Lara's POV;

“Well, I think everyone should take some time to freshen up. I'm kinda dusty from all the destruction”, I said the moment we were set on a course.

“Why did you went on a rampage, to begin with sis?”, asked Jonny. He and Yosaku haven't done anything on Whisky Peak but partying and sleeping, so they missed all the action.

“There was this tasty looking chicken. I tried to get it so that Lia could make me chicken wings, but the stupid feathery thing always evaded me. It was as if it could use Observation Haki”, I grumbled, still a little miffed about my inability to kill some poultry.

“I'm sure next time you'll get it”, he assured me. Both he and Yosaku then went to their cabin.

“I'm gonna go to the infirmary, I managed to grab some medical supplies”, announced Jo directly after and also left. Nojiko, who was standing at the helm, was not really part of the conversation.

“I.. ehem, mimimi, I wish to thank you again for taking me with you”, said Igaram, he was still clothed in his Vivi crossdress. “Is there, ehem, mimimi, a cabin I might use?”

“Sure, just take an empty one. And let us meet in the kitchen in half an hour from now. There are things we still have to speak about.” It was Lia who answered him. Now that everyone was gone we could finish our business as well.

We still had Miss Valentine in our room. She was shackled and bound to a chair, but no longer unconsciousness. She was also mighty annoyed and had a badly scratched face. Curtsey to a chicken that was standing on her shoulder and picking at her hat.

Wait a minute, I know that chicken. “It's you!”, I shouted and pointed at the bird. By appearance, it was a normal hen. Brown feathers, which looked well groomed. A small comb on her head and not bigger than a normal football.

The bird turned its head to us, clucked once and then flew up. She landed on the head of Miss Valentine and sat down. Starring at us with her small black eyes.

“Why is it on our ship?”, asked Lia slightly amused.

“That's not important, I want to eat chicken wings today!” I leapt forward and tried to grab the bird. But it jumped up at the last moment and scratched my hands, before fluttering some moments and landing back on Miss Valentine's head.

The hen then clucked once more and moved her head from left to right in a gesture of saying no. “It kinda looks like it wants you to stop”, mused Lia.

Of course, it wants that, I am planning to eat it. “Stupid bird, stay still so that I can butcher you!”, I threatened while drawing my sword. Miss Valentine, who by the way was also gagged, looked at me with wide and fearful eyes.

“Calm down a little Lara, this bird seems to be more intelligent than its other fellow chickens. Maybe it wants to tell us something?” Did Lia loose her mind? That is a chicken, okay, a yummy looking chicken but still food.

“It's a chicken”, I told her with a deadpan expression. A cluck that almost sounded like a protest came from the bird.

I sighed deeply, seems like I am going to speak with my food from now on. “Okay, what do you want and why are you here?”

The hen looked at me for a moment and the flattered with her wings. She flew off and landed on my and Lia's bed. There she sat down and stayed.

“Get off of my bed, I don't want any remains staining my sheets.” The chicken did not move, however, she shook her head again. She even used one of her wings to pet the bed.

“This might sound crazy, but let me try”, asked Lia. I huffed but stepped to the side. Maybe I can use the vibrations to instant cook the bird?

“You want to stay in our bed?”, asked Lia. She received a shake of the head from the hen. “So not the bed, the ship?” This time she got a nod. “Good, so you want to stay on our ship. Until we get to the next harbour?” Another shake of the head. “With us?” Again a nod. This is really time-consuming.

“You want to stay on our ship with us. Forever?”. Another nod. The bird wants to become part of our crew? As if, at most, it will become our emergency food.

“I don't want a chicken in our crew, chickens are there to be eaten”, I said seriously. The hen clucked in protest. “What can you do anyway, you are a bird.”

If possible she looked affronted by my accusation. She fluttered with her wings in protest and stood up. She then fluttered over to me and attacked me with her talons. I evaded her, but she changed her flight path in the last second and managed to scratch my face.

“Stupid bird, stop scratching me”, I shouted and tried to sweep the chicken out of the air. Why aren't her wings clipped? Lia's laughter didn't help, and even the prisoner chuckled.

The chicken landed back on Miss Valentine's head and sat back down. It thankfully stopped the laughter from the lemon styled woman. She now was back to glaring at us.

“I think we should keep her, she's funny.” Lia reached out to the chicken and I was kinda astonished to see that it did not fly away. Lia petted the chicken's feathers a few times, but then the bird flew off.

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“Hmm, it really uses Observation Haki”, she then mumbled.

