By Your Side

Chapter 4

"Is he going to throw that at them?!" I shouted out as I watched a lion Mink hold up what appeared to be a house, threatening to throw it at his men below.

"Mere seconds after my scathing rebuke, you fools get sappy again?!" He threw the house at them, "HOW DARE YOU GARA!"

"GAHHH!" They shouted as it landed on top of them.

"That hurt... but he's so cool.~"

"WE'RE SORRY, WE'LL NEVER SAY ANYTHING SWEET AGAIN!"

Uh... what just happened... I blanked at the scene before me as Wanda caught his attention. "These people here are the Straw Hat Pirates."

His eyes widened as he charged forward, jumping into the air, and landing on the ground bowing. "You gotta hear my boundless gratitude for saving this country! It's a lifelong debt that I could never repay!"

"Sir Sachilian, always puts his full power into anything he does." Wanda spoke up.

"Mmm... Maybe he should hold back a little." Luffy bluntly said.

I grabbed his cheek and pulled it back before letting it snap back in place. "Don't go saying that."

Sachilian stood back up, "Which one is the captain?"

"I am." Luffy responded just as he jumped into the air again, landing on Luffy.

"OOOOAHHH~ THE LEADER OF THE SAVIORS IS HERE BEFORE ME! LONG HAVE I AWAITED THIS MOMENT!" He began furiously rubbing his cheek in Luffy's, "Garachu! I shall nuzzle my gratitude into your very face!"

Woah, I can see the smoke from the friction...! I gasped out as he kept showing his 'gratitude', before he jumped back to the doors, opening them. "You gara, May see the Duke. Come inside, don't dilly."

Luffy rubbed his cheek, knitting his eyebrows at the man. "I don't think I like this guy."

We all walked inside seeing Chopper, and the two he left with, tending to the Duke. "He's huge..." Franky gasped out, saying what everyone was thinking as we stared at the giant dog in front of us.

Wanda rushed forwards, hugging the Duke with tears of relief in her eyes, as he reassured her. "So you guys are the Straw Hats? I owe you gara, for the lives of everyone on Zou. Words cannot express my thanks."

"I heard my crew saved you, but I just got here, so I still don't know the whole story yet." Luffy replied, giving the man a smile.

"Even if you gara weren't all here, the whole crew played a part." The Duke replied, staring at the newspaper in his lap.

The Duke's gaze ended up landing on Brook, salivating at the mouth. "Gah...! Oh, please no."

"You must be admiring our savior, Barren Corpse." Wanda gushed, smiling at Brook.

"What a delectable looking hero..." the Duke mumbled out, tongue hanging out.

"I know it's tempting, but you're still injured." Wanda informed him. That's all that's stopping him? She snapped her head in the Duke's direction, "Maybe later."

"How about you don't!" Brook shouted, furrowing his nonexistent eyebrows together.

"Just a little bro, he's the Duke." Franky told Brook.

"DON'T YOU SEE THE SIZE OF THOSE JAWS?! Just a little could spell my doom!" Brook shouted at Franky, "Besides, I've had more than enough already!" He said through tears as they streamed down his face.

"Uh, I couldn't help but notice that hat... it suits you gara very well, pirate." The Duke told Luffy, averting his attention away from Brook. "Takes me back to my youth... ahhh- traveling with... Damnit, what's that cat's name?"

"It's Master Cat Viper, sir." Wanda spoke up, reminding the Duke.

"I was sailing the seas with that fool many years ago. There was a young man with a hat just like yours, he's an emperor now, his name was Shanks." The Duke told Luffy.

"Ha! You used to sail with Shanks, really?!" Luffy was excited, hearing Shanks' name. "Actually, this hat belongs to him, and-" Luffy was cut off by the Duke's snores, as he fell unconscious.

———

Wanda told us about the feud with the two rulers, causing one to rule the day, while the other rules the night. Even the people are affected, falling asleep when the time approaches.

We left Duke Dogstorm to sleep and went to see Cat Viper, the King of Night. Now we were going to find out what happened to Sanji.

"To put it frankly, the majority of the Minks are unaware of what exactly transpired." Brook began, strumming on his guitar. "The land had already been ravaged, and we didn't want to cause them any more distress..."

He paused for a moment, playing keys on his guitar before continuing. "The event that happened two days ago was so utterly terrible, that we kept it a secret. Please, brace yourselves..."

"I say this with a heavy heart, though my rib cage is most assuredly empty... but I fear our dear friend Sanji may never return to our side."

I widened my eyes in disbelief as Luffy shouted out in bewilderment.

"You're kidding me, right?" Usopp asked, not completely believing what we were told.

"Why Brook?! What kind of crap is that, he's said in his letter that he would come back!" Luffy shouted, baring his teeth.

"We warned you that the situation is pretty complicated." Nami reminded Luffy, only to fall on deaf ears.

"Why lie to us, I believe Sanji, end of story!" Luffy shouted, riled up.

Nami let out a sigh, holding the letter Sanji left. "Guess we should've showed you this in the first place then."

I placed a hand on Luffy's shoulder, attempting to calm him down. "Take it easy, I'm sure whatever happened is confusing for them too."

"I don't know about you guys, but I wouldn't miss him if we don't see him again." Zoro stated bluntly. "He's kinda dead weight to us anyway..."

"ZORO! Sanji's still our friend, you jerk!" Luffy shouted, my attempts failing. Thanks for the help there Zoro...

"Luffy let's just hear them out first, okay?" I told him, "We don't know the story yet."

"Hmph. Fine..." Luffy poured as I signaled Brook to continue.

"Allow me to catch you up to the present...."

Brook explained how, even though Zou is constantly on the move, Big Mom's crew was able to find them due to one of them being from Zou. Having to confront the Big Mom Pirates again, it turned out the be the same one from Fishman Island, along with one of the worst generation, Capone Bege.

They confronted one another, but for some reason, after hearing what they had to say, Sanji decided to go with them to Big Mom's territory. For Big Mom's Tea Party... better yet, a wedding between the 35th Daughter of the Charlotte Family, Pudding and Third Son of the Vinsmoke Family, Sanji.

———
Published: 07/28/2022
Updated: 02/17/2024