A/n Unfortunately, I don't own One Piece. I only own my OCs.

Regular text - Story

Italicized text - Thoughts

Chapter 9 - Sanji

Sanji 6:30 pm

Inside of the warehouse was humid—the number of people packed inside was oppressive. Voices bounced off the steel beams and walls, the many couches and carpets piled around doing nothing to dampen them. In the hour since meeting up with Luffy and being introduced to Al, we'd barely been able to go over our infiltration plan. So many people wanted to be a part of the process, and frankly, the lack of progress was beginning to piss me off. The number of things that could have happened to Nami while we dillydallied was putting my nerves further and further on edge, and I could see from the way Luffy was gripping the edge of the table that he was feeling it too.

My hands fidgeted against my pockets as I resisted the urge to light one of my few remaining cigarettes, knowing I'd need the nicotine rush during the upcoming battle. We Strawhats stood in a small cluster at the head of the table near Al and who he introduced as his guardian Arete and their friend Sora. They had a harried look about them as they tried to pull this plan together, their words harsh and quick. The schematics for the castle laid out haphazardly on the table were detailed and the overlay showing secret tunnels, passageways, and new builds to the structure were impressive. The castle looked gigantic and maze-like, and the task ahead seemed more and more massive. How are we ever going to find her? As I looked at the various papers closer, a thought suddenly struck me. I saw the exact moment Robin had the same idea, her teal eyes going wide and then narrow with suspicion. The puckering of Robins's delicate forehead added fire to my already burning rage.

I looked sharply at Al, "How exactly did you get these schematics? Shouldn't these new construction builds kinda be, you know, a secret?" I tried to keep the snappy irritation out of my voice but could see from how several women around us jumped that I didn't quite accomplish it. I couldn't even bring myself to care to apologize for scaring the ladies; fear and loathing about this whole shit situation overshadowing my usual gentlemanly persona. I kept my gaze intently on Al as I waited for his response.

Al took a deep breath, a look of shame crossing his face as he rubbed the back of his neck and looked up at the table and those surrounding it. A few of his resistance members came to the same conclusion and started to ask the same questions. Their whispers were all growing louder, folding on top of one another in the cramped space. Finally, Al hammered his hand on the table, and the noise cut off abruptly as they waited for his response. Exhaling slowly and rubbing a hand over his jaw, Al said, "We have a mole inside the castle—someone on our side. We've been corresponding secretly for weeks to arrange the perfect time to strike. With the timely arrival of our new friends, the Strawhats, we have decided on a plan for tonight." Shock flashed across the faces of everyone around us, and it morphed quickly into something different for each of them. Their shouting suddenly rang sharply in the air around us.

"They are all monsters! How can you believe anything any of them say!" a woman named Prue, with a missing left hand to our right, shouted. Her rage was almost palpable, causing her pale completion to flush aggressively. In her introduction, Al had explained that she had narrowly escaped being captured by King Pin's men when she used her own belt buckle to cut off her own hand.

"He took my wife and child, and the men in that castle never did anything to stop it!" Otto, the warehouse owner, spit this at Al with as much intensity as he could muster. Which wasn't much given that he was slurring his words and appeared heavily intoxicated.

Jyn, an older woman with an eye patch, spoke with a deep confusion in her voice. "Your parents died because of them. Ho... how can you even think of trusting one of them?" I could tell she almost thought he was lying.

"If your parents could see you now..." That one never got to finish his sentence as Al threw a dagger at his feet. A man stepped out from the crowd and stared at Al with such malice it made me stand up straighter, the hair on the nape of my neck rising as I anticipated a fight. The man looked sharply at Arete, disgust, and betrayal smeared across his face. Even with a narrower nose and wider-set pair of eyes, his face bore a striking resemblance to Arete's own. He threw a nasty look in our direction and then moved his eye toward Arete. His eyes were searching and whatever he found left his eyes narrowed and his face grim. "You knew about this!"

Arete held out his hand, his eyes pleading, "Theo, Son, listen..." The knowledge that this was Arete's son shocked me. I'd assumed they were related but thought maybe distantly. They'd taken care to introduce us to so many people that I couldn't believe that a son hadn't seemed important enough for an introduction.

Trouble in familial paradise. We don't have fucking time for this! I let my internal rage fester as I watched the drama unfold.

Theo's cheeks flushed an unattractive shade of crimson, "No! This is absurd. King Pin and his men are a bunch of liars and murderers and rapists. We can not go forward with any plan one of them has had a hand in! It'd be a trap, and only an idiot," he paused and looked back at Al, "would believe otherwise."

