The Night's Not Over:

-x-

Zoro sat on a rooftop overlooking the quiet town of Whisky Peak. The battle was over. Zoro had beaten Baroque Works. Zoro had taken out Ms. Monday and another one hundred bounty hunters, and then beat Mr. 8, Mr. 9, Ms. Wednesday, and Carue all at the same time.

"Now maybe I can get some peace and quiet," Zoro grumbled to himself.

-x-

A trio of Baroque Works Agents that had survived the battle with Zoro were running out of town as fast as they could.

"Three single-digit agents lost to one man!" one of the bounty hunters exclaimed. "I never thought I'd see that day that would happen!"

Huff! "We've got to escape from here!" another agent panted. "But where can we go?"

"We're just gonna have to find some place to hide until this all blows over," the third agent decided.

Fwap! Fwap! The three agents screeched to a halt at the sound of wings, then they spotted a familiar vulture and otter sitting on top of the sign marking the graveyard.

"AAAAAHHH! THE UNLUCKIES ARE HERE!" the agents screamed.

"Now hold on a second!" one of the agents protested. "I know it looks like we're running away but we're not, I promise!"

"Please spare us!" another agent begged as he dropped to his knees in front of the two animals. "Please don't report us to the Boss, okay?"

There was an evil glint behind the sunglasses that the otter, Mr. 13, and the vulture, Ms. Friday, were wearing. They leapt off of the sign at the three agents, who let out a scream of terror.

"Hold it!" a deep masculine voice cut through the air and the Unluckies stopped their attack and landed in front of the three agents.

"There's a lot of action tonight for such a sleepy town," came a second voice, this one was soft and feminine. "Shouldn't everyone be in bed?"

The three men and the two animals turned and spotted a man wearing a long brown coat and a woman wearing a yellow dress.

"Eh-hah," the man chuckled. "The Boss sent us all the way to the front lines, and this is what we find? What a pathetic little group."

Mr. 13 and Ms. Friday turned and smiled at the man and the woman while the three bounty hunters shook with terror.

KA-BOOOOOM!

The three agents were left in an unconscious heap on the ground. Mr. 13 and Ms. Friday were perched on top of them. The silhouettes of a tall man in a coat and a smaller woman carrying an umbrella could be seen through the lingering smoke from the explosion.

-x-

Zoro sat on the edge of the roof drinking a bottle of rum that he'd found... somewhere. He glanced downward and noticed that the three agents he'd beaten were starting to stir.

KOFF! KOFF! "Huff... ugghh... I can't die here," Mr. 8 groaned as he attempted to crawl out of the alley he, Mr. 9, Ms. Wednesday, Carue, and the still inflated and sleeping Luffy had been left in. "I have an important mission to complete... I must keep going... Ugghh... uhhh..."

"The three of you lost against a single pirate?" came the same deep masculine voice from before. "Now that's just sad."

The three single digit agents and the duck looked up in surprise at hearing the voice. They saw a man and a woman standing a few feet away from them.

The man was tall and had dark skin and had short unruly black hair. A pair of dark sunglasses hid his eyes from view. He wore a long brown coat coat that went down passed his knees, it was zipped up and had large 5's on the bottom left side and on the left side of the chest. A red scarf could be seen around his neck through the top of the coat, he also wore gray pants and black shoes.

Beside him, stood a much smaller woman. She had light skin, short blonde hair, and a pair of big blue eyes. She wore a short yellow dress with lemon slices on it, white gloves, white high-heels, yellow lemon slice earrings, and a yellow hat that made the top of her head look like a lemon. She carried an opened blue and green striped umbrella over her shoulder.

"Mr. 5! Ms. Valentine!" Mr. 8 gasped.

"Hmph, so you can't do your jobs," Mr. 5 grunted as he stared coldly at the defeated agents with his hands in his pockets.

"Kyahahahaha!" Ms. Valentine laughed. "Well, that's clearly the difference between our rank and yours."

