"Usopp is an idiot~"
While Luffy and Usopp were fighting on the deck of the Going Merry, Nami sighed deeply as she watched Yuna casually store away the sea conch she had previously held.
'Seriously, where did she even get something like that from?'
Shaking her head, Nami decided not to bother with Yuna's ongoing prank and focused on the Log Pose attached to her arm instead.
'Good, we are still on course, and it seems like the weather has stabilized as well. I hope that is a sign that we are about to reach our first island.
"Ah~ My beautiful princess, I made you some snacks."
In the background, Sanji presented an assortment of snacks to Miss Wednesday, but unlike Nami, who only rolled her eyes at Sanji's behavior, Yuna noticed Miss Wednesday briefly flinching when Sanji called her a princess.
'Hee~ Seems like there is more to her than meets the eyes.'
Yuna was just about to go over to Miss Wednesday and bully... *Cough* tease her a little when Usopp's voice echoed over the Going Merry.
"Land! I can see an island ahead!"
Looking where Usopp was pointing, Yuna could see a small island that appeared to be covered in mountain-sized cacti.
"That's our cue to leave!"
"Thank you for bringing us back home."
""Bye, bye, babee~""
Suddenly, Miss Wednesday and Mister Nine jumped on the ship reeling, and before anyone could react, they said their goodbyes and jumped into the sea before swimming to the cacti-filled island.
"The hell? They could have just sailed with us for the rest of the way."
Hearing Nami being confused, the rest of the crew nodded in agreement. Yuna held her chin and looked at the duo swimming away from the ship.
'Suspicious~'
"Whatever, let's go to the island! I can see a river; let's sail there!"
Unaware of Yuna's suspicions, Luffy excitedly sat down on the figurehead of the Going Merry, his favorite spot, and pointed at the island in front of him. Obviously, he couldn't wait to explore the first island of the Grand Line.
Hearing her Captain's order, Nami quickly adjusted the course. After a few more minutes of sailing, the Going Merry was moving up the river toward the middle of the island.
Looking around, Yuna squinted her eyes and took a better look at the giant "cacti" covering the island, and after realizing their true nature, her eyebrows rose.
'Graves? Very suspicious~'
So, while Usopp was suddenly infected with the illness called: I better not visit this island fever, the Going Merry continued sailing up the river into a somewhat dense fog. However, within the fog, people could be heard whispering.
"Pirates?"
"Are those pirates?"
"Looks like a group of pirates arrived!"
As the murmuring continued, the fog was lifted, revealing that quite a few people were gathered on the river's chores, pretty much surrounding the Going Merry. Half the crew suspected an ambush, but what happened next caused even Yuna to pause.
"IT'S PIRATES!!!"
"THE HERO'S OF THE SEA!!!"
"WELCOME TO WHISKY PEAK, THE TOWN OF CELEBRATIONS!!!"
"WELCOME TO THE GRAND LINE!!!"
Surprisingly, the natives of this island happily welcomed the Straw Hats instantly, causing Yuna's suspicions about the nature of this island to reach their peak.
'Oh yeah, there definitely is something messy going on on this island.'
Since she had reached that conclusion, she quickly glanced at the rest of the crew, but she could only shake her head when she saw Luffy and Usopp happily answering the cheers.
"WOW, AWESOME!!!"
"PIRATES ARE HEROES FOR THESE PEOPLE!!!"
'I guess I shouldn't have had any expectations for these two in the first place.'
Next, her eyes wandered to Sanji, who was clearly skeptical about this.
'Good, seems like Sanji is far from dropping his guar...'
"Wow, these pirates look so cool~"
"Look at that handsome blonde man in a suit; he looks so dashing~"
"HELLO, BEAUTIFUL LADIES!!!"
'... well, he's gone. How pathetic to be swayed so easily by good-looking women.'
[I really don't want to hear that from y...]
"Wow, look at that exotic blue and red hair~"
"It looks so smooth; I wonder if she'll allow me to style it for her~
"OF COURSE YOU CAN STYLE IT FOR ME, BEAUTIFUL SISTER!!!"
[Oioi!"]
'Chill, Kurama, this is just deception.'
[I don't believe you.]
Ignoring Kurama's words for now, Yuna briefly glanced at her other two crewmates. The first thing she saw was that Zoro was utterly indifferent to the current situation. Clearly, he was rather suspicious about what was going on and might have already figured out a thing or two.
Despite that, Yuna didn't count on him too much on him when it came to a fight. After all, the easiest method to keep Zoro away from a conflict was to tell him exactly where he needed to go and then allow him to go there by himself.
