Viola stopped suddenly and it took a minute for him to gain his bearings and realise that they were now outside the Colosseum. The old building loomed above him, looking even more intimidating with bars across the windows.
The place looked closed but Viola had a quick word with the guards and they managed to get in. Once safely inside she used her ability again to track down Luffy, and dragged him in the right direction.
Yet another sudden stop, forced him out of his daze again and this time it was because his boss was in front of them.
'Luffy what the hell are you wearing?' in the time since he'd left them he'd found a dark blue shirt with flowers and put it over his red vest. That wasn't as strange as the spiky helmet he was wearing with a fake beard.
'Guess who's here!' Luffy was bouncing with excitement 'Guess guess'
'I dunno, who?' he'd never win the guessing game Luffy knew too many people and the teen looked set to explode with excitement.
'Sabo and Ace, they're here too' suddenly Luffy seemed to realise the state he was in 'What happened Sanji?'
'Doflamingo knows you're here he tried to have Sanji killed as a message to you' Viola answered for him
'Oh' Luffy screwed his face up thinking hard
'Viola helped me but she needs you to help her get her family back' he started to explain
Luffy nodded, he turned and yelled down the corridor 'Tra-guy we can go now but can you check on Sanji first'
Sanji stopped himself from explaining on, once Luffy had made his mind up nothing was going to stop him.
'About time Strawhat-ya' the other man looked unamused.
Law walked up and grabbed his injured arm, he created a small operating bubble and a couple of seconds later he had the bullet in his hand.
'Your arm should heal fine on its own, you'll need a couple of stitches and a sling but that'll need to be done later. Avoid using it until then.' Law turned to Luffy 'Let's go before you change your mind again'
'I didn't change my mind I was going to win here then beat Mingo' Luffy stuck his tongue out at Law.
Law shook his head and lead Luffy nearer the wall.
'Hey where are you guys going?' Ace called as he came up the corridor.
'To beat Mingo' Luffy grinned.
'Sounds fun' Ace grinned back 'Come on Sabo let's go'
The blonde was trailing behind Ace.
The brothers caught up with Luffy, already bickering about who was the better fighter.
'Are you two coming as well?' Law looked like he was quickly running out of patience.
He looked to Viola, to see what she wanted to do.
'He's holding my father in the cells under the palace, I'll go with you'
Sanji nodded 'We're all going then'
They all gathered up next to Law and in the blink of an eye they popped outside the Colosseum.
It felt odd and it took a couple of seconds to find his bearings again.
He walked next to Viola enjoying her company, whilst listening to the brothers laughing loudly. From what he could hear they were arguing about who would beat Doflamingo, who the better fighter was and whose gang was best. From what Sanji remembered though Sabo had joined Luffy's dad's weird group, probably why he was throwing random group names at his other brother's.
The three had all ended up under Garp's care. Luffy because his dad was constantly traveling, Sabo had been an abuse case that Garp worked and he'd ended up keeping him. Ace was the son of Roger head of the greatest gang family there had ever been, when his dad had fallen ill he'd asked Garp to look after his son, rival gangs would likely kill him if they'd found him. Garp had agreed and when Roger had succumbed to his illness Garp had still kept his word and raised him. He only knew all this because Ace was a really chatty drunk.
Suddenly he found Ace's arm thrown around his neck.
'Hey Sanji tell Luffy I could totally beat him' Ace said trying to drag him into their argument.
'Not a hope in hell Ace' he wasn't getting dragged into this 'So where you been? Haven't seen you in ages'
'I joined Whitebeard's gang' Ace swung his bag off revealing Whitebeard's mark tattooed over most of back.
'Wasn't he rivals with your dad?'
Ace laughed 'Yea but he doesn't care and it's not like he was one of the ones trying to kill me'
He always found it amazing how light hearted Ace was about it all. The trouble he'd gotten into just because of someone he couldn't even remember.
He couldn't help but laugh along with him, he felt a hand ruffle his hair up. Before he could even fix it Ace was running back to Luffy.
'Sanji says I'm the best fighter here' he called to his brothers.
'No I didn't' he yelled after him, if Viola wasn't with him he'd have caught up and given Ace a well deserved kick.
'You all seem cheerier than when I watched your house' Viola seemed to pause 'Sorry if that's weird but I was ordered to watch you a few times recently'
Sanji thought about it, the last week had been busy with planning they'd not had a lot of time together. There had been a couple of days, when the sword had been put through his bed, the mood in the house had been pretty low but it had bounced back pretty quickly.
'I guess just bad timing, though Ace and Sabo don't come around much' she already knew Law wasn't one of them.
They were getting closer to the palace when Law stopped everyone.
'Right we need a plan, we don't know where any of the family is' Law started
'I can help with that, also I know a safe passage into the palace' Viola interrupted
She used her ability again.
'Your friends have ran into some of the family, they're winning so far, the only members in the palace are Doflamingo and Trebol. If we take my route we can avoid Pica and Diamante'
'I'll take Diamante, Ace you take Pica no point in leaving them out right?' Sabo grinned 'Just point us in the right direction'
Viola smiled and gave the brothers the locations of the two, he felt a pang of jealousy but he reminded himself that he was getting to stay with her.
She followed behind her as she led them along a roundabout way to the palace. His arm was aching but he wasn't going to let anyone know, this wasn't the time, he needed to focus. She stopped by a wall and before Sanji could catch how she did it the wall slid open.
'So cool' Luffy shouted as he ran in.
Sanji walked in with Viola and Law, he glanced around at the secret tunnels, Luffy was right this was cool.
She led them along until they reached stairs.
'Law, Luffy you two need to go up it's a straight path to the throne room' Luffy nodded at Viola and grabbed Law before bolting up the stairs.
'We have to go down, are you sure you want to come with me? It's not too late to go with Luffy'
'Of course my love I'd rather stay with you and make sure you're safe.' Sanji's heart beat faster at the smile she gave him in response.
They walked in silence down the slowly darkening stairs.
'So is your niece down here too?' curiosity got the better of him
'No she's in the Colosseum, she's still safe just now' though he saw worry in her face.
'Don't worry it'll all be over soon' he pulled out his phone, they had no signal anywhere on the island but it showed him they had been here about five hours.
'I hope so, it's been so long since Doflamingo took over, I'd given up' she stopped her eyes welling up 'Brother Kyros'
Sanji stepped forward to comfort her but stopped as his mind bombarded him with memories. His legs buckled under the onslaught, he dug his palms into his eyes trying to slow it down. What the fuck had happened? How the hell had he forgotten? Years of memories stopped and he managed to get back onto his feet.
'Viola what just happened?' he knelt down next to her, she must have sat down when he had.
'Someone must have knocked out Sugar, I'm so sorry. It's my fault I told Doflamingo that he didn't kill you' he pulled her close
'Don't worry it's not your fault just tell me where the mosshead is' Everything had clicked back into place. They weren't here because Mingo was selling drugs and guns in their territory, though it was true that they had been planning to deal with him at some point. The sword that had been through his bed, had been that asshole. She had been watching their house during Zoro's stay that's why the mood had been low.
'He's in the cells' she answered
'Right let's go then' he got to his feet helping Viola up too. They walked in silence again, this time he was worried about what the hell Doflamingo had done to their swordsman.