Chapter 4

The man with the pistol calmly looked around as he began walking towards an empty table. The atmosphere was tense as everyone waited for something to happen. He sat down and propped his feet up on the table. And he stated simply. "Anything's fine. Bring me food."

At this point, a giant man with a creepy smile had walked over to the table. "This is a restaurant, right?"

"Welcome, ya damn crook," said Patty who was one of the cooks on the ship.

"I'll say it only one more time, so listen well. Bring me food." Gin said getting annoyed at the man's attitude.

"Um, sir, I'm terribly sorry, but do you have money for that?" Patty replied.

Gin with a cold look crossing his features held up the gun to Patty's head. "Would a bullet do?"

Unfazed an angry look came over Patty "So you don't have money, right?"

And before Gin could react Patty brought his massive forearms down crushing both the table and Gin.

Zeff having been calmly watching from the kitchen entrance got annoyed "Patty, that dumb ass! He broke the chair..."

"If you can't pay for the food, You're not a customer," Patty said looking down on Gin.

Around the restaurant, people were cheering for Patty's quick intervention.

Sanji having enough walked towards Gin and Patty. "Alright sir how about we step outside and get you some fresh air," he stated more than asked.

Patty who was getting annoyed stared silently at Sanji before turning around towards the Straw Hats.

"Welcome, ya damn crook," he said with the same creepy smile as before. "You have money right?"

While Patty greeted the Straw Hat's, Sanji began leading Gin outside. He leaned Gin against a railing. "You wait here. I'll be back with some food."

And before Gin could respond Sanji had already headed back inside.

Sanji noticed a small table being set up for those pirates from before. He only wished he couldn't have gotten to them before Patty after all two beautiful women deserved to be served with elegance and class. Not by that shitty-bastard of a cook.

But alas he continued walking into the kitchen where he began to work on the man's food. As he was working Patty came in and ordered some of the other chefs around. From the sound of it, it seemed like that table had ordered a small feast. Who the hell, could eat so much food?

And as he finished up his plate, he headed back outside where he silently handed him the plate of food. Sanji leaning against the railing took a drag off his cigarette and stated: "Eat it."

"Shut it. I'm not one to take charity from others. Take this food away now!" Gin said despite being on the brink of starvation.

"Stop whining and eat it already! To me, anyone who's hungry is a customer."

"Sorry, but I'm not a customer."

"I can understand how a hungry person feels more than anyone. You can die for your pride if you want, but if you eat and survive, don't you think there's a future for you?"

Gin without saying a word began shoveling the delicious food into his mouth. He was crying tears of gratitude. After having eaten half the food, he began to speak "Sorry... Thank you. I thought I'd die. I've never eaten food so delicious..."

"It's damn delicious isn't it?" Sanji stated grinning widely. He was proud of his craft.

Unknowingly to the pair they had a third guest who had been watching from the upper deck. He began laughing causing Sanji to look up at the man.

It was one of the pirates from before the one with the straw hat.

"I found a good cook! Hey you, it's a good thing that he gave you food!" Luffy said grinning at the pair.

"You almost died!" he stated jovially. "Hey you, cook! Join my group! Be the cook on my pirate ship!"

"Huh?!" was all Sanji and Gin could say being utterly confused at the strange man.

Sanji regaining his composure said "I refuse. There's a reason that I have to work in this restaurant."

"No! I refuse!" Luffy said.

"Wh-What you can't refuse my refusal?!"

"You're a good cook, so let's be pirates together."

"Hey, listen to what I say!"

"So what's your reason?"

"I don't need to tell you!"

"Huh? You just told me to listen to what you say!" Luffy said looking confused.

"Look I don't need to explain myself to you damn straw hat!" Sanji said getting in Luffy's face.

"What?! Don't make fun of my straw hat! I'll kick your ass!" Luffy said giving the same treatment to Sanji.

At this point, Gin interrupted "Hey I'm Gin of the Krieg Pirates. You're a pirate, too, right? Do you have any goals?"

"I'm heading to the Grand Line. Because I'm going to become the King of the Pirates!" Luffy said grinning.

"There's no way someone like you can survive there. You don't even have a cook, and you think you can survive the Grand Line?"

Luffy looking indignant "I have a cook he's right here." he said pointing to Sanji.

"I already said I'm not joining your crew bastard!"

"You should avoid the Grand Line. You're still young. You don't need to rush. There's a large ocean out there to explore. Leave the Grand Line for later."

"So you know something about the Grand Line then?" Luffy asked knowing the answer.

"No, I don't understand anything about it... That's exactly why I fear it..."

"LUFFY!" a feminine voice shouted from above.

"Oh there you are Luffy," said Nami looking down below at the three. "Food's ready come back inside," she said while walking back to the entrance.

"F-Foooood..." Luffy said forgetting about the two he was talking to as he jumped up to follow Nami inside.

"Tcch... what a moron," Sanji said. "Well, I need to get back to work. I'll take the empty dish with me."

Handing over the plate Gin began looking over the horizon. He should be headed back out to sea now to meet back up with Don Krieg. Getting onto the small boat he had stolen from the navy ship early he set off to meet his captain.

