A/N: This chapter originally took place a little later before I decided to move it up, and a reviewer pointed out that some time must have passed since the Quell campaign since Nami is healed, but that's actually not the case! Because of that, I had to go back and make some rewrites to this chapter.
Chapter 24: New Tactics
Sanji was invisible as he snuck into the bedroom of Gimbo's royal family. This was something he'd done many times over the years, but this was the first time he was doing it without the intent to assassinate the royal family, which meant he'd had to take the time to incapacitate all the nearby guards, but the extra effort would be worth it if his plan worked.
"Wake up!" he demanded upon reaching the bedroom, still invisible.
The king shot up in bed, one arm protectively covering his wife as he looked around. "Who's there?"
"Germa 66," Sanji answered and even in the dark of the night, he still saw the king go pale. "I'm not here to kill you if you follow what I say."
The king's face contorted in rage as he peered around the room, unsure of where to direct his anger. "You want me to make a deal to hand my people and kingdom over to you?"
"You'd rather watch your people die and suffer through war?"
The king stayed silent, his face still furious.
"There wouldn't be any suffering if not for Germa 66!" the queen spat before the king shushed her.
"If you fight us, you will lose," Sanji said dispassionately. "The same as every other country Germa has declared war on. Your army will be decimated, your people will die, and you will receive public executions. If this is not the fate that you want, then we have something to discuss. If it's the fate you prefer, then I'll apprehend you now."
The king glanced at the doors leading out of the room. Sanji shook his head even though they couldn't see him. "Do you really think I would have left any guards available to come to your rescue? For now, your guards still live. I only knocked them unconscious. If you decide to battle Germa, then they will all die." Even as Sanji said the words, he felt his insides squirm at the thought of what Nami would think of him in this moment.
"What—what are the terms of surrender?" the king asked.
"If you surrender and convince your people to follow Germa 66's rule, then you and the queen will remain in the palace as advisors to the ruling regent. The laws and practices you have in place may be protected so long as they do not contradict the laws of Germa 66. This is an opportunity for your nation to retain some autonomy. I suggest you take it, your Majesty, because I promise that this offer will not be extended a second time."
The king's eyes narrowed in suspicion as they swept around the dark room. "Why? Why make this offer to me? Why now? I've never heard of Germa allowing any conquered nation to retain autonomy. Or allowing the native royal family to live outside of a prison."
Sanji hadn't expected this question. How should he answer? Give a flippant answer that it was a policy change? A new tactic Germa was trying out?
His mouth opened and said, "In honor of Germa's future princess, who serves Germa only for the sake of protecting her people. If you value the lives of your people as she does hers, then I suggest you take the deal."
The king shared a baffled look with his wife before hanging his head and releasing a sigh. "Tell me what my role as advisor will be."
~.~
As Sanji climbed yet another castle wall while invisible, he wasn't sure his heart had ever pounded this hard during a mission. He knew for sure that he'd never been as eager for what waited on the other side.
Reaching the balcony, he saw that the doors were open, as she'd said they would be. Nami sat curled in an arm chair, her eyebrows adorably scrunched together as she read a book on navigation. A pen and paper sat on a table next to her where she occasionally scribbled notes.
"Nami," he said softly, deactivating his invisibility as he took off his raid helmet.
She lifted her head and her eyes lit up. "Sanji! You're back!"
He wouldn't have thought it possible, but his heart beat even faster at her greeting.
Putting her book down, she came to him, putting a hand on his chest as she gazed up at him with concerned eyes. "How did it go?"
He covered her hand with his own, wondering if he was grateful or disappointed that his raid suit prevented Nami from realizing how fast his heart was beating.
He opened his mouth to tell her when he realized there was a bandage around her neck, and several around her arms.
"What happened?" he demanded, his heart jumping into his throat as he pulled her protectively closer, wrapping one arm around her waist. "Did one of my brothers hurt you?" Why was she hurt in so many places? The thought that she'd gotten hurt and he hadn't been there to protect her made him sick.
"Oh," she said, looking down at her arms. "I got thrown out a window. While the glass was still in it."
"How?!"
"When I was in the waters near Quell with Ichiji. We went there for me to map Quell's waters, but Quell attacked Ichiji's forces. Apparently, it's becoming common knowledge that Germa's new navigator is partly responsible for their recent successes, so Quell used a pair of devil fruit users to kidnap me. Ichiji came to retrieve me, but I got thrown out a window."
