Chapter 29

Sanji

"You're Dr. Vegapunk?!" Sanji sputtered, practically choking on his cigarette smoke. The woman with his mother's face, but no longer her mind, simply stared at him calmly while he recovered from his coughing fit. Finally, he was able to speak, though his hoarse voice came out unnaturally high pitched, "What are you doing to my precious Nami-san?!"

"Absolutely nothing," Dr. Vegapunk replied tonelessly. "I'm afraid we've never met face-to-face, Sanji. That's my assistant in the Ambience lab. Has been the entire time."

"If he lays so much as a finger on Nami-san or any of the others-"

"You'll do what?" Vegapunk asked. Sanji looked up at the calm face before him, snarling. Damn bastard had to know the cook would never harm him in that body. Shitty scientist was trying to unnerve him. And it was working. "You're smarter than that. As things stand right now, there is nothing you can do for your friends."

"And what? You're here to throw it in my face?" Sanji retorted. "Even using my mother to do it."

"That does bear the question: how did you know I wasn't your mother? Or at least the 'her' that exists within the simulation?" Vegapunk inquired.

Sanji took a long inhale on his cigarette before he answered. "You called him 'Judge.' Even in her worst moments, Mom always called him 'Dear,' no matter how awful the bastard was."

"I see."

"Then there was the thing where everyone changed back into the awful bastards I knew from my world. I figured it was something in the simulation designed to keep me from escaping. When you showed up, Sora's whole demeanor was different. You walked into the room and gave orders and everyone just changed back and obeyed them. Even Judge," Sanji continued. "Didn't take a freakin' genius to figure out you were the cause."

"Hmm, well, you're partially right," Dr. Vegapunk said, grabbing a chair and sitting across from Sanji. "It's not a built-in feature of the simulation. That was my over-zealous assistant taking control of your family and trying to keep you from waking."

"Afraid I'm gonna break out and tear your precious lab apart? Because that's exactly what I'm going to do!"

"You're lucky he stopped you."

"Why?!"

"Because had you woken up entirely, the simulation would have crashed, destroying this world and taking your two friends with it." Dr. Vegapunk answered in that infuriatingly calm voice. "Or at least their minds. Either way, it would not have been a pretty picture had you succeeded."

Sanji sat on the bed, his hands gripping the sheets tightly as his teeth ground around his cigarette. "You're lying."

"I assure you, I'm not."

"So what? I'm stuck here unless I can convince Luffy and the Mosshead to come with me?"

"Precisely. Otherwise, you risk killing them or leaving them mindless."

Sanji took a deep inhale on his cigarette, practically burning it down to the filter in one breath. He released the smoke slowly, taking in what he'd just been told.

"Nami-san. She was trying to stop me. That's why she looked so scared," he realized, suddenly feeling ashamed. In his own selfish desire to escape this world, he'd nearly killed his captain and Zoro and likely given his friends in the other world the scare of their lives. Then another thought hit him.

"This world. You said if we wake up, this world will be destroyed."

There was a sadness to his mother's face, a reflection of Vegapunk's own. "Yes. The simulation failed to exist until we plugged your minds into it. But the balance is delicate. The loss of any one or all three of you will crash it." The scientist shrugged. "It's all programming. Everyone's memories here. Their personalities. They're simply years of programming. And yet…"

"And yet, they still feel real to us." Sanji finished the thought.

"Yes," Vegapunk practically whispered it, looking down at Sora's hands. "I hate to do this to Sora, even a simulation of her, but her presence was the only thing I knew would calm you down."

"You talk as though you knew her," Sanji commented, taking the finished cigarette out of his mouth and crushing the stub into a nearby ashtray. "How are you taking control of her like that anyway?"

"I have a remote console with access to the Ambience project in another section of the facility. I've been keeping an eye on it while keeping tabs on your friends' activities. When I saw my assistant's…violent…plan to keep you contained wasn't working, I took control of the Vinsmoke Sora avatar and decided to try reasoning with you in a form you'd be comfortable with." Vegapunk answered. Then he smirked. "And I did know your mother. Actually, I knew both of your parents before they were even married."

