LW: Well here we go, time to kick Kreig's ass

Rubber Kings and Mirror Master – Battle for Baratie (part 2)

BANG

'Finally that rubber brained idiot is gone, now I can simply take the ship for myself and re-enter the Grand Line' Kreig thinks to himself as he grins widely.

'Luffy' Kaya squeaks fearfully, her and Zoro were luckily safe above the gas cloud which hung like fog on the lower levels

'He'll be fine' Zoro mumbles before coughing violently 'The Captain's too stubborn to die, too stupid for his body to know poison is bad either' he jokes weakly, Kaya rolling her eyes but thankful for the attempt anyway.

'Hey asshole!' was heard just before a fist shot through the fading gas and slammed into his face, causing him to stumble as he quickly righted himself 'I'm not dying today' Luffy yells from behind his gas mask 'Lucky that mask just appeared when it did or I'd be in pretty bad shape' he almost smiles until he hears a commotion behind him

'Gin, let go you asshole, the gas is gone you can get off me' Sanji struggles to get the former commander off of him but he was still weak due to his injures, though upon further inspection Gin was the worse off of them both: blood dripping from his nose and gums, eyes bloodshot and barely open, his breath was ragged and came out in barely a whistle

'Gin! This mask was yours' Luffy gasps, shocked at the man's self sacrificial act, and pissed off when Krieg started to laugh and berate him

'Patty get Ginseng, he has to do something!' Sanji yells at the Popeye like chef who mumbles excuses but runs off to find the ship's doctor

'Put the mask on him, it'll help detoxify his lungs and might give him a little more time for the doc to work on him' Zeff orders, Sanji nods as the straw haired man with a handlebar moustache exits the ship and with Patty's assistance brings Gin up to the roof with Kaya and Zoro, the girl quickly getting to work helping however she can.

Luffy's jaw clenches 'Now I'm mad Krieg, you won't like what's coming for you' he practically growls, none of the fun loving idiot any other others had seen up until now was visible in this kid.

'Idiot, attacking head on is a mistake he's strongest that way' Sanji argues to Luffy ignores him

'So am I' he whispers then takes off running 'Hit me with your best shot!'

'Anger makes you sloppy kid, you're running in one direction… to your death' Kreig sneers as he tosses bombs into Luffy's path, causing a smoke cloud and a pillar of water which he then proceeds to empty an entire round of bullets from his gattling shield into

'Well he's dead'

'Never stood a chance'

'Kid no!'

The water fell and Kreig grimaced when he sees Luffy still charging

GUM GUM…

'Just try it kid' Krieg yells, wrapping himself up in a spiked cloak…

PISTOL

… which Luffy practically ignores as he continues his attack, slamming his fist into the cloak and Krieg's face, this time knocking him to the ground.

'He floored the Don'

'In one hit'

'What kind of monster is this guy?'

'So you think this will kill me? Little spikes?' Luffy's voice was both angry and also slightly condescending, not wavering even as he rips the spikes out of his flesh and tossed them across the deck 'It'll take a lot more than that to take me down, I'm the future King, so small fry like this won't work on me' his smile was humourless as he tore the last spike out of his leg, just above his knee

'Well he's completely insane' Sanji says with a sigh, not seeing Zeff nod in agreement

'True, but so was his predecessor. I've seen a few men like him in my day, stubborn as the Red Line, would rather die and walk away from a fight. Glad he's on our side though, as that stubbornness makes them Hell to fight and even harder to kill' the old chef replies, hoping it wouldn't come to that, Luffy may be a pain in the ass kind of a moron and definitely crazy, but he was growing on the former pirate cook.

Eventually Krieg manages to pull himself to his feet, his face stuck in permanent scowl 'So you're not dying today huh kid? That's too bad, because one of us is going down today. And while I'm here, I might as well pay my respects' he yells, slamming his shield into Luffy before blasting him 'Go to Hell!'

