Here's today's chapter for you! I hope you enjoy! (And I really hope I'm blending the original and my ideas at least decently. I know right now it's mostly the original but once they leave Zou it should switch to being mostly mine... should anyway. I'll do my best!) Can't wait to hear what you think! I probably won't have a chapter for tomorrow but I'll try to have it for Monday.
"DAMN IT!" Law said absentmindedly throwing Kikoku.
Shachi and Penguin ran over, jumped up in the air and caught their captain's sword.
"What's the matter, Captain?" Bepo asked placing a hand on Law's shoulder. "You never treat Kikoku like that..."
Law didn't answer. He stood there staring at the ground, his hand clinched so tight that his fingers felt wet.
"C-captain...?" Shachi said as Law's blood dripped to the ground.
Robin's clone stood up and placed a hand on Law's other shoulder. "This is Sanji we're talking about. He'll be fine."
Tears welled up in Law's eyes, "you don't understand... I swore to him this wouldn't happen! ...There's no way he'll be able to handle this on his own!"
"Huh?"
"What's wrong Robin?" Nami asked when they finished the story.
"Oh... I sent a clone with Law... He wanted to know what was going on so I relayed everything you just said to him..."
"Why's he care?" Zoro asked.
"That's not my place to say... Anyway... apparently Law knows something about this that we don't..."
"Oh...?" Nami said. "Like what? We've known Sanji-kun longer then him... Why would he know something we don't?"
"They're both from the North Blue... I think he knows something about Sanji from his time there..."
"Can't you ask him what it is?"
Robin shook her head, "He promised Sanji he wouldn't say anything."
"Oh so not only is the shitty cook lying to us but now he's got other people keeping secrets from us!" Zoro said. "And he expects us to trust him!"
"Sanji's our friend! If he was hiding something from us then he had his reasons Zoro!" Luffy said taking Sanji's note from Nami as Brook began to sing a song about Nekomamushi.
"What a lovely song," Robin smiled. "Is that really who he is? Master Nekomamushi?"
"Nope!"
"What do you mean 'nope'?!" Usopp said.
"I'm singing about how I imagine him to be."
"Okay, guys! So when Sanji said there's this girl he has to meet real quick. He means he's gonna get married?!"
"Perhaps." Nami said hugging her knees. "Perhaps not. We don't know. He had a sort of resigned, resolute look on his face when he said it, like he was determined.
"But here he says he'll be back! He promised!" Luffy protested. "...Ah! I get it! He's going to bring his bride back with him!"
"What?!" Usopp said.
"That means our crew's gonna have another member!"
Nami sighed, "you're so optimistic.
"Luffy-san. The bride is the Yonkou's daughter. That means we'll become Big Mom's subordinates." Brook said.
"What?! No way!" Luffy said slamming a fist on Crocky's head.
"Right you are. Of course, Sanji-san doesn't want that either. He was adamant about how against the idea he was and refused it firmly right then and there," Brook said. "But that troubles me. Considering who he is dealing with this time, if he couldn't avoid the marriage, what do you think he would do?"
"Well, he would...," Usopp said looking down, deep in thought. He gasped in realization.
"Yeah," Chopper said with tears in his eyes. "He's the kind of guy who'd try not to cause us any trouble...," he tried to hold back his tears as he continued, "so he'd try to separate himself from us!"
"You mean Sanji will quit this group?!" Luffy said punching Crocky on the head once again, "That's even more unacceptable!"
"When he tossed us out," Nami began. "Sanji-kun could've gotten away too. When he wrote the note, I think he'd already made up his mind to go by himself."
"Now we know everything. You've been through a lot," Robin said.
"Big Mom's daughter, huh?" Franky said. "He got a pretty troublesome offer of marriage."
"And did you say Vinsmoke?" Usopp asked, his arms folded. "I guess that family is the key. It could be Sanji's father or mother or brother... They once lived in the North Blue and then moved to the East Blue and now, they're in the New World. Unbelievable!"
"Vinsmoke?" Robin repeated thoughtfully.
"Do you know of them?" Franky asked.
"I think I've heard of them before... I'm sorry. I can't remember."
"We're sorry," Nami said again. "I wish we could've stopped him at least until you guys arrived..."
"Sanji wouldn't let you stop him. It's not your fault, guys," Robin disagreed as her clone looked at Law and said, "It's not your fault either, Tra-guy. So stop acting like it is."
"I told them to go ahead with out us!"
"If you didn't, Doflamingo would have killed them. At least this way he's alive."
