By Your Side

Chapter 21

"Sanji?" I rasped out as I stared at the man in front of us. He came...

"Huh? Is that Sanji?" Luffy asked as he stared at Sanji. Sanji glanced to the side with a distant look on his face as Luffy let out a relieved chuckle. "I knew you'd come back. But you... sure took your time."

Sanji had a grimacing look on his face, "Sanji, what's wrong?" I asked, turning to sit against the tree beside Luffy again.

"You moron. I didn't tell you to wait for me." Sanji spoke up, "Why did you keep such a stupid promise? Look at you."

Grrrrr.

As if to prove Sanji's point, Luffy's stomach let out another growl. Sanji took a step forward, placing the basket down in front of Luffy. "What did I expect? You don't like taking no for an answer, do you?"

Luffy smiled down at the basket before looking up to Sanji, "Yeah, but you still came back."

Sanji turned away, facing his back towards us, walking away. "Eat whatever is salvageable."

I leaned over, glancing in the basket as Luffy opened it to see a bento box covered in mud. Luffy took the bento out and opened it up.

"Seems everything got covered in mud as well." I took notice, staring at the various foods drowning in mud. Upon further inspection, I noticed what foods were in the bento. It's all of our favorites...

"I dropped it on the way here." He stopped walking, standing still. "It's crushed and was rained on, too. It's just another failure."

"Sanji..." I whispered out, looking from the bento to the man as Luffy picked up a piece of meat. Without hesitation, he began to eat what was in the box, unknown to Sanji.

"Ha. It's yummy!" I glanced over to Luffy as he gleamed at the food, continuing to eat. "You want some (Y/N)?" Luffy asked as he stuffed a piece of meat in his mouth.

Did he just offer to share food...? I blinked a couple of times before letting out a small chuckle, shaking my head. "No, I'm fine. Go ahead and eat it, you deserve it." I declined, not because it was drenched in mud, but I was worried for Luffy who was exhausted from fighting and is obviously starving. I mean seariously, but the sound his stomach was making you'd think he hasn't ate in a year!

"This is the best food ever! So good! This is cool it's all our favorites in one lunchbox!" Luffy exclaimed, eating bite after bite. "You gotta make this for the whole crew."

Not even five minutes later, Luffy finished the box, throwing it to the side as he stood up. "Ah, that hit the spot! I thought I was gonna shrivel up!" Luffy exclaimed as he stretched his arms up in the air and shouting.

"Are you done?" Sanji asked.

"Uh, huh! Nobody makes a better lunchbox than you!" He told Sanji.

"Good. Then leave." Sanji answered coldly, not bothering to look in our direction. "I'm staying here."

———

After Luffy knocked some sense into Sanji, quite literally, we caught Sanji up on the events prior to now, as well as Luffy telling Sanji that Jimbei was here and is planning to help us stop the wedding.

As luck would have it, we stumbled across a shard of glass Nami had earlier when she and Luffy fought the army, allowing us to contact the others who are in the mirror world.

It was a relief that everyone was together in the mirror world and fine, even better that Brook was able to score a copy of the Poneglyph. All that leaves now, was stopping the wedding to get Sanji back.

However, we are running short on time, so we had to quickly devise a plan to crash said tea party. Lucky for us, Jimbei knows a good bit of information and was able to tell us what we were to expect in going through with this plan.

———

"I don't know... are you sure it's okay?"

"Of course I'm sure, you look great (Y/N)!"

I glanced from the outfit I was wear and to Nami with an uncertain look on my face. "If you say so..." I trailed off. "Im just not used to wearing dresses and fancy clothes."

"It'll be fine, besides it's good to dress up every once and a while." Nami exclaimed, glancing over to Lola's twin sister, Chiffon. "We get to keep these right?"

"Of course, think of it as a thank you for saving Lola's life." Chiffon smiled, rocking her baby in her arms.

I let out a small chuckle as I seen the money signs appear in Nami's eyes. Same Nami as always. Im relieved that, despite the circumstances, everyone is acting their usual selves.

Nami walked out the clothing room and began walking down the hall. When her back turned, I began fumble with the scarf around my neck, making sure it covered up the collar, so the others don't see it. I curled my lips down as I stared at my relegation in the mirror in front of me.

I don't want them to worry about me. Right now, we are here to help Sanji and bring him back with us, we can't afford to get distracted.

Letting out a sigh, I stepped out the room, and met up with the others in the hallway, ready to head out.

"Right, let's go!" Luffy exclaimed, throwing on his usual grin. All of us agreed in unison and began walking down the hall.

As we began walking, I felt a hand grab mine, turning my head to the side at Luffy. He gave me a small smile to which I returned before turning my head back, glancing down at the ground, feeling guilty.

We arrived at the meeting room, walking in to see a white couch shaped in a box, with a center table that held cups of tear and bowls of candy.

We all walked in the room silently, and took a seat across from those who were already there. I glanced around the room, noticing men lined up all around the borders of the room, before glancing at the three men in front of us.

As my eyes scanned over the three, my eyes stopped on one that sat on the left. "Wait isn't that-?"

"Are you Bege?" Luffy piped up from beside me, staring at Chiffon.

"What? No!" She exclaimed.

"You then?" Luffy asked again, this time staring at her baby.

"Idiot! That's a baby!" Nami and Chopper exclaimed at him.

"Okay, so one on you guys?" He asked a third time, staring at the man in glasses and the big guy.

"Hold your horses. He's on his way." The man in glasses stated.

The sound of a door opening caught our attention as we turned to see Bege standing in the doorway. "Great. That should be everybody. Your keister's are so clean, you could eat off 'em, right?"

He began walking to the couch, "They say 'clothes make the man.' Well, I won't humor no mooks who don't care about their appearance." He sat down before continuing. "Okay, there's three and a half hours to go. Let's decide. Are we doin' this? Or no deal?"

In three in a half hours, we were to go up against one of the Four Emperor's of the Sea... I began to worry.

———
Published: 09/02/2022