Finally, Yuna's gaze landed on Nami, who was happily cheering together with Luffy, Sanji, and Usopp, but Yuna could tell that there was more to it than Nami showed.
The duo's eyes briefly met, and seeing the cunning flashing through each other's eyes, a grin briefly appeared on their faces.
Although they had only sailed together for a few weeks, they could easily read each other's intentions due to their experience when it came to scamming people. Clearly, the people on this island asked to be scammed!
It took a few minutes longer to reach a place where the Straw Hats could comfortably dock the Going Merry, and as soon as they reached the chore, they were greeted by a tall man with absolutely outrageously styled hair.
"Welc... *cough* err, ma~ ma~ ma~ I'm Igarappoi, the mayor of Whiskey Peak."
Seeing Igarappoi's curled hair, Yuna had to wonder how it was even possible to archive such a hairstyle, but at the same time, she noticed something rather interesting about the supposed "harmless" Mayor of Whiskey Peak.
'This guy has weapons hidden all over his body. That saxophone he is holding definitely isn't a normal one, and I can feel that something is hidden in those outrageous hair curls as well. Interesting~'
Unaware of Yuna's thoughts, Igarappoi happily continued talking, introducing Whiskey Peak as the town of ale brewing and music while simultaneously telling the Straw Hats that a banquet was prepared for them and that the townsfolk would be ecstatic into hearing tales of the Straw Hats' adventures.
Luffy, Sanji, and Usopp, apparently seeing no reason why a town supposedly filled with civilians would throw a banquet for people that could possibly plunder their island, rape their women and kill their men, happily agreed to the festivities, causing Nami to sigh deeply as she addressed Igarappoi.
"Sorry, but could you tell me how long it takes for the Log Pose to reset?"
"Mhh? The Log Pose? Well, let's forget about that for now, and let's party!"
Obviously, Igarappoi clearly avoided the question, which made Nami even more suspicious, but she didn't say anything for now and went with the flow.
Simultaneously, Yuna and Zoro briefly glanced at each other, and after a silent conversation, things between them were quickly hashed out: Zoro wanted to test his new blades so Yuna would allow him to do so.
Frankly, if there were any interesting fights on this island, Yuna might have pushed back a little on Zoro, handling everything by himself, but by now, she had noticed no one worth fighting against on this island.
"OHH!!! LET'S GET THE BANQUET STARTED!!! MEAT!!! BRING IN THE MEAT!!!"
Hearing Luffy's roar, Yuna only shook her head and followed him inside. Tables and chairs were already prepared for every crew member, and moments later, the party started.
Luffy instantly started consuming ungodly amounts of food, expertly using his Devil lFruit to shovel as much meat into his mouth as possible.
Yuna and Zoro immediately went for the drinks, quickly followed by Nami after she realized that the winner of the drinking competition would win a reward. She greedily chuckled away, her eyes turning into Beli.
Meanwhile, Sanji and Usopp quickly gathered a crowd around them, with Sanji's only being made up of young women with whom he was flirting while Usopp told the tale of "The Great Captain Usopp" to his audience.
Seeing Sanji flirting, Nami gave him the stink eye before her gaze landed on Yuna.
"How come you aren't flirting with women? That seems to be right up your alley, no?"
Yuna took another sip while briefly glancing at Sanji from the corner of her eyes. After emptying her cup, she shook her head while chuckling in amusement.
"Nah, I've already set my sight on a target, and that target is in this corner of the room, getting drunk."
As soon as Yuna stopped speaking, she wiggled her eyebrows at Nami, causing her to roll her eyes. However, Yuna wasn't done yet, so she continued talking while waving someone over to give her a new drink.
"Besides that, if I'm after a woman, isn't it obvious I'll go for the one with the highest quality?"
Hearing Yuna's praise, Nami's cheeks became a little pink, and she masked herself by taking a big gulp from her cup.
"You realize that I'm a money grubber, right? Is that the 'highest quality' you are talking about?"
"Meh, and I'm a perverted degenerate. No big deal..."
[Umu. I would have added a few more descriptive adjectives in front of that, but I agree.]
"... Besides that, perfection is stale; flaws are the spices of life."
"You sure are bold calling yourself something like that. But 'Spices of life', huh? What an interesting perspective."
"Bold? It's simply the truth, so it can't be helped~"
Nami couldn't help but chuckle a little, seeing Yuna proudly puff out her chest while declaring herself to be a degenerate. She took another sip and sighed in contentment.
'This ale is really tasty~'
Time passed, and one after the other, the Straw Hats crew fell asleep except for...
