Chapter 7: Red Motor Fuel
Wait, I thought I was done...? Damnit.
Don Krieg's face, Luffy knew he had succeeded in bringing down the enemy by only glaring at him.
He opened his mouth and took in large breaths, his canines bared for all the world to see.
He continued to breathe like this, feeling his body do flips and turn upside down when he moved or twitched. It felt like he was being spun around until he lost consciousness, the world around him spinning as if he were inside the vortex of a tornado. He was still for many minutes, not wanting to feed the hands that would grab onto his mind if he ever gave in.
It hurt too.
And a lot.
His whole body, apart from the somersaults and the backflips his organs were doing, felt like it was being crushed by a burning rocky surface, the stones pressing into his skin knowing full well that it was going to bruise into a nasty purple-red. Then green. Then black. It showed no mercy for the person it was torturing, and it continued to squeeze them against the floor until their bones and ribs cracked, not being able to support the heavy weight that was freely placing itself onto his whole body.
As the stones would press into him, they would pass down burning touches around his body, poking at him and burning that spot to the point where he would want to amputate it.
As he exhaled, he swore he could feel the heated breaths dance in front of him with the color of smoke, as if he were standing in magma in the middle of summer without any protection.
He was so hot.
Scorching.
If he gave in, he and his body were going to regret it.
If he gave in, he was going to wake up with the blood of a person licking at his fingers and coating him like a blanket.
His hands clenched into the tightest fists he could muster, his claws biting into the skin in his palm and causing four cuts to imprint themselves on the callous skin on both hands. He had left his mouth open, feeling a type of closure that definitely calmed him, so he continued to inhale and exhale, repeating the same ragged breaths until he was interrupted by hoarse laughter, sounding choked and stressed.
The laughter grew stronger to the point where it seemed more confident. The ragged cuts in the breaths stopped and the recognizable laughter of Don Krieg could now be distinguishable.
Looking at the other pirate, Luffy watched the trembling eyes of the pirate captain, slightly amazed by how well the other could hide what was before the trembling of his body. The neko smiled. He liked that. He was the dominant one now, wasn't he?
Sanji held Gin in his arms, the pirate struggling to get a good grab at the air. Sanji stared at Krieg, the pirate captain laughing as if he was watching the funniest thing happen in front of him and was clearly enjoying it, but he didn't miss the fact that instead of booming, dominant laughter, it actually appeared to be as if he was… choking? Well, at least struggling for something.
Krieg's eye twitched noticeably, "Feeling sorry for that useless sack of crap?!" he practically screamed.
When he had said that, Sanji wanted nothing more than to kick the pirate until he was only a pile of meat and bones, grinded perfectly for any chef, but as he was about to mutter a string of curses under his breath, the chef's air supply seemed to vanish in a painless way, and so he looked at what seemed to be the vacuum of his oxygen, almost struggling to look up.
In front of him, what he saw wasn't the happy-go-lucky kid he had been used to seeing the past few days, attacking and pouncing on him and suddenly scurrying away while he was trying to serve plates of food to customers and lovely ladies.
What he saw frightened him.
Luffy's eyes were ferocious, that he understood, but the simple fact that what should've been orbs were now slits unsettled him beyond than what he was used to. The slits seemed to focus and defocus on the figure of the enemy pirate, sometimes he thought that the irises themselves changed color to something similar to yellow or gold, perhaps orange? But, either way, changing eye colors without the use of contacts was impossible, but, he had just discovered that the kid was made up rubber. It was possible that that was an effect of eating the devil fruit, but what relation did rubber have with changing eye colors?
Besides the eyes, his fists were unclenching, his fingers twisting around in a manner that resembled for too much to strangling. His fists, his arms, his torso all the way around his body were shaking violently.
"Hey…" What was his name again? If he remembered correctly, the swordsman had called him 'Luffy', so he went with that, "Hey, Luffy…? You okay there?" he reached out to grab Luffy's wrist, but pulled away when he saw Luffy flinch.
Luffy looked at him, but his eyes were large again, as if nothing had changed, "Hmm?" He hummed. "Nah, just gotta beat this guy up."
Don listened in on their conversation, his eyes and body still trembling, "He's a useless idiot. He lost sight of his objectives and disobeyed my orders. Seeing as how he may repeat his failures again in the future, killing him right now on the spot is how I show my love."
The pirates and chefs murmured from everywhere, but upon hearing Patty and Carne's voices, Sanji snapped his head around and asked Patty if he had some antidote, and while Patty confirmed, he added that it was mainly used for food poisoning and pointed out the fact that the man in his arms was the enemy, but Sanji growled at him before he could continue and ordered him to bring it over as fast as he could.
As Patty prepared to turn around and retrieve what Sanji had asked, Zeff appeared behind him and sighed, "You idiot. Just put that mask on him now. It must contain at least a bit of an antidote of some sort." He turned to Patty and Carne, "Take him to the second floor and have him breathe with that mask. If there's even the slightest chance of still saving him, then that's the first step to take."
As Sanji listened to Zeff's orders and placed the gas mask on Gin, he realized that the two chefs hadn't moved an inch, he scowled, "Patty! Carne! Move your asses!"
They immediately charged towards him, whimpering like wounded dogs who were forced to do more work.
Luffy stared at the scene, his fists clenching tighter as he looked away. When Sanji had asked him if he was okay, the heat had vanished, but it was slowly returning again. He could feel the tips of his fingers and toes burning up, as if he was slowly stepping into lava. Despite this, he bit his lip and said, "Don't you dare die, Gin."
He could feel his whole body burn again, this time, he felt as if he were being scorched in every possible location, even his eyes. "Don't you dare let yourself be killed by a guy like him. Hang in there with sheer willpower, got it? Because I'll send him flying in the meanwhile."
Gin struggled to convince Luffy not to go, but his words were undistinguishable because of the mask and his previous weak state.
The neko took a step forward, unclenching his hand and letting the blood drip freely onto the floor and run through his fingers. It made him feel somewhat better, now that he could feel something colder on one part of his body, but as he took another step, he heard shuffling and a crack, realizing that Sanji had moved. Afterwards, he felt a hand latch onto his wrist once again, but he didn't mind. In fact, it seemed to provide cold and comfort than anything else.
"Calm down, you idiot! Charging directly at him is exactly what he wants! You'll get yourself killed!" Luffy's hand was hot. That was the first thing Sanji noticed. The second thing he noticed what that the monstrous look Luffy had before returned, and it looked twice as bad.
Luffy stared at Don Krieg, watching him like a predator waiting for the perfect moment to attack. He could feel Sanji's grip lessen, and he had a good idea why. With the aura he had and the look he imagined he was wearing right then, he understood why a human would fear a monster like him. He took in a breath, ready to reply in a more soothing voice, but it came out not like he had expected. "I'm not gonna die."
His voice sounded like it belonged to someone else. Not necessarily belonging to a demon, but to a person who hadn't drunk anything in so long and had a naturally low voice. When Sanji's hand released his wrist hastily, he didn't blame him. He honestly did sound like a monster ready to kill and confident in his skills.
The neko didn't give Sanji a chance to reply. Instead, he pushed his own body to the floor causing him to land on all fours. This gained questionable looks, but when he leaped off the platform, he landed in front of Krieg and with a feral growl, he punched the pirate right in the stomach, surprising everyone who had blinked and shocking those who had seen the whole thing.
"Where'd he go?" someone asked.
A pirate responded by pointing at the teenager, standing triumphantly in front of Krieg.
"When did he get there? A second hadn't even passed!"
Luffy heard clacking again, and knew immediately the ammo in the shield was changing, so he pounced away and landed on the mast, once again on all fours. Krieg stood up, an angry yet shocked expression clear on his face. He pointed the shield at Luffy, missiles shooting out of the golden item.
As the missiles started to charge at Luffy, the raven simply stood there, eyeing every single one that he managed to see. When the missiles seemed to be only inches away, Luffy could hear Sanji shouting out his name. Catching sight of one in front of his right eye, he charged and slapped the missile away with the back of his hand, causing it to explode the water where it had landed.
As the water began to cascade down, Luffy charged at full speeds towards Krieg, one more hitting him on his left shoulder and the other one he had pulled from the side of his waist, now holding it in his hand. Running at higher speeds, he threw the missile in his hand towards the enemy pirate, then smashed the surface of the water causing a waterfall of seawater to rain down near Krieg.
He could hear Don Krieg murmur something about him using his own trick against him, but he paid no heed to it as he jumped through the water, his arm outstretched behind him.
Don Krieg smirked and pulled out a cape covered in sharp spikes, causing Sanji and the chefs to cry out, now finding the situation helpless, but Luffy continued to fly towards him.
As the neko neared the pirate and his fist starting to close the distance between them, Don Krieg's smirk vanished as his visible skin began to cover itself in sweat. The spikes on the cape seemed to grow a layer of red over each one and the cape itself, appearing as if it was burning. Once Luffy was near, the spikes seemed to melt into the metal, globs of burning metal landing on the floor and the drops that landed on Krieg caused him to wince in pain.
Luffy brought his fist forwards directed at Don Krieg, smashing it through the heated cape and hitting his target square on the cheek, shattering the cape of metal spikes and bring a firework of blood on both sides of the cape. Although the spikes had been shattered or turned to liquid, Luffy's hand ached. It burned and the blood spilling from the multiple wounds seemed to turn black. Don Krieg, on the other hand, had crashed on the railing on the far end of the ship, cracking the rails but had somehow managed to stay aboard.
"He managed to bring our Don down!" The pirates splashed in the water, surprised and terrified by the strength of the teenager.
Sanji stared at the scene, pure shock in his face. He massaged his hands unknowingly, never wanting to feel something as bad as losing something as precious like his hands. His hands were his life. If would never do something as reckless to lose his hands. He, as a chef, had a soft spot for hands. If someone's hands were bruised badly to the point where they wouldn't be able to use it anymore, he would feel sympathetic for that person, even if that person was the enemy.
