CHAPTER 2

The Sunny came close to the neighbor ship so the crew was able to come aboard. Their captain could not resist the smell and went ahead of them using his devil fruit powers. He swigged on board and made his way towards the fish, along the Pirate Empress zipped to his side as she accompanied the Strawhat captain.

Luffy came next to the giant fish and was about to serve himself, when Sanji called him off:"Luffy its not yet." Never one to deny his stomach Luffy whined "But i am hungry and its smells so good!" Sanji just camly pointed towards a table, with some fruits and bakery; behind him "There is food if you are really starving." Luffy pouted at that:"But I want meat!" Sanji calmly responded:"Then you can wait for it like everybody else." A small cloud formed above Luffy: "Meaaat." Hancock seeing Luffy so downtrodden turned to Sanji and raised her voice:"How dare you deny your captain my beloved food! You are on my boat you will give your captain meat now!" The glare she sent Sanji leveled many man to do her biding countless times.

The Strawhats had just come onboard and saw the exchange and were fully expecting Sanji to cave in to the demands of a beautiful woman. They were so that much more surprised when Sanjis response was "No he will wait for the meat to be done. Others on this boat have been waiting as well and even longer than him." Boa stunned that the man denied her, stepped towards him and was now looking down on him (she is taller then Sanji by about 3-4 inches) "You are on my ship and I am ordering you to you give Luffy the meat." A pressure started to be felt by those near the standoff. Usopp gulped as he felt a force pressuring down on him "Does anyone else feel a bit heavy right now?" Robin answered him "This feels like conquerors haki, very few people have it. Our captains was said to have used it in Marineford. Boa Hancock was also one of those very few said to have it."

Luffy stopped moping as he felt the pressure; he did not know Boa could use conquerors haki it was not as strong or forceful as his own but it was enough to make everyone on boat fell pressure. For civilians and rookie marine recruits it should be enough to put them down. He was about to stand up and try to calm the situation down. The reason for this was he saw the blank look on Sanjis face; he was not going to back down. The cook has changed in more way then just strength even someone like Luffy could see it. His senses alerted him the moment he first sensed Sanji today. This was not the normal lady serving cook, but someone a lot like an assassin one who was ready to put anyone down in a moment's notice. He just took a step towards the pair as his senses kicked it again, past the pair he saw Zoro also stiffen.

Sanji was looking straight at the slightly higher woman that was demanding him to give his uncooked food to Luffy. Normally that would not be a problem a problem, but the fish was not quite ready yet and more importantly the other members of the Amazon Lily were waiting longer then Luffy was. His instincts as cook would not allow him to pass people over like that. As started to feel the pressure of the woman standing in front of him, he knew that a confrontation was near. As he proceeded the thought in his mind, his mind also turned to man he has become too so readily be ready to fight a woman. He saw Luffy behind Boa getting ready to intervene. He was half of a mind to let Luffy settle this, but decided against it. The memories of the past 2 years came rushing to him. A promise he made to himself more than 1 year ago "What good is willingness if you do not act on it?".

With that in mind he let out a sigh and concentrated. In the back of his mind he felt it, the instinct he founded in the past 2 years, the drive to act, the instinct to fight without restraint. He let it out for the first time fully since perhaps his bout with that bastard Vergo. Like a river it flowed out of him and spread across the boat.

The effect was first felt by Boa as she was nearest. The Pirate empress was a little surprised nonchalance of the man in front of her as she unleashed her haki on him. It was not at same level as her beloved or the Yonko, but still always has had an effect on the recipient.

The man in front of her just took it fully and did not move an inch. As she saw him let loose a sigh she thought he was going to back down. But her instinct of danger kicked in at the same time. A red glint appeared in his one visible eye behind the sunglasses.

Then it came, it was not pressure that bellowed into opponents ad demanded their submission like haki it was like fog slowly roaming across the boat not forcing them to move but keeping them in place.

As the pressure started getting higher and higher and the air itself felt hotter, some started to sweat the least experienced of the Amazon lily crew were having trouble breathing. Not wanting to back down Boa unleashed her haki as high as she could. The pressure coming of her was now enough to start blowing the hair back of those nearest to her and even sending a few of her crewmates down on one knee. One the Gorgon sister stepped forward to try to calm down the Pirate Empress as the pressure was starting to effect more and more of the crewmates.

Sanji saw the effects he was having with his encounter on those around him. In his mind he knew that further action would probably bring the boat to destruction if not stopped. But backing down was not something he wanted to do. He took a step forward so he was now less than a foot away from Boa. A red glint that was just barely seen in his eyes till now, transformed into an electric current (Similar to The zone in Koruko no basuke), as he let everyone feel the full brunt of his Sakki.

The full brunt powers unleashed by the two, now was rocking the boat and effecting more than half of those on the boat. Even some the Strawhats were feeling the pressure especially from Sanji, whose Sakki made some of them gulp and sweat (Nami, Chopper and Usopp were most effected). Zoro was had just about had enough of this and put his hand on one swords as saw Luffy shake his head and make his move.

Luffy was now really shocked as he experienced the full power of his newly changed crewmate. Now he may be stupid or carefree in most areas but he knew a fair bit about fighting and strong people. From the moment he first met him he knew that Sanji was a strong person.

