Well, I haven't had much time to update, sorry. I know it is annoying, and I have to apologize for that.

Thanks so much to the two reviewers!

HappyGirl282: :D Aw do you reall think so? Thank you for this awesome review, it makes me so happy to hear that! ;) But I'm so sorry for not updating earlier, I've been so busy with school recently.

Anime lover 3593: No problem :) I know these kind of situations too well. You think so? Thanks a lot! Yup he did, but the story plays before the time skip, so he won't use it intentionally. Haha great you liked it, thanks for pointing it out! It's great for authors to know some parts were especially liked by readers :) Domo Arigatou for this cool review!

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.

YXYXYXYXYXYX

Chapter 10 – The fight is over

„So what are you going to do, weakling? Look at you, it is surprising you are still able to stand!" Arch barked and, despite the fact he really looked confident, was everything but sure of himself.

Actually, the tall man began to feel really insecure. Arch clenched his fists in his anger. He didn't like the way things were turning out, this other crybaby had managed to free himself of his awesome strong ropes! How had he done that? Now the black-haired baka would be able to help the rest of their nakama! Arch snuffled angrily, stomping with his feet on the ground like a little kid.

He then decided to kill Sanji as quickly as possible. 'There is no way an injured man like him could be able to defeat me now! I will finish him quickly, then this other freak with the strawhat! I guess I will leave the rest of those losers here, looks like the volcano is going to erupt soon. It will wipe them away without any problems! It's so easy for me to win!' Confidently, the tall man's lip went from the one ear to the other as he gave the rest of the world a nice smirk.

„Sanji!" Luffy called, not even bothering to look into Sanji's direction as he dashed straight towards his nakama.

The blond captain got the message and inhaled some of the his cigarette's smoke. It calmed him a bit and helped to get rid of those awful gases around. It maybe wasn't that much healthier than the gases from the volcano, but at least Sanji didn't feel like suffocating anymore.

Then the young man shot a glare into Arch's direction, showing him he was ready to finish what they had begun.

Arch however didn't pay attention to Sanji's actions and watched Luffy trying to free the rest of the crew.

„Luffy, hurry up! Don't you feel the shaking? It's going to erupt soon!" Nami panicked a little, struggling once again to get rid of those ties as Luffy finally managed to bite some of Zoro's ropes off. The others blinked a bit surprised at this rough method but didn't comment on it. All that mattered was that Zoro was free now, even though Luffy had bitten him a few times.

„Luffy, you...!" Zoro grumbled, rubbing the areas on his arms were you could see some nice biting marks.

Luffy laughed. „Oooops! Gomen, Zoro!" Then he hurried over to Usopp and began to bite off his ties while the sniper was inwardly praying to not getting bitten by the cook. By the hungry cook with the bottomless stomach who hadn't eaten in hours. But that was just a small and needless detail.

„Damn it guys! We still have to help the inhabitans out of this-" Franky couldn't finish his sentence as suddenly hot steam began to emit from the holes in the ground. „H-hot~!" he shrieked, learning how a roasted chicken over a grill must feel and suddenly felt sympathie for it. The cyborg bit his lip to keep himself from crying. A man shouldn't cry, especially in a situation like this. „Uncool!" Franky muttered.

Arch gasped as he watched everyone of the crew being freed, one by one. He wouldn't let them do as they please! They were still his prisoners, weren't they? He would make slaves out of them!

Meanwhile, Zoro and Usopp ran through the entrance and began to search for the drugged inhabitans. Arch alias Al'tera bit his lip and his blood began to boil.

'My plan. My wonderful wonderful plan. I have been working on that damned plan for years! And then those wannabe pirates show up and pull a show like that all of sudden! What. The. Heck! They destroy my stupid plan, dang it!' While Arch was having a silent conversation with himself about how they were ruining him and his fantastic plan, Sanji noticed Arch's hands pulling something out from under his clothes.

'Another test tube?' Sanji narrowed his eyes, all the steams and gases were troubling his eyesight. Wait. Steams?