Sanji's eyebrow quirked up at that. "Really? How did she ever fall for a bastard like Judge anyway?"

"Judge, eh? Not Father or Dad?"

"He's not my father! That asshole can rot!" Sanji shouted, practically biting his cigarette in half after. His curtain of hair covered his face while a heavy silence smothered the room.

"I see," Vegapunk finally said softly, "It must have been terribly hard for you, having him for a father…"

"Shut up. You don't know anything."

"I know Judge was a harsh man. That he always sought out and expected perfection, no matter the cost," Vegapunk continued. "And he had a brilliant scientific mind. Much of his cloning research has led to some amazing breakthroughs in the world of medicine-"

"Shut up! I don't-!"

"And I know, in his own way, that he loved your mother," Vegapunk continued. "The only time I ever saw him smile, really smile, was the day they were married."

Sanji was crying now, he knew. He could feel the hot tears threatening to spill down his cheeks. His hands habitually moved to his hair, running through it harshly.

"You may not accept him as your father, Sanji. He certainly isn't the man who raised you. But you cannot deny your biological heritage, as much as you may wish to. And there are more faucets to Judge than you know. Certainly more than he's ever shown you." Vegapunk continued.

"How-how can you speak so well of him? After what he did? After what he put my mother through?"

"He was my friend at one point. Even if we fell in love with the same woman," Vegapunk explained, a bitter smile appearing on his avatar's face.

"Wait. What?" Sanji's head perked up at that.

"Sora was an intelligent woman. I always loved that the most about her. And she was beautiful. And passionate," the doctor continued, staring off into the distance, as though focused on something else. "Sorry, just a moment." There was silence as Sora's eyes stared blankly for a moment before he continued speaking. "But she never could resist a good-looking man. And Judge in his younger days was handsome." Suddenly, the avatar's eyes looked directly at Sanji and a grin formed on the face. "You are a lot like her in that regard."

Sanji had the feeling he was blushing. "Th-that's not…! Y-you're saying I got that…from my mom?"

"Well, you certainly didn't get such passionate feelings from Judge, my boy," Vegapunk replied with a laugh.

And now Sanji knew he was blushing. But after a moment he realized it wasn't just because of what Vegapunk had said. It felt like there was a weight on him because suddenly it was hard to breathe. And he had this weird warm feeling coiling in his stomach. The same feeling he got whenever there was a beautiful woman nearby…

"Something the matter?" Vegapunk asked. "Your face is all red and you have this odd smile on your face."

"I-I'm not sure. The air feels heavy for some reason. And warm. Like there's someone…" Sanji floundered, at a loss on how to describe what he was feeling. Vegapunk's face scrunched into a puzzled frown.

"Just a moment," he said, and Sora's body suddenly went slack in the chair, the eyes staring blankly at nothing. Sanji felt a shudder go through his spine. This whole damn simulation was just unnerving.

With a blink, Sora's eyes once again focused and the avatar's body sat back up, returning to Vegapunk's poised posture.

"I checked on the Ambience lab. My assistant had asked me to activate one of the gravity light weapons in the lab a minute ago. Turns out it was over your table and your navigator is currently pinned under it." Vegapunk explained.

Sanji's mind suddenly flashed with memories of Zoro's struggle under the purple light and the swordsman coughing up blood from the weight. If delicate Nami-san was under such a terrible weapon…The cook suddenly stood straight up, battling the uncomfortable heavy feeling he felt on his chest.

"If you hurt Nami-san…"

"Relax. She's fine, just pinned. You're probably feeling the effects of the gravity light and her body on top of your real one."

Relief immediately flooded through Sanji, followed by the realization of what Vegapunk had just said. "You mean…she's lying…on top of me…right now…Mellorine!"

