A Father's Betrayal

Chapter 45

"The beach is up ahead!" Nami said as they ran down the path.

Luffy stretched one arm around the group and reached for a tree in the distance with the other.

"LUFFY! DON'T!!!!" His Nakama yelled at him. But it was too late, they were already speeding off to catch up with Luffy's hand.

"I'm going to kill him," Niji and Reiju said as they all laid in a pile.

"LUFFY! HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO TELL YOU TO STOP DOING THAT!" Nami, Zoro, and Usopp yelled jumping to their feet.

"That was fun," Carrot smiled.

"But... where are they?" Nami asked looking around.

Luffy took a moment to focus on his observation haki. A split second later he took off running and the others followed. Luffy slid to a halt with his arms stretched out to stop the others. They found Sanji laying in the sand. Judge stood over him with Niji's sword skewering Sanji's hand.

It was obvious that Sanji was unconscious but Niji couldn't help but notice that the sword wasn't  just impelled in Sanji's hands but Sanji's fingers were clinched around the blade. His eyes widened, but he's so protective of his hands.... "Why...?" He muttered under his breath. That's when he realized, it wasn't just a sword... Judge didn't use a sword he used a spear.... It was his lightspeed sword!

"YOU BASTARD!" Luffy yelled going into second gear. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY FRIIIIIEEEEND~," he added charging at Judge.

Judge turned to him with a grin on his face. He didn't say anything he just watched as Luffy came towards him.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Luffy yelled while throwing Jett Pistol to Judge's face.

"I'll see you later," he said grabbing Luffy's wrist. "I'll give you a hint on my next target. It's a kingdom near the ruins of Flevance.... Trafalger will be able to take you there. Right... Law?"

Everyone turned around to find Law standing there. He's stare was distant and his face had gone pail. It was rare for Law to express fear, but something about what Judge had just said definitely scared him.

"Tra-guy, when did you get here?" Luffy said. "What wrong?"

"I-it's nothing.... I did what I could for King Roland.... He'll recover."

Using the distraction, Judge let go of Luffy's wrist and flew away.

"That's a relief," Chopper said before turning back to where Sanji was laying. "...!... JUDGE IS GONE!!"

Everyone turned back around.

"THAT COWARD!!!" Luffy yelled.

Zeff walked over to Sanji and nelt down next to him. He held the sword in one hand and gently on curled Sanji's fingers. "What were you thinking," he sighed, slowly removing the sword. Sanji winced in his sleep at the added pain. "Look what you did to your hands. I aught to kick you, you know," he added looking at the deep cuts on his fingers.

Sanji, of course, didn't respond. 

"I believe this is your's," Zeff said holding the sword up to Niji.

"I'm sorry," Niji said taking the sword.

"For?" Zeff asked.

"If I hadn't freaked out about Dad steeling it... then Sanji probably wouldn't of held onto it like that."

"That doesn't make it your fault."

"We need to get him back to the Sunny," Chopper said transforming to heavy point and carefully lifting the blond into his arms.

"You sure you're okay, Tra-guy?" Nami asked.

"You are looking a bit pail, bro."

"Flevance was where I was born," Law finally confessed.

"But he said the ruins of Flevance," Robin pointed out.

"It was destroyed by the surounding kingdoms and the World Government."

"Yeah, because of a deadly, infectious diseases," Niji said, or at least that's what we've heard."

"It was not infectious!" Law said, his aura going dark. "It was a poison. My parents, little sister, and friends were all needlessly slaughtered because nobody wanted to listen to my father on how the amber lead syndrome really worked and help find a cure. It was the governments way of covering up what was really happening. As usual."

"That's horrible!" Nami said covering her mouth with one hand.

"It was a long time ago," Law said even though it still bothered him.

"Maybe so, but still, nobody ever truly gets over something like that," Robin said, having gone threw a similar tragedy herself.

"No," Law agreed before changing the subject. "We got more important things to worry about, then my past, right now, like treating Black Leg-ya's wounds."

"You guys take care of Sanji.  I'm going after that bastard."

"Wait Straw Hat! He's got my genetic enhancements!" Niji said grabbing Luffy's arm.

"I'm rubber! Electricity doesn't affect me!" Luffy said turning to face him.

"💢That's not what I mean!💢 He can use stealth.  Which means he's long gone. Not even I can catch up with him. Like Trafalger just said, we have other problems to deal with right now."

"If I go now I...!"

"Luffy!" Nami reluctantly interrupted. "He's right.

"DO YOU NOT SEE WHAT HE DID TO SANJI! HE NEEDS TO PAY!"

"I know how you feel, Luffy. We all do. But we have to  keep our priorities straight."

"Yeah!" Chopper agreed. "I promised I'd treat everyone! And no w we have to treat Sanji!"

"Not to mention the fact that we have to keep a close eye on Ichi and make sure he doesn't kill Sanji," Niji added.

"Do you understand Luffy?" Nami asked.

"Things are really complicated and they just keep getting more complicated?"

"Good. It sunk in better then I thought."

"Speaking of Sparking Red.... Him, Wench Green, and Cosette headed back to your ship."

"So we can't take Sanji there, right?" Chopper asked.

"Ichiji seems to be fine as long as he can't see Sanji. So as long as they aren't in the same room it should be fine," Niji said.

"Okay. Then I need to get Sanji to my office without Ichiji seeing him," Chopper said, thoughtfully.

"I'll run ahead and tell Ichiji to go to the crows nest or something."

Chopper gave him a single nod and Niji disappeared.

Alright! I think I've decided! The contest is a go! I'm taking it to YouTube (TheLastOtakuNew) so my fans on FF.net can get envolved too! So as soon as I get the announcement/rules video filmed and uploaded I'll let you all know via the next chapter!