Through a Canine's Eyes

Chapter 30

"No, nope, no way. I don't know anything about it," Luffy denied as he waved his hand in front of his face whilst looking away and whistling. "Not at all. Not me."

A large grin spread across my muzzle as I watched the scene, relaxing back on my hinds as the boat sailed on.

"Hey, why do you keep looking away? Look straight into my eyes," Sanji told him as he stood in front of Luffy. "Now let me ask you. How is it that the rations for nine that I had saved up to take us to Alabasta suddenly disappeared in the middle of the night?"

Luffy didn't say anything so Sanji knelt down in front of him, gripping his face and tilting it to the side. "Resistance is futile, you'd be a terrible poker player... Hey, there's something around your mouth."

"CRAP! LEFTOVERS!" Luffy yelped as he pulled his head back and used his hands to cover his mouth.

"IT WAS YOU!" Sanji screamed as he kicked Luffy violently across the deck, sending him flying straight by me.

My body shook with silent laughter at the whole ordeal, although this wasn't the drugged up laughter from the night before. This was genuine laughter; the drugs had worn off thankfully. I had woken up a little groggy not long ago but I was fully alert again now.

'I shall not accept drugs from strangers anymore,' I vowed to myself for the tenth time.

"Oh, Nami! Can you believe that asshole? You gotta buy me a refrigerator with a lock!" Sanji cooed at Nami.

"…Yeah, I'll think about it. Our lives probably depend on it," She sighed as she looked to the side of the boat.

I noticed that Vivi was also looking that way so I turned my head to see what they were looking at, still only being able to use one eye due to the annoying bandage around my face.

I blinked in confusion as I saw Usopp, Chopper, and the duck on the side of the boat with fishing rods out the side. What's so weird about it? It took me a few more seconds to notice that they were all shaking and look to be chewing as well….

'Hahaha!' I giggled. 'Them too? Sanji is going to be pissed.'

A few minutes later found Usopp, Chopper, and Carue twitching on the deck, matching bumps on their heads. The rest of us were sprawled around listening as Vivi began to explain something.

"Hero?" Nami questioned her. "Crocodile is the hero of Alabasta!"

"Basically the 'Shichibukai' are pirates working for the World Government," Vivi explained. "Whether the Shichibukai crush pirates for treasure or the Marines crush pirates in the name of justice, the people's gratitude doesn't change. After all, their town's attackers are driven away."

"I get it now…" Sanji muttered. "So the people would never even dream that the hero of Alabasta is actually trying to take control of their country."

"So cut out Crocodile!" Luffy called out as he pumped his fist. "I just need to kick his ass, right!"

"Yes… First we'll stop the rebellion," Vivi confirmed. "If we can drive the Baroque Works out of Alabasta… My country will be saved."

"Wait, hold on," Usopp butted in. "How the heck does this Baroque Works' system work anyways? Mr. this and Miss. that…"

"The system is simple," Vivi told Usopp. "At the top is Crocodile… 'Mr. Zero'. There are thirteen 'agents' who take orders directly from the boss, 12 men and 1 animal. All their names are 'Mr.' plus a number. They are paired with female agents who compliment their particular powers. Mr. Thirteen and Miss. Friday are special in that they punish other agents for failure. All the agents above Mr. Five and up are called 'officer agents'. Most of them have devil fruit powers; they don't act unless that business is extremely important. Below them are the frontier agents, they command the basic units. Their job is to raise funds for the company around the entrance to the Grand Line. That is the secret criminal organization 'Baroque Works' in a nutshell."