„Ouch!" Sanji jumped a good half meter into the air, looking frantically around. There were actually lots of hot steams rising up from the ground! From the shaking ground. Now that really meant trouble. He had to stop Arch now!

„Oi, toad face!" 'Yeah, Arch's attention is on me again.' Sanji silently congratulated himself for that insult that seemed to make Arch furious. The guy shot around, teeth clenching in his jaw.

„What!" Arch yelled. The man didn't know who he should kill first and was pretty pissed off by the fact that he didn't have the time for both. And this blond brat over there was getting on his nerves!

„What's that? You actually answer to the name of 'toad face'? Shady character you are." Uhhhh. That hit close to home. Now Arch must be explod-

„SCREW YOU!" The 'boss' of the island practically yelled, his face red as a tomato. Wow, who would have known Arch looked this hilarious with a red face? Honestly, he resembled an orc with the only difference that his face was dark crimson coloured.

Okay, now he was totally off topic. Sanji quickly shook his head. What was wrong with him? He felt really funny. And exhausted. And his face still hurt like shit! But he could never show his friends now, especially not Nami-swan and Robin-chwan!

Plus, the blond captain had promised Luffy he would take care of this guy. Sanji hadn't said it to the cook nor had they shook hands or something, but it was a simple yet meaningful silent promis the two had. Just an important promise between the captain and the cook who had switched places.

„Dang it you're getting on my nerves. I'm your opponent, not my crew. So finish what you've begun and bring it on!" Sanji smirked a little complacently at his strong sounding voice and shot an extremely arrogant look towards the insane man. Al'tera alias Arch all of sudden felt like a huge bomb, and he silently counted from ten till one, trying to calm down in the progress. Yup, now Sanji was ready to beat the bastard.

-X-Y-X-Y-

„Zoro, look!" Usopp called out, pointing at the crowd before them. The swordsfighter narrowed his eyes and stopped. The two of them had just run into the cave next to where Arch and the rest were.

So everyone of the inhabitants had just walked into this part of the volcano and stood there up until now? What the heck did Al'tera do to them to make them like zombies? Really, the bunch of people looked like machines! But Zoro already got an idea: Probably some kind of drug. Who knows what kind of pills and other stuff Arch mixed together in his blind insanity.

The young man with the green hair sighed as he unconsciously shook his head. Such a crazy guy. Hopefully the ero-coo- no, the ero- captain (Zoro frowned at this, not liking to call Sanji thecaptain), would finish him soon so that they could leave this weird place as soon as possible, he didn't feel very comfortable. Even the atmosphere on this damned island seemed to be cursed.

„Let's get them out Usopp!" Zoro answered, already searching for an easy way out. Too bad he didn't have his katanas with him... wait! Where were his swords? He did have them back at Sunny, and while he was around with Luffy and Broo- ah! Zoro spotted his three important items leaning on a stone on the ground near the crowd. How had they gotten them? Really, if there was only one crack on them then-! Immediately he rushed towards them and checked them.

There wasn't even a scratch to be seen. Good. The strong man with the huge scar across his upper body sighed in relief, then he smirked. Turning around, he put Kuina's sword into his mouth, the other two were already in his hands.

The sniper, who had watched with curious eyes what Zoro was up to, gulped. Zoro plus his swords were scary. Zoro plus his swords and a stupid idea were really scary. But Zoro plus his swords, plus a stupid idea and something to cut were just plain CREEPY!

The long nosed teenager decided to hide behind one of the warriors who didn't even notice him and Zoro. Usopp didn't exactly know what his nakama was planning to do but it certainly would be dangerous. For him and anybody near Zoro.

Zoro noticed Usopp's behaviour and nodded, then he turned his back to the sniper and the crowd of people.

His mission was simple yet it wasn't as easy as it looked. If you looked up then there was nothing but blue sky and the stony edge of the volcano. The walls were too step to climb up, especially for the drugged inhabitants and the exhausted devil fruit users of the crew.

So the swordsexpert needed to cut them a way out. The nineteen-year-old had to slice a part off the stony edge away, that way it would be easier for them to climb out. Zoro needed to concentrate and put all his energy and strenght in that blow, even though it was difficult to breathe due to the immense heat and the gas around. But he was a strong man with an iron will and something like that would never stop him.

