Sanji shows his strength! Nick vs Don Krieg!
AN: On to the fight!
So happy that I'm on Chapter 10 now!
"King of the Pirates, eh? You wouldn't last a day in the grand line you little punk!" Don Krieg yelled an annoyed look on his face. "I once sailed with a fleet of 20 ships like the one we are standing on now. They were all destroyed in the Grand Line after two days. And they were all destroyed by the man who you just helped."
"Are you telling me that Hawkeye Mihawk whipped out your fleet?" Nick asked, trying to set the record straight.
"Yes. And now that my ship is gone, I'll need a new one." Don said as he looked to the restaurant.
From where Nick was standing, he could see Don give his crew orders, Don even shot one of them for disobeying. Nick quickly looked behind him to where the Merry was going, using his HUD, he could just barely see it sailing off. He then looked to Usopp and the others, "Usopp!"
Usopp looked to see his captain call out to him, "Take Zoro and the others, use Johnny and Yosaku's boat and go after Nami. I'll catch up when I'm done with this jerk."
Without hesitating, Usopp helped the two swordsmen take Zoro onto their boat and saluted to Nick, "GOOD LUCK, CAPTAIN! KICK HIS BUTT!"
While that was happening, Chef Zeff looked to both and couldn't help but thing, "Why is he staying? He doesn't owe us anything."
Just as Don's pirate crew was getting ready to fight, Nick made his way through the floating pieces of wood until he was standing between them and the restaurant. Don looked annoyed with Nick standing between him and his new ship. "Why the hell do you keep getting in my way!?"
"Well two reasons really: first, I like this restaurant, and I'd rather not let someone like you take it away. Second, I have a future crewmember who calls this place home, and it would be unfortunate that he would lose his home before joining my crew." Nick said as he crossed his arms.
Sanji was shocked by Nick's answer, "He's fighting so that I could join the crew?"
"Like I give a damn! CHARGE!" Don screamed to his crew as they charged towards the restaurant and Nick.
In response to that, Nick made his leg rubber and his foot as hard as iron as he swung his leg forward and hit most of the pirates in a whip motion. "IRON-STRETCH WIP!"
The restaurant crew started to cheer Nick on as he continued to fight. Sanji was slightly surprised on Nick's ability. "I knew he was weird, but not that weird. So there's all kinds of guys like him on the Grand Line."
As Nick continued his fight, the fish-head of the restaurant detached itself from the rest of the ship and opened its mouth to reveal cannons. "HEY, KID, GET CLEAR!" said one of the cooks at the controls of the fish-head. Nick saw the head and jumped out of the way in time for the head to fire its cannons at some of the pirates.
When Nick was falling form his jump he realized that he was heading for the water, just before he hit the water, a large platform came up from under it and broke his fall. Nick looked around to see a large half-circle was made around the ship. "Don't suppose all of this was in the records." Nick said under his breath.
"None from what I have found. It is highly likely that they never had to use until now." Jarvis said.
Don Krieg made his way to the fish head and threw it like it was a tin can. Nick was shocked on how strong he was to do that, and then he got worried about the men inside. Just as he was about to try and help, Sanji jumped up and kicked the head in the direction of the water, when Sanji landed on the boat again, he didn't act like his leg was hurting at all.
"Oh, now that's cool." Nick said as he looked in amazement.
At the same time, most of the cooks who were fighting the pirates were getting their buts kicked. The two cooks who were in the fish-head, Patty and Carne, got back onto the ship and joined the fight. They seamed to handle themselves well until a large man with metal disks on his front and back, holding two shields and, what Nick would guess, a helmet shaped like a white sphere.
"Who the heck is that?" Nick asked Jarvis.
"Checking… His name is 'Iron Wall Pearl'. He is Don Krieg's strongest crewmember other than himself." Jarvis answered while pulling up his wanted poster on Nick's HUD.
"Right when I need Zoro the most." Nick said under his breath.
