Strongest man on the world

by Bluewr

Few know which are the strongest Devil Fruits, and even among these few, the consensus of which is the strongest of all is non-existent. But everyone agrees that a fruit depends much more on its user's potential than on its own power. And what happens when someone with immense potential gets a fruit with as much potential as he does? Luffy happens.

5. Baratie

Hello once again for a new chapter, this time covering the whole Baratie Arc, with some noticeable changes. It's also the first time there is gonna be ocs in the fic, but will not be the last. I mainly put ocs here to get some minimum experience. And also, this is gonna be the biggest one yet.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, if I did, Mihawk wouldn't even use blades against Zoro, just to mess with him

---

It's been a few days since they left Syrup Village.

"Hey Tral, are you sure we're not ready for the Grand Line yet?"

He complained as he finished roasting the meat that would be their lunch.

"No, and that's exactly why."

The surgeon says pointing to meat.

"Hey! Do you have a problem with my barbecue?"

"It's not the meat! It's the type food. I am a doctor so listen to me! You can't survive on that alone, we need a balanced diet. I can even do a diagnosis and tell you what the best diet is for each one of us, but I can't cook beyond the basics, and neither can you."

Hearing it like this, even Luffy had to agree with him.

"He's right." Nami says with her arms crossed.

"Yeah, he probably has."

Bonney nods as she rips off a gigantic piece of meat.

"And what can we do about it?" Zoro asks before taking a bite. It was not bad, but it was not something he wanted to keep eating for the whole journey.

"We're going to need a good cook, but where do we find one? It's not like a first-class one will team up with random pirates." Usopp says while putting some pepper on his plate.

What the shooter said reminded Law of an rumor he heard every once in a while.

"I heard about a restaurant where cooks are as dangerous as pirates, and they say their food is some of the best on the four seas."

"Ooooohhhhh." Luffy, Bonney and Usopp exclaim in amazement.

"Baratie right? I've heard about it too." Nami comments, she also couldn't but smile at the other three reaction.

Luffy puts all of the food in his mouth and swallows at once.

"So it's decided! Let's go to Baratie and recruit a cook! Where is this place?"

He looks at the redhead and the tattooed one, but both shrugs. Having just heard the rumors, they weren't much help to locate the place.

"Looks like it's going to have to be one thing at a time", Usopp says as he gets up from the table and walks out of the kitchen onto the deck. "and Luffy. It's ready."

The captain's face is filled with happiness as he jumps out of the kitchen. Outside, on the deck, beside some paint cans, was what would forever represent the crew's pride as pirates. The Jolly Roger.

It was a skull, with cross bones in the shape of an X, and just like the captain wore a characteristic straw hat.

"It looks amazing Usopp!" Luffy exclaimed, almost jupping from happiness

"Whoa! Good job, I don't think it could be better!" Bonney also praises the brunette efforts.

"Haha! If you say so."

Usopp scratched his nose as he tried to look like he didn't mind the compliments.

"Very well! Let's set sail!"

Luffy says jumping onto the deck. Law and Zoro are also going, only Nami is watching from above.

"Leave it captain."

The two swordsmen remove the old candle and raise the new one. Now the Going Merry proudly carried the symbol of the future King of Pirates.

"Fine. Now we just need to get a cook and go straight to the Grand Line!" The dark-haired says excited.

"ROAR!" Ucy also seems to agree with his master.

Luffy barely could wait. Maybe on the Grand Line the true potential of his fruit can be used.

The redhead watched everyone conflicted. She still tried to stay away from the group, though she didn't realize she had already entered. Deep down she wanted to join them, she wanted to see the sea and travel with them. But no, she had her goal. She'd killed, robbed, betrayed and did worst to just stop now. She needs to continue.

While full of anticipation or anxiety they pass in front of a rock formation in the middle of the ocean. It wouldn't be a big deal if it weren't for the presence of four people looking intently at the ship. One of them was pale, drooping, with cuts on his lips, in a cold sweat. He was barely conscious. The other three, despite being concerned, still paid attention to the pirates.

"What's up? It's really them?"

"For sure. Who would have thought brother Zoro would turn into a pirate."

"Do we have a chance against them?"

"We don't have a choice... if everything goes wrong we can try to appeal to them to save Yosaku. Cain!"

The one called gets up with chains tied around his arm. He swings them back and forth with speed and throws them towards the ship. At the end of the chain there is a claw, the chain loops around one of the small protection columns and hangs there.

"Kada!"