"Grr... you came here... just to laugh at us?" Mr. 8 growled.

"Nah, that's a bonus," Mr. 5 stated.

"Kyahahahaha!" Ms. Valentine giggled, "We're here under the Boss' orders."

"Hahahahaha..." Mr. 9 weakly chuckled, "With you guys here to fight we can finally defeat him... He doesn't stand a chance against you..."

"That's right," Ms. Wednesday agreed. "Let's track him down and show him what Baroque Works can really do!"

"Hmph, seriously Ms. Wednesday, stop with the jokes," said Mr. 5. "We didn't come here to clean up your mess."

"Did you really think we'd come all the way to the end of the Grand Line to hold your hands?" Ms. Valentine teased them. "Kyahahaha, you're even more pitiful than you look."

"But... but then what mission are you here for?" asked Mr. 9.

"You mean you haven't figured it out?" questioned Mr. 5. "There are people here whose crimes against the company are grave enough that the Boss sent us to deal with it. He said someone had learned his secrets. I don't know what secrets exactly, and I don't wanna know. Obviously, someone else did. But knowing those secrets is against company rules. Our motto is 'Mystery', everyone's identity is to be kept strictly secret, no matter who they are. And if someone's dumb enough to nose around in the Boss' business... well then... that's a crime punishable by death."

"So," Ms. Valentine continued, "While we were conducting our search to find out who had uncovered the Boss' secrets we learned something! Kyahahahaha! It turns out, a rather high-ranking individual from a certain kingdom has somehow managed to infiltrate Baroque Works."

While this discussion was going on, all the agents were oblivious to the red-haired treasure hunter and the orange-haired thief that were silently listening in from around a corner.

"A kingdom?" Mr. 9 repeated, "Wait, wait, hold on a second! I may be wearing a crown but I'm not a King or anything like that, I swear. It's just an innocent hobby!" Mr. 9 took off his crown and threw it away.

"Shut up, you idiot!" Ms. Valentine snapped.

"You still don't get it," Mr. 5 commented. "The spy is someone from the Kingdom of Alabasta."

"They know! It's all over now!" Mr. 8 thought to himself in shock. He shot up to his feet and pulled on the loops of his bowtie, "DIE! IGARAPPAPPA!" BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Mr. 8 roller guns fired at Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine. "YOU WILL NOT LAY A HAND UPON OUR PRINCESS! NOT WHILE THE CAPTAIN OF ALABASTA'S ROYAL GUARD STILL STANDS!"

"Igaram!" Ms. Wednesday exclaimed in surprise as she shot up to her feet.

"Igaram, Captain of the Royal Guard," Mr. 5's voice came through the smoke. The dark cloud cleared to reveal that Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine were completely unharmed. "And Princess Nefertari Vivi of Alabasta Kingdom... we have come here in the name of the Boss of Baroque Works to see that you are both eliminated." Mr. 5 held up a small picture of a younger-looking Ms. Wednesday.

-x-

Around the corner, Nami gasped while Y/N raised an eyebrow in mild surprise.

"This isn't good..." Zoro commented as he finished his bottle of rum. He seemed to grasp the seriousness of the situation. "...I left Luffy down there with them." Or not. Luffy was still sleeping behind the shocked Mr. 9, Ms. Wednesday, and Carue. "I'd better go do something about it..."

-x-

"IGARAPPAPPA!" Igaram opened fire and blasted Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine with a seemingly endless barrage of bullets from his roller-guns. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! "GO! PRINCESS VIVI, YOU HAVE TO ESCAPE!"

"IGARAM!" cried out Ms. Wednesday... or as she was really known, Nefertari Vivi, the Princess of Alabasta.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Igaram continued firing until Mr. 5 flicked something out of the smoke and explosion. Choo! The small projectile went flying and hit Igaram... and exploded, KA-BOOOOOM!

