Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You are going to tell us exactly who you are and what you're doing here before we end you right here on the floor.” The other Niji practically growled while sparks radiated threateningly from him.
“Oh ho ho tough guy! Niji, you should take notes!” Yoinji laughed gleefully, leaning against Sanji's shoulder with his elbow. The youngest was clearly enjoying the growing annoyance coming from both his real family and the one standing opposite them.
“Do you want me to leave you here? Because I will! Don't test me! ” Niji quipped from behind him as he tirelessly typed away at his transportable computer/ transponder snail, his own small sparks dancing off him in frustration.
Sanji calmly lit a cigarette and turned towards his blue brother with a sly grin. “Don't do that, Niji , if we leave him we can't use him for extra meat later! I have been itching to try this new curry recipe …”
“Please stop threatening to cook Yonji, it’s making us look dysfunctional in front of new people.” Ichiji frowned at Sanji, glaring through his sunglasses.
Rejiu smiled, crossing her arms and leaning against Ichiji, mirroring Sanji and Yonji. “I'm not sure you need to worry about that little brother, they look pretty dysfunctional on their own."
Vinsmoke Judge stared at the scene in front of him in utter shock. Not 5 seconds ago he had been observing his second son reteaching the failure of the basic rules of the castle, when out of nowhere 5 intruders fell out of the air in a bright flash onto the floor. When the light had faded what stood before him was a disgusting warping of his perfect creations.
All 4 of his prefect soldiers had a blond streak running through their hair in a clear mimicry of the Judge's greatest shame. They all had the very distinctive swirled eyebrows facing the exact wrong way. And the failure. God the Failure.
The little wrench had the audacity to grow his hair out so that it could be pulled into a loose braid hanging off its shoulder. The bright achingly blue eyes glittered in joy that had no right being there. If not for the stubble on the failures chin ruining the illusion the boy was a picture perfect replica of the woman he had once loved.
It made his blood boil in rage.
“Enough !” He bellowed out slamming his spear on the ground causing a loud slam to echo through the hall. “Whoever sent you will sorely regret defacing my creations like this. You will tell me who your master is before I blast you all to hell!”
“Jezz touchy much?” The Yonji raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the man atop the throne. “ Don't get to exited fuckass, no one wants to replicate any dog shit you manage to string together. No, we are from a different dimension and our lovely brother here is just about to get his shit together so we can leave before this whole situation becomes an us problem.”
Sanji knocked Yonji upside the head with the back of his hand.
“Ow ! What was that for ? “ He grumbled rubbing his head as if the light slap had actually hurt.
“You don't just go handing out info like that to the enemy dumbass.” Sanji exhaled a mouthful of smoke and rubbed the bridge of his nose in exasperation. “Niji, exactly how long is it gonna take you to get the teleporter up and running ? And follow up. How likely is it that it will be done before Yonji gets us killed by being stupid?”
“Hey! What is this bully Yonji day?” The green haired brother mumbled, faking a very upset look.
“When is it not ?” Ichji smiled and gave Sanji a small fist bump in solidarity.
“Not you too Chi-Chi ! What happened to “not looking disfunctional”” Yonji raved emphasizing his words with air quotes at the very end.
Judge looked like he was going to combust with pure rage “ I will NOT be ignored —”
“And yet here we are ignoring you.” Ichiji smirked, “ Niji can you hurry up please this guy is really starting to piss me off.”
Niji winced as his screen flashed red once more like it had been for the last couple of seconds. “ Uh guys we might be here for a while.”
“You will watch your tongue when talking to the king you insolent wrench.” The other Ichiji snarled clearly fed up with all the insanity that came with the intruders.
Rejiu smirked “ Insolent Wrench? Wow, did your daddy teach you those big words, little man?”
“I’ve had just about enough of this insolence, sons subdue these intruders and bring them to the lab. Daughter, make sure the failure looks presentable before we depart for lunch with big mom.” He took a final glare at the long hair failure. “ And kill the blond one.”
A menacing echo of “Yes father.” reverberated through the room. All except the other Sanji and Rejiu looked ready to make good on their fathers command to kill.
“Finally!” The other Yonji cracked his knuckles and smirked, “I was getting real sick and tired of all this bullshit.”
“What? Too much of a coward to kill me yourself ? “ Sanji taunted at Judge as the man stormed out of the room. His family took a fighting stance around him as the energy in the room became thick with promised violence. Sanji was about to take off after the dimensional copy of his sperm donner but it seemed the other Niji had different plans.
“The failure is mine.” The other Niji snarled, still pissed off about the argument earlier. He shot forward at lightning fast speed aiming a kick directly into the replica's stupid cocky face. The split second before he made contact however Yonji blocked the attack using his forearm coated in haki and shoved him away. The impact from the attack sent a wave of power radiating through the room sending everyone a step back.
“Now would be a really great time to get that teleporter running Niji!” Yonji said, quickly getting into a fighting stance almost protectively standing in front of Sanji.
Niji growled at his screen, backing away from the approaching enemies. “ I can't! There's something blocking my connection!”
“What do you mean you can't!” Ichiji snapped, positioning himself to guard his brother.
“Rejiu you subdue the copy Niji, Yonji you take out the copy Rejiu, Im taking the copy of me.” The other Ichiji said taking control of the chaos.
The other Yonji smirked. “Aye aye captain!” He pulled back his arms for an attack on the copy of his sister when suddenly he was sent flying into the side of the wall.
“You forgot someone jackass.” The other Sanji spat and faced off against his family. He might not have a goddamn clue what the hell was going on but clearly these other forms of his brothers were not friends of Germa 66. And an enemy of Germa was a friend of his.
“Hell yeah fuck him up bro!” Yonji cheered before getting cut off by the other Niji.
“ You need to shut your insufferable mouth!” the other Niji sneered, shooting a barrage of quick attacks at his appointment.
Yonji smiled, blocking every attack with ease and fired back with his own barrage of strong kicks. “Make me!” He mocked kicking the copy of his blue brother with enough force to send him through the wall. Yonji cracked and ran after his opponent with glee, trusting his family to handle the others in the room.
“You are going to regret that failure.” The other Ichiji snarled and pulled out a golden remote. Before he could do anything however Sanji seemingly teleported in front of him and kicked the remote towards Niji who just barely managed to catch it.
“ We are not going to do any of that bullshit asshole.” Sanji taunted standing above the other Ichiji on the table. “ You want his hands, you go through me.”
“ Well it looks like this just became an us problem.” Rejiu sighed as Sanji and other Ichiji started trading blows. She looked up at her double “ I really am sorry about this but Sanji is going to throw a fit if anyone but me were to attack you.” Without much more she gracefully launched herself at her double with a high kick to the face.
The other Yonji seemed to finally be able to pull himself up from the rubble of the wall and looked like he was going to go for an attack on his own Sanji before Iciji intercepted it and sent him flying back once again.
“Niji take our new friend and get those stupid cuffs off him. We will regroup here after everyone is finished with their fights. Try to get some info on this dimension before then.”
“Who died and put you in charge?” Niji complained but ran forward towards the other Sanji and grabbed his arm anyway. “ Come on little brother we gotta get you out of here.” Niji pulled the other Sanji out of the way of an arm attack from the very angry Yonji still on the ground, and ran with him towards the exit.
Satisfied that Niji would be out of the battle, Ichji turned his full attention to the opponent in front of him.
“Alright you angry green bean lets see if this Germa is any less pathetic than the one at home.” And with that the battle began.

