~Nicole~

Zoro and i climbed down and grabbed Luffy in the commotion and dragged him with us as we ran away from the fight, but stopped as there was an explosion "Did that just come out of his nose?"Zoro wondered grossed out "Ew"i muttered "Hey what are you doing?!"Zoro asked i looked and saw it was curly hair grabbing his ankle "Swordsman i have a most unreasonable request but i need someone with strength such as yours"curly hair said.

"Yeah right you gotta be kidding would you let go of me!"Zoro said trying to pull his leg out "Both of those villains possess Devil Fruit powers and there's nothing i can do to stop them, that's what i'm begging you now please protect princess Vivi of Alabasta in my place!"curly hair said "Surely you will be rewarded if you can deliver princess Vivi safely to our noble kingdom of Alabasta, i'm just a humble servant but i'm begging you to do this! Please protect the princess, i beg you!" curly hair said before coughing up blood.

"Forget it! I'm not helping you until a few minutes ago you were still trying to kill me! What do you think i am a fool?!"Zoro yelled at him "So about this reward, i'll take it alright, how does a billion berries sound?"Nami asked appearing sitting on the roof "What did you say?"curly hair asked "I thought you were asleep"Zoro said "Give me some credit"Nami said jumping down "Who in their right mind in a town that welcomes pirates like Whiskey Peak, it's an obvious trap" Nami said.

"Ugh whatever"Zoro sighed "So why don't you go ahead and promise us that one billion beri reward huh captain? Because if we don't agree to help your precious princess then she's probably gonna die"Nami said with a smirk "I'm just a simple solder i cannot promise such an immense reward"curly hair said "Surely you're not suggesting your princess' life is worth less the that, right?"Nami asked, i sweatdropped a bit watching her "Doesn't really fight fair does she?"Zoro asked "Nope, but you gotta do what you gotta do"i said shrugging a bit.

"I can't promise anything but if you're willing to deliver the princess to Alabasta then you'd best negotiate the terms of the reward directly with her"curly hair said "Which means i have to save her first huh?"Nami asked "Please understand her life is in danger"curly hair said "Oh alright i'll go ahead and save your darling princess for now"Nami said delighting curly hair.

"Well Zoro go get her!"Nami said, i sweatdropped a bit "Screw that no!If you wanna make money then fine but you don't have to involve me in it!"Zoro yelled at her "Don't be stupid and stubborn, the money i make is certainly mine but the contracts that i make benefit all of us, why cannot see that?"Nami asked, i bonked Zoro on the head "Why'd you hit me?!"he yelled turning to me "Just go do it already"i told him with a slight glare, Zoro grumbled a bit "Fine!"he yelled stomping off.

"Whoa, very nice Nicole, how did you do that?"Nami asked "Zoro is stubborn but i know how to push his buttons"i said with a small smirk "I'm so ashamed if i had been stronger i could of protected princess Vivi like she deserves, if anything were to happen to her, the kingdom of Alabasta, it would be done for, she must escape she has to"curly hair said his eyes tearing up.

"You've got nothing to worry about curly hair, Zoro's still far from my level but he's closer then most, as for you, should of, could of, would of, are pointless to worry about, learn from them and grow stronger for the future"i said looking over my shoulder at him, then i also noticed it, Luffy was gone! But i wasn't too worried, he certainly could handle himself.

~skip~

There was quite the ruckus going on so me and Nami went to check it out, i sweatdropped a bit seeing Luffy and Zoro fighting each other, the air seemed to swirl around them as they went for the final attack when Nami stepped in punching both of them "Stop!"she yelled at them "You two what are you doing here? You're lucky you managed to keep the girl safe, you almost lost us all a billion berries"Nami said walking over to the two boys, i followed

"You understand?!"Nami asked picking them both up "What do you mean? What berries? I don't understand why did you save me?"blue haired girl asked as the boys were still fighting "About that, i think we need to have a little chat, see you and i have to work out a contract for a reward" Nami said before punching the boys again telling them to knock it off.

~skip~

Once the boys came too Zoro and i explained the situation to our idiot captain who just laughed it off, i was sitting on the crate Zoro was leaning on with Luffy sitting on a barrel across from us "Why didn't you just say so Zoro! I was figuring you beat up those guys cause they didn't make any food you liked"Luffy said while Nami explained the deal we made with curly hair "Who in their right mind would think that?!"Zoro asked yelling at him, Luffy laughed again "What a funny mix up"he said "Guys shut up!"Nami yelled at them before turning to the princess "Well there you have it in exchange for taking you home i'd like on billion berries, you saw who strong these two guys are and Nicole is no slacker, if you ask me it isn't a bad deal"she said.