Vivi and Mr. 9 gasped in shock as the smoke cleared and Igaram dropped down to the ground. "IGARAM!" Princess Vivi shouted.

"Don't bother," came Ms. Valentine's voice from up above her. Princess Vivi looked up as saw the blonde Baroque Works Agent floating in midair while holding her umbrella up over her head. "Kyahahahaha!" Ms. Valentine dropped down and swung her leg at Princess Vivi, SWISH... KRAK! Princess Vivi ducked but Ms. Valentine managed to smashed the band holding her long blue hair into its high ponytail.

Princess Vivi slipped her left pinky into a familiar ring and swung the bladed jewel at the blond, SWISH! But she missed as Ms. Valentine floated up into the air then came down and landed next to a completely unharmed Mr. 5. Tmp!

"You monsters!" Princess Vivi growled as she glared at the two Baroque Works Agents.

"You mean you're really a princess, Ms. Wednesday?" questioned Mr. 9 as he dropped to his knees and bowed to his partner. "Oh wow!"

"I'M A VERY BUSY PRINCESS RIGHT NOW, MR. 9!" Princess Vivi snapped.

"Well I've had enough fun for one night," said Zoro as he ran through the alley and in between the Princess and the two agents dragging his still sleeping captain with him. "See ya..."

"Princess... Vivi..." Igaram groaned from the ground.

"Oh Igaram, you're hurt..." Princess Vivi realized as she stared down at the wounded man.

"Vivi, please, forget about me..." Igaram wheezed, "You must get away from here... for... our homeland... If you were to be harmed... ughh... Alabasta Kingdom would suffer... Please Princess, you must hurry!"

"If you think you can escape from us, you're mistaken," said Mr. 5 as he stuck his finger up his nose and started picking. Was this really the most appropriate time for that?

Princess Vivi slipped her right pinky into another ring and pulled out another one of her bladed jewels. She twirled both of them around in front of her. Fwip! Fwip! Fwip! "LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN TAKE ME!" Princess Vivi shouted as she got ready to attack the nose-picker.

The Princess was stopped when Mr. 9 stood in front of her and held one of his metal bats in front of her. "This whole princess-thing is pretty confusing," Mr. 9 admitted as he stood in between his partner and the two agents looking to kill her. "But we've been fighting together for a long time, so get going." Mr. 9 looked over his shoulder at Princess Vivi and smiled, "I'm going to buy you some time for a head start!"

"Thank you, Mr. 9," said Princess Vivi.

"Pretty manly of me, don't you think?" Mr. 9 bragged. "BYE-BYE, BABY!" WHUP! WHUP! Mr. 9 held his bats and did a series of handsprings and flips across the alley towards the two agents.

"You're only loyalty should be to Baroque Works and the Boss," Mr. 5 stated as he finally found what he was digging for and pulled his finger out of his nose along with a booger. "Forming such pathetic friendships is for the weak. Time that you learn that! Here's my... NEZ-PALM ..."

Mr. 9 flipped towards Mr. 5 and swung his metal bat at him, "HOT-BLOODED BAT OF GUTS!"

Fwip! Mr. 5 flicked the booger at Mr. 9, who understandably flinched after getting hit in the face with someone else's snot, "CANNON!" KA-BOOOM! The booger exploded and blew Mr. 9 backwards into the waterway at the far end of the town, SPLASH!

"Oh no! Mr. 9!" Princess Vivi exclaimed.

"Hold on a second... did that just come out of his nose?" questioned Zoro.

Whap! Zoro looked down and saw Igaram grabbing his ankle with both hands.

"Hey! What're you doing?" Zoro demanded as he tried to shake the wounded man off of his leg.

"Swordsman," Igaram called out, "I have an unreasonable request, but I need someone with strength such as yours!"

"Yeah right, you've gotta be kidding me!" Zoro snapped. "Would you let go of me!"

