Ch. 37- Sanji's Broken Dream
One Piece © Oda
Blizzard © Me
Absalom began to sit up as he regained consciousness.
"You say," said Absalom, "that we have another thing in common?"
"Oh, yeah," answered Sanji. "You're the despicable man who took one of my childhood dreams!"
Absalom began to stagger to his feet.
"Grr~!" Absalom growled, beastly. "I don't remember ever doing something like that. You must be mistaking me with someone else. This is the first time you and I have met, am I right?" He raised his arms. "I'll blow you away…with my Hands of the Dead!"
"Why don't you take those off!" Sanji demanded.
"Huh?" Absalom questioned.
"I said take those bazookas you're hiding off your arms," Sanji said.
Absalom's eyes widened in shock.
"W-what are you-" he was about to ask, but Sanji cut him off.
"You don't get what I'm saying here, do you?" the cook asked. "If Nami gets hurt because of your recklessness, I'll beat you to an unrecognizable pulp!"
Absalom narrowed his eyes, growling.
There's no way that he knows… he thought to himself before…
KABAM! He made another explosion with his hands. However, Sanji had disappeared from sight. The raging cook then reappeared over Absalom.
"I said," he started, "to TAKE THEM OFF!"
WHAP! Sanji kicked Absalom in his left arm. As he did, something fell to the floor with a Clack!
It was a bazooka.
Absalom had bazookas strapped to his arms. That was how he was able to seemingly make things explode around him.
The zombies gasped at the sight of the firearm that suddenly appeared.
Sanji took another drag from his cigarette and blew out a puff of smoke.
"So," he said. "These are your so-called 'Hands of the Dead', eh? Ha! What a joke. Aside from making yourself disappear, the things you touch can also be turned invisible. That is the power of the Clear-Clear Devil Fruit! I know everything your capable of doing."
Absalom growled in frustration and surprise.
"But how…?" Absalom whispered to himself, questioningly. "How could you have known? Who the hell are you?"
"Has this guy actually seen Master Absalom before?" asked one zombie.
"What possible relation could they have?" asked the zombie preacher.
"When I was a boy," Sanji began, "I read an illustrated book about Devil Fruits. I wasn't really all that gung-ho about all the crap about the sea's curse to begin with, but then…there was this one particular fruit that got me motivated. If, by chance, I happened to find this fruit sometime in my life, even if it meant that I would throw away my ability to swim, I would give anything just to get one bite of that fruit! In this, there's one Devil Fruit of each kind. If I happened to see a man with that ability…then that meant that my dream would've been broken. You see, now? Just once, I wanted to be an invisible man, like you! You, the man who ate the Clear-Clear Fruit, have BROKEN ONE OF MY DREAMS!"
Sanji exploded with more flames of fury.
"He's really mad, now!" the zombies exclaimed.
"I chased my dream," Sanji continued. "If I did eat the Clear-Clear Fruit, I would've been able to peep on girl- I mean, do the impossible. To peep on girl- I mean, try to help people in more ways than one!"
"His ideas of using the fruit are just for looking at naked girls!" the zombies exclaimed.
"QUIET!" Sanji roared. "I know, now, what the Clear-Clear Fruit can do! Because you had to go and drag my dear, sweet, innocent Nami into this…I will NEVER forgive you! GET READY TO DIE~!"
Absalom suddenly stood up, angered by Sanji's words.
"You think that that's what we have in common?" Absalom roared. "You're just spouting a bunch of illogical nonsense, you perverted chain-smoker!"
"He's right," the zombies agreed with a nod.
WHAP! Sanji laid a sideways kick to Absalom's face.
"YOU SHOULD TALK!" he roared.
"HE'S RIGHT, TOO!" The zombies announced. "SAME GOES FOR THE BOTH OF THEM!"
The force of Sanji's kick ended up throwing Absalom into a wall. As he did, the latter's coat fell off.
"Very well," Absalom said as he stood. "I shall, in turn, return this stupid grudge back to you!"
Once Absalom stood, the upper half of his body was now revealed. He had various parts stitched on his body, such as skin and muscle fibers. It was like something out of a monster film.
"Grr~!" Absalom growled. "Not only do I have the jaws of the mighty lion, but my body is made of the tough skin of a rogue elephant and the 300kg muscular strength of a grizzly bear and a powerful gorilla! This body, combined with the power of the Clear-Clear Fruit is the ultimate in wild, state-of-the-art strength!"