Shaking his head and brushing away his shock, he shouted at nobody in particular, "W-What a reckless guy!"
"He hit that with his bare hands!"
"Owww!" The chefs as well started to shake or massage their hands, few actually holding it away from the scene.
"Don Krieg was knocked down again!"
"What… what's with that guy!? He punched Don Krieg to the other side of the ship!"
"I've never even seen the Don on his knees before, much less lying flat on his face!"
"That kid just punched our Don right in the face! Not to mention it was through that spike-covered cape!"
Luffy's hand spilled scorching blood, once again clenching and unclenching his hands as he walked towards the fallen body of Don Krieg. Once Luffy was right behind Krieg, he smirked and grabbed hold of the missile in his shoulder, twisting and tugging at it, "Now, is this place really my grave… or your grave?" with a final twist and a sickening crack, Luffy managed to pull out the missile. It was obvious that the missile had embedded itself in his bone. "Mine… or yours?"
The neko held the bloody missile with his bloody hand in front of him like some sort of trophy, his smirk showing off all his sharp fangs that could easily be used to tear into the flesh of anything breathing. The grin on his face widened, "Which is it?!" His voice was deadly. He walked closer towards the fallen man, crouching down and forcefully stabbing an opening in his armor that exposed his arm, causing the pirate to yell in pain.
Blood oozed from the new wound on Don Krieg's body, but Luffy didn't care. His brain and mind and all sense of rationality seemed to melt away from the heat burning inside his head, turning everything into a pile of goop. The only sole nerve of actual thinking only had a single order, and that was to end the life of the man he so desperately wanted gone.
He grabbed the man by the neck, pulling him higher despite the fact that the missile planted into him had also been embedded into the floor, so it tore off the skin and muscle when he had raised him higher.
Don Krieg chocked, blood spilling from his mouth as Luffy continued to smile. His hands were burning, and he could already see red markings form around the neck, both from the tightness of his clutch and from the searing heat in his aura. "This isn't my grave." Luffy smirked, "I would say it's more like yours. Don't you think?"
●ω●
Sanji's eyes were wide.
Everything he was seeing was shocking him to a new level. At first, his shock was simply the look Luffy wore, then it was the way he attacked, then it was how he could bare the pain of missiles in his body, then it was how he managed to bring down Don Krieg, the after that, it was how the cape somehow melted (reminding him of how hot Luffy's hand was when he had touched it, but it didn't burn. It was simply uncomfortable) to how strong Luffy's punches actually were.
But, none of those things surprised him as much when he got a good look at Luffy's face. It was in pure glee, blood splattered on his face and matted his hair. The red liquid seemed charred on his hand and the melted and shattered metal on the floor was an indication that the two were related. But he couldn't shake the fact that the innocent kid from before had turned into a monster that was out for blood.
From far away, he could see the red glow surround him, but it was extremely faint. In fact, at first he had thought it was his mind playing tricks on him since he believed that Luffy was the cause of everything burning. But, if that were indeed the case, then shouldn't everything else be burning or melting as well? Like the wood planks or perhaps cause steam in the water?
He just couldn't wrap his mind around this. It was too complicated. He knew nothing about the straw hat teenager yet he was trying to figure out too many things that he was sure he was never going to find out unless Luffy told him directly.
"What the fuck…" He cursed in shock. He clutched his side. It was still containing broken ribs after all.
Zeff walked next to Sanji, a wooden crutch placed underneath his armpit.
Zeff sighed, a vague idea of what was happening currently on his mind. Despite the fact that the straw hat kid was a prime example of an amazing leader, the fact that he could end up like this bothered him. But then again, he only became like this when somebody close to him got hurt, so, even in this state, he would never hurt anybody in his crew. A small smile tugged his lips, "Watch him carefully, Sanji." He said.
He didn't have to say it, since Sanji was already staring at the scene of Luffy holding up Krieg by the neck, "'Why did he become like this?' I'm sure you're asking yourself that right now. Aren't you?"
Sanji looked at him with shocked eyes, "How'd you know?"
Zeff chuckled. "I was thinking that at first too, but then I came to the realization that he became a monster when someone close to him was betrayed and in danger. It happened not too long ago too, only a few hours ago." Sanji continued to stare at him, getting an idea of where he was going, "The swordsman who fought Hawk-Eyes was near death, and so the boy simply became a monster to protect his friend who he thought had died."
Sanji thought about it for a moment, "Yeah. That's true…"
"Don't you find that honorable?"
Sanji stiffened, not knowing how to respond to that, "I… I don't know. I guess it is, but seeing how many people will judge you if you suddenly go on a killing rampage… I really doubt many people see it as 'honorable'." He turned to Zeff. "Why exactly is it you want me to travel with him?" he said in a voice that had a mix of accuse but curiosity as well. There was no sign of anger, but it was understandable to think so.
The head chef stared into the black pupils of the second best cook, wondering for a moment on how to respond, then he looked back at the boy holding up the pirate, "Because he's someone who you can trust and never feel betrayed. He is an idiot, I'll admit that, but what's the harm of having an idiot with a caring soul as your leader and friend?"
Sanji seemed to think about this, wondering what the benefits were of having such a captain. The kid seemed to enjoy being in the presence of his friends, and when they were hurt, well, he saw the outcome of that story. From the previous days, he had already figured out that the kid was weird in more ways than one, from the way he played to the way he fought.
Pouncing on him and suddenly scurrying away reminded him of how pets played with their owners or friends, urging the other to play with him.
Like a cat.
But, when he fought, he attacked like a vicious animal. At first, he continued to get hit over and over again, but afterwards, his aura and body seemed to change. He didn't question it at first. But now, it seemed to pique his interest now that he didn't seem to have any problem with killing when before he seemed to have been holding back.
"There isn't much harm, I guess." Sanji admitted, feeling a little butterfly flutter around in his stomach.
"Other than the fact he is worthy; he is a formidable opponent." Sanji looked up at Zeff, silently asking the head chef to continue, "There are guys like him every now and then. Idiots that fight to the death once they decide on a goal."
Sanji sighed, staring blankly at the scene in front of him. A short, lanky, black-haired teen holding up a man who tripled his size by the next, the same man who was known for his cruel acts and torturous ways of cheating. Luffy, the same teen who smiled and pounced on him was the same teen holding up a pirate who previously owned a large and powerful pirate. "Fight to the death…" he whispered, immediately seeing what Zeff meant.
"A guy like him is the worst enemy you can face. Whether he wins or loses this match…" Zeff chuckled, "I like guys like him."
Sanji continued to stare, a smile working on his lips, "I like him, too."
His smiled faltered when he saw Krieg twitch violently once, grabbing onto the wrist holding him by the neck. "If this place…" his voice sounded dead now. And there were a lot of gurgles in those simple three words, "Isn't your grave…" with his other hand, Don Krieg grabbed a shield from his shoulder, rapidly lunging it towards Luffy, "Whose is it?!"
Luffy immediately let go of his victim's neck, forming his hand into a fist and punching the shield before it had even progressed an inch, the Wootz shield moaning out before a large crack was imprinted on the shield. The moan became a momentarily quick screech, causing everyone to cover their ears.
During the quick shrill, Luffy growled loudly. Because of Don Krieg's lasting shock, Luffy took that moment to grab the hem of the shield and pull himself upwards, pulling the shield back in the process, leaving the large pirate in point-blank sight, "Gotcha." Luffy grinned. He pulled his fist back without the use of his devil fruit and punched his face, bringing Don Krieg onto the floor, pieces of his shield cracking off, although unsuccessfully breaking the shield completely.
Floods of odors flooded the neko's nostrils, each one causing his smirk to grow a bit wider. Humiliation, nervousness, fear, anger, confusion. He knew he was humiliating his enemy, and normally he wouldn't do such a thing, especially on purpose, but what was the harm? In fact, it was almost fun. He tapped his foot on the floor, accelerating the speed each time he felt something form inside of him roar like the maniac his body wanted to become.
Inside him, just pure joy partied, his growing unstableness feeding off of the humiliation that his enemy was letting off, letting him know that he was winning.
Sanji and Zeff stared on in fascination, not daring to miss anything else or any other punch or kick thrown. From what they had seen before, that Wootz armor was overpowered, not a single scratch on it, well, before Luffy punched it. Now, a large crack was embedded onto the metal, and they really doubted that it would get out alive.
Realizing that Don Krieg wasn't moving, Sanji took that opportunity to steal some glances at everyone else wondering what their reactions were gonna be, and unsurprisingly, everyone wore shocked expressions, mesmerized by the crack now printed on the shield as if it was One Piece itself. Sanji was gonna turn back around and watch the fight again, but he got a better look at their faces, was realized that not only were they surprised, they were scared.
He stared at them, counting off all the possible causes as to why they would be scared, especially the pirates who wore horrified faces. Perhaps, they thought that the kid would beat them into a pulp since they were on the same ship of Don Krieg? It was very likely, and the most plausible reason, but judging by how Luffy was acting, Sanji didn't blame them. If he were part of the pirate group as well, he would also be terrified.
He looked at Zeff, who was staring at him as well, "They're scared." The head chef said, his arms positioning themselves differently on the crutches. "You noticed that too, didn't you?"
Sanji nodded, but he didn't want to stop watching the two pirates fight, or more accurately, the one-sided fight of the teenager. He knew Zeff also didn't want to talk that much either, so he didn't bother looking back at the older chef.
And what he saw bothered him a bit more.
Luffy appeared to be… in some sort of spasm, his arms and torso shaking violently while he stood, even appearing to be doing it on purpose because he didn't seem to be in any sort of pain, no shouts, no screams. In fact, a thin smirk was on his face, replacing what should've been a scream.