Sanji was so angry it felt like he was choking. He'd thought he didn't like Ichiji before, but that had only been the pale resentment held by a boy. Ichiji never should have put Nami in danger like that. As soon as Quell attacked, Ichiji should have retreated or at least kept Nami by his side to protect her. Of course he wouldn't have done something like that though. He'd probably been annoyed that he'd had to rescue Nami.
"I'm so glad you're okay," Sanji said, pulling Nami into a hug, then he jumped back. "Wait, am I hurting you? Where all are you hurt? Are you okay?"
Nami giggled at his reaction. "I have a few more bandages that you can't see, but yes, I'm okay. None of the injuries were bad enough to require stitches, thankfully. Just don't put too much pressure anywhere, okay?"
"Okay," Sanji agreed, relaxing a little. He was still upset though. He hated that he couldn't be with Nami all the time. He'd already been worried enough about what his brothers might do to her if they got angry. Now he also had to worry about Germa's enemies going after her. This woman was going to give him a heart attack.
"What did my father think of all this?"
"I don't know," Nami said with a shrug. "I haven't heard anything about it and I don't usually see him. Maybe he doesn't know."
"Possibly not," Sanji said, grounding his teeth. No way would Judge be okay with is prize navigator being put in danger like that and no way would Ichiji want their father to know that he'd messed up so badly. The jerk likely hadn't said a word of what happened to Judge, and was probably making sure that Judge and Nami didn't cross paths. It would be hard to hide Nami's injuries with how many bandages she wore.
Hopefully, Ichiji would be a little more careful with Nami from now on at least so that he wouldn't risk Judge's anger.
"Anyway," Nami said, waving a hand to brush away talk of her injuries, "you still haven't told me how your campaign went."
Sanji frowned, but answered. "It went well. The royal family of Gimba agreed to my terms. There were those who rose up in protest, but it was the most bloodless takeover Germa has ever had."
"Good," Nami breathed, her shoulders relaxing.
"It is," Sanji agreed. "Though I'm afraid that doing things this way is more likely to lead to the people rebelling later on. If that happens and my father finds out what I'm doing, he'll be furious. I need the people of Gimba to truly support what I'm doing."
Nami chewed her lip as she returned to her seat. "If Germa truly wants a unified North Blue, then you need support everywhere. If the people don't believe that Germa is working in their best interest, then rebellions will rise up. Germa may have the power to take over country after country, but they don't have the power to quell rebellions in all the places they've taken over. They have to do things differently than they did centuries ago, or the exact same result will happen."
She sighed. "I suppose that neither of us have much experience with lasting, peaceful take-overs, but I really feel that leaving the people with autonomy will make them less likely to rebel. From what I've seen, most rulers don't care very much for their people. If a people's lives are pretty much the same after Germa 66 takes over, then what do they care who's ruling over them? If their lives aren't any harder than before, then I bet most won't care about there being a change in power. It may even be preferable if Germa 66 allows for there to be peace between all the nations in North Blue."
"I suppose I can see why autonomy would be preferable," Sanji said, taking off his raid suit and sitting on the edge of Nami's bed. Her words about who sits on the throne not mattering struck a little bit of a nerve, but he could see her point. Unless a ruling family gave their people a reason to be loyal to them, unless the royal family did things for the people rather than forcing the people to do things for them, then what would it matter who sat on the throne? Why would a different ruler look any different to them? "I suppose we'll just have to wait and see. Only time will tell."
Nami made a small noise that drew his attention to her. "What will happen to you if it doesn't work out? What will Judge do to you?" She had a worried look in her eye that made his heart melt. No one had ever looked at him with concern like that before.
"Don't worry about it," he brushed off. "Even if he's angry, he can't kill me. I'm too useful as a general even if I piss him off. If this doesn't work it'll be more of a problem for . . . us." Because if this didn't work, there was no way Sanji could convince Judge to let him marry Nami.
"Be careful, okay?" Nami said, looking down at her hands. "I love that you're doing this and I'm grateful, but try to be careful."
Sanji grinned, feeling more grateful at Nami's words than he could ever remember feeling. "I will. For your sake, I will."