Chapter nine:

Annie was stunned when Sanji pulled away she didn't know what to say to him
"Annie-Chan, I have to leave with them my destiny is to help Luffy find the one piece" Sanji said he saw her face sadden again but he gripped her hand a little tighter not to hurt her but to get her attention
"However, I do wish that you would come with me" Sanji said Annie looked at him her eyes wide in shock as Sanji grinned a little but his heart sank when she looked away her eyes filling with tears once more
"I can't, you have your Nakama and I have mine Sanji I've worked my whole life to build this place up to what it is now it's a sanctuary for some of us here" Annie explained Sanji didn't seem to understand so Annie continued
"Tom and Susan were separated when they were three years old I met Tom when I was Seven and he was still searching for her he never gave up once he discovered she was alive when we were twelve the two of us set out and came here in this very tavern before it became the bear claw we found Susan stealing table scraps, when we turned fifteen the three of us got jobs here this place brought us together as a family and I wasn't going to lose it neither were they we met Terry two years later we were fast friends unfortunately her boyfriend didn't like that Terry would come to us in the middle of the night sobbing because he would hurt her emotionally and physically we helped her to get away from him everyone did when the owner died a year later I bought the place Dracule was against it he wanted me to work for the marines I still refused and from there we have all built this place" Annie explained Sanji understood it was like the baratie except with less girls Sanji hadn't wanted to leave the Baratie either the others had made him join the crew but Susan, Terry and Tom were like Annie's brother and sisters she looked out for them and everyone in the tavern Sanji remembered the day Shiki had attacked him and Annie had immediately been there
"I understand Annie" Sanji said Annie smiled though Sanji could sense the pain and depression behind it
"Guess we're just not meant to be huh?" She asked him before he could answer Annie stood and handed him some money
"There it's the money you were saving to go out and look for your Nakama" Annie said she kissed his cheek gently after he took it and hurried upstairs Sanji sighed and put his face in his hand before jumping when he felt a hand on his shoulder he looked and was surprised to see Robin
"Robin-Chan what did you-"
"Everything" robin said sitting down "I was right behind you on the stairs I was able to hide though" Robin explained to him Sanji sighed a little bit
"Sanji…get her to sing for Luffy"
"What?" Sanji asked Robin smiled
"A girl like Annie can't just have this one dream of being here her entire life she never said it was her dream it was just something she did that has Sentimental value" Robin said Sanji didn't understand as Robin stood up
"I'll talk Nami into allowing us to stay a little bit longer alright?" Robin asked Sanji slowly nodded still not sure he followed her as Robin went upstairs it was a few minutes later that Sanji also went up to bed the next morning he woke up to Nami dragging him out of bed and shoving clothes at him
"Why didn't you tell us you had a girlfriend?" Nami demanded Robin laughed a little bit
"wha- no Annie Chan is not-"
"You didn't tell me you were together with Annie!" Terry shouted as her and Susan also entered the room
"I'm not" Sanji said simply stopping the girls
"We kissed last night I don't know it seemed like the right thing to do" Sanji explained
"So you didn't mean it?" Susan asked now becoming strict
"no! I mean I did I mean ugh It's complicated" Sanji said sitting on the bed and putting his face in his hands now the girls seemed to understand
"Just hurry up and get dressed we need to go get Annie"
"She's not up yet?" Sanji asked Annie was always the first one up unless she was taking care of someone
"No one has seen her all morning no"
"Tom said she went for a walk last night to clear her head about something" Terry said now all eyes were on her Terry was confused

"What?"
"Did Tom see her come back?"
"I don't know I didn't ask!" now Sanji was concerned something had happened to Annie the girls all hurried out and Sanji quickly got dressed and hurried downstairs to Tom

"Did you see Annie come back last night?" Sanji asked him Tom was surprised but shook his head
"No I went to bed as soon as she left"
"She's not in the pantry" Susan called
"She's not in the kitchen" Terry added
"And she isn't in her room" Nami said Tom now looked concerned as well Robin had woken the others and now they were all downstairs ready to help out
"The beach" Sanji said Annie always went for a walk on the beach she had told him he hurried out without further explanation though the others all went out to search as well Sanji hurried to the beach that she had found him on when he had first fallen off the ship she was nowhere to be seen Sanji then also hurried down to the docks maybe she had taken a longer walk than she had meant to he walked around asking sailors if they had seen her all with the same results Sanji was worried now where could she have gone? Then something hit him in the gut hard something that he hadn't thought of before and he prayed it was a wrong intuition he hurried along looking at the ships he then went to the end of the dock still he hadn't' seen the ship he was looking for he spun around to leave and spotted what he had been looking for, the floating ship that belonged to the golden lion pirates his eyes narrowed and he now knew where Annie was.

