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Dawn broke over Whiskey Peak with golden light streaming through the broken windows of the banquet hall. The unconscious Baroque Works agents still littered the floor like discarded dolls, and the Straw Hat crew was slowly beginning to stir.
Luffy was the first to wake up properly, lifting his face from the plate of meat he'd been sleeping in. "Huh? What happened?" He looked around at all the unconscious bodies. "Did we have a party?"
"More like we were almost killed," Nami said, emerging from the Going Merry with her arms crossed. She'd spent the night on the ship as planned, avoiding the whole drugged feast situation entirely.
"Killed?" Luffy blinked in confusion.
"These 'friendly townspeople' were actually bounty hunters trying to collect on our heads," Zoro explained, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. "Gil and I handled it."
"Aw man! You guys had a fight without me?!" Luffy pouted.
"You were unconscious from drugged food," Gil said from where he stood near the window, his crimson eyes watching the sunrise. "Though calling it a fight would be generous. They were pathetically weak."
Sanji groaned as he sat up, rubbing his head. "What kind of bastards drug the food?"
"The kind who work for criminal organizations," Gil replied.
Usopp was still passed out, snoring loudly.
It was then that Vivi stepped forward, Igaram beside her. Both looked exhausted and frightened, but there was determination in the princess's eyes.
"Please," Vivi said, her voice steady despite the tears threatening to fall. "I need to explain everything. You deserve to know what you're getting involved in."
Luffy tilted his head. "You're that Miss Wednesday girl, right?"
"My real name is Nefertari Vivi. I'm the princess of the Alabasta Kingdom." She took a deep breath. "My country is dying. For the past few years, a criminal organization called Baroque Works has been manipulating my people, orchestrating a rebellion to tear the kingdom apart."
"Why would they do that?" Sanji asked, now fully awake and paying attention.
"To take over the kingdom," Igaram answered grimly. "Baroque Works is led by one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea—Crocodile."
The name hung in the air like a death sentence.
"A Warlord," Zoro repeated, his interest clearly piqued.
Gil's eyes narrowed slightly. A Warlord. One of the seven pirates sanctioned by the World Government, given immunity in exchange for keeping other pirates in check. Powerful, connected, and dangerous.
But not as dangerous as Doflamingo.
"Crocodile has been using Baroque Works to destabilize Alabasta from within," Vivi continued, her voice shaking with emotion. "He's manipulating both the rebels and the royal army, making each side think the other is responsible for the drought plaguing our country. Soon, there will be a full-scale civil war, and hundreds of thousands of people will die."
"And Crocodile takes over in the chaos," Nami said, understanding dawning on her face. "A Warlord taking control of an entire kingdom... the World Government wouldn't interfere because he's technically on their side."
"Exactly," Igaram confirmed. "Princess Vivi and I infiltrated Baroque Works two years ago to discover who was behind the plot. We only just learned it was Crocodile. But now..."
"Now he knows you know," Gil finished. "Miss All Sunday made that clear enough."
Vivi nodded, tears finally spilling down her cheeks. "We'll never make it back to Alabasta alive. Crocodile will send his best assassins after us. And even if we did survive, I don't have proof—just my word against a Warlord's. My father won't start a war with the World Government based on accusations alone."
"So you're screwed basically," Usopp said, having finally woken up.
"Usopp!" Nami snapped.
"What?! I'm just being honest!"
Luffy stood up, his expression serious in that way that meant he'd made a decision. He walked directly to Vivi and stood in front of her.
"Do you want us to help you save your country?"
Vivi looked up at him, hope and desperation warring in her eyes. "I... I don't have the right to ask—"
"Do you want us to help?" Luffy repeated firmly.
"Yes!" Vivi's voice broke. "Yes, please! My people are suffering, and I don't know what else to do!"
Luffy grinned, that bright fearless grin that made people believe in impossible things. "Then we'll help! We're going to Alabasta!"
"Luffy—" Nami started, but he cut her off.
"Nami, we're helping her."
There was no room for argument in his voice. This was a captain's order.
Nami sighed, but there was a calculating look in her eyes. She turned to Vivi. "Fine. But I'm not risking my life and my crew's lives for free. We're pirates, not charity workers."
Vivi straightened, understanding. "Of course. Name your price."
"One billion berries," Nami said without hesitation.
Everyone stared at her.
"ONE BILLION?!" Usopp shrieked.
"That's insane!" Sanji protested.
"That's negotiation," Nami replied coolly, though there was a hint of a smile on her lips. "We're going up against a Warlord and his entire organization. That's hazard pay."