"Sanji! Focus!" Vegapunk shouted. The harsh tone in his "mother's" voice managed to snap Sanji out of his reverie. "Now listen, things are getting dangerous in that lab for your friends. If you want to have any hope of helping them, you need to listen to what I say."

"But you just said I couldn't leave…"

"Not unless all three of you use your Observation Haki at the same time. And you need to do it very carefully. If one of you wakes up too quickly, you'll risk leaving one or both of the others behind." Vegapunk explained.

"I don't understand. Why are you helping me?" Sanji asked.

Vegapunk looked down at Sora's hands again. "For Sora's sake, I suppose. Or a guilty conscience."

"What do you…?"

"The original plan," Vegapunk continued as though Sanji hadn't said anything, "Was to separate yourself, Roronoa Zoro, and Straw Hat Luffy and make sure you arrived at the Ambience Lab separately. Straw Hat being in a separate group made that easy enough and we managed to separate Roronoa by distracting him with a blinking light down one of the side hallways. As soon as he went down the passageway, his propensity for getting lost took care of the rest."

Sanji smacked himself in the forehead with one hand. That was how he lost the Mosshead so easily! He was going to give that directionless algae brain so much crap when he saw him again…

"Roronoa presented a few other unique challenges. I had a light keyed to the Vinsmoke Lineage Factor that could take you out of commission and Straw Hat could easily be taken down with the Seastone light. Roronoa took a combination of the magnetism light to disarm him and the blunt force of the gravity light to take down. And then of course, there was the question of how to give him a scenario within Ambience that he would accept."

Sanji glared at Vegapunk and snarled, "What did you do?"

"We revived an old friend and rival from his childhood and then proceeded to manipulate the emotional center of his brain whenever he interacted with her," Vegapunk explained. He smirked. "My assistant, after talking to Roronoa's old sword instructor, had a hunch that your swordsman had unresolved feelings towards her. His hunch turned out better than I could have hoped."

"You. Sick. Bastard." Sanji hissed each word, his hands curled into tight fists. "Even if it's that Mosshead, you'd dare take advantage of any man's feelings towards a woman and manipulate them to your liking?!"

"Our goal, in case it wasn't clear, was to keep all three of you contained within the simulation. No executions. No deaths. No violence. And you're still out of the World Government's hair."

"You don't have the right! Any of us would rather be dead than be used and trapped in such a way!"

"And yet, because you're not dead, there's still hope for escape."

Sanji sat back on the bed, his anger deflating. He was still absolutely pissed at the scientist, but he brought up a good point. And now he understood how they managed to ensnare Zoro so thoroughly. Something still didn't make sense though. "Your goal is to keep us trapped here. Why are you telling me all this? Why are you helping us escape?"

Vegapunk diverted his gaze before he answered. "I knew you were her son. But you were just a name and photo on a wanted paper. However, as I watched you interact with her in the simulation, I saw how much you were like her. You became more than Vinsmoke Sanji, member of the infamous Straw Hat Pirates, to me. You became Sora's son. And I owe her a great debt."

"Yeah? What debt is that?"

"Judge began the experiments in Lineage Factor manipulation before even Reiju was born, but he expressed interest in having children that were perfect, strong, emotionless military commanders. Sora knew it was only a matter of time before Judge took things too far. So…she asked me to make a medicine to counteract the effects…" Vegapunk explained. Sanji's eyes widened. No, he couldn't have… "I warned her of the likely scenarios if she took it. That it would most likely destroy her health as a result…That she would likely be dead within a few years…"

With a roar, Sanji shot up from the bed, his hands inches from Vegapunk's neck. From his mother's neck. He wanted to end this man's life. This shitty scientist that was the reason his mother was dead. But he'd never be able to do it when the guy looked at him out of his mother's eyes. And the bastard knew it.

With a growl of frustration, the cook sat heavily back on the bed. He covered his face with one hand. "You shitty bastard. You absolute shitty bastard."