As they were talking, some of the pirates got back up from Nick's attack and made their way to the restaurant. They were all stopped dead in their tracks when Sanji swung his legs around, while he was upside down, in a rotter motion. Pearl was impressed that Sanji was only using his hands, as was Nick.
"Hah! To beat up all of'em using only your feet, you strike me as a rather lazy guy… or is that your policy?" Pearl asked as his pirate crew were groaning from the beating they just took.
"A cook's hands are his life. I can't risk fighting with'em. But don't worry, my feet'll be more than enough to take you down." Sanji said as raised one foot.
Pearl started to laugh, "You take me down? I'm afraid that jus ain't happening! In the last 61 fights I've been in, I've won them all without even so much as a scratch on me! You may protect your hands in a fight, but I fight while protecting my entire body."
He continued to boast on how strong he was, which started to get on Nick's nerves. "Even I'm that strong and I don't gloat about it."
"HEY FEDORA!" Nick heard Don Krieg shout across the wreckage.
"Oh for the love of… It's BLUE SHADE!" Nick shouted back.
"You're still going with that?"
"It's a good one. Plus, blue's my favorite—" Nick's argument was cut short when he dodged a massive mace swinging at him. It came around again and hit him in the gut, if he hadn't have made his body iron in time, the spikes on the mace might have impaled him.
Nick was then launched because of the mace and hit Pearl in the back of the head, which made him hit his shield in the nose as he was guarding Sanji's kick. Nick landed on his feet and turned around to see that Pearl wasn't moving, he then noticed that his nose was bleeding. "So much for fighting without a scratch."
Right then, all the other pirates from Don's crew started to get scared, even Don Krieg himself cursed under his breath. Pearl started to freak out about the blood.
"The hell's up with him?" Sanji asked.
"No clue. It's just a nose bleed." Nick said as he cleaned his right hear with his pinky.
As Pearl continued to freak out, Don tried to tell him to calm down with no avail. Pearl clashed his two hand shields and all of a sudden, his shields all over his body caught fire. "PEARL FIRE!"
"Incoming!" Jarvis said as Pearl was throwing fireballs at them.
Nick and Sanji were lucky to dodge some of the fireballs, the rest of the enemy pirate crew were not so lucky. They had to jump into the water to prevent from getting burned.
"That bastard, he'll burn the whole ship down!" Sanji said as he charged at Pearl.
Sanji though a few kicks, but Pearl blocked them all. Just as Pearl was about to make a counter attack, Sanji leaped forward in a forward flip and kicked Pearl in the face. Out of anger, Pearl launched a few fireballs at the restaurant, and Zeff.
"Why is he just standing there? MOVE!" Nick shouted when he saw the fireballs head for him.
And in a fluid motion, Zeff swung his peg leg at the fireballs and blew them out like a candle. They then hit the side of the restaurant like they were golf balls. "I may have lost one leg, but this much is nothing I can't handle." Zeff said with a slight smirk on his face.
The rest of the cooks cheered and the enemy pirate crew got scared. Nick crossed his arms and smiled, "For an old man, he's got spirit. That's for sure."
"Reminds me of Garp." Jarvis said.
"Yeah, no kidding." Nick said as he laughed.
Nick then noticed that the mace that hit him before was heading right for Sanji, Nick ran in front of Sanji. Nick threw his arms back making them rubber and his fists iron, and shot them back at the mace. "IRON-STRETCH BAZOOKA!"
The mace shattered like it was made of ice. Nick looked down to see the fragments and picked up a piece and smiled, "Must have been made of something weaker than iron."
As he said that, one of the fragments hit a big mast that belonged to the now destroyed ship. The mast landed on Pearls head and knocked him out. While at the same time, Nick and Sanji moved before the mast hit them.
Looking down at the unconscious psychopath, Nick spoke, "This guy is not having a good day."
"Apparently so." Sanji said as he let out a puff of smoke.
"STAND DOWN, SANJI!"
They both turned around to see who shouted to find Gin holding a pistol and pointing it at Zeff who was on the ground, "Don't make me kill you."