Inside Sanji could be seen heading back to the kitchen.

And at the Straw Hat's table, Luffy could be seen tearing into the food with gusto. His four nakama could be seen eating their portions while watching in amazement as Luffy shoveled down the small mountain of food.

Although after a while he began to realize that his stomach was starting to hurt. Like seriously hurt what had happened? Did he eat something wrong? Did he swallow a fork? He was unsure as he held his distended belly groaning in discomfort.

Nami looking over at Luffy noticed his discomfort. "Luffy you overate! Look at you-you're in pain. Why did you have us order this much food if you were going to get sick after eating half of it?"

Luffy said meekly "B-But I can usually eat way more... I've never had this problem before..."

Zoro chewing began to think about this. "Luffy you're not a rubber man anymore could that have anything to do with it?"

Luffy's eyes widened in horror. No. could this be an unforeseen consequence of losing his old powers?! Luffy simply rolled up in a ball still holding his aching stomach. Tears could be seen flowing heavily from their captains face as he rolled around on the ground wallowing in self-pity.

Usopp and Kaya looked to each other in confusion 'Rubber-man?' they thought. Kaya voiced their concern asking Zoro "What do you mean he's not a rubber man? Do you mean like his devil fruit powers?"

Zoro had no good response to this "Uh..." he began as he started to think of an explanation.

Nami agitated at Zoro not thinking before he opened his mouth began to give them a reasonable answer. "Look Luffy used to have a different devil fruit. But it was removed from him by a strange man. After that, he got a new devil fruit power the one you saw with Kuro."

"Wait I thought you couldn't get rid of a devil fruit power?" Usopp said looking at Nami quizzically.

"Look, to be honest, I don't know much more about it then you guys. You'll have to ask Luffy if you want to know more. But he doesn't look to be in much shape to answer anything right now..." Nami said looking at the captain still rolling around crying.

And so, the rest of the crew continued eating their meal unperturbed by their captain antics. But on a nearby island, a meeting was happening.

"I see... That cook saved your life, and you were able to come back here. Is that what you're saying, Gin?" A giant of a man covered with a thick fur coat asked Gin.

"Y-Yes. B-But I never imagined the main ship was in this condition... Don Krieg!" Gin said looking up at the man who was revealed to be his captain.

"What?" Don Krieg said simply.

"I'll take you there... to the Sea Restaurant Baratie..." Gin said his lips turned up in a smile.

Seeing as they would have some time here, Luffy began to continue the training of his new powers. Not wanting to disturb the ship he tested his ability to freeze seawater to create platforms.

Zoro joined him for two reasons. One was if Luffy fell off one of his platforms, he wouldn't have much time before he drowned. The second reason was that Zoro needed to get used to moving and fighting on ice. If his captain got in the habit of freezing the terrain they were on he didn't want to slip at the wrong moment accidentally.

Sometime's the Baratie's crew would watch these training sessions in amazement. It wasn't often that they witnessed a devil fruit in action especially with one as powerful as Luffy's seemed to be.

They would also spend time with the crew working on haki exercises on these ice platforms. Zoro had convinced them of the need to learn to walk on ice so they all found themselves putting in the time where they could.

Luffy had been pleased to find out that his magma and ice abilities seemed not to counteract each other. Even if in direct contact the magma wouldn't cool, and the ice wouldn't melt. Outside forces could affect his powers like the water would rapidly cool his magma if it fell in, and Luffy's ice would eventually melt if it stayed too long under the sun without direct contact from him.

This allowed him to combine his abilities in exciting ways. For instance, if he turned his arms into magma and then covered them in a layer of ice, it increased the strength of his attacks. The weight of the magma would increase the force while the ice helped contain his magma into a solid container.

Using this method he could use his magma abilities without doing severe harm to others. A direct hit with magma could be deadly to people, so it was not something he wanted to use in most fights.

Especially if he was training with nakama, so having the ability to contain it so that he could use it without worrying about fatally injuring someone was a relief.

However, he was still having some issues with the mobility of his attacks. Completely freezing over his arms limited just how fast he could change its shape. He found that using both his magma and ice abilities; he was able to start countering that drawback.

When he created an ice layer, he could leave the joints, such as his elbows and wrists uncovered, and this would allow a full range of movement. So far though he did not have the kind of control needed to do the same for his fingers. If he tried, he found that they would frequently fall apart thus ruining the attempt.

So, for now, he just kept his hands frozen in the shape of a fist. He hoped that eventually, he would develop the control necessary to create a full hand, but for now, this would do.

Even though some parts of the magma were exposed he found that it was much easier to will the magma to stick to his body without leaking out. Completely uncovered this seemed to be impossible, but with only thin sections revealed it was doable although he did need to concentrate for it to work.

During there time training he had also had time to work on his hand puppet creation as well. Using what he had learned he tried similar methods onto the limbs he created away from his body.

He could only create them from places he had ice or magma already. So he allowed a good deal of magma to leave his body and form a puddle around him and then began to create an arm out of it roughly the size of his own.

