Angel of Death Fruit
Book One: Deadline
By Dixxy Mouri
Chapter 13 – March 4, 7:20 pm
"HA, HA, HA!" Luffy said, placing a foot firmly on the pile of unconscious guards.
"That was impressive, Luffy," said Sanae, crossing her arms as she stepped forward. "Now I see why you're worth three hundred million to the World Government – when you put your mind to it and one of your friends is in danger, heck, I know I wouldn't want to be on your bad side." She smiled at Chopper and patted the top of his hat. "Even you did a good job without your Rumble Balls."
Chopper smiled and began to dance. "You bitch! I don't need to your compliments!"
Sanae raised an eyebrow and turned to Luffy to ask about the reindeer, but the captain was just grinning like an idiot. That left the navigator. "Nami, can you explain why – Nami?" The Iron Butterfly looked around, but couldn't see a trace of the red headed navigator. "Nami? Hey, where'd she go?"
"Yeah, Mr. Acorn is gone, too," said Luffy. "NAMI! MR. ACORN!"
Sanae narrowed her eyes. This isn't good. . .
Chopper sniffed the air. "I think she went this way."
"How can you tell?" Sanae asked.
"I can smell her," Chopper said, pointing to his nose. Sanae was about to compliment Chopper, decided against it and just followed him, with Luffy in tow. "She probably got separated from us during the fight, and since she hasn't come back yet, she either got really far away from us or got in trouble."
"Which is the last thing we need right now," said Sanae, hanging her head.
Luffy glared at Sanae. "Don't worry – I'm going to kick that bitch's ass and save Sanji and Nami! I'm the man who's going to be the Pirate King! If I can't even save my own nakama then what kind of a Pirate King am I going to be?" He smiled as Sanji's little sister looked up, then patted her head.
"I don't get you. . . but I like the part about you kicking ass and saving my brother!"
"Yosh! Let's go!"
March 4, 7:25 pm
"So they've gotten inside, you say?"
Sanji turned to where his uncle was briefly Elizabeth Stoker, who was idly playing solitaire to pass the time until midnight. His eyes widened as he listened to their conversation. Did Nami-san and Robin-chan go after me? Are they really here? Then. . . does this mean they're going to try and rescue me?
"Yes, and they aren't alone. The remaining Straw Hats have joined the two women."
Sanji brightened. They found Luffy?! Luffy wouldn't leave me here!
Stoker grumbled. "That's a headache."
"It also seems my niece is with them – she's the Iron Butterfly," said Kenji.
Sanji's eyes widened. Sanae-chan's with them? But. . . what? He couldn't believe his ears. His uncle had told him that he'd killed Akito and had Sanae bumped off. He smirked at Kenji. It's not over, you piece of shit uncle. Looks like my baby sister's still alive. Sanji closed his eyes. I'm so glad she's okay.
"What are you smirking at?" Kenji snapped. Sanji glared at his uncle in response and turned away. "Don't think this means your life is going to be spared. Your friends have split into two groups, one of which has gotten itself hopelessly lost, the other of which I've already begun to splinter."
Sanji raised an eyebrow. What the hell are you talking about?
Kenji grabbed the collar of Sanji's shirt, pulling him close enough for the cook to smell the stench of his uncle's breath. He winced, partly from the fowl smell and partly because his uncle's very presence made him queasy. "I've already captured and detained that little red headed navigator – she put up quite a fight."
Rage filled Sanji as he attempted to lash out at his uncle, who stepped away far enough to trip his nephew up, leaving the cook to struggle regaining his balance with his hands boundabove his head. Kenji laughed as Sanji glared at him. Don't think this is over you piece of shit – you don't know my friends.
Even if I die here. . . they're not going to stand by and let you leave this island.
March 4, 7:50 pm
"This is where I found Onii-kun before," Sanae said. The three remaining group members were stopped in front of a small storage room, which seemed to be void of Sanji. The young woman placed her hand on the door frame and peered in. "I don't know how long it took him to get to here from where he was before, but maybe he's being held in this general area."
