Indisposable

Part 3

"Even the lucky have off days." ~Unknown

In a covered room beyond the stairwell door, all three peaked around the corner in a totem pole fashion. Minette on the bottom, Luffy in the middle and Sanji on top. There was another hallway corner blocking the majority of their view, but through a small opening, Minette could make out two officers.

"Anything new?"

"So far we've captured Zoro and a man with a really long nose. Pirate captain Luffy and a blond cook had been in the kitchen but they escaped."

"Escaped even while Vice Admiral Jonathan was in the dining hall?"

"Yeah. This is some serious stuff now."

"No kidding."

When they walked off, Minette backed up and slouched against the wall. They weren't lying. She could feel the heavy vibrations go through her toes and into her soul. Her feet were close to numb because of it. Not to mention she was hungry and overall tired of this whole mess.

Sanji turned away, blowing a plume of smoke before looking down at her. "What's wrong?"

"I need to be on that floor," she pouted and hung her head, "but there are so many people up there I won't even be able to get passed the stairwell door."

"Then don't go," Luffy shrugged.

She sighed, "Do you really think Nami is going to leave this place without our gold?"

"You know where it is?" Sanji asked.

"The general direction. I found Nami's waver so I was going to use that to carry everything back to the ship, but now..."

A heavy hand fell to her head and matted in the dry seagrass. She looked up to find Luffy smiling wide and Sanji smirking as he lit another cigarette.

"Don't worry, Mouse. Just leave that to us," Luffy chuckled.

"Yeah, as much as I hate the idea, splitting up again is our best bet." Smoke drifted from his mouth as he spoke. "You get the gold while we get the idiots down under."

"And we'll meet up again at Mary, right?"

"Right."

"Ok," Minette smiled, "see you there." She went for the door leading to the stairs but her wrist was caught and she was pulled back into tight arms. The overwhelming smell of tobacco flooded her senses as she watched wisps of smoke dance through the air.

"Don't give us any reason to worry," Sanji muttered. His arms tightened around the small of her back and around her shoulders.

She pushed away with a giggle, "I don't plan on it. Now go find the others. I'll be fine."

Sanji stood and nodded his farewell while Luffy chuckle. She knew they were watching her climb the stairwell and she only heard the door slam shut when she was out of their line of sight.

She won't lie, a piece of her wanted to stay with them and help save the others under their protection, but she'd rather return the treasure to its rightful place before Nami freaked out. If they were on their way out of the fortress with not a single belly, Nami would no doubt make them turn back even if that was their only chance of escaping. Minette would do anything in order to get the gold rather than letting it go.

On the floor she needed, she eased open the door and peaked out. Blue and white men were crawling everywhere with their guns over their shoulders and their hands on the hilt of their swords. She could feel how on edge they all were, just itching to lunge or shoot something or someone suspicious, it made her nervous.