"Both of those villains posses Devil Fruit Powers," Igaram told him. "There's nothing I can do to stop them! That's why I'm begging you now, please protect Princess Vivi of Alabasta in my place! PLEASE!"

"Kyahahahaha!" Ms. Valentine cackled as she and Mr. 5 advanced on Princess Vivi.

"Carue, run!" Princess Vivi instructed as she got on her duck. For once the duck followed her orders perfectly and turned and ran away. TMP!TMP!TMP!

"And off she goes," Ms. Valentine chimed.

"She won't get far," said Mr. 5. "LET'S GO MS. VALENTINE!"

"Right behind you, Mr. 5!" Ms. Valentine agreed as the two of them ran off after Princess Vivi and her duck.

"Surely you will be rewarded if you can deliver the Princess safely to our home of Alabasta Kingdom," Igaram continued to plead with Zoro. "I am just a simple servant, but I am begging you to do this! Please protect the Princess! I beg you!"

"FORGET IT!" Zoro snapped. "I'M NOT HELPING YOU! UNTIL A FEW MINUTE AGO YOU WERE TRYING TO KILL ME!"

"So... about this reward..." came a voice. Igaram and Zoro turned and saw Nami and Y/N sitting on a ledge overlooking the alley.

"We'll help you," Y/N decided.

"...for a billion berries!" Nami added.

"NAMI!" Zoro exclaimed.

"And I'm here too," Y/N casually remarked.

-x-

Secret Criminal Organization:

-x-

"Whaaaa..." Koff! "Maa... maaa... maaaa..." Igaram was clearly surprised by Nami's insane price.

"Shouldn't you two be unconscious?" asked Zoro.

"The Princess woke us up when she came into the bar looking for a hostage," Y/N informed him as he and Nami hopped off of the ledge and landed in the alley. "You said you'd take care of things so we didn't see the need to get involved until now."

"Uhhh... whatever," Zoro groaned.

"Maa... maaa... maaaa..." said Igaram as he continued his attempts to clear his throat.

"So, are you gonna give us that billion berries or not, Captain?" Nami inquired, "Because if we don't help your precious Princess, then she's probably gonna die."

"I am just a simple soldier," Igaram told her. "I can not promise such an immense reward."

Nami knelt down in front of Igaram and stared at him, "Surely you're not saying that your Princess' life is worth less than that," Nami remarked. "Pay up!"

"That's blackmail," Zoro realized.

"I just said we'd help," Y/N stated for the record as he stood beside Zoro with his hands in his pockets. "It's kind of our thing."

"I can't promise anything," Igaram admitted. "But if you're willing to deliver the Princess to Alabasta then you had best negotiate the terms of the reward with her."

"Hehehe, which means I have to save her first, huh?" questioned Nami.

"Please understand, her life is in danger!" Igaram wheezed.

"Oh alright, we'll save your Princess first," Nami conceded, Igaram smiled in relief while Nami stood up and glaced at Zoro, "Well Zoro, go get her!"

"ARE YOU CRAZY!" Zoro exclaimed, "I'M NOT GOING ALONG WITH YOUR CRAZY MONEY-MAKING! YOU DO IT!"

"You're so stupid," said Nami, "The money's mine, but the contract involves all of us."

"Hold on," Y/N cut in. "As the crew's financial manager I'll need at least ten percent."

"Alright," Nami agreed, "one hundred million for you and the others, nine hundred million for me, sounds fair enough."

"WHAT KIND OF LOGIC IS THAT?" Zoro demanded.

"All you've gotta is swing your little swords and cut up a few guys," Nami reasoned.

"Oh really, is that all?" Zoro questioned sarcastically. "DON'T BOSS ME AROUND! I'm not that idiot cook!"

"Oh I see, you're just afraid that you'll end up losing to them," Nami reasoned.