Then he froze it much as he had done before. Leaving the wrist and elbows uncovered he found the movement to be much smoother. He also spent time trying to manipulate larger forms. He discovered that when separate from his body and while mimicking the motions he could completely control a limb four times the size of his own.

If it were any larger than that though, any movement would cause it to destabilize and fall apart. Same with if Luffy tried moving it without mimicry, it would fall apart at only twice the size of his normal limbs.

Trying to manipulate two arms he couldn't manage to make it any larger than average. Though using two was still useful, and with increased control, he hoped he could make them larger.

He was pretty pleased to see how far his abilities were coming. While it would take a long time to have the diversity of attacks he had with the Gum-Gum Fruit he knew that he would one day surpass it. If he wanted to be able to take whatever the World Government could throw at him, he would have to.

A few days after they had arrived the Straw Hats were currently lounging on the deck of their ship. A thick fog was covering the ocean that day. It was hard to see most of the Baratie even though they were moored right next to it.

"Hey, Luffy when are we going to leave here? That cook doesn't seem to want to come with us..." Usopp said looking to his captain.

"We aren't leaving here until I convince him to come!" Luffy said with conviction. At this point, he began staring off into the fog drawing some of his nakama to look in the same direction.

"W-What is it Luffy? Y-You, see something out there?" Usopp said his knees beginning to quake.

At this Kaya lightly grabbed hold of his arm looking out into the fog to see what Luffy was looking at. Usopp's knees stopped shaking. He struck a confident pose and said "Don't worry Kaya! Whatever may be out there will surely run once they see me!"

Luffy was surprised to see Usopp acting brave. He wondered if Kaya had anything to do with that. But he didn't have time to think about it as a giant pirate ship started to come into view and the figurehead began to come into view. It was a giant panther head. Don Krieg had arrived.

Inside the restaurant, a commotion could be heard. Some of the civilians recognized the ship.

And soon the ship was bearing down Baratie and Going Merry dwarfing the smaller vessels. Zeff had come out onto the deck of his boat to stand his ground at the looming ship. With Sanji watching from one of the other floors as well.

As the fog began to clear the massive damage that the Krieg Pirate's ship had taken was apparent. The figurehead was missing a tooth and part of its face. Most of the boat was covered in huge gashes, and the sails were tattered and flapped in the wind. Even one of the masts were currently tilted to the side barely holding its weight.

Zoro recognized the shape of the gashes and wondered if a sword could have possibly done the damage.

Then a man came to the front of Krieg's ship. Considering his size and choice of attire, it looked to be the captain Don Krieg.

He came aboard the ship and began his walk to the entrance. Terrifying all the customers who could only look on in fear as the man who was said to be the ruler of East Blue stalked in. As he opened the door, it was revealed he was being led by Gin who was currently supporting his weight.

Then Don Krieg began to speak "S-Sorry... Can I have some water and food? We have money. tons of money..."

Everyone could only stand around and with surprise covering their faces. This was Don Krieg, the terror of East Blue?

"I don't even remember the last time I ate. Please give me some water and food..."

Patty could be heard "He shows neither dignity nor force. Is he really that Don Krieg, Commodore of the grand pirate fleet?"

At this point, Sanji had started heading towards the kitchen likely to get the man some food.

But Don Krieg's strength was failing as he collapsed to the ground unable to remain on his feet.

Gin's panic clear began shouting to the crew of the Baratie "P-Please! Help our captain! He's really about to starve! He hasn't eaten anything for days! He'll die if he doesn't eat!"

His life of being a feared pirate put serious concerns in everyone's mind, however. Why would they help a man who in any other situation would likely want to kill them and take whatever treasure they had? The only reason he was groveling now was that he was weak, unable to do anything else.

A bellowing laugh could be heard coming from Patty. "This is good! It's a riot to see the famous arch rouge Don Krieg like this..."

Gin looked to the man pleading "We have money this time. We're customers!"

"Don't be ridiculous! Hey, contact the Navy right away. He's at his weakest right now. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! There's no need to feed him anything. Keep him under arrest." Patty said looking down on the two pirates.

At this point, Luffy could be seen calmly watching the situation while leaning on the door frame. He had no reason to interfere yet, so he merely let the scene play out.

A murmur of agreement could be heard amongst the crowd of customers. They knew he couldn't be trusted so why should he get help from them?

Don Krieg began to try and sit up. "I-I won't do anything... Once I eat, I promise I'll leave quietly." He started bowing his head close to the floor not even looking up.

"So please... help... me..."

"Don Krieg! Please stop begging! It's not something you should do!" Gin pleaded to his captain.

At this point, Sanji began walking towards the duo with a giant bowl of food. On his way down he knocked Patty out to get him out of his way. Likely because he felt he was annoying.

Setting the bowl down in front of him, he told Don Krieg to eat.

Don Krieg began shoveling the food into his mouth one giant handful at a time.

After Don Krieg had swallowed the last of his food, he stood up and delivered a powerful sucker punch to Sanji sending him flying into the spiral staircase at the center of the restaurant.

Gin surprise was apparent. At first, he couldn't even begin to form words.

The crowd of customers quickly dispersed trying to stay away from the monster that was Don Krieg.