Closing his eyes, Zoro inhaled deeply, trying to relax a bit. Then he grumbled: „ Oni Giri!" and shortly after that a few huge pieces of stone fell down besides Zoro. Mentioned man didn't even flinch as some stones nearly hit him, he just put his swords back on his haramaki. Looking up, Zoro silently congratulated himself as he had fabricated a perfect escape way. Satisfied with his work, the first mate looked at the still not mentally present inhabitans.

„Usopp!" Zoro only said and the sniper at once understood.

„Right!" he responsed, guiding a few of the people to the escape route. The had to climb up a few meters but it wasn't impossible. The real opponent was the Time as another little earthquake shook the whole volcano. Zoro quickly helped the sniper to get the people up and bring them away from the mountain. It all was fast done, and soon all the people were out of the volcano. The two strawhats then hurried to bring the bunch of inhabitans to their ship.

„We need to hurry! There isn't much time left!" Zoro murmured, his white shirt was completely wet from all the sweat. Usopp was just sweating as much. The heat around the volcano had increased again and soon this wouldn't be the nicest place to stay. The swordsman and Usopp then half-jogged back with the people through the jungle.

While passing lots of dead looking plants and places that could have been lakes before Arch landed, Zoro couldn't help but wonder how the rest of the crew was doing, especially Sanji.

After all, even if this Arch didn't look that special or strong, he was actually pretty skilled and shouldn't be underestimated. The blond string-bean better be careful.

-Y-X-Y-X-

„Collier Shoot!" Sanji shouted, jumping high into the air and kicked Arch full-power into the neck. Mentioned man was taken aback from that sudden move, gasped and his eyes widened to its max. Al'tera could have sworn he had heard a loud crack in his neck as he was smashed against the wall.

Painting loudly, he staggered back to his feet, narrowing his eyes at the captain. This was weird. Were did all this power come from? From where did this blondie take all the energy? Hadn't he gotten acid into his face? It was supposed to drain his strenght! Damn drug didn't work, huh?

But he's still bleeding and looked ready to collapse, so maybe..?

'Maybe I can still win!' Arch thought self-confidently, patting against his own breast, feeling as strong as Hercules. He was Arch Meldowin, one of the best, no, THE best marine chemist worldwide, there was absolutely no one who could beat him with silly tricks and kicks! Right?

As Arch wanted to lift his hand to throw something at Sanji, the blonde captain instinctively dodged and kicked his opponent into the stomach. Arch groaned in pain and spit out some blood, falling down onto his butt. For a moment, Arch's vision blurred a bit.

„Damn you ass!" He cursed, wiping the blood away from his mouth as he shot back up again. But then he all of sudden stumbled a little and needed to lean against the next wall not to collapse. Actually, the kicks of that wannabe captain hurt a lot.. Sanji couldn't help but feeling proud of himself upon seeing the crazy scientist wobble.

Arch rubbed his head and tried to make the dizziness go away. What was wrong with him? The stupid blondie couldn't have hurt him that bad, could he? Anyways, he had to use his secret wapon now! Otherwise that curly dartboard would really beat him...!

Sanji didn't want to waste any more time than neccessery and jumped towards Arch to give him a nice beating into the stomach again. But this time his opponent was more carefully than before and half-stumbled, half-jumped out of the way. Then Arch lifted his hand and threw a round item into Sanji's direction.

The nineteen-year-old could hear the cries of shock from his nakama and gasped in surprise. He wanted to dodge, but found his exhausted body didn't listen to him and didn't move. That's why the round thing hit Sanji directly onto the right shoulder and, much to the crew's horror, exploded loudly. For a short amount of time a dark thick cloud was around the blond captain.

Sanji screamed in shock and pain, fell to the ground and touched his bleeding face. Damn, it really hurt! What the.. hell.. was that..? A mini bomb? The hell? Ugh!

