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We were finally on our way to Alabasta. I decided it was the perfect time to pull Vivi aside and have a serious talk. "Hey, Vivi, can we talk for a minute?" I said, motioning for her to come into the cabin.
She followed me inside. "Sure, what's on your mind?"
"I wanted to apologize for how I acted earlier," I began. "I let my emotions get the better of me, and I shouldn't have lost my temper like that."
"No, it's okay," she said, shaking her head. "You were right. I shouldn't tell you how to do your job."
"Don't worry," I assured her, patting her shoulder. "We're going to stop Crocodile, no matter what it takes."
After we had both accepted each other's apologies, we headed back up on deck. Sanji was already in a rage, attacking Luffy for eating all the food, and begging Nami for a refrigerator with a lock on it.
"You idiots better catch something soon, or we're all going to starve!" I yelled at Usopp, Chopper, and Karoo.
Rose walked up to Vivi. "So, what's this Crocodile guy like?" she asked.
Vivi explained that in Alabasta, Crocodile was seen as a national hero. She then detailed how Baroque Works operated, with teams of male and female agents, from the high-ranking Officer Agents down to the hundreds of smaller Frontier Agents.
"So if taking over Alabasta is Crocodile's big plan," Zoro mused, "then it stands to reason that the Officer Agents would be here, too."
"Well, the ones that are left, at least," Rose finished his thought.
"Exactly," Vivi confirmed.
A few more days passed, and still Luffy and the others hadn't caught a single fish. Our food supplies were quickly dwindling. The journey was mostly uneventful, which was part of the problem. We had passed over an undersea volcano at one point, which was pretty cool to see, but then one day, something truly strange happened.
"We caught an Okama!" Luffy and Usopp yelled in unison.
I went to the lower deck to see what the commotion was about. Luffy had indeed fished a very odd-looking man out of the water. He was dressed like a ballerina and wore a ton of makeup.
"You can't swim? Did you eat a Devil Fruit?" Luffy asked the man.
"Yes, I did!" the man exclaimed. He reached out and playfully slapped Luffy across the face. "This is my power!"
"I'll kill you!" I shouted, pulling out my weapons.
"Wait!" a familiar voice said. "It's all part of the show!"
The man turned his face, and suddenly Luffy's face was on his body.
"What am I doing over there?" Luffy said, completely confused. The two looked identical, right down to the scar under Luffy's eye.
"And if I touch my face with my left hand, I go back to normal!" the man demonstrated, his face shifting back. "That's the power of the Clone-Clone Fruit."
He then proceeded to show off his abilities, perfectly imitating everyone on the deck, right down to the smallest details of their bodies. He even tried to show us Nami's body, but she incapacitated him before he could.
"Is that ship coming toward us yours?" Nami asked the man.
"Why, yes it is! It's time for me to depart," he announced, jumping onto his own ship. "Don't you fret, my friends! Distance and time mean nothing to true friendship!"
"We'll miss you!" Luffy and Usopp yelled.
What a weirdo.
"Let's get going!" the man told his crew.
"Yes, Mr. 2, Mr. Bon Clay, sir!" they all responded.
My eyes went wide. "WHAT?!"
The man's boat sailed away, leaving us all in a state of shock.
"THAT WAS MR. 2?!"
"How come you didn't recognize him, Vivi?" Luffy asked.
"I've never actually met Mr. 2 or Mr. 1 and his partner," she explained. "I'd only heard rumors, like that he was a huge Okama and wore a swan coat with 'Okama' written on the back."
"How did you not notice?" Luffy cried out again.
"I mean, the guy can change his look completely, so it's not that surprising he'd be hard to find in a crowd," I said with a shrug.
"One of those faces... it was my father's," Vivi said, her voice trembling with terror.
"It would be really bad if he used those memories against us," Nami said, concerned. "We might not be able to trust each other if he can appear as one of us."
Luffy didn't seem to fully grasp what Nami was saying, but I understood completely. "Don't worry, there's no need to panic. Meeting Mr. 2 was actually a stroke of luck," I said with a smile. "Now we can plan for his powers."
We kept getting closer and closer to Alabasta, but we still hadn't found any food. Fortunately, a giant Sea Cat appeared as we neared our destination.
"FOOD!" Luffy and Rose yelled.
"Don't let it get away!" Sanji screamed, bursting out of the kitchen.
The three of them were about to attack the cat when Vivi swatted them away. "You can't kill or eat them! Sea Cats are sacred animals in Alabasta!"
"We're getting close to Alabasta," Vivi said, looking excited to finally be home. "The climate and the Sea Cat both prove it."
"That's also proof," Zoro said, pointing behind our ship.
There was a fleet of ships behind us. Vivi said they were probably the Billions, servants of the Officer Agents. Usopp wanted to shoot at them and Luffy wanted to fight them, but Sanji stopped them. "You have to remember, there are only ten of us. We can't lose sight of our true objective."
We continued to sail toward a nearby island, avoiding the other ships. I went into Chopper's makeshift infirmary and stole some of his bandages.
"Everyone, come here and get one of these!" I yelled, gathering the crew.
"Are those my medical supplies?!" Chopper yelled.
"We can buy more, relax. Take one and tie it around your arm," I instructed.
"I get it," Nami said. "This will show us who the real versions of us are."
"We need a symbol as a backup," Zoro suggested, "just in case they catch on to the wrapping idea."
"Let's make it an X," Luffy suggested. "Because X means treasure!"
We all painted the symbol on our arms and tied the bandages over them.
