Whiskey Peak

In due time, we bid farewell to Crocus and Laboon and set sail to the seas of the Grand Line. Crocus had warned us that our next destination, which was Cactus Island, was known to have dangers. Regardless, we wanted to stick to our Log Pose, and I had my business at the town of Whiskey Peak in the island anyway.

There were a few challenges with navigation on the way, but Nami and our crew stepped up to adapt to these changes.

Soon Vivi and Mr.9 woke up from their concussion…

"Ahh… Where am I… Mr.9, are you okay?! And… where's my Log Pose?! Damn, I need to get out of these ropes."

"Uh… T-This ship seems to belong to Pirates, Miss Wednesday… Stop struggling or those ropes will hurt you."

While Vivi and Mr.9 were in full panic, some of the crew started to gather around the duo.

I went up to them first and licked my lips as I stared at Vivi. She was struggling desperately with the rope that binded her hands.

"Calm down girl and trust me… I like feisty girls, but I can kill you just as easily if you get out of those ropes and fight me!"

Vivi pried me with her eyes and then said, "You… Who are you? Let us go! We need to kill the whale in time before our organization hunts us."

"Grrrrrr… I won't let them hurt Laboon!"

Lucy growled at Vivi and was on the verge of attacking her.

"Stop, Lucy… We've already prevented them and… they have their circumstances too."

I started patting the back of Lucy's head, sending calming waves throughout her body. She stuck out her tongue at me, but she enjoyed my patting nonetheless.

"Listen, you two! So, here's the deal right now…" I continued.

I went on to tell them about how they were captured by me because they tried to hurt Laboon. I removed their binds and told them that they were free to leave; of course, they didn't have a Log Post on them anymore.

"Oh, so you're already on your way to Whiskey Peak. You can just drop me and Miss Wednesday off over there."

A fake-smile formed on Mr.9, and he winked at Vivi.

I didn't even need my future-knowledge or Mantra to detect their malicious intentions towards us. They were thinking along the lines of capturing or killing us to compensate for their failure with Laboon.

Zoro woke up from his nap nearby, and he lifted his chin to the conversation. He said, "There's something sinister about your faces and those names you use… I feel like I've heard them before."

The duo started to sweat heavily from Zoro's prying words when… Bahm… Nami punched Zoro in the head and yelled, "Stop sleeping all the time here at the Grand Line and help us…! Sigh… We've finally arrived at the Cactus Island no thanks to you though."

Everyone stared at the Cactus Island appearing in the distance. It had several rock mountains with multiple graves on top like a cactus. Furthermore, it housed the bounty-hunter community of Whiskey Peak.

"Oh, don't be too worried, Zoro. They are agents of Baroque works that may have invited you back when you were still a bounty-hunter. But let them be… It would be fun to see them try and take our bounties."

I calmly told them about the entirety of the matter.

"Whaaaat…!" Nami, Alvida, and Usopp were nearby and their jaws dropped from hearing all about this.

Mr.9 and Vivi immediately jumped out of the ship to get away from us. I chose to let them go, since we'll be meeting them after some time anyway.

After informing everybody about the situation of Whiskey Peak, we anchored our ship and got ready to go ashore. We needed to wait here a few more hours for our Log Post to set up.

Across us was a city inhabited by bounty hunters working for Baroque Works and about 100 bounty hunters lined up and waving at us.

"Pirates!"

"Welcome to our town!"

"Welcome to Grand Line! Let's all prepare a banquet for these brave warriors."

They all started cheering for us as we got off from our ship. Most of us were cautious, but there were a few people that immediately forgot my warnings.

"Ah ♥ Such lovely ladies!"

Sanji ran to the bounty-hunter girls that were prepared as a trap.

"They have a banquet… We can get food here, Cross!"

Lucy started drooling next to me, completely forgetting the warning we'd given her. With a shake of the head, I just accepted Lucy's behavior and patted her head.

"Ahem! Ma-Ma-Maa~ Everyone, they already know who we are. Surround them and attack!"