Chapter Text

Niji was about to explode from stress. He was eternally grateful to Ichiji for getting him out of that room when he did.
He had just wanted to finally work out the kinks of his teleporter and see Dad for mothers birthday. Yeah sure it had glitched in the past and sent him and his family flying through dimensions but usually they were in and out in under a minute. Usually it was a simple matter of recalibrating the teleporter to get them going in the right direction again. If they landed in a different dimension usually that meant it was close by and therefore not too many things were different from home. This universe seemed to be adamant in proving him wrong.
Niji couldn't figure it out but for some reason it seemed that they were shot halfway across the multiverse to get here. Nothing was aligning on any of his maps and he couldn't get a solid connection to any of his check points. It's as if something or someone was messing with the calibration as Niji did it.
To make matters worse it seemed like none of his tech worked in this stupid place. Everything kept blinking in and out through power surges. It was eternally frustrating, he couldn't even get a good enough scan of the place to figure out where a possible power source could be.
Lost in his thoughts, Niji didn't even notice the new voice yelling in his ear until he felt a sharp pain shot through his arm.
“OW! What the hell !” Niji yelled, letting go of the copy of his younger brother and moving to massage the spot on his arm the other had apparently tried to split in half with a kick.
The other Sanji rubbed at his own arm where Niji had grabbed him earlier and glared at him from across the hall. “I told you to let go of me d*ckhead! I did not run out of that room just to fight with another version of Niji so either you listen to me next time or I’ll make sure the next kick actually breaks your arm in half.”
“Sorry sorry!” Niji tried to pacify, holding his left hand up in surrender. His right hand was still clutched around the horrifyingly familiar golden remote. “ Look man, I'm gonna try and help you out here and I would really appreciate it if you didn't add onto my long list of problems by breaking my arm.”
The other Sanji seemed surprised at that and looked at him quizzically. “You really are from a different dimension huh?”
“What do arms not break in this dimension or something?”
The other Sanji scoffed in what might have been a laugh “ No moron, it's just that the Niji I know has never said the word “sorry” in his life. I doubt he even knows what it means.”
Niji frowned at the solemn tone in the other voice. “Alright buddy, that sounds like a lot of baggage we really don't have time to dissect right now.” The watch on his right arm blinked in and out then flashed red again. Ninji growled in frustration and set the watch to scan mode for the third time since landing in this stupid dimension.
“Again I really am trying to help you here and my watch apparently can't function in this stupid place. I need you to show me where the lab is in this place so I can get those cuffs off you.”
“Why the h3ll would I know where the lab is ?”
“Did you not grow up here?” Niji questioned gesturing for the other Sanji to follow him as he headed down the hallway again looking for the Lab. Ichiji had given him 2 goals; Get the bomb cuffs of the other Sanji and find out more about where they were. Finding the Lab would help with both of those things. Right along with a secret 3rd mission he had given himself to make life a little bit easier for everyone.
“Like hell I would grow up here! I'm trying my best to leave this place in the dump where it belongs.” The other Sanji griped as he ran to keep up with Niji.
“ You and me both brother.” Niji groaned, slipping around corners trying to stay away from the sparse guards here and there.
Niji had had quite enough of Germa (and more specifically Judge) for several lifetimes. Not even a month ago the dickwad had stormed into their lives with a vengeance. Apparently the asshole had it in his twisted head that he had every right in the world to sell Sanji off to big mom. Judge had held on to his grudge for his own children for over a decade and seemed hell bent on making everyone's lives as miserable as possible. Kidnaping and blackmailing all 5 of the siblings and forcing them to play nice for a stupid arranged marriage with threats ranging from blowing off Sanji's hands to murdering Zeff in the east blue to straight up mind controlling everyone save for Sanji using Germa tech. The siblings were lucky enough for the strawhats to show up and fix everything like usual. In the end none of Judge's plots of revenge mattered at all because Big mom was going to eliminate him anyways. Sanji being the absolute angel sent from heaven that he is, convinced them to save Judge as long as he never bothered any of them ever again.
Niji was just fine with that arrangement and would prefer to never think about their collective sperm donner ever again. Unfortunately for him this entire family had the worst luck known to mankind and nothing was ever going to be that simple. And of course it was Niji that had to go and screw everything up by sending them to a dimension where seemingly everything went Judges' way.
From what Niji could infer he and his siblings were loyal to Judge in this dimension and didn't seem to have any gripes about killing on his command. All except for the Sanji who seemed to be held here by the explosive cuffs on his wrists. The same kind of cuffs his dimensions Judge had used on his Sanji a month ago in Whole Cake Island.
“OI! Sparky! Pay attention!” The other Sanji whisper screamed at Niji and kicked him into a room right before a large group of guards turned the corner and caught them.
“Are you always this spacey sparkles? Or is this an elaborate plan to get us caught and killed?” The other Sanji angrily complained while keeping close to the door in case anyone tried to step in.
“ Sparkles?” Niji squawked at his new brother , quickly getting up from the floor where Sanji had kicked him.
“Yeah Sparkles you have been sparkling the entire time you've been here. It's really annoying and it's going to get us caught so cut it out!”
Niji looked down at himself and realized that the other Sanji was telling the truth. Random sparks of electricity were sizzling off his body making small popping sounds and giving the allusion of sparklers.
So that's why none of his tech was working.
“Goddamit I thought I had a handle on this.” Niji mumbled and tried to calm his mind. All 5 of the siblings had side effects from Judges surgeries as fetuses. In Niji's case whenever he got too riled up about something, electricity would shoot through his body. As a kid it was a lot worse, sometimes he could generate enough electricity to cause 3rd degree burns, but as he got older he got better at calming himself down before he got to that point. Generally speaking he had enough control over the output of electricity to avoid harming others or shorting out his tech but clearly it was not going to be that kind of day.
He tried even out his breath the way Zeff had taught him when they were kids. 4 seconds in. 4 second hold. 4 seconds out. Over and over. He tried to envision the Baratie and the way it moves on the ocean. Waves pushing her bow, rocking her back and forth in a steady beat. In and out. Up and down. Over and Over.
“Are you dying right now because that would be really inconvenient for me.” The Sanji voiced from where he was watching from the door frame.
“I am trying to quote on quote “cut it out” as you so eloquently put it. So shut the hell up so I can focus.” Niji snapped back and what few sparks had begun to fade sparked back to life with new vigor.
“We really don't have time for your stupid panic attack right now man–”
“Just shut up, it will only take a second!”
It took about a minute for Ninji to fully put out all the sparks around him as the Sanji watched in agitation.
“Are you done yet?” The Sanji questioned, peeking out the door to see if the cost was clear.
“You know I think I'm starting to get why your Niji never apologizes to you.” Niji mumbled under his breath as the scan from his watch finally worked and popped out a full map of the castle. He quickly flicked through possible rooms for a lab before landing on one in the bottom basement that had half of the country's power running to it.
“Ok the Labs this way.” He said, leading the way to a staircase to the basement level.
“I thought you said your watch didn't work here.” The Sanji complained chasing after Niji once again.
“Well it does now so hurry up!”
“You're the one that was slowing us down!”
“You're making it very hard to want to help you!” Niji snarled, “ You are so lucky you look like Sanji because otherwise I would have left you to deal with this on your own.”
The Sanji seemed to stutter at that and followed behind him without another word

