Well shit, this has been a hectic few days for me so far. I apologize, but count on this being the only extra for this week. I've barely had any time to do any writing. On another topic though, we're really starting to rack up a good amount of reviews, and I can't thank you guys enough for that. I love reading every single one of them, especially the more detailed ones :D

Wealth, Fame, Power…

Chapter 25: Immovable Object Meets Rubber Man

Zoro's arms buckled as his blades blocked another heavy slam from Pearl's metal plates. Those things were definitely heavier than they looked, but it was still nothing he couldn't handle. The pirate hunter was so concentrated on defense at the moment, that he didn't even pay attention to the large man taunting him.

"What's wrong buddy? I thought you were some sort of big shot?"

The pirate hunter just ignored the comment and continued to fortify his block. This rush, I can feel it coursing through my veins! I needed this fight, I'm gonna cut this guy to pieces.

While Zoro slowly dealt with Pearl, the chefs and the Krieg Pirates were all going at it on the other end of the platform.

"Come here you damn crooks!" Patty cried out, grabbing the heads of two pirates and slamming them together. "Oh yeah! Patty's still got it!" He bragged, flexing his biceps and striking a pose. Although, in all honesty, there wasn't much muscle in those biceps. It was all in his forearms for some odd reason.

"Shut the hell up Patty. If you have time to gloat then you have time to fight, so don't let up!" Sanji complained as he delivered a powerful kick to a Krieg Pirate's neck, incapacitating him.

"Go to hell Sanji," Patty shrugged off, running to join the other chefs.

The blonde cook just shook his head and tried to forget about the idiot. After all, he had a more pressing matter to deal with at the moment, and it was seriously restricting his movement. "Damn it long nose, get off my leg! I need both of them to fight!"

After further inspection of the well dressed man, Usopp was indeed grasping onto his leg for dear life. Big surprise there. "Are you crazy!? I can't fight any of these monsters, I'll die!"

"Yeah well, you're a pirate. So figure it out!" Sanji shouted, raising the leg that the boy was holding onto and kicking an enemy in the ribs with it. None of his actual leg ended up touching his opponent though, it was all Usopp. "There you go, now you're being useful."

Falling to the ground in pain, Usopp just mumbled a soft complaint at the man. "Yeah, whatever. So is my debt paid now?"

Ignoring the boy, Sanji took advantage of his new mobility and jumped right into a pile of Krieg Pirates. Without hesitating, the blonde boy dropped to the floor and stood on his hands, beginning to spin rapidly.

Since this odd position did not look like any sort of attack, all of the enemies just stood and watched as his spinning picked up more and more speed. "What the hell is he doing?"

Before anyone could answer though, Sanji dropped both his legs into an upside down split. After that, pain ensued. With both his legs out, his spinning was dealing incredible damage to everything in its path. Successfully knocking out anyone who strayed into the range of the blonde's long legs.

Once he felt he was landing fewer attacks than before, Sanji ended his unorthodox technique and stood up, scanning the battlefield.

Luffy's green haired crewmate seemed to have his hands full with handling that huge shield bastard. On the other side of the platform, it looked like the chefs were driving away a lot of the underlings, forcing more of them into the ocean by the second.

Before he had a chance to finish his observation of the battlefield though, he felt a hand on his shoulder. When he turned to face the person who got his attention, the blonde saw Zeff smiling off into the horizon. "Tch, what are you smiling about? You damn geezer."

When his mentor didn't respond to his question, Sanji began to get irritated. "Seriously, what are you doing!? We're in the middle of a battle, you can't just zone out you old bastard!"

Without looking down at the sous chef, Zeff finally brought him in on what was so interesting. "We've got these guys on the ropes already, so I'm not worried."

Sanji gave him a quizzical look. "That still doesn't answer my-"

"And if you wanna know what I find so fascinating, then how about you watch what I'm watching."

At the suggestion, the blonde man followed the eyeline of his mentor, hoping to find out what was so special. And when his gaze landed on the giant galleon anchored in front of the restaurant, Sanji knew what Zeff was getting at.

On the deck of the enemy ship, Luffy was knocking Don Krieg around like a ragdoll. It was a super bizzare scenario to watch unfold, considering the size of the two fighters. It was like a giant against a dwarf. Sanji could do nothing but watch in sheer awe as the straw hat teen manhandled Krieg, throwing him against the railing of the vessel.

Not letting up on his assault, Luffy ran up and jumped at the man, cranking back his arm for a midair punch. But before Sanji could get too excited, he straightened his posture in shock. Krieg seemed to be ready for the rubber man's course of action, as he immediately pulled a spiked cape over himself.

What the hell is he gonna do!? He's already in midair! If he hits him now he'll-

The sous chef's thoughts were cut off by the loud sound of Luffy's fist connecting with the purple haired man's cheek, easily shattering it. In fact, the entire battlefield heard it, with everyone suddenly turning to look at what was going on.