Nick saw that Gin was holding the broken peg leg in his right hand; he knew that it was Zeff's. Gin ordered Sanji to leave the ship, Sanji refused. They started to argue for a few minutes on why he wouldn't leave. Pearl got back up and started to beat up Sanji. Just as Nick was about to fight, Gin threatened to kill Zeff if he or Sanji fought.
This continued for a few minutes as Pearl was pounding on Sanji with no mercy. Gin asked why Sanji wouldn't let the ship go, Sanji told them the story of how they met. How Sanji was a cabin boy on a civilian ship, who had a dream to see the 'All Blue' and Zeff was a pirate who boarded and attacked the ship.
Without asking, Jarvis recorded the story for the record.
Sanji said that a stormed hit both their ship as the ship went down, Zeff saved Sanji, at the cost of his leg. They were both stranded on an island with little food. They were close to starvation, explaining why he was so kind to Gin when he was close to it as well.
Sanji said that all the food they had was used up in a day, and Zeff gave all of it to Sanji. Reason being, they had the same goal, to find the 'All Blue'. He then said that they were later rescued and Zeff opened up a restaurant not long after. Sanji stayed with him since then.
"You saved my life, at the cost of your own leg." Sanji said while on his hands and knees.
He coughed up some blood and then stood back up. "I'm not handing over this restaurant. And I won't let you kill the damn geezer either… He's a geezer who gave up everything for the sake of one little brat. IF I CAN'T EVEN PUT MY LIFE AT RISK TO SAVE HIM, THEN I CAN NEVER REPAY MY DEBT TO HIM!" Sanji screamed as he put his hand on his chest.
Just as Pearl was about to attack Sanji again, Nick launched his foot high in the air. Making his foot iron he slammed down hard and broke apart the platform they were all standing on. Gin was about to yell when Nick interrupted, "Hey, I just broke the platform, I didn't hit your guy."
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Sanji yelled.
"Simple really, I'm going to destroy the ship." Nick said with a serious look on his face.
Right then all the pirates and the cooks were both shocked and angry by that comment. Even Don Krieg was angry.
"Are you out of your mind?! What do you planning if you want to destroy the ship?!" Sanji asked as he yelled.
"If we destroy the ship, they lose." Nick said with a blank expression on his face.
"Yeah but we lose too! You have no idea what this restaurant means to me, no the gravity of the debt." Sanji said as he grabbed Nick's shoulder
"So your willing to die for a restaurant? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Nick said as he swiped Sanji's hand off his shoulder.
"WHAT?!" Sanji screamed
Nick grabbed him by the collar and yelled back, "HOW CAN YOU REPAY YOUR DEBT IF YOUR DEAD?!"
Sanji was caught off guard by that remark. Nick continued, "He didn't save you so that you would die for this restaurant! To throw your life away and die after being saved… THAT'S WHAT WEAKLINGS DO!"
"WELL, IT'S NOT LIKE YOU KNOW OF A BETTER WAY OUT OF THIS MESS!" Sanji yelled back as he grabbed Nick's collar too.
"Now, now. Stop the fighting you two." Pearl said as he started walking towards them. "It's just your bad fortune to have gone up against the Krieg Pirates. You picked the wrong enemies."
Just as he was charging them, something rushed past Nick and Sanji and hit Pearl. It was Gin; he was holding tonfas with big spheres at the end of them. Pearl's front shield on his chest shattered like glass.
"Sorry Pearl, but I need you to get out of my way for a little while." Gin said as Pearl collapsed.
Don Krieg was angry to see one of his men attack another, Gin told him that he would take care of Sanji and Nick on his own.
"Well, I wasn't expecting that. But I'm glad it worked out, sort of." Nick said as he crossed his arms.
"What worked out? You didn't have a plan! You wanted to destroy the ship." Sanji yelled.
"Or did I?" Nick said in a playful voice.
"You didn't." Jarvis said.
"Shut up." Nick said under his breath.