Chapter Text

That all you got, Daddy's boy?!” Yonji jeered gleefully, delighting in the way Prince Niji scowled in anger at being tossed through yet another wall. It had been a really fun fight for the last couple minutes and Yonji was covered in scrapes, bruises and burns. There are three things that Yonji loved most in the world; Music, being an annoyance and fighting. This knocked out 2 of the 3
It's very rare that Yonji had been able to annoy Niji enough to have a spar with him. When they were kids Niji had an intense fear of shocking people by accident so he tended to avoid fighting when he could. That's not to say he never fought back but he did tend to go for more emotional damage than physical.
Prince Niji was nothing like that. He didn't hold anything back and Yonji is sure if he hadn't been given express orders to bring him and his siblings to the lab (save for Sanji, it's always Sanji) The prince would have powered up the shock wave enough to kill him outright.
It was invigorating.
Fighting this Ninji felt more like fighting Sanji. Nothing held back everything on the line. Yonji and Sanji spent the most time fighting with each other due to both of their quick tempers and being so prone to violence. It wasn't because they hated each other, far from it. Sanji and Yonji trusted each other possibly a bit deeper than anyone else because they fought so often. The brothers had an innate understanding of each other's strengths and weaknesses. Sanji would cover where Yonji couldn't and Yonji would cover where Sanji couldn't. The only other person in the world that seemed to get that was Zeff and that swordsman on the straw hat ship. Yonji had seen the man as competition for his older brother's attention when they first met before quickly realizing how truly happy the swordsman made Sanji.(That and they had exchanged dirt on the cook one night earning Yonji's approval) Yonji still found the need to give the rival green man a talking to but he felt very confident Sanji was in good hands as long as he got first dips on any snacks while on the ship.
This battle obviously wasn't fought out of love or trust but that made it all the more exciting! Yonji loved the rush that came with brushing with death, much to the dismay of most of his family. That's why he had left Baratie at 17 to be a pirate on the grand line. The rush of adrenalin and fear proved to him that he was really and truly living. It proved that he could feel despite everything Judge had tried to do. It proved he was him, and not just some stupid puppet on a string. It proved to him that he was really and truly free. And after all the bullcrap that happened in Whole Cake, he really needed that reminder.
Prince Niji got back on his feet making those stupid sounds and circled around Yonji priming for another attack.
“I am going to rip out your tongue, you impudent swine.” Prince Niji growled (he did a whole lot of growling) and sprung at him, sparking with electric power. The punch the prince threw radiated with pure energy and shot Yonji back several feet but he managed to stay standing by blocking with his forearms again.
“God your insults are so bad man, you really are a Niji.” Yonji complains side stepping a few more punches that flew his way, baiting the other to get closer to him. It was a lot of fun dancing around this guy. He seemed to get more angry at the fact Yonji kept avoiding his hits then when Yonji actually made a move to attack. “ Who even uses the word “impudent” anymore? What are you 85?”
“I will not be talked down to by a pathetic weakling copy of my brother. You are nothing but dirt beneath my feet.” The Prince ended his sentence with a kick downward that cracked the floor, Yonji had to crouch and roll to avoid it.
“This "pathetic weakling” has been beating you up for the last 10 minutes” Yonji fired back, flipping over Prince Niji and landing a solid kick to his back, sending the man tumbling into the crumbling wall yet again. It was a wonder that he had fallen for this trap so many times.
“Some Prince you are.” Yonji taunted, “ You're too cocky for your own good! You fight worse than a logia user that just learned what haki is!”
Prince Niji shot up and looked like he was going to attack again before hesitating and cocking his head to the side as if listening to something.
Yonji had a solid guess on who could be talking to him right now. “Got new orders, Princy boy? Finally gonna put your whole heart into this fight?”
The Prince glared as if he could kill Yonji with his eyes “You will rue the day you dared challenge Germa 66.” He snarled before turning and speeding away using his stupid Germa suite as a speed boost.
“OI GET BACK HERE YOU COWARD!” Yonji yelled after him before immediately turning the corner and finding an entire hall of Germa guards with their weapons at the ready.
“Well this just blows.” Yonji grumbled dodging as many of the flying bullets that were shot at him as he could. It's not like these soldiers could actually take him out but they would certainly cause a viable distraction for the Prince to get away.
“What a coward.” Yonji thought bitterly, knocking out soldiers left and right. Not that Yonji really had that much room to judge the Prince, afterall Yonji had first hand experience as to what it felt like having an order forced upon him. The mind bending pain that came with not listening to an order, the aching clawing hunger that surrounded him until an order was complete, the way his mind twisted logic to make it seem that listening to orders was all he wanted to do.
God why were they back here? It was only a month after the nightmare that was Whole Cake was from their dimension. It's just the Zeffsons luck to be thrown into a dimension where they had to relive it again. If none of them ever saw Judge again it would be too soon so of course the universe felt the need to shove him down their throats.
Now it's not that Yonji didn't trust his brother's work, but Niji's teleporter specifically had a tendency to glitch on the best of days and on the worst like today send them flying to a whole new world to deal with(Something about the inherent instability of reality manipulation or something Yonji wasn't listening to hard to Niji's explanation.) It was a gamble they took every time they decided to use the teleporter so they tried to do it very sparingly and only ever with Niji there with them. Usually the family only used it in extreme emergencies but this time was special. The brother in blue had said he fixed it up enough that it might be able to work more often and with Mama's birthday right around the corner the siblings had agreed to try and use it to go see Zeff in the east Blue. They were all a bit on edge after Judge had threatened their real fathers life and really wanted to see the old man to ensure his safety. Of course that didn't really work out.
Usually whenever they were sent to a different dimension Niji had it fixed in under a minute and they left most worlds before anyone had even noticed they were there. Niji was careful about keeping hidden and not messing with any different worlds seeing as it was strictly not their problem. They very obviously couldn't go jumping around different dimensions solving everyone's problems they had their own things to deal with! Given this family's habit of making things that had nothing to do with their problem it was better for everyone's sanity if they just left well enough alone. At least that was Yonji's opinion.
Being a little brother had its perks he guesses. Yonji hated sharing and especially hated sharing his family. He made that very clear to every one of his siblings' new partners before they won him over with treats or blackmail. If you wanted to date a Zeffson you had to win the approval of Yonji first.
Yonji knew his siblings had a habit of sacrificing themselves or sacrificing their health for the quote “Greater good” or something. Listen, each and everyone of them had lingering trauma from growing up as a vinsmoke and each of them had grabbed onto their mothers words in different ways.
Yonji could picture one of the last few days he had seen his mother alive. Back then he hadn't had the emotions to really know why she was so important. To even begin to understand the love the woman was trying to share with him. The only reason he was there was because he was bored and Sanji said Mama always had fun stories to tell. Fun stories alright! His mother would sing to both of them grand tales of knights and dragons and princesses. Those were the times Yonji felt something grand spark in his chest, some of the only times he felt anything other than a crushing numbness in him. It felt so much better than whatever stirred in his heart when he watched Sanji get beat to the ground during training.
“Protect each other and keep each other safe ok you two? Make the world a better place with you in it alright?” Those were some of the last words his mother had told him. Sanji seemed to forget the last part constantly. You can't make the world a better place if you're not in it idiot! Yonji wanted to make sure his brother never had another reason to sacrifice his life without asking for help first.
*Buda buda buda buda* *Buda buda buda buda*
Well, speak of the devil Yonji supposed
*Click*
“Hey there seaweed! Do you need some help?” A snickering voice came from the watch on his arm. Right head back in the game he's fighting off a literal army of soldiers right now.
“I could be asking you the same question, strawhair! You probably called just to ask for my help fighting one of the doppelgangers.”
“HA as if your weak kicks would be any aid to me anyways.” Sanji smiled through the transponder snail built into everyone of their watches Niji had given them during Wano so they could reach each other. The watches were crazy helpful and had more than just built in transponder snails.
“I don't need your help fighting, I can handle this myself! If you actually want to help, go find out where Mr. Prince of sparkles went.” Yonji argued, knocking out new soldiers as they surrounded him in a swarm.
“Surrender now clone of Prince Yonji! Or we will be forced to take you to the king in pieces!” one of the soldiers yelled.
“And as much as I would love to leave you to entertain this lovely bunch, Chi-chi wants us back in the throne room to regroup.” Sanji said clearly, taking a drag of his cigarette across the line. “We set up a barrier here and Chi-Chi is trying to find Rejiu right now. He wants us to get out of here without making too much of a mess.”
The soldier looked annoyed at being ignored “You have 3 seconds to comply !”
“A little late for not making a mess.” Yonji complained, taking a position that would allow him to move quickly. “And anyways I'm not done with my fight yet, that other Niji is still on the loose.”
“3!”
“That is not my problem, You should have finished the fight faster little brother.” Sanji smirked
“2!”
“You are seriously the worst.” Yonji glared back at the watch hoping the snail on the other end captured his full emotion.
“1!”
“You always say the sweetest things to me.” Sanji smiled through the snail as the first sounds or bullets started firing off. Yonji quickly leapt up and sky walked away from the group of soldiers dodging bullets with practiced ease. Running from the marines had that effect on a guy.
“If you arent here within 3 minutes im telling Ichiji what really happened to that kimono he made you.”
Yonji almost didn't dodge a bullet in time because of those words “You wouldn't dare!” Yonji screamed.
“Tick tock lover boy you better be quick.” Sanji did that annoying smirk again and hung up the call with a *Click*
You know what, maybe the world would be a better place without that guy around. Yonji was the only one allowed to think that though. He is a younger brother after all.

