Big Mom, Pudding, Sanji, and the Vinsmokes were sitting around a dining table inside what seemed to be an indoor lawn with walls painted like the sky. It was one of the rooms that Cherry had chased Katakuri through the night before.
Sanji's three brothers were perfectly presentable, but their smiles were forced. Germa's advanced medical technology was incredible, but there were still lingering wounds from their fight with Cherry earlier this morning hidden beneath their skin. In the presence of Big Mom, though, they could only grin and bear it.
Ichiji was particularly aggrieved since he was currently using glued-in dentures instead of his real teeth. The surprise dental work that Cherry had been so kind to perform on him had not just knocked them out, but crushed them as well. New ones were currently being grown for him for transplantation, but that would take time.
Still, he didn't envy Niji despite the fact that a thirty minute surgery was enough to reattach the 'bits' that he lost in that fight.
They weren't the only ones with their minds off somewhere else during this luncheon. Pudding was spacing out, staring blankly at the black and green tea containers who were vying for her attention in song.
Sanji, who was sitting to her right, naturally noticed that she was distressed. He subtly tapped the table with his left hand to get her attention whilst Big Mom and Judge were distracted by their small talk regarding the wedding.
Pudding glanced his way and saw the question in his eyes and the concern. "Is everything alright?" they seemed to ask.
Pudding bit her lip nervously, glancing at her mother to be sure she wasn't paying them any attention. She hastily scribbled a note and passed it to Sanji beneath the table.
When Sanji received it, he read "Meet me in my room later" and his heart momentarily leapt before he suppressed it. He knew she wasn't asking for a little pre-wedding fun.
He gave a small nod before turning his attention back to the conversation between the 'adults' at the table.
…
After the luncheon ended, Pudding paced in her bedroom.
"I should have specified a time, damn it…" All this waiting was killing her.
The reason she asked Sanji to meet her here was to clear up any 'misunderstandings' that may arise in the future on account of her conspiring to get the Straw Hats, who came to rescue Sanji, caught in the Seducing Woods.
She had planned to do so anyway since that little plot utterly failed, with the addition of the defeat of a Sweet General no less; but now things were different.
Now, she was actually going to marry that curly-browed dufus.
She had spent weeks, WEEKS, preparing herself to kill him in cold blood in front of nearly every major player in the underworld! She had had to pour every negative emotion she had suppressed over the years into hating the blond just to be sure she didn't hesitate when the moment came, and now? NOW SHE HAD TO MARRY HIM FOR REAL?!
Do you have any idea what that kind of whiplash does to a girl?!
She had gotten herself to the point that she was almost looking forward to the moment she revealed her third eye to him! To see the look of disgust on his face that would make it all too easy to shoot that face a second later! Now she was going to have to kiss that face!
"ARGH!!!" *bamf* *bamf* *bamf* Pudding threw her dainty fists into a giant stuffed bear sitting in the corner of her room with all her might, over and over again.
*knock knock*
Pudding flinched at the sound and quickly made herself presentable, like she hadn't just been beating her frustrations out of her stuffed bear.
Pudding put on a show of checking for watchers when she opened the door for Sanji and let him inside, quickly and quietly shutting the door behind him.
"What's wrong, Pudding? Is there anything I can do to help?" Sanji asked carefully.
'Of course there is, dumbass! You can run away with all your little friends so we can go back to kill you!' Pudding sneered inwardly.
Pudding started to tear up and put a hand over her mouth as if to hold back a sob. "I… I have to apologize. Your friends… I told them to meet me on the coast. I was going to bring you to them, so you could escape to sea."
Sanji widened his eyes. He had no idea that his bride-to-be had gone to such lengths for his sake, even if somewhat misguided.
"Mama called for me first thing this morning though, and hasn't let me out of her sight until now. I'm afraid that I've caused them to get into trouble; I even saw my siblings forming a war party outside the chateau…" Pudding's tears fell in big, pitiful droplets.
"Ah! Don't cry Pudding! I saw Luffy not too long ago and he was fine," Sanji tried to calm her worries, ignoring the memory of kicking Luffy away from him. "They're a tough bunch, I'm sure they'll be okay."
"I wasn't able to keep my word, though!" Pudding raised her voice, voiced tinged with sadness and frustration. "They're in danger because of me!"
"Pudding, I wouldn't have gone to the shore with you anyways. I've already decided to accept my place here," Sanji spoke resolutely.
'You might have, but I haven't, you bastard!' Pudding swallowed the insult before it could voice itself. "But, you don't want to get married, do you? Don't you have dreams?"
Pudding congratulated herself for that one. Romantics like this dummy always had silly dreams that led them out to sea. If she could steer him towards running away of his own volition, then her worries would be over!
Sanji explained solemnly, "My friends might be strong enough to handle the threats of an Emperor-"
'Yeah, sure buddy.' Pudding thought derisively.
"-But I have people back in East Blue that aren't in the same position. If I were to run, then Big Mom would target them. My dreams aren't more important to me than my loved ones," Sanji continued. "Not to mention, I have these."
Sanji showed the 'explosive' bracelets on his wrists to her and she gasped. Cherry had supposedly disabled them, but she hadn't said as such, so it would be somewhat foolish to assume on the slim chance that she hadn't.
'Fuuuuuck! I forgot about those!' Pudding lamented internally.
"As I understand it, your mother is the only one with a key to these. Only Cherry would have any chance of getting it from her, though I expect she would be able to remove them without a key, to be honest." Sanji said, seeming to admire the deceptively thin bracelets that could apparently blow his hands clean off.
"Oh, right, Cherry is going to be engaged with one of my siblings, too. Mama hasn't decided who yet, but Katakuri refused three times despite only being asked once," Pudding relayed without thinking too much about what she was saying.
Sanji was frozen in place and Pudding was unaware of the turmoil roiling within his mind.