One Piece (Love Story) [Part One]

Chapter Forty Four [Rewritten]

-Chapter Forty-Four-

"It's working fine—they can hear you, just talk into it" a second voice painfully groaned.

"Uh..." Nami trailed off, not really knowing what to say about this sudden turn of events.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I quietly whispered to her.

"Yeah..." she firmly nodded.

"What do you want?" Miss All Sunday asked.

"Hurry up and state your business, what is it?" Crocodile frowned, already starting to get impatient with the person on the other end of the line.

"Oh no, I know I've heard that voice before" the familiar voice sighed. "Yeah, hello there, you reached the Crap Café" he boredly greeted.

"The Crap Café?" Crocodile questioned, brows furrowed in slight confusion.

"Does that ring any bells?" the familiar voice asked. "It should, but in case it doesn't, maybe this will jog your memory—Little Garden" he hummed.

"We only have five of the six Straw Hats inside that cell based on what Mr. Two showed us, the only one left is that pet" Crocodile frowned as he narrowed his eyes. "Do they have other members that we don't know about?" he asked, sounding almost annoyed by the revelation that he might possibly be missing someone.

"Did you hear that?" Usopp whispered, finally recognizing the voice as well.

"The voice was unmistakable" Nami nodded.

"Yeah, it's got to be him" I agreed.

"San—" harshly did Usopp slap his hand over Luffy's mouth.

"Shut up! They don't know about him so let's keep it that way" he quietly hissed. "He was in the cabin when Mr. Two showed up, so they never met—he's our ace in the hole, so zip it" he scowled.

"Oh, that's right, Sanji and Chopper didn't get captured—they're still outside" Vivi whispered in realization, finally taking a good look at everyone inside the cage.

"Yes, mind telling me who you are?" Crocodile asked.

"Me?" Sanji questioned as he hummed in thought. "Well just call me Mr. Prince" he finally answered after a split second of silence.

"Such a great alias, not sappy at all..." I muttered, rolling my eyes as Zoro snorted.

"Very well, Mr. Prince, mind telling me something else? Like where you are?" Crocodile inquired.

"I'm afraid I can't say" Sanji answered. "If I did, you'd just come running and get rid of me," he theorized, "even though I highly doubt you could get rid of me, I'm not about to do so—I'm not that stupid" he said. "I never give up information easily, unlike you just did, Mr. Zero" I could practically hear the grin in his voice.

"Mr. Prince, come on! If you don't hurry up, we're all going to end up as gator bait—we're running out of time!" Usopp frantically cried out.

"Hurry up, Mr. Prince! Come rescue us!" Luffy shouted and it wasn't long before both he and Usopp started to scream over one another. Their words blended together and became nothing more than a jumbled-up mess to the point that I couldn't tell who was saying what or even what they were saying at all.

"That's my loudmouth crew, alright—thanks for letting me know they're with you" Sanji sighed. "All I have to do is find you—" there was a loud thump followed by a painful groan, next came the agonizing sound of a gunshot that sent my mind reeling until my ears started to ring as my sight began to blur in and out of focus.