The blonde strawhat captain was shaken by a rough coughing fit. Blood spluttered to the dry ground and he groaned, grabbing his arm. Some pieces of the bomb had pierced his skin and his shoulder really hurt a lot. Soon, Sanji's hatress and anger for Arch rose steadily and he desperately tried to push himself back to his feet.

„Sanji! You alright?" Some of his crew shouted. Sanji shot a short glance at his nakama and was more than reliefed to see they were all free of those ties. Luffy had done a good job, surprisingly. But where were Zoro and Usopp?

Just as this question shot through Sanji's head, the long nosed sniper dashed around the corner, a bit out of breath. Immediately, all eyes went to Usopp in wonder, including Arch's.

„Eh? Usopp! What's the matter? Did you find the other people? Did you bring them out? Where's Zoro?" Nami blurted out at once, not giving the poor sniper a second to catch his breath as he was bombarded by questions. But just as the navigator, the sniper blurted out all answers at once, making it difficult for everyone to understand.

„Zoro sends me, he says we should get out here quick, the people are already on the way to our ship and now he's with them, awaiting us at the ship." he panted loudly, his hands resting on his knees. He had run all the way back from their ship to the volcano, all on his own so he couldn't avoid the slight shaking in his knees. Sweat dripped down Usopp's forehead and he wiped it away in reflex.

Arch however seized his chance as he took advantage of the situation to attack Sanji, who's eyes were on their sniper. Sanji, exhausted, hurt and too overhelmed at the moment, only saw the slowly widening eyes of his crewmates, then he felt the pain.

„Aargh!" the nineteen-year-old let out a scream of pain and clenched his eyes tightly shut. Grabbing his throbbing cheek, Sanji opened them again and looked back to his opponent who was about to hit him again. Sanji could manage to defend himself by blocking the hit with his right leg. Then Sanji jumped backwards, pushing Arch's fist away while doing so.

The 'boss' of the island got mad at Sanji for still fighting back and grumbled like an angry Rottweiler, baring his teeth. Sanji frowned a little at that weird action, Arch was getting more and more creepy. But it couldn't be helped, that guy had to be defeated!

But there was one thing Sanji couldn't deny: He was utterly exhausted. Panting in slight disstress, the blond haired man decided to follow the saying 'Attack is the best form of defence' and ran straight towards Arch. Just as he was about to prepare for a hard kick, his left leg gave out under his weight and he collapsed to the ground.

„Sanji!" Brook shrieked, this time not caring about calling more formal as he didn't use '-san' this time.

But the young man didn't even hear the skeleton. First, because the ground began to shake a lot and some piece of stones fell down. Second, because for a moment his ears had seemed to become deaf and he could only hear the ringing bells inside his head. They told him to stand up and make a run for it, but Sanji coldly ignored them, trying to focus on his enemy.

„Now now, baby face!" Arch teased while laughing in a dirty way and didn't hesitate to kick Sanji into the ribs. Sanji groaned and landed on the floor again, not opening his eyes as the tall man who called himself Al'tera continued to kick him. Arch seemed to be enjoying this, which pissed the strawhat crew off to no end.

„S-shouldn't we put a stop at this..? We have to help him!" Usopp said with shaking hands. It was hard to watch a friend of yours being beaten without doing anything. The sniper may be a cowards sometimes, but if the situation called for it you could rely on the sharpshooter. Usopp knew when to drop the mask of the scaredycat, and now was definitely the time for it.

„Oh gosh, we need to do something! Arch is going to kill him!" Nami grabbed her head as she forced herself to look away from the horrible scene. She couldn't stand watching this, but the beatings were still audible for her.

„Sanji-bro! Super-duper-Franky man is on the wa-!" The cyborg started, ready to hit Arch with his strong fist but Luffy jumped in between and caught Franky's fist before it could touch the enemy.

All attention on Luffy, the rest of the crew blinked at this. Even Arch stopped in his tracks and turned around to gasp. Sanji weakly opened one of his eyes, almost unable to see with all the blood on his face. He felt so weak, so useless. He had told Luffy he would beat the guy in less than two minutes, and now there he was...