Gin regained his senses and shouted to Krieg "Th...This isn't what we agreed, Don Krieg! I brought you here under the condition that you wouldn't touch this restaurant! And that man saved our lives..."

Don Krieg stood tall grabbing Gin by the arm. Gin could only let out guttural pained sounds as Don crushed his arm. Tossing Gin aside he began to look at the chef's that had taunted him just minutes ago who know could only look on in anger and fear.

"This is a good restaurant. I'll take this ship." He said confidence and malice were oozing from his voice.

Don Krieg then began making demands of his new ships old crew. He wanted them to bring his crew over to his new boat. And then he wanted them to make them meals enough for everyman on his ship.

Sanji slowly began to stand. He started slowly making his way to the kitchen. One of the chefs demanded to know what Sanji thought he was doing. As he wiped some of the blood of his face, he said "I'm heading to the kitchen. I've got one-hundred more meals to make." and he continued making his way there.

The other chefs of the restaurant made to stop him. Pointing their makeshift weapons at him to keep him from moving.

Patty smashed him over the head to keep him from heading off to the kitchens. He made his way to the staircase where he opened a secret compartment pulling out some an object wrapped in a white sheet.

"Are you full now, Krieg? After the main course, how about..." And at this, he took off the white sheet revealing a giant cannon of a weapon that was styled after a lobster. "... a piece of iron dessert?!"

"Meatball of Doom!" he shouted igniting the weapons firing mechanism. A huge blast came out of the cannon firing an iron ball the size of Krieg's head. The weapon caused a blinding flash of light.

The cannonball struck Krieg directly in the chest causing an explosion that destroyed part of the entrance of the ship. A cloud of smoke hovered over the area obscuring the damage that was done.

However, as the smoke settled Don Krieg was shown to be still standing, and he seemed to be completely unharmed.

"It'll taste good, right? You lame cook! How dare you serve such a nasty dessert?!"

At the furious anger apparent in Krieg's eyes the crew began to quake in their shoes.

"This is the lousiest restaurant!" At this declaration, Krieg's armor opened up to reveal many different guns hidden all over his body.

"You're damn annoying!" He shouted, but before he could open fire, he felt something tug at the back of his armor. He looked behind him wondering what the hell had dared touch his armor to see some damn kid in a straw hat holding him by the back of his chest plate.

Before he could do anything though he was suddenly picked up and whirled around. Unable to see he was moving so fast. And then suddenly he was flying, but it was cut short as he slammed into something wooden crashing busting through whatever he had hit.

At first, he couldn't even move the breath having been completely forced from his body. He just laid down on what he slowly realized to be the inside of his ship. As he began to regain his strength, he slowly stood up looking through the hole that he had made through his ship.

'That kid... he was going to pay with his life.' Don Krieg fumed veins pulsing from his neck and forehead from the rage he was feeling.

Inside Baratie no one made a move. Everyone was stunned silent. What had just happened? One moment they thought they were going to die and the next Don Krieg had been thrown off the ship. And by that pirate kid that had shown up a few days ago.

Gin couldn't even speak his jaw hanging open. The man he had regarded as the strongest man he knew had just been tossed around like a rag doll.

Zeff looked down at that punk he had seen before. The kid was stronger than he looked. He had just finished the meals Krieg had demanded when he had come outside to see the man tossed off his ship.

"Hey, big hat!" Luffy yelled up to the owner Zeff.

"What you damn brat?" Zeff asked annoyed at what the kid called him.

"I'll make you a deal. I'll take care of the Don guy, and you give me your sous chef!" Luffy said looking Zeff directly in the eyes.

Zeff met his gaze as he thought about his offer. Then he began to laugh "Kid you're a terrible negotiator. I'd have paid to have you take that sorry excuse for a chef off my ship. But fine you defeat Don Krieg, and I'll let you take Sanji."

"YES! I finally have a cook!" Luffy shouted looking at Sanji.

"LIKE HELL!" Sanji shouted at Luffy. He looked at Zeff "Like I'm going to leave that easily you old bastard..."

At this point, Don Krieg had climbed through the hole in the hull of his ship and jumped back on the Baratie. He began making his way to Luffy slowly but deliberately.

When he entered the restaurant, he found a bag of food next to that straw hat kid.

"Hey, Krieg!" Luffy shouted. "Take this food to your crew. In two hours though you and I are going to fight! If I win you leave with your crew. But if I lose you get the ship. How does that sound?"

Don Krieg stunned at first began to laugh "You honestly think a punk like you could take me on! I had five-thousand men under my control! My bounty is seventeen million berries! Who are you to challenge me!"

At this Luffy thought aloud "Well I may only have five other crew members..."

Sanji angered thought 'Wait he's counting me isn't he?!'

Luffy continued "... but my bounty is higher. Mine's worth twenty million berries!"

Shock spread throughout the crew of the Baratie and Don and Gin seemed to have trouble comprehending that. Twenty million? What had this kid done to deserve a bounty like that?

Don Krieg recovering from his shock began to laugh "You'll have to lie better than that kid. No way you've got a bounty higher than mine. But I'll take your wager. In two hours I'll be back to take my new ship."