The wood underneath the teenager began to steam, as well as a meter circumference around him began to blur, as if it were scorching or burning.
Don twitched for a second, before letting out a powerful battle cry. He grabbed the cracked shield on the floor and removed the other from his shoulder, slamming both plates together. A clicking sound was heard, along with a few gears, and judging from the multiple clicks at the very beginning, the two had latched together by steel.
Luffy studied him, and his ears perked high up when he saw Don Krieg turn rapidly around, facing him. When he saw the larger pirate bring down the two shields together onto the floor, holding it by a bronze rod that definitely wasn't there before, he jumped high and latched onto a broken mast pole, studying the weapon. Smoke engulfed his sight, a loud boom echoing in his ears. He could feel the pole warm up quicker than normal, but he paid no heed to it.
"It's the great War Spear!" A pirate said, and now that Luffy had a better view of it, he saw why it was called a 'spear'.
The shields were attached to the bronze rod from before, similar to an over-sized lollipop, but sticking out from the end of the shields was a large, shark tooth-shaped blade, like the upper half of an average spear. Smoke plumed out from where the spear had sliced in to, a large crack parting the wood boards into two.
"He took it out! Our Don's most powerful weapon!"
Don Krieg removed the spear from the ground, billions of splinters littered around, "I'll look forward to seeing how long you can keep away from this, hammer brat." He looked at Luffy, who had now calmed down somewhat, "Unlike my earlier measly spears that you could afford to take two or three hits from, this spear's in a whole 'nother league."
Luffy glared at the spear, smelling large amounts of gunpowder that he had previously assumed was an extra-large sash to keep his ammunition running, but it appeared to have a completely different use—to explode at the end of a spear.
"Explosions… huh." He stared at the weapon, glaring, "Wouldn't the explosions break it?" He said in a strong voice. It was most likely that it would never break before, but that was then. In the condition it was in now, it would probably crack on its own, though he couldn't guarantee that.
"As if. This spear can withstand anything. Touch this and you'll be blown to smithereens!" He raised the battle spear high in the air, bellowing a loud war cry.
Once again, Luffy felt something churn inside him, and his pupils turned into slits for a mere second. He reached out and grabbed the spear from the mast, but it proved to be useless since he was blown away, his whole body burning and charred. As he was about to land from the impact, he noticed he was near water, so using the rest of his strength, he stretched his arm and grabbed onto a nearby railing, "Dammit."
Luffy searched around, trying to locate his enemy even though he had a hurting head and hand. Once he caught sight of him, he felt his body numb for a complete second, each interval of time would bring a longer numbness.
Sanji noticed this and cursed, "Damn, the longer he goes on, the worse off he'll be—he's losing too much blood!"
"It's the end of the line for you." Don Krieg said, a shark grin on his face.
Luffy studied his body, feeling a bit overheated from his hoodie, "Damn it, I can't fight at full strength by jumping across these little 'islands'…" he didn't even care if he was losing blood, his body would automatically take care of that. His current problem was that he had limited power because of all the small sized platforms offered for the placement of his feet, and the battle spear that his enemy held was definitely another problem to both his health and the situation beforehand.
"Looks like the Don will settle this fight quickly enough…" a pirate said.
"That 'Great' War Spear' of his creates a stronger explosion the stronger he swings it." A pirate stated.
Luffy quickly ducked a stab from the spear of Krieg, almost scathing him.
"What monstrous strength! Even though that spear made from his two shoulders plates weighs over one ton, he swings it around like it's nothing!"
"That's undeniable proof that our Don's the strongest!" a pirate said, but his voice had a very strong hint of uncertainty, and another pirate spoke what everyone thought.
"But that other kid managed to crack one of the shields with a single punch…"
All the pirates silenced after that statement, not knowing how to respond to that.
Don Krieg slashed once more, Luffy dodging the attack with more ease than before. As the neko jumped back, he noticed that he was nearing the border of the broken ship, and the large crack implanted in the ground caused the inevitable slip. Krieg took that opportunity to swing again, but fortunately, it had missed the neko.
His body had cooled off, now that the smoke from the explosion from before had let off all the smoke breathing off him. Luffy took in a breath mid-air and concentrated the flopping inside his body, desperately searching for the engine that seemed to fuel him with so much glee and happiness while he fought. In a normal state of mind (if you consider Luffy having one), he wouldn't dare to resort to using that, his kyōbō, to fight, since he had already seen the consequences of using it. The small, missile-like spear that used to be embedded in Krieg's arm was enough proof that he would go insane from using it, but, he wasn't completely himself right now. Simply in a state of mind of control and self-need.
And besides, it would activate either way.
The Pain-Induced Kyōbō would activate when wounds litter his body and when blood drains from their vessels. He was currently lacking blood, so there was no doubt it would activate any second now. The strongest mode too… so if he forced it on now, he would lose his mind.
But, right now, he didn't care.
Right now, he only wanted to win.
And that was what he was going to do, no matter what.
"DIE!" Don Krieg swung again, but had missed completely. Luffy was nowhere in front of him, instead, he was still mid-air, behind him. Once Don Krieg had noticed this, Luffy seemed to vanish again, and before anyone could blink or even realize what was happening, there was a loud, echoing moan coming from the cracked side of the Spear, pure agony resonating from the cracked Wootz shield. The shield quivered slightly, and before they saw it coming, millions of shards of the shield were scattered on the shield. The remnants shun brightly, brilliant gleams of the sun shining on each one as if they were each prizes.
The neko landed on the floor, staring blankly at the deformed spear in his enemy's hands. "There's only one side left." Luffy cocked his head to the side noticeably, "It looks really dumb like that. You can see what's inside, though! That's really cool!" Luffy said, breaking into a wide smile.
"You…!" Don Krieg shook in anger and shock, evident because of Luffy's nose.
"What's wrong?" Luffy said, stepping on the shards on the floor, "Cat got your tongue?" he giggled a little, finding it ironic how literal that was.
Don Krieg scowled and brought back his Spear behind him, the point of the weapon facing Luffy. A loud sizzling sound could be heard and through the wide opening that allowed a clear view inside, Luffy could see the machinery work around, gears and cogwheels turning and activating clicks. The smell of gunpowder was unmistakable, and Luffy prepared himself for the attack that would soon be launched at him.
Each time the weapon hit a structure or a base, then it would activate an explosion, so that meant that if Luffy were to hit it anywhere on the spear, then it would explode, wouldn't it? The raven tensed his body to lessen the pain, and if memory serves, then the Pain-Induced Kyōbō definitely did lessen it. Well, he was about to find out anyway.
When the tip of the spear was about to make contact to his chest, he punched on both sides of the blade, wondering what would happen, but judging from the shark grin that Don Krieg was currently wearing, Luffy supposed that it indeed was going to explode right in his face. Backing away his head, he released the spear quickly but it exploded before he could jump out of the way.
The raven was blown away onto another platform, but he grinned when he felt what should've been a vast amount of unbearable pain to be like a simple scratch. He coughed a bit, since smoke had entered his lungs, and apart from the fact that he was completely charred similar to a grilled fish, he didn't feel much pain at all. He stood up and dusted himself off, sighing a bit whiningly. "Man, I didn't think it would blow me away that far." He said when he realized he was on another platform a few meters away from his enemy. He laughed, finding something funny in his current situation.
Don Krieg had an expression of complete distress and frustration, "JUST FALL DOWN AND STAY DOWN, YOU MAGGOT!" he walked towards Luffy, already bringing back his spear to swing once more like a baseball bat.
Luffy glared at the weapon and exhaled softly, feeling the tip of his tail tremble a bit, "One more…" he said just as softly, and when Don Krieg slammed the weapon into Luffy, the neko grit his teeth hard and released his punch, slamming his own fist onto the broad of the blade, but the explosion once again caught him right in the center. He kept his eyes closed. Just because he couldn't feel much pain didn't mean it didn't actually cause harm to him.
When he was sent flying and crashed onto the floor, his vision began to blur. He brought his hand in front of his face and realized the reason as to why. His hand was caked in fresh blood, more liquid mixing into the tracks of the previous trails of blood now running down his whole arm. Behind Don Krieg, if Luffy looked up, he could see the Baratie, and because of the placement of his body, he could easily pick up sounds coming from there, but the loudest one had come from Sanji, who had yelled out his name.
Strange. He didn't remember when he had first said his name. Effects of the kyōbō? Probably. No. That was the reason.
Don Krieg chuckled victoriously, a nasty grin on his lips, "Have you finally realized that the strongest man in the world is none other than me!?"
The pirates cheered, throwing their fists in the water, while the chefs mourned and shuffled in the water uncomfortably, not knowing what to do now that their only hope was down. Luffy sat there, unmoving, and sighed. He let out a loud scoff, loud enough for everyone to hear, and raised his legs high to force his body off from the ground. Slamming his foot into the ground, the vibration caused the spear to tremble until shattered like glass, the shards satisfying to see.
"W-What!? My great War Spear is…!" he glared at Luffy, but it had no chance of beating what he had done before, "What did you do?!"
Luffy grinned, smoke fuming out from his nostrils and the corners of his mouth, "I punched it two times. Now, get ready!" he studied the platform he was on and smiled, approving of the large and spacious size of the terrace. "'Cause now that I'm on this wide open space, I'll send you flying!"
Don Krieg stared at him with angry eyes, "What?!"
"With the spear-tip broken, that's nothing but a bomb on a stick! I've reduced its power by half." Luffy said, standing in a confident pose. The blood from his hands dripped more than his other arm, and now that he found himself abandoning the kyōbō mode, he was starting to feel the burn.
"Is that what you think?"
The pirates in the water shrieked, not believing, or not wanting to believe, what they had witnessed, "U-Unbelievable! To think that Don Krieg's most powerful weapon: The Great War Spear would be broken!"