Chapter Text

     Rejiu scoured the halls looking for any trace of her opponent. The other girl had run away as soon as the battle started getting heated. She had transformed into a bright pink costume. How did Rejiu lose her in these grey distillate halls? 

     Rejiu's observation haki wasn't as good as Sanji’s or Yonji's but she liked to think she had a good enough handle on it to find her opponent at least. Clearly not. Evidently focusing on being a doctor for the revolutionaries did not come with a lot of combat training time. Someone was always hurt or bringing back people that were bleeding out. It was stressful, it was scary, it was disgusting.

      It was freeing.

      Rejiu had never felt more in her element than in a medical room saving lives. It felt like she was finally able to put her skills to use in a good way. That gnawing aching feeling of needing to be worth something was soothed when she watched the people she helped get up to live another day. 

     Turns out Judges tampering was actually useful for something. Rejiu's innate resistance to poison and the ability to rid anyone of any effects had been essential in helping the revolutionaries with their missions. As such her skill was usually desperately needed in the medical room and not on the field. She did fight, anyone wanting to be a revolutionary needed to know how to defend themselves,(and she had learned plenty from old man Zeff as she grew up)  but she only really learned basic armament and observation haki for medical work. She was by no means weak, but she didn't exactly dedicate her time to being stronger. More often than not she was giving her strength for others to use.  

     It's because of these reasons she failed to notice the haki signature of her doppelganger a moment too late while she was focusing her energy on avoiding a group of guards. 

     The Princess pulled Rejiu into an empty room and pinned her arms behind her. 

     “Lets put a pause on all this fighting shall we? I've got a few questions I want answered.” The princess whispered in Rejius ear attempting to pull her deeper into the room. 

     “Let go of my arms and you have a deal, your royal highness.” Rejiu mocked. She's not dept she can tell this place is the kingdom of Germa and this family was certainly acting like the pompous royals she was used to dealing with. The place stood for everything she was against and it was making her skin crawl. 

     The princess hummed in contemplation for a second “ How do I know you won't attack me if I let go?” 

     Rejiu chuckled at that “ Honey I don't know if you noticed but im not nearly as impulsive as my siblings. Let's let our moron brothers do the roughhousing and we can have a nice little chat together. You're not the only one here with questions after all.”  

     The princess hesitated for a split second but let go of Rejiu’s arms. “Alright , *honey* Who are you?” 

     “Pretty sure Yonji already spoiled that answer,” Rejiu replied, taking a quick stock of the room. It was mostly empty with basic furniture here and there. Not a lot to use in a pinch. The princess was very clearly stronger than her and was most certainly holding back before. As subtly as she could, Rejiu clicked the panic button on her watch. Now all she had to do was keep this conversation running before someone found her to help out. “My name is Zeffson Rejiu and me and my siblings are from a different dimension.”  

     The princess raised an eyebrow at her “ And you just expect me to believe that?” 

     “Well I'm pretty certain I know my own name, Princess.” Rejiu smirked, crossing her arms to mirror her counterpart across the room. 

     Rejiu thought the princess would get angry or at the very least glare at her but instead her doppelganger just smiled. “ Well, aren't you clever? At least one version of me gets to say what's on her mind.” 

     Rejiu smiled back, “ I try.” Maybe this girl is more like her than she thought. “Alright my turn, what is Judge's current objective?” 

     “From what I heard it's to capture you and your siblings and experiment on them. Except for “The blond one” for which he wants killed.” The princess gracefully sat down on a nearby chair crossing her legs and gesturing for Rejiu to sit across from her. 

     Rejiu sighed “I suppose I walked right into that huh?” Koala always complained about Rejiu answering questions like a Genie. This was going to be a taste of her own bitter medicine. 

     “You're not the only clever one in the room, friend.” The princess smiled as Rejiu finally took the seat across from her. 

     “Oh so we are friends now?” Rejiu cocked an eyebrow up. “When did that happen?” 

     “I do believe it's my turn for a question dear.” The princess said, keeping that sickeningly sweet smile on her face. “ Now how exactly did your family get into a different dimension?” 

     “ Niji.” Rejiu answered simply, “One of his inventions appears to have malfunctioned.” 

     “He did seem rather anxious when you all landed here.” The princess mussed. 

     “I believe he is always anxious unfortunately.” Rejiu replied, testing a theory. Niji was likely gathering information from actual data from the Lab but Rejiu already had a hunch on what the difference between this world and hers could be. It seemed the other version of her was thinking along the same lines if Rejiu was reading into her unspoken question correctly. 