Some of the pirates in the water started to gloat about how strong Gin and the rest of them were, but Nick called them out on the only reason why they were strong was because they were one of the biggest, and that it wasn't even enough for the Grand Line. Sanji agreed, and Zeff started to laugh at the fact that one man was poking fun at one of the most dangerous pirates of the East Blue and got away with it.
Don Krieg ordered his men to stay out of the fight, which was when he called Nick out. "Hey, Blue Shade!"
Nick looked to see Don sitting on the broken mast that fell over earlier, "Who do you think is more fit to become the next King of the Pirates? You or me…?"
"Me… Who else?" Nick said in an obvious voice.
Some of the cooks got nervous of Nick egging Don on. Don stood up and pulled off one of his shoulder shields and placed it on his hand. "It's time to teach you the true meaning of 'strength'."
The shield opened up and a metal pod the size of a potato launched from it. Gin said that there was poison gas in the pod. Nick jumped up and tried to kick it away, to his surprise, metal spikes shot out form it as it exploded. Luckily he turned to iron in time for it to not hurt him much.
"Tricky bastard." Nick thought as he landed on some floating wood.
"THIS IS WHAT A BATTLE IS! I'VE GOT MORE WAYS TO KILL YOU THAN I CAN COUNT! NOW I'LL ASK YOU AGAIN! WHO DO YOU THINK IS MORE FIT TO BE KING?" Don Krieg screamed with an annoyed face.
"I'm still goanna say its me." Nick said with an obvious voice again.
"I'll just have to kill you myself." Don said under his breath.
Nick looked to Sanji, "I'll deal with Don Krieg, and you take care of our friend, Gin." Sanji nodded to his plan.
"Alright, Jarvis, what do you have on this guy that I can use?" Nick asked as he was walking towards Don.
"From what history says, he carries a massive arsenal on his person. He has multiple weapons for multiple uses. The way he uses them, reminds me of a man named Frank Cassel, 'The Punisher'." Jarvis pulled up an old picture of the Punisher.
"I don't see how that helps." Nick said under his breath as he continues to walk.
"Well, unlike the Punisher, Don always uses his weapons for any kind of combat; meaning he doesn't know how to fight without them."
"So if I take away the weapons, I beat him?"
"Basically."
"Now that, I can use."
Nick jumped onto the long mast that collapsed earlier; it's full length extended form where he was to where Don was standing. Nick started to run up the mast towards Don. Don pulled up his shield-gun again and it opened up even more; this time, the disk opened up several holes that circled the center.
Right before Nick knew it, a big explosion caused the water underneath him to rise in front of him, blocking his vision of Don. Don the fired his weapon, "TAKE THIS!"
Nick saw that there were metal spikes heading right for him, he covered his face with his arms and made his body iron. Some spikes bounced off him, but two broke through his skin; one hitting his left thy, and the other in his right shoulder. Nick screamed at the pain.
"Steal spikes. Going at high velocity, it is possible for them to pierce iron." Jarvis said as Nick was pulling them out.
"Well that's just great." He grunted after pulling the last one out.
Nick then looked to see that Gin gave up the fight, Sanji was on the ground and Gin was on his knees crying. "I just can't bring myself to kill this man."
Gin and Don Krieg continue to argue about leaving the restaurant alone and leave, Krieg didn't want to listen, or care. He the readied his cannon again and fired another pod, this time he put on his gas mask. Nick knew it was poison this time, he was still on the mast halfway to Don. The pod was moving slow enough, at least for him, to jump in front of it and take it underwater.
Everyone was shocked to see that Nick grabbed the pod took with him under the water. Zeff was the one who was the most surprised, "SOMEONE GET HIM OUT OF THE WATER NOW! HE CAN'T SWIM!"
Just as Sanji was about to jump in, Nick popped his head out of the water and climbed onto a piece of floating wood. Zeff's jaw dropped to the floor, "I thought all Devil-Fruit users couldn't swim."
Don Krieg was surprised that Nick was back, "What the hell? How did you do that? You can't swim!"
"I'm not like most Devil-Fruit users." Nick said with a confident smile and pulled his had off his head to let the water out. "Your fight's with me you self-absorbed jerk."
