Chapter 101: Arrogance is an unhealthy ego in need of repair

After a week and a half of travel with part of Sanji’s family, an island was in sight. Rick survived Reiju’s forwardness and Nami’s onslaught. The first was an easy task as he just had to think about Robin when his mind wandered towards the princess or think of what Nami was doing to him. She had been right and never left his thoughts completely. The latter was harder as Nami was completely unhinged. While he loved what she was doing to him, sex for sex wasn’t something he’d like. He needed an emotional connection and while he loved the redhead, their intimate moments weren't emotionally rewardings nor fulfilling. He didn’t dare share his thoughts on the matter, too scared of what she would do to him, so he just endured. When Pedro warned anyone they would soon arrive on land he was overjoyed.

Yonji and Reiju left the ship, way before it could be properly seen from far away, by using their special shoes and boots allowing them to float in the air. The princess didn’t leave without partially getting what she wanted. She paid a visit to Rick in the garden and caught Nami under the table taking care of him. She joined the redhead and both battled for dominance. Reiju won and got a mouthful, which surprisingly she shared with Nami. She didn’t even bother to clean herself up and when she departed Sunny with her brother, looked at Rick with lust in her eyes, licking what was left of him around her mouth.

[Art by mikanberry: Here ]

Naturally Nami was furious, both for losing and for failing to keep the pinkhead away. She dragged Rick to his bedroom and did her best to make him forget her for the few hours they still had before reaching the island.

Before disembarking Rick reminded everyone a few things.

“Remember, we’re sneaking in, don’t act like you want, don’t fight, don’t destroy things and don’t get under the authority’s radar.”
““Okay!!”” replied Luffy and Chopper.

The duo left Sunny and went into town. He sighed at the sight.

“How long before they do everything I said to not do?”
“If they last more than an hour it’s a miracle.” replied Nami.
“We better hurry up then.” stated Brook.

Bad habits die hard. That’s why the first thing Nami and Rick did was visit a clothing store. It was the first time since Water Seven that he had visited one but this was something that had been pending for longer.

“It took more than two years but I can finally give you a male opinion on the outfit you’re trying on.”
“What are you talking about?” the redhead asked, picking up clothes from the shelves.
“Don’t you remember back on Skypiea? During our camping night, we agreed to go shopping together on the next island. We never did.”
“... I remember now, I thought you said that just as an excuse for throwing Robin off our conversation.”
“Yes, but I did want to go with you.”
“Here we are, happy?”

Her tone indicated that she was still mad about what happened with Reiju but at least she wasn’t aggressive about it. Rick sighed and just carried the mountain on clothes Nami gave him.

Outfit after outfit, the ex-marine gave his honest opinion, however she didn’t spare him a glance and acted as if she didn’t hear him.

“Yeaaah… She’s really mad this time. But what was I supposed to do? Stopping a cat fight while the cats have my dick in hands and in mouths is the quickest way for a sex change.”

She exited the changing room and looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a cute top,laced around her neck and leaving the shoulders bare, with shorts. Every outfit she had tried did show any cleavage for the simple reason that Rick’s marks were all over it. So she focused on clothes hiding as much as possible of the area.

“Oh! I like this one. It reminds me of Skypiea again, you were really beautiful with your pigtails.”

She ignored him once again and went back into the changing room, pulling back the curtain. Rick had had enough of his kitten attitude and joined her in the cabin. He didn’t let her have the time to say or do anything, that he pinned her, her back against the wall, and kissed her hard. She tried to fight for a moment, to make him let go of her, but gradually gave up and got into it. When he stopped the kiss he looked her in the eyes.

