Back with Smoker, who was falling through a large hole with pictures all over.
"Hey, isn't this Mugiwara?" A member of his squad grabbed a picture from the wall. Smoker looked at it.
"Yeah, all of these are." He looked around, grabbing a few himself. "Monkey D. Dragon. Portgas D. Ace, and this little blond kid," Smoker said, letting go of the pictures and watching as they snapped back into place.
"This is a little unsettling," Tashigi muttered. Right then, they all increased speed, slamming into the ground along with the small boat. Smoker stood, looking down the large hallway. He looked back at his squad.
"We're going this way," he said, leading them to a large round room with many doors.
Everyone looked around.
"What's with the doors?" someone asked, opening one.
"I don't know. Everyone, we should split up!" Smoker yelled.
"Split up!? In this crazy place?!" someone else shouted.
"YOU GOT A PROBLEM!?" Smoker boomed.
"No, sir!" Everyone yelled in fear, breaking off and choosing doors, going in and closing them behind themselves. Smoker looked to Tashigi.
"You too," he said.
"Yes, sir!" She saluted, picking a door and walking through. Smoker sighed, going to a large door that was bigger and more flamboyant than the rest. He opened it and was sprayed in the face with sea water.
"A sea under the sea?" he muttered, wiping his face. He turned and grabbed a table from the middle of the room, propping the door open.
Smoker dragged the boat from under the large hole to the round room. He took one last look at the calm water before placing the boat next to the door. He peered around the doorway.
"What the hell?" he muttered. It appeared as if the door was simply floating in the air above the water. He shrugged it off and got into the boat, rowing away from the door.
Back at the palace, Luffy was sitting next to Ryuu as they looked through more wedding books. Ryuu stood and stretched.
"Where are you going?" Luffy asked. Why did she have to sit here and look through these boring books?
"I have work to do." Ryuu ruffled her hair. "Besides, it's the bride's privilege to plan the wedding." He waved as he left. Luffy groaned, looking over to her guard, who was asleep in a near by chair.
"Oi! Zoro!" She threw a book in his direction. Zoro snored and lazily opened his eyes, only to be hit with a book.
"OW! WHAT!?" he shouted.
"I'm bored! Can we get outta here yet?" she asked.
"Not yet. Sanji and Cheshire are still in jail, remember?" he asked.
"Oh yeah..." Luffy muttered. She walked over to Zoro and sat in his lap, lazily scanning a page in the book. "But I'm bored!" she groaned. Then she flipped another page. On this particular page, there was a large picture of assorted meats.
Luffy shook Zoro awake again.
"Look!" She shoved the book in his face.
"I can't see it if it's pressed against my eyes." Zoro grabbed her arms and pushed them back, looking over the book that had a lot of pictures of food on it. "What about it?" He glanced back at Luffy, who was beaming.
"Let's pick out the food!" she said, jumping up.
"You know you're not actually marrying this guy... right?" Zoro asked.
"I know. Can't hurt to have good food, though! Come on, Zoro!" She grabbed his hand and dragged him out the room. Kiero was standing on the other side of the door.
"Luffy-sama? Zoro-san?" He yawned.
"I'll be back!" Luffy called.
"Oh! Wait! Luffy-sama!" Kiero stood and followed the two. Luffy grabbed his hand too.
"Walk faster!" Luffy said as she dragged her guard and her first mate down the hall.
Ace walked out his room to see Luffy dragging Kiero and Zoro down the hall.
"Luffy!" Ace smiled, not remembering the last time her had his sister to himself. It had been so long.
"Ace!" Luffy let the two go in favor of hugging her brother. She looked up at him with a large smile. "Ace! Have you seen Ryuu? I wanna talk to him about the wedding!" Luffy said. Ace noticed the book in Zoro's hand, his finger set on a certain page to hold Luffy's place. Ace looked down at Luffy.
"Hey, Luff, you know you're not actually getting married to that guy, right?" Ace asked worriedly. Luffy nodded. "And, you're not starting to like this guy... are you?" he asked. Luffy shrugged at the question.
"I don't know. But I really need to find him. So I'll see you later! Ace! Zoro!" Luffy waved as she continued down the hall.
"L-Luffy-sama!" Kiero ran after her. Ace and Zoro exchanged looks.
"You don't think she's... falling for that bastard, do you?" Ace asked.
"Luffy is Luffy. She's unpredictable," Zoro said, walking past Ace and following Luffy.
Luffy opened the door to Ryuu's office, a room that she found thanks to Kiero. She rushed inside. Zoro went to follow her but Kiero held out a hand and closed the door.
"Luffy-sama's with the King. She doesn't need protection now. We have to wait till she comes back," he explained. Zoro made an annoyed noise and leaned against one of the walls of the door. Inside, Luffy had jumped and sat on Ryuu's desk.
"Food!" she said.
"You just ate, Luffy-chan." Ryuu smiled at her, signing another paper.
"No! Not that, but I am hungry. But the food for the wedding!" Luffy smiled brightly. Ryuu just stared at her. This was the first time she had shown any interest in the wedding what-so-ever. He smiled,
"The food? Would you like to pick out the food? Luffy-chan?" he asked. Luffy nodded. "Okay, let's do that, then." He pulled Luffy into his lap and Luffy smiled, jumping up and grabbing his hand.
