A few hours late on the update, but according to my watch I still have a good half hour, so we're good ;) Okay, so three things before you read.
1) WARNING: This chapter contains MAJOR SPOILERS for ANIME-ONLY'S as it reveals some MAJOR PLOT POINTS OF THE MANGA so if you are not caught up to around chapter 825 (I think), I would suggest NOT READING this chapter.
2) This chapter is part of a request by Amusingly Disturbed who requested a story involving the current arc (which is why there is a spoiler warning)
3) This won't actually be a one-shot. This was orignially an idea for a longer story, but I kind of forgot what the main point of it was so I just rewrote some parts of the chapter I had already written to fit into a shorter story, but this means that this one will have TWO PARTS. There will be a spoiler warning on the next one too, but now you know that this chapter and the next are directly connected.
Story set: During Whole Cake Island
Don't cry...
"I promise I'll be back. Tell everyone I said hi."
Holding Caesar captive and securing his own safety was all that Sanji could do for the time being. He had made sure to get Nami, Chopper and Brook to the safe paws of Nekomamushi and although he couldn't feel Capone's body moving, he was almost certain that they were no longer on Zou. The fake Capone and most of his men were no longer inside Capone's castle, but instead manning their ship, making their way to Whole Cake Island, where the Yonkou Big Mom was awaiting their arrival. Depending on where the elephant had been walking, it would probably be a couple of days until they arrived at the island, which gave Sanji plenty of time to formulate some sort of plan that would keep him out of harms way as well as insure his status as a single man. He could faintly hear Caesar mumbling some nonsense behind him, but Sanji didn't really care what the stupid gas clown was thinking, so he shut him out, trying to get a grip of his situation.
Sanji never really got very far as the floor beneath him suddenly started moving and he was ejected out of Capone's body. He was expecting to land on a hard surface and braced himself for the worst, when he just landed on a soft mattress.
"Enjoy the rest of the voyage," Sanji heard Capone say somewhere behind him, but before he could turn his head, the door had already been shut and locked. Sanji took a look around. The room was quite big and luxurious considering that it was supposed to be a prison cell, but then again, they had probably been instructed to treat him as a fucking porcelain doll with high standards or something shitty like that, so Sanji could only sigh. The room had no windows, but two doors, one of which Capone had locked and the other lead to a small bathroom, complete with a shower and everything. The bedroom had a big king sized bed with silk linens and big fluffy pillows that would have entertained Luffy for hours. There was a desk with a few books, a pen and some paper, as well as a closet with extra blankets and an extra set of clothes, which Sanji could only assume he would be forced to wear when they arrived at Whole Cake Island.
Sanji fell to the bed and resumed his thinking. The first thing to do was to round up the hard facts.
Sanji knew that he was wanted only alive and he was being treated with care, meaning that someone with a whole lot of power (his father) would be quite angry with Capone if he were to get hurt. Being wanted only alive meant that he could move more freely as he couldn't get killed, but at the same time he was alone in enemy territory, and the enemies were his family, who, even if Sanji didn't share history with, were strong as hell and well out of Sanji's league.
Sanji also knew that Big Mom wanted Caesar, but that his well being wasn't important (or at least not as important as his). He knew that Caesar had tricked them into giving him funds for his very immoral experiments, which meant that Big Mom probably wanted to punish him. Whether she wanted him dead or wanted him to work for her after she had tortured him, Sanji couldn't possibly hope to guess. The only important thing was that Caesar could still be used as a hostage and trading material.
Sanji knew that he was engaged to a stranger named Pudding who, apparently, was the 35th daughter of Big Mom herself. Sanji could hardly imagine what it must be like to give birth that many times, but he ended up concluding that Big Mom probably had more adoptive daughters than actual daughters, but that wasn't really relevant. The fact of the matter was that Sanji was to get married to some girl, and as much as he loved women and all there was to them, he also knew that getting married would mean that he would no longer be a Strawhat and there was no way in hell that he was going to let that happen. Sanji was very proud to be a part of the Strawhats and he loved everyone from his crew very dearly (yes, even the goddamn marimo).
Lastly, Sanji knew that his little farewell and promise of coming back would be believed by approximately no one and his Captain was not the kind of guy, who would let anyone from his crew get taking away. Look at what happened with Robin. When the Captain declares war against the world for a single woman to be saved, you know there is no stopping him from getting back his cook, when Luffy's one true love was and always would be: Food. The only thing was that Luffy and the rest needed to reach Zou (which would take a while, since Zunisha had been walking away from Dressrosa). They also wouldn't leave Dressrosa until everyone was fully healed (or claimed they were) and even though Luffy, Law and Zoro were strong, so was Doflamingo. Moreover, he was a cunning bastard, who had no doubt been difficult for Luffy to deal with, but Sanji had never had a speck of doubt that Luffy could take him down. Sanji remembered well the day he, Nami, Chopper and Brook had gathered around the newspaper to read about the events of Dressrosa and Doflamingo's fall from power.
When Luffy would eventually reach Zou, there would still be explaining and (some) planning to do before they could come after Sanji and this was all according to Sanji's best case scenario. There was no telling what could happen, since Luffy was a trouble magnet and Sanji wouldn't be surprised if Luffy ran into a Yonkou or two while he was taking a casual stroll through a forest.