Chopper sniffed the air. "It does smell like Sanji, but he hasn't been here for a while."
"Can you tell where he came from or where he went?" asked Sanae.
The little reindeer shook his head. "It only goes in one direction – that makes me think he tried to escape and got caught around here before being dragged back to wherever they're holding him. Probably about a day ago, maybe two. Still, that means he's probably still alive, and possibly conscious."
"Stoker needs him alive until midnight," said Sanae.
"SANJI! WHERE ARE YOU!?" Luffy screamed.
"LUFFY, YOU IDIOT!" Chopper screamed.
Luffy blinked at him. "What? If Sanji hears us he can answer!"
The Iron Butterfly shook her head fervently at the wannabe pirate king. "No, no, no, Luffy! Onii-kun can't answer us if he's gagged or unconscious! That was a terrible idea!" said Sanae, slamming her food into the floor. "Luffy, now you've let the badguys know where we are!"
Luffy slammed his first into his palm. "Oh good – now I can kick that Stoker bitch's ass!"
Sanae whimpered. "Why do I even bother trying to argue with this guy?"
"Come on! If we move they might not find us!" said Chopper, transforming into his Walk Point to continue following Sanji's scent. Deciding that finding his cook and saving said cook's life was more important that getting into a fight, Luffy followed Chopper and the Iron Butterfly followed suit.
"If we find him, maybe we can hide him from Stoker long enough to get Robin or Nami," said Sanae, running alongside the captain. She frowned as they rounded a corner after the reindeer. "Although I'm afraid I can't go near him until we've got that resolved – I'll just hurt him."
"But isn't Sanji your brother?"
"It wouldn't be on purpose, but that's why victims of Stoker have to run away from home – being near anyone they knew before they were Garnished makes them really sick if they hang around too long, maybe even die. Once his Mercy Task is complete it should be fine for me to be near him, but right now I can't get too close," said Sanae.
Luffy frowned. "I wouldn't like it if I couldn't be near my brother – so we'll fix it so you CAN be near him and not make Sanji sick! You're his little sister – he probably wants to be near you, too – as it is he really likes girls so he'd probably be really happy to see you because you're a girl and-"
"LUFFY, NOT HER!" Chopper reprimanded.
The captain didn't get it right away. "Why?"
"I'm his sister?" Sanae said sarcastically.
Luffy laughed. "Oh yeah! I forgot."
"Indeed, it would be."
The group skidded a halt in front of a man who seemed a bit amused to see them, a blood-stained sword in one hand and curly eyebrows on his forehead. Sanae looked angry and surprised to see him, leaving Chopper and Luffy little room to wonder who he was. "Kenji!" she snapped. "Get out of the way! I'll deal with you later, you scumbag!"
"Ah, so the cute cat burglar girl was correct – you ARE alive," he said coolly.
"Cat Burglar Girl?" The captain of the Straw Hat Pirates took a moment to this this over, then realized whom Kenji was speaking of. "NAMI! WHAT DID YOU DO TO NAMI!?" Luffy demanded.
Kenji grinned. "Oh, don't worry, no harm has come to her – we just can't have her running around free and completing my dear nephew's Mercy Task before my mistress is done with him, now can we?" he said. "For now, she's fine – leave quietly right now and we may let you all leave this island alive – well, except for the obvious, of course, but you're welcome to have his body back if you pirates have some kind of burial ritual you'd like to perform." He turned to Sanae with a toothy grin. "That extends to you as well, my dearest niece. Stay quiet about all this and you can live your days out quietly, seeing as I've already failed to kill you once."
Sanae growled and shook her head. "No way! I want my brother back!"
"So you're the uncle," said Chopper.
Kenji raised an eyebrow. "That animal thing talks? How amusing."
"Knock it off and leave Chopper alone!" said Sanae. She had her weapons at the ready and was pointing one of the rings at the older man. "I'm not letting you get away with this! With any of it! I'm going to rescue Onii-kun and Nami and then I'm gonna make you pay for what you've done to my family!"