     The Princess' eyes widened in surprise for only a split second before settling back to natural. If Rejiu hadn't expressly been looking for the reaction she likely would have missed it but the Princess' surprise might as well have been an outright confirmation. 

     “I'm assuming that Judges' attempts at riding our brothers of emotion worked in this dimension then?” Rejiu questioned, Its better to have information confirmed than just running off assumptions after all . Besides, she was rather curious about the details here.  

     The princess blinked at the question like she wasn't expecting the other to pick up on her motive much less point it out. “ Did it not work in yours than?” She asked after only a moment's hesitation. 

     “I believe you are meant to answer my question first before I tell you that.” Rejiu smirked, feeling a little proud at how much she was throwing this version of herself. 

     The princess sighed and uncrossed her legs leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. “ Well yes and no.” she said solemnly “ It would have worked fully if not for mothers intervention. However in this world it only affected Sanji not the others Whereas I assume in yours it worked on all 4 of them. ” She looked up expectingly at Rejiu, searching her face for reactions. 

      Rejiu shook her head, “ No, well yes I suppose. In my world only Sanji was born with all his emotions. The others unlocked them after mother died.” A painful experience for everyone but a necessary one she supposed. Without it it seemed they would have ended up exactly like the people of this world. Simply puppets on a string for Judges personal pleasure. She shuddered at the thought.

      The princess blinked again, shock crossing her features again for only a second before stealing back to neutral. “ Unlocked?” she questioned and a sparkle of hope flashed in her eyes. 

       Rejiu nodded her head, deciding to drop the little game between them. Originally this girl might have been seen as an enemy but it was becoming very clear she was simply a sister. “ The poison affected all of them just not nearly as potently. They all had the potential to feel they just needed the right connection. I bet the same is true in your world if the way your Niji reacts to things is anything to go by.” 

      The princess cocked her head “ What do you mean by that?” 

     “Well he got very annoyed at Yonji's taunts, that's a feeling. Even your Ichiji seemed to react harshly. Those things may seem small and insignificant but that proves they have at least a flicker of emotion.” Rejiu said, resting her hands on her lap tensely. 

    “Interesting..” The princess mumbled trailing off and losing herself in thought. 

     Rejiu looked at the girl before her. She was her. This girl is the same as Rejiu. Everything Rejiu could have been if things had gone slightly worse. Just a step to the left. This princess never got the chance to live the life Rejiu had. Where Rejiu had warm hugs and kind words, this girl had harsh punishments and strict expectations.  Where Rejiu had silly siblings and a caring father, this girl had heartless monsters she was forced to call family.  Rejiu got to fight for the people she loved and for the world she wanted to see. This girl was forced to fight against her will, forced to kill with her own hands simply for Judges delusion of grandeur. Rejiu fought *for* her family to survive. The princess fought her family *to* survive 

Rejiu wasn't a fighter. She was a doctor and a doctor saves people. 

      “Yonji is going to have my head for this no doubt.” Rejiu muttered to herself. “Alright Princess, you've convinced me.” She smiled at her worse half sitting across from her still digesting the information that was thrown at her. 

     The princess looked up in confusion, “ Convinced you of what exactly?” 

     “I will help you unlock your brother's emotions and help you all reclaim your free will.” she smiled as the princess sat up in surprise. For the first time the entire convocation she couldn't seem to school her expression back to neutral. 

     Instead it narrowed into a glare of suspicion. “I never asked for your help, Miss Zeffson.” 

     Rejiu smiled even wider at that. “You didn't need to Princess. I'm aware this might be a foreign concept to you but it's called unconditional kindness. I'm doing it because it's kind and I can.” 

     The Princess didn't drop her glare but she did seem to force her body into a more proper stance in her chair. “Im not sure what you expect to happen here but I don't want a part in your good deeds counter. My brothers and I are far beyond saving. If you had any real kindness in you , you would kill me and my family now before we cause any more destruction. “ 

     “I don't believe that for a second Princess.” Rejiu countered, staring directly into the others' eyes. “ Everyone deserves a chance to chase their dreams, Judge took that from you. I want to hand it back.” 

      “And why would you feel the need to do that?”  The princess asked again, searching for an answer that made more sense. 

      Rejiu sighed. It might take a while for this girl to grasp why she wanted to help. Maybe she would never understand why Rejiu said what she said. At the end of the day it didn't matter because Rejiu was doing it for one reason and one reason only. 

     “It's what mother would have wanted.”  Rejiu said, standing up and holding out her hand to the Princesses. 

     The princess gaped at Rejiu, her eyes darting from her hand to her face over and over trying to decode the reason for everything. Rejiu let her take her time waiting for the Princess to make a decision. Her counterpart's face raced through confusion, suspicion and a bit of fear before settling on a firmly blank stare. 

       “Yo- You can't trust me.” The princess mumbled “ I can't disobey Judge, you are wasting your time with this.” 

     Rejiu winced, “Yes I am familiar with that little trick of his. Niji can fix it, my Niji obviously.” She held out her hand even more firmly “Come with me and I can take you to him. You don't have to do this alone.” 

     The princess looked up at Rejius face, eyes twinkling with the same terrified hope that sparkled before. “I- I don't understand. Who are you?” 

     Rejiu smirked. “Im Zeffson Rejiu and I am going to help you out of this place, as soon as you take my hand.” 

     The Princess blinked and her eyes darted from Rejius' smiling face to her hand to the door and back to her hand again. She tentatively reached out her own hand but never removed her eyes, like looking away would mean it would disappear. She grasped Rejiu's hand as Rejiu pulled her up out of the seat. 

     “You are making a grave mistake.” The princess growled 

     “I will be deciding that ma’am.” Rejiu smiled, stepping back and pulling out her watch. 

     It was all going so well so of course Ichiji took that moment to slam open the door. 

     “Get the hell away from my sister.” And with that he sprung at the princess with a bright kick to her side.

Chapter Text

16 years ago - Germa Kingdom (North Blue) (Dimension 03421)

Bored. 

Yonji was bored.

It was a Saturday afternoon and their normal classes were off today as Judge went off to secure another deal with a warring country or something. Honestly Yonji wasn't really listening and didn't really care to find out what was going on. It's not like he could care anyways. 

 Niji went off to the labs to watch the scientists at work and Ichiji was off in the library reading about something boring probably. Rejiu was … somewhere, honestly Yonji wasn't sure, he never really knew where his sister went or what she did in her free time. 

 Yonji himself had run out to the training grounds to spar with some of the soldiers. He was careful not to permanently injure too many of them because father had been upset when Yonji had wiped out 100 of their own men while he was away. Suffice to say Yonji was given orders to never outright eliminate any soldiers anymore and was only given slight leeway to injure a select amount.

Now he was bored. Bored and wandering around looking for something to do. 

Yonji was very familiar with being bored because that's what he was almost all the time. Bored Bored Bored! There were only a handful of times he wasn't bored. 

When he was given orders to do something. 

For some reason whenever orders were handed out from father they sparked something in his mind. A goal, an objective , a purpose! That was something! It gave a break from the endless nothing that was Yonji's usual life. Yonji never bothered to ask but he assumed his siblings felt the same. It didn't matter if the order was to take on an army of soldiers or just to recite one of Grema's many many achievements, any order was something to fill the void. 