BAP! Sanji brought his heel down on the back of Absalom's head.
"IT DOESN'T CHANGE THE FACT THAT YOU STILL PEEPED AT NAMI!" he roared.
Absalom staggered as he held his head, seething in pain.
Damn it all…! he cursed in thought. He's pulverizing my body as if it were a regular human body…no matter. I will have the last laugh!
With that, Absalom turned himself invisible, yet again.
Sanji gasped. He had just used the last of his salt balls on Absalom. Now, he didn't know where he was going to strike from or when.
Absalom snickered from somewhere in the room.
"Why don't you have a taste of the ability that you wished to have," Absalom said. "I will turn that girl into my bride, where you like it or not. That seems to be your greatest defeat."
Sanji growled. He remembered how Usopp said that they couldn't find Nami once she was turned invisible. He quickly made a mad dash for her and then picked her up, bridal style.
"You say you're going to make Nami invisibly, are you?" Sanji yelled, questioningly. "Well, just try it while I'm here!"
"Grr~!" Absalom growled. "It's no use…I'll show you the true power of the beast man!"
A pause came. Sanji looked around, listening, waiting for Absalom to attack when…
POW! Sanji suddenly took a hit to the jaw, causing a bit of blood to seep from his lips.
In a last ditch effort to save Nami from Absalom, Sanji raised the unconscious navigator above himself.
"Oh!" Absalom said. "So you plan on sacrificing yourself for her sake, do you? Ha-ha! Very well, then. Just try and see if you can protect her! Hand of the Beast-Man!"
BAP! Absalom punched Sanji in the ribs.
"Foot of the Beast-Man!"
POW! Sanji took a hit to his right.
BAP! THWACK! BIFF! POW! BAM! Sanji was getting beaten all over by Absalom, and yet despite his pain, he still held Nami up high, refusing to let the invisible beast-man get his clutches on her.
"You better not drop her," Absalom warned, mockingly.
Just then, something glinted behind Sanji, but before he had time to react…
STAB!
Sanji felt a great pain going through his shoulder, where a knife had been plunged. He dropped to his knees, thus causing him to drop Nami. The orange-haired navigator fell to the floor and rolled along the ground, still sleeping.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha!" laughed Absalom from wherever he was. "I knew you couldn't protect her."
KOFF! SPLAT! Sanji balled his hands into fists as he coughed up blood.
"Forgive me, Nami," Sanji said, weakly. "I just couldn't stand the sight of my blood staining that beautiful white dress."
Tmp! Tmp! Tmp! Absalom's footsteps were heard as he began to approach Nami from wherever he was.
"You sure do like sneaking around," Sanji said. "Don't you, invisible guy? Forget it. I don't care about that dream anymore. I don't want to be invisible, anymore! I'll just…peep at girls on my own."
"YOU'RE STILL SO PERVERTED!" cried a zombie.
Tmp! Tmp! Tmp! Splish! As he was walking, Absalom suddenly stepped into a small puddle of Sanji's blood.
GRAB! Sanji grabbed Absalom by his heel without even looking!
"What…?" Absalom muttered questioningly, struggling to get out of Sanji's grasp. "Let me go!"
"Like hell, I will," hissed Sanji. "Since you're made of a variety of animal parts…you'll make delectable minced meat."
"Shut up! Grr~!" Absalom growled as he still struggled. "Let go of me, right now!"
SKISH! Sanji, with some effort, pulled the knife out of his shoulder and then threw it to the floor. Then he jumped up, feet preparing to kick the living daylights out of Absalom.
"Like I said," Sanji hissed, again. "Welcome to Hell."
BA-BAP-BAP-BAP-BAP-BAP-BAP! Sanji let loose with a flurry of rapid-fire kicks, just like Luffy's Gum Gum Gatling attack.
"Extra HACHE!" Sanji roared as he pulverized Absalom's body, which was still invisible before KAPOW! He kicked the beast-man so hard, that he crashed into a wall, leaving an imprint of his body.
"MASTER ABSALOM!" the zombies cried.
Sanji landed lightly on his feet before he took another drag of his cigarette and let out another puff of smoke.
In a battle of perverted men, Sanji, the Eternal Knight of Love…had emerged the victor.
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