. "It may be hard to trust her b-but...she hasn't hurt anyone, yet."
"It doesn't matter what we think," Zoro finally says. The swordsman, sitting cross-legged on the deck with his swords gathered in one arm. "At the end of the day, the decision on who stays and who goes rests solely with the Captain." All eyes turn to Luffy, who is again sitting cross-legged on a barrel, staring at Robin intently. After several moments he hops down, and adjusts his strawhat.
"She's staying," Luffy tells them all, much to the horror of Vivi.
"You can't be serious!" demands Vivi. "She's obviously lying! How can-"
"I've made my decision. She's going to be a member of our crew, and I refuse to accept anyone else in her place. So she's staying." Vivi silent for several moments before finally nodding firmly in understanding, along with the rest of the crew. As Zoro had said, their opinion on the matter doesn't really matter. On a ship, the Captain's word is absolute. "Alright! Now, that that's settled, let's get a move on to our next destination...!"