“I love you. You’re my kitten. Mine. And I’m your owner. I will not tolerate that attitude towards me when it’s not deserved. She’s gone. The threat you perceived is gone. You did your best and protected what’s yours successfully. Was it perfect? No, but you succeeded. There is no need for you to be mad, whether at me or yourself because she failed thanks to you. Now I’m leaving this store to get some fresh air, and I hope you’ll be in a better mood when you join me outside, because just like I don’t like being at odds with Robin, I don’t like being at odds with you. I learned my lesson with her; to not let my thoughts and feelings fester and to share them which I just did. It’s up to you to make your move and go forward together with me or be stuck on it alone.”

His speech done, he slapped her ass not too hard and exited the cabin and the store. He looked around and wondered how the people living here could be so happy with Big Mom around. When he saw a group of soldiers running past him, he just knew that soon they would have to run. He looked at the direction they were going and was ready to move when he felt a hand shyly grab his from behind. He didn’t turn around.

“I’m sorry.”
“...”
“I don’t want us to be fighting either. I was just so mad that she did whatever she wanted regardless of others’... my feelings. Mad that I couldn’t completely stop her and most of all…”
“Most of all?”
“Mad that I enjoyed fighting with her over you, mad that she was the better woman.”
“Now, that’s simply not...”
“That’s not what I’m talking about. She won and shared, I wouldn’t have.”
“You would have shared it with Robin. And Shirahoshi, and probably Hancock too.”
“...”
“You would have shared because you don’t feel threatened by them, and or love them, because two of them you know, the third agreed to the deal. You have me because you are the better woman Nami, she isn’t.”

He intertwined his fingers with hers and turned around to look at Nami. She was wearing a nice white and red dress which would normally have shown a lot of cleavage but her chest was covered with a silk top. What he noticed the most was her hair. Despite them being longer she combed them into two pigtails, similar to the ones she had on Skypiea and he referred to earlier. It was obvious she made them on purpose though he didn’t know if it was some sort of apology or if she genuinely wanted to make him happy. It didn’t matter, he loved it but didn’t comment on it. She was looking at the ground so he lifted her head by putting his hand under her chin and gave her a very loving kiss.

“You’re both cute and beautiful like that. I don’t think even Shirahoshi could pull that off.”

She rolled her eyes but had a very satisfied smile at the corners of her lips.

“I hope you’re ready to run.”
“... What did they do?” asked Nami, frowning.
“I don’t know. If I had to bet, I’d say they ate a building because they were hungry. In any case I saw soldiers rushing that way, so I guess it’s our destination.”

They began to walk when Rick stopped in his tracks.

“What is it?” his kitten asked.
“I almost forgot to tell you something.”
“What?”
“That week and half of sex? I didn’t like it.”
“W-What?” was the only answer she gave, too shock to formulate another.
“I mean the sex was great, don’t get me wrong. But that was all it was. Sex for Sex.”
“I… don’t get it.”
“Nami when I have sex with you, or Robin or anyone else, it’s because I want more than just physical satisfaction. I want to connect on an emotional level. When I have sex with you it’s to show you how much I love you, not just to ring your bell or mine. If that was the case, I would have frequented every hooker on every island we visited.”
“... You’re a very strange man. First you’re not interested in being allowed to sleep with others beside Robin, now you don’t want sex?”
“Meaningless sex. And What are you complaining about? That’s because I’m a strange man that you fell in love with me. It’s the same for Robin, Hancock, and Shirahoshi.”

“Perhaps.”

They began to walk where Rick had seen the soldiers going. They had no trouble finding their way as people gathered there too. What they found was within their expectations. Rick has been right, Luffy and Chopper had eaten an entire house apparently made of chocolate and were looking like balloons ready to pop. They were surrounded by guards and didn’t seem to care one bit while their crimes were listed one after the other.

“It’s even worse than I thought.” facepalmed Rick.
“Look, something is happening.” said Nami, hitting him with her elbow.

The owner of the caffe their two idiotic crewmates ate had intervened in their favour, making up some lies about hiring Luffy and Chopper to dismantle her business place. She was really cute and used this advantage against the chief of the soldiers. He was stammering a bit, completely enchanted by this young lady and let the two gluttons go.