And he turned around walking back to his ship with the bag over his shoulder. Gin giving one last look to Sanji and Luffy followed behind him.

The people remaining on Baratie started clamoring to Luffy. They wanted to know if his bounty was that high. And how he had managed to throw Krieg off the ship.

"Yeah, my bounty is twenty million. I got it from defeating some other strong pirates. But other than that I guess I'm just powerful!" he laughed while flexing his arm.

But Luffy told them that he had to meet with his crew to let them know what was going on. And so he left promising to be back in time for the fight.

There was a considerable debate going on in his absence. Some were wondering if it was a mistake to leave the fate of their ships in the hands of some kid that they didn't even know. The others were wondering whether the kid was as strong as he claimed.

Zeff had begun rifling through some newspapers that he had gotten the past few days. He seemed to remember something in one of them referencing a straw hat.

He found what he was looking for when he saw an article dated from two days before that Luffy kid had gotten here. Zeff skimmed over the newspaper to find out about the Straw Hat kid. He read about how Luffy had fought a pirate named Kuro, and as it turned out the man had been hiding out as a butler to some village nobleman.

For some unknown reason, he had been defeated by someone called Straw Hat Luffy who no one had heard of before. So the Navy had released a bounty on the only info they had which was the name. They had set it at 20 million for killing someone as strong as Kuro and defeating the rest of his pirate crew.

"Hmm... so it looks like that punks telling the truth," Zeff said almost unbelievingly.

Back on the Going Merry Luffy had begun to catch his crew up on what was happening.

"So you're going to have a showdown with this Don Krieg guy?" Nami asked.

"Yup! And when I'm done were going to have a new chef!" Luffy said excitedly.

"I want you guys to stand by though. Don Krieg is a coward and will likely go back on his word when he starts losing. So be prepared to take on some of his men." Luffy said looking thoughtfully at his crew.

"Alright, captain I'm right behind you," Zoro said examining one of his swords.

Usopp looking to Kaya voiced his own agreement "Yup! I'll back you guys up!"

Kaya agreed as well although she was more concerned about potentially healing people.

Nami looked to her crew then back at the Krieg's pirate ship. For some unknown reason, she smirked but didn't voice whatever plan she might be thinking of.

"Alright, guys we have a couple hours though until the duel so let's get some food!" Luffy said hopping off the ship and heading towards Baratie.

Nami shouted after him "Don't overeat! Remember what happened last time!" and under her breath, she said "damn moron..."

Without much else to do the crew decided to follow him. Maybe since they were going to fight on their behalf, they'd be willing to comp their food...

A few hours later and the Straw Hat Pirates were ready to take down Don Krieg and his crew. They had been served a free meal made my Zeff and Sanji.

But the time had come, and they could hear the pirates from Krieg's ship gathering together. It seems that they had regained their strength after eating their fill.

However, their war cries soon turned to terror-filled screams. The sound of the ship breaking to pieces could be heard. This created massive waves that threw Baratie around knocking many people to the floor. Luffy and the Straw Hat's ran outside to see what was happening. They were followed by Sanji. Zeff began shouting to his crew to raise the anchor to keep the Baratie from sinking along with the other ship.

They watched as the sea swallowed the massive pieces that made up Krieg's ship. Soon even the large masts dipped below the ocean.

Luckily for the Straw Hats, Yosaku and Johnny had stayed behind to watch the ship. They had managed to keep it under control, and they'd moved it farther away to keep it from smashing into one of the other ships.

Now that the ocean had settled others began to emerge from the ship to witness the destruction for themselves. Zeff even laid eyes on a man he never thought he'd see in East Blue.

Hawk-Eye was here.

Zoro had found the man as well. The one he had set out to sea to one-day face one-on-one to see who was indeed the world's greatest swordsman.

Don Krieg was currently in disbelief that the monster that had destroyed his fleet had actually followed him out here. He and his men were now stuck holding on for dear life onto the pieces of his flagship that had managed to float. Well the remaining number of his crew, it seemed many had been dragged down to hell with most of his ship.

Zoro watched Hawk-Eye Mihawk as he drew closer and closer to the Baratie. He looked over to his captain.

"Do what you need to do Zoro." He said calmly looking back.

He nodded at this and jumped over to one of the large pieces of debris that were floating near Mihawk's boat.

Soon he found himself staring straight into the hawk-like eyes of the man he had come out to sea to face.

"I came out to sea to meet you," Zoro said with one hand on the Wado Ichimonji. The sword that he had sworn to carry out a dream on.

"What's your goal?" Mihawk said calmly meeting his gaze.

"To become the strongest!" Zoro said tying his bandana around his head.

"Hmph... How foolish..." Mihawk said with a contemptuous twist to his smile.

"You've got spare time, right? Let's fight!" Zoro said drawing the Wado Ichimonji.

The remaining pirates could be heard clamoring in fear as they tried to keep out of the way of the two legendary swordsmen.

"Th-This guy is Zoro! Roronoa Zoro of the Three Swords Style!" one could be heard saying.

Don Krieg standing on of the biggest pieces of his broken ship remarked: " Oh, a pirate hunter, huh?"

