Sanji knelt next to his mother, who was crumpled on the ground, her hair matted from the blood of a head wound.
"Mom!" He sounded panicked as he pulled his mother gently out of the ruins of the couch and held her to himself as he looked her over.
"Sanji love… I'm glad you're okay… When I was attacked, I was worried they had gotten to you too!" Sora told her son, reaching up and touching his cheek as she smiled weakly.
"I'm fine Mom, don't talk. We'll get you bandaged up… and I'll kill whoever did this to you." Sanji replied, his voice low. He looked over at Zoro's arms then over at Luffy. "Captain, can you take her to the infirmary down the hall? I'll take care of the piece of shit who did this. Did you see them?"
Zoro was frowning, taking in the situation. It was a bit obvious that Luffy had hit Sanji's mom, as much as she didn't want to accept it either. Luffy also wasn't the type to attack someone innocent.
"Wait… Captain, what happened here?" Zoro asked, walking over to Sanji and his mother and kneeling beside them. She thought back to what she had seen in the dungeon. She had assumed that everything had been Sanji's fathers doing, but she got a cold feeling about the situation. Sora looked back at Zoro. There was no warmth in her eyes.
"I punched her." Luffy replied. Zoro's jaw dropped. You idiot.
Zoro was startled as Sora was set into her lap and Sanji was suddenly across the room, grabbing his captain's shirt.
"What the hell did you just say?" Sanji asked, his voice dangerously low. Luffy didn't seem affected by this and stood his ground.
"I punched her. She's a jerk and deserved it." Luffy responded, staring back into Sanji's eyes. Sensing something really bad was about to happen, Zoro started to move but gritted her teeth in pain when Sora grabbed one of her arms. She looked down at her and Sora gave her an apologetic look.
"It's best not to get involved dear…" She told Zoro, still gripping her arm. Zoro scowled down at her and moved to throw her off but paused, glancing over at Sanji. She cursed and looked around at her options. She saw Law's sword conveniently sitting a few paces away. Sora grabbed her other arm and squeezed, smiling and shaking her head. Now Zoro was pissed.
Sanji had swung his foot at his captain in rage but Luffy had easily caught the man's foot and looked surprised himself at the feat.
"Sanji?" Luffy asked, taking in the pale expression on the cook's face. Sanji tried to pull his foot back but Luffy held on. A bead of sweat ran down Sanji's forehead as his other foot gave out and he crumpled towards the ground. Luffy shot his other arm out and caught the man before he fell fully. Sanji cursed, grabbing his injured foot. Zoro suddenly found the floor very interesting.
"Do you want me to kill you?" Sanji asked, smacking Luffy's supportive hands away. He took a deep breath and then hauled himself up to his feet.
"Sanji, wait. There's obviously something going on here." Zoro called over to him, ignoring the glares his mother was giving her.
"Yes, he attacked me! We were having tea and he said I was a terrible mother and just attacked me!" Sora shouted. "This is just like what I told you before… pirates… pirates will do anything. They have no morals! Look, they are attacking your family just to get you back! How is that right?"
"Look you…" Zoro growled down at Sora who flinched visibly and started to cry.
"Sanji love… what kind of people have you gotten involved with? You poor thing… I'm so sorry you had to be with these people for so long… Just go, quickly escape before they hurt you too!"
"Mom I—" Sanji's eyes were wide as he watched his mother, frozen in place.
"What the hell did you say about us?" Zoro asked, pushing her gently off her lap, not wanting to be so close to her anymore. Sora shrieked like she had been struck and grabbed her dagger, holding it up towards Zoro.
"Sanji! Help me!" Sora yelled, scrambling backwards away from Zoro who wasn't moving, but looking incredibly pissed off. She locked eyes with her captain and nodded, both on the same page.
Sanji knelt down next to his mother and caught her as she scrambled backwards. He looked overwhelmed with everything and stared at her with wide eyes. His body moved automatically though, pulling her into a comforting hug.
"M-mom, this is crazy… hold on, let's talk before someone gets more hurt." Sanji suggested, the defeat, reluctance and exhaustion clear in his voice.
"S-sanji!? What are you saying? They tried to kill me and you want to reason with them!? Why are you doing this to me? Don't you love me? Sanji… no… are you going to abandon me again?!" Sora's voice pitched higher and higher, the edge of hysterics.
"N-no.. Mom… Of course I love you…" Sanji replied, his breathing quickening, showing the signs of a panic attack. Sora took in a deep breath and as soon as she opened her mouth to speak again, two things happened. Luffy clamped his hands down over Sanji's ears and Zoro had reached out one of her damaged arms and clasped her hand over Sora's mouth.
Sanji stared into his mother's angry eyes.
Zoro and Luffy locked eyes once again and at a nod they switched places. Luffy released Sanji and instead wrapped an arm around Sora and knocked the dagger out of her hand with the other. He then covered her mouth before she could spout more nonsense while looking for some other way to bind her.
Zoro slid up next to Sanji. The man was in a daze, staring at nothing. Zoro wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him against her, holding him against her chest.
"That was delicious." Usopp complimented, licking his fingers as he and Yonji made their way towards Sora's room.
"Yeah, we have the best food here right? Especially the ham, freshly sliced." Yonji replied, grinning.
"And the potatoes! Perfection!"
"Are you sure you don't want dessert?"
"I do, but I already feel like I've missed something important. Let's just go back after we meet Sanji."
"Sure! Oh and we can go to the pool afterwards!"
"You guys have a pool?! That's so cool!"
"I know right? Dad used to get mad because we'd get the maids to all wear bikinis and join us, but we know he liked it too."
"Bikini clad women…" Usopp nodded in approval as they approached the door to Sora's room.