Answering the call, the pirate hunter grabs her friend's foot and throws him with impressive force. He goes flying and, in midair with his other arm, he releases chains that were around his waist and sends them to the other two. Kada grabs the chain and holds the third hunter in her left arm. She jumps and the chains redirect them straight to the Merry, then Cain reaffirms with how much strenght they are holding the chain attached to the ship and using it propels himself straight to the Merry.

Of course, all this act wouldn't go unnoticed by the Straw Hats. And there was one big flaw in all this stunt. Usopp simply went where the chain was and untied it.

Cain suddenly lost his footing as he pushed off balance and headed straight for the sea. He loosened the other chain so at least Kada and Johnny could make it to the ship, and they really would if it was another crew.

In no hurry the pirates watched what they considered an elaborate circus act. Zoro had his hands on his chin wondering why those people seemed similar to him.

"They must be bounty hunters." Law comments unimpressed.

"It makes sense. We are worth a lot of money." Luffy says smiling, proud for the price on his head.

"Zoro, don't get involved. From now on I'm going to beat so hard anyone who tries to mess with us that the navy will make my bounty greater than yours." Bonney speaks to the swordsman as she snapped her fingers.

"Hoo. And who said you'll get that opportunity. I'll cut all these idiots out first." He answers with a chalenging smile.

"That's what we'll see."

"I also need to do something soon if I want a reward." Law murmurs try to think of something that would make the navy put a big bounty on his head. Of course, if they knew what fruit he had they would put one immediately for him, but the surgeon wasn't feeling like letting them know just yet.

"When will I get mine?" Usopp wonders with a silly smile.

The red-headed thief only sighs at those she considers lost cases that should be sent to the asylum.

"And what do we do with them anyway?"

The entire conversation took place while the hunters were still falling. Luffy and Bonney stand side by side and face each other, then they shrug. When the two hunters were a few meters from the deck, the pinkette and the dark-haired jumped up and kicked their backs sending them straight to the sea, still having an effect similar to when throwing a rock into a lake. The two face each other and clap their hands in celebration.

"That was a fun pass-time, but we need to find out where that Baratie thing is." Zoro comments.

"WAIT PIRATES!"

Climbing up the side of the ship, the chained one appeared. He was a dark-skinned man with brown hair, muscular, with a tattoo of chains on his left arm. He wore a tank top and a denim jacket on top. He also wore jean shorts and chains tied around his waist and arms. Zoro opens his mouth saying: "Aaaaahhh!" as if it had remembered something after seeing it.

"Cain?"

"Zoro-bro..."

He seems to be torn between maintaining his fighting pose and asking for help, but opts for the latter. He kneels down in front of the swordsman.

"ZORO-BRO PLEASE HELP US!"

"Do you know him Zoro?" The captain asks his first-mate.

"Yes, from the time I was a pirate hunter. I suppose those were Kada and Johnny or Yosaku."

At that moment the other two also manage to climb the ship.

"PIRATES SURR- Hmm?" They stop in the middle seeing their friend in his knees.

"Where is Yosaku?"

With the mention of the fourth one by the swordsman, the three almost start to cry.

"ZORO-BRO!"

...

After taking the fourth hunter from the rocky island they put him in the Merry, where Law diagnosed him with scurvy. They gave him some vitamin C and Law treated him. An hour later he felt healthy again, despite the doctor's insistence that he stop being an idiot, and to stop moving. So at the moment he is lying down treating himself while the others are sitting in a circle talking.

"I have to say it was a real surprise when we saw your reward for becoming a pirate, Zoro-bro."

Kada was a two-meters-tall woman with beige hair. She wore a red blouse, gold and silver chains, and jeans with a yellow skirt over them. On her back was an ax that looked as big as she was.

"A few things happened", he remembers how he was blackmailed into joining the crew and then how Luffy was stabbed in the hand for him, "and I realized that there is someone who is deserving of my loyalty."

Luffy smiles at the swordsman's not-so-indirect compliments.

"And who are you that turned a pirate hunter into a pirate?" She asks the straw-hat.

"Monkey D. Luffy, future Pirate King!"

The others had heard it thousands of times already, but the hunters had their jaws dropped.

"I see... it really is a dream that matches Zoro-bro's, Luffy-bro."

"Shishishi, isn't it?"

"And what are you guys doing right now?" Johnny asks, joining the conversation. He imagined they would be doing something like going after the man that Zoro wants to defeat, or things of this similiarity.

"We wanted to go to Baratie, we need a cook to go to the Grand Line." Law answers.

"Huh? The Baratie? We know where it is." Cain says scratching the side of his head.

"Really?"