Needless to say, they were all completely baffled to find Luffy's bloody fist embedded deeply into the metal spikes covering Don Krieg. And it was even more unexpected when the pirate admiral fell limp onto the floor.

Seeing their leader down for the count, the few remaining Krieg Pirates hastily jumped overboard and into the ocean, no longer having any motivation to fight. Much to the happiness of the Baratie chefs.

"What the hell was that!? Why did he still attack when he knew it was a trap?" Sanji asked out loud, not really expecting a response.

Either way, Zeff took it upon himself to answer the blonde's question, it had been a long time since he'd seen a guy like this. "That kid… He sure is something special. I'm just glad he's on our side."

Sanji turned curiously to the owner of the restaurant. "What do you mean?"

Zeff took a deep breath before speaking. Remembering all the times he had gone up against people like this. "That kid over there, I've had my eye on him all day, and he's got it in him.

Sanji's curiosity quickly turned into confusion. "He's got it in him? What are you talking about?"

"Even with who he's fighting, and how high the stakes are for him… He fights like he has nothing to lose, like he has no problem with throwing his life away for something he cares about."

Pausing for a moment, Zeff glanced down at Sanji. When he saw that the boy was waiting for more, he gladly continued. "Guys like that, they're a pain in the ass to go up against. You'll run into one of them every once in a while, and you can bet that they won't go down easily. When fighting guys like this straw hat kid, it's not about strength, it's about heart. Because believe me, people like him don't care about pain when things get tough."

Sanji gaped at his peg-legged mentor, opening his mouth to speak. But when he tried to respond, nothing would come out. He was completely lost for words. He knows all of that from just watching him?

The owner of the Baratie seemed to pick up on this because he brought up another topic to his protege, making it easier to prove his point. "Now tell me Sanji, how would you feel if you had to fight someone who was willing to die at any moment, someone who wouldn't be stopped by something as simple as pain."

Sanji stopped his gawking and brought his attention back to the galleon where the action was starting back up again. "Well, when you put it that way. I wouldn't like my odds…"

"C'mon, get up!" Luffy roared at the unmoving body of the pirate admiral in front of him. "Your dirty tricks aren't gonna work on me!" he continued, clenching away the pain in his bloody fist.

After a few more moments of laying on the deck of his ship, Kreig began to show signs of life at last. "Gah, you little brat. I'll squash you like a bug," he articulated softly, still not fully able to raise his voice.

"That's big talk for someone who looks half dead after one punch," Luffy said seriously. Staring the man down.

Getting to his feet slowly, the man grabbed his face in pain, glad that his jaw was at least still hinged. The disrespect of the boy, along with the aching of his face was boiling his anger to an all time high. "You really wanna die, don't you kid."

Taking a battle stance once more, Luffy didn't hesitate to bite back. "As if you could kill me."

"THAT'S IT!" Krieg shrieked at the top of his lungs, his fury completely pouring over as he pointed his fists forward, activating a mechanism in his special armor.

Luffy didn't even get the chance to be enticed with how cool the man's suit looked as guns appeared on his shoulders, his sides, and even his hands.

"Eat lead you brat!" Krieg yelled smugly, clearly not very informed about who he was dealing with.

Not being faced with any threat, Luffy simply reached up and pushed his hat back behind his neck. He didn't want it getting hit with a stray bullet after all. When the ammunition arrived at his location, it did what it always did when it hit his body. It went in and flew back out in random directions.

As some of his bullets returned to him, hitting his wootz steel armor harmlessly, Krieg gritted his teeth in frustration. "Hmph, I was wondering how you could do all that stretchy crap before. You didnt happen to eat one of those legendary devil fruits, did you?"

When the purple haired man was met with only silence, he continued his questioning. "I'll take that as a yes. So what are you made of? Mochi or something?"

"Rubber."

Krieg smiled at the boy's remark. He wasn't expecting him to answer at all, but it was good news indeed. "I see, then I'm in luck, because I have just the way to hurt you."

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Luffy prepared himself for what was to come. If this guy could really back up his claims, he was ready to see him pull out a blade of some sort.

But that was not what Krieg did. Instead, the pirate admiral brought a hand up to one of his circular shoulderpads and dislodged it from it's position on his armor.

The rubber man's glare faltered a bit as he watched Krieg attach the golden plate to the gauntlet on his hand. With his eyebrows knitting together in confusion, the teen was about to ask what the weird looking weapon was, but his enemy beat him to it.

"Needle machine gun!" He yelled out, pulling the trigger and watching as golden spikes flew at his rubbery opponent.

Rather than being alarmed by the threat approaching him, Luffy dropped his guard completely. Even going as far as to leave his fighting stance. With many of the spikes hitting the teen right on the mark, Don Krieg grinned smugly again. It would only be a matter of time now before the boy fell.

