Chapter Text
As Luffy flew higher up into the air, Sanji had already realized his plan. Sanji could feel his eyes pop out of his head as he got flung several hundred meters up in the air. "WOAH! LOOK I CAN SEE THE CASTLE FROM HERE!" Luffy shouted joyfully while he stretched his arm out to grab one of the taller trees. Luffy swung himself from tree to tree while he carried the screaming Sanji under his arm, like tarzan. "Yoink, Yonik, Yonik!" Luffy made sound effects when he grabbed trees to swing to.
The forest unorganized shuffled itself to try to hinder the pirate from swinging out of it. "Wait! "I have an idea!" An older looking tree shouted. Luffy grabbed a tree and swung higher up in the air, and then all the trees in front of them quickly moved to clear the way. "Woah!" Luffy shouted, taken off guard. With no tree left to grab on to, they started hurtling towards the ground at light speed.
Just as they were about to hit the ground Luffy inflated himself to a gummy balloon and securely bounced off the ground. "Phew…Alright we're out" Luffy breathlessly stated while he deflated. Sanji splayed out on the ground, his face frozen in fear for a split second, before he suddenly charged at the rubber man. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" He strangled Luffy in anger.
"Waaah!!!" I'm sorry!! Gahhh!!" Luffy begged. Sanji scoffed and let go off his neck, "At Least warn me before you try to kill us!"
"I'm…sorry Nami!!!" Luffy cried comically as he laid panting on the floor. Sanji reached out his hand to help the pirate up on his feet again, Luffy instead gave him a high five. Sanji stared confused at the man while he rose to his feet independently.
"Well, let's go to the castle!" The man shouted full of energy like he wasn't panting on the floor just seconds ago. "I think it's better for me to return to my family's cart." Sanji pointed to the road further ahead. Luffy stared confused at the road.
"What cart?" He questioned.
Sanji whooped his head around, only to see an empty road. His face immediately turned into an upset frown. What? Did they leave without him?? Those bastards left him there! Sanji forcefully paused his thoughts, he needed to not get ahead of himself.
Now when he thought about it, the ginormous tree and the angel were nowhere to be seen either.
Would they really abandon their precious bridegroom and risk the alliance…?
They started the long walk towards the castle. At first, they walked in silence. Sanji wanted to find out more about the pirate, but he didn't really know how to begin the conversation. At last Sanji decides to breaks the unbearable silence,
"...So why are you here in Whole cake?" He didn't expect himself to sound so suspicious. "Oh, I'm here to-, hm…rescue..?...a clown." Luffy answered slowly and unsure. Sanji questioned the uncertainty, "Rescue? Is he your friend?" He barely finished the question before Luffy interrupts.
"NO!" He exclaims with a hatred Sanji hadn't seen before. "I hate that guy! He's a moron who experiments on kids!" Luffy continued. Sanji raised his swirly brow, "Why would you rescue him then?"
"If I didn't get him Trau would get angry at me," He frowns. "He said we needed him to take down Kaido, but I dont get why?!" Luffy complained.
Sanji thought to himself, Who was "Trau"..? Oh right, he must mean Trafalgar Law. They did have an alliance after all. Sanji's thoughts wandered, Technically he also had an alliance with The Strawhats now. He frowned and threw a suspicious glance at Luffy. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea.
His stomach growled, "I'm huuuungryy" Luffy complained as they staggered to the castle. Sanji sighed, "That's too bad, If we were in a kitchen I could make something for you."
Sanji never really understood why, but he hated seeing people hungry, he couldn't stand it. Plus he loved the look of satisfaction people got when they ate really good food. When their mundane sour faces would light up into a smile, and their eyes widen into a happy but shocked expression. It made all the work put into the food worthwhile.
“Do you know how to cook, Sanji?” Luffy asked curiously. Sanji paused for a moment while he pondered on the question. "Well, I love cooking…but I'm not really a cook…" He slowly developed his answer.
Luffy's stomach growled once more. "If you love cooking, why not be a cook then?!!" The pirate stomped furiously into the ground. Sanji felt his nose wrinkle at the suggestion. It's not like he didn't want to be a cook, he was just never allowed to be one.
Everybody in his family despised his cooking… well almost everyone, His mom was the sole exception. She would always eat his food with a great smile on her face, no matter how filthy or disgusting the dish really was. But now he had nobody else to feed but the rats.
"You're just saying that because you're hungry!" Sanji retorted, annoyed.
