-MR. PRINCE'S RESCUE PLAN-
Kei pulled the lever of the pachinko machine down and waited for the triple 7 to be shown. Different shapes of fruits flashed on the screen before stopping at three.
".........I lost again," she muttered under her breath, looking at the unfamiliar fruits shown on the screen of the machine.
"Again? But you were pretty good in the cards game back then......" Sanji who was sitting beside her, in front of a different machine said while leaning slightly towards her.
Her eyebrows knitted together for a moment, glaring at the screen, as if that could bring her the desired results,"This is a game based upon luck and you could say I don't have the best luck in the world....."
As for the people around them, they were panicking and rushing towards the door. The reason? Well apparently, the bridge outside the Raindinners had collapsed. And as for who did that?, it was none other than Kei and Sanji.
Wandering ber eyes through the crowd, Kei caught sight of Vivi in a robe between them.
"The bridge fell? Oh no! I can't go outside!!" A concerned look framed her face while she walked towards the door, unknown of Kei or Sanji's presence.
"It's not about not going outside. It's about keeping Baroque works from coming back inside"
Vivi stopped in her tracks as she heard a familiar voice speak up. Sanji pulled the lever of his machine down.
"It's all part of the plan."
Vivi turned her head a little to look at the duo, while also trying to hide her face.
"Chopper is running around town as a decoy as we speak. We gotta hurry up." He stubbed out the smoke in his hands on the machine as he and Kei stood up .
"The rebellions began too"
Vivi's eye widened when she saw them as smile formed on her face and relief washed over her. The smile was returned by him.
" Sanji-san! Kei-san!"
"Think you could tell us where they are, Princess?"
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"So, how are we getting out of here?" Smoker asked with his arms crossed across his chest as he sat inside the cell made of sea stone.
"AHHHHH!! IT'S UP TO MY THIGHS" Luffy's eyes popped.out of his socket as he looked at the water under himself, which was filling in the room and soaking his pants.
"We are gonna die! We are gonna die!!" Usopp cried in a panic while drowning behind him.
"I think I'm starting to lose my nerve ..." Luffy said in dizziness.
"This is bad! This is bad!" Usopp grabbed his shoulders so that he doesn't drown, "Tough it out! didn't Vivi say so?!" he said looking at Luffy's hanging head and shaking him furiously to keep him awake.
"Must be hard for you, huh, Vivi?" Nami muttered while looking up at the room's entrance to see if there was any sign of the blue haired princess.
"Damn it! If only my swordsmanship were better, this cage would be nothing!!" Zoro gritted his teeth in frustration as he looked down at his swords. His hands grubbing hardly at their hilts as if it was the only way to take out his frustration.
"Try as hard as you can, not to make any noise at mealtime." They heard a familiar voice say. This caused them to look in front.
Suddenly the Bananagator in front of them was sent flying in the air.
"BAD MANNER KICK COURSE!!"
They saw Sanji standing in front of them, with his left leg up as if he had just kicked the animal, the water around them splashing everywhere.
"VINE WHIP!"
A huge green vine went in speed towards the Bananagator and hit him in the chest. The animal landed on the floor with a thud while the pool of water around it splashed hitting the walls nearby.
Everyone looked at them in shock except for Luffy, as he was still dizzy. They had thought that all three, Sanji, Kei and Chopper had been caught by the millions, unknown that it was just a smart trick of Sanji.
"Uwah, There's water everywhere." Kei said while landing safely on top of the huge Bananagator so that the water doesn't reach her. She transformed her hand which was in the shape of a vine back to normal.
"Hey there! Been waiting for long?" Sanji said with a playful smirk.
"PRINCE! KEI!" Usopp and Luffy yelled happily with tears in their eyes and their arms around each other's shoulders at the sight of their saviours.
"Thank goodness!" Nami sighed in relief.
"Stop goofing around and find the key already!!" Zoro yelled furiously.
"NAMI-SWAAAAANNN~~!! L-love me now?" Sanji said while dancing stupidly with hearts in his eyes.