Once he felt that it was enough, the pirate admiral ceased his shooting. He had ammo to think about too after all, and that stuff wasn't cheap.

Lowering his arm from it's firing position, Krieg was ready to gloat some more, thinking up the snappiest one-liner he could come up with. "Hah! You like your new holes ki-"

The purple haired man however, was unable to finish his sentence. The reason for this being the fact that Luffy was still standing proud and upright at the other end of the ship, glaring him down. It was absolutely unexplainable too, as there were at least ten metal spikes lodged in several different places on his body.

Before Krieg even thought of speaking again, Luffy was already starting his response. "When you said you had a way to hurt me, I thought you were gonna stop messing around and fight me like a man."

When the pirate admiral didn't respond out of sheer shock, Luffy continued his point. "But this!?" He shouted, reaching for a spike deeply buried in his shoulder. "This is all fake! You can't kill me with this crap!" The teen finished as he violently ripped the spike from his flesh.

The armor wearing pirate couldn't comprehend what he was seeing. This little brat was standing there yanking out all of the spikes from his body. He even had to stop himself from wincing at some of the sounds that the long needles made as he watched the boy pull them out.

While Don Krieg was still speechless, Luffy took the opportunity to poke at the man. "For how people talk about you, I never expected you'd be such a coward."

Finding his voice at last, Krieg responded loudly to the boy's insults. And it didn't take a genius to know that he was not happy. "HOW DARE YOU! YOU LITTLE BR-"

Sending out his left arm at his opponent, Luffy interrupted him for the second time that day, also sending his right arm straight back in the process. "Gum gum."

With his anger temporarily thrown to the side, Krieg widened his eyes as the rubber arm approaching him coiled around his neck, wrapping around it firmly. "W-what the h-hell?"

Once the straw hat teen had his left arm snuggly around Krieg's neck, he waited for his right arm to finish stretching backwards. Making a fist with it once it was done.

With his mouth curving upwards in excitement, Luffy applied force to both of his arms. Effectively pulling Don Krieg towards him at an incredible speed, while simultaneously letting loose his right fist. "Roped Pistol!"

The pirate admiral was completely helpless as he was pulled towards the teen rapidly. Closing his eyes, he awaited the devastating blow that was surely about to connect with his dashing face. What the hell am I gonna do!? If I take another shot to the head, I'm done for!

Luckily for him though, Luffy's intended target was never his face to begin with. As the purple haired man and the rubber fist connected with full force, Kreig quickly found out where the teen was aiming.

Still being held up by the neck, Don Krieg had the wind knocked out of him like he never had before. The obvious reason behind this was the fist buried in his wootz steel armor. It seemed as though Luffy's punch had been catastrophic enough to leave a sizable dent in the chestplate.

Looking up at the pirate admiral as he struggled for air, Luffy was impressed by the strength of the metal. "Wow, that sure is some strong stuff. But it won't last much longer!" He yelled as he swung his left arm behind him, letting go of the man's neck and sending him hurtling to the other side of the ship.

Being sent flying across his own vessel was downright humiliating for the armor wearing pirate. Unfortunately, he couldn't do anything about it at the moment, seeing as he was doing his best not to throw up what he had just eaten earlier.

Without getting anymore time to think to himself, Krieg suddenly and painfully crashed back first into the main mast of the Dreadnaught Sabre. Not being comforted at all by the loud crack he heard as soon as he landed.

Seeing the man fall to the floor, Luffy didn't hesitate to run at him again, ready for a follow-up attack. As soon he started his trek through, he ended it, because something unbelievable caught his eye. He must have underestimated how hard he threw his opponent, because all of a sudden, the huge mast he sent the man into was beginning to tip over.

Zoro grunted as he was forced to block another one of Pearl's heavy attacks. In his defense though, he was pretty sure a few of his ribs were broken from being struck earlier by his opponent.

Not only was all this blocking getting really old, but it was also surprisingly tiring. This was not just the case for the swordsman however, as it was becoming very apparent that the plated fighter was tuckering out as well.

Smiling wickedly, the pirate hunter jumped back. Giving himself some space in order to make his move. His opponent's movements were beginning to become sluggish, now all he had to do was find an opening.

"W-where… Where do y-you think you're going?" Pearl panted, making a careless move and lunging for the swordsman.

Zoro instantly noticed the error with his sharp senses and prepared to capitalize. "Now I've got you! Three sword style," he began as he positioned the two blades in his hands up and behind the one in his mouth. "Tiger Tr-"

"INCOMING!"

The pirate hunter's head shot up the second the warning from one of the cooks reached his ears. And just in time too, because his vision was met with a giant wooden pole falling right in his direction.