"I admit, it's truly not fair to talk to you in this form, but that's precisely why I chose it." Vegapunk stated calmly.

"I ever find you in the real world, I'll fuckin' kill you."

"You won't."

"Damn bastard." The shitty scientist was, unfortunately, probably right. Sanji's hand began to grab at his hair. "She sacrificed herself…for me…"

"It was Sora's choice. She knew very well the consequences of taking the medicine when I gave it to her," Vegapunk stated. "But what mother wouldn't want to save the lives of her sons?"

"Why just me?"

"It was an untested medicine. There was no telling how much would be needed to counteract the effects for all four of you and any amount was going to be dangerous for Sora's health. So I gave her the smallest possible dose I believed would be at all effective. Had I increased the amount, Sora doubtless would have passed away much sooner." Vegapunk explained. "Apparently that dose was only able to counteract the effects for one of you."

"Do you have any idea what kind of hell I had to go through as a kid because of you?" Sanji snarled. "Because I was weak. Because I was a failure…"

"Do you truly believe that was why Judge hated you, boy?" Vegapunk interrupted.

"What do you mean? Of course it-"

"Think of it. Were you still weak when you were reunited with your family? Or when he forced you to Tottoland for that disaster of a wedding?" Vegapunk pressed. "Your father may have been disappointed in your lack of enhancements, Sanji, but he didn't hate you because of that."

"He locked me up in a dungeon! Kept a freakin' iron mask on my head so no one would recognize me!"

"So he wouldn't have to look at the son who was the spitting image of his dead wife," Vegapunk countered. "No, boy, he didn't hate you because you reminded him of his failures. He hated you because you reminded him of Sora's one success. And that she died for it."

Sanji found himself speechless, his jaw slightly agape. Impossible! Judge told him himself that he was Germa's failure. Then he turned the events of that period over in his mind. Even when he had returned, proved himself stronger than Yonji…Judge had been furious. And he had kept Sanji in rooms separated from the rest of the family, even in Big Mom's chateau, only seeing Sanji at meals for appearance's sake or when he had some demand to make of his third son. Like he had avoided trying to see Sanji's face as much as possible.

"You're…lying…" Sanji muttered, his face lowered so that his hair hid his expression.

"As I said, Judge has many faucets." Vegapunk repeated. "And many ambitions."

Sanji started at that last part, remembering the East Blue chart his Germa navigator had possessed. "What do you-?"

"There's no more time. Your friends in the lab are fighting for their lives and you need to get your captain and swordsman out of here." Vegapunk interrupted. "You have thirty minutes in real time until the Navy ships arrive at the island."

"Wait! What Navy-?!"

"Goodbye, Black Leg. We will not speak again." And with that, Sora collapsed in the chair, unconscious. Sanji barely caught her before she fell to the floor and moved her to the bed.

Once Sora was safely in the bed, Sanji took out a cigarette and lit it, staring out the window to the sea. His mind was full of thoughts and concerns. At the forefront of his mind was how he was going to talk Zoro into leaving this world and leaving the family he had fallen in love with behind. And even more so, how he was going to tell that swordsman that once they left, this world would be no more.

Those thoughts were still twirling within his mind, when he heard a soft groan behind him. He turned quickly to see Sora beginning to sit up in the bed, propping herself up on one elbow. Seeing her in bed like that, looking weak…Sanji swallowed the lump in his throat.

She's perfectly healthy in this world, idiot, he admonished himself harshly. Well, except for the fact she'd just served as Vegapunk's avatar for the last few minutes. He wondered briefly if she had been conscious for any of the conversation.

"So, it's true. It's really true," Sora said, looking at Sanji with her soft blue eyes.

"You…were awake for all that?" Sanji asked. He really wasn't sure how else to phrase it.

"Yes," Sora replied. She glanced down, her hands squeezing the bed's sheets in tight fists. "Vegapunk always did have far too high of an opinion of himself. I never thought he would actually…"

Then she paused, looking around the room. It must have been hard for her, Sanji thought. To know your world and everything in it wasn't real. Even you.