On the other hand, the chefs cheered, gawking with admire at Luffy, "He did it! He really is amazing!"
Don Krieg ignored them completely, focusing only on Luffy, who soaked in the praise he was receiving from the waters, "Considering that even a mere bomb on a stick can easily blow you away, I'd say that I still have more than enough power to win!" Luffy was about to respond with a sassy reply that most of it didn't really hurt, but now that the kyōbō had mostly gone, he was starting to feel the damage, so he decided it'd be best not to say anything, "Not only that, you're bleeding all over and even took two blasts from my Great Battle Spear. Seems to me you're bluffing."
Luffy shook his head and with a childish voice, he stuck out his tongue out, "Nuh-uh!" if he started purring, his wounds would somewhat heal, so blood most likely wasn't a problem.
Sanji, thinking that Luffy was one-hundred percent human, although he didn't seem like one, agreed with Don Krieg for once. "He's right. Luffy should be on the verge of collapsing! With those wounds, if he takes even one more blast from that spear, he'll be killed!" Zeff stared at him, a growing grin on his face, "Damn it… with all those weapons and armor, it's almost impossible to beat him!"
Zeff's grin became a full-on smirk, "But you know, Sanji… no matter how many hundreds of weapons or armor equipped with, they're no match for that 'one special spear' that comes from your guts."
Sanji looked at him, his uninterested face once again present, but his eyes betrayed such emotion, now that they were filled with curiosity, so Zeff took that as liberty to continue, "On the pirates' battlefield where life and death are decided, the one who fears death and hesitates for even an instant shall fall to their doom."
The smoker looked down, now observing the floor around Zeff's feet, "What do you mean by that?"
Zeff sighed, clearly agitated by the fact that Sanji never seemed to understand what he meant when he first said them, but he continued despite the annoyance, "Within that boy, if nothing else…" Zeff looked at Luffy, and Sanji followed. The teen was grinning, "Lies no hesitation." Sanji stared on, as if mesmerized by what he was seeing behind that innocent, blood-caked face. "Perhaps it stems from his complete preparedness to survive no matter what…" Zeff looked at Sanji, knowing what more to add, "Or his conviction that fears no death…" he finished, smirking.
Sanji immediately stilled, shocked, "Conviction…?" he wanted to sound surprised, but his voice came out soft. What possible belief was it that the kid held so confidently? It held no fear of death, and Sanji couldn't place his finger on it. Then something clicked, like whenever you're not trying to think of something but then it hits you—just as fast it came. His conviction was his powerful belief that he was far stronger, capable enough of following his goal—dream — to becoming Pirate King. He bowed his head and sighed.
Don Krieg let out a loud growl, causing Luffy to glare at him with deadly eyes. He raised his one-shielded weapon and charged towards Luffy, ready to swing again to finish what he had set out to do ever since they spoke. "Say your prayers! From the moment you went against me, your death was set in stone!"
Luffy growled back and stuck out his tongue again, "As if!"
The larger pirate swung down, but Luffy smiled and jumped, leaving a small dent in the ground as he went up. Although he didn't feel anything, the weapon still managed to explode so it must've touched something, but that's all he really paid attention to, unlike someone else.
Sanji had noticed something else, "Hey, geezer, the explosions are weaker, aren't they?" he obviously saw the difference. Only a blind person would miss it, or an idiot, but he wasn't much of either, so he saw it a hundred percent.
"Seems like the damage already done to it is finally takings its toll on the 'Great Battle Spear.'" Both studied large clumps of gunpowder spilling out from inside the weapon. It weirded Sanji out a bit, now that he thought about it as the human body whereas the intestines and organs—perhaps bones—spilled out from the other half of the missing body, as if you were to cut a human in half. The gunpowder spilled from a large metal container that seemed to have been caught in one of its own explosions, judging from the black surrounding the hole, and it resembled far too much to an organ spilling its insides, like sugar from its pack. That was a nicer way to think about it.
"Hit me if you can!" Luffy said, latching onto the rails of the sails.
"Damn monkey…!" Don Krieg swung again, smashing the mast pole while Luffy continued to swing around mimicking the sounds of a monkey, but halted when he felt the mast fall. He snapped the pole he was on before and took it down with him, using it as a fishing spear hunters use to catch fish.
As the wood pole charged Don Krieg, the man simply raised his fist (similar to Spider-Man) and switched something that caused the item on his wrist to click, "Useless." Once that was said, flames shot out from the mouth of the mini cannon on his wrist, charring completely through the wood.
"A flamethrower?! How many weapons does this guy have on him?!" Sanji said, now sick of how many weapons their enemy possessed.
Luffy on the other hand, took in a deep breath and punched the air, faster and faster until it appeared that he had multiple fists flying in one direction. He started to punch Don Krieg who was below him with his 'multiple' fists, but each one only brought a loud clanging noise.
Don Krieg laughed when the barrage stopped, "You're so weak now! What happened to that previous strength that broke my shield?! All your attacks are futile before my Wootz armor!"
Luffy ignored his bragging, knowing full well why his strength diminished, but he wasn't going to allow something that small to get to him, "And…" he stretched his hand behind him, charged the larger pirate and punched him, "Bullet!" the armor clanged again, hissing a bit and ending in a short groan. The arm that he used to punch was the same that had been punctured by the small missile and that had its bone cracked, but not having healed completely, blood splattered from the wound, dots of red decorating the floor and the Wootz armor.
"Don!" the pirates chorused, remembering the monstrous strength Luffy possessed and still haven't figured out that he wasn't at that level of power anymore.
"You insolent brat!" Don Krieg swung his spear, exploding the floor but managing to blow Luffy away. Luffy let out a confused noise, short and barely audible. Those explosions barely hurt anymore!
Landing, Luffy stood up and tapped his feet on the floor, checking the rest of his body to see if anything was different, "I'm not in kyōbō…? Then why'd it not hurt?" Luffy wondered, but after confirming that he indeed wasn't in his Pain Induced Kyōbō, he looked up and studied Krieg's armor, turning and twisting his ears to catch the slightest sound that his armor showed that it was near breaking.
"Absolutely, completely, utterly futile!" Luffy chuckled. He sounded like Coby right there, except for the 'futile' part, "As if the greatest armor would break from hundreds of punches from a mere monkey!"
Luffy stared at the armor, and once his ears picked up a quick and soft screech, not audible for humans, he smiled, "I'd say I'm just about there." Luffy knew he was close, but the armor only needed to be punched a few more times before it would actually show a dent, so he decided he had to do just that.
Looking around, he noticed that Don Krieg had managed to get himself on top of the broken mast pole, but he didn't question it, "Can't you see that the greatest armor and weaponry equates to the greatest might?! And those that defy the strong are doomed to die, hammer brat." The pirate then threw many small, black spheres, and Luffy knew immediately what they were, remembering how they caused enormous explosions even in the water.
The chefs screamed in terror, "He's going to throw those bombs down and destroy that whole platform! Run away, kid!"
Luffy heard them over the cheering of the pirates, but after this, he was really starting to dislike bombs. Don Krieg continued, "Only the strong survive!"
Luffy growled and jumped onto the pole, bringing his fists behind him until they touched the ground and charged towards his opponent, "Meaning me of course!" he could hear Sanji yell at him to get away and not to charge towards him, but he had no intentions of doing so. He didn't necessarily have a well thought out plan, unless you counted simply using offense as a strategy slash plan, but Luffy didn't plan. He fought, and he fought until he won.
"Gomu Gomu no…"
Don Krieg grinned, bringing his spear above him and ready to slam it down on Luffy, "How useless… because that's exactly what I thought you'd do!" he brought his spear down on Luffy, causing a greater explosion than before, miraculously not breaking the weapon, "There are some things you can't overcome with willpower alone." He finished, a shark grin on his face, clearly thinking that he had won.
Unbeknownst to him, Luffy completely ignored the explosion. This time, he would admit, it did hurt, and more than normal. His body was beginning to fatigue, but he was going to continue. The small bombs still hadn't reached the floor and exploded, but Luffy didn't have the time to think about when they were going to explode. For all he knew, they could be duds.. The neko passed through the smoke, his fists still near the floor, and an angry growl on his face.
Once he reached in front of Krieg, he released the friction he was using to keep his arms in place, and punched Krieg hard on the stomach with his lightning-quick hands, "BAZOOKA!"
Don Krieg was knocked off the mast pole and was in mid-air, but he still managed to let out a large laugh, "Your attack was useless again! This is the extent of your strength! But I'll compliment you for managing to put a small crack on my armor! Now you can die happily!" the small bombs he had thrown before exploded, the amount that he used caused the whole ship to explode and disappear in large plumes and clouds of smoke.
Luffy jumped off the mast—hands of smoke following him and grabbing onto him—positioning himself above Don Krieg in mid-air, and took in a deep breath. "Gomu Gomu no…" he was going to do it again, and this time, it was going to work, no matter what.
Don Krieg certainly didn't expect him to be alive after that explosion, judging from his expression and choice of word, "Wha—!?"
Luffy smiled a wide smile, his eyes missing out on the innocence, and made his vanish disappear like a bug in an ocean, replacing it with a very noticeable scowl, "BAZOOKA!" he slammed his fists into Krieg's armor again, the results fascinating to his eyes.
Ginormous chunks of Don Krieg's armor broke into many pieces, big and small, falling down like large chunks of golden snow. Krieg's body, on the other hand, probably received multiple wounds from the cuts of his armor, judging from the fact that he spat out blood like a fountain.
The attack sent Don Krieg falling down like a fallen plane or bird, the pieces of armor remaining on his body breaking off because of the lack of support from the rest of the Wootz. Luffy grinned, exhaling soft and cold amounts of air to cool him.