"Fight? Hmph! How pitiful, weak one..." Mihawk said not even bothering to look Zoro's way.

Mihawk quickly moved to the same platform as Zoro seemingly moving in an instant.

Zoro turned to face him ready to fight.

"If you are a competent enough swordsman, you should be able to see the disparity in our abilities even before we cross swords," Mihawk said arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Is it your courage or ignorance that causes you to turn your sword on me?"

"It's my ambition!" he said as he placed the Wado in his mouth and drew his remaining swords.

"And it's also because of a promise I made to a dear nakama!"

Mihawk broke the string on his necklace and removed the top revealing the cross to be a small knife.

"Hey, what's the meaning of that?" Zoro asked looking a little angry.

"I'm no beast that goes all out when hunting a rabbit," Mihawk said passively. "Even if you're a swordsman who's earned a bit of a name for himself, this sea, the East Blue is the weakest among the four seas."

"Unfortunately, I don't carry any smaller sharp instrument than this one," Mihawk said looking remorse.

"That's enough making fun of me! Better not regret it when I kill you!" Zoro said running straight at Mihawk.

"Oni... Giri..." but before he could continue his attack was stopped as if hitting a wall.

He stared at the small knife and tried to use all the strength he had to push the blade back, but it wouldn't budge.

He pulled back and began swinging at Mihawk as fast as he could with each blade he had.

But Mihawk's defense was impenetrable. Each blow from his blade was blocked effortlessly with Mihawk's small knife.

During this assault, Zoro began to notice fractures that sprouted across the two blades in his hands. With each strike to Mihawk, another breach started, and each one grew a little larger.

Eventually, he lost the sword in his left hand and then the one in his right. He jumped away when his second blade to try and catch his breath. He dropped his broken swords and took Wado out from his mouth. He held it with both hands and closed his eyes. Letting his breathing slow, he tried to think back on Luffy's training. He tried to visualize Mihawk and what moves he could make if he came at him.

That was when he felt it Mihawk rushing at him from his right. He focused all of his will into his single blade and struck out at the knife reaching for his heart.

The sound of a blade shattering could be heard across the water's as everyone stared in shock at what had happened.

Mihawk stared at the swordsman. At the last possible second, he had stuck out with the blade in his hand. And for a moment before the edges touched Zoro's sword had turned black and smashed his knife disarming him.

He smirked. This man had potential.

He moved back dropping the now useless knife. "Kid! State your name," he asked for the first time seriously looking at the young swordsman. And Zoro opened his eyes.

"Roronoa Zoro," he said meeting his gaze with conviction.

"I'll remember it," Mihawk said as he drew his signature blade.

"I haven't seen anyone like you in a while, strong one. Thus... as a swordsman's courtesy, I'll sink you using the world's strongest black sword."

"I appreciate it," Zoro said readying his own blade.

Mihawk launched at Zoro with a speed Zoro had never seen before he moved his blade to intercept.

Mihawk blew past him. Both swordsmen stood, but only one had used their blade for the last time this fight. Both stood for what seemed like hours when it only lasted mere moments. Then Zoro collapsed to the ground Wado still in his hand. Blood began pouring from his wounds as he tried to keep from falling to the ground.

"I never imagined I'd ever lose... So this is the power of the world's strongest." He sat up a little and sheathed Wado Ichimonji.

He faced Mihawk and held his arms to his sides.

"What are you..." Mihawk was confused at Zoro's actions.

"Scars on the back are a swordsman's shame..." Zoro said smirking at Mihawk.

"Admirable..." Mihawk stated as he took his final swing.

Blood sprayed out from his last wound this fight. With his heart beating so fast he could barely hear the sound of his nakama's screams as blood pounded in his ears.

"Don't live so hastily, young man," Mihawk said as Zoro fell.

Luffy jumped towards the water intent on catching Zoro. Nami screamed out to stop him. "Luffy the ocean!" she cried out hoping to keep him from drowning himself.

But as Luffy fell he began channeling his ice powers and right before he hit the water, he called out "Icy Icy Step."

The ocean as it touched Luffy's feet a web of ice began shooting out from where he landed spreading out farther and farther.

He dashed towards his falling nakama each step creating a new web of ice that spread out from each footprint with one last jump caught Zoro right before he hit the ground. He hit the ground hard but was able to take the brunt of the fall for Zoro. He stood up while throwing Zoro over his shoulder Wado still clutched in the swordsman's grip.

Mihawk met his gaze coolly. "Are you that young swordsman's comrade? You also impressed me for watching it to the very end!"

Luffy nodded at this, but he knew he had to get Zoro to Kaya so she could patch up his wounds.

He ran back to his nakama who was still shocked over the events of the last few seconds.

Kaya recovering quickly, asked Luffy to lay him down. As he did so, Kaya began rooting through her back collecting gauze and medicine for Zoro. She managed to promptly coat his wounds in the ointment she made to slow the bleeding. And with Luffy's help, she bandaged his chest up to further stop the bleeding.

Mihawk shouted out to the swordsman "It's still too early for you to die. My name is Dracule Mihawk! Learn about yourself! Learn about the world! And become strong!"