Arete dropped his hand, and disapproval shot across his face. "This is our King. We will do as he says!"

"This is a boy! One who has never had to lead! I will not risk our people's lives just because he says so! For years we have stood by while King Pin wrecks our island, our people, and now he finally wants to act? Yeah, he made a few token attempts to take back the kingdom in the beginning but nothing in the last few years. Now that he has thieving pirates and a supposed turncoat, he wants to take action, now that he has someone to hide behind. No, this is no king; this is a coward."

Whispering and nods of approval and agreement washed through the crowd as many agreed heartily with him. I could tell by the way Al didn't interrupt that this kind of rhetoric from Theo was typical. He seemed to be waiting. He probably knows an angry man on a rant will likely say something he regrets. Theo was too flustered to notice Al's behavior, and he seemed to gain confidence from the surrounding whispers and, looking back at Al, said, "Look, Al, I understand that this is hard for you, losing everything. But maybe it's time you step aside and let someone more experienced fight this battle. I don't know if maybe you have forgot..." And there it is, foot meet mouth.

Theo cut himself off suddenly as Al pulled himself up to his full six-foot-four height, his gold eyes going dark with anger. "Theo, were you about to suggest that I have forgotten what those bastards have done to our people, to this island?" He didn't bring up what he had personally lost to King Pin, but it still settled uncomfortably in the air between them.

Theo had the good sense to look slightly abashed, but he did not back down. Al gave him a glare that could curdle milk before turning to address the room as a whole, his face grave.

"Three years ago, I drunkenly attempted to break into the castle on my own." There was a collective gasp, and then a smothering hush fell over the crowd, "It was the anniversary of the attack, and I had drunk far too much of Arete's cinnamon-cherry whiskey, and after an intense argument over why I couldn't be involved in the next castle raid, I stormed off. I didn't make a conscious decision to go to the castle, but suddenly I realized I had made it to the gate and began to climb with very little thought. I was halfway down the inner side before I slipped and fell twenty feet. Half out of my mind with drink and pain, I waited to see who would find me. One of those sadistic brothers, a guard, hell, maybe even King Pin himself. My leg had been broken in the fall, and the blurriness of my vision suggested something far more than drunkenness."

Here he paused and leaned heavily on the table in front of him. "After about fifteen minutes, I heard crunching on the gravel and prepared as best I could for what I thought would be the beginning of the last night of my life. I imagined torture and the possibility of dying in agony, never knowing what happened to my sisters. But instead, someone lifted me and pulled me back towards the gate. My leg protested the movement, and nausea swam over me. I must have passed out because I never saw who helped me and don't remember the path we took to the village. When I awoke, I was on the front stoop of the tavern with Arete and Sora staring at me in frustrated terror." An intense silence followed this admission. "I believe this person has been helping us for years. I believe he saved me from my drunk endeavor, Chagrin and Louisa from intense torture, hell, I think it was probably him who saved Theo from bleeding out in the woods." Theo huffed derisively at this, piquing my curiosity; Al ignored him. "It only makes sense for us to have survived if someone intervened on our behalf, and the odds of multiple defectors surviving this long without detection are improbable."

The crowd's opinion was swaying his way. From my position at the head of the table, I could see the villagers hanging on Al's every word, nodding in approval. "Look, we cannot do this on our own. The castle has had renovations on top of renovations. The secret passageways have mostly been patched, and I can't rely on my outdated knowledge to lead us through what is essentially a new building that I have never been inside. Our inside man has seen everything. He knows the guard schedules, can get them moved, knows the best ways to get in, and can make sure we don't encounter any roadblocks. We need him, and I believe this is well worth the risk."

Silence followed Al's speech. Theo was breathing heavily, and I could see he wanted to argue some more, but he could see the crowd's opinion shifting, anger turning to contemplation, and his support dwindling. He huffed and turned to shove his way out of the warehouse, a slight limp in his gait. Al seemed unsettled by the encounter and took a moment to collect himself and converse with Arete, who himself seemed torn between helping Al and following after Theo. The surrounding crowd began murmuring among themselves. Turning to my right, I asked Sora, "What's his deal? What was Al talking about when he said someone saved him in the woods?"

