45 Chapter 045

"Sorry to interfere with your plans," a new voice came, and the four bounty hunters stiffened as they turned toward the roof of the nearest building. "But would you mind letting them sleep for a little while longer? They're pretty worn out from our trip here."

"What in the world?" Mr. 8 exclaimed. "How is that swordsman still conscious? How did he escape? What happened to the idiots who were watching them!?"

"Oh, those guys were guards?" Zoro asked lazily. "No wonder they attacked me." He scratched his head, and then a cold, bone-chilling smile stretched out across his face. "They've…seen better days."

"It seems this man has seen through our fabrications," Miss Monday assessed calmly. "We will simply have to kill this one." Mr. 8 nodded grimly.

"Hmm, too bad," Zoro said. "As a rule I don't like cutting up people who give me booze, but I can't have you killing me, now, can I?" he paused. "So, I guess I'll take you on." He raised one sword out of three and pointed at the four of them. "Baroque Works."

Mr. 8's breath caught in his throat. "How…how did you know?" he asked in horror.

"I know a lot of things," he said simply. "Some of which I could use to kill every one of you without having to lift a finger. There are only about a hundred of you. Taking into account the size of your organization, you all seem pretty expendable to me." Mr. 8's eyes widened as he actually started to feel an irrational fear of the man's words. Was it because he had hit the nail on the head? But what more could he possibly know? Zoro's smile turned menacing as he pointed off to the distance. Mr. 8 slowly followed his finger to a nearby tree, and his fear multiplied. There, perched in a tree, were an otter and a vulture. The Unluckies.

"I wonder what would happen to you all," he began, "if I revealed the identity of Mr. 0 to you here and now."

The terror on the four number agents' faces grew with every word as the Unluckies listened on intently. Mr. 8 felt his heartbeat in his throat. He knew the answer to that question. He habitually calculated the risk of knowing who the head of the organization was every day. But how could this man possibly know who their boss was? He wasn't even part of the organization. It was impossible. And yet, he already knew so much that he shouldn't. Who was he? "Of course," Zoro continued, "It won't have to come to that, will it?" His smile vanished and their blood froze as he glared. "After all, this is just the Grand Line's friendly local rest stop, right?"

They all gulped at the open threat. If they let these high bounties go, their standing within the organization would be at risk. But if they pressed on and it turned out the man wasn't bluffing, they were all as good as dead. Mr. 8 gritted his teeth in frustration. They couldn't take a risk like this. Not now.

"Call off the others," he said quietly. "These pirates leave unharmed." Mr. 9 and Miss Monday looked at him like he was insane, while Miss Wednesday just nodded slowly in understanding.

"It seems you can be reasoned with. Smart choice," Zoro said smugly. Mr. 8 turned to the still staring agents.

"What are you waiting for!? Go wake up the pirates and tell them they can't stay any longer!" he shouted. Realizing that he was leaving no room for argument, Mr. 9 and Miss Monday left in a hurry. They arrived back where the pirates were being kept, only to find not one, but three of them missing. They seethed. Would their humiliation never end? They quickly ran back out to locate them, and found the kid with the straw hat, the one with the higher bounty, standing on the docks with his back to them.

He was pissing in the water.

No, it was clear that their humiliation would not end anytime soon. "Hey, straw hat kid!" Mr. 9 yelled. The kid ignored them as he continued emptying his load over the docks. Mr. 9 recoiled at the sheer idiocy of the situation and was about to shout again when the kid finally turned around and faced them. "You know, you really shouldn't disturb someone who's trying to take a piss," he said. "Now that I'm done, what is it?"

Miss Monday looked like she was trying extremely hard not to kill the kid right then and there. Mr. 9 took a deep breath. "I'm afraid our town cannot accommodate your crew any longer. We must ask you all to leave."

Luffy hummed thoughtfully. "Well, that's too bad. The food and drink here are really good. At least when they're not sabotaged." The two agents' eyes widened at the implications of the statement. The kid smirked. "So, I guess Zoro talked some sense into you guys, then? Don't feel too bad. It's not just you. A lot of people think he's scary."

Their minds were going haywire. How many of them had seen through the charade? What was it about this crew that continued to blow their expectations to the wind? "I'll go wake up my crewmates," the kid continued. "Thanks for the party. It was fun." And with that, he walked back into the building where his comrades were located.

Mr. 9 and Miss Monday ran back to meet Mr. 8 only to freeze upon their arrival. It seemed their bad luck just wouldn't run dry today. Standing across from Miss Wednesday and Mr. 8, who by all rights should have been suffering from an aneurysm by this point, was their collective death sentence in the form of a couple by the codenames of Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine.

"Mr. 5," Mr. 8 choked, barely getting the words out, "we can explain! There's a reason why we've failed our mission this time!"

"Failed your mission?" Mr. 5 asked in a bored tone. "I can't say I really care about that. We're here for a different reason."

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