Annie struggled in the grasp of the infamous pirate captain her hands bound and a gag was tied tightly around her mouth Shiki rolled his eyes a little
"Aww come on angel-Chan don't be like this" he said dropping her in a room she sat up glaring daggers at him as he gave a devious smirk taking the gag off of her mouth but he hadn't expected her to kick his sword legs out from under him and make a run for it
"INDIGO, SCARLET STOP HER!" he yelled as Annie hurried down the corridors of the ship Indigo blocked her path causing the girl to skid to a stop and turn down another hall the corridors below the ship were like a labyrinth as she ran every time someone blocked her path she just hid and turned down another corridor finally she arrived above deck the sun now shown high in the sky she hurried to the side only to stop her eyes wide seeing how high above the ground they were she then heard a dark chuckle behind her and looked to see the three who had been chasing her
"Come now Angel-Chan you have no escape unless it's with me and let's face it that isn't going to happen" Shiki said walking towards her Annie tried to take a step back but was met with the railing Shiki grinned
"Face it Angel-Chan you're mine"

"What do you mean Little Ann is missing?" Markus asked glaring at Tom although the guy could be an asshole when he was drunk when he was Sober he and Annie actually got along so this news was very upsetting to him
"She left some time last night to take a walk and she hasn't come back we can't find her anywhere" Tom said but as if on cue Sanji entered the room the wrath of god shown clearly in his eyes
"I know where she is" he said everyone could tell they weren't going to like the answer of the question
"The golden lion pirates took her their ship is hovering above the island now"
"What?" Nami asked puzzled and clearly looking a little scared now
"They've been trying to get Annie to join them for months ever sense she helped Shiki after he and his Nakama washed up on shore one day" Susan explained Luffy frowned

"That was our fault, he tried to destroy east blue so we kicked his ass" Luffy said
"We know that now" Tom explained simply
"So you've lost her? I'll admit it took longer than I expected" Everyone glared as Dracule stood in the door way of the tavern he didn't seem very concerned about this which just caused Sanji's blood to boil
"Why are you here?" Zoro asked
"It's my little sister in question" Dracule said Zoro's eyes now shot to Sanji seeing the connection with him telling Nami now
"Why didn't you tell me?" Zoro asked him glaring he knew that it was Zoro's' dream to beat Mihawk
"Because I didn't want you fighting her brother in front of her and or challenging her to a fight"
"She is right behind me in ranks" Mihawk explained with a shrug
"FOCUS" Nami screamed "how do we get up to a ship in the air so that we can save Annie?" Nami asked everyone tried to think well everyone but Dracule and Zoro who both glared daggers at each other Tom was the first to notice and smashed their heads together seeing as it would be the only way to get their attention
"OW!"
"Knock it off you're acting like children figure out how to save Annie and once she is safe you can kill each other afterwards" Tom said the two swordsmen glared at each other before giving a nod in agreement
"Why not get a grappling Hook?" Markus asked
"It's too high I think our only hope of going up is seeing how Shiki gets down" Nami said looking out the window she could see the ship if she looked up enough
"That might be days though" Sanji said
"Unfortunately that might be the only way and then there might also be the fact Shiki could take off now that he has what he wants" Dracule explained he didn't want to believe it to be a good idea either but it might be their only idea and their only option at this point and Dracule could tell that Sanji wasn't happy no one was really happy about the answer Susan walked towards the stairs the others were puzzled as terry quickly followed
"Where are you going?" Nami asked
"Someone needs to watch the ship" Terry said "we're going to the roof"

still don't own anything but annie and the people of the bear claw