They joined their friends and thanked the cafe's owner who’s name was Pudding. She invited the group into her home and when she asked for their name, Luffy blew their cover by saying his real name despite Nami having a quick reflex and shutting him up. Remembering who they were, she took a knife and swung it around like the amateur she was. Pedro moved behind her and put his sword under her throat without any problem.

After many explanations, It turned out that Pudding’s real name was actually Charlotte Pudding, the 35th of 39 daughters of Big Mom. Furthermore she was the woman Sanji was going to marry. She seems saddened to learn that  the group were here to take Sanji back, meaning that he was going along with the marriage against his will. One thing evident was that she was a bit enamored with their cook, listing quite a big number of qualities.

If it was an act, Rick couldn’t tell but she had caught the heart of the others except Pedro’s who wanted to tie her up. Rick didn’t openly agree with the mink but didn’t think any less. Pudding was Big Mom’s daughter, leaving her free had high probabilities of causing problems for them later. The most obvious being: telling Big Mom they were here, if she wasn’t already aware.

To the shock of everyone Sanji had turned her down saying that he had to get back to the crew despite liking Pudding and her liking him back. Or so she said. Being against forced marriage, the cafe owner gave a map to reach Whole Cake island, the central island where Big Mom was living and where the wedding will take place. It was also there that Sanji would be staying.

Their conversation had to be cut short. Soldiers had knocked on the door and were ready to escort Pudding to her mother. The crew said their goodbyes and secretly exited the house by eating the back wall. They bought the food they needed and went back to Sunny. Pekoms was nowhere around, leaving behind a message carved on the ground, telling them to turn back.

There was no way they were leaving without Sanji so they set sail immediately as the sun was setting. Thanks to Nami’s skills as a navigator and Pudding’s map the only mishap they had was getting stuck into a gelatin sea which became as hard as rock with the cold of the night. Once the gellatined surrounding Sunny had been melted with fire Rick had no problem making their ship float, without damaging her, until the gelatin part of the way was over. Finally, a bit before sunrise, Whole Cake island was in sight. Two groups were made. The first one would go after Sanji while the other would infiltrate Big Mom’s castle and search for the road poneglyph.

The first group was made of Luffy, Nami, Chopper and Carrot, leaving Brook, Pedro and Rick in the second.

The vice captain opened Sunny’s channel 3 letting Brook bring out the shark submerge 3, the new version of the submarine Franky had built. Getting inside the vehicle, the trio went under water and secretly made their way toward the island by going up a deep river.  After many hours,  and retracing their steps multiple times because of dead ends, the trio arrived at Sweet City, one of the towns around the capital.

Parking the Shark submerge 3 in a hidden location they entered the city, trying to find some useful information. That’s how Brook and Rick learned that Jimbei was on the island and tried to quit Big Mom’s crew. Sneaking around Pedro called out to his two companions and signal to look inside a building through a window.  To their surprise Pudding was there surrounded by servants giving her several dresses to try on.

If she was here it means she hadn’t met Sanji again and couldn’t have warned him that his crewmates had come for him. Beside the servants was an officer of Big Mom’s crew that Pedro recognized. He was asked outside by a guard to relay him some information: The strawhat were on the island.

“Well… So much for infiltration.” Rick said.
“They don’t know yet about the three of us.” stated Pedro
“But they know where the others are!”
“Okay, new plan. You two keep going on the infiltration mission, Brook do you have paper and a pencil to make a copy of the poneglyph or do you need mine?”
“I have everything on me already but thank you.”
“Good. Now I’ll go help the others, either they are walking into a trap and don’t know about it or…”
“They already fell into it and need saving.” finished Pedro.
“Yes. Good luck!”
““Good Luck””

He separated from his friend and got out of town as fast as he could without being suspicious. When he was at least two hundred feet away he floated very high in the sky to have a bird view of the area. As he was doing a 360 he found something interesting. A big figure was running on a plain, towards Big Mom’s castle and seemed to be coming from a forest. Remembering that the soldiers they had spied on talked about some woods his friends were in; Rick decided it was worth a shot to take a closer look. This proved to be the right decision as it was Luffy and Nami atop and giant living and talking tree.