All the straw-hats aske at the same time. The hunters got a little frighted, before nodding in agreement.

"We've been there some few times, it's an interesting place. So, you guys want a cook?" Kada says, rubbing her chin.

"Yeah, we kinda need one if we want to go to the Pirate's Graveyard." Bonney says with an ironic smile.

The one with the ax nods.

"This probably won't be easy since the cooks over there are kind of crazy. We can only wish you luck."

"Zoro-bro, if you go to Baratie coff coff I... I heard some rumors. I heard the guy you're looking for goes there." Yosaku said, still laying down.

The greenish swordsman stops completely while his pupils are as thin as a pin.

"The guy you're looking for?"

The captain asks turning to his first mate.

"Dracule Mihawk, Hawk Eyes. The greatest swordsman in the world... it is only by defeating him that I will be able to fulfill my dream."

His voice trembled and his excitement was obvious to everyone.

"YOSHI! It's decided! We're going to Baratie to find a cook and this Hawkeye guy.

Zoro knew that his captain would support him, but he was still overjoyed to hear that.

"Leave it to us Luffy-bro. It's straight from here to Baratie!" Johnny proclams, pointing to some direction on the ocean.

"Let's get a cook!" Bonney says, already imagining eating hand made pizza everyday.

'Mihawk huh... As far as I know he is shichibukai as well as Doflamingo. This could be a good opportunity.'

Luffy maneuvered the ship and with goals in mind they went straight to the restaurant at the sea.

"Luffy-bro, Nami-sis. At any moment we will be able to see the restaurant!"

The fourth hunter, now much better, said excitedly. To prove him right they soon see the differentest ship they have ever seen. If it were just the structure it would look like a normal restaurant with three floors, but the front and back masts along with the fish head at the front and the "tail" at the back demonstrate that it really was something unique in the world.

"A restaurant on the high seas isn't something you see every day." Usopp says looking at it with his monocule.

"Yes. They say the owner is an ex-pirate and that he's the best cook in the East Blue, and maybe the four seas." Kada says, barely waiting to eat that delicious food again.

"Will he join us?" Luffy wonders.

The one with the ax looks at him a little surprised, not yet used to how spontaneous the the straw hat is.

"Ha! I very much doubt it. But don't worry, the other cooks are just as damn good as the chef and they cook really well too. You just have to find someone crazy enough to join you."

"Because I feel like this isn't going to be that hard."

Bonney comments rubbing her right hand on her chin.

"Luffy, I think we should pay attention to that over there."

Zoro says pointing to a navy ship that is next to them. On the deck some officers and a man with pink hair, dark skin and clothes of a higher rank than the others, although they looked disheveled at the moment, watched them.

"We confirm that these are the Straw Hats, Captain Fullbody!"

The superior gives a yawn, kiss marks are visable on his neck. Using the navy ship to go out on a date it wasn't an action befitting a high-ranking officer, but the soldiers were aware that they shouldn't complain.

"Those newbies that are scaring everyone? Let me talk to them."

One of the soldiers pass a megaphone to him.

"Attention pirates, the great Captain Fullbody is speaking!"

"Do you know him?"

Luffy asks the crew doctor.

"Never heard of."

The hunters however seem more in alert.

"W- Wait, what are these hunters doing there?"

The group looks at the four curious.

"When we take pirates to get our rewards, we find this guy every now and then. He might be a little too much to face right now." Johnny explains to the group.

"Really? He looks so weak." Zoro says surprised.

The conversation hasn't escaped the marine's ears, and added to how uncaring they look like, a vein appears on the captain's forehead as he grits his teeth.

"Fuck, I don't get paid enough for this!"

'Yes, you...', was what all the soldiers thought.

"I'm on vacation so I'll skip all the crap. Blow up the ship."

He throws the megaphone somewhere for someone to pick up. At the same moment a woman's arms come out of one of the doors and pull him with a sly voice into the living room.

"Grrrrrr."

The pet tiger, that the navy also considered a weapon was a little irritated, by the lack of respect the navy captain treated them with.

"Can he do that?" Usopp asks pointing to the marine ship.

"Blow us up? We are pirates." Bonney answers shruging.

"No, not this part. The part where he is obviously using navy resources to go on vacation with a "companion"."

The pinkette shrugs once more. It's not like this was the worst she's ever seen the navy do, it was actually pretty mild.

"And the cannons?" Nami asks, wondering would answer the attack with them, or with their devil fruit powers.

"YES! HOW YOU CAN BE SO CALM? THERE'S A CANNON AIMED AT US AND THIS SHIP DOESN'T LOOK LIKE IT'S HOLDING IT UP!" Cain screams, he looked like he was ready to jump on the ocean.