"HAHAHA, BRING ME MORE BOOZE!!!"
... a certain red and blue-haired woman.
Seeing Yuna continue drinking like it was nothing, Igarappoi's forehead wrinkled, and a frown appeared on his face.
'What's wrong with that woman? What kind of alcohol tolerance does she have? If this continues, the island's alcohol reserves will be gone before she is finally knocked out.'
Realizing that he had to do something, Igarappoi waved one of his subordinates over and whispered into his ear.
"Add some sleep powder to her next drink. The strongest we have."
Getting a nod, Igarappoi waited a while before a new drink was placed in front of Yuna, causing her to grab it and take another sip quickly.
The moment the strong drink entered her mouth, her drunken smile was gone, and a serious expression appeared on her face.
Seeing that, Igarappoi was sweating a little while preparing his weapons for combat.
'Has she noticed? Even if she did, she already took a sip, so she should fall asleep soon, and I only have to hold her back for a while.'
Moments later, Yuna's expression changed to one filled with anger before she loudly smashed the bottom of her drink on the table, almost causing a little to spill.
"WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS!?"
'Shit, she really has noticed!'
Instantly, the atmosphere grew tense as Yuna's eyes angrily scanned the room.
"What kind of barbarian has prepared this drink!? There is sleeping powder in it!"
Igarappoi lowered his body as gun barrels appeared out of his hair, ready to fire. He was just about to attack when, due to Yuna's next words, he almost tripped.
"Who the f*ck mixes strong rum with sleeping powder. YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE TO GO FOR SOMETHING WITH A PARALISYS EFFECT!!! THIS DRINK IS RUINED!!!"
The moment she finished her rant and sat back down, grabbed her cup, and took another sip under the utterly dumbfounded eyes of Igarappoi.
"Well, that being said. Even if the drink is ruined, I'm not someone who would waste alcohol."
Just like that, Igarappoi stared at Yuna while she emptied a drink she knew was laced with poison. As if nothing had happened, she was given another refill, which she took a sip from without a second of hesitation. Feeling a little pringling feel as the drink washed down her throat, a small smile appeared on her face.
"Good! This time, it's the right kind of poison!"
'THE PEOPLE IN THE KITCHEN ACTUALLY TOOK THE ADVICE!?'
Igarappoi could feel a massive headache coming due to what was happening in front of him. When Yuna wasn't knocked out from the alcohol, he felt like he still was in control, but by now, he had not a sliver of a clue what he was supposed to do.
'Should we just attack?'
"Ah! The green-haired swordsman is gone!"
"WHAT!?"
Igarappoi could feel everything slipping away rather quickly, causing him to panic.
'Nonono, I can't fail now! We are so close to succeeding!'
"HE'S ON THE ROOF!!!"
Hearing Zoro's location, Igarappoi quickly left the restaurant where the party took place, completely forgetting about Yuna, who was still happily drinking away.
The moment Igarappoi left the house, he looked up and saw Zoro standing on a roof, sword in hand and a cocky smile on his face.
"Well, well, well. Although it didn't seem to bother her, I still can't allow you to poison one of my crew mates. Isn't that right, Baroque Works~"
"What!? HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT NAME!?"
While Igarappoi was shocked because Zoro knew the name of his organization, Yuna emptied yet another cup and sighed in satisfaction.
"Phew, that hit the spot. Nami, you can get up; it's just us two."
Nami instantly raised her head and gave Yuna a weirded-out look.
"Did you seriously drink poison just now?"
"Mhh? Yeah, no big deal~ A little poison never hurt anyone."
"Pretty sure it did."
"Oh? It did? Oh well."
"I really want to scold you for dismissing everything with an 'Oh well', but whatever. We don't have any time for that."
"Hehe, that's true. Gotta village to plunder~"
"Hehe, that's right. Let's see what the people here have stored in their saves~"
"Yup, ~ fifty-fifty?"
"I want seventy~"
"Geez, you're so greedy. But I forgive you because you're cute. That being said, Sixty-Fourty?"
"Sixtynine to Thirty-one."
"Nice! You really know how to barter with me. Very well, Sixtynine to Thirty-one, but you gave to give me a kiss on the cheek as well~"
Hearing Yuna's offer, Nami couldn't help but sigh, but she ultimately agreed with a little blush on her face. In the end, Beli is still the most important!
"Fine, you have yourself a deal!"
"Alright! Let's get looting!"
Obviously, Yuna couldn't care less about whatever they would be getting out of this city. The kiss was the most important part of the deal!