Nick then charged him again as he was hopping pieces of wood, one after another. Don reacted by shooting more spikes at Nick while he was charging. "DIE!" Don screamed as he continued to fire his spikes.
As Nick was running, some of the spikes bounced off again, but like before, some broke the skin. One hit his left shoulder, the other hit his lower right side next to his stomach, and the third hit his right triceps. Nick continued charging anyway, not even slowing down. He pulled his right hand back as it stretched.
"Not stopping, eh? TRY THIS!" Don said with an arrogant smile. He pulled his cape over him to revile that the inside was covered in spikes. "KENZAN CAPE!"
Nick was too close and moving to fast to stop, so he made the only choice he had; he made his hand as hard as iron and swung. "IRON-STRETCH BULLET!" As he swung he hit the spikes, breaking them and hitting Don Krieg in the face so hard he went flying a few feet away.
Everyone was surprised to see that Nick went through with the attack and actually landed a blow. Sanji called him reckless, but Zeff started to smile.
Nick looked to his hand to see that the spikes didn't break the skin, but it did leave some bruises. "Minor damage. You're lucky those weren't steel spikes." Jarvis said as he scanned his hand.
Nick then pulled out the spikes that were in him, one at a time. "This place will not be my grave, Don Krieg. It won't be yours either. Hell, I don't care where my grave will be. But don't you go around deciding that just because you have a big arsenal. I'm not going to die here."
"This guy is completely reckless." Sanji said as he sat up. Zeff walked up to him with a crutch to help him stand, "Watch him carefully, Sanji… There are guys like him every now and then. Idiots that fight to the death once they decide on a goal…"
"Fight to the death…" Sanji said.
"A guy like him is the worst enemy you could ever face… Whether he wins or loses this fight, I like guys like him…" Zeff continued.
Don started to get back up, "If this place isn't going to be your grave." He then stood up, readying his shield for a strike, "Then exactly…" He then hit Nick right in the chest with his shield, "WHOSE IS IT!?"
Instead of being launched into the sea, Nick was flung into the air. Nick extended his foot, made it iron and landed a blow on Don's head. "IT'S YOURS!"
The blow to the head caused Don to drop his shield. All of the pirates started to be amazed at the sight of their captain being beaten by a guy who was half his size. At the same time, the cooks from the restaurant started to cheer Nick on. Don got back up again and put his other shoulder shield and the one he dropped together. "SHUT YOUR WORTHLESS TRAPS!"
As he put them together, one side extended a poll, while the other side extended a blade. He then tried to slash Nick but missed, and when the blade hit the ground, it exploded. One of the pirates screamed, "It's the 'Great War Spear'!"
Don continued to swing at Nick, missing every time, but every time he missed, the ground would explode and cause Nick to lose his balance. Because of all the explosions, Nick didn't notice that his hat flew of his head. It landed next to Zeff, he looked to it and picked it up.
Nick had to jump onto another platform to keep from falling into the water again.
"I can't keep dodging the spear, I'm getting nowhere." Nick said.
"Sir, I scanned the spear. Like any other, the blade is made for cutting, I don't know how the explosions work yet but the blade is the weakest part."
"How? It's the part that explodes."
"The center of the blade is weak if you hit it in the right spot. You hit with your iron hands at the center triangle with enough force, the blade will break."
"I'll give it a try."
"Who the hell are you talking to?" Don asked with an eyebrow raised.
"None of your damn business." Nick snapped back.
Don chased him and continued to swing, there was one time when he swung that Nick disappeared before Don. He looked around to see where he went until he heard a voice behind him, "Wow, you know, you could be good at baseball if you tried out." He looked behind him to see that Nick was on the spear. "LITTLE BRAT!"
Don then swung again and launched Nick off the spear and tried to stab him with it. Doing as Jarvis suggested, Nick turned his hands iron and clapped them on the blade in the center. Right then an explosion happened in Nick's face.