Kei just sighed at his stupidity.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm in love. Now hurry up and open this cage." Nami said.
"Okay~!"
"That guy is an interminable idiot, huh?" Zoro said as he sweatdropped.
"You!"
Kei suddenly heard someone yell and saw someone similar beside her crewmates, in a marine uniform. It was Smoker.
He was looking at her with wide eyes and an angry expression. Her eyes widened.
"Gehh-! Smoker!"
She immediately turned her head sidewards in an attempt to hide her face and ignore him.' Shit!! I forgot about him!"
She seriously did need to brush up on her memory. The Straw hats looked at them in confusion. "Don't try to hide your face!!" He yelled furiously.
Kei slowly turned her face to look at him. Though an innocent look soon formed on her face, " Huh, didn't see you there."
"Like hell you didn't! What are you doing here?!" He asked while pointing a finger towards her angrily. "Taking a stroll like a normal citizen over here?" Smoker said remembering their last conversation.
"Are you an Idiot? Who would take a stroll here?"
Multiple tick marks appeared on his forehead "I see, so now you are a part of the Strawhats, huh?!" He said while gritting his teeth.
Kei just shrugged her shoulders and said "Yeah" as if there was nothing wrong with it.
"Vivi! Way to go!!" Suddenly Luffy said while looking near the staircase where Vivi was and gave a thumbs up.
"Yeah," Vivi said while giving a thumbs-up as well.
"Here they come, one after the next." Sanji's exclaimed while looking at the numerous Alligators coming out of the water one by one.
"Go, Sanji! Kei!! Pound them all!" Luffy said while cheering.
"Take out the third that just came in." Smoker suddenly said.
"What? You can tell?" Luffy asked.
"Are your ears just for show? His growl is the same as the one who swallowed the key, isn't it?"
At this, everyone looked at the group of Alligators "I can't really tell" Luffy said looking at them in confusion.
Sanji immediately went and kicked the Bananagator in the stomach and a huge white ball came flying out of his mouth.
" What is that?" Usopp asked.
" That doesn't look like a key!" Luffy excalimed furiously.
Suddenly a small crack formed on it and slowly it widened, resulting in the ball splitting into two halves.
"Wax- Wax ball! Release!!" someone came out of the ball with their arms raised in the air as if tasting the freedom for the first time.
"WHAT?!" Everyone said in shock.
" Three!! It's three!!!" Luffy said looking at the hair-do of the am in the shape of three. Something on the floor caught Mr.3's eye and he picked it up in confusion. It was the key to the cell.
"What's this?"
"Ahhh!! Hand that key over to us!!" Usopp, Luffy, and Nami yelled through the cell.
At this, he turned to look at them as if he didn't realize their presence before.
"IT'S YOU GUYS!" His eyes popped out of his sockets, "W-what ? this key..." He looked at the key "Hold on......" Slowly, he understood what all the fuss was about.
"You are Mr.3? Hand over the key, quietly," Sanji said approaching him. Though Kei knew it wasn't going to be that easy.
A wicked grin formed on Mr.3's face.
"Here comes a long throw!!" He said and immediately flung the key in the air. The key dropped in the water, between the group of Bananagators.
At this, everyone's jaw dropped expect for Kei's. "I don't know who you both are, but if you want the key, go find it!!" He said with a triumphant grin.
"You bastard...!!" Sanji muttered with knitted eyebrows.
Well, it was not the real key anyway......
Kei shrugged her shoulders remembering how Crocodile had shown them the fake key, if Mr.3 was not here, they would have never been about to come out of the cell.
"Wait, Sanji, Kei! Couldn't his Wax-wax fruit make a key to this cage ?" Usopp suggested.
They both understood what he was trying to say and soon an evil smirk formed on both of their faces.
____________
*Click*
The door to the cell was now open.
"Nicely done, candle man." Sanji said to a beaten-up Mr 3.
"Let's go there is no time!"
"But there are still so many banangators that way!!" Vivi said.