“What do you mean?”, I asked. Can chickens even use Haki?

“She flew off the moment I had the intention of breaking her neck”, explained Lia. Okay, that is one strange chicken. It might go against my principle of having a living chicken with us, but it might be useful as emergency food.

“Okay, you can stay. But you have to act as our guard dog. Anyone not allowed on the ship gets attacked by you. Or you warn someone of us, understood?”, I declared and glared at the bird.

It nodded once and even raised one of its wings in a salute. “Good, then from now on you're Miss Chicken Wing”, I said with a nod. A fitting name for a yummy looking bird like her.

However, Miss Chicken Wing protested loudly. “What part of it do you not like?” She clucked once. “The Miss part?”, I asked and got a nod.

“So you are not a Miss, a Mrs?” Again, she nodded. So, our newest crew member is married? Go figure. “Fine then, from now on you are Mrs Chicken Wing.” This time she did not protest. She flew off from Miss Valentine's head and sat down on a nearby chair. From there she started to watch us.

With that problem finally settled, even if the desire of eating Mrs Chicken Wing was still high, we turned back to our initial reason to be inside our quarters. Both of us turned to the bound Miss Valentine. She too realized that she is now in the focus.

“We're going to make it quick. You are here because we want your Devil Fruit. You yourself are a loose cannon and will probably betray us the moment you have the opportunity. That is why we will kill you and then take the normal fruit that turned into a Devil Fruit for our own, rather than risking you betraying us”, explained Lia briefly. Miss Valentine's eyes widened in fear and she tried to escape her bonds, without success.

“Well then, let's start with the preparations”, I said with a clap of my hands and started to take a different kind of fruits out of my inventory. It's said that the nearest fruit will change into a Devil Fruit, but I am not sure if any kind of Fruits will work.

The large table we had in our room was a moment later filled with all kinds of fruits. From normal apples, over to grapes and even exotic fruits like cactus fruits or lychees.

“You know how this works. This is the Grand Line after all”, I 'apologised' and stepped behind her. Her struggles once more intensified but stopped instantly when she felt my hands on her head. Muffled cries and whimpers came now from her. The gag made it impossible to understand what she really wanted to say, but the tone was enough. With a swift move, I broke her neck and both Lia and I watched with fascination how one of the apples turned into a green fruit with bubble-like markings. The apple grew in size and was now as big as a cantaloupe.

Lia gestured at the now dead Miss Valentine, her face was snotty and tear stained. “This kinda lets us look like the bad guys.”

“And that is why we do it without anyone watching. Did you suddenly gain some feeling of remorse?”, I asked a little amused.

“Me? As if, I just wanted to point out the hypocrisy of us acting all nice in the spotlight while being evil in truth.” She punctuated evil with air quotes.

“Anyone who sees us fighting knows that we are not as nice as we act. Both of us kill without a second thought. But you are right, we are evil if judged by society. At least some, as pirates we are still pretty nice. Anyway, our talk with Mrs Chicken Wing and Miss Valentine took some time and we are to meet with the rest in the kitchen.” I put the other unused fruits back in my inventory and grabbed the Kilo-Kilo-Fruit.

The rest was already sitting inside and talking about what happened in Whisky Peak. They spotted us, saw the Devil Fruit and Mrs Chicken Wing, who has jumped on the table and sat down.

“Guys, this is Mrs Chicken Wing, she is our newest member and something like a guard dog. She kinda understands everything you say, so just treat her like a normal person. By the way, Mrs Chicken Wing, are you housebroken?”, I said in greeting and gestured at the chicken.

Mrs Chicken Wing took affront to my accusation of her not being clean. She clucked angrily and sent me a death glare. Funny how that even worked with the lack of facial mimic.

“Sis, how comes that this chicken is not yet eaten by you?”, asked Jonny unsure.

Yosaku next to him nodded. “Yes, normally every bird, except the News Coo, are getting shot down and eaten.”

“Trust me, I tried. Mrs Chicken Wing is somehow able to use Haki. She can evade any attacks and it will be good training for us to try and kill her”, I said with a slightly evil smile. Mrs Chicken Wing was sweating now. How she managed that? I don't know and don't care.

“What? You thought I would simply ignore the fact that you are a chicken? Believe me when I say that nothing can stop me from getting my chicken, only delay me from the inevitable.” I also waved my fist at her. She will be eaten!