Nick landed a few feet away, brushing off the dust from the explosion. Don charged again, "AFER ANGRING ME TO THIS EXTEND THERE WON'T EVEN BE ANY OF YOUR REMAINS AFTER I'M DONE WITH YOU!" He then swung the spear again, and like before, Nick clapped down on the blade.
He was launched back again by the explosion. Just as he was about to fall backwards, he put one step behind him to keep him from falling. And the second that his foot hit the ground, the spear blade shattered like glass.
Everyone's jaws dropped to the ground at the sight of what just happened. "My strength and speed, plus iron hands, plus hitting the blade where it's the weakest, equals broken steel." Nick said as he made a devious smile. "Now it gets interesting. Because now that we're on a more open space of floating wood, I can do more damage to you."
Sanji and Zeff were still close enough to see the fight. "That idiot, he should be on the verge of collapsing from being hit by those explosions so many times. With those funds, if he takes even just one more blast form that spear, he'll die. With all those weapons and armor, it's almost impossible to beat him."
Zeff smiled when he recognized the hat, he knew who it used to belong to, and then spoke to Sanji, "But you know, Sanji... no matter how many weapons anyone equips themselves, they're no match for that 'one special spear' that comes from your guts..."
Sanji didn't understand what he was talking about. "On a pirate's battlefield where life and death are decided, the one who fears death and hesitates for even an instant shall fall to their doom." Zeff tried to explain.
"What do you mean?" Sanji was still confused.
"Within that man, if nothing else, lies no hesitation. Perhaps it stems form his complete preparedness to survive no mater what, or his conviction that fears no death."
Don charged him again with the blunt spear but missed again as Nick jumped onto one of the masts that were still standing after the ship was destroyed. Don broke the base off the mast to get Nick off it. Nick's response was to break off a pice at the top and throw it at Don like a spear of his own. Don pulled out a flamethrower and blasted the 'spear' to dust. As Nick was falling, he turned his hands iron and arms rubber, "IRON-STRETCH!" He was then right on top of Don as he finished his move, "GATTLING!"
Don just stood there, taking full force of the attack, "Useless! You can't break my steel armor!"
Nick then got close and pulled his arms back fast, "IRON-STRETCH BULLET!" The impact knocked Don back a feet.
Don jumped to the top of another standing mast and dropped a few black spheres as he started to gloat about how strong his arsenal is. "ENOUGH OF THE GLOATING!" Nick practically screamed in his head as he ran up the mast at full speed. "IRON-STRETCH BAZOOKA!"
This time the impact knocked Don high into the air, he even let go of the spear. The bombs that Don dropped finally hit the ground and made explosions all around the mast that Nick was standing on. Nick jumped over the smoke and was over Don, "IRON-STRETCH BAZOOKA!" This time he managed to shatter Don's armor.
Just as they were falling, Don launched a metal net around Nick, "HAHA! This net is made of iron, Devil-Fruit user or not, you will sink to the bottom!"
"I don't think so!" Nick said as he made his entire body rubber and squeezed out of the net like an octopus though a small hole.
(AN: I once saw a documentary about Octopi that showed one of them doing that, which is where i based this part off of.)
Once he was out, Nick shot his arms at Don's shoulders, as he grabbed him he slammed him into the platform of the restaurant. Still in the air and holding onto Don, "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!" Nick then made both his legs from the feet up as hard as iron and plunged himself downward.
Just as Nick was making his way down, he didn't notice that some of the pirates readied crossbows and got ready to fire at Nick. Sanji then got in front of them, "Quit it! or I'll kill the lot of you."
Don was helpless to move as Nick was coming in fast. "IRON-STRETCH PILE-DRIVER!" Nick then landed feet first into Don's chest part of the armor and shattered it like glass, also causing him to spit blood.
Nick then jumped off him and looked to see if he was going to get back up, Jarvis scanned to see if he would. "Scan's show no activity. He is out cold."
"Good... cause I'm beat." Nick said as he fell flat on his back.
Sanji ran to Nick to see if he was ok, he was surprised to see that he was asleep. Zeff walked up to them and placed Nick's hat on his chest.