"Aren't there anymore?!!" Luffy suddenly shouted. He and Zoro now stood in front of a mountain of all beaten-up Bananagators. Everyone looked at them in shock.
Suddenly, numerous cracks formed on the glass windows and walls and water came gushing out of them.
"Out!! We are getting out of here!!" Sanji yelled. Getting hit by a huge wave of water was the last thing that Kei saw.
_________
"Usopp-san, wake up!!" Vivi said pulling an unconscious Usopp out of the water by his nose.
Soon, Zoro too came out of the water. On one hand was Smoker, while on the other hand was Kei. He pulled both of them out of the water and placed them on the ground. Kei woke up with a jolt and coughed out all the water while panting hardly.
"Woah, Smoker! Hey Zoro, what are you bringing the enemy along for?!" Sanji, who had brought Luffy out, yelled.
"Back off! I didn't want to!"
Kei stood up on her feet and started squeezing out the water from her clothes. "Roronoa!!" Zoro turned in te to see Smoker's baton coming towards him, but he stopped it with his sword.
"Why did you save me?" He asked with gritted teeth and a glare.
"I was just following the captain's orders. I don't think you necessarily have to thank me." Zoro informed nonchalantly.
"Alright, men!! Full speed to Alubarna!!" Usopp suddenly said now conscious.
"Where is Crocodile?!" Luffy asked angrily. "Ahhh!!!Smokey! You want se of this?!!" He said in fighting in a stance when he saw Smoker.
Smoker just glared at Luffy as if thinking something. He closed his eyes for a brief moment. "Go" was the only thing that he said. "This is the only time I'm letting you off. Next time we meet, consider yourself dead".
They could hear the Navy coming towards them. A smile formed on everyone's face and Zoro laughed at this.
"Come on! Let's go! Which way is Alubarna?" Sanji asked with a smile.
"Over there! Straight to the east!!" Vivi said with a grin and they started running.
Luffy stayed in his place, just starring at Smoker while Zoro and Kei waited for him. Slowly a wide toothy grin formed on his face.
"You are not unlikable, you know?"
A blush formed on Smoker's face out of embarrassment. "Get going, already!!" He said while lifting his Jitte and smashing it in front of Luffy. Luffy immediately started running away, Zoro and Kei followed behind him as well.
"All right, guys!! Head straight for Alubarna!!"
"YEAH!!"
______________
KEI'S POV:
We were now out of the town and were riding on the back of a huge ass crab, Chopper's friend that he made in the desert, heading towards Alubarna. Suddenly, we heard Vivi's scream and turned to see a hook was around her waist. It was dragging her far from us.
"What?!!" Zoro said in shock as he caught sight of Crocodile's hook. "Stop!! Chopper!!" He exclaimed and the crab instantly came to a halt.
"It's him!! Why you...!!" Luffy said and immediately stretched his hand towards her. He removed her from the hook but he himself got stuck in it and got dragged away.
" Hey!! Luffy!!" Zoro yelled with wide eyes at his stupid move.
"That idiot!!" Sanji cursed under his breath.
" Luffy-San!!" Vivi said in horror looking at him being taken instead of her.
"You guys go on ahead!! I can handle this myself!! Make sure you deliver Vivi back to her home!!" Luffy yelled with a grin as if nothing was wrong with that.
Everyone was looking at him in shock, contemplating but Zoro was the one who didn't give up much time to think. Because that was something they didn't have. Time. "That idiot.......Hey! Go Chopper!! Keep going to Alubarna!!"
"G-got it!!"Chopper said with tears threatening to fall from his eyes,"We're off" the crab got up and started moving again.
" Hey! Zoro, are we leaving him behind?! That's cold!" Usopp exclaimed. But Zoro stayed silent.
"Luffy-san!" Vivi said in an attempt to go after him but Nami stopped her.
"Listen to me, Vivi!" Zoro started with a firm voice, though he was not looking at her but at the path that they still ajd to cross.