The pirates chorused Don's name, not believing what they were seeing. "DON!" to everyone, even the chefs, it seemed impossible to think that this man would and could be defeated, but they were witnessing such a phenomenon. The chefs cheered, content that they had won.
Sanji was in complete shock.
He couldn't believe what he witnessed. The innocent, happy-go-lucky teenager that pounced on him multiple times before had defeated a man who was well known in their sea.
But, the cheering halted and so did the cries when Don Krieg yelled out to Luffy, "IT'S TOO EARLY FOR CELEBRATIONS YET!"
Luffy was surprised, to say the least, and had been completely oblivious to the fact that there still remained one weapon, or better described as, a trap, left in the weapons around his wrist. "Ah! He's still alive!"
"YOU LITTLE BRAT!" it was obvious that Don Krieg was desperate, elevating his voice to a completely whole new level.
The net released from the machine around his wrist trapped Luffy, bringing him down with him. The neko tried to rip apart the net, but found that he couldn't. The pirate started laughing like an insane man, "You can't escape from my iron net! BELOW US IS THE SEA! THE FIGHT IS OVER, HAMMER BRAT! ALL I HAVE TO DO IS DRAG YOU DOWN UNDER AND YOU'LL DROWN TO YOUR DEATH! THE ONE WHO LAUGHS AT THE END IS ALWAYS ME!" he said.
Luffy struggled to free his arms and legs, but found it simple because of his elasticity. His arms and legs slipped through the holes of the net, and glared at the falling pirate underneath him, "As long as I can still stretch my arms and legs, victory's still mine!" he pulled his own body around his abdomen and spun his chest and under, causing his body to resemble a spring. His legs reached Krieg soon enough, and he grabbed Krieg's face securely using the ramp of his feet. Luffy grinned. As if he was going to lose to this guy.
"How can he keep on fighting even now." Zeff said, causing Sanji to look at him with rapid movements, as if he had been surprised by his presence. "Is that what you were wondering?" Sanji frowned, wondering how the hell Zeff had managed to voice out his thoughts twice now.
Don Krieg ordered his men to help him, and help they did. They pulled out crossbows from and aimed at Luffy, but Luffy ignored the threat. He focused on defeating Krieg and yelled, "This time, it'll really be the end!"
As the archers were about to shoot, Sanji charged at the group and kicked the faces of two pirates, supporting himself on their faces, "Quit it, or I'll kill the lot of you." Immediately, all the pirates silenced themselves and hid their crossbows, not wanting to end up like their comrades.
Luffy released the tension used to keep together his stretching, causing for his whole body—chest and under—to spin faster and faster, and because of his grip on Krieg, he had become the victim of the rapid spinning. He yelled out in what was obvious discomfort, but that word is an understatement.
He swung Don Krieg upwards, "Gomu Gomu no…" he redirected himself towards the fins of the Baratie, knowing that it was going to hurt more than water. Don Krieg's yells became louder, obviously because of the spinning. Luffy then swung Don Krieg downwards towards the platform, slamming the pirate onto the wood, "Sledgehammer!" the cracking of the wooden planks vibrated the whole area, and blood splattered in a messy circle around Don Krieg's head, like a halo.
"Don Krieg!" the pirates screamed.
"Way to go!" The chefs praised.
Their cheering and booing seemed to go in circles, but it finally ended.
The neko's hoodie flew off his head, flapping as he fell closer to the sea. His hat, not having anything to secure itself on his head, wavered a bit and was blown high into the air. Sanji saw this, and felt a powerful urge to catch it, so catch it he did. He jumped off the two pirate's heads from before and reached out his hand and caught the raggedy thing, holding it close. He landed on the fin of the Baratie, studying the straw hat before walking towards Zeff and watching Luffy fall into the ocean.
But, as he watched on, he couldn't help but see two triangular shapes on the top of his head, as if he were wearing some sort of ears.
Then it slammed into him harder than anything before in his life.
"Neko…?" No. That was impossible. Sure, the kid was weird, but he couldn't be one of the rarest species of human out there, could he? No. He just couldn't believe his theory, no matter how probable or how much wishful thinking he had. It was an absurd idea for such a thing to be roaming around… like what he sought out.
Luffy smiled, his eyes closing. He saw Sanji grab his hat, and an odor of confusion arose from him, so he could only speculate what had happened, and his best bet was that the blonde saw. His hoodie was in a worse shape than he imagined, tattered and charred in various places. The rim of his hoodie was ripped up, and he was sure that once he fell into the water, his clothes wouldn't be able to stay on him securely. He fell into the water and immediately, he could feel the effects of the sea takes its toll on him.
Zeff stared at Sanji, having heard what Sanji had said, but didn't bring it up, instead, he turned to look at where Luffy fell and chose a different topic. "If the fleet that Krieg amassed, along with the hundreds of his weapons, armors, and even his poison gas can be seen as his 'might', then the 'spear' of that boy, is his own brand of might all the same."
Sanji sighed, he was tired. "Spear…"
No matter how many hundreds of weapons or armor one is equipped with, they're no match for that 'one special spear' that comes from your guts.
"Conviction…" He said, remembering that word and how well it fit in with Luffy, like two destined puzzle pieces that had been lost from the box.
The pirates swam towards their captain, wondering out loud how it was possible and what had happened.
"I happen to know of a certain idiot who'd stifle that very spear for no good reason." Zeff said, walking towards the entrance of the Baratie, obviously referencing to the blonde teenager. Sanji sighed at it. He looked back at Sanji and smiled, "What're you sitting there for? Hurry up and go rescue him 'cause he ain't coming back up on his own. Those with special abilities obtained from the devil fruits are hated by the sea and can't swim."
Sanji snapped his head back at Zeff and yelled, "Wha—! You damn geezer, you should've told me that sooner!" he removed his shoes and jacket, throwing them onto the floor and dove into the ocean, searching eagerly for that mysterious kid.
The sea water stung his eyes, but as a devil fruit user like Luffy, he imagined it was far worse. He dove deeper and deeper, large chunks and remnants of the galleon—which was now unidentifiable—dwelling in the deep blue of the ocean, as if hiding from even more destruction, but that had stopped luckily only a few seconds to minutes ago.
Even as the cook dove deeper and deeper, the air supply he garnered before he sank in to the depths was beginning to cut short. He paused his venture downwards and looked around, and after unsuccessfully seeing the red, vibrant hoodie, he knew that the teenager wasn't nearby. He wanted to sigh, but that would only be a casualty to him. Instead, he redirected himself downwards, once again motioning his limbs to bring him deeper.
His ears had been blocked and engulfed completely by the sound of a deep rumbling, sounds of squeaky bubbles usually popping when he passed by the transparent spheres. The amount of wood lessened, and that goes for his air supply as well. As he passed by a larger chunk of the ship, he looked to his right and covered his mouth, feeling the air dissipate into nothing. In front of him though, was an iron net, stuck on the jarred rims of another piece of the ship.
Inside the net in question was his objective, and he took no time to swim deeper towards him. The boy's legs and arms were out of the net, since his attack required his limbs to be out of the net, but his face was full of agony, his body void of movement—the only movement he got was from the underwater waves that wanted to rid his existence. His cheeks had a darker tint to them, most likely a blue from lack of oxygen, and seeing how the blonde himself was lacking air, the brunette was most likely having a much harder time.
He swam closer to the boy, grabbing hold of the nets where they had been caught and tugged, but it was like a mess of silver snakes coiled around wooden daggers. He grunted as he pulled, and he couldn't help but look at the pain-filled face of the teenager who saved the Baratie and their lives.
He grit his teeth and swam closer, grabbing onto the nets closest to the teens chest as if wanting to tug on his hoodie to pull him up, "Hey, hang in there!" he wasted air saying those words, but he couldn't help but say them, 'Aren't you the one who refuses to die?' he thought. He wanted to say those words, but, he was missing something that allowed those words to come out, 'Isn't that what you believe in?' he remembered clearly how Luffy claimed that it wasn't going to be his grave. If that were the case, then falling down into the ocean in the same parts was technically the same thing.\
He was about to kick the net near Luffy's head when something caught his eye. On top of his head appeared to be two ears, rounded around the sides but a bit pointy near the top. They could just be strangely formed tufts of his hair, but he somehow doubted that.
He snapped out of his daze when he felt the air start to vanish completely and kicked the place where the net had been caught, the opening of the net easy to his access. He reached inside and pulled the boy out by the armpits, the black-haired boy's head on his chest, allowing him a plain view of what was on top of his head. Once completely out, he pulled one of the boy's arms around his shoulder and commenced to swim up, holding the rest of Luffy's body with his other arm.
While swimming upwards, he snuck a look at Luffy's head, staring at the two pointy ears on his head. Judging from the lack of movement they showed, in comparison to his actual hair, Sanji knew that his eyes hadn't been completely playing tricks with him. Once he got up, he would have to talk with Zeff, since he'd tell him what to do in this situation, as much as he hated to ask. But, you couldn't really blame him. Not once in his life had he ever experienced a situation where he had to make a choice of protecting the identity of a neko of all things from people that he worked with daily.
He tightened his grip on Luffy's waist and continued swimming upwards, higher and higher. The air in his lungs seemed to vanish completely, but there must've been at least a small amount due to the fact that he was still moving. He continued swimming up, reminiscing when the green-haired swordsman had fought against the world's strongest swordsman because of an ambition, losing in the end. It was dumb and idiotic. But, he couldn't help but think about his own.
Near the surface, his eyes widened in shock and disbelief when billions of fish swam above him, different shapes and colors and forms and sizes. He released the rest of the air he held in him, gaping at the scene in front of him, 'All Blue?' as he continued upwards, he passed through the fish, who seemed to disappear faster than the air he had released when he saw it. But, when he saw those vast amounts of fish, was his own ambition really that unworthy? He himself doubted that, wondering now if it really wasn't a bad idea to go with the now discovered neko.