Without thinking about it any longer, Zoro dove for the other side of the platform where everyone else was, getting out of the danger zone just in the nick of time.

But the same could not be said for his much larger opponent, who was simply too tired to move any further. Against all odds though, the man did not seem to be frightened in the slightest. In fact, he seemed quite confident. So confident in fact that he stood proudly as the huge mast fell closer and closer. "Hah! There is nothing in this world that can break my armor! It is second only to the incredible wootz steel of the mighty Admiral Krieg!"

Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, Zeff and all the other chefs watched the awkward scene with deadpanned looks on their faces. Didn't this moron know that the strength of his armor wasn't gonna matter.

As Pearl continued to laugh his heart out, the wooden pole came down onto him with its full weight, along with the momentum from the fall.

Needless to say, the man's neck snapped like a twig the moment the lumber came into contact with his helmet, killing him instantly…

The swordsman watched in annoyance as his opponent was buried under the mast of the enemy ship, he only knew one person to blame for costing him some action again. "Damn it Luffy! I almost had him!"

"Woohoo! Great job Luffy! Now there's no more threats over here!" Usopp cheered in counter to his crewmate.

While Zoro shot Usopp one of his best death glares, Sanji was watching them in slight amusement. These guys have got to be the weirdest pirate crew I've ever seen.

Right as the staring contest between the two Straw Hat Pirates was reaching its peak, some splashing could be heard from the edge of the Baratie's platform. It sounded like it was about to surface from the ocean too.

Shooting up from the confines of the water in great haste was none other than Gin, and he wasn't looking too good. Doing his best to climb aboard the platform, the man coughed up a great deal of water before going limp for a few seconds.

"Gin?" Sanji asked dumbfounded for what felt like the millionth time that day.

Hearing his name being called, Gin raised his face just in time to see his blonde friend come running to his side. What he didn't expect though was the giant gasp that escaped the blonde boy's mouth. Already knowing what the reason behind it was, Gin asked him a simple question. "Is it bad?"

Sanji was planning on answering the question, but he had a feeling that the look on his face already said it all.

Right there, on the left side of the pirate commander's face, was the most amount of swelling the sous chef had ever seen. It was so bad, that Gin's entire left eye couldn't even be seen. The place where Luffy had punched him was a deep and gross purple, and it had swollen up to the size of a baseball. It was incredible the man wasn't crying on the floor like a baby right now, especially with the salt water touching it.

"Where's Don Krieg?"

Remembering that this man was an enemy, Sanji stood up from his side and pointed to the galleon across from them.

Following the cook's finger, Gin's eyes widened when they landed on a scene he never thought he would ever see. That straw hat kid from earlier was approaching his captain, who was currently wallowing on the ground in pain. "No! That can't be! The Don is invincible! I have to go help him!" He strained, beginning to try to pry himself off of his stomach.

And he would have been successful eventually if it weren't for Sanji's foot coming down hard onto his back, holding him in place. "Yeah, thats cute and all, but it's not gonna happen. As much as I like you Gin, I'm not letting you take this restaurant either."

"How dare you!" The pirate commander yelled as he punched the deck. "I offered you everything! And now you're just gonna spit in my face like this!?"

Keeping a completely neutral face, Sanji lit up another cigarette and turned his attention back to Luffy and Krieg. "You know, you guys have a pretty funny way of offering someone friendship. What kind of idiots try to take something from the person they're trying to get in good with?"

Gin just growled lowly, joining the blonde in watching the fight continue.

Don Krieg was hyperventilating at this point. He could see the boy approaching out of the corner of his eye, and he hadn't even caught his breath yet! In a desperate attempt to stand up, the armor-wearing pirate pushed with his legs as hard as he could, but it was no use. He only ended up falling on his ass again, throwing his head back against the stump that was left by the broken mast.

Staring the straw hat teen down with hatred in his eyes, Don Krieg smiled as a plan made its way into his head. Reaching back behind his chestplate, he pulled out what looked to be a gas mask, bringing it forward to get a better look at it. But what was supposed to be his bright idea instead turned into another dead end as he inspected the broken object in his hands. Damn! The mask must've gotten destroyed when I hit the mast! Now I can't even use MH5! If I don't think of something fast, this little brat is gonna eat me for breakfast!

Alright, I don't know about you guys, but in my opinion, I think that the fight against Don Kreig would have been way more one-sided in canon if Luffy was on solid ground and not in danger of drowning constantly. That's just me though, let me know what you guys think. On another note, concerning Sanji and his black leg style, I'm gonna write it a little bit differently than all the other crewmates. Sanji's moves involve a lot of combos and they can become hard to track very easily, so I'm only gonna have him call out his big moves. So pretty much opposite to someone like Zoro, who calls out every single one of his attacks. I hope that's not too confusing, but you'll see what I mean later on. See ya Sunday!