“Yes, great. Can we skip the strange fixation over chicken that our captain has and come to the fact that we somehow agreed to help in saving a country? Which, by the way, painted a large target on us”, asked Jo from the side.

“Yes, why are we doing that?”, asked Nojiko. “Will we get money in return?”, she added.

“No, Nami already tried that. We do it simply because we can”, I answered her. Jonny and Yosaku nodded proudly.

“That and Lara wants to fight Crocodile.” Lia's words were also true. I nodded and watched how Jo's eye began to twitch.

“You what?! You do realise that Crocodile is one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, do you?”, he asked with barely restrained anger and some nervousness. Now the other three also looked less happy.

“Sure, he is also the weakest. But that is not important. I just want to do it and Igaram here will help you all to get stronger.” Everyone looked at the man, who thankfully was back in male clothes.

Igaram looked between us and then pointed at himself, “I, ehem, mimimi, I will? How will I do that?”

“It's easy, you are just with us. Baroque Works will come on its own and then we use their goons to train. What better way to get stronger by life experience.” Sadly my wide smile and a happy tone weren't infectious. Nojiko was pale, Jonny quivered slightly and Yosaku was twitching. While Jo was facepalming.

“But, but aren't there really many of them? And aren't there some really strong guys working for someone that has the title of Warlord?”, asked Jonny unsure.

“Sure there are, hopefully, but you'll manage. And if not, then we will help out”, assured Lia. Both Jonny and Yosaku breathed out in relieve, however, Nojiko didn't look any better.

“I'm sorry for causing you trouble”, apologised Igaram with a deep bow.

I waved his apology off, “There is nothing to apologise. We're kinda using you as well. But please tell us how it all came down to this. A country does not just fall into civil war without reason. Be it the cruel leadership or staged by other parties”, I then asked.

“Yes, I, ehem, mimimi, I will gladly tell you how this all came into being. It all started with a normal draught. Alabasta is a desert island. So a small draught is nothing new. Only that this time the draught kept on going. Soon the crops we had were gone and the reserves we have for such cases dwindled steadily.

Only over Arbana, our capital did it rain. Even daily. No one knew why that was until a transport of Nebelin powder was found. The people in charge of this transport claimed that it was under the direct order of King Cobra. Which isn't true.” He looked at us with a serious face but found some questioning expressions. “What is Nebelin powder?”, asked Jonny for all of us.

“Nebelin powder is an illegal substance that forces clouds to rain if burned. That in itself would not be the problem, but it takes the rain from somewhere else and increased the draught even more.

King Cobra would never do such a thing, our monarchy is just and good. The people loved him, but this incident in combination with rumours sowed distrust and a group formed that was against the rule of King Cobra. They were strangely good supplied and grew quickly in size.

The fact that our people were starving wasn't helping. They just seek an outlet and reason for their plight. And then a whole warehouse of Nebelin was found. Documents were leading back to the ruling family and almost overnight half the country was turned against us.” He ended his story with a sad sigh and downcast eyes.

“And how are you so sure that this King Cobra was not behind this?”, asked Lia.

Igaram gave her a really short glare for even stating this. “I know it sounds, ehem, mimimi, like he has, but he did not. I am one of his most trusted aids and know almost anything that happens in the palace.

King Cobra would never do this. He ordered an investigation, it was hard and we found only little after a few month of search. At the end, we only found the name of the organisation that transported the Nebelin, Baroque Works.

We knew nothing about this organisation, there were no records about them. It was then that Princess Vivi came up with the plan to infiltrate this organisation. We both changed our appearance and went underground. A couple of weeks later we reached Whisky Peak and managed to infiltrate Baroque Works.

It took us another three months to climb up in the ladder of their hierarchy. We tried to get information about the leader. It was a really slow process, but then, one night, we received a letter. It was only written one sentence on it, 'The leader of Baroque Works, Mr. 0, is Crocodile of the Seven Warlords'. It shocked both Vivi and me to learn that one of our national heroes is the reason for all of this. We wanted to leave Whisky Peak next week at the latest.

But now that Baroque Works knows about us they will send their soldiers to kill me off. And most likely also after Princess Vivi. But nothing will stop me from reaching my home and informing King Cobra about the traitor.” He ended by slamming his hand down on the table. He looked determined and serious. It looked funny for someone with his hair and face.

“How quick do you think are they going to find us?”, she asked with a forced smile.

“Oh, that's easy to answer. They already did. There is a ship heading directly towards us just now. They will probably attack in five minutes or so”, answered Lia. That's nice, she must have sensed them.