" He will keep Crocodile under control. The moment that the rebel army started running, the time limit on this island was set. Once the rebel army and Royal army meet, the kingdom of Alabasta will be gone. If you are the only hope for preventing that, then you have to survive, no matter what. No matter what might happen to any of us, right now!!" The swordsman said, hitting Vivi with the harsh reality.
"B-But...." She said in hesitation as her eyes dropped down.
"Vivi-chan, this is a fight you started. You are the one who ran out of this land years ago and challenged this unknown organization to a battle. However,........don't go thinking that you are alone anymore" Sanji said while looking where Luffy was still looking at the hopefully.
Vivi looked towards there as well, his image becoming smaller and smaller as we got farther away from him. She stood up on her feet and took a huge breath.
"Luffy-san! We WILL BE WAITING FOR YOU IN ALUBARNA, OKAY?!!"
We waited for a moment.
"YEAH!!" Came his reply without a hesitation.
And thus we started heading towards Alubarna, without Luffy.
_____________
"Then, that's when it happened!
That's when I said to him' You bowlegged bastard!!'. That's when it started. Ever since the crabs of the world have been bothered about being bowlegged."
Usopp said, telling Chopper one of his stupid stories, which are most of the time false.
" So that's why they walk sideways, huh?" And as always he believed him.
I moved my gaze away from them with a sigh and looked down at my hand, remembering the things that the guy, Ren told me. The thought that I could have a bounty on my head never crossed my mind.............
The time when I was in Drum Island suddenly came into my mind. Climbing that high mountain was not humanly possible. But I still did it.
This girl 'Vincent Rose ' as her poster said, has a bounty of 70,000,000 berries. That must mean she is strong.
"What happened? Why don't you fight back? I know your body can do better than that."
I suddenly remembered the words, said by that guy, Daiki. He said my body could do better than that..........
All this time, I never tried to have a close combat battle, thinking that was all I could do......Maybe I should try it next time.
"Kei-san!"
I suddenly heard and turned my head to see Vivi looking at me with a worried expression. "Are you okay? I've been calling out to you for a while."
"Yeah....just thinking stuff," I said waving a dismissive hand.
"Are you sure?.......
You seemed to be thinking about something ....." Her eyebrows were knitted together as she sat down in front of me. Shaking my head, I reassured her. "Don't worry....... it's nothing."
"Okay........" She said, a bit unsure about it.
Behind Vivi, I saw Sanji and Zoro lying down with bumps in their head. I didn't even bother to ask why.
"That reminds me, I wanted to ask how you know Smoker," Usopp said, appearing behind Vivi. Now everyone was looking at me as if expecting an answer.
"That's.......
You know the time when Luffy asked me, how I was in Grandline?" I said while scratching the back of my neck. Everyone nodded except for Chopper as he was not there at that time.
"I had actually been arrested by him at that time...."
"What?!" Everybody said in shock.
"But that was not my fault, I was arrested for false accusations. So he had to let me free." I said in my defense while shrugging.
"And then he saw you with us, as a pirate.........
no wonder he was angry." Zoro pointed out.
I doubted that it was because of that. Tashigi, at that time, mentioned the name Rose, so he may know about my true identity.......
Which is not my true identity, even though it is. He probably thinks I fooled him.
But nodded anyway.
___________
3RD PERSON'S POV
The strawhats were now across the river thinking about what to do. They couldn't ride the crab anymore. Desert crabs can't swim, so it stayed on the other side of the river.
"Things have been going smoothly. Can we make it?" Zoro asked as the group gathered into a circle.
" That's a tough one. Even riding on Lashes-Kun. I'm not sure there is enough time." Vivi explained.
" Isn't there any way for all of us to act together?" Usopp asked.
Everyone started thinking about it but nothing came into their mind. Kei was looking towards the desert they still had to cross. It was night right now and the hot temperature had turned into a cold one.
"Is there no way for us to go?! Oi! Kei!! You think of something too!" Usopp said since she didn't really looked like she was giving it a thought.
Kei turned her head and stared at him for a while. Then her hand went to stroke her chin and her eyes closed as if she was deeply thinking.