All of this meant that Sanji had to keep himself from getting married (or killed if he just resisted too much) until his crew came for him, and they most certainly would come for him, the question was just: How? He'd be deep in Yonkou territory and his 'family' would be there. Now, Sanji wasn't a big fan of calling the Vinsmokes his family as he 1) hated all of them and 2) regarded his crew as his only family.
Sanji rolled over onto his side and stared at locked door. He wanted to get away. He wanted to get away so badly. He wanted to escape, run away and never face this part of life ever again, but he knew that that was both not an option and also the cowardly thing to do and the New World had no time to spare for cowards. Sanji could only hope that Luffy would come and save him from this mess before it destroyed him, because, right now, Sanji felt nothing but fear and loneliness, and he began to realize just how much he needed his crew to be strong. With his crew Sanji had no doubts and no fears, he felt warm, happy, wanted... and now as he got closer and closer to the ones whom he had tried so hard to reject and forget, he once again felt cold, afraid and lost. He wanted to cry, but he couldn't, not yet. His tears were his fear of the past and his love for his crew. His tears were a sign of weakness in the eyes of the enemy and a sign of having been strong for too long in the eyes of his friends. His tears would never spill in front of those he heated, but he would cry a river once he was back with his loved ones. He curled closer into himself and clung to the memories of his crew as sleep whisked him away.
Sanji awoke to the sound of something scratching the floor and saw a tray of food being pushed through a small opening in the door. Sanji knew that it would do no good to deny the food and he wasn't going to waste it, so he picked up the tray and began eating. Under normal circumstances, Sanji was a big food enthusiast, being a cook and all that, but at the moment he wasn't even tasting the food, even though it looked quite delicious (but Sanji could've made this in his sleep and it would probably still taste better). Sanji had gone back to thinking. It had been eight days since Luffy had beaten Doflamingo, which meant that they could arrive at Zou at any minute now. However, there were still things to sort out. Even if Sanji was lucky and Luffy arrived the same day that he had been kidnapped (yes this was a kidnapping), he knew very well that travelling at night, especially in the New World, was risky and there was no way they would leave before the next morning and apart from all of that, there was still the issue of the Samurai. Sanji was, as it turns out, in on the big secret relationship between the minks and the Samurai of the Kouzuki clan. Sanji had been drinking with Inuarashi one day and the dog had accidentally let it slip that they were in fact protecting Raizou (though very much against his will) and Sanji would be lying if he said that the whole story hadn't brought a tear to his eye. But just because they were on good terms and Kinemon arriving wouldn't result in a big war, it did not leave out the fact that there was a lot of unfinished business concerning the minks and the Samurai, and Luffy would of course be there to help out however he could.
There was also the issue of Kaido. By defeating Doflamingo, Kaido was sure to go after them and Law would be sure to keep reminding them of that fact and no matter how amazing Luffy was, he could not have a war with two Yonkou at the same time, which made Sanji rethink his approach to the whole wedding thing. Of course, he was still against getting married, but there had to be some way for them to get on Big Mom's good side. Disregarding the Vinsmokes, who most certainly couldn't be trusted, Sanji could easily get close to Big Mom with his skills as a cook and if he could turn Big Mom against the Vinsmokes and thus make the wedding a bad deal for her, everything would be great. Unfortunately, this was all a very optimistic idea in Sanji's head and there was no way he could make that happen... at least not as smoothly and problem free as wanted, but he could always try. For a moment Sanji thought he had some sort of plan formed in his head, until he remembered one crucial thing, smacked himself in the head and collapsed unto the bed. Luffy had already declared war on Big Mom back on Fishman Island, as well as taken some of her territory... great.
Sanji was desperate for some way to turn this situation of his into something positive that could be of help to the crew, because if he did not that would make him the sole reason that the crew had more problems than they could handle at the moment. Sanji wasn't one for feeling guilty, especially not over something as stupid as this, seeing as he had done nothing to provoke a kidnapping and an arranged marriage, but some situations are just different and right now Sanji was feeling so guilty he might as well throw up. Having Kaido, Big Mom and the Vinsmokes as their enemies at the same time was not something they would be able to handle, even with Law by their side, who, last Sanji had seen him (and heard him), was in a very critical health state. He was alive according to the newspaper and Sanji knew that Luffy wouldn't let him die even if he wanted to (again look at Robin), but there was no telling what condition he was in.
They had all trained for two years to become stronger, so that nothing could separate them again and yet, they kept getting separated by stronger powers. When Big Mom had come for them in Dressrosa, they had had no choice but to flee, because they were nowhere near strong enough to take on a Yonkou and a Shichibukai at the same time and now this. Sanji cursed himself for not being stronger, cursed the world for keeping them apart and cursed the godforsaken blood he had running through his veins. He almost screamed, but only almost, because despite his self loathe, he was painfully aware of his situation and he could not afford to show any weakness.
Since there were no windows in his fancy prison cell, Sanji found it hard to tell the time, but judging by the meal and the time it had been when they had left Zou, it was safe to say that the day was almost over. Sanji could only hope that it would take him a long time to reach Big Mom and Luffy a short time to reach him.
Sanji decided to sleep and judge tomorrow when it came.
Okay, I hope you enjoyed that :) The second part will be up on Tuesday, so look forward to that. If you liked it please fave and follow for future updates. Please leave a review with your thoughts, they are always greatly appreciated and feel welcome to start a discussion or ask questions as I try to reply to everything :)