Speaking of which, he still had no idea what to do when they finally got up. He guessed the best thing to do was either cover it with his hands or the suit he threw away or just letting everyone see what they had been secluded from. He wondered for a brief moment if even Zeff knew, which made sense seeing how the old geezer wouldn't stop bugging him about joining and that he and the swordsman were special.
His head surfaced above the water, taking Luffy's own above as well, making sure he received enough air as well. As he swam towards the fin of the Baratie with everyone on it, he ran his fingers through Luffy's hair, making sure to comb it well enough to flatten his ears, and because of the water, it was definitely much easier to do so. As he combed through it though, he almost didn't want to stop, mesmerized by how soft it was.
"Great. Now I'm addicted to touching his head." He said to himself, grumbling softer the closer he went to the platform. He could hear the pirates screaming about how such a thing was possible, but right now, he didn't really care. His main objective was to find out what to do with the identity of a near-extinct human hybrid thingy.
He pulled Luffy onto the fin and sat him down on top of his lap, practically cradling him in his arms, but still leaving him in a position suitable for breathing and perhaps CPR if needed. His arms were still snaked around Luffy's armpits, so that it was more convincing that he wasn't doing that on purpose (since that was the same way he had pulled Luffy out of the water) and his hands covered his head, his thumb curling into his locks.
"Hey, Luffy! You can't die, you hear! You've got things to do, don't you?" he grabbed his suit that was a few feet away from him and placed it on Luffy's head, pulling himself out from underneath and instead going on top of him, placing his hands on Luffy's shoulders and shaking him back and forth, "Say something…" his voice weakened as he ended, but he continued to shake. His voice cracked, "Say something already! Luffy, don't die!" he shook once more and a short whimper sounded from the neko.
"Hm…" Sanji stilled and there was silence again. The blonde waited for a second and stared on at the boy when he started to snore, albeit softly. He was shocked to say the least, and as a response to Luffy's snoring, he released his grip on the neko's shoulders and bonked the teen mildly on his head, not knowing where to be relieved or annoyed. It was a mixture of both really, since he had no aggravated feelings. He scowled at the boy, an annoyed frown on his face, but it changed immediately to a smile, "You're such a pain in the butt."
His smiled disappeared into a confused frown when in the center of the pirate group—who were now currently on the fin of the Baratie—Don Krieg stood up and screamed out in the sky, "AREN'T I THE STRONGEST?! NO ONE DARES TO GO AGAINST ME!" the pirates attempted to stop their captain, but it was clear that Don Krieg was unresponsive to their words, and by the way he seemed to be deaf of those words, it really seemed like he was still unconscious, "I'VE WON EVERY SINGLE BATTLE I'VE BEEN IN! IT'S UTTERLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR THERE TO BE SOMEONE THAT CAN MATCH MY STRENGTH!"
Sanji gaped at the scene, "Don Krieg?!"
"I WIN… AND W…ILL CONTI… NUE… TO WIN!" blood spat out of his mouth, and once again the pirates from his crew attempted to calm him down, one of them stating that he had lost consciousness, "I AM THE STRONGEST!"
Immediately after he had said that, Gin walked up to his captain and pulled his fist back before plummeting his fist into Don Krieg's stomach, causing the older man to spit out blood. The pirate captain fell onto Gin's shoulder, the smaller and lankier pirate catching him with ease as if he didn't weigh much. "Don Krieg… we have lost. Let's retreat and start all over again." Without turning around, he spoke to Sanji, "Thanks for everything Sanji-san."
Sanji hummed, "Come 'ere again, won't 'ye."
Gin smiled and turned around to face the blonde, but eyeing the neko by him, "Sanji-san, give this message to him when he wakes up. 'Let's meet again out on the Grand Line.'"
Sanji perked up after hearing this, "You're still gonna be a pirate...?"
Gin immediately replied, "I've given much thought into it. It's the only thing I want to do. I guess before I realized it, Don Krieg's ambition became mine as well…" his words softened as he ended, and after finishing, buckets of blood fountained from his mouth, his eyes going blank for a second. The pirates shouted his name and Sanji followed, gin taking in large amounts of air to breathe, "I might only have a few more hours to live, so it might be a bit cowardly for me to make this decision only at the end of my life, but it's still good for me nonetheless. I've decided that this time, I'll do things of my own will; in my own way. If I do that, I won't have a place to run away to, right?"
Sanji stared at the pirate, wondering where he was going with this.
"Ha. Loyalty to the Don, my ass! All I've been doing is using the Don's name as a 'shield' to escape and hide behind. As long as you're prepared, things like being scared of your enemies or getting hurt are nothing but useless worrying. That guy over there taught me it's better not to worry about any of that stuff."
Sanji stared at Gin for a good ten, empty seconds before calling out to Patty and Carne, "Give them the boat we use to go out and buy ingredients."
"What!? Are you retarded?!" Patty insulted the blonde.
"Why the hell do we have to give a boat to the very pirates that attacked us!? Those scum can swim away for all we care!" Carne continued.
"How're we gonna buy food supplies if we give them our boat, you numbskull!?"
Sanji clicked his tongue in an aggravated way and turned his head to look at the two chefs, annoyance clear in his eyes, "Shut up and give them the damn boat already!"
"Älright…"
"You don't have to yell…"
As the two walked away, Sanji could still hear them arguing as they ran, mentioning that they had no chance against him. What Sanji wasn't expecting though was Zeff to walk up to him, staring at him with eyes that he couldn't read. "What's wrong geezer?"
Zeff sighed, rubbed the bridge of his nose and looked at Sanji with a frown that didn't necessarily mean that he was angry, more like confused or unknowing, or at least that's what Sanji thought, "Why's your suit on his head?" he asked, looking at Sanji.
The blonde pursed his lips and for a mere second, he almost looked away before quickly replying, "His head's wet." He mentally kicked himself. That was the most idiotic reply he could have given in that situation, and he knew exactly how Zeff was going to reply.
"His whole body is wet." He knew it.
"Yeah! Well, it's complica—" He was stopped when Zeff interrupted him.
"I already know."
Sanji stared at him with wide eyes. "What…?" he shook his head, "You already knew?"
"I'm guessing that you got a clear view of what he was hiding?" Zeff asked, smirking.
"You mean the ears?" Sanji said, looking around to check if anyone was listening.
"Ho, so you didn't see the tail, I'm guessing?" Zeff chuckled, attempting to cross his arms with the crutch.
"Should've known that was a tail…" Sanji said, remembering the times when he caught a glimpse of the furry, black appendage hidden. Sanji looked up at Zeff, a serious look on his face, "I'm guessing that I can't tell anyone?"
Zeff nodded, "It'd be best. You don't know what the kid wants, and judging from the fact that he's been hiding his identity for so long, he most likely doesn't want it exposed to someone he doesn't want to know."
Sanji chuckled, "Can't blame him. I wouldn't want those bastards knowing if I were one." It sounded weird. That word, "A neko…" it didn't roll off his tongue, it almost sounded taboo to him, but he tried to think of it that if the word were in fact taboo, then that would mean that Luffy was taboo, too, and he didn't want to think of the kid like that.
Zeff laughed for a moment, before sighing and turning around towards the restaurant, "Put the kid in the bedroom. He needs the rest."
Sanji watched as the head chef walked into the restaurant, the other pirates had gone into the boat and the chefs had checked up on Luffy before following Zeff's footprints, no one really having a general clue on what to do. A few of them spoke of celebrations, but they weren't really a group to party. They never really had time-offs and Sanji was sure that the next day, the customers that hadn't yet heard of the attack would go.
The blonde looked at the neko, his eyes stuck on the suit on Luffy's head.
He was speechless, not knowing what else to do other than to take him to the bedroom.
●ω●
Sanji placed his hand on Luffy's head, leaving it there for a few hesitant seconds before commencing to pet the hair. He smiled a bit, enjoying the feeling of the soft hair between his fingers. His eyes closed little by little, before closing completely. He wasn't tired, but it seemed so much more amazing to touch when his eyes were closed. He leaned forward a bit, not too much, and savored the feeling of the almost feathery hair.
He halted though when he heard a soft purring, and when Luffy's head leaned into his hand, he was stilled completely. He quickly pulled his hand away and couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed. "Y-You're awake…?" Sanji asked, cursing his voice for stuttering.
Luffy stopped his purring for a second before continuing again, although he wasn't being pet anymore. The neko yawned—so alike to a cat, Sanji thought—before Luffy nodded, "Yeah… I think…" Sanji frowned, hating the fact that he was finding the boy cute. He was into girls, so he didn't think guys were cute or hot, no, those words were only for women!
Luffy looked around, taking in his surroundings. He looked at the counter next to him and saw his hat sitting on it. At first, he didn't think much of it, until he realized that there could be other people in the room. "Crap!" he turned to Sanji and practically leaped on him, "Did anyone else see?" he asked, his tail escaping from under the covers. Sanji had taken the tail out, wondering how the whole appendage looked like, and he wasn't disappointed by the feeling, and he found it fascinating to watch as the tail swayed side to side at a quick speed.
"Only Zeff knows. No one else knows. I'm sure." He was sure. He had been keeping an eye on Luffy ever since he took him to the bedroom.
Luffy sighed in relief and sat down on the bed, his tail swaying from side to side at a much calmer pace. "Oh, ok!" he said with a wide smile. Sanji observed the tail, taking note that the tail reacted to how he was currently feeling.
Luffy patted the bandages he wore and stuck his tongue out at them, then commenced to peel each one off, throwing them into the trashcan near the bed.
"Sorry, but we've run out of more bandages." Sanji told Luffy, who was peeling the last of the dirtied bandages.
"Don't need it." Luffy quickly replied.
"I see."