"Yeah, let's go!" She pulled him out the room. Ryuu looked back at his work and then at Luffy, shrugging and letting her lead him the wrong way. But he didn't have to tell her that.
Ryuu had led Luffy in the correct direction. They were now seated at a large table with almost every chef in Wonderland in front of them holding dishes of food. Ryuu smiled at them all.
"Luffy's will be the one trying the food," he said. The chefs bowed to him, then bowed to Luffy. Luffy smiled.
"Food!" She grinned. The first chef presented his dish. It was meat covered in some sort of sauce, Luffy didn't care to hear or understand what the man said it was, she simply grabbed her fork and dug in. She tasted it for a moment, before shaking her head.
"What?" the chef said surprised.
"It's not as good as Sanji's!" She pushed the plate away. Ryuu looked at her.
"Sanji? The blond prisoner?" Ryuu asked.
"Sanji's the best chef," Luffy said.
"I'm sure someone here is better, Luffy-chan." Ryuu said as Luffy was presented with another dish.
"I doubt it," she said, taking a bite of the food on front of her.
No matter what chef, Luffy's answer was the same.
"It's not as good as Sanji's!" she said to the second to last chef. The last chef came, and by this time, Ryuu was feeling hungry as well.
"I'll take some as well." He held up a hand. Two plates were presented to him and Luffy. Ryuu tasted it, his eyes went wide. "This is delicious!" He grinned, eating more. The chef bowed to him.
"Thank you," he said, then he turned to Luffy. "My Queen? he asked. Luffy ate the food herself.
"Wow!" She smiled. "This is good!" But she pushed it away, leaving the chef, and Ryuu with confused faces. "But... it's not as good as Sanji's." She sat back.
"What!?" the chef asked angrily.
"It's good, but not as good as Sanji's," Luffy said with equal anger.
"What's wrong with it? It's perfect!" the chef said, swiping the dish away with his hand, Ryuu stood in defense of Luffy but a sword was held to the chef's neck. He looked back and saw Zoro.
"Yeah, it's perfect. But there's no heart. You didn't make it because it made you happy, you made it to beat everyone else. That ruined the taste." Luffy crossed her arms. "Not as good as Sanji's." She stood up. "I'm full." She walked away.
Ryuu followed Luffy.
"So what do we do for the food?" he asked her.
"Can we get Sanji?" Luffy asked.
"I'm sure we can find a chef that's to your liking."
"I refuse to eat any food not made by Sanji. He's been my chef for as long as I can remember."
"Well... if it's that important to you." Ryuu let out a breath. "I'll send for him." Luffy smiled, hugging Ryuu.
"You're the best, you know that?" She grinned. Ryuu smiled, leaning down and kissed Luffy's cheek, a bit surprised when she didn't hastily wipe it off like the last time. He smiled.
"Yeah, let's go do something else," he said, grabbing her hand.
"Let's play outside!"
"As you wish." Ryuu and Luffy left the hall and headed to the front door of the castle. Ace opened his room door.
"Luffy..." he muttered.
Kiero rushed down the dungeon stairs. The cooks in the kitchen were lost and angry without a head chef. He had to hurry. He clutched the bundle of white chef clothes tightly, the bright gold buttons shining in the dim stairwell. He slipped and slid to the cell where Cheshire and Sanji sat.
"Chef Sanji!" Kiero called. Sanji, confused, looked up. "The Queen needs your talents in the kitchen! You have the honor of making your best dishes for the wedding." Kiero huffed. Sanji stood.
"Very well." He smirked. "Anything for Luffy-chwan!" He spun out of the cell. Kiero felt sweat fall from his face and he handed over the clothes, leading Sanji up the stairs and to the kitchen.
Kiero bowed and left. The cooking staff were at the different stoves and ovens in the kitchen. He set the chef hat on his head.
"Alright! Looks like I'm in charge here! So let's cook a meal fit for Luffy-chawn!" he yelled.
"Yes, sir!" everyone in the kitchen recited. Meanwhile, Luffy was running around outside. She moved to the side and Ryuu skidded on the ground.
"You're very tricky." He smirked, Luffy stuck out her tongue.
"Catch me if you can!" she yelled, running off again.
"That's the third time you've said that." Ryuu huffed and ran after her again. At some point, they both sat in the grass. Luffy looked up at the palace.
"Hey, I'm gonna go see how Sanji's doing," she said. Ryuu nodded.
"Yeah, sure, I have work to do." He stood, helping her up. Luffy smiled.
"Bye, Ryuu! Let's play again later!" She waved.
Later, Ryuu sat at his desk. He passed another paper into the complete pile. He smiled at the fact that Luffy was finally warming up to him. She wasn't pushing him away. Not like before. She seemed more open than when he had first met her. The only problem was her crewmates. That swordsman, the chef, her brother. Ryuu knew they were planning something, probably to take Luffy away from him. It was quite vexing.
"All these prisoners... trying to run my castle... take my Luffy-chan," he muttered, signing another paper. He hated doing all this work, having to leave Luffy to Kiero and Zoro. The only upside he could think of was that that damn cat was still in jail. As far as Ryuu knew, he had no sentimental value to Luffy what so ever. "Once me and Luffy-chan get close enough... she won't need her crew, just like they didn't need her." Ryuu smiled. He was sure. He knew Luffy was bored of the lack of attention from her crew and he gave Luffy his full attention, so Luffy was starting to open up to him. He smiled.