Luffy woke up in a haze. She shifted. What happened? She moved her hands and she found she was chained. She opened her eyes fully. She was in a chair facing a large field. She shook the weariness from her head, examining herself. She was wearing a large red and black dress. She felt her head,. Instead of the scratchy straw hat, she found a gold and red and black crown sitting atop her head. She saw a diamond ring on her finger. She looked out at the field and saw Ryuu and Zyuu standing on either end. They were wearing shiny armor and had swords in hand. She looked around, peering out of the large chair she was seated in, there were guards standing on either side of her.
"Hello," she said softly, sleep clouding her voice.
"Good morning, Your Majesty." One of the guards bowed.
"You've slept through the night, my Queen. We were concerned." The other bowed. Luffy was confused, but pushed it away.
"My friends; where are my friends?" she asked. The first guard stood tall.
"Those four? You won't have to worry about them anymore," he said. Then he pointed to the other side of the field. Luffy looked over and saw Ace, Zoro, Sanji, and Cheshire, they were in a large cage all knocked out. Luffy gasped.
The guards watched Luffy's reaction with questionable gazes.
"Is something wrong?" One asked. Luffy wanted to scream and shout at the guards to bring her friends and brother here. But that wouldn't do any good.
"No, nothing..." she muttered, slumping back into the seat. "What are your names?" she asked the guards. She really looked at them now. They both had light blue hair and matching eyes and they wore tight, black long-sleeved shirts that showed their arm muscles and a red vest over their chests. On their head, they had a red helmet and stood with their arms behind their backs and a sword strapped on the hem of their black pants.
"I am Kitaro," one guard said, bowing.
"And I am Kiero." The other bowed. Luffy nodded. "We are your loyal guards," Kiero said. Luffy smiled at them.
"I see!" She tugged at the chains. "Can you let me go?" she asked.
"As you wish." Kitaro unchained her and Luffy leaned over the balcony to get a better look at what Ryuu and Zyuu were doing. There was a person in the middle of the field now, holding a flag high into the air.
"What's going on?" Luffy asked.
"They are fighting for you, my Queen," Kiero explained.
"Me?" Luffy pointed to herself.
"Yes, Your Highness. You're married to those two, now they must battle to the death to see which one will remain as your husband," Kitaro said.
"What!? Married? Battle to the death?" Luffy leaned a bit farther.
"Be careful, Your Majesty!" Kitaro yelled as Luffy leaned a bit to far and toppled over the edge of the balcony.
Zoro and Ace, both being light sleepers, were awaken by Luffy's scream. They looked to the other side of a large field and saw two guards, differently dressed apart from the others, dangling off the side of the balcony. One had an arm around Luffy's waist and the other held his foot while his feet clung to the balcony.
"OI! OI! LUFFY!" Ace yelled. Luffy looked up and the crown on her head tipped and toppled over onto the grass below, hitting the ground with a loud clang. Zoro waved too, and a smile spread across Luffy's face.
"Ha! ZORO! ACE!" She pulled back her arm and stretched it to the cage on the other side. The surprise on the guards face was visible, even to the men in the cage.
The guards looked at one another, then at their Queen.
"Um, Your Majesty?" Kitaro felt sweat roll down his face as he tightened is grip around her waist.
"Call me Luffy!" She smiled at her guards and pulled herself across the field, her guards let out surprised shouts as they flew over Ryuu and Zyuu's head. The two looked up, annoyed expressions on their faces.
"Um, Luffy-sama..." Kiero pointed down at the Kings when they were on the same side as Ace, Zoro, Sanji, and Cheshire.
"I think we should watch the ceremony," Kitaro said. Luffy looked to her brother and first mate. She sighed.
"I-I don't want to! Kiero! Kitaro!" she whined. The guards froze up, unsure on what to do. Kitaro shook the confusion from his head, grabbing Luffy's hand.
"My apologies, Luffy-sama," he said, pulling her away. Ace banged on the cage.
"HEY! LET HER GO!" he shouted.
"Ace!" Luffy tugged, stretching to the cage and grabbing it. Kitaro tightened his grip as Luffy's power drained thanks to the sea stone cage. Kitaro was now walking faster, leaving Kiero.
Zoro and Ace fixed their glares on Kiero. The young guard flinched, then composed himself.
"L-Luffy-sama can have nothing to do with you four! You will be executed in three days' time! So says the Kings!" Kiero saluted.
"Let us go or I'll cut you to pieces!" Zoro growled, making the young boy flinch again.
"I-I can't! Not even if Luffy-sama were to order me to do so!" he stated. By this time, Sanji had awaken from the noise.
"Where -" He was cut off by Ace's growl.
"Explain what happened!" he demanded.
"Luffy-sama married the kings. They must battle to the death for her hand!" Kiero said. Sanji slammed himself against the bars.
