Becoming Usopp

“So, it’s like that…” Sanji muttered to himself as the anger which had been rising inside him slowly dispersed.

“I’m still waiting for my apology you know?” Koza said. He felt that now that the person was aware of his faults, he would straight up apologize to him and after berating him for a while he had planned to let things go.  Unfortunately, things didn’t go like that.

“I don’t plan to. It’s true that I was a bit overbearing but that was due to my sense of urgency I can’t let your men face a beating for nothing right? How about this…I have some good intel relating to this country’s situation and I have a hundred per cent confident that you don’t know it?” Sanji said as he slowly raised a cigarette to his mouth and lighted it.

Koza furrowed his eyebrows when he heard that Sanji refused to accept his faults so he replied in a bitter manner, “And what makes you believe that I don’t already know the intel that you have?”

Sanji smiled in a mocking manner as he replied, “Because if you did, then you won’t be planning to attack Alubarna,”

Koza’s glare sharpened when he heard Sanji’s words, “What do you mean?” He demanded an answer.

“Well…” Sanji gestured towards the men that were behind Koza indicating that he wanted to talk in private.

“Speak, I trust them,” Koza replied.

“I don’t, so doesn’t matter if you do or not,” Sanji said as he met with Koza’s incoming glare with indifference.

“Follow me,” Koza turned towards a door towards the right.

“You stay here and take care of Chopper,” Sanji said to Buggy as he followed after Koza under the intense gaze of everyone present.

This room seemed to be a storehouse but that didn’t bother them much as the two of them soon got to business. Turning around Koza asked, “So, you can tell me now?”

“First things first, you might have moles among your men outside,” Sanji replied as a matter of fact

“Impossible, apart from my childhood friends I’ve known the rest for 2-3 years now,” Koza replied clearly not believing Sanji’s claim.

“Well, it’s nothing to be surprised though, you’re not the only one who’s been infiltrated with moles. The Royal Guard has been infiltrated by them much before,” Sanji said.

“The Royal Guard?” Koza exclaimed. Sanji slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke as he saw Koza contemplate what he had said.

“…who’s behind all this?” Koza asked after a while.

“I think you already know the answer, who has the most influence in this kingdom apart from the King and the Rebel army?...let me give you a hint he got a scar on his face,” Sanji said with a smirk as he fully enjoyed the series of expressions that Koza was making after he said that.

“It’s Crocodile…” Koza muttered.

“You’re not as dumb as you look,” Sanji said but Koza was too engrossed in his thoughts to pay any attention to Sanji’s remark.

“The organisation he secretly heads is called Baroque Works consists of thousands of bounty hunters and you might have guessed by now, he’s doing all this to take over the Kingdom of Alabasta.” Sanji further revealed.

“That bastard! I knew we couldn’t trust him!” Koza clenched his fists in anger.

“Do you still plan to attack the capital?” Sanji asked.

“I still need to properly think over it…” Koza said. It was pretty stupid of him to trust someone like Sanji on such a big issue but he couldn’t seem to get his words out of his head. The more he thought over it, the more it started making sense as if a screen that had been blocking his vision for a long time had finally been removed forcing him to look at the thing that’s been sitting on the other side of the screen all along.

“By the way, earlier when were you planning to attack Alubarna?” Sanji asked thinking about something.

“By the end of this week, in 5 days to be precise. Why?” Koza inquired.

“Hmm…so we arrived earlier than I expected…must be because of not spending much time at Drum Drum Island,” Sanji muttered to himself.

“Sorry?” Koza was unable to hear what Sanji was muttering and wanted him to repeat it again.

“It’s nothing. For now, don’t let your people know about your change in plans and let things go as they were supposed to.” Sanji suggested.

“Why? Why would I listen to you?” Koza asked.

“Well, your Kingdom’s princess is currently going to Rainbase along with my mates to deal with Crocodile. So, if you don’t want to alert the enemy and make things worse for her then you should do as I say,” Sanji said.

“She’s what?!” Koza exclaimed not expecting Vivi to be doing something so dangerous.

“You heard that correctly so don’t make me repeat myself, as for the idea of going to support Vivi you’re not qualified enough to think that. Your whole army can be killed by Crocodile just with a click of his fingers,” Sanji said to further irk Koza. He was having fun seeing him frustrated.

“So, you think your people are more qualified?” Koza asked in rebuke.

“Of course! Even the weakest member of the crew can decimate half your men,” Sanji said. He would have said to same to provoke him even if Nami had not gotten the devil's fruit. He just didn’t like the guy since their first meeting.

“Like hell, I’ll believe that!” Koza hollered.

“Well, I was able to deal with all the men of the hideout along with my other friend without relying on any firearms. Can your men do that?” Sanji raised a valid point which made Koza become mum.

“I’ll deal with the stuff at Alubarna so you stay here and follow your plan until the last day, if things go my way, then before you need to mobilize your men for an attack crocodile would already be dealt with,” Sanji told Kozo as he started walking outside.

“Why would you help us though?” Koza asked, even though he was angered at Sanji for those hurtful facts he slammed on his face but if what he told him was the truth and it most likely seemed like that then he couldn’t understand why they would help them. They had nothing to do with the Kingdom.

“Why? For the plot obviously…cough…I mean since our captain wants to help your Kingdom that’s why. Remember his name, Monkey D Luffy.” Sanji said as he started walking towards the entrance and when he opened the door, he saw a woman who earlier had her ears planted on the door.

The moment Okame heard Sanji about to open the door she moved herself away from the door and took a deep breath as she met with Sanji’s doubtful eyes and said, “Take me with you please!”