A Father's Betrayal

Chapter 17

Sanji led the crew to the dining hall, dragging Zoro by the collar of his shirt because he had begun to go the direction toward their rooms when they were about a fourth of the way there. He stopped in front of the doors when he heard the sound of someone yelling.

"YOU THREE ARE MY GREATEST CREATIONS! HOW COULD YOU LET THAT FAILURE DEFEAT YOU SO EASILY!"

"It won't happen again Father," they heard Niji say.

"THE HELL IT WON'T! THE THREE OF YOU HUMILIATED ME!"

"Don't worry, Dad, I'm crushing every done in his pathetic body as soon as I get the chance!" Yonji said.

"We still need him in a decent condition, Yonji," Ichiji said. "But, with all due respect, Father... if you would have let me continue fighting... I could have easily defeated him."

"YOU'RE THE ONE THAT DISAPPOINTED MY THE MOST, ICHIJI! YOU LET YOURSELF GET BLINDED BY ANGER! THAT NOT ONLY COST YOU THAT FIGHT BUT IT COULD COST YOU YOUR LIFE IN A REAL BATTLE! I NEED ALL OF YOU IF WE'RE GOING TO CONCUR THE NORTH BLUE! WE CAN'T AFFORD FOR ONE OF YOU TO DIE OVER SOMETHING LIKE ANGER! I RAISED YOU BETTER THAN THAT!"

"Maybe you should have taken all of our emotions then," Yonji pointed out.

"Yeah, I'd be fine without them. Emotions are useless," Niji agreed.

"Really? Dad, that's not~" Ichiji began but trailed off as Sanji grabbed the back of his new and fell to his knees.

"Sanji-kun!" Nami said sitting on her knees next to him and wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

He bit his lip trying to keep from screaming from the sharp pain shooting through his body. ...Necessary, Sanji thought, finishing Ichiji's sentence. "I-i'm... F-fine...," he forced out.

"NOT NECESSARY! THE THREE OF YOU FAILED ME! I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO DISAPPOINTED IN YOU IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!"

"You don't look fine, Sanji," Usopp replied.

"It... w-won't... happen... again," Ichiji said through clenched teeth.

"I'm kicking his ass," Luffy said reaching to open the doors.

"You better hope it doesn't,"Judge said as the sharp pain finally faded.

Sanii slowly got to his feet, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand and grabbing Luffy by the arm with the other, "Not yet, Luffy. Please. That wasn't meant for me... not this time anyways."

"What did he do?" Nami asked, her eyes filled with worry.

"When we were kids Judge had this chip put in the back of our necks... well not Reiju's... it's designed to trick our brain into thinking we're in pain.... I guess he did it in case we ever got out of his control, not having emotions and all, he must of had a fear of us turning on him or something. Its triggered with a single remote, so if he wants to use it on one of us then the rest of us better hope we're out of the remote's range. Of course that was before he new my emotions were still intact."

"That's none of their business!" Ichiji said, now standing in the door. He grabbed Sanii by the arm and pulled him in. "For someone who claims to be better than us, you sure do like to eavesdrop." He flung the blond into his chair..

"Right, I get told to come to dinner and get accused of eavesdropping for it.... Cause that makes a lot of sense!" Sanji said, his words dripping in sarcasm as he stared down the older brother.

Ichiji placed his hands on the sides of Sanji's chair. He looked the bond straight in the eye through his red sunglasses. His expression calm and collected yet minasing, lick a predator staring down his pray. Inches between the two brothers faces, Sanji's bangs swayed ever so slightly in response to his brothers warm breath as he spoke in a cool, threatening voice, "Watch. Your. Tongue."