"No i can't, i appreciate the help you've given me so far"the princess said "Why not? You're a princess after all so aren't you rich?"Nami asked "I think she means one billion berries is asking for too much"i cut in, the princess nodded in agreement.

"Alabasta is a great nation, a peaceful kingdom at least it used to be"she said "Used to be? And now?"Nami asked "We're in the middle of a civil war, in recent years signs of discontent began to appear, finally the people revolted and the kingdom fell into utter chaos, the one day i learned of a secret organisation called Baroque Works, i found out our people were being manipulated by this organisation but that was the only information i could gather about them i didn't know what to do so i went to Igaram for help, you see he's kept a close eye on me ever since i was a child"the princess said.

"Old tube hair man?"Luffy asked "Tube? Oh yes, i asked him if he'd help me infiltrate Baroque Works so that i could see who was pulling the strings behind the scenes and what exactly they were up to"the princess said "You've got some guts considering you're a princess"Zoro said, i wasn't that impressed, yet, "So were you able to find out what their plan was?"Zoro asked, the princess nodded "To create an ideal nation anyway that's what Igaram said it was, is that what you found out?"Nami asked.

"It's not that was only the cover story the boss was using, it's a lie to cover their tracks their true goal is to take over Alabasta Kingdom"the princess said, i don't know, something didn't sit right with me about either plan "I have to get back somehow to warn everybody to tell the truth and stop the fighting, if i don't do something if i don't tell them"the princess said crying a bit "Okay i get it, i see how it is, yeah it's all starting to make sense now, i suppose you wouldn't have much money laying around during a civil war"Nami said.

"Hey, so did you find out who's in charge?"Luffy asked, the princess gasped "What? The bosses identity?! You should ask that!"she yelled at him "But you know don't you?"Luffy asked "Ask me anything else, if i tell you, your lives will be put in danger too!"the princess said, Nami laughed a bit "Yeah i'll pass this guy is trying to take over an entire country after all, wouldn't want someone like that chasing after me"she said.

"No you don't, i don't care how strong you people are you wouldn't stand a chance against one of the seven war lords of the sea, against Crocodile"the princess said, my eyes widened a bit, i knew that name very well considering he's a part of the same group as my father "Who now?" Luffy asked before the princess went into shock having realized what she let slip "You had to say it"Zoro grumbled, then we noticed an otter and a vulture just before they flew off.

Nami started yelling at the princess shaking her around "Hey a warlord that's cool, have you met him Nicole?"Luffy asked instantly getting excited "Nah, my dad never took me to their meetings so i haven't met any of the other warlords, he's told me about them though and their abilities"i said, Nami was still going at the yelling when Luffy laughed "Being hunted by a warlord in the Grand Line that's more then i can handle!"Nami cried "So when do we get to see this guy?"Zoro wondered "I wonder what he looks like"Luffy said.

"Shut up you!!"Nami yelled before she started walking off "It's been nice knowing you idiots thanks for everything!"she said walking off "Where are you going?!"Luffy yelled after her "They don't know what i look like yet! I'm leaving!"she yelled back even though that otter and vulture had just seen our faces and were probably drawing them down already "I'm really sorry"the princess said "She'll get over it"Luffy said "Where was she planning on going anyway? Well then it looks like the four of us are gonna be sitting right at the very top of Baroque Works hit list"Zoro said with a smirk.

"That sounds awesome"Luffy grinned laughing "Maybe i can finally get in a real fight"I said, Nami was super depressed, the princess tried to comfort her by offering money "You have nothing to fear"i looked over to see curly hair, dressed like the princess, i sweatdropped, who does he think he's fooling with that "It's going to be alright princess i've come up with a plan" curly hair said.

"Igaram what are you?"the princess asked going over to him "That's a really funny outfit old guy"Luffy said laughing a bit "Princess Vivi please listen to me carefully once Baroque Works intelligence network learns of what happened here agents will be sent after you immediately and since they are aware you've learned the bosses true identity you must"curly hair was cut off.