"YOU WANNA SAY THAT AGAIN, YOU GREEDY BITCH?" Zoro yelled. While Zoro and Nami were arguing, Y/N watched as Luffy got up and walked away... still sleeping.

Whap! Y/N slapped Zoro on the back of the head, "Watch your tone," he scolded the swordsman, causing him to glare at him.

"WHY DON'T YOU DO IT THEN?" Zoro suggested, "Why do I have to do your dirty work?"

"I would," Y/N told him, "but I'm still trying to shake off the effects of whatever they spiked our drinks with. And I left my sword on the ship when someone said he'd handle things."

"This is entirely different!" Zoro protested.

"Look, if Luffy was awake he'd agree before they even finished explaining what we're doing," Y/N explained. "I don't wanna go through the trouble of tricking you into doing it, and I don't want to have to resort to ordering you. Maybe these two can at least provide you with a little challenge."

"Fine!" Zoro conceded, "But I'm doing it under protest!" Zoro glared at Y/N and Nami, "You greedy jerks deserve each other!" Zoro turned and stormed off to save the Princess.

"Hehehe, THANKS ZORO!" Nami called out after him.

"SHUT UP!" Zoro shouted.

"I'm so ashamed," Igaram groaned. "If I were stronger I could've protected Princess Vivi like she deserves."

"Oh she'll be fine," Nami assured him. "Zoro's as strong as an ox. He can handle it."

"If anything should happen to Princess Vivi... our Kingdom would crumble..." said the worried Igaram, he was practically crying. "She must escape! She has to!"

-x-

"RUN! CARUE!" Princess Vivi urged her duck as they ran through the streets of Whisky Peak. "There's a ship docked behind the Cactus Rocks. We're going to take it and escape from this place. Then we'll be on our way to Alabasta!"

-x-

Elsewhere, a still inflated Luffy had just finished taking a leak in the waterway. "Ahh, that's better," Luffy sighed, "Now to get back to sleep."

Luffy turned around and spotted something that made his eyes go wide in surprise. "WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED HERE?" Luffy shouted. A bunch of the bounty hunters that Zoro had beaten were lying unconscious in the street. To Luffy, they were still the nice people that had thrown a party for them.

-x-

"HURRY CARUE!" Princess Vivi called out as her duck continued running.

"QUACK!" Carue agreed.

KA-BOOOM! The wall of one of the buildings in front of them suddenly exploded.

"CARUE STOP!" Princess Vivi ordered. The duck came to a halt and the Princess spotted a familiar silhouette in the smoke. "It's Mr. 5! MOVE!"

"Kyahahaha!" Ms. Valentine cackled as she floated down out of the sky and landed on a pile of boxes in time to watch Princess Vivi and Carue run passed.

"It's kind of cute that she's still trying," Mr. 5 commented as he slowly walked after the running duck. He was confident that the Princess wouldn't escape.

Carue kept running and went to run around a corner, but Princess Vivi was surprised when Ms. Monday stepped out from the around the corner and stood in front of them. "MS. MONDAY!" Princess Vivi exclaimed.

"Go on, you can reach the ships by going through here," Ms. Monday instructed as she pointed over her shoulder. She still looked beaten up from her encounter with Zoro. "I'll stay here and hold off the others."

"You sure?" Princess Vivi asked.

"After losing to that green-haired swordsman we're all going to be punished for failing our mission anyway," Ms. Monday explained as she picked up a log that was as tall as she was and was about as thick as one of her extremely muscular legs. "At least if I do that, I can do down while helping to protect a friend."

Princess Vivi stared at Ms. Monday in surprise and tried to fight back tears at the thought of another of the Baroque Works Agents that she'd worked with sacrificing herself so she could escape.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING AROUND HERE FOR?" Ms. Monday demanded. "If you get killed and captured, then Mr. 8 and Mr. 9 will have sacrificed themselves for nothing! GO ON!"

"Thank you," Princess Vivi sobbed as she and Carue hurried off.