Sora, who seemed surprised to be the center of attention of three pirates so suddenly, licked his lips nervously, his eye darting between us rapidly. "Uh... well, I don't like to gossip," he only hesitated for another second, long enough to make sure no one was listening before he began talking like he couldn't get the words out fast enough. "When Urasea first attacked Arete and Alfonse were out in the forest training before the war and Theo was in the palace as a guard, newly assigned to protect the princesses. When King Pin took control, Theo tried to get the princesses out of the castle through a secret passage but was betrayed by a few fellow guards and was captured and tortured for several weeks. King Pin's people didn't know who he was, of course; he was just another guard to them." Here he stopped to take a quiet gasping breath before continuing,

"King Pin tried his hand at many different torture techniques in the early days, but drawing and quartering had been an immediate favorite. Theo very nearly had his leg ripped off, but luckily the horses didn't cooperate, and only one ran, and his hip tore around the socket. When the quartering didn't work, they beat him severely, and after he had bled so much that they assumed he was dead. With so many bodies already crowding the castle perimeter, the guards dumped him in the forest. Luckily he was still breathing, barely. Someone found him and dropped him on the village healer's steps. He was unrecognizable for several days before he had healed enough for anyone to realize who he was. By then, Arete had already buried what we assumed was his son and daughter. They turned out to be their servants, Sisko and Myra, who had been burned alive with Arete's wife, Jadis, in their home. Even though Arete came as soon as the mistake was realized, and he was thrilled that his son was still alive, Theo has never forgiven his father for not looking for him and doting on Al like a son."

"And his daughter?" Robin was hanging on Sora's every word.

Sora looked off toward the castle and took a steadying breath. "When Theo was found alive Arete began to question the body he had buried, once the grief had faded he was able to recognize that the body had been too tall to be his daughter, who had only been ten at the time, while Myra was nearly twenty. After very little digging it was discovered that Theo had not only been guarding the princesses, but his sister was Princess Wellesley's best friend and lady's maid so they were all together when Theo was taken. As far as we know she is still in the castle, so unless King Pin dumped her body somewhere they are hoping to find her tonight. Everyone has that hope tonight and they all know that there is a chance that hope is futile"

Luffy nodded solemnly and looked towards where Theo had gone, his face pensive and far away. My mind was still stuck on Al and Arete's bond. I didn't know about Luffy, but as someone who had been through a traumatic event and then been raised by the person I had survived with, I understood how powerful that bond could be. Without Zeff, I couldn't imagine where I'd be today, if I'd even still be alive—for Theo, seeing that bond between his father and another kid, while his sister was still missing, must have been torture.

Looking over at where Arete spoke quietly with Al, Sora continued, "Theo has been trying to oust Al as the resistance leader for several years. He thinks we need to be more proactive and take the fight to them, but with Celia and Wellesley still trapped there, Al is hesitant. And even though his sister is also possibly still a prisoner Theo likes to tell people that they are most likely dead and that waiting is cowardly. Well, he did before the article about Celia's upcoming nuptials complete with an updated photo of a very grown Celia. He tells anyone who will listen that by holding off, more and more common folk are being harassed, and honestly, if it wasn't for this coup we are planning for tonight, he might have eventually won the people over." Sora's eyes were wide and glassy with excitement as he filled us in on their history.

He doesn't like to gossip my ass. I could see Sora gearing up for another round, but Al hammered his fist on the table, cutting him off and rattling a lantern. The room went quiet almost immediately.

"If any of you don't feel comfortable participating in tonight's mission, feel free to leave now. I will not hold it against you." While there was a significant sway as the crowd seemed to think over leaving, not a single person took a step to follow Theo out the door.

Al nodded and motioned to Luffy. "The Strawhats have been kind enough to offer us their services tonight as King Pin has recently taken one of their crewmates. I'd like about twenty of you to split off when we get to the castle. I'll lead a group to the left; you'll go right. the hallways appear to connect after about five thousand feet meeting at a central stairway, so as long as we don't encounter any obstacles in about twenty minutes, we should meet up at the door to the throne room."

Robin spoke in the following silence, her alto voice clear and empty of the turmoil so obvious on her face, "And if we do encounter obstacles?"

Teal eyes met gold, and Al took a calming breath. "Then fight. Fight as if you may never see tomorrow, and if you think you might fail, if you can't fight anymore, take at least two of them with you." The crowd cheered at Al's last bit of inspiration.

There was a brief bit of chaos as the resistance was divided in half, and then we were heading back out into the strange early night.

A/N I'm back! Sorry for the long wait life just keeps getting in the way. Chapter 10 is in the works, and it is my sincerest hope to have it out in the next week or so. As always, reviews are welcome, and you are all so deeply appreciated. -CL

9-3-23: A/N I've been brainstorming an idea and in order for the story to progress as I want I had to go in and edit the relationship between Wendi and Theo. I hope you all enjoy and I'm working to have the next chapter and a few ficlets ready within the next few weeks. -CL