Vivi didn't even hesitate. "Done. When we save Alabasta, I'll make sure you're paid every berry."
"Then we have a deal." Nami extended her hand, and Vivi shook it firmly.
Gil had remained silent throughout this exchange, but now he spoke. "A Warlord. This just became significantly more interesting."
"You worried?" Zoro asked with a slight smirk.
"Hardly." Gil's crimson eyes gleamed. "I'm curious to see what one of the so-called Seven Warlords is capable of."
"We'll need to leave immediately," Igaram said. "The longer we stay here, the more danger—"
An explosion.
Not close, but loud enough to rattle the windows. Everyone rushed outside to see a ship in the harbor—not the Going Merry, but another vessel—engulfed in flames.
"No..." Vivi whispered.
Two figures stood on the dock, silhouetted against the burning ship. As they drew closer, their features became clear: a man in a trench coat with the number 5 on it, and a woman with an orange dress and an umbrella.
"Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine," Vivi breathed, her face going pale. "Officer Agents of Baroque Works."
Mr. 5 was a dark-skinned man with sunglasses and an afro, his expression bored. Miss Valentine was blonde and curvy, twirling her umbrella with a cheerful smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"My, my," Miss Valentine said in a sing-song voice. "Princess Vivi and Mr. 8—oh, excuse me, Igaram. The boss sends his regards."
"That ship..." Igaram's face had gone ashen. "That was supposed to be me."
"Your decoy plan," Mr. 5 said flatly, picking his nose in a gesture that was somehow more threatening than casual. "We figured it out. The ship full of dummies dressed like the princess. Did you really think that would work?"
Gil's eyes narrowed. So Igaram had planned to act as a decoy to draw the assassins away while Vivi escaped with the Straw Hats. Clever, but clearly not clever enough.
"Now then," Miss Valentine continued, her smile widening. "We're here to tie up loose ends. That means Princess Vivi dies. And anyone who gets in our way." Her eyes scanned the Straw Hat crew. "Though I suppose killing some upstart pirates will be a nice bonus."
"You really want to do this?" Zoro's hand moved to his swords.
"Orders are orders," Mr. 5 said, flicking something from his finger.
The booger hit the ground and exploded with tremendous force, sending debris flying. Everyone scattered, and when the dust cleared, the two Baroque Works agents were already moving.
Mr. 5 targeted Vivi directly, flicking more explosive projectiles. Zoro intercepted, his swords deflecting the explosions, but the sheer force was pushing him back.
Miss Valentine, meanwhile, had taken to the air—literally floating with her umbrella. She giggled as she hovered above them.
"Kilo Kilo no Mi," she announced cheerfully. "I can change my weight at will! Let's start with... ten thousand kilograms!"
She dropped like a meteor, umbrella pointed down, aiming to crush Vivi beneath her mass.
Gil moved.
One moment he was standing at the edge of the battlefield. The next, he was directly beneath Miss Valentine's trajectory, one hand raised almost casually.
Golden ripples appeared in the air around him, and from them emerged a single weapon—a large, ornate shield with intricate designs etched into its surface.
Miss Valentine's ten-thousand-kilogram drop struck the shield.
The impact should have driven Gil into the ground, should have shattered bones and crushed him beneath the weight.
Instead, he stood perfectly still, his arm not even trembling, holding the shield with one hand like it weighed nothing at all.
"Ten thousand kilograms," Gil observed, his voice carrying that note of superiority that made it clear he was unimpressed. "That's supposed to be threatening?"
Miss Valentine's eyes widened in shock. "Impossible! No one can just—"
Gil shifted his stance slightly, and with a minimal motion, he redirected the force, sending Miss Valentine bouncing away like a rubber ball. She yelped as she tumbled through the air, barely managing to reduce her weight enough to float before hitting the ground.
The shield dissolved into golden light, and immediately, new ripples appeared.
This time, three swords emerged—not the simple blades he'd used against the Whiskey Peak agents, but finer weapons, each one different in design and purpose.
"You can float," Gil said, his crimson eyes locked on Miss Valentine as she hovered in the air, trying to regain her composure. "How quaint. Let's see how well you can dodge."
One sword launched—a straight thrust that Miss Valentine barely avoided by increasing her weight and dropping suddenly.
But Gil had anticipated that. The second sword was already in motion, coming from her new position's angle. She made herself light again, floating sideways—
The third sword was waiting there.
It caught her umbrella, shearing through the fabric and sending her spiraling out of control. She crashed into the side of a building with a yelp of pain and surprise.