"First Mr. 9 defected, and now you," Mr. 5 commented as he walked over to Ms. Monday and pulled up one of the long sleeves of his trench coat, exposing his bare arm.

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" Ms. Monday shouted. "I made a promise to a friend."

"Kyahahahaha!" Ms. Valentine laughed as she casually sat on a box further down the street. "That's adorable!"

"YOU ARE AN UTTER DISGRAGE..." Mr. 5 shouted as he ran towards Ms. Monday who swung the massive log around like a bow-staff. SWISH! Ms. Monday shot the end of the log out at Mr. 5, but Mr. 5 dodged to the side then lashed out his exposed arm, "...TO THE NAME OF BAROQUE WORKS! EXPLODING CLOTHESLINE!" KA-BOOOM! Mr. 5's arm exploded as it connected with Ms. Monday and sent her crashing to the ground in the middle of a heated explosion.

"No... Ms. Monday..." Princess Vivi gasped, as she watched another one of her friends fall from in front of a rocky pass on the outside of town.

"I am Human Dynamite," Mr. 5 explained. "I can make any part of my body explode. Thanks to my Bomb Bomb Fruit Powers, there isn't a single mission that I've failed to complete."

"KYAHAHAHA!"Ms Valentine laughed as she floated up in the sky as spun her umbrella around to seemingly keep her airborne. "And thanks to the Kilo Kilo Fruit Powers that I possess, I can bury that traitor Ms. Monday in the ground forever! I can change my weight whenever I want! Right now I'm light enough to be lifted by a slight breeze. But I think it's time to start gaining weight..."

"Five Kilos!" Ms. Valentine called out as she gained weight and started to descent, "Fifty Kilos... a Hundred... Five Hundred..." Ms. Valentine plummeted down out of the sky at an alarming speed, "a Thousand... TEN THOUSAND KILO PRESS!" KER-RASH! The ten thousand kilogram Baroque Works Agent slammed into the prone body of Ms. Monday and created a crater from the impact.

"Kyahahaha," Ms. Valentine cackled as she stood up next to Mr. 5, she was completely unharmed. "Do you really still think you can escape from us?"

"You don't have a chance of getting out of here in one piece," said Mr. 5.

Princess Vivi bit her lip in frustration, she wouldn't let her friends' sacrifice be in vain, "I will survive, I will escape!" she vowed. "I will make it back home to Alabasta Kingdom."

"Eh-hah," Mr. 5 chuckled as he stuck his finger up his nose and started digging. He found what he wanted and pulled the booger out, "TAKE THIS! NEZ-PALM... CANNON!" Swip! Mr. 5 flicked the explosive booger at the Princess who stood there in shock not knowing what to do.

SKISH! Zoro suddenly leapt down from a roof overhead and landed in front of Princess Vivi on the point of his sword. Wado Ichimonji cut the booger in half as it split and flew passed both Zoro and Princess Vivi, then both halves exploded. KA-BOOOM-BOOOM!

"Mr. Bushido!" Princess Vivi exclaimed as two giant boulders that had been blown up by the bomb fell and slammed down into the Princess' path. "That... could've been me..."

"So who's this clown?" Mr. 5 wondered.

"Aaaahhh! I just cut someone's snot!" Zoro complained as he stared at the leftover mucus on his precious sword.

"Damn it," Princess Vivi cursed as she started spinning one of her bladed jewels. Fwip! Fwip! Fwip! "I don't have time for this! Don't you ever give up!"

SLISH! Zoro cut the string and the jewel went flying as he pointed the tip of his sword at Princess Vivi's neck. "Calm down," Zoro told him. "I'm under orders to rescue you."

"What?" questioned Princess Vivi, "rescue me?"

"Hmph," Mr. 5 grunted. One more person to blow up.

-x-

"By the way, who won?" Y/N asked Igaram, as they waited in the alley for Zoro to come back with the Princess.