When he killed a sparring partner

The clash and rush of a fight was always helpful in curing boredom, at least for a time. Yonji wasn't exactly sure what it was but something happened to him every time he got rid of an opponent. Another spark, a glint of something happened when he killed the opponent in battle. It wasn't … good per say, it made Yonji feel sweaty and gross, it made him hear his heartbeat in his head, he could taste copper on his tongue and smelt something rotten in the air. And it was something! That made Yonji chase it again and again. That something was so enticing after so often there was nothing. Yonji found that it only happened when his opponent went down. It didn't work if he just won the fight he would have to eliminate them to get that spark. 

And finally …. 

“Please let me stay! Father isn't here so you won't get in trouble, promise!” Sanji pleaded, his voice sounding like he was close to tears. 

That. That is what Yonji was looking for. Sanji was the weakest out of the brothers. A failure from birth according to Father. Something had gone terribly wrong when making him and now he was all pathetic and weak. He cries and whines at every little thing, he can't take more than a couple hits before passing out , he can't even run 50 meters without throwing up. By all means he was a disappointment and an embarrassment. And he always managed to get rid of boredom! 

Yonji figured out very early that whenever he hit or bullied Sanji I would bring that sliver of feeling around. The same feeling he got from killing one of the training guards. And he didn't even get in trouble if it was Sanji! Yonji Niji and Ichiji always sought him out whenever they were bored just to rough him up a bit. It was a fun game they played to pass the time. Father seemed ok with it so they never stopped doing it. After so long of sitting in the void of boredom, messing with Sanji was always quite a treat. The sick twisting in his gut wasn't always pleasant but it was better than being so damn bored all the time. 

The head chef looked down with a small frown, “Well alright, just don't leave a mess ok?” 

Sanji had basically squealed in joy “ Thank you Thank you Thank you !”

The head chef walked out the back door and left the young prince alone. A very smart decision; if he had stayed he might have gotten caught. Yonji could report that later but only if he was still bored after this.  

Yonji crouched behind counter tops and hid within shadows getting closer and closer to his failure brother. He could hear Sanji dancing around the kitchen gathering ingredients and supplies in his arms. Eventually Sanji stopped moving around and stood on a stool to reach the countertops. His back was turned so Yonji started to creep forward ready to pounce and tackle the boy to the ground. Yonji could picture it all in his head: He would leap forwards and push Sanji to the floor, Sanji would start wailing and crying and Yonji would relish in the sickly nauseous feeling while it lasted, maybe ruin whatever trash Sanji was making, than he would get bored and run off to do something else. It was a perfect way to burn an hour or so but then Sanji started doing something weird. 

“ Fais dodo, Colas mon p’tit frère, Fais dodo, t’auras du lolo.” The sweet melody wafted through the air as his tiny hands worked to the rhythm of the song. 

“Fais dodo, Colas mon p’tit frère, Fais dodo, t’auras du lolo” 

Yonji froze as the song wrapped around him. It was warm, sweet and soft. It surrounded him and smothered his senses. He felt something spark in his stomach, something bright and colorful and safe. He had never felt anything like it before. 

“Maman est en haut Qui fait du gâteau, Papa est en bas Qui fait du chocolat”

Sanji kept singing even as he climbed down the stool and turned around to grab something he had apparently forgotten. For the first time since Yonji had been in the kitchen he finally caught sight of Sanji's face. He had a blinding smile and his eyes were closed as he bobbed his head to the melody. 

“Fais dodo, Colas mon p’t—- AH YONJI!” Sanji had finally opened his eyes and caught sight of his younger brother. Sanji jumped back slamming against the counter in his haste to get away. 

“ Wh-What are you doing here! You can't be here!” Sanji's body was shaking and his eyes filled with tears as he pleaded with Yonji. “Please please please don't tell father Please!” 

Yonji finally gained control of his limbs again and leapt forward, tackling Sanji to the ground.  

Sanji screamed. “Wait wait wait!!! I promised I wouldn't make a mess! Please let me go! Yonji! “ 

Sanji's screaming brought the sick turning feeling, blocking out the safe warm one from a second ago. Yonji all of a sudden hated it more than anything. Why had he wanted this turning in the first place? The warm was so much better! 

“Do that again.” Yonji growled, holding Sanji down by the arms.

“Wh-what? ” Sanji's tearful face looked up at him in confusion. Yonji felt his stomach churn and bile rise in the back of his throat. He used to revel in that feeling but now he wanted it gone. 

“Do. That. Again.” Yonji emphasized shoving his knee into Sanji's stomach. 

“OW! Do what again ?!?” He strained, trying in vain to struggle out of the grip. That only made the churning in Yonji's stomach worse. 

Yonji huffed impatiently “The thing you were just doing! The sound thing!” 

“Wha-? You mean singing!?” Sanji gaped, stopping his struggling to stare shock eyed at his brother. “You-you want me to sing to you?”  

“Yeah sure whatever it's called just do it again!” Yonji growled “If you don't I'm gonna beat you up understand?” 

“Ok Ok ! Get off me first!” Sanji wailed, starting up his struggling again. 

Yonji grumbled and crawled off Sanji sitting down on the floor next to him. Sanji sat up taking in deep lungfulls of breath attempting to calm himself down. The churning in Yonji's stomach finally started to die down only to be replaced by crushing boredom. 

“Hurry up failure! Or I’ll go get Ichiji and Niji.” Maybe if he got them this would go faster, They were always better at getting results out of Sanji. Although something in the back of his mind said they might not be so helpful here.

“NO! No ! I will ok I will ! I just need to breathe first!” Sanji was still shaking even while sitting down but he slowly got himself together the longer Yonji waited. Sanji looked up at him and wiped the tears from his eyes. 

“Uh ok so you just want me to sing then?” He hesitated, glancing at his brother as if he was a bomb about to go off. 

Yonji rolled his eyes. “Yes you worthless runt do it again or I will beat you up. What part of that was not clear!” 

“Sorry Sorry! I was making sure! Uh ok uhm –” Sanji took a deep breath and started the song. “Fais dodo, Colas mon p’tit frère, Fais do—-”

“NO! You are doing it wrong!” Yonji interrupted, glaring at Sanij. 

“That was the song though!” Sanji whined 

Yonji shook his head and crossed his arms. “No, it was different! Try again!” 

“Fine!” Sanji took another breath and started again “Fais dodo, Col-”

Yonji slammed a fist down on the floor causing cracks to run along the floor. “You're still doing it wrong! The one before was all floaty and warm! This one's shaky and icky! Do the warm one again!”  

Sanji looked back up from where he had been cowering when Yonji slammed his fist on the floor and tilted his head to look at him in confusion. “ Warm one?…you mean when I was happy?” 

“I mean you were smiling so I guess.” Yonji huffed “Do you have to be cooking for it to work?” 

Sanji blinked at him. “Uhm if I said yes would you let me go back to cooking?” 

“Will you make the warm sounds again if I let you?” Yonji countered glaring daggers at him. 

Sanji nodded slowly, “Yeah , I think I can sing better if I'm cooking cause I'm making something for mama and I learned the song from mama.” 

“Fine, then go do that.” Yonji said standing up and jumping onto the counter Sanji was working on. On It was a collection of seemingly random ingredients thrown about. There was fruit and fish and all kinds of different seasonings. Seemingly whatever Sanji could reach he had thrown onto the counter. 