“Hey!” he called out to them.
““Rick!””
“Are you alright? We were in a town when we heard that you were spotted in some woods.”
“We’re fine.” replied Luffy, clearly exhausted.
“No you’re not. You spent hours fighting!”
“I’m still good to go!”
“What about Chopper and Carrot?”
“We got split up in the woods, they were captured into some kind of dimension you can only access through mirrors.”
“Hey girl! That’s the Germa 66 over there.” said the tree.

Luffy stretched and sent himself flying towards the big carousel that looked to be a hundred feet away. Catching himself against one the vehicle side he seemed to talk with Sanji before being violently sent backwards.

“What the hell? Did Sanji...” wondered Rick.
“Sanji! What was that for?!” yelled Nami.
“Get lost you miserable inferior pirates! My name is Vinsmoke Sanji and I am a prince of Germa Kingdom. Forgive me for hiding…”
“Hey! Reiju! Yonji! How are you doing?.” yelled Rick, cutting his friend's little speech.
“Still a sore throat Yonji?” he added.
“Straw hat Luffy is inconsequential but Wal D Rick isn’t. Reiju, Yonji, how do you know him?” asked Vinsmoke Judge.

Yonji kept quiet, too embarrassed to tell the tale and Reiju didn’t want to answer. That prompted the head of the Vinsmoke family to order her to talk.

“Father, during our journey here we met with them on sea. Wal D Rick has been poisoned by an armor stone fish, when they asked Yonji for help he refused, naturally, and dared them to come on board and plunder. That man was fine with it and caught Yonji by the throat and started to choke him to unconsciousness. At the same time, he made a meteor fall from the sky hitting our ship's propulsion system. The damage would have taken days to repair so to not get late we negotiated a deal. They took both Yonji and me as passengers and we helped him remove the poison.”

Hearing that his little brother had been defeated so miserably, Niji, the second son with blue hair laughed at him.

“You got defeated by this weakling? That’s hilarious! Here, let me show you how it’s done.” he declared and rushed toward Rick, thinking one good kick would be enough.
He didn’t have time to be surprised when a slash of gravity hit him right in the chest and sent him half a kilometer away right into Big Mom’s castle.

“Sorry not sorry!” yelled Rick holding Ryusei in his hand. It has been sometime since he had used it. Thriller Bark to be specific. Back on Dressrosa he didn’t have his head straight and didn’t think of taking her with him.

“I didn’t think armament haki would be so powerful in concentrating gravity into Ryusei. I wonder if it would be easier and safer to create a black hole at her tip.”

On the Germa’s side Yonji was laughing his ass off. He may have been defeated easily but at least he didn’t brag about it before. This humiliation would follow Niji forever.

“So this is the strength of the man who with the power of two devil fruits and who, alone, stopped the war at MarineFord two years ago.” Judge said out loud, pensive.
“From what I learned during my time on their ship, his body recently underwent modification from Vegapunk himself.”
“Vegapunk?!” Exclaimed her father.
“Yes. They are not aware yet of every enhancement Vegapunk did but they are certain of his regenerative abilities. In a matter of days he healed completely from the effect of the armor stone fish’s poison. The simple fact he survived several minutes is proof enough though.
“That’s true…Anything else?”
“Aside from his monstrous natural physical abilities, which existed before Vegapunk enhanced him, his intelligence is in a class on its own.
“I heard from one of our spies in the navy a rumor. That former Fleet admiral Sengoku himself trained him in strategy when he was a kid, mentoring him to perhaps one day make him his successor.”
“ I wouldn’t be surprised if that were true. He’s really talented in reading people's way of thinking and adapting accordingly.”
“Reiju… I want his genetic factor.”
“Father?”
“The best option would be to have him marry into our family. Finally a man with good enough genes to marry you to.”
“Do whatever you need to get it.”
“But father…”
“It’s an order Reiju. Do what I tell you, not now though, we’re going to be late at his rate.”