A tall man with a red nose and blonde hair that resembled a powdered wig appeared. I recognized him as Igaram; he was the captain of the Alabasta royal guard disguised as Mr.8.

Uoohhhhh…! The townsfolk charged at us with their weapons, heavily disappointing Lucy and Sanji who were looking forward to the banquet.

"Everyone, fight!"

I led the charge with my trident, smashing waves of people head on. The rest of the crew followed behind me and unleashed their own powers at the poor members of Baroque works.

**

Sometime later, Igaram was running full speed to a hut where Vivi and Mr.9 were. Contrary to his previous condition, his clothes were tattered, and a few wounds were on him.

"Gasp… Gasp… Miss Wednesday! You need to run… Those guys are demons; we've screwed up!"

"Aaah… What happened to you? And how strong can those pirates from East-Blue be… With those 100 professional bounty hunters coupled with us, we can take any of them." Vivi chewed her lip from worry and immediately started to bandage Igaram up.

"Yes, we need their bounties if we want to get out of the mess from hunting that whale." Mr.9 added.

Ingram refused Vivi's help and put his hands on her shoulders. He said, "You don't understand. They have all kinds of devil-fruit users with monstrous strength… and worse… the man who led them used his trident to kill Miss Monday in just one blow. Don't waste time packing your stuff and lea-"

"Oh my, these idiots got defeated so easily. Are they just playing around?

Mr.5, a tall, dark-skinned man with black hair in short spiky dreadlocks, appeared.

"Kyaha haha… Give them a break, you can't expect them to be as capable as we are."

Miss Valentine, a woman with short blonde hair and dark eyes with yellow and orange hat, appeared in the background too.

Vivi puckered her forehead and said, "Why're you here? Are you here for backup… or are you just making fun of us?!"

"Kyaha haha… We're here because we've been told that Baroque works has been compromised by Alabasta's princess herself… Nefertari Vivi!"

Ingram and Vivi gritted their teeth…

**

Through the sacrifice of Ingram and Mr.9, Vivi had been able to get a slight lead on Miss Valentine and the booger bomber, Mr.5. She was running away with the help of Karoo, her pet; however, the 2 Baroque work agents quickly caught up with her.

"You can't run away from us! Nose Fancy… CANNON!"

Mr.5 launched a deadly attack on Vivi who was escaping. Just before the attack could hit,

Kari…! I pressed my lips together, annoyed that I had to intercept a booger. I heated the around me and exploded it into a wild thunderclap, blocking the explosion from the booger.

Mr.5 and Valentine stopped their pursuits and gave me an evil grin.

"Kya haha… You think you can stop us from getting to pri-"

5 Million Volt Bari…! Zappp…! I fried the two of them together causing their consciousness to temporarily go into oblivion.

"It can't be! An officer agent of Baroque works was…!" Vivi watched the scene with an open mouth and fell from Karoo.

Cua…Cua… The loyal pet went up to Vivi to help her up once more.

I glazed my eyes at Vivi one last time before walking away from her.

"Hey Wait… Why did you save me from the agents of Baroque Works? You'll get on the hitlist of one of the seven Warlord of the Seas, Crocodile, if you tr-"

Vivi instantly closed her mouth after mistakenly revealing to me the biggest secret of her country. She inspected her surrounding to see if anyone had eavesdropped their conversation.

'This woman definitely tried to drag me in purposefully,' I thought with a slight frown, but my Mantra was unable to detect such emotions on Vivi.

"Hum… You don't need to worry about this…. There aren't many people in this world who are capable of eavesdropping my movements. I saved you because I like your bravery and persistence for your nation, but I'm leaving you to your luck now,"

I said, my voice was more stern than usual. I kept walking away from Vivi without looking at her.

Vivi cocked her head at my words and said, "How do you know about me…? Anyway, thank you for saving me.... But you should run away before more agents sho-"

"The next time I meet you, you may not be so thankful to me anymore. Of course, that's only if you'll be able to survive that is…!"

With that statement, I teleported away from Vivi. Her face was pale from seeing my teleportation, and she didn't get any time to pay attention to my words.