Sanji climbed back up on the stool and glanced tentatively at Yonji. “ Ok I can sing but only if you're not mean. If you are mean to me it wont work.” 

Yonji rolled his eyes again and sat with his legs hanging off the counter. “Fine, fine whatever I wont hit you or anything. Just do the thing!” 

Sanji glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes and turned back to his work station. He grabbed an apple and a knif3 and started tentatively cutting the fruit up. He started humming the same tune as before but didn't use any of the words. 

It was still shaky but this time it was also warm. Yonji sighed as the sweet song swirled around the room. The soft warm tingling feeling filling up his stomach. 

“Fais dodo, Colas mon p’tit frère, Fais dodo, t’auras du lolo

Fais dodo, Colas mon p’tit frère, Fais dodo, t’auras du lolo”  

Sanji started easing up after a bit and the song grew even warmer. Yonji watched as Sanji grabbed different things to cut up and place carefully in a bento box. 

“Maman est en haut Qui fait du gâteau, Papa est en bas Qui fait du chocolat”

Sanji mixed a random assortment of things into a bowl creating a sludgy mess of something. He even started smiling as he poured the mixture along with the ingredients in the box. 

“Fais dodo, Colas mon p’tit frère, Fais dodo, t’auras du lolo

Fais dodo, Colas mon p’tit frère, Fais dodo, t’auras du lolo”

Over the next couple of minutes Sanji would mix together random things and cut up others. He would sprinkle seasoning here and there and piled everything together in the box. The longer he worked the warmer the song got and the brighter the glow grew in Yonji's stomach. 

“Ta sœur est en haut Qui fait des chapeaux Ton frère est en bas Qui fait des nougats

Fais dodo, Colas mon p’tit frère, Fais dodo, t’auras du lolo

Fais dodo, Colas mon p’tit frère, Fais dodo, t’auras du lolo

Les gentils oiseaux, Ont des chants nouveaux, Pour le p’tit frérot Qui fait bien dod

Fais dodo, Colas mon p’tit frère, Fais dodo, t’auras du lolo

Fais dodo, Colas mon p’tit frère, Fais dodo, t’auras du lolo.” 

Yonji felt his body sway to the tune and he felt his eyes flutter shut. The warm soft safeness surrounded him and relaxed his body. He felt sleepy but he didn't want the sound to go away. If it went away that meant the boredom would be back or worse the sick icky feeling. Yonji never wanted that feeling back if he could help it. 

All of a sudden Sanji stopped singing. Yonji's eyes snapped open. “Why’d you stop!” 

Sanji flinched back from him and that made the turning start up. Right Sanji said it wouldn't work if he was mean. “I mean uh ..” What was he supposed to do then? The servants always said ‘sorry’ after something went wrong. Maybe he should try that? 

Yonji took a breath hoping to wash out the sickness in his stomach. “Uh Sorry. For yelling. Why did you stop singing though?” 

That seemed to be the right thing to say because Sanji eased back up and taped the bento box full of food. It looked really gross to Yonji but he didn't say that. He didn't want to be mean. “I finished cooking, I .. I was wondering if you wanted to come with me and bring it to Mama.” 

Yonji blinked at him. Father always told them Mama was weak and useless now so Yonji had never had a reason to visit her. If he tried hard enough he could pull the memory of being held as a baby and could even maybe remember the outline of her face. He wasn't a baby anymore, he didn't need Mama. Sanji was a crybaby that's why he was always running over to the hospital wing to visit her. 

But well maybe … “Can she do the warm thing too?” 

Sanji nodded his head enthusiastically, a smile pulling on his lips. That brought the warmth back. Huh. “Yeah! She's the one that taught me the song, maybe she can teach you how to do it!”  

“Really?” Yonji's eyes sparkled. That sounded good! If he could make the warm sound all on his own then maybe he wouldn't be so bored all the time! 

Sanji smiled even brighter. “Uh huh! Mama’s really nice! But she is sick! So if you come with me you can't hurt her at all ok?” Sanji's face turned serious at the end. He crossed his arms and looked more determined than Yonji had ever seen him before. 

“I’ll be nice I promise!” Yonji said, raising his hands up. He needed to hear more of the warm sound. 

“You swear?” Sanji said, raising his eyebrow. 

“I swear I swear! Just take me to see her!” Yonji paused, remembering something else the servants always said, “Uh sorry, please? Please take me to see her?” 

Sanji's face lit up brighter than Yonji has ever seen it before. It made the glow grow brighter than the sun. “Ok then! Give me a second.”  

Sanji covered up the bento box and placed it carefully in a picnic basket. Then he grabbed Yonji's hand and dragged him off down the halls. 

Future Yonji would never forget the first time he really truly saw his mothers smiling face. He would never forget the first day he felt anything other than boredom or sickness. He would never forget the day he learned what love sounded like.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Present Day -Germa Kingdom (Totto land) - (Dimension 03214)

“If you arent here within 3 minutes im telling Ichiji what really happened to that kimono he made you.” 

The snail’s face was overcome with pure outrage and shock. Sanji was honestly surprised the little thing managed to convey such an emotion. “You wouldn't dare!” Yonji shrieked through the snail. 

“Tick tock lover boy you better be quick.” Sanji smirked, taking a final drag from his cigarette and ending the call. 

“Wow it really is an entire family of failures isn't that something?” Prince Yonji mussed curiously “Is every copy of us as pathetic as this?”

“I dont know is every version of you this fucking annoying?” Sanji shot back, barely sparing a glance at the green haired prince and pulling up the map that was loaded into his watch to track his family. 

Across from him Prince Ichiji scoffed “Gotta hand it to him this failure’s got quite the mouth on him.” 

“And I've got a solid kick to the teeth for you as well if you don't shut it.” Sanji snarled 

The fight had been quite easy all things considered. Not like it had really been much of a fight in the first place. Neither Prince was quite used to being knocked around so easily and Sanji and Ichiji had taken full advantage of that. It was a simple matter of distracting and catching the princes off guard to use Niji’s new sea bubbles that had them trapped and floating a couple feet off the ground. Ichiji used an electric barrier around the room so none of the soldiers that came racing by could get anywhere near the door unless they wanted to be zapped unconscious. Then he had run off to find Rejiu after her panic button had started blinking. 

As far as improvised plans went, this was a stunningly perfect outcome in Sanji's opinion. Sure he had been given baby sitting duty for idiot 1 and 4 but it's not like he would have been much help fighting against a Reiju anyways. All he had to do was sit with his potential murderers and wait for his family to get back so they could all leave this fever dream to the dimension it belongs in. 

“Careful Failure, know your place in this world.” Prince Ichiji sneered, still restrained to the confines of his bubble. 

Sanji scoffed at him “I'm not even from this world, moron. What makes you think I care about my place in it?” There really wasn't any reason to be arguing with these versions of his brothers. They were cruel, annoying and pretentious. They were everything Judge had wanted them to be. Call it curiosity, call it pity, call it his insatiable desire to argue with anything that even vaguely resembled his brothers; Sanji just couldn't help but fight with these copies of moron 1 and 4. “Either way my place here is plenty comfortable compared to yours.” 

The Red haired prince growled at him, “I'm going to make you regret those words when we get out of here.” 