"He would rather have been killed by Doflamingo," Law muttered. "Can't say I blame him."
Robin's clone tilted her head and her eyes narrow, "what do you mean."
I have no choice now... I'm sorry, Sanji... but it's time... they need to know.
"But, Robin," Chopper sobbed. "What if we never get to see him again?!"
"Nothing wrong with that," Zoro finally spoke up after being silent throughout most of this conversation.
"Huh?! What are you saying, Zoro?!" Chopper asked angry and tears streaming down his face.
"I mean, if he was leaving for good, he should have said 'thank you for everything' and 'I'm sorry for causing so much trouble'."
"No, that's not the point!" Chopper yelled.
"That is the point. Thank about it. We're on an unstoppable train now. Remember what Caesar said? The biggest customer of SMILEs, the artificial Devil Fruit, is Kaido. We pissed Doflamingo off by destroying the lab on Punk Hazard, we destroyed the SMILE factory in Dressrosa, and the man who's gonna go nuts next is... Yonkou Kaido! He's not some distant threat anymore. We've already had a fight with his subordinates, the Beast Pirates. Jack, who ruined this country, and others will come after us in a matter of time! We're allying with Tra-guy for upcoming battles. I don't know why but it seems like Kinemom and the others are targeted by Kaido too. We'll face Yonkou Kaido very soon! And in the midst of all this, that twirly-eyebrowed idiot goes and sticks his nose in the business of another Yonkou, Big Mom! How stupid can that fool be?!"
Chopper looked as if he wanted to yell at Zoro, however Nami beet him to it.
"WAIT A SEC! THAT'S NOT FAIR! HE DIDN'T STICK HIS NOSE IN ANYTHING! WHAT HAPPENED IS SEPARATE FROM ALL THAT OTHER STUFF! YOU BOORISH SON OF A GUN!" She yelled pushing Brook out of her way.
"N-Nami-san...?" Brook said as she held him down.
"DON'T GO MAKING SHITTY EXCUSES FOR HIM! First of all, how could he get wrapped up in such a thing as marriage?! It's such a small deal!"
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"
"Both of you! Don't get so heated up!" Brook pleaded.
"IT IS A BIG DEAL! DON'T MAKE LIGHT OF ANOTHER'S TROUBLES! IT'S NOT YOUR PLACE TO DECIDE HOW BIG OR SMALL SOMEONE ELSE'S PROBLEM IS!"
"WHAT?!"
"WHAT'S SO FUNNY?!" They yelled turned to Robin who was chuckling.
"Law says your a stupid Marimo, Zoro."
"THEN HE CAN GO JOIN THAT STUPID COOK! STOP RELAYING OUR CONVERSATIONS TO HIM! IT'S NONE OF HIS DAMN BUSINESS!
"All right!" Luffy finally said throwing his arms in the air. "We don't know what's on his mind and we never will if we don't go ask him! So let's go!"
"Wha~t?!" Chopper hollered. He leaned forward to far and fell off Franky's head.
"Oi! Drop it! Just forget it, Luffy!" Zoro said.
"Don't tell me you wanna pay Big Mom a visit! You're the one that picked a fight with her! Or have you forgotten?!" Usopp said.
"We have no choice!" Luffy argued.
"We can't just march in there without a plan, strategy, or reinforcement! We'll just get crushed and that'll be it!" Franky said as Chopper climbed back onto his head.
"She's a Yonkou, Luffy. Don't forget that," Robin warned. "She's on a completely different level then any of our past enemies.
"Then we'll go quietly and sneak in!"
"DON'T MAKE IT SOUND SO EASY! HOW DO WE FIND THEM.
Law looked up to Robin's clone, "If you guys are going after him then so am I!"
"Wha~!" The Heart Pirate's yelled in disbelief.
"B-but Captain?!" Ikkaku protested.
"You guys will go on ahead to Wano! I'm going with Straw Hat!"
"But we just reunited!"
"This whole thing is my fault! If I never told him to come here without us then this never would have happened! I swore to him it wouldn't! So I need to fix it!"
"I'm sure Luffy won't mind. He's quite found of you... Then again he's found of almost everyone he meets," Robin chuckled.
Chopper thought for a moment, "...Well, there is a way to go after them, but..."
"He's right," Brook said. "Sanji-san has gone because of the Big Mom Pirates but they left something big behind. In their haste, they forgot a rather important person. If he's awake, maybe we can ask him a thing or two. After all, there should be something he can tell us?"
"That person?" Robin asked.
"Let's just keep going. We may as well pay him a visit," Brook said as they continued forward.