By Your Side

Chapter 29

"So, you said your way out was to use Brûlée and use her ability to jump through a mirror?" I summed up what Luffy told me his plan to escape this mirror world was.

He let out a free huffs of breaths before responding. "Yeah... I left her tied up here..."

I looked at our feet on the ground where cut up rope lied. "Well, seems she found a way to cut the ropes. How are we gonna find her? For all we know she went through a mirror already?"

"I don't know, but..." Luffy lifted his head slightly, looking into a mirror where a clock was shown. "We don't have time..."

I looked up at the mirror, frowning when I seen he was correct.

"Big brother!"

The both of us snapped our heads up in attention, looking in every direction.

"Big Bro Katakuri!"

We looked up at a mound in front of us, seeing Brûlée, captured by someone. "Branch!"

"It's Brûlée, Straw Hat!" She retorted, tears and snot running down her face. "What kind of dirty trick did you use to take him down?!"

"So you brought down Katakuri!" The one holding Brûlée spoke up. "I can't believe it! Grr!" Wait a minute, that's- "My name is Mystoms! In order to get you out of here, I've captured brûlée and have been waiting for you!"

That's totally Pekoms in disguise... I deadpanned at his attempt to hide his identity, but decided to not mention it.

"So you're okay..." Luffy sighed in relief, "Pekoms!"

I turned my head to the side, stifling a laugh as Luffy saw through Pekoms charade. "Y-yeah! Big Bro Pedro sacrificed himself to save your lives! I won't let you lose it here!"

My laugh stopped at what I heard. "W-What...?" I didn't realize Pekoms had jumped down to where we were and was talking as I processed the news. Pedro died...? How? Why?

I felt my mood drop at the thought of one of us being gone. He volunteered to help us already having been in Big Mom's territory before. But to think he was gone...

If I was there, would I have been able to prevent it? And what about Carrot? I can tell she looked up to Pedro a lot.

"(Y/N)." I felt my shoulder being shook, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Hm? Yeah, what's up?" I asked, turning my gaze to see it was Luffy trying to gain my attention.

"Pekoms is going to get us out now." He replied, motioning to Pekoms as I nodded my head in reply. "You don't look excited to be leaving here." He stated, a look of worry crossing over his features

I shook my head, "it's not that, it's just-" I let out a heavy sigh before continuing. "I didn't know about Pedro..." I looked over to Pekoms, "We can talk about that later, let's go."

———

It all happened so fast. Pedro took Brûlée and jumped out the mirror to be a distraction, going into his Sulong state. And now Luffy, Sanji, who showed up out of no where, and I are trying to make a break for the Sunny.

"SANJI!" I shouted from the ground as I saw one of the Big Mom Pirates float up into the air in front of him and attack with his weapon expanded.

I ran forward to where the two landed, seeing a huge creator from the impact. I knelt down beside the two, seeing Luffy still asleep and shook Sanji's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"When you're vastly outnumbered, it's meaningless... no matter how hard you struggle." I helped Sanji sit up as we looked at the man approaching us. "It's over."

At that statement I heard several guns clicking and being pointed in our direction. "Damnit." Sanji muttered, glaring at the man. I stood up, holding my arms out and stood in front of the two, blocking them from the man's sight. Before anyone could do anything, a huge explosion went off in the direction of the harbor.

"There's an explosion at the harbor!"

"Hey, what happened-nie?!"

I squeezed my eyes shut as I heard the sound of guns going off, preparing for the pain. After a second, I didn't feel anything and opened my eyes to see the three of us were surrounded by the members of Germa 66, Sanji's siblings who caught the oncoming bullets.

"Thank you for what you did to us at the Tea Party, Big Mom Pirates!" Ichiji remarked.

"Why are you here?!" Sanji exclaimed, in confusion or anger I wasn't sure.

"What a coincidence, Sanji." Ichiji spoke once more, "We wanted to give these fools... a crushing blow, too!"

The Big Mom Pirates surrounding us, loaded their guns again, sending another onslaught of bullets, only for them to bounce off Germa 66.

Taking the opportunity given to us, Sanji grabbed Luffy and we began to run for the Sunny once more. We began to run up on a group a couple of feet ahead of us. "So what's your plan on us getting through the enemies?"

Hearing nothing I turned to look at Sanji with a questionable look. "Sanji?"

"(Y/N), grab on. We don't have time to waste on fighting everyone, we need to get to the Sunny as fast as we can and get out of here." He replied seriously, not taking his gaze off of those in front of us.

I gave him a nod of okay, before wrapping my arms around his neck before he began to Sky Walk. I looked down at the men on the ground as we got further away. "This is a pretty useful technique, you defiantly gotta show me how to do this when- SANJI BEHIND US!" I immediately shouted as I noticed them aiming what looked to be Bazookas at us.

"Don't stop Sanji!" The blow was blocked by Sanji's brothers, allowing us to get away. Once we were far enough, Sanji landed on the ground, allowing me to let go. As we ran, he reached into his coat, pulling out a transponder snail.

Purupurupuru.

Purupurupuru.

Purupurupuru.

Click.

"Hey, can you here me?!" He shouted into the snail, huffing as he ran.

"Sanji! We can't get any closer to the island than this!"

I turned my head slightly to the transponder snail, listening in as he replied to Jimbei. "I know! Sail by the harbor at full speed! We'll make it there while you're doing that!"

"Sanji! How's Luffy?!"

"I got him! And (Y/N)'s here too." He replied, looking in my direction as he answered.

"What- you found (Y/N)?! Where was she!?"

"I don't have time now! I'm counting on you, Nami!" Sanji hurriedly replied, showing the urgency.

"Okay. Be safe you guys!"

———
Published: 10/20/2022