"Yes knowing them, they'll send a thousand agents after me"the princess said "Thus my plan, disguised like this i will pretend to be you, i'll take these dummies and i will sail a straight course to Alabasta"curly hair said "So these things are us?"Luffy asked "A decoy"Zoro said, while i doubted anyone would be stupid enough to fall for that but decided not to voice this doubt, "While Baroque Works is busy chasing after me the rest of you will head to Alabasta kingdom following a less direct route"curly hair said.

"Hold on just a second, who said we were gonna take her with us we still haven't discussed the matter of payment"Nami said "Wait a second payment for what? Take her where?"Luffy asked "Haven't you been paying any attention? Curly hair wants us to take the princess back to her kingdom"i said "Oh is that what all this yelling is about? Sure thing"Luffy said "Crocodile may already be after us!"Nami yelled "Is this Crocodile guy really that dangerous?"Luffy asked.

"He's one of the seven warlords of the sea, a legally recognized pirate and because of that fact he has no bounty on his head, however long ago his bounty was worth eighty million berries" curly hair said, i scoffed a bit, that's nothing my dad used to have a bounty much higher then that (A/N: pure speculation, i might come back and edit if Oda ever released official bounties for the warlords which i honestly think he will given what's happened in recent arcs) "Eighty million?! That's four times Arlong's bounty! There's no way!"Nami yelled.

"Will you do this for us?"curly hair asked "Sure it sounds like it'll be fun"Luffy said as he grinned "We are forever grateful"curly hair said and we went with him to a ship docked on the side of the island, curly hair changed his voice to sound more effeminate "Now i Vivi will leave you here"he said, i sweatdropped again "Who does he think would ever fall for this?"i muttered under my breath but it seemed no one heard me as Luffy laughed "Great imitation old guy"he said.

"Imitation of who?"Zoro asked, my point exactly no one sane would fall for this, "Princess please give me the Eternal Pose"curly hair said his voice back to normal and she did "What's an Eternal Pose?"Nami asked "You've never heard of it? You could say it's a permanent version of the log pose, where as a log pose will always lead sailors to the next island on the course an eternal pose will forever remember the magnetic energy of the island that is stored inside it so it will always point to that island and none other and this eternal pose is set to Alabasta kingdom" curly hair said.

"Oh yeah i've seen one of those before, Nicole sometimes is looking at one that reads Kuraigana"Nami said, i nodded "Home sweet home"i simply said "Princess Vivi, please take the indirect island hoping route to Alabasta, i have never gone that way myself but you should only pass two or three islands if you follow the log"curly hair said before turning to Luffy "Please take care of the princess in my absence"curly hair said "Yeah!"Luffy said "Igaram"the princess said looking quite sad as she looked at curly hair.

"I expect that  your journey is going to be a difficult one please be careful"curly hair said looking back at the princess, it seemed like she was going to say something but instead shook hands with curly hair "See you soon"she said, we watched him sail off "And off he goes, he was such a funny old man"Luffy said "What's more he's a very reliable old man"the princess said, yeah just not a smart one, seriously who did he think he was fooling with those dummies, my point was proven as the boat exploded.

"They're already after us, that's impossible!"Nami yelled, Luffy grabbed his hat as it was blown off by the explosion and growled as he stomped off "Nami the log!"Zoro said "Uh it's all set" Nami said checking the log.

"Get the girl, come on let's go!"Zoro yelled running off, i looked back to the princess before following him, we caught up with Luffy, Zoro told him to get Usopp and Sanji "I'm on it!"Luffy said going to go get them as Zoro and i headed to the Going Merry, once we reached the ship some duck was already on board but ignoring that Zoro and i got the ship ready to sail.

"Hey i got them!"Luffy yelled coming over to the ship having dragged Usopp and Sanji with him "Bring them up we're ready to go!"Zoro yelled over to him "We don't have time to look for him!"i heard Nami yell "I'm not just going to leave him here"the princess said "But listen!"Nami said "Hey what's the problem?"Zoro asked them "Apparently her duck's gone missing and now she's refusing to leave without him!"Nami yelled back "You mean this duck?!"i asked pointing at the little cutie who quaked in greeting.

"He's here?!"Nami and the princess asked "Made it here before either of us"i said as Zoro dropped the rope ladder down "There's a tributary just up the river if we take it we can get out to sea faster"the princess said after climbing up and on board "Alright let's go!"Luffy said as i dropped the sail and we set off, i climbed back down and on deck "Hey how many people do you think Baroque Works will send after us?"Zoro asked walking over to the princess "I'm not sure, i know there are about two thousand loyal employees in the Baroque Works and i've heard there are several bases like this one set up around the area"she said.