„L-Luffy.." Sanji whispered, blinking to clear his vision. What was the cook up to? Why..?

Frankys expression turned from angry to pure shock and he immediately pulled his fist back. It was a surprise Luffy could still stand, he looked so pale. But his sharp eyes narrowed at Franky and the rest of the crew as they looked at him with shocked and questioning looks.

„Eh? Is your cook a complete idiot?" Arch questioned in all seriousness, not believing what just happened.

Robin didn't comment, she only watched with interest what would happen next, while Nami seemed ready to explode.

„Luuuffy, you damn baka! What on earth are you doing?" she shrieked at him but he only stared at her. The simple yet strong glance from Luffy managed to silence the angry navigator immediately.

„Don't interefence! It's his fight and he said he'd beat him! So stay out!" Luffy said, and Sanji could see his back tensing. But at the moment he didn't realize that, Sanji just gaped at the cook's little speech.

„L..Luffy.." Usopp murmured, getting what Luffy wanted to say.

„Stay out? Can't you see he's fu**ing killing Sanji?" Nami gasped in disbelief. „What had gotten into you?"

Luffy first said nothing, then he smiled a little. „Do you really think a wimp like Archie could beat let alone kill our Sanji?"

Well, to say Nami and the others were speechless was an understatement. Really, what could she respond to that? Deep inside her she knew Luffy was right. It was funny how Luffy always knew what to do, just out of instinct.

Sanji gulped at the words of his ex-captain. So much trust laid in that words and it made him feel ashamed as he laid on the ground and letting himself kick by a wussy. By a completely insane wussy.

„No." Luffy answered his own question with a smile and the crew knew there was no arguing with the cook. „Just trust our captain." he added calmly.

Bam. That words did it. Sanji bit his tongue, ignoring the iron taste of his own blood, and decided to stand up again. It would take him a lot of energy, but he would do it! Luffy was damn right, he wouldn't let himself getting defeated by a scientist from the marine!

Suddenly, Arch began to laugh like a maniac. Everyone's attention was on the man again. „Har har har! You finished with your small, cute speech? Good, may I continue now? It was getting boring for me and-" but the arrogant marine guy had no chance to finish his sentence as he recieved a powerful kick in the back.

The crew cheered and watched Arch fall to the ground. Sadly the guy stood up again, but he seemed pale and was bleeding. Anger was to be seen in Arch's eyes as they madly flackered into Sanjis direction.

„You frigging little-!" Arch began, „ You're useless! Look at you, without you, your crew could have escaped by now! How can they rely on someone dumb like you? You're giving up too easy and you can't even protect your own nakama!" Arch spat madly, and a tensed silence began to settle down. Sanji bit his lip, not knowing what to respond.

But then, Arch made a mistake in his blind rage. „What kind of captain are you anyways? Your poor crew, it must suck to have a captain like you! What a stupid crew you have to choose a captain like you!"

Sanji's own anger rose and he instantly kicked Arch directly into the face. A few teeth fell to the ground and Arch groaned, holding his jaw. But still, the chemist was standing.

„Argh! When does he finally collapse? He's getting on my nerves!" Nami complained, nibbling on her fingernails as she nervously watched the fight going on.

But then something got her attention and her head snapped up. The beautiful navigator looked around, feeling something.

„What is wrong, Nami?" Robin asked quietly, having problems to stand as her legs treated to give out.

„Th-the volcano! It's going to erupt!" Nami only whispered and although it was very very silent, everyone in the volcano caught it and gulped at her words. And just shortly after that, the mountain shook roughly and everyone fell to the ground. More steam and probably poisonous gases were in the air and it smelled like rotten eggs.

„Woah! !" Franky gasped, an unconscious Chopper in his arms. The shaking didn't stop and even Arch looked scared. But they definitely didn't have any time anymore, and that's why Sanji decided to beat Arch with his own weapons. The blonde captain, who laid on the ground as another earth quake followed, looked around and found what he was searching for. Sanji crawled a few meters forwards and grabbed something on the ground as he bit into his own lip not to scream in pain.