"Well, this is it." Yonji announced and knocked on the door.
"Who's there?" Luffy called out from inside while someone told him to shut up from inside.
"Yonji and Hyakuji!" Yonji called out.
"Oh, my husband. Come in." Luffy replied. Yonji opened the door and the two of them paused once inside. Luffy had his rubbery arms wrapped around Sora, holding her silent, and Zoro was holding Sanji, her right hand now resting on Law's sword.
"W-what's going on?!" Yonji asked, surprised as he prepared himself to attack. "Let her go! Let's get em Hyakuji!"
"Garlic smash!" Usopp yelled as he pulled out a bulb of garlic from his pocket and suddenly shoved it into Yonji's mouth. The Vinsmoke brother went down immediately.
"Awesome!" Luffy shouted as the potent smell of garlic filled the air. Usopp gave him a thumbs up.
"I see you guys captured the evil clone, great!" Usopp pulled out another bulb of garlic and approached Luffy and Sora.
"She's a clone?!" Luffy asked in awe.
"….You didn't know that?" Usopp raised his eyebrows and looked over at Sanji and Zoro. "Guess that explains him… yeah, there's a whole slew of them in the secret laboratory downstairs."
"Clones…? So she's not really Sanji's mom…" Zoro muttered, frowning. Sanji had shut down and didn't seem to be responding to anything around him. She rubbed his back.
"Yeah… and get this, it's not just Sanji's family, but the marines are in on it too. I saw your old friend earlier. Kuino, I think?"
"I see…" Zoro narrowed her eye. "I'll take care of him…. Hmm… " She frowned at Sanji.
"Let's take a short break then." Luffy replied as he removed his hand from Sora's mouth so Usopp could shove garlic in there, causing her to pass out. Together they tied both her and Yonji up and shoved them in the closet.
"Do you think we have time? What about the others?" Zoro asked, nodding towards the door.
"We should wait for Sanji." Luffy replied, shoving a couch in front of the door. Zoro stared at her captain a moment then grinned and nodded.
"Let's give those guys some time." Usopp suggested to his Captain and gestured to the connected bedroom of Sora's.
"Well I guess its okay if we're married." Luffy went into the room and Usopp followed, rolling his eyes.
"Oi, Sanji, you hanging in there?" Zoro asked as she rubbed the man's back. He felt like a dead weight against her chest. When there was no response she reached up and tugged his hair lightly. "Answer me."
Sanji stirred slightly and she felt something wet against her clothes. He pulled back slightly but kept his head down and covered his face with his hands as he seemed to be trying to calm his breathing down.
"Atta boy. I know there's a lot going on in your head, but we aren't exactly safe here right now." Zoro said as she reached over and pulled out his pack of cigarettes and lighter from his pocket. "And I promise I'll listen to everything later, but I'm going to need you to pull it together for a bit until we get out of here. Is that okay?" She lit the cigarette and offered it to him. When he didn't take it, she put it in her own mouth and took a drag. Then immediately sputtered and coughed.
"Dumbass, you're going to kill yourself with that." Sanji said, reaching over and stealing the cigarette. He wiped his wet face and finally looked at her. He looked tired and most of all, sad. But, he was there. He was Sanji.
"I won't die from something as pathetic as this." Zoro grinned at him and patted his cheek. "That's my brave, handsome man." Sanji twitched slightly from that and took her hand, looking over her bandages that had bled through. He frowned at her.
"This isn't going to be easy…"
"We can do it." Zoro leaned her forehead against his.
"You smell like shit."
"You look like shit." Zoro gave him a quick peck on the lips before moving to stand up. Sanji grabbed her arm to help her but stumbled slightly himself when he put weight on his foot. They heard some giggling, and both looked over to see Luffy and Usopp peaking into the room with rosy cheeks.
"They kissed…"
"Heheh… They're all lovey dovey…"
"They're in looooooooove~"
"Sanji and Zoro, sitting in a tree.. k-i-s-s-i—" Usopp abruptly stopped when a teacup smashed into the wall next to him.
"Let's go." Sanji called to them, his face solemn. Zoro shrugged lightly to the others and followed Sanji towards the door.
"Oh right, Law's sword." Usopp said, noticing it and picking it up. Sanji paused halfway towards the door. He glanced down at his foot, then at Zoro. She raised her eyebrow questioningly. Sanji held his hand out to Usopp.
"Give it here." He ordered and Usopp nodded, handing it over.
"Alright, let's go kick Sanji's family's asses." Luffy declared and shoved the couch away from the door.
Law was getting nowhere, literally. The Island of Human Objects was full of people, but they didn't have any means for him to leave the island. They had destroyed their last boat, declaring it a non-human object and thus unwanted.
He had given in slightly and was currently sitting on a human-bench. Sitting on a man's back was the least embarrassing way to rest so far, though the fact that the bench was warm still creeped him out. Oh, and it breathed.
He had managed to make a meeting with the mayor of the town, a toothbrush-man with spiky white hair. Their first impression hadn't gone well to say the least. Law had to prove that he didn't have gingivitis before the toothbrush-man-mayor had let him speak freely without a brushing.
"Are you sure you don't want any tea?" The mayor asked.
"I'm fine. Can we please get to point? How often do other people come to this island? Surely I can catch a ride with one of them."
"Oh, we don't get many tourists… in fact, I think most boats actively avoid our island."
"Damn it… I can't stay here. I need to get back to Germa." Law rubbed his temples. "Maybe… maybe I can just make a boat."
"Now… that's an idea." The mayor smiled.
AN: As our story is coming to a close it's getting harder for me to say goodbye to these characters, ha! Stay tuned for our grand (or not so much?) finale.