Once the last of the bandages had been removed, with the help of Sanji in the places that were uncomfortable to reach, Luffy asked Sanji, "What happened to those guys?"
"They've left. Thanks to you." He pulled out a cigarette from inside his suit and was about to light it before facing Luffy, "Can I?"
Luffy nodded, "Sure. They smell bad but they don't really make me grossed out."
Sanji stood up and placed the lit cigarette into his mouth. After remembering the last moments of the pirate's voyage, he smiled, not forgetting to tell Luffy Gin's words. "'Let's meet again out on the Grand Line' is what Gin said before leaving."
Luffy smiled wide as he faced Sanji, looking at him with admiring eyes, "Cool, he said that to you?"
Sanji immediately reacted negatively, so much so that the cigarette in his mouth fell from his mouth, "To you, dumbass!"
Luffy and Sanji sat there in silence, Luffy almost enjoying it, but almost wasn't enough. "Anyway," he practically sang the word, lengthening it, "You wanna…" he scooted closer to the blonde chef who sat back down on the chair, a grin on his face.
"I ain't gonna be a pirate." Sanji placed his hand on Luffy's head, combing the hair with his fingers, "I'm gonna stay here and be a cook until the day that damn geezer acknowledges my cooking."
Luffy frowned a cute pout, Sanji almost regretting his negation. "Fine, I'll give up then." Luffy said, bowing his head so that his ears were in visible view. His hand, although he himself had said he had given up, hadn't. His hand tugged on Sanji's collar, pulling him with strength that if it weren't for Sanji's powerful legs, the blonde would've been pulled towards the neko onto the bed.
"But your hand hasn't given up!" Sanji said, grabbing his collar to loosen the grip and allow air to pass through.
Sanji, after Luffy had let go of him, walked outside of the room and rested on the railing of that floor, his arms crossed on top of it. Luffy followed, his tail perked high and missing the feeling of a hand on his head. Once next to the smoker, he ducked his body and placed his head underneath Sanji's hand, simply leaving it there.
"What are you doing?" Sanji asked, curious. He didn't dislike the feeling, so he left his hand placed on Luffy's head and even started to pet him.
Luffy purred for a moment, smiling, "Being pet feels really nice." The neko eyed Sanji's own hair and smiled even wider, "Look, I'll show you!" Luffy slipped from underneath Sanji's hand and reached to touch the other's hair, although he was about to reject, Sanji's hair had been invaded by a touch that couldn't be defined as 'calming'.
"Yeah, yeah, I get the idea. Just leave the petting to me. Anyway, I'm guessing you want to know why I can't go?" Sanji asked, grabbing Luffy's hand and fixing his own hair, but once again reaching out to pet the other boy's hair when he continued to stare at him. Luffy nodded to his proposal, interested to know why Sanji didn't want to join, "After something like that happening, I can't afford to leave even more. The cooks here are completely undependable. But I want to go out to the Grand Line one of these days."
Luffy perked up, his ears brushing against Sanji's thumb and pinky, "Then let's go right now!"
"Not just yet, though." Sanji quickly said so that he wouldn't bring up the teenager's hopes up.
They stood there in silence, the tip of Luffy's tail swaying in the slightest of movements. After a few minutes, Sanji perked up, surprising Luffy a bit, and a wide smile made way to Sanji's face, his expression completely changed and his odor so sweet, so much like candy, "Hey, do you know about the All Blue?" he asked.
Luffy cocked his head, "No." he said.
Sanji looked at Luffy, surprised, but not disappointed, in fact, almost appreciative, "What? You've never heard of the Ocean of Miracles? Well, you see, in All Blue you can find all the species of every fish in all four seas!"
Luffy perked his ears and smiled, "Oh! Yeah, I remember! In my hometown, there were so many stories about an ocean with all the fish in the world! Is it real?"
Sanji and Luffy continued the conversation, mainly because the neko was savoring Sanji's smell, the sweet smell coming from him was amazing and Luffy was glad to be fueling it. Unbeknownst to Sanji though, Zeff watched the pair from the third floor, watching them from behind the rails of his floor. Luffy knew full well he was being watched, but because it was Zeff, he didn't really mind, now that the chef already knew that he was a neko.
And of course, he didn't miss what the head chef said, "Talking with such a stupidly wide grin on your face. Idiot."
and Luffy knew that the chef was definitely grinning.
●ω●
"Time for grub, you bastards!"
Patty called all the chefs to the employee dining room on the second floor. Luffy guessed that this was their way of celebrating, since he smelled nothing too cheerful like someone preparing to have a party.
"Hey, who's in charge of cooking today?" one of the pirates asked.
Patty and Carne stood confident poses, proudly stating that they were the ones who had cooking duty, but the chef who had asked simply said that it was nothing to look forward then since it was going to be made by them.
Sanji opened the door and allowed Luffy to walk in—because he was a gentleman—and after looking around, the blonde realized that no one had left a seat for the neko or Sanji. "Hey… where's our seats?" he asked no one specifically, simply wanting an answer, the same for Luffy who asked where the food was, but none of the chefs answered in the first few seconds.
"There ain't no chairs for you."
Another chuckled, food clearly in his mouth, "Just eat on the floor!"
Sanji scoffed, wanting to laugh, but he ended up frowning, "No chairs? This is a restaurant, how is that freakin' possible?" he asked rhetorically.
Luffy was currently wearing his hoodie on top of his straw hat which laid on top of his head. The red hoodie completely concealed his ears with perfect precision, that it amazed Sanji that he had thought of wearing it.
As the two grabbed their meals, they sat on the floor and commenced to eat, Luffy couldn't help but wonder what was going on. Everyone had smells that wasn't normal for someone who was eating, especially since the smell was very similar to someone who was lying, but they weren't really saying anything, so he simply told Sanji that they were acting weird, but it didn't bother Sanji one bit, "They're always strange."
Sanji frowned at Sanji, but the smell grew immensely in a single second, and so when Luffy looked over, Patty had raised a plate of soup, "Hey, who was the one in charge of making this morning's soup?"
Sanji looked at the plate and smiled, raising his hand proudly as waves of sun shined behind him. Luffy smiled again, liking it when he smelled that odor of happiness, "Oh, that'd be me! Pretty good, right? I made it especially go—" Sanji halted completely when Patty gripped the plate and threw it on the floor.
"How the hell am I supposed to pass this crap down my stomach?!" he yelled, the pristine, golden soup glistering on the floor, remnants of the glass laying around the puddle, "What is this, pig feed?!" he continued to insult.
Luffy gulped sadly when the smell of happiness completely vanished, as if it had never existed. Sanji had a look of pure anger, his body shaking in anger. Luffy grabbed a fork and started to eat the meat he had on his plate, suckling on it to get the sauces, but it tasted like dust because of Sanji's rage-filled smell. So much like ash.
"Hey." He said as he stood up, his body slumped as if he were ready to attack, "Does proper human food not suit you, you damn raccoon?"
Patty gave him a thumbs down. "Ha! This is pure crap of the highest quality, makes me wanna puke! Did you put actual shit in this or what?" Luffy frowned. It was pretty convincing, but Patty was lying. His composure was perfect, not shaking nor stuttering, but the way his heart was beating was a clear giveaway, but even then, he didn't know if it was his place to tell Sanji that he was lying.
Sanji glared at Patty, his expression clearly showing that he was ready to murder him if he said any more, "I'm perfectly confident in my soup. Maybe it's your damn tongue that's—" once again, he wasn't able to complete his sentence because this time, Carne interrupted.
He spit out what was clearly Sanji's soup and yelled a clear 'yuck.' The rest of the chefs followed, many going as far as dropping their plates on the floor while the rest poured the soup on the floor, "No way we can eat this filth! Just throw it out!"
"Eww, terrible! Just terrible!"
The insults kept on coming like a train that never ended, crashing and crashing on a wall that was breaking.
Sanji sucked in a deep breath and with the eyes of someone ready to kill, he yelled out, "THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"
The chefs looked at him and all seemed to scoff at once, "You being the assistant head chef was always a sham! It's only because you've been here the longest!"
"I'm sick of your violent ways."
"If something tastes bad, then it's my right to say it's bad."
Sanji grit his teeth, and Luffy stood there completely flustered and confused. "What did you…"
Luffy looked behind him, watching as the geezer took a sip from a plate containing some of the soup that the chefs insulted, "Owner!" the chefs chorused.
Sanji turned around, glaring at the other blonde like a feral tiger, "Geezer…!" his voice was practically a growl too, and it caused Luffy to shiver.
"What's with this disgusting soup? Is it supposed to taste like sludge or what?! We'd go out of business if we served this to customers!"
Sanji stomped to where Zeff stood and grabbed him by the shirt with both his hands, "DON'T JOKE WITH ME, YOU DAMN GEEZER! HOW'S THIS ANY DIFFERENT FROM THE SOUP YOU MAKE?! WELL?! SPEAK UP!"
"The soup I make…?" Zeff growled, baring all his teeth. The head chef pulled back his fist and with monstrous strength, he punched Sanji on the jaw, bringing the blonde to the ground with blood splattered on the floor and in Sanji's mouth. "Don't get cocky!"
"The owner… punched him?!" all the chefs were equally surprised.
Zeff held his fist high, still baring his teeth, "It's a hundred years too early for a lil' eggplant like you to be comparing my soup with yours! I've cooked all around the world!"
"He didn't kick… but punched him instead…!"
Sanji held his palm over his jaw, glaring at Zeff who glared back at him with deadlier eyes. Sanji exhaled powerfully before charging towards the door and slamming it behind him, leaving the whole dining room in complete silence, screaming 'Damn it' as he left—if it weren't for Luffy's slurping.
Luffy tasted the soup for himself, mainly because he knew they were lying and he really wanted to experience the meal, and he wasn't disappointed, "This soup's pretty good if you ask me." He wanted to glare at the chefs, and he was going to hurt them if it turned out it was a prank. Sanji was clearly in an amazing mood before they seemed to just lie about it being gross.