“Well I highly doubt that.” Sanji scoffed “If my memory serves me well I beat your ass not even 5 minutes ago.” 

“HA! He got you there Ichiji! Can't believe you actually lost to the failure! That's so pathetic! You must be getting soft. " Prince Yonji laughed. 

“If you ever repeat those words again I will ensure you never have a pleasant moment ever again.” Prince Ichiji warned glaring daggers through his sunglasses. 

It was weird watching those two fight. If Sanji squinted he could see his own brothers arguing in front of him. But no, every word and threat between these two was dripping in venom and violence. This wasn't playful ribbing between brothers, these were threats of promised violence and pain. Sanji was all too familiar with that kind of language. 

Prince Ichiji turned back to him, still glaring. “If you're so confident you can best me, why not drop the bubble and we can have a fun little rematch.” 

Sanji rolled his eyes. “I'm not an idiot, you know. I'm not just going to let you go because you have a hurt ego.” 

“Give it up Ichiji! You're letting yourself look pathetic.” Prince Yonji complained, laying back in his bubble and resting with his arms behind his head. 

“Do you know any other insults?” Sanji questioned tilting his eyes up from the map. Yonji was heading this way and could probably handle the guards chasing him. Niji was down in the basement level, likely getting more information on why the teleporter had malfunctioned so badly. And Ichiji was with Rejiu, they hadn't moved from the room they were in so Sanji figured they must be coming up with some sort of plan. 

“Of course I know other insults!” Prince Yonji exclaimed. 

“Yeah?” Sanji taunted “ Well go on then.” 

“Who looks pathetic now?” Prince Ichiji grumbled as Prince Yonji sputtered trying to come up with something. 

Prince Yonji glared at his brother, “Oh shut up.” 

Sanji let himself chuckle at the exchange. “I'm impressed, even with all of Judges influence Yonji still manages to be the dumbest person alive.” 

Before the prince could bite back the doors of the hall slammed open and everyone's attention was pulled to the man standing in the center. 

“I heard you were talking shit about me?” Yonji sneered glaring at Sanji. 

“Do you need me to repeat it or did you get it all?” Sanji grinned back. 

"I'm going to find every cigarette you own and toss them into the ocean.” Yonji threatened, walking up to the table. 

“See now that's how you do an insult!” Sanji proclaimed gesturing at his brother while smiling at the green haired prince in the bubble. 

“I mean really that was more of a threat but thanks I guess .” Yonji mussed, taking a seat down next to his brother. 

Sanji glared at him, “ The one time I gave you a compliment and this is how you repay me?” 

“Im just saying!” Yonji said, raising his hands in mock surrender. 

Prince Yonji sat up at the arrival of his double. “Hey loser me, if you let us out of here we can kill that guy for you.” 

Yonji contemplated for a second. “Hmmm Tempting but I'm gonna have to say no. Good try though.” 

The prince shrugged “Eh worth a shot.” 

“Wow, I'm really feeling the love in the room right now, Thanks Yonji.” Sanji grumbled, taking out a new cigarette.

Yonji snickered, laying back in his seat unknowingly mirroring the way his other self had done not even a moment ago. “What! I said no! The only man allowed to eliminate you is that boyfriend you got. If you expired here he would have my head!” 

Prince Ichiji cringed. “Dont tell me your a faggot on top of everything else." 

Sanji choked on a laugh inhaling just a tad too much smoke. “ HA! -ack Pfft. Oh man you would lose your mind if you sat down with our Ichiji.” He choked out smiling with glee. 

“What is that supposed to mean failure?” The prince snarled. 

“It means you're a massive fag in our dimension idiot.” Yonji giggled, throwing a wink at him. “And if it pisses you off I am too by the way.”  

Prince Yonji glared at him. “Did you all make it your life's purpose to be a disgrace?” 

“I mean pretty much.” Sanji replied, because yeah that's basically what they had done wasn't it. After escaping Germa, all of his brothers tried so hard to be everything Judge hated. It just so happened that the thing Judge hated the most was love. 

Yonji chuckled and tilted his head to better look at Sanji. “ Hey speaking of Chi though, where is he? Shouldn't he be back by now?” 

Sanji hummed in reply, pulling up the map again.” Last I saw he was with Rejiu and they were talking. I assume they've been coming up with a plan to jump ship.” 

“Must be a long plan.” Yonji complained, moving to rest his head on Sanji's shoulder. “And Niji?” 

“You know you have your own map right? “ Sanji complained on principal but let him stay. Ichji and Rejius Pink and red dots were moving steadily back towards the dining hall but Niji's blue dot was still securely in the basement. “Well that's a little concerning.” Sanji frowned.

 Yonji yawned, “Eh I wouldn't worry about it. If he was in any real trouble he would have pushed the panic button right?” 

As if on cue the watch lit up a bright blue indicating Niji’s panic button. 

“Well shit.” Yonji scowled at the watch as if it had personally offended him. 

“Great job fucker you jinxed it.” Sanji complained. 

“That's not my fault!” Yonji whined, sitting back in his own chair. “Besides, it's still fine. Ichiji and Rejiu are both closer. They can handle it and then they will be back here.” 

And because the universe loves cruel jokes Sanji's watch starts ringing too. *Buda Buda Buda Buda* Buda Buda Buda Buda* 

“I swear if that's Ichiji I'm going to lose it.” Yonji groaned. 

*Click* “Hey losers, change of plans. Bring the Princes down to the lab. We are all gonna meet up with Niji there.” Ichiji's voice rang out around the hall. Yonji threw his hands in the air as Sanji glared at him. 

“Our plans don't revolve around you, asshole! What's going on?” Sanji complained, but was still standing and getting ready to race down to the new meet up point. 

Rejius' voice rang out next. “This isn't about him right now Sanji! Just get down here and I’ll explain everything.” 

Sanji rubbed his nosebridge. “Fine fine alright we will be there.”  

“Good and be quick about it!” Ichiji shouted through the watch and then hung up. *Click* 

“I despise him.” Yonji mumbled standing up and stretching. 

“Well well well, Looks like you're going to have to let us out now!” Prince Yonji jeered. 

Sanji smirked right back. “Dont be so sure about that. Hey Yonji, you up for a game of sky ball?” 

Yonji grinned mischievously “Oh hell yeah! I call the Ichiji!” 

Prince Ichiji scowled. “I am not playing your stupid game with you.” 

“You see you really don't get a choice here unfortunately, and you are homophobic so I feel very little guilt about this.” Sanji smiled, fixing his suit cuffs and taking a running stance. 

“Ready Yonji?” He questioned as Yonji got set up next to him. ‘Sky ball’ was a game they had played as kids. This simple objective being to keep your ball off the ground longer than anyone else. Sanji and Yonji took it up a notch after learning sky walk. 

“Born ready!” Yonji answered jumping up and landing in the same stance as Sanji. In unison they chanted, 

“3” 

“2”

“1!” 

Sanji shot up faster than most eyes could trace and slammed the side of his foot into the Prince Yonji's bubble, sending it flying through the air and smashing through the dining halls doors. 

“Oh fuck you !!!” Sanji heard Prince Yonji complain as he was sent flying away. Maybe he should feel a bit more guilt at slamming a version of his brother around, but then again he was a homophobe.