Luffy suddenly got an idea and he eagerly grabbed two handfuls of the ground below them. "What are you doing?" Sanji stared in confusion. Luffy smiled in response before shoving the dirt down his throat. "Oi! Don't eat that!" Sanji scolded him in panic. "Don't worry Sanji! It's cake!" Luffy mumbled while he ate, muffled by the cake. He reached down to scoop up some more of the chocolate chiffon dirt cake and handed a fistful to Sanji. Sanji curiously accepted the deformed cake that Luffy handed him. He examined it carefully and even sniffed it before tasting it.
He took a big bite of it and- BLEU! The taste was mortifyingly horrible, he had never tasted any cake as gross as this one. It felt like he had just took a bite of grovel. Sanjis face turned green as he forced himself to swallow the disgusting brown cake. He coughed violently once he finally managed to down the cake. Sanji made a grimace at Luffy, who was downing the cake like it wasn't utterly horrible.
"Okay! Now I'm full of energy again!" Luffy shot up while he patted his belly. "My crew is waiting for me! So let's goooo!!!" He shouted with determination when he suddenly took of, running towards the castle at top speed. Sanji stumbled for a moment before he ran after the pirate.
After running like crazy, they had finally arrived at the town before Big Moms castle. Just as Luffy were about to rush into the town without a thought, Sanji stopped hum by grabbing him by his vests nape to hold him like a cat. Luffy panted with his tongue out like a dog, completely out of breath. Sanji meanwhile angrily scolded the pirate. "You can't just run into town!" He shook Luffy violently making the pirates rubber body stretch and swing left to right. "Theres plenty of soldiers here and what do you think they would do if they saw the infamous pirate Strawhat Luffy running through their territory?!" The pirate answered as he shook "I'm Sorry!! Wahh!!" Sanji sighed as he dropped the pirate to the ground. He placed his hand over his mouth as he thought. He was sure that if he showed himself in town that the Big Mom patrollers would take him to the castle securely.
But he was also sure that they would try to capture the Strawhat Captain in return. Sanji turned to Luffy who had now gotten up from his shaking, "I think it's time for me to leave, I have a wedding to get to." He said while he pointed towards the castle. "Wait!" You're the groom?!" Luffy asked, surprised. Sanji reluctantly nodded in response, he still didn't want to accept that it was his wedding.
"Oh you must be getting married to Pudding then!" Luffy exclaimed joyfully.
"Pudding..?" Sanji rolled the name on his tongue. It was definitely a Big Mom name, she was notorious for naming her kids after deserts of various kinds.
"Yeah, she's the best! She gave us chocolate and a map to the castle! She was super nice aswell." Luffy drooled a little when he mentioned the sweet.
Sanji put up a hand to wave goodbye to the pirate.
Luffy waved eagerly back, "Goodluck, Sanji!"
Once Sanji made it to the square of the town, it didn't take long until one of the chess soldiers stationed there noticed him. After abit of squabble, he got sent away too Big Mom's castle.
Sanji was taken into a giant room. He immediately felt the enormous choking presence in the room. He gulped, in front of him, sitting on a giant throne, was the emperor herself, Big Mom!
"Mama mama!" She laughed with a wide grin on her face, making the whole room shake. "Hello, third son of germa, Sanji!" She exclaimed, deepening her tone threateningly at the mention of his name.
"Uh, Nice to met you." He managed to squirm out in response. Sanji dug his nails into his own hand, he sounded so scared and pathetic that it was laughable. "Mama Mama! Don't be scared, Sanji!" Big Mom laughed calmly. "As long as this weeding goes smoothly, you won't have to worry, Mama!" She continued.
"But," her tone suddenly shifted into a darker one which sent shivers up Sanji's spine. "If the wedding doesn't go as planned, we're enemies, right?" She rolled out her last word, it was hard not to drown in her aura, it felt like he was getting choked.
"Right." Sanji answered calmly, but he could feel his own windpipe closing. Big Mom snapped back just as quickly into her previous related state. "Mama Mama! Good, Take great care of Pudding," she wished him. "Puddings quite the sweet girl, be kind to her."
Sanji nodded, he wouldn't ever dream of hurting a girl. Ever. He would never be able to forgive himself for hurting a woman.
Sanji felt a wash of relief drench him once he was finally let out of the throne room. The tension inside that room was unbearable. It felt like Big Mom could attack him at any moment. Sanji could relaxa for long, It was time to meet his Fiance after all!