"No matter how many years it takes, I will hold this seat of the strongest and wait for you."

"Surpass this sword. Try to surpass me! Roronoa Zoro!"

Zeff having watched the fight quietly said: "To think that he got Hawk-Eye Mihawk to say this much..."

Turning to the one with the straw hat he said: "Kid, what is your goal?"

"King of the Pirates." He said staring straight back at him.

"It'll be even harder than surpassing me!"

Luffy looked at him sadly. "I know."

Mihawk looked at him. There was odd wisdom to this boy beyond what his age would suggest.

Zoro then raised his remaining sword to the sky.

"L... Luffy... Did I worry you? You need no less than the world's greatest swordsman, right? I... I will not be defeated ever again!" He yelled out.

Mihawk smiled at this declaration.

"Until the day I defeat him and become a master swordsman... I'll never... be defeated! Got any problems with that... King of the Pirates?!"

Luffy laughed "Nope!"

"You're a good team. I want to see you guys again." Mihawk called out to them, and with that, he headed back towards his ship.

Then Don Krieg jumped down from where he had been and stood behind Mihawk.

"Hey, Hawk-Eye! Didn't you come to take my life... the life of the East Blue's ruler, Don Krieg?"

Mihawk didn't even look in the man's direction "I was going to, but I had enough fun. So I'm going home to get some rest."

Don Krieg cracked his neck and arrogantly said: "You may have had enough, but I'm tired of getting beaten."

His men began lamenting at what he was saying. Why was he trying to provoke the man that had single-handedly destroyed most of the Krieg Pirates?!

Don Krieg deploying his weapons began laughing as he opened fire. "Die before you leave!"

"As I expected... he never learns a lesson..." Mihawk said turning as he drew his blade.

Next, a massive explosion blasted seawater from the area where they had been. This sent most of Don's men into the sea, and those who couldn't grab on to debris or ice chunks created from Luffy's devil fruit were taken down into the ocean.

One of the few to come out unscathed was Don Krieg. "Damn! He escaped..." not thinking of the lives his foolish mistake had cost him. And he was right. Hawk-Eyes was nowhere to be seen.

Back on the Baratie Luffy told his crew to get back to the Going Merry. He mainly wanted Zoro out of harm's way. Nami, Usopp, and Kaya gave no arguments to getting back to the safety of their ship and loaded up the small boat borrow from the bounty hunter duo bringing Zoro with them to the Going Merry.

Don Krieg and his remaining pirates seemed to be getting ready for the fight that was about to take place.

Sanji turning to one of the chefs told him to open up the fins of the restaurant. That way they could leave the fighting outside and not damage the restaurant. Zeff nodded at this, and the chef quickly complied running to do what he was told.

Soon the fins extended out to their maximum length creating a suitable battlefield for the finale between Don Krieg and Straw Hat Luffy.

Luffy stepped out onto the fin and pointed directly at Krieg. "It's time we finally fought don't you think?"

Zeff looked to Sanji. "Observe carefully how he fights. Don't take your eyes off him until the moment this fight comes to an end."Sanji surprised at the old man could only nod as he looked at the strange kid.

With Luffy standing in for the crew of Baratie, and Don Krieg for his own crew they stared each other down, ready for the next fight.

"Hey, brat!" Don Krieg called out.

"Hm?"

"I'll make you fully experience the true power that conquered the East Blue. I'll teach you that your devil fruit or whatever it is means nothing."

"All your griping is getting annoying... I'll kick your ass. It's as simple as that."

Don Krieg's face contorted in anger at that while Luffy just gave him a toothy grin in response.

"I'm coming over now. You just wait there!" Luffy said laughing.

"What impudence..." he muttered back.

Luffy jumped down into the water. Using the same technique as before he froze the water with each step. Calmly walking towards Don Krieg who was standing on the debris of his old flagship. The longer he stayed in contact with the water the farther the ice spread. The ice had almost connected the Baratie to Don Krieg at this point.

Don Krieg let him get closer, and when he got close enough, he flicked a small bomb towards the kid.

Landing at his feet Luffy jumped high as an explosion rocked the ice platform he had made. Not wasting any time Luffy flew towards Don Krieg.

Don Krieg's pauldrons opened up to reveal his mounted two barrel cannons. Opening fire on Luffy, he watched as the bullets merely impacted and sunk into his skin. What was that red stuff?

Luffy continuing his jump landed on Krieg grabbing onto the shoulder mounted cannons. Superheating his fists, he laughed as he fused the barrels shut. Don Krieg took a swing at him but was too late as Luffy kicked off of him pushing him back as he did so.

Luffy landed on one of his ice platforms. He watched to see what Don Krieg would pull next.

While this was happening most of his men who had been cheering were shocked to see Don actually taking hits. It looked like his pauldrons were stuck in the firing position because of the melted cannons. However regaining their composure, they began cheering "Yeah Don Krieg! Show him who's boss!"

He laughed pulling off his pauldrons he formed his Great Battle Spear. Pointing the spear at Luffy. "I'll admit kid your powers are pretty strange... But you are still no match for me especially with this. My most powerful weapon!"