"Hmmm, seems I have got no option. Never thought I'd have to use it so soon......." She muttered, her eyes still closed and her hand still stroking her chin while the others looked at her in confusion.
The black haired woman then opened her eyes with a startle. "Okay." She said as she firmly placed her hands on her hips.
"Okay? You mean you have got a plan?" Nami asked with a raised eyebrow thinking that she could probably have an idea for how they could reach their destination fast.
Suddenly, she raised her hand up, finger pointing up at the sky and eyes closed as if concentrating again. This caused other to look up in the sky as a reflex as well. "I predict......"
Then, she changed the direction of her hand and pointed it in a certain direction towards the desert. This caused other to then turn their heads in that direction simultaneously. Though, since Chopper didn't see that and was still looking at the sky, Ussop had to place his hand on his head and guide it towards where she was now pointing.
"Help will come for us from that direction any minute now."
Silence.
The sun was starting to rise as the straw hats were looking towards the desert while sweat-dropping at Kei's words.
"When did you take over Ussop's business?" Zoro commented breaking the silence.
Kei who still had her hand outstretched towards the desert, calmly opened her eyes and said " You are gonna eat your words soon, Roronoa Zoro. "
"I don't really think we have time for such nonsense....." Nami said with a defeated sigh.
"I........" Everyone heard Sanji mutter while his fists were clenched and eyes were looking down at the sand. This caused everyone to move their gaze towards him in question. He then looked up towards everyone with a determined gaze and placed his hands on his hips as well.
"I BET MY LIFE ON KEI-CHAN'S PREDICTION!" he announced proudly and then pointed his hand towards where Kei was pointing as well. "If she says help will come from there, then it definitely will!" He finished with a huff.
"AS IF SOMETHING LIKE THAT WILL HAPPEN, PERVY COOK!!" Zoro exclaimed in anger at the cooks baseless beliefs.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY, YOU MARIMO HEAD?!" Sanji yelled back.
They pushed their foreheads against each other.
"Are you trying to pick a fight, you algae?!"
"Bring it on, curly eyebrows!!"
They both said while glaring at each other. As always, Nami smashed them in the head and they dropped to the ground with bumps in their head.
"THIS IS NO TIME TO BE FIGHTING!!" she said with a glare.
Suddenly, everyone heard rumbling coming from somewhere and turned their heads in that direction. It was the same direction that Kei had pointed at.
"Look over there, something heading in this direction" Nami said while pointing towards the desert.
"What?! Don't tell me, it's actually coming true?!" Usopp said in disbelief.
" That's... " Vivi said while squinting her eyes towards the desert for a better view. "Carue!! And the Supersonic Duck Squadron!!" She said happily.
Everyone's jaw dropped to the floor and eyes popped in shock. What Kei had said was coming true. Even Sanji blinked in confusion at Carue and some other ducks who looked similar to Carue coming towards them.
"You've come to get us, haven't you?!!" Vivi exclaimed.
"QUACK!!" All of the ducks said while saluting.
"Carue!!"
Zoro who was looking at the ducks with mouth agape, didn't dare look towards Kei. Because he sensed, no, he knew Kei would already be looking at him with a victorious smirk plastered on her face and the 'what have you got to say now?' expression.
"What have you got to say now, huh, Marimo?" Kei wiggled her eyebrows as she said these words.
A grunt left from the green haired swordsman at this. "That has got be a coincidence."
"Nothing is a coincidence in this world. Just admit your defeat." Kei said with a smug look.
"KEI! THAT WAS AWESOME! HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT?!" Usopp and Chopper asked with sparkles covering them everywhere.
"That'ssss" Kei said while dragging her words and the duo looked at her in anticipation.
"A secret"
She ended her words as both Usopp and Chopper fell to the ground.
"That's Kei-chwan for you~! She's unique as always~!" Sanji swooned while Nami and Vivi where just grateful that they could now travel the desert without walking or running.
TO BE CONTINUED.