"We can expect at least half of those employees coming after us, let's hope we don't run into any bases though, it'll be much easier to escape them if we're at sea"i said, Usopp and Sanji finally woke up and started yelling about whatever but i ignored them and Nami took care of it by "explaining" the situation, the sun was finally rising as we reached the sea but this was no time to relax our guard.

Then a mystery woman appeared on our ship "What who's that?"Zoro asked, i put my hand on one of my swords, the vibe i got from this woman, i didn't like it, "It's you!"the princess said "I just ran into your dear Mr.8 a little ways back, he didn't look so good"the mystery woman said "So you killed Igaram"the princess said "You! What are you doing on my ship and how did you get here?! Who are you?!"Luffy yelled at the mystery woman.

"Answer him, what are you doing here? Miss All Sunday"the princess said, so another Baroque Works agent and she seemed a lot stronger then ones we've faced until now "So you know who she is?Which of the number guys is she partnered with?"Nami asked the princess "Her partner is Mr. Zero, the boss"the princess said "Crocodile's her partner?!"Nami asked, no wonder she seems so strong, "She's a bad guy?"Luffy asked "She was the only one who knew the bosses identity, that's how we found out, by following her back to him"the princess said.

"To be accurate i allowed it"the mystery woman said  "So she's a good guy then?"Luffy asked "I know you knew we were there, you were the one who told the boss what we knew weren't you?"the princess asked "That's right"the mystery woman said "Alright then she is bad"Luffy said, i sweatdropped a bit why should that matter? "Luffy would you cut it out already"Zoro said.

"You still haven't told us what you're doing here!"the princess yelled "Alright, you were just so serious about the whole thing i couldn't help myself, a princess doing whatever it is to help her country while making herself an enemy of Baroque Works, the idea was just so ridiculous"the mystery woman said "You killed him!"the princess yelled as we got ready to fight this mystery woman.

"Stop pointing those things at me"the mystery woman said knocking the weapons out of our hands, "She's eaten a Devil Fruit"i said knowing this strange power was only possible through something like that "But which one? What's her power?"Nami asked "No there's no need to get so excited, you can calm down i haven't been given any orders to follow here i have no reason to fight you"the mystery woman said taking Luffy's straw hat.

"So you're the captain, i've heard so much about you Monkey D. Luffy"the mystery woman said "Give me my hat back you want me to come up there and take it?!"Luffy yelled at her super angry "You are a bad person i demand you leave this instant!"Usopp said appearing behind the mast "Bad luck, picking up a princess who Baroque Works' has already made up their mind to see eliminated, protected by a mere handful of pirates"mystery woman said.

"But your luck gets even worse because of the direction your log pose is indicating, you see, the name of the next island is Little Garden"mystery woman said, now that i had definitely heard of but never been "We won't even have to lift a finger, you'll all be dead long before you reach Alabasta, you don't think it's a little foolish allowing yourselves to be wiped out?"mystery woman asked tossing an Eternal Pose to the princess and Luffy's hat back to him.

"Using that you can skip right past Little Garden without stopping straight to an island near Alabasta the pose points to a place called Nanimonashima, none of our agents know that course so you won't be followed"mystery woman said, an obvious trap, "Why are you giving this to us?"the princess asked "It's gotta be a trap"Zoro said "Oh does it?"mystery woman asked "Of course it does, and why should we take your word if you say it's not"i said "Forget your thingy we don't need it!"Luffy said braking the Eternal Pose.

Only to be kicked by Nami "You jerk! She just went out of our way to show an easier course to follow! Maybe she actually is trying to help us get away!"Nami yelled, "You aren't the one who decides where this ship goes"Luffy said looking at mystery woman "She blew up the funny old man who was nice so now i hate her"he said.

"I'm sorry to hear that and i'm sorry you didn't accept my offer, if you survive i hope that we'll meet again"mystery woman said before leaving on a giant turtle, the princess fell to her knees "That woman i don't have the slightest idea what's going through her head"she muttered "Then there's no point in thinking about it is there?"Nami asked "There's someone on this boat who's just like that"Zoro said referring to Luffy, i couldn't agree more.