He launched himself at Luffy ready to drive his spear straight into the kid's heart. Pulling his arm back he suddenly thrust the spear with all his strength at the kid and felt his spear impact set off a giant explosion. He smirked and went to pull back his spear only to find he couldn't move it.

As the smoke cleared, he could see why. The kid had stopped it with his bare hands. He held onto the sides of the spear with the tip only inches from his chest.

Don Krieg couldn't see any damage on the kid. Not only had he stopped the spear he had also taken the entire explosive power at a point blank range. How powerful was this kid?

Luffy having started fueling his magma powers to his arms crushed the spear tip melting it to slag as he did so. Don Krieg twisted the other end of the spear hitting him in the head with the butt of the spear.

This time he saw his head get covered in some kind of shiny black coating as the spear snapped at the point of impact. Leaving a 3 ft pole In Krieg's hand. He tossed the stick away and raised his diamond covered fists.

He may have blocked the spear, but his gauntlets could crush anything! He swung his fists left and right, but each time he did the kid moved out of the way dodging his blows effortlessly. Krieg jumped away raising his right arm he used his wrist-mounted flamethrower. This would for sure incinerate the kid.

But just like before the kid merged unscathed. Only this time magma was pouring from this kids body. It covered most of his body. Oddly enough though it didn't melt the ice, he was standing on. As it slipped off the ice and into the ocean loud hisses of steam erupted from where they met.

"Sorry Krieg but magma beats fire... I learned that the hard way." He said giving Krieg a thousand-yard stare.

'Time to finish this...' Luffy thought to himself.

Before Krieg could think of a new plan, Luffy pushed off from the ice flow he had created faster than Krieg's eyes could track.

Luffy shouted out as he brought his right hand behind him "Mag-Mag Fist" smashing his fist into Krieg's armored stomach an explosion rang out sending Krieg flying into the debris of his own ship.

Bits and pieces of golden armor could be seen scattering to the area. Krieg's wootz steel armor was broken.

None of Krieg's pirates dared move. They looked towards where their captain had flown and waited. But there was no movement.

The crew of the Baratie who had been too stunned to say anything suddenly broke out in celebration. Straw Hat Luffy had saved their restaurant! Cheers could be heard coming from all the chefs. Sanji smirked while lighting up another cigarette. While Zeff merely grinned at the sight before him.

Finally, Gin stood up from where he had been with some of the other crew. Dumbfounded he slowly began to move where Krieg had landed. After a short time digging through the debris, he found his currently unconscious captain.

Most of his armor had been smashed. What little of what was left on his body had been warped and mangled beyond repair. His clothes were burned in many places and were in tatters. Across the right side of his face, he sported a burn that wasn't ever likely to heal. If Krieg was lucky, he might keep his eye. The hair on that side of the face was gone as well. Don Krieg had been defeated.

Gin hauled Krieg up on his back and began to drag him to the rest of the crew. They were unsure what to do. They never thought Don Krieg could have lost to some nobody.

He placed his captain's body in one of the only surviving boats that they had brought along with the flagship. He motioned to the remaining living men to gather on the ship. Gin and Pearl were going to have to lead his Krieg Pirates until the Don was healed up again.

Gin turned towards Luffy. "I'll see you on the Grand Line." and looking to Sanji "Thank you for all your kindness. Without you, we surely would have died."

Luffy laughing nodded in acceptance. He wasn't sure if he'd ever really see him again though. He hadn't last time at least.

Sanji took another drag from his cigarette and muttered. "Don't mention it."

The last of the Krieg Pirates set off hoping to find a new start somewhere else.

Luffy turning towards Zeff gave him a big thumbs up. "So this means I get to keep Sanji right?"

Zeff laughed while Sanji fumed. But before he could respond a crack could be heard in the ice. Luffy looking down surprised was suddenly dumped into the ocean.

'Damn not again...' he thought.

Sanji still pissed off, laughed at the moron and waited for him to come up.

Zeff looking towards his soon to be ex-sous chef said "Well you better go get him. Devil Fruit users are an enemy of the sea. He can't swim."

"What! You shitty geezer you should have told me sooner!" Sanji said discarding his shoes and jacket as he jumped into the water.

He kept swimming deeper and deeper looking for Luffy until he finally spotted him. He was unmoving but seemed to be conscious as he could see Luffy tracking his movements.

Finally catching up he grabbed Luffy and begun swimming as fast as he could to shore desperate to make it before Luffy ran out of air. And finally, he broke the surface of the water and threw Luffy up onto some of the floating debris.

"You dumb bastard. You should watch where your standing." Sanji rasped out still catching his breath.

"Thanks!" Luffy said laughing. "I sure would have been in big trouble if you hadn't fished me out!"

"Tcch... dumb bastard." Was all Sanji could say. He pulled himself out of the water onto the debris, and he was smiling too.

Authors Note

Hope you enjoyed the latest chapter.

I wanted to say sorry to anyone that asks questions like who is going to be joining or who gets what abilities. I don't like distributing that info beforehand and would rather you just read it if and when it happens.

I would rather it be a surprise rather than something I just tell you in advance.

Tomorrow's chapter will be out around the same time as today's.