"What?" questioned Igaram.

"The drinking contest," Y/N clarified. "We left the prize money there on the table because we couldn't remember who won."

"No point in taking the prize money when I didn't know for sure if I beat him to get it," Nami reasoned.

"So who was winning before you came over and knocked us out?" Y/N inquired.

"I don't know," Igaram answered. "Is now really the time for something like that? Baroque Works is out to kill my Princess!"

"Speaking of which," said Nami, "Baroque Works... what kind of company is it?"

"Uggh... it's a secret criminal organization," Igaram explained. "It specializes in assassinations, espionage, and bounty hunting. That company is so secretive that none of the employees know the Boss' identity or face. But they will still do anything the Boss commands them to."

"Why would any rational person listen to some big boss who's identity they don't even know?" questioned Nami.

"He's obviously after something huge," Y/N reasoned. "Everyone wants their cut so they're willing to follow orders like good little sheep."

"You're right," said Igaram, "the Ultimate Objective of Baroque Works is to create a Utopia. Everyone who does well in the company will be guaranteed high social standing within the Utopia. This is the promise that drives them to blindly follow."

"Now that makes more sense," Nami commented.

"The Agents all have numbers as code names," Igaram continued. "The Boss' codename is Mr. 0. The closer an agent's number is to zero the stronger and more skilled they are, and the higher their future standing will be. The Agents from Mr. 5 and above are especially powerful."

"Okay, so if this Mr. 0's Master Plan is to create a Utopia," Y/N reasoned. "And you and your Princess were desperate enough to infiltrate the organization, it would be safe to assume that he's going to base it in Alabasta Kingdom."

"That's sadly true," Igaram replied. "My homeland is in grave danger."

Y/N continued to guess about Baroque Works based off of the information Igaram gave him, "And if the Boss is using a codename and is worried enough to send agents out to kill people who have learned his identity, then that means he's someone with a big reputation in Alabasta."

"The Princess is the one who found it out," Igaram informed him. "But if I tell you, they're likely to send assassins after you as well."

"Don't worry, I've already got a pretty good idea of who it is," Y/N replied. "Now you want us to get the Princess back to Alabasta, how do you plan on us getting out of here without being detected?"

"Well, I had an idea," Igaram replied, suddenly taking charge, "Boy, come with me, girl, make sure your swordsman gets the Princess away from those other two."

Y/N glanced at Nami and shrugged, she hopped off of the barrel she was sitting on and headed off to find Zoro. Y/N went over to Igaram and pulled him up off of the ground then threw his arm around his shoulders to hold him up.

"We'll use a decoy strategy..." Igaram began to explain as Y/N carried him off.

-x-

"So you're the swordsman who beat up all the lowly employees who were stationed out here," Ms. Valentine realized.

"Why would you want to protect the Princess of Alabasta?" Mr. 5 inquired.

"I'm under orders," Zoro admitted.

"Good reason," Mr. 5 remarked, "but one way or another, we're gonna have to eliminate you because you're in in the way of our orders."

"Kyahaha!" Ms. Valentine laughed, "Aw, what a shame!"

"Eh-hah," Mr. 5 chuckled as he once again stuck his finger up his nose.

"I FOUND YOU!" came a loud shout. Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine turned and saw Luffy standing in the road behind them. Zoro grinned at the sight of the panting captain. "ZOOOROOO!"

"What is it now?" Ms. Valentine wondered.

"Luffy!" Zoro called out. "Thanks for coming, but I've got this one. Or did those greedy jerks drag you into this too?"

Zoro took a closer look at Luffy and realized that he wasn't panting he was seething. Luffy was angry about something, but he didn't know what.

"YOU ARE GONNA PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID!" Luffy hollered at Zoro. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

"WHAT?" Zoro exclaimed, he didn't have a clue what was going on, but for one reason or another, Luffy seemed to be really angry with him.

-x-

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!!