Don Krieg then got back up and started yelling and swinging his arms. Shouting about being the strongest and never losing, that was when Gin hit him in the back of the head. "We lost Krieg, there's no need to continue this any further." All of the other pirates were surprised by Gin's move.
Gin picked Don up and through him over his shoulder, "We're leaving. And we're going to start anew. Thanks of everything Sanji..." He said as he was walking away.
"Yeah... please don't come again." Sanji said as he sat down and lit a new cigarette.
"Sanji, when he wakes up, could you pass a him this message? 'Let's meet again, out on the Grand Line'." Gin said.
Sanji knew he was talking about Nick when he said 'he'. "You're still gonna be a pirate?"
"When you think about it... there's nothing else that i want to do. I guess before i realized it, Don Krieg's ambition became mine as well..." Gin said.
Sanji ordered two of the cooks to give the pirates a boat to use. They grudgingly followed his orders and gave them the ship.
(THE NEXT DAY)
"Oh thank god! I almost thought i lost it in the fight!" Nick said as he put his hat back on.
Nick was sitting in one of the crews quarters on the ship, Sanji was standing at the balcony smocking a cigarette. "Glad to see your awake. Sorry, we kind of ran out of bandages."
"Don't worry, I'm a fast healer." Nick said as he stood up. He looked down to see that his shirt and pants were all torn up. "You wouldn't happen to have any spare cloths i could use; preferably long pants and short sleeve t-shirts?"
Sanji pointed to the closet, "Should be some in there."
Nick then walked over and started to change his cloths, "So, what happened to the pirates?"
"They're gone. They left, thanks to you." Sanji said as he puffed smoke. "By the way, i have a message for you from Gin, 'Let's meet again out on the Grand Line'."
"Hm. I look forward to that." Nick finished changing and walked out with a blue t-shirt and black pants. "So... by any chance would you want-"
"No, I'm not going to be a pirate. I'm staying here and remain a cook. Until the day that damn geezer acknowledges my cooking..." Sanji said.
"Of for the love of-! Fine. I'll drop it." Nick said as he raised his hands in his failure to change Sanji's mind.
"After something like that happening, I can't afford to leave even more. The cooks here are completely undependable." Sanji said as he puffed more smoke.
"Yeah, I guess i can understand." Nick said as he leaned his back against the railing.
"But i do want to go out to the Grand Line one of these days." Sanji said.
"You can if you go with me."
"Not just yet thought." Sanji just started to smile, "Hey... do you know about the 'All Blue'?"
Jarvis immediately pulled up some articles, and myths about it, but no solid evidence in history. "I know a few rumors about it, but I don't know too much about it."
"It's also known as the 'Ocean of Miracles'!" Sanji sounded excited as he told him everything he knew of the All Blue.
Zeff was on a balcony above watching them talk, he started to smile, "Talking with such a stupidly wide grin on your face... idiot."
Nick and Sanji walked down to the restaurant level of the ship and saw that everyone was eating at a large table. Given that all the other tables were taken, Nick and Sanji were forced to sit on the floor and eat. Nick started to notice that the crew were making some weird and rude comments towards Sanji. They started insulting his cooking to his face. Even Zeff said his cooking was bad, Sanji didn't understand why everyone was saying his cooking was bad. Zeff even punched him.
"It's a hundred years too early of ra lil' eggplant like you to be comparing my soup with yours! I've cooked all around the world!" Zeff said.
Nick noticed something, "He punched him, Sanji said a cook never uses his fists, why would he punch him?"
Sanji stormed out, when he did, Nick drank some of the soup that they were calling terrible. It tasted great, "This soup is great!"
"Yeah, we know." Said one of the cooks.
"Whew, that was scary. he sure was stomping mad." Said another.
"We all know how good Sanji's cooking is." Said a third.
"But if we hadn't done that, that idiot would never listen to us..." Zeff said. He then turned to Nick, "Hey, boy... Would you mind... taking that lil' eggplant with you?"
