Chapter 157: The Reason Sanji Left
"Dead? The newspaper already reported it." Brook tilted his skull. "It seems a shame to doubt such official news."
"Yeah. What a shame." Luffy was practically vibrating with unspent aggression. "I really wanted to be the one to punch him."
Itachi's voice cut through the speculation. "The convoy escorting Doflamingo carried Fujitora and former Fleet Admiral Sengoku."
The crew turned toward him.
"I know Fujitora's strength intimately. Add a former Admiral to that equation..." Itachi's eyes were distant, calculating. "Even with a billion-berry bounty, Jack had virtually no chance of winning a direct confrontation. If his mind was functioning at all, he should have retreated the moment he understood what he was facing. His mission was to rescue Doflamingo, not to fight two Admirals to the death."
"That's exactly what I think." Wanda nodded grimly. "I faced him personally. I read the reports. I find it very hard to believe that someone like that would simply... die."
At that moment, Chopper glanced toward the window, where the light was shifting from gold to amber. "We should continue this conversation elsewhere. It's almost time. The Cat Viper and the Knights will be waking soon. I need to check on their injuries."
Robin tilted her head. "Wanda, you follow the daytime schedule. When do you sleep?"
"I serve as the King's Bird—the messenger between the two rulers. My duty is to remain awake through both shifts, day and night." Wanda's exhaustion was visible now that she had been asked—the slight droop of her ears, the heaviness behind her eyes. But her voice remained steady. "The Duke is stable. I should inform the Master of your arrival."
"Then I'm coming too! I want to meet this Cat Viper!" Luffy was already on his feet.
"I'll accompany you," Brook added. "I'm quite fond of the Cat Viper boss. He has excellent taste in music."
"We'll all go." Itachi rose. Something about this country's dual rulers—their impossible endurance, their strange schedule—lingered in his mind.
"Isn't the Cat Viper also badly injured?" Brook asked.
Chopper waved a hoof dismissively. "He's recovering remarkably well. Much faster than the Duke, actually. Must be all that jungle living."
"Alright! Then let's head out!"
Wanda summoned the long-legged crocodile, and the crew piled onto its broad back. The beast moved through the forest with surprising speed, its claws finding purchase on terrain that would have been impassable for any normal mount.
Luffy was the first to break the silence. "So. Sanji. Nobody's actually told me what happened yet."
Nami opened her mouth, but Brook was already strumming his guitar. "Allow me."
Itachi nodded. He had heard fragments from Nami, but the full picture was still unclear.
Brook's bony fingers picked out a melancholy melody. "I haven't spoken of this much since we arrived. This country has suffered enough. I didn't want to add our troubles to theirs."
"It happened two days ago."
"Everyone... please prepare yourselves."
"Sanji-san... may never come back to us."
"WHAT?!" Luffy's jaw dropped. "But Sanji's letter said he WOULD come back!"
"That's why I said this is serious!" Nami's voice cracked. She glanced at Itachi—and pulled back. She couldn't imagine what Itachi looked like when he was truly angry. She didn't want to find out.
"Anyway. It was a mistake to tell you this first." Nami pulled a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket—Sanji's letter, handled so many times the creases were growing soft.
"Figures." Zoro lay back on the crocodile's spine, hands behind his head, eyes closed. "If the shitty cook's gone, at least it'll be quiet around here. I don't care either way."
"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?! SANJI IS OUR NAKAMA!"
"Alright, alright, Luffy-san." Brook waved a skeletal hand. "Everyone. Please. Listen."
He began to play.
The island was called the Phantom Island for a reason. Zou moved. It had no fixed position. The Log Pose couldn't track it. By all rights, no one should have been able to find it.
But they had made two critical mistakes.
First: their destination had been overheard. Back in Punk Hazard, during the chaos of the alliance's formation, someone had been listening on a Den Den Mushi. Someone who now knew exactly where the Straw Hats were headed.
Second: there had been someone from Zou on the ship Itachi had destroyed.
Itachi's eyes narrowed. "The lion."
"Yes," Brook confirmed. "Pekoms."
The lion mink—the one who had threatened Fishman Island over candy, the one who had pursued the Thousand Sunny alongside Baron Tamago and Capone Bege. He had survived. His Turtle-Turtle Fruit had protected his vitals from what should have been fatal wounds. He had been rescued, treated, and returned to active duty.
And he had been born on Zou.
He knew the way home.
"The Big Mom Pirates came here. Led by Pekoms." Brook's guitar strings hummed. "He knew exactly where to find us."
By the time the enemy ship arrived, Sanji and the others had already settled into the pineapple houses, helping the minks recover from Jack's invasion. Pekoms had come ashore. He had seen the devastation. He had seen his homeland in ruins. And then he had seen the Straw Hats—the pirates who had saved his people.
"Caesar wanted us to fight them." Brook's voice hardened. "He actually suggested we kill Pekoms and the others. Can you imagine?"
"That tracks." Luffy's expression didn't change.
"We didn't fight," Brook continued. "Sanji-san is... Sanji-san is a kind man. More than that..." He looked at Itachi. "Pekoms was afraid of you. Even wounded, even across the sea—the shadow of Itachi-san still hung over him. And he was grateful. Grateful that we had saved his homeland."
So Sanji had done what Sanji always did. He had fed them. He had sat them down at a table. He had treated them not as enemies, but as guests.
And in return, Pekoms had told them the truth about why they had come.
There were two missions.
The first: retrieve Sanji.
The second: retrieve Caesar.
"Pekoms said he couldn't complete the first mission." Brook's voice was somber. "He said he owed the Straw Hats a debt. His honor as a mink wouldn't let him raise a hand against the people who saved Zou. He even told us that Bege had refused to come along—specifically because he was afraid of facing Itachi-san again."
Capone Bege. The man who had sunk into the sea with Itachi's grip around his throat. Who had watched his crew die and his ship burn. He had survived too.
"But Pekoms wasn't the only one who came."
Charlotte Oven. A direct descendant of the Charlotte Family. A son of Big Mom herself. He had not shared Pekoms' gratitude. When Pekoms refused to act, Oven had attacked his own crewmate—struck the lion mink down with brutal efficiency. And then he had turned to Sanji.
But even Oven hadn't attacked immediately.
"Another direct descendant arrived," Brook said. "Charlotte Perospero. Together... they had already captured Nami and Chopper."
"BASTARDS!" Luffy's fists clenched.
"Once Nami-san and Chopper-san were hostages, Sanji-san had no choice but to listen."
Oven and Perospero had not come to fight. They had come to deliver a message.
A wedding invitation.
The groom's name printed on the card was Sanji.
The bride's name was Charlotte Pudding—Big Mom's thirty-fifth daughter.
"Sanji-san is being forced into a political marriage," Brook finished quietly. "To a woman he's never met. The wedding is in three weeks. If he doesn't go... if he refuses..."
"Big Mom will kill everyone Sanji has ever cared about. The old man on the Baratie. His friends. His crew."
"Us."
The guitar fell silent.
(End of Chapter)
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