While this conversation between father and daughter was taking place, Sanji and Luffy fought. To be more specific it was a one sided fight. Sanji beat up his captain who didn’t bother to defend himself, refusing to fight his friend. Nami begged Sanji to stop, until she said they would leave, but Luffy was clear, he wasn’t leaving without his friend, promising to not move from that spot and to not eat anything unless Sanji had cooked it and brought it himself. As Sanji went back into the carousel and departed, in a desperate attempt Luffy asked him to come back because without his help he couldn’t become the pirate king.

~~~~~

Just as he had promised, Luffy didn’t move from his spot, lying on his back.

.”Are you really going to wait here?” Nami asked.
“I’m waiting.” replied her captain.
“If you do that enemies will come.”
“I don’t care, Sanji will come! I know it!”

The redhead was about to try again to change his mind when dark clouds surrounding the mountain the castle was in, started producing flashes of light and a lot of rumbling. When the giant tree began to shake Nami asked.

“What’s the matter? What’s happening?”
“Big Mom is in a tremendous rage.” replied the tree, while stuttering in fright.
“Are you saying Big Mom has so much power she can control the weather?”
“She ate the Soru Soru no mi. She can infuse life in almost everything like a fire or a  thunder cloud.”

That information frightened Nami even more than she already was.

“So what?” Rick said.
“Nothing impressive, she’s just using the weather. Remind me again who ate the Tenki Tenki no mi? The devil fruit who gives the person  who ate it control over the weather?”
“...Me.” Nami replied, looking at the ground.
“But I can’t…”
“You can! Nami you have a gift no one else has. You can read the weather like no one can and with the tenki Tenki no mi abilities you can control it like no one else could. Do not sell yourself short, have faith in what you can do and what you’re the best in the world. Big mom may have power, but it’s nothing if she doesn't have control, if you  take control over it.”

Nami didn’t answer and just stayed silent as Luffy agreed with Rick. She couldn’t see or even imagine herself surpassing Big Mom, one of the four emperors of the seas. She was weak; she knew it. Sure she could deal with the grunts and low level enemies, but the top dog? There was no way she could. She wished she had the confidence her captain and vice captain had in her.

Rain began to fall. It was a heavy downpour which was so cold you could feel it to the bones. From far away an army was approaching their position. No doubt Big Mom’s, here to deal with them.

“Luffy! We need to go! We can’t stay here.” Nami yelled  to be heard over the sound of the rain.
“I’m not moving from here. Hide if you want, but I won’t. I’ll take care of them.”
“You can’t do it alone!”
“He’s not alone.’ Rick said.
“I’m staying too. Luffy you’re too tired to fight, so just sit back down and wait while I deal with them.”
“No way!”
“If I’m in trouble you can jump in. Nami it would be safer for you if you leave. I can’t promise I’ll be able to protect you.”

Luffy rejected Rick's deal while Nami went quiet again. Every cell in her body was telling her to leave, to find a safe place. But she didn’t move. Her friends had so much faith in her and here she was thinking of running away. Just like she did every time there is a fight. Just like she did back on Sabaody Archipelago two years ago. She had trained hard, learned an immeasurable amount of knowledge to be able to help and yet she hadn’t really used any of it yet. That simple thought helped her make a decision.

“I’m not leaving. Not without you two idiots.”
“Nami…”
“I’m staying, period!”

Rick and Luffy looked at each other and smiled.

“Okay then. Here’s the battle plan. I’m in front dealing with most of them, Luffy you’re behind me taking everyone that I can’t stop. Nami you’re at the back and you deal with everyone else. Is that alright?”
“Yes!”
“Let’s kick their ass!”
““Aye captain!””