"And just how much am I not getting away with?" he said. He began to count off on his fingers. "Let's see, I took your precious Onii-kun away from you, I pushed your parents to their deaths, and I tried to put an end to you, your dear Onii-san, and your master." Kenji smiled at Sanae. "So, am I missing anything?"
Sanae stared at him in disbelief. "So. . . you did kill my parents?"
"Well, they left me little choice," he said, advancing closer to Sanae. "If you hadn't told them what you saw, then I wouldn't have had to go to such drastic measures, now would I? I would have simply been able to wait a little while before luring the last of their children away. But with all that suspicion running around, I decided it would be easier to make myself your guardian, then I could make up some story about taking the two of you someplace far away from all the bad memories and no one would be the wiser."
The Iron Butterfly's eyes widened. "So it wasn't just Onii-kun you were after."
"Why take only one when you can have three?" he said.
Sanae collected herself and threw one of her weapons at Kenji, who dodged it. "You stinking son a bitch! How can you call yourself family after all this!?"
"YOU ASSHOLE!" Luffy shouted. The captain of the Straw Hat Pirates hadn't felt this angry since his encounters with Arlong, Crocodile, and the CP9, who had been all too cruel to his nakama – which was something that Monkey D. Luffy would NOT tolerate. In his eyes, this man had done the same. He thought about the people who'd hurt his nakama and friends. Alvida, Helmeppo and Captain Morgan, Buggy, Captain Kuro and Jango, Don Krieg, Arlong, Baroque Works, Wapol, Crocodile, Enel, Foxy, and CP9 and so many other World Government agents.
This bastard was another guy who'd done something bad to one of his nakama, and he wasn't going to stand for it. "You hurt Sanji and his family!" He punched his fist into his open palm and stomped his foot. He reached back, stretching his arm to prepare a strike. "GOMU GOMU NO BA-"
"Luffy, stop!"
Luffy was flabbergasted as Sanae stepped in front of him. He had no idea what Sanji's little sister was up to. "Step aside, Straw Hat!" said the Iron Butterfly. She had her back to him and her arm out, blocking his way as she began to step towards her uncle. "This is MY fight!"
"Huh?" he blinked in confusion. He frowned. "But, I wanted to kick his ass."
Sanae continued to advance on her uncle, her weapons drawn. "I understand that you're angry that my uncle hurt one of your men, and you have my respect for caring about your crew. However, this isn't entirely about Onii-kun anymore. My anger runs much deeper than just what he did to Sanji and my parents – don't get me wrong, that alone was enough, but he didn't stop there."
"Sanae!" Chopper said.
Sanae stopped several yards away from her uncle, shaking in anger before shifting into a battle ready stance. "You're a complete monster of a man! What you did to Sanji and my parents was bad enough, but after what you did to Akito and Master Anatak-sensei, I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!"
The swordsman grinned. "Are you upset over that incident?" asked Kenji.
"OF COURSE I AM! ANATAK-SENSEI IS DEAD!" Sanae said.
Kenji raised an eyebrow. "Oh, and your previous Akito isn't?"
Sanae snarled. "You didn't kill him, no, but what you did. . ."
Author's Notes
Ah, this took a while. Thanks to the people who reviewed the last chapter. It made me go back and look at this again, without the help of my normal OP beta (supposedly he's knee-deep in collegiate homework – which is a perfectly understandable reason to not be reading and critiquing fan fiction) and try to get this chapter out. Either way, I apologize for the chapter's brevity. The next chapter is longer.
A note on Sanae's nickname: I realized at some point that there's a band called Iron Butterfly, and that's probably where I got the name from. But I don't think it was intentional.
The next chapter I have a really tough scene to work through – technically it's written, but I'm not exactly happy with how part of it turned out, so it needs some work. Some later chapters have had work, so I know where I'm headed with this piece for the most part.
But. . . yeah. Next chapter, difficult scene. Joy.
-Dixxy