Luffy bounces away from the blast, catching Krieg's shoulder pad with his foot and pulling him back 'You first' he orders, knocking the pirate admiral onto his back.

'How is this possible?'

'This kid is kicking the Don's ass'

'What are we dealing with?'

'Did Mihawk kill us and we're trapped in Hell or something?'

Luffy just grins widely, despite everything he was kind of enjoying the fight.

Zoro and Kaya smile as they watch the fight 'See girlie, nothing to worry about' the swordsman smirks, getting a light smack to the shoulder from the blond

'Shut up, you thought he was a goner too' she retorts, chewing her lip in worry. Luffy was winning that much was true, but he hadn't won yet.

'EVERYONE SHUT UP! NEVER DOUBT DON KRIEG!' Krieg yells as he pulls out another weapon from his arsenal, this time combining 2 of his shoulder pad shields and producing some kind of spear (Don't ask me what's going on, I'm just describing what I see, it looks like his shoulder pads he pulled the MH5 from, but now it's a spear. Plus he had one pad in the previous scene but once the spear came out, no pad) which he swung at Luffy, missing but causing a huge explosion.

'The fuck was that?'

'The mighty Battle Spear' one Kreig pirate gasps 'finally he's stopped playing with the brat and fighting for real'

'Playing hide and seek are we? Well time to finish things, this is my mighty battle spear, and unlike previous weapons when I hit you with this you won't just get cut up or wounded, you'll be blown straight to Hell' he yells that last part as he slams it into the deck again 'Big enough for you your majesty?' He taunts smugly

'Fuck, fuck, fuck, not the water' Luffy chants as he manages to grab another section of wreckage before he could fall in and sink to the bottom 'An exploding spear, this is going to suck Too bad Kaos isn't around, I'd love his powers right about now' he moves to stand but fails 'Shit, this isn't good'

'He's lost too much blood' Sanji guesses 'This fight better end soon or he's done for'

Kreig, seeing an opportunity hops onto Luffy's piece, then begins trying to skewer the boy, luckily adrenaline enabled him to get back into action and dodge all the pirate's swings

'His true power is his strength, the battle spear is so deadly in his hands because nobody else can swing a spear so easily that weights over a ton' (Ah hem, once again and I know he wasn't introduced yet, but WHITEBEARD! I have no idea how much his bisento weights but it sure aint lightweight)

The swinging and dodging continues until Luffy nearly falls off, jumping into the air to avoid slipping into the water 'Die bastard' Krief yells as he swings once more where Luffy can't simply slip out of the way, luckily Luffy was able to find a safe place… the shaft of the spear itself

'Wow… I didn't think that was going to work' he admits to himself, and because he thought out loud everyone heard

Krieg was really pissed at this point, flailing his spear until finally he managed to shake Luffy off, the tries to plunge the tip into the boy while he's in the air (you know, like a spear is supposed to be used, he's been using it as some kind of axe or exploding hammer up to this point if I'm being perfectly honest)

Luffy catches the blade between his fists… it doesn't stop the explosion but it does seem to localise it, the blackened rubber pirate flopping to the ground

'Ow' Luffy groans slightly as he pulls himself to his feet

'This is on you kid, if you hadn't pissed me off so badly I might have shown mercy and killed you quickly, but no, you had to be a pain in my ass so now you're going to suffer' he laughs as he makes another swing, Luffy trying to fight back… and getting tossed back again. This repeats itself several times: Don swings at Luffy, our boy hits the ground a smoking lump, he stands back up and the process restarts, each time Luffy was smiling like an escaped mental patient while Kreig was getting even madder if that were possible.

'You bastard, why won't you die!' he practically screams as he puts his all into another swing, shocked beyond belief when Luffy kicks it aside, sure it still exploded but when the dust settled the spear's tip shattered like glass 'What? How? My battle spear, what have you done!'

