Capítulo 393: Sanji Reunited
Sanji wasn't sure what to expect when he came crawling back to Luffy and asking for forgiveness, but it wasn't the small party that he found.
"Sanji! You're back!" Luffy exclaimed upon noticing him from the top of King Baum.
Logically speaking, he knew that they weren't celebrating his absence given that they came all this way just to collect him, but it was nice to have concrete evidence that he was still welcome.
"I'm sorry, captain, for not trusting you… for trying to shoulder everything all on my own," Sanji said first and foremost.
"That's fine. You gonna eat that?" Luffy didn't even wait for an answer as he snatched the food basket from Sanji's hands and started choking it down, almost without chewing.
"Your cooking is the best in the world, Sanji! You missed Cherry doing the funniest thing! Brook asked to see her panties and she actually showed him! Shishishishi!" Luffy laughed through a half mouthful of food.
A vein bulged in Sanji's forehead and he was suddenly filled with immense regret for not rushing back here as quickly as possible. The feeling quickly passed, though; old habits were hard to break.
It was around the time that Luffy finished horking down the meal that Sanji made that the others made it down to greet him and welcome him back.
"Now that we have Sanji and the poneglyph etchings, we can leave!" Chopper exclaimed happily.
"It's not quite that easy," Sanji burst the poor little reindeer's bubble. "Not only is the Baratie still at risk, but…"
Sani glanced at Cherry, knowing she was the only one who knew the full story.
"The whole wedding is a trap, set to kill the Vinsmoke family and take Germa for the Big Mom pirates. Up until today, they were planning to kill me too," Sanji explained.
Gasps of shock and outrage echoed around. Luffy himself was stewing in a quiet anger.
"Why did they change their minds about you?" Carrot asked, worried that they were planning to torture him for eternity or something.
"They want to recruit Cherry, so they can't go killing her friends," Sanji revealed, causing all eyes to turn to her.
"Just a precautionary measure, nothing more," Cherry lied with a shrug like it was no big deal.
"Big Mom isn't liable to just let you go though," Jinbe spoke concernedly.
"There isn't anyone in the world who could stop me," Cherry said confidently.
"Luffy," Sanji said, gaining the attention of the group again. "I… I don't want my family to die. Even if they're the absolute worst, and they are, I still don't want them to die like dogs."
Sanji was tearing up something fierce. He never imagined that he would feel so strongly about those bastards, and maybe it was Reiju alone who tipped the scales of his desire to save them, but he couldn't just stand back and let it happen.
"I don't even think of them as family any more, and look at me. Blubbering like a child." Sanji wiped his face with his sleeve. "I can't save them all by myself…"
"Oh, let's save them then," Luffy agreed without the slightest hesitation. "What else are friends for?"
"Of course, we'll help!" "It's only natural." "The crew of the future pirate king isn't afraid to contend with a mere emperor." "You're my ride out of here, so…" The other chorused their agreement.
It never ceased to amaze him how casual Luffy could be at times like these, nor did it ever cease to endear him to his captain. The tears came back in force, and one sleeve wouldn't be enough.
…
Everyone calmed down from their heightened emotions soon enough and it was Jinbe who broached the serious conservation that needed to be had.
"Now that our course has been set, we have to acknowledge the fact that we are greatly outnumbered. Luffy and I were able to fend off one of the Sweet Generals and a crowd of Big Mom's homies with a few of her children mixed in, but that is only a fraction of the forces that she can bring to bear. That isn't even including the forces that the guests of the wedding brought with them, among will likely be multiple emperors of the underworld," Jinbe explained.
"Not to mention that Cherry can't be allowed near the wedding itself." Sanji said.
"What?!" Cherry exclaimed.
"Why not?" Nami asked. "She's probably the strongest among us. If she can't be at the wedding itself, we'll be at a great disadvantage."
"Yeah! Don't you go making decisions on your own!" Cherry shouted.
"Cherry will pick a fight with Big Mom directly if we let her anywhere near the wedding," Sanji relayed.
"""WHAT?!?!?!""" the others yelped and glared at the woman in question.
"... No, I won't," Cherry excused lamely.
No one believed her.
"Ahaha, what's wrong with that? If she wants to fight, then let her," Luffy said, slapping his knee in good humor.
"Don't give her permission, Luffy! You're the only one she'll listen to besides Robin!" Nami shouted and throttled the rubber pirate. Luffy didn't stop laughing.
"It wouldn't be a good tactical situation to be in even with an assurance that you will win, Cherry. The resulting chaos would probably level the entire chateau, if not the entire island." Jinbe tried to reason with her.
"S-surely it wouldn't get THAT bad Jinbe?" Chopper chuckled nervously. He went deathly silent when he looked at Cherry and found that she looked a bit sheepish, like leveling the entire island was a real possibility and she was mildly embarrassed that it may happen.
"Still, it's true that we don't exactly have many options, given how few of us there are," Jinbe said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"Well…" Cherry started before stopping herself.
"Well what, Cherry?" Nami seized the tail of her unfinished comment.
"Well, there's Bege," Cherry finished a bit unwillingly.
"What about him?" Sanji asked.
"Bege's planning to kill Big Mom during the wedding. If we absolutely MUST have more people, then he and his gang are available to fill in the numbers," Cherry said. "I'm surprised he hasn't already approached you about it, to be honest."
"That makes sense," Jinbe wasn't surprised. "He has quite the reputation for taking the heads of enemy organizations…"
Jinbe proceeded to fill in the others on exactly the kind of man that Bege is, the depths of his cruelty and insanity. He never killed for ambition, it was always with the intent of watching what was left of a group tear itself apart and taking great satisfaction in it.
"When he grew tired of playing his game on land, he set out to sea. Now, he's going for his biggest game yet, it seems," Jinebe said.
"Do we really want to team up with that guy?!" Chopper asked.
"He sounds insufferable," Pedro said.
"He sounds crazy!" Carrot added.
"Well, it's up to you, captain. We're bound to get in each others' way if we act separately from him, but that could be fun as well," Cherry said.
"Hmmmmmmmmmmm…" Luffy hummed frustratedly. On the one hand, he didn't really want to work with a traitor, even if the one they were betraying was his enemy too. On the other hand, what Cherry said was true as well, and the worst case scenario was Bege using them to cover himself or even killing the Vinsmokes themselves.
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