The other three seem to share your friend's anxiety.

"Relax, Luffy can handle it." Zoro says with no worries.

As they aim and load the cannon towards Merry, Luffy stretches back and forth in a warm-up. The soldiers are confused but follow the order and shoot. With the greatest calm in the world, Luffy raises his right arm, opens his palm where a scar is visible.

"Black Hole."

With its gravitational attraction the cannonball, that was supposed to go straight to the ship, made a detour and was absorbed by something, which for the soldiers, resembled a dark smoke in the shape of a whirlpool.

Aside from those who are already used to the power of the Yami Yami no Mi, everyone's jaw dropped. And as if that wasn't enough Luffy still smirked, lowered his hand a little, aiming at the lowest part of the enemy ship.

"Liberation."

As quickly as it was released, in fact maybe even faster, the cannonbal exited the dark smoke from the boy's hand, destroying the bottom of the ship. The soldiers start to scream in despair when the ship loses its balance and starts to sink. Fullbody, taken completely by surprise by the impact, walked out of the room with a few kiss marks on her body, messy hair, no shirt and unbuttoned pants. Bonney doesn't fail to notice that Luffy is much more muscular than he is.

The Straw Hats continue their journey while desperate sailors jump into the sea trying to survive.

The hunters don't have time to recover from the shock because in a few minutes they arrive at the so-called restaurant.

"Nami, drop the anchor."

Luffy says, however, without getting an answer.

"Nami?"

He looks at the redhead and sees her staring at a sheet that looks like a wanted poster.

"Huh? Oh sorry, I'll be right there."

The others don't seem to have noticed her behavior, but Luffy takes a look at what held his navigator's(at least he considered her that way) attention so much.

[Arlong Captain of the Arlong Pirates

20,000,000]

Together was the photo of a fish man who looked like a shark and his description. But before Luffy reads Bonney calls him.

"Luffy let's go!"

In his mind he thinks about asking Nami about this fishman later.

With the boat already docked, they enter the restaurant. If it weren't for the sea seen through the windows, if one saw only the inside, they wouldn't be able to tell that this was a ship-restaurant.

The person who attends them is a guy a little taller than Luffy, blond, with one of his eyebrows in a spiral shape, and some hairs on his chin that one day will become a goatee and a butler's outfit. At first he seems inattentive, but as soon as he sees Bonney, Nami and Kada, the others swore that his pupils will see hearts.

"Oh! Why didn't anyone tell me that we would receive a visit from heaven today? Angels came to brighten my day! My name is Sanji and how can I best serve you?"

He says kneeling down and making extremely exaggerated gestures of respect and adoration. Nami is a little embarrassed, Bonney looks disgusted and Kada seems to have fun.

"Stop this shit and put us a table for ten.

She says putting her boot in his face, making Luffy start laughing, and Ucy also smiles with her reaction.

"Your wish is my order, master!"

"Well, we already know who not to call." Zoro whispers.

"I agree." Law says sighing.

The blonde one leads them to a table with ten seats and Ucy lies in the chair between Luffy and Bonney. The entire restaurant whispered about the Straw Hats as they tried not to stare at the group.

"We're more famous than I thought."

Luffy says leaning back in his chair.

"You guys are..."

Just then he recognizes the dark-haired in the straw hat, the swordsman with the green hair, the evil-eyed one with the pink hair, and a tiger that looked ready to go to sleep.

"Ah, so you're the new pirates who've been scaring everyone lately."

He says with a slight smile on his face.

"Shishishi, I think so."

"You strangely don't look scared." Usopp says with crossed arms and a curious expression.

Sanji makes an expression showing that he didn't undestand the comment.

"Should I? And you don't seem to want trouble or be bad people... Such beautiful ladies wouldn't go out with bad people~~"

"Hahahahahahahaha. You're funny", Kada wipes a tear from her eye that came out laughing, "but you're right, they don't look as bad as the pirates we've encountered and not nearly as bad as the navy makes them look."

"And if you guys can afford it, then you can eat whatever you want. Just ignore the whispers, I swear to the beautiful ladies here that I won't let you be disturbed. And beautiful ladies who came from heaven, for you it's on the house", then he turns to the men, "you'll have to pay normally."

Luffy, Usopp, Johnny, Yosaku and Cain don't seem to mind, but a giant vein appears on the two swordsmen's foreheads.

Money was no problem for them as they hardly spent any of the money and gold they have been accumulating since the beginning. They were going to order when the restaurant door was kicked in violently.