'I just punched it in the head 5 times' Luffy answers with a smirk 'Maybe it's time to let it rest. It's my turn to fight now'

'Damn this kid might actually win' one of the cooks says with a smile

'He broke the mighty battle spear'

'Does Krieg even have anything bigger?'

'I think we're nearly done here' Luffy thinks aloud 'Now I broke your spear at least'

'Hm, you think?'

'Yeah, without the tip all you've got is a bomb on a stick, which while odd isn't really a problem for me' he replies with a grin

'Oh really?' Kreig clenches his teeth

'Yep'

'Well I think this bomb on a stick is still good enough to send you to kingdom come in little pieces'

Luffy shrugs 'Well you can try, it's not going to work but come on, knock yourself out'

'You mock me kid, YOU'VE SIGNED YOUR OWN DEATH WARRANT!' Krieg yells as he charges at the boy, slamming down where he was but Luffy had already pulled himself up onto the mast above him 'You monkey!' Kreig sneers as he swings at the support

'Actually yes, yes I am' Luffy says with a grin taking the moment he was in the air to charge up an attack on the way down

Gum Gum Gattling

The barrage of punches all connect with Kreig's golden armour, but the man seems unimpressed even laughing when Luffy finally lands 'Was that supposed to impress me kid? This is wootz steel armour, practically indestructible'

Luffy flashes a grin 'Practically' he then charges straight for the golden bastard in a move that for anyone else would be both stupid and suicidal

Gum Gum Pistol

The clash sounded like a bell as both fighters stood stock still in silence, until one sound shocked everyone

crack

The so called invincible armour shattered like glass as Luffy bounced away, Kreig's large frame falling like a sack of bricks without the rubber pirate to hold him up

'Opps, I think I broke it, guess it's not so unbreakable after all' Luffy comments with his face in a thinking position (a rare sight given Luffy's fighting style and general, straightforward outlook on things), the cooks cheer while the Kreig pirates gap in horror at their leader defeated

'He, he actually won' Gin gasps

'Of course he did, he's the captain' Zoro smiles before devolving into a coughing fit, Kaya and Ginseng getting him to lie down again.

'Good work brat' Zeff grunts, a tiny smile flickers across his face as Luffy walks over to them, the boy's straw hat held in the cooks hands.

'Thanks old guy' Luffy flashes him a 'D' grin as he puts back on his signature hat

'NO! I AM THE GREATEST I CAN'T BE BEATEN I AM UNSTOPABLE!' everyone turns to the frantic yelling as Krieg stand up, his body moving but it was clear the lights were on but nobody was home. The empty shell of anger a pride stomped in the direction of the ship, constantly yelling about his greatness and his strength

'Ah crap' Luffy groans as he turns, nearly stumbling until Patty grabs the back of his shirt

'He's not even conscious'

'Don Kreig never give up'

The body of Kreig fnally reaches Baratie once more, but doesn't make another step before taking one more impact to the face 'I've had it with your arrogance young man, take a long nap'

'Boots stained red'

'With the blood of his enemies'

'Red Foot Zeff still lives'

Sanji, surprised by the declaration actually looks down and would you believe it: Zeff was standing there, his peg leg and his boot covering in blood from shattering Kreig's jaw and busting his nose just a few seconds ago 'I may be old, but I'm not infirm… yet' he says before turning to re-enter the restaurant as though nothing happened.

With Kreig finally down for the count Gin retook command rather easily, basically he just yelled 'Men, we're leaving' and they followed suit, anything to get away from the rubber boy and 'Red Foot'.