Sanji was outside, but he was close enough to the door to hear every word.
Zeff continued, "Take him with you to the Grand Line. It's his dream."
Sanji sat down next to the door, "I can hear you, you jerks." he said under his breath.
"Will you take him with you?" Zeff asked again.
"I can't." Nick said as he continued eating.
"WHAT?!" "WHY NOT?!" "IS HE NOT GOOD ENOUGH?"
"Believe me, I want him to join... but it has to be his choice. That's one of my rules." Nick said as he finished his meal and stood up.
"Well, you do have a point. But the problem is whether that rebellious brat will be honest with himself or not." Zeff said with his arms crossed.
Sanji was still outside and saw something swimming towards the ship. It was Yosaku. When he got close, Sanji brought him inside. Yosaku was completely warn out from swimming for so long. The cooks gave him food and a blanket to help warm him up. As he was getting strong enough, he started to tell of what happened to the others.
"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 going." Yosaku said while shivering.
"She's going t Cocoyasi Village." Nick said in a slightly angry voice.
"How do you know?" Yosaku asked.
"Its her home town, and it's under the control of Arlong." Nick then stood up and faced Zeff, "We're going to need a boat."
"I'm coming too. If you'll have me?" Sanji asked.
Everyone was shocked at his change of heart, they didn't know that he heard the whole conversation they had earlier.
"I'll accompany you on our way to becoming the next King of the Pirates. After all, we both have crazy dreams. So I'll tag along to fulfill mine. I'll be the cook of your ship. Sound good?" Sanji finished.
"Welcome aboard, Sanji." Nick said with a half smile.
Before they set out, Nick gave Sanji a few minutes to say goodbye to everyone before they set sail.
"Brother cook is taking a while." Yosaku said, sounding nervous.
"Give him a minute, this place has been his home for so long." Nick said.
They both looked to see him walking towards their boat. Two of the cooks came out of nowhere and tried to attack him, Sanji knocked them down without even breaking a sweat. He finally reached the boat without any more trouble.
"We ready to go?" Sanji asked.
"All set, just waiting on you." Nick said with his arms crossed.
Just as he was about to step foot onto the boat they heard a voice from the ship, "Hey, Sanji." They all looked to see Zeff on the balcony looking at them with a smile, "Don't catch a cold."
Sanji stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes started to tear up. He quickly turned around and got down on his knees and bowed his head, "I'M ETERNALLY GRATEFUL, FOR TAKING CARE OF ME FOR SO DAMN LONG, YOU OLD GEEZER! I SHALL NEVER FORGET FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.. THE DEBT I OWE YOU!"
All of the cooks started to cry, even Zeff started to tear up, "Damn idiots... men should say their good-byes silently."
"LET'S MEET AGAIN ONE DAY! YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING BASTARDS!" Sanji screamed as the tears fell from his face like a waterfall.
And with that last goodbye Nick, Yosaku and their new cook set sail to find the rest of their crew.
It was night time at the moment, Nick was on watch, "So... what did we change this time?"
Jarvis pulled up new pictures and records. "The new informations shows that Don Krieg and his crew were defeated by an unknown man and that one of this man's crew took on Hawkeye Mihawk himself. Because of you, the Baratie will now continue its legacy of serving food to everyone for years to come. As for Don Krieg himself, I cannot say for sure; as far as history is concerned, he disappeared. Congratulations, sir, we now have a cook."
Nick started to smile at hearing about the Baratie, but when he thought about Nami and stealing his stuff. "What about our navigator? Still corrupted data?"
"Yes, however, I do believe I am getting close to clearing it up. I'll let you know as soon as I do."
"I hope you do soon, I'd rather not have a crew member that has no future." Nick thought with a concerned look on his face.
TO BE CONTINUED!
On the next 'Marvels of One Piece', 'Nami's history revealed! Blue-Shade Pirates vs. Arlong Pirates!' I'm going to be King of the Pirates!
AN: Well, that was a long fight.
Looking forward to the fight to come.
I'll update as soon as I can.
Please review.