The chefs all seemed to sigh at the same time, many finding a seat and sitting down, looking around as if they had nothing better to do, but all of them wore faces of guilt, "Yeah. We know."
Another let out a bigger sigh, "Whew, that was scary. He sure was stomping mad."
A chef rested his cheek on his hand, facing Luffy, "Everyone here knows how good Sanji's cooking is."
Luffy heard familiar footsteps of Zeff, pulling a chair to sit on it, "But if we didn't do that, that idiot would never listen to us!" Zeff looked at Luffy, who stared curiously back at him, "Hey kid… Would you mind taking that lil' eggplant with you? Take him to the Grand Line. It's his dream."
The chefs in the room began to chuckle, easily turning into fits of laughter that didn't necessarily mean they were having the time of their lives. After telling Zeff that that was too much trouble to go through simply because of something like getting Sanji out of the building, others changed the subject back to his soup, yelling at someone else to get them another plate of the delicacy.
Luffy turned to the door, not getting up but reaching over to help himself some more, but couldn't help but stare at the door, knowing full well the person listening. He turned back to face Zeff, raising his voice higher so that the blonde behind the door could hear, "Take Sanji along? Don't wanna." he said, causing the chefs to yell out in surprise, yelling 'what'.
Zeff kept a calmer demeanor, but it was clear that he was surprised and agitated, "What's the meaning of this? Didn't you want a cook for your ship? What, are you not satisfied with him?" a bead of sweat ran down his temple.
Luffy immediately responded, definitely thinking that Sanji was plenty satisfactory for him, "No, it's not like I'm dissatisfied or anything. I do want him to come along with me, but he said he wants to stay here and be a cook. So even if you tell me to take him with me, I'm not gonna." at least they didn't do that as some mean prank. He would've gotten real mad if that were the case.
"So you won't accept unless he says it himself." Zeff concluded, frowning.
"Yep." he extended his arm towards the chef, "More soup."
"Well, you do have a point," he said, ignoring Luffy's request, "But the problem is whether that rebellious brat will be honest with himself or not…"
A chef scoffed jokingly, "It's impossible! He's too hard-headed for his own good!"
●ω●
Sanji blew smoke out from his mouth, watching from his seat the waves the softly crashed onto the boat and overlapped against each other. He thought about what he had heard, unsure and processing the information he gained. It wasn't information one could use as an advantage, more like the info one needs to complete an opinion or request. He pondered, wondering what choice he should do.
That is, before a shark fin came into sight from the waters, a loud gurgling sound coming from what the blonde assumed to be a shark. At first, he paid no mind to it, but the fin continued to swim faster and faster towards him and ended up jumping high to his level, "Wha—" he stood up, ready to either defend himself or dodge the assault. But, he had gotten up far too late, now that the shark, along with something green in its mouth, crashed into him and breaking the door the smoker was laid against. The door collapsed behind them, leading the shark, whatever that was inside the shark and Sanji to go inside the room where the blonde had been inside before, and had purposely left.
Once they had landed, Sanji looked up to see what was on top of him, and was surprised to see a man inside the mouth of a Panda shark, although a few slow chefs thought that the man was a merman.
Luffy, happy to see Sanji again without the burning charcoal smell, was shocked to see that the man everyone circled around inside the shark was actually Yosaku, so he called out to his name, "Ah…" he replied weakly, "Brother Luffy...!"
The neko walked in front of him and crouched low enough to have direct eye contact, "What're you doing here alone? Where are the others? And what about Nami?"
Seeing as Yosaku couldn't seem to talk too well, they gave him a blanket to cool down and fixed up the bite marks he had, which were more like bruises than cuts since the Panda shark's teeth weren't very sharp in any way. Once he felt better though, he replied to Luffy's questions, "We couldn't catch up with sister Nami but judging from the way she was headed, we're pretty sure we know where she's headed."
Luffy smiled, "Oh good. Then let's go and bring her back."
Yosaku frowned and averted his eyes for a moment, "Well, umm… if she's headed to where we think she's headed to, then it's an incredibly dangerous place…! Well, I'll fill you in on the details later! In any case, we need your strength, bro! Please come right away!"
Luffy nodded firmly, seeing as how Yosaku's scent of pure worry was definitely not false. "Okay, I don't know what's going on, but fine! Let's go!" as he started to get up from his seat, he heard Sanji's voice.
"Wait."
Luffy turned around to see Sanji resting against one of the walls of the room, his arms crossed and looking at the ground, smoke puffing out from his mouth. "I'll go too. Take me with you." the chefs and Luffy were shocked, seeing how the chef was completely stubborn about the idea of him leaving the restaurant, "I'll accompany you on your way to become Pirate King. After all, we both have crazy dreams… so I'll tag along to fulfill mine." he said, now facing Luffy. "I'll be the cook of your ship. Sound good? Or bad?"
Luffy smiled widely, throwing his hands in the air and celebrating, "Sounds great! Woohoo!" Yosaku celebrated as well with the neko, grabbing each other's arms and doing a circular dance that mostly involved kneeing to the sides.
Sanji smiled softly, looking at the rest of the chefs as the pair danced outside the room through the broken door. "That's how it's gonna be, guys. Sorry for all the trouble I put you through."
Patty walked up to the blonde, crossing his arms and looking down at him with a scowl, "I don't like it one bit! I wanted to throw you outta here with my own two hands, but now you decide to leave on your own?"
Sanji frowned a bit, "Sorry for making you put on that shitty performance."
All the chefs looked equally surprised, "What!? You knew!?"
Sanji scoffed and glared at the chefs, "I could hear you crystal clear from outside, you numbskulls." sanji turned to Zeff, who was walking towards them, "So, you wanted to kick me out that badly, huh? Is that right, you damn geezer?"
Zeff sighed, glaring at the other blonde, "That's exactly right, lil' eggplant. I've always hated brats. There hasn't been a single day when I didn't regret saving a brat like you."
Sanji bit down on his cigarette, ready to snap it in half, "Ha… whatever you say, geezer. Enjoy the few years you have left.
●ω●
"Woah, nice boat. Can we really use this?" Yosaku asked the chef giving it to them.
"Of course. It's Sanji's after all."
●ω●
Luffy held a sack of food in his arms, large enough for three people on the amount of days they were taking, but it wasn't going to last with the neko onboard. "You wanna take more?!"
"Yep. Gimme more meat."
"How many days are you gonna be sailin' for?" the chef asked skeptical.
"Dunno."
●ω●
Sanji closed the tap of the sink, only a few drops of water escaping. He walked to his room, putting everything he needed into a small sack and slung the bag over his shoulder, holding it with two fingers. As he walked away from his room, he walked to the main dining room for the customers and pulled a chair, placing the bag on the table as he rested on the chair, staring into nothing as the smoke from his cigarette weaved in the air.
"Hey old geezer, this is amazing! So this is the restaurant of the seas!"
"That's right. Even all that treasure still wasn't enough to pay for this ship, so we'll be working overtime for awhile."
"It's fine, since I'll be here to help!"
"Stop calling me a lil' eggplant, you damn geezer!"
"Did I hurt your feelings lil' eggplant?"
"Cough! Cough!"
"Stop smoking. Tobacco will dull your tongue."
"Heh heh… I'm all grown up now, right?"
Sanji sighed, picked up his bag and sat up from the chair, pulling it back to its original place.
●ω●
"Brother cook is sure running late." Yosaku said, standing on the boat with Luffy on board next to him, watching the cooks surround the broken fin of the restaurant. Once he had said that, Sanji appeared in the doorway, simply standing there as if taking everything in—as if he had never once seen the ocean. "Ah, he's here."
Sanji commenced walking once again, only so that Patty and Carne appeared behind him with their large silverware ready to attack him, but were easily defeated. After defeating them, the blonde continued to walk towards the boat the neko and bounty hunter were on, the rest of the chefs watching him like hungry eagles.
Once in front of Luffy, but not on the ship, he spread his arms wide and said, "Let's go."
Luffy crossed his arms and stared at him, "Just like that? What about saying goodbyes?"
Sanji shook his head barely, "It's fine."
As he was about to get on board, Zeff called out, "Hey, Sanji." Sanji didn't turn around nor acknowledge that he had heard, but he stopped from going further into the boat, "Don't catch a cold."
Luffy looked at Sanji, smiling when he saw tears form in the blonde's eyes. He could see Zeff smile too, and the emotions of sadness but happiness flooded his nose.
Sanji turned around and said with a cracking voice and tears drenching his face, "OWNER ZEFF!" he turned around and slammed his head into the floor, bowing to the head chef who watched him from the last floor of the Baratie, "I'M ETERNALLY GRATEFUL FOR TAKING CARE OF ME FOR SO DAMN LONG! I SHALL NEVER FORGET FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE THE DEBT I OWE YOU!"
Luffy smiled as the following events unfolded like a theatre, having Zeff cry as well, albeit not as noticeable, and the rest of the chefs screaming words of 'we'll miss you' and so on, but it surprised Sanji that even Patty and Carne cried, in fact, they seemed like the ones who cared the most because of their volume.
Sanji smiled, more tears running down his cheeks and chin as Zeff hid his tears with his hand, "Damn idiots… Men should say their goodbyes silently…" he commented, unable to help himself.
Sanji swallowed some of the saliva that had built up in his mouth, ready to continue again, "LET'S MEET AGAIN ONE DAY! YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING BASTARDS!" he said, wiping away his tears as best as he could, he hopped on board the small boat and sat on the hem of the ship, wiping away more tears as they finally set off.
"Alright! Let's set sail!" Luffy cheered.
Am I finished now...? I think I am...
Wait! I am!
(One) Piece out!