"No matter what happens," Luffy said, sticking his arm out. "These things on our arms... they're a sign of our friendship! Now, let's get to land!"
As soon as we approached the island, Luffy jumped off the ship and ran off, looking for a restaurant. The idiot couldn't stay still for a second. I hopped off the ship and ran after him, ignoring the protests of the others.
"I'll bring him back! You guys get what we need from town!" I yelled over my shoulder.
I ran through town, searching for Luffy. I found him just as he was about to barrel into a restaurant.
"Not another step, Luffy," I said, wrapping my whip around his ankle.
"Gum-Gum Rocket!" he yelled.
We launched into the restaurant and crashed into someone. By the time I pulled myself off the floor, Luffy was already at the counter, begging for food.
"What is wrong with you?!" I yelled. "How many times were you dropped as a baby?!"
"Straw Hat! Torturer!" I looked over and saw the familiar face of Captain Smoker from Loguetown.
"Oh, you're here," I said, sighing. "Stop eating, Luffy!"
Luffy, surprised to see Smoker, shoved all the food on the counter into his mouth and followed me out the door. We ran through the streets, coming across Smoker's assistant, Tashigi. We avoided her by jumping onto a rooftop, but Smoker followed us.
"We can't fight him, so just keep running," I told Luffy.
Meanwhile, Sanji had returned from clothes shopping with outfits for the whole crew. Nami loved the dancer outfit he had bought for the girls, but Vivi and I were less than thrilled.
"We look more like dancer girls than normal citizens," Vivi told the chef.
"Mine's too big, it barely stays on my chest," I said with a pout, annoyed at my small chest. "Zoro, give me your shirt! I don't want people seeing me half-naked!" I whispered.
"Why mine?" he protested.
"Because I need it, and it's too hot to wear my leather jacket. That's what good boyfriends doâthey let their girl wear their clothes," I said. He slipped off his shirt and handed it to me. "Thank you."
"ROSE!" Sanji shrieked, collapsing to the floor. "Why didn't you ask to borrow my clothes?!"
"Because you're not my boyfriend."
"Neither is the Moss Head! What did you do to her, you green-haired freak?!"
"Something you never will," Zoro said, instantly starting a fight with the cook.
"Stop fighting, you two," I said, breaking them up. "Now, where did I put that dagger set? I need to hide them in this oversized robe..."
"Since when is Zoro your boyfriend?" Nami asked, a hint of a smirk on her face.
"Since always. Just don't tell my brother. I'm not sure how he'd react," I said nonchalantly. "Oh... probably shouldn't have said that out loud."
Sanji fell to the floor in deep despair, wailing about how Zoro was defiling his "precious flower."
"We've got Marines," Usopp said, peeking out from behind a wall.
"Hey, Zoro!" Luffy shouted, running toward us with Marines in pursuit.
"Don't go that way!" Steve yelled from behind him.
"You're not getting away!" I looked behind them and saw Captain Smoker chasing them. What's he doing here? I hope Tashigi isn't with him. I don't know if I can bear to face her after our fight.
"White Blow!" Smoker's arm turned to gas and shot toward my brother and Luffy.
It was about to connect when it was interrupted by a wave of fire. "Heat Haze!"
I saw the fire form into a man I knew very well. What's he doing here? Steve won't be happy about this.
"ACE!" Luffy yelled out.
"You're here?" Steve said, the sourness in his voice was palpable. "Just great."
I ducked behind Zoro to hide from the fire man. "Why are you hiding?" he asked.
"Don't let him see me. I don't want to deal with him right now."
"Why?" Nami asked, crouching next to me. "Who is that guy?"
"His name is Ace. He's a childhood friend, but as he got older, he developed a huge crush on me," I groaned. "Thankfully, he's older, so he left town before I did."
I felt Zoro's back tense up and saw a frown appear on his face.
"Run!" Steve yelled, barreling past us while dragging Luffy.
We ran back to the Going Merry and raised the anchor. Vivi sent Karoo ahead to deliver a message to her father, the king.
After we set sail for a different city on the island, everyone wanted to know how Luffy knew Ace.
"He's my brother," Luffy said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Ace is two years older than I am," Steve said. "He left home three years ago to look for the One Piece."
"I've never beat him in a fight, even before he ate a Devil Fruit," Luffy told the others. "But I can beat him now!"
"Just who can you beat?" Luffy fell off the railing, and Ace jumped aboard.
"Thank you for taking care of my brother," Ace addressed the crew.
"Why are you here?" Steve said, getting straight to the point.
"Luffy, how would you like to join the Whitebeard Pirates? Your friends can come too. Especially Rose," Ace said with a grin.
I visibly shivered behind Zoro.
"No!" Luffy responded immediately.
"I will make Whitebeard the King of the Pirates. Not you or Steve," Ace said frankly.
"So what? I'll fight him," Luffy told his brother.
We talked for a little bit longer. Ace revealed that he had eaten the Flame-Flame Fruit, which made him a fire person.
"Here," Ace said, throwing a scrap of paper to Luffy. "This will allow us to meet again one day."
Ace then jumped off the ship and onto a small skiff, which he propelled with his Devil Fruit power. He rode past five Baroque Works cruisers, pulling his fist back.
"Fire Fist!" In a few moments, Ace had easily destroyed the ships and rode off into the distance.
"Good, he's gone," Steve said, walking into the kitchen.
"I get the feeling they don't like each other," Nami said to me.
"You don't know the half of it," I sighed. "Those two have bickered over what's best for Luffy since they were kids. As you've seen, my brother is a bit... overprotective."