Without thinking, he stepped forward, one hand toward her. "Mom, I-"

"It must have been so hard for you," Sora stated, her gaze still turned away from him.

"What? You don't…it wasn't your fault…"

"It must have been so hard," Sora repeated, turning to look at her son, her eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Sanji! I'm so sorry! It must have been awful!"

Sanji gathered his crying mother in his arms, holding her like she used to do for him when he was small. "It wasn't all bad. I still had you. And Reiju helped me. And eventually I met the old man and the Straw Hats…I wish you could meet Luffy, Mom. You'd love him."

"Your captain?" Sora said, sniffling and wiping her eyes. Sanji nodded.

"Yeah. He's made out of rubber, so if you pinch his cheeks, you can stretch them out to here!" Sanji put his hands in a pinching motion and then pulled them away from his face a few feet. Sora laughed out loud.

"He certainly does sound amusing," Sora agreed.

"And no matter the circumstances…" Sanji paused, thinking in his mind how he wanted to word this. "I'm glad I got to see what Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji might have been like had Judge never messed with them. How we all could have been a family together." Sanji smiled gently. "And it'll always make my heart happy to see you again."

For probably the last time, Sanji got to feel his mother's arms around him as she wrapped him in one of her warm hugs. He never wanted it to end. But in the back of his mind, he knew…

"Mom…I have to go…"

"I know. Those friends of yours are in danger," Sora said, pulling out of the hug and looking at her son, pride in her eyes. "So go save them."

Sanji nodded slightly, his face fighting between a smile and a sob. "I love you, Mom."

"I love you, too."

Sanji stepped past Sora to walk out of the room. When he reached the door, his mother called out, "Oh, and Sanji?"

"Yes?" He looked back. Sora was looking at him, a mischievous grin on her face.

"When you have a chance, give your rubber captain a cheek stretch for me!"

Despite the circumstances, Sanji let out a laugh. "I will."

"And tell him…thank you. For taking such good care of you."

Sanji felt another lump in his throat. "I will."

Author's Notes: I at one point debated having Sora turn out to have been Vegapunk's avatar the entire time. But decided I couldn't do that to Sora.

-Yeah, all kinds of headcannon and theories here. We don't know the details of Judge and Sora's marriage (she does call him 'anata' or 'dear', though) nor which of them is the reason all the Vinsmoke children seem to go heart-eyed when they see someone hot (thought it would be interesting for it to be Sora though; it would explain her relationship to a bastard like Judge, as he was probably handsome in his youth, and honestly, I just can't picture Judge doing the heart-eyed thing.) We also don't know who gave Sora the medicine or that she and Vegapunk ever even knew each other. But I needed an emotional reason for Vegapunk to be willing to help the Straw Hats. And the theory didn't seem too far out of left field. And there's nothing to necessarily negate any of it.

-Judge actually hating Sanji because he reminds Judge of his dead wife is another theory, but it seems pretty well supported by the events in the manga and a comment Reiju made at one point about it. Sanji easily beat Yonji and Judge is pissed. Why? Sanji's proved he's strong now, so why is Judge angry? Plus, the mask thing when Sanji was a kid makes no sense. Judge already locked Sanji away and announced his death. The only people who see him are the guards who bring him food and they know who Sanji is. So why the mask? These nonsensical events suddenly make perfect sense if you look at them from the viewpoint that Judge hates Sanji because he reminds Judge of his dead wife.

-This chapter fully explains why Zoro fell for the Ambience simulation so hard (I think I had the assistant hint at it before). And I figured Sanji would be the kind of guy who would be absolutely furious that someone messed with another person's romantic feelings that way.

-I wish I could have made the goodbye scene between Sanji and Sora longer, but this chapter was plenty long already.

-Buckle up. A lot of the chapters are gonna get pretty rough from here emotionally.