Later

'Alright everyone, soups on!' Patty yells at his usual ear-splitting volume and everyone came to the table, even Luffy Kaya and Zoro, the latter still under the watchful eyes of both doctors. The problem was they ran out of chairs so Sanji found himself sitting between the rubber food black hole and the sheepish doctor, not that he minded the second of those options. Well that was the first problem, then…

'Hey who prepared the soup?' Patty asks

'Oh that was me, it's pretty good isn't it' Sanji announces happily, even Luffy could see the joy he gets from cooking as well as actually being acknowledged for it

'You're kidding right, this slop should've been tossed overboard, I might never get the taste out of my mouth' the Popeye cook spits in Sanji's direction, the blond clenches his fists and grits his teeth

'There's nothing wrong with my soup, it's perfectly prepared as always' Sanji manages to get out in a semi calm tone, just before Carnie spits his mouthful of soup out

'Jeez Sanji, are you trying to kill us with this crap?'

After him came a full house of complaints about the food, all the while the Straw hats continued to eat and wonder what the Hell these guys were talking about, sure they had higher standards than Luffy, but that doesn't mean Sanji's food was bad.

The final straw came from Zeff, who actually finished his bowl… and promptly tossed it on the floor

'That soup tasted worse than bathwater, we'd be out of business in days if we searved that crap'

'You lying bastard!' Sanji yells grabbing Zeff by his collars 'What makes my soup any worse that the stuff you serve every day?'

Zeff sneers 'You think we're the same?' he then surprises Sanji by backhanding him, knocking him to the floor 'You're at least a century behind me in terms of skill. Don't flatter yourself' he then waves his hand in the direction of their pirate guests.

Kaya gently sipped the soup, her nose crinkles but she continues

'See' Zeff grunts 'Even the girl can't stand eating your swill' Sanji bites through his cigarette as he storms out

Luffy blinks 'This stuff is really good, what's wrong Kaya?'

The blond sighs 'It's delicious, but I've been eating simple and plain food for so long, I don't know how much of this lovely rich food I can handle'

Zoro, under orders from Kaya and Ginseng to take it easy, nods in agreement with the rubber boy 'If this is crap, I'll gladly eat crap from now on'

Luffy grins widely before turning to Zeff 'Hey chef guy, why'd you lie to Sanji about his food?'

Zeff sighs as he sits at the table 'That boy's the 2nd best cook on this boat, and seeing as the girl's the only one who won't burn water…'

'Hey!' Zoro yells angrily, while Luffy chuckles remembering Kaya and Kaos chasing him off after that incident (Don't ask, just chalk it up to the enigma that is Monkey D. Luffy)

'… I can set aside my pride long enough to say he has the potential to surpass me one day'

'Oh I get it, except why if he's so good you tell him his food is shit?'

'To get him to leave of course' Zeff answers 'The kid thinks he owes me so much that he can't go live his life. If you take the brat with you I'll be very grateful'

'Nope' Luffy says seriously

'WHAT?' Everyone yells

'I won't accept you throwing Sanji at me; he needs to want to go for me to bring him'

'Then it's a good thing I'm going to go' the blond announces from the doorway, Luffy's eyes shining

'Really?'

'Yeah you rubber bastard' he answers, rolling his eyes at the boy 'And you…' he turns to Zeff 'Was it really, really that hard to say my food was good? I mean I should've known these morons were lying with all that bad acting they were doing, but still'

Zeff hits him with his peg leg 'Don't get cocky eggplant, I said you had potential, you're still a shitty cook'

Before Sanji could retort there was a commotion outside, which turned out to be Yosaku and a fish

Big bro Luffy! We found her, we found where Big Sis Nami and Big Bro Kaos are' he yelled half excited, half fearful

'Really, where are they?'

Yosaku gulped 'Arlong Park'

TBC

LW: Well here we go, the Shark bastard is coming, or I suppose Luffy is coming for shark bastard's head.

Ginseng isn't a real character, I just made him up because every ship needs a doctor, Zeff should know this. So tada now he has one :D. He can thank me the next time he's in the story (not next chapter, though he is in the next chapter)

Yes when Zeff refers to Luffy's predecessor he means Roger, as he was there when Luffy declared his dream of being the Pirate King.