"What-?! What is THIS?!" Pekoms shouted. "Those Straw Hat bastards! When I get my hands on them, I'll gRrwogroggorwwrwwrrgow!!! GAO!"
Pekoms' speech became unintelligible, he was so infuriated; more growls than words came from his mouth.
Bege wisely didn't say anything. What happened to the rest of the Straw Hats wasn't important. They just needed to deliver Vinsmoke Sanji to his wedding. He did think it was odd though. The Straw Hats weren't known for their brutality, but rather more for their blatant opposition to government authority. He reckoned Straw Hat Luffy really took after his father, but this would suggest he was more a typical pirate than freedom fighter.
The sight before them was the ruined wreckage of what was once a prosperous city.
Pekoms got down on all fours and followed his nose, leading the two of them deeper into the city before the sounds of people entered their ears. Pekoms rushed forward in a hurry to make sure his people were okay.
Thankfully they were fine, if not a little worse for wear. Just about everyone was bandaged in some manner as they went about piecing their homes back together.
Pekoms asked after his family and friends, and was greatly relieved to hear they were okay. "Where are the Straw Hats?! I want to give them a piece of my mind!"
Bege's concerns were different from Pekoms'. The lion mink was so focused on payback that he didn't realize the possibility that Vinsmoke Sanji may already be dead. That would mean THEY were already dead too! Big Mom wouldn't hesitate to kill her own children for such a failure, let alone a bunch of grunts like them!
"Oh, of course you'd want to thank them as well, huh Pekoms? You can find them over yonder, just follow the smell of food." a mink answered Pekoms.
""..."" Pekoms and Bege were caught off guard, rendered speechless.
"Thank them…?" Pekoms asked tentatively.
"Oh, did you want to speak to them about something else? That makes sense, you wouldn't know they saved us all when you just got back, huh?" the mink nodded in understanding.
The mink gave a general summary of the events that have taken place on Zou for the past two weeks. Pekoms was shocked, angry, and so grateful he was brought to tears.
Even though the situation was now the complete opposite of what they thought it was before, Bege was starting to sweat. It was much, much worse that the Straw Hats were receiving the heroes' treatment. That meant using force would be very tricky if not impossible, with the whole country potentially defending Vinsmoke Sanji.
Worse still, Pekoms might turn on him! He knew how loyal the lion mink was; would he choose Big Mom over his own people? Bege doubted it.
Unknown to Pekoms, Bege's gang was getting ready for battle at a moment's notice. Ready to strike down any resistance before it could properly get started, then to get the hell out of dodge!
The two of them marched off in the direction that Pekoms nose once more led them and came upon a breakfast banquet fit for the Reverie. There serving plates to anyone who wanted one was their target, Vinsmoke Sanji.
Before Bege could step forward, Pekoms beat him to it. "Straw Hats! Gao!"
Several pairs of eyes turned on them and smiles turned to frowns.
"Who are they?" Luffy asked, mouth full of food.
"What do you want?" Nami stood and pointed accusingly at them, gripping a strange staff at her side.
Sensing the atmosphere, the nearby minks moved to give them privacy. They didn't think Pekoms would try to harm their saviors, after all.
Pekoms slammed his head to the ground, prostrating himself in dramatic fashion. "Thank you for saving my family, my friends, and my people!"
Bege sighed. The Straw Hats and the Heart Pirates looked at Pekoms in confusion. Caesar had slipped beneath the table to hide the moment he saw them.
"What are you doing?" Chopper asked Caesar innocently.
"Shush! I can't let them find me!" Caesar scream-whispered back.
Chopper tilted his head cutely.
Bege had enough and said, "Get to it, Pekoms! We have business to take care of."
"Oh, that's right…" Pekoms remembered.
He sat up and looked at Sanji before saying, "We were sent here by Big Mom to bring you back, Vinsmoke Sanji."
"Vinsmoke? Why does that name sound familiar?" Usopp asked between bites of eggs.
Sanji's face darkened, cluing them in that something was wrong.
Pekoms waved his hands placatingly. "Of course, I can only call this a failed mission. I can't do that to the saviors of my people."
"Hey, Pekoms! What the hell are you doing?!" Bege lost it. "Keep your business and private matters separate! And don't drag me down with you!"
"Shut up, newbie! You won't get in trouble, I'll take responsibility." Pekoms insisted without even turning to look at him. That was a mistake.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Bege leveled his hand to Pekoms' back and gunfire sounded out. Pekoms coughed up blood and slumped forward, slamming into the ground with a thump.
"You bastard! What are you doing to your comrade!" Luffy was ready to leap over the table and strangle Bege.
Several more hatches opened up and men swarmed out of his body, growing to full size the instant they left and armed to the teeth.
"Don't make any funny moves and nobody has to get hurt." Bege spoke confidently. Harpin D. Cherry wasn't here, so he was feeling confident.
"Stop, Luffy." Sanji spoke, though it sounded more like pleading.
"What? Why?" Luffy asked, trusting his friend and crewmate had his reasons.
"You heard what Cherry said when she got that invitation to Big Mom's tea party, Luffy. No matter what the Pekoms said, she'll go after the Baratie regardless. That's the kind of woman she is. I have to go." Sanji said, clearly not fond of the idea.
"You should listen to your chef, Straw Hat. He's a smart cookie." Bege smiled, liking the direction this was going. "Why don't you come inside and we can have a proper chat about this?"
One of Bege's men, as if to demonstrate, walked towards him and shrank, landing on the drawbridge panel opened in his chest.
"You as well, Caesar! Unless you want sea stone shotguns to put some holes in your body!" Bege called out, having spotted Caesar hiding under the table before.
"Don't shoot, damn it!" Caesar gave up instantly, like the coward he was.
Things were going quite well, he just needed to get Vinsmoke Sanji inside and at his mercy, then he could leave before the minks came to-
"What's this? Why is that boy Pekoms lying in a pool of blood?" a voice called everyone's attention. "I heard gunfire too. Explain yourself."
A monstrous cat man approached. Even without conqueror's haki, his sheer presence cowed Bege's men, making them back off instinctively.
Bege's eyes were drawn to the cat's left arm, where instead of flesh and blood there was blackened steel with blood red inlays. Claws slowly extended from the fingertips, as big as swords, the scraping of metal against metal making several of Bege's men wet themselves.
"Fuck." Bege put simply.