„So," he began weakly and Arch's head shot into his direction, „ I know I'm not the best captain, I'm probably the worst ever, but don't you blame my crew for that, bastard!" Sanji glared at Arch, continuing, „But now this fight is over! You'll never ever dare to lay a finger on my beautiful Nami and Robin again!"

With that, Sanji didn't even leave Arch enough time to wonder about that as he shot up and jumped towards the surprised Arch who didn't know what to do. He was too confused and overhelmed to even register what was happening and just stared at Sanji.

Mentioned captain didn't hesitate a second and pressed his hand with full force against Arch's face. The others were confused about Sanji's actions and had no idea what was happening. But Al'tera suddenly shouted out loud and grabbed his face in agony, spitting a few curses out.

„Yeah, now you know how it feels! It hurst, eh?" Sanji commented, then he inhaled deeply and swung his powerful leg at Arch who gasped at that. „Mouton Shoot!" was the last thing Arch heard after recieving the most strongest kick from Sanji that sent him flying. He cried out loudly and his world turned black.

„Bastard." Sanji commented, smirking. Then he turned to his crew and they quickly made a run for it, leaving the volcano behind. Franky carried both Chopper and Robin, Sanji was carrying his Nami-swan on his arms and called himself the luckiest man alive. But it didn't last long as the volcano behind them growled one last time, then it erupted as a dark cloud was to be seen above it. Hot lava streamed down from it's opening and the crew had to hurry.

„Iyaaaaaaa! The lava's coming!" Nami shrieked in horror, as pale as a sheet by now.

„Waaaaaah!" Usopp only cried, not looking were he is running to with his eyes shut in fear. This was just too much!

Luffy only laughed as they escaped, passing the jungle with all it's creepy plants as quickly as possible. The strawhat crew were fast runners, so in less than a minute the eight managed to reach the Thousand Sunny.

Zoro, who had watched the volcano erupting from the deck, had already hoisted the anchor and was ready to set out.

„Zoroo~!" Luffy called out, waving. Zoro sighed, seeing Luffy's carefree character breaking through all seriousness that had laid around the cook for the past hours, and shook his head.

„Hurry up you idiot." he answered as he scratched his head.

„Full speed ahead!" Luffy ordered as he was used to do and didn't notice Sanji's puzzled reaction. It was Sanji's job to say that, wasn't it? Okay, he had forgotten to say anything after just escaping an erupiting volcano, but still!

But the captain didn't say anything this time, it was an emergency after all. He shouldn't comment on that, it didn't matter at the moment.

Quickly, the crew jumped aboard and set sail, finally leaving the weird island behind. Soon the thick fog laid it's coat around the isle of poison, making it invisible for the pirates.

„W-we did it..." Usopp was the first one to break the silence as he had his hand over his fast bumping heart. What an adventure...! A crazy one, but it was not that he wasn't used to that by now.

„Yosh! And Arch was beaten, too!" Luffy said and managed a grin.

Meanwhile, Sanji was standing with his back towards the crew and stared out at the sea, litting a new cigarette. He suddenly noticed the silence behind him and turned around in wonder but was only met with smiles.

First the captain blinked, then a small smile spread across his face as well and he couldn't help but feel really proud of himself. He did it. He had saved his own crew! What a great feeling!

„Naami-swaan, Robin-chwaan, have you watched me beating that bastard? I did it just for you!" he said and danced like a perverted, making Robin laugh.

„You did a good job there, captain!" Nami praised as she leant against the mast in exhaustion.

But suddenly, Sanji collapsed to his knees and panted like a dog. The others rushed towards him.

„Sanji-san...!" Brook said, touching Sanji's shoulder in worry. The blonde weakly smiled back at the musician and nodded.

„Yeah I know... I need a rest." With that, the captain closed his eyes and fell forward.

YXYXYXYXYXYXY

Sooo... yeah, Sanji beat Arch finally! Woot! =D

This was a bit longer than the last time to make up for the long wait. Now it's late and I'm tired, so I hope the things I wrote in this chapter aren't crap. Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading!

Please leave a review! :)