"Predictable," Gil observed. He gestured, and the three swords returned to hover around him. "Your Devil Fruit gives you exactly two options: heavy or light. Every dodge is therefore binary, every movement telegraphed. Against these mongrels in Whiskey Peak, that's sufficient. Against someone who can actually fight?"
He snapped his fingers, and five more weapons appeared—spears this time, all aimed at different trajectories.
"You're outmatched."
The spears launched in a coordinated pattern, each one cutting off an escape route. Miss Valentine made herself heavy to drop, light to dodge left, heavy again—
But Gil was already adjusting, new weapons appearing to replace the ones she'd evaded, creating an ever-tightening net of blades.
"This is the difference between someone who relies on a Devil Fruit's gimmick," Gil said, his tone almost instructional, "and someone who has mastered the art of combat."
A spear grazed Miss Valentine's arm. A sword cut through her dress. An axe forced her to dodge into the path of three more weapons.
She was fast, her Devil Fruit gave her incredible mobility, but Gil was faster. More importantly, he was precise.
"Your weight manipulation is interesting," Gil continued, directing weapons with minimal gestures. "But you haven't truly mastered it. You think in extremes—very heavy or very light. What about the graduations in between? What about using five thousand kilograms instead of ten? What about strategic weight distribution?"
Another sword forced Miss Valentine to dodge, and this time, a spear was waiting. It struck her in the shoulder—not deep enough to seriously injure, but enough to draw blood and make her cry out.
"You're fighting like an amateur who stumbled into power," Gil said. "I'm fighting like someone who has spent years perfecting every movement, every strike, every calculation."
Miss Valentine crash-landed on the ground, breathing hard, bleeding from multiple shallow cuts. She tried to stand, to make herself heavy enough to crush anything beneath her, but—
Three swords pinned her dress to the ground around her, forming a triangle that trapped her without actually touching her skin.
"Stay down," Gil advised. "Or the next one goes through something vital."
Miss Valentine, for once, stopped smiling. She stayed down.
The entire exchange had taken less than thirty seconds.
Across the battlefield, Zoro had finished with Mr. 5, the explosion-man now groaning on the ground, his jacket shredded and his body covered in sword cuts.
"Show-off," Zoro called to Gil.
"Someone has to demonstrate proper technique," Gil replied coolly.
Vivi was staring at him, her expression a mixture of awe and shock. "You... you defeated an Officer Agent like it was nothing."
"It was nothing," Gil confirmed. "She had a Devil Fruit and no skill to back it up. Worthless."
Luffy was grinning. "That was so cool! All the swords flying around!"
"We need to leave," Igaram said urgently. "More agents will come. If Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine found us, others will too."
"Then we leave now," Luffy agreed.
As the crew hurried back to the Going Merry, Igaram pulled Vivi aside. "Princess, I'm staying behind."
"What?! No! Igaram—"
"Someone needs to mislead the pursuers," he said firmly. "I'll create confusion, send them on false trails. You go with the Straw Hats. Save our kingdom."
"But—"
"That's an order, Princess." Igaram smiled gently. "I've protected you since you were a child. Let me protect you one more time."
Vivi threw her arms around him, sobbing. "Thank you. Thank you for everything."
Gil watched this exchange silently. The old guard was sacrificing himself for his princess. Admirable, in its way. Foolish, but admirable.
As they boarded the Going Merry and prepared to cast off, Vivi stood at the rail, watching Whiskey Peak recede into the distance. Igaram stood on the dock, waving, growing smaller and smaller.
"He'll be okay, right?" she asked quietly.
No one answered.
Gil leaned against the mast, his crimson eyes watching the horizon. A Warlord. A kingdom in peril. Assassins and intrigue.
The Grand Line was proving far more entertaining than the East Blue.
And somewhere in the back of his mind, a thought crystallized: if Crocodile was a Warlord with this much reach and power, what did that say about Doflamingo? Another Warlord, operating in the New World, with even more resources and connections?
The distance between him and his sister felt both impossibly far and tantalizingly close.
Soon, he thought. I'm getting stronger. The crew is getting stronger. Soon, I'll be ready.
Soon, I'll find you, Aria.
"Gil!" Nami called. "Stop brooding and help with the sails!"
He pushed off from the mast. "I don't brood. I contemplate."
"Same thing!"
"Not remotely."
As the Going Merry sailed away from Whiskey Peak, carrying a princess, a mission, and a crew of misfits, the Grand Line stretched endlessly before them.
And in the distance, thunder rumbled.
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