As their journey progressed he noticed two important things. First thing were his displays strength his was without a doubt the third strongest in his crew always at Zoro heels in terms of fighting capabilities and in terms of strategic capabilities probably the most capable of the crew. He also knew on other important thing, while Zoros and his goals we aimed at aiming at becoming stronger Sanjis were not. Because of that he grew slower than he and Zoro but was still not far behind them. As he gauged his power now he knew that was not the case anymore, Sanji has grown so strong he was not behind them anymore. He was now standing shoulder to shoulder with them. While he estimated he was still stronger than Sanji, between Sanji and Zoro the difference was now almost nothing. Still the fight that was almost happening now was not something he wanted. The step forward he made towards the pair was noticed by Sanji. Gave him a look and noticed his intention to finish the argument. A long look that seemed to study him for a moment, finally led to the cook closing his eyes and calming down the pressure.

With another step the cook was now past Boa and he continued his path. He was a step past Luffy as said:"Good to see you again Luffy. The fish is now done, enjoy but do leave some for the others as well." Luffy was quiet for a moment:" You have gotten stronger Sanji." As he looked back at Sanji, who finaly seemed to relax now more fully and a smirk reminding him of the old Sanji was now visible. "Well I am on the crew of the future pirate king I need to be strong to support my captain right?" seeing that Sanji was still the same, where it counted Luffy let out his normal full grin."Haha that's right."

He turned back to the others watching the interaction:"Ok! Let eat that fish I am starving!" The pressure on the boat was lifted with those words. Many of the Amazon lily crew started to help themselves to the fish. Boa Hancock stuck herself to Luffy again, but as she near her beloved again she still looked with corner of her eye at the man, who stood up to her moments ago. The level of the pressure was something she experienced very rarely especially Sakki. It was a skill that was almost impossible to learn and at that high level it was as rare as the conquerors haki.

The Strawhat crew was still in a bit of a shock. Usopp and Chopper were finally snapped out the stupor by Luffy who called them over to have some fish. Nami turned to Robin "I cannot believe that is Sanji. He acts like a completely different person. And that pressure, it felt like something was hunting me." Zoro chimed in "That was Sakki or killing intent. Every living being possesses it, but to draw it out like that it has to trained for a long time." As he was saying that he was still lookimg straight at the cook, who was now smoking some distance away from the others and looking at the sea. Nami was still not convinced "Trained or not, it still does not explain why Sanji change so much!" she was feeling agitated the man thought she knew like the back of her hand was now a mystery and a dangerous one at that.

Brook and Franky were not engaging in the conversation, between them they decided to let the matter settle itself. If Luffy still trusted Sanji, that is all that matters in the end. Robin saw the state of some her crewmates and based on her knowledge on the news relating to Sanji decided to act. "Maybe I should ask cook-san himself what happened for him to change."Not waiting for an answer she walked towards Sanji, who was still looking at the sea.

She was walked towards Sanji and out of the ear shot of her crewmates, she let out a sigh. "How is Koalas cooking improving? She did tell me she was going to practice more." The even voice of Sanji called out to her. Robin let out a small smile:"She is progressing well. Her cookies are getting better and better, Sabo is stuffing his mouth with them every day." A huff came as an answer "Considering who his brother is not a surprise."

Robin was now standing beside him as looked "The others are wondering what happened to you, for you to change that much?" another huff "You saw me two weeks ago I am not that different." Robin gave him a once over, as she did so she saw him focus his one visible eye on her. While the eye was still sharp and cold , she saw through it and the real man behind it. "I did see and spend almost 1 year with you and saw you change, the others did not." A puff of smoke came out his mouth "1 year huh? Was it really that long?" "Yes cook-san 1 year ago at the operation at Mary Geoise. You came in at just the right time and saved us. Thank for that again" Sanji just waved his hand at that "I heard thank you from Koala almost a hundred times. You do not need it to pile it on." Robin could not help but let out a small laugh:"We I think you did enjoy it a bit. Am I right cook-san?" as he flickered the now spend cigarette into the sea."Bah! In the end I am still a man. To protect woman is still a duty for me, but everything has a limit. That was something that you helped me realize Robin-san." At this Robin closed her eyes for a moment: "I just gave you advice nothing more than that cook-san." "No you gave me the advice I needed even if did not know it yet. I should be thanking more as well… Robin-chwan." Robin looked at Sanji that word, and saw a small smile. She smiled back at him

Both felt the eyes of some their crew watching them. "They will want to know more about the new you Sanji.""Bah. Let them guess a bit more. If they want to know more, they should ask." A small slap hit his shoulder "Cook-san it's not nice to torture your crewmates like that!" Robin scolded lightly with smile on her face. Sanji raised his hand as a surrender:"Alright alright. I will tell them in time. You even be there, you always did corrected me in reports." "Because you always said almost nothing in them." " Maybe I just wanted you to be there to correct me ?" an eyebrow was raised at that "Are sure you are not the same ladies man cook-san?" Sanji puffed his check a bit "Me? You know me better than that. Don't you Robin?" The question was followed by a long look from Sanji, which did put a real smile on Robins face " Yes I do Sanji-kun." Both of them silently turned towards the sea now standing shoulder watching the sea as memories of the past year went on in their minds.