"WHAT!?" he shouted.
"I'm sorry! There's nothing you can do!" Kiero turned and began following the direction where Luffy's shouting and protesting and Kitaro's nervous voice were coming from.
Zoro thought of something.
"What if I fought for her hand?" he questioned. That made Kiero stop.
"Me too!" Sanji said.
"W-well, that's... uh," Kiero stammered. Ace wondered how a timid child like this got to be a Queen's guard. "The Kings won't allow it!" he said, walking off. Zoro cursed and he looked over at Cheshire, who was still asleep. Ace nudged the small boy.
"Huh?" Cheshire yawned. "Where are we? Luff?" He looked around hazily.
"What can we do?" Sanji asked.
"What?" Cheshire rubbed his eyes.
"You live here, you know the rules. How can we stop this?" Ace said, motioning to the battle that was about to take place. Cheshire understood, he shook his head.
"You can't stop this, but, there might be time," he said.
"Time?" Zoro asked.
"Yes. After the battle there will be a second wedding. For the new King and Queen," Cheshire explained. The three nodded.
"So we'll have to wait until then..." Sanji muttered.
"We have three days to live," Ace growled, reminding them of the execution date.
"Damn," Cheshire growled. Then he stood, "That's the day after the final wedding!" he said. Zoro grinned.
"Then there is time," he announced. The four sat around, ignoring the battle commencing below.
Luffy sat, arms crossed in her throne. She was clearly angry with her two guards and they stood nervously.
"Um, Luffy-sama? Don't you want to watch the battle? Take your mind off things?" Kitaro suggested. Luffy made a defiant noise. The two boys sighed. Luffy stood and watched over the edge again. The battle had started. The battle that would decide her future. She clenched her fists.
"This is stupid," she muttered into her arms as Kiero placed her crown back on her head.
Down below, the battle was intense. Ryuu sliced at Zyuu and Zyuu jumped and flipped in the air, landing behind Ryuu and slashing back at his brother. Ryuu turned and blocked the swing with his own sword.
"Hasty, aren't we," Ryuu grinned.
"Just fighting for what's mine," Zyuu retorted, jumping back and thrusting his sword at Ryuu's stomach. The white haired brother dodged and swung, giving Zyuu a gash on his arm. Zyuu spun and sliced a cut in Ryuu's lower leg. Both brothers hopped back, preparing for another go. The crowd around them were cheering. One side cheering on Ryuu, the other side cheering on Zyuu. They two brothers looked over at Luffy. She wasn't even attempting to mask the impressed gaze as she watched the two fight. The brothers smiled and charged each other again.
Back at the cage, Cheshire nodded.
"So, is the plan good?" he asked.
"Good enough." Ace leaned and looked back to make sure they weren't heard.
"Then let's get started." Sanji stood. He looked over and saw Luffy smiling and cheering for no one in particular. He was used to seeing his captain immersing herself into a good fight, though. The guards stood tall behind her, both relaxed now that she wasn't as angry as she was when she was taken away from the group. They were the key to the plan - well, the smaller and more timid one was. What did Luffy call him? Kiero?
"How do we get them over here?" Zoro asked. Cheshire thought.
"Leave that to me!" he assured. The other three nodded and waited.
Luffy laughed and cheered.
"Go! Go! Go!" She pumped her fist as a heavily-breathing Zyuu landed another hit on a cut-up and bleeding Ryuu. She glanced at her friends. Cheshire and Zoro were gone. She cocked her head to the side. Did Cheshire disappear? But the bars were sea stone. She looked around. Would they come for her? Then Sanji yelled.
"Hey! Two of us are missing!" he shouted above the screaming crowd. The crowd was to involved in the fight and Ryuu and Zyuu failed to hear, too. Luffy heard, but Kiero heard and so did Kitaro.
"What? How?" Kitaro got a frustrated look on his face. He nudged Kiero. "Go check it out," he said. Kiero froze.
"Oh, me? A-are you sure?" he asked.
"Yeah, I have to stay with Luffy-sama. Go," he said. Kiero flinched at his demanding voice and mumbled nervously as he opened the door and closed it behind him.
Kiero opened the door that held the cage.
"Um, where are they?" he said as harshly as he could. Sanji and Ace stared at the small boy. He looked buff, but not as strong as Kitaro. His muscles were barley visible under his shirt and he was shorter in size. The boy walked over to a wall and pressed a button. A wall came down and closed off the large window so the prisoners wouldn't escape. Kiero kept his distance from the cage. He threw in a pair of sea stone cuffs. "Put those on." he said. Sanji put them on Ace and sat as Kiero opened the cage door to look for clues.
"NOW!" Sanji yelled. Zoro and Cheshire appeared and attacked the surprised Kiero. The boy let out a surprised shout as a hand was slapped over his mouth and he was tackled roughly to the ground.