The attention of all the customers and employees goes there, where Fullbody is snorting wet and with a furious face. Behind him, a woman with her makeup ruined and also wet as well some soldiers trying to catch their breath.

Just then the kitchen door opens and a muscular man with lots of hair on his arms, a shaved head and a short beard with a goatee appears. He also wore an apron and a cook's outfit. He was rubbing his hands with a big smile that looked forced.

He stood side by side with Sanji, who ignored him for the time being.

Fullbody looks at the Straw Hats, who don't even pay attention to him, with a willingness to kill.

"YOU DAMN PIRATES""

He ran to them, in each of his fists there was an iron socket. Only taht before he gets into conflict with the pirates, Sanji gets in front of him.

"Sir, may I know why you want to attack our customers?"

"CUSTOMERS! THEY ARE PIRATES THAT SINK MY SHIP AND AS A NAVY OFFICER I HAVE FULL AUTHORITY TO ARREST THEM!"

Sanji and his colleague remain unresponsive, while everyone else in the restaurant is scared.

"They sunk a navy ship? My God!"

"These straw hats really look like the devil."

The whispers became conversations filled with fear, not that their targets cared.

"But sir, understand that, they're our customers. Isn't it true, Paty?"

The muscular man next to Sanji nods.

"You can afford it right?" The man called Paty asks.

Luffy only shows several berries in response. The muscular cook's smile gets even bigger.

"And do you have money?"

The navy captain stares at the cook like he's an idiot.

"It doesn't matter I have t-"

"THEN YOU ARE NOT A CUSTOMER!"

With no chance of reacting Fullbody receives a punch in the middle of his face, sending him flying back to the restaurant's entrance. Bewildered, he stands up with difficulty and blood dripping from his nose.

"Customers are gods, if you're not a customer THEN GO FUCKING YOURSELF!"

"Hahahahahahahaha. This place is fun." The captain and the counter-master say at the same time.

Fullbody couldn't seem to get more pissed off. He was about to respond when a steel ball hits him in the side of the face, causing him to slam headlong into the door. Blood starts to flow from his head as he loses consciousness.

"CAPTAIN!" One of the soldiers screams, before also being taken out.

Sanji takes out a cigarette, lights it with a lighter, and takes a drag.

"Today sure is a busy day."

Where Fullbody was a moment ago is now a thin man. He had on a green shirt, a gray coat with red snake accents, and gray pants. He wore a garland with the same color as the rest but with a few blue stripes. He was also all wet like the sailors.

He was pale and sweating profusely. His lips were colorless and he had a dark circle, almost purple in color, around his eyes. In his hands was a tonfa with an iron ball dripping with the blood of the captain of the navy.

- Hey... wait a minute... isn't he...

- What is Don Krieg's right hand man doing here?

People started screaming and sitting up scared. If the former navy prisoner hadn't been on the only exit, the restaurant would have already been empty.

"Who is Don Krieg?" Tha captain asks his crew.

"One of the greatest pirates in the East Blue, his reward is only slightly bigger than yours." Bonney answers, ignoring the noise.

"Ah, so he shouldn't be a big deal." Luffy says shrugging.

The crew sniper seems to be considering something.

"This guy looks like he was being held prisoner, did he escape because of us?" Usopp points out.

"Who knows?" Zoro responds uninterested, while looking at the scene.

In contrary to the more disinterested reaction of the pirates, the bounty hunters were ecstatic.

"Don Krieg's right-hand man. This guy must be worth some money." Kada said with a confident smile.

"You bet sis! Let me finish him." Cain says getting up and going into the direction of the Krieg pirate.

"If you need our help, just call Cain-bro." Johnny said to his friend.

"That's right!" Yosaku complemented, raising his fist.

The one with the chains nods and tries to move but Sanji puts his arm in front of him. He takes another drag on his cigarette.

"Please let us handle our restaurant's problems."

"But-"

"IS THIS A RESTAURANT OR NOT? BRING ME SOME FOOD!"

Cain looks like he wants to move forward, but Sanji urges him to stay still. At the same time Patty approaches the pirate.

"Hi sir, we'll give you all the food and services you need while you're a customer. So please tell me, do you have any money?"

In response, Gin points at him with a gun. However, the fact that he's breathing hard and shaking all over doesn't help much with the intimidation.

"I see, so you ARE NOT A CUSTOMER."

Again the cook's fist, which appears to be the size of a log, throws a punch that knocks the opponent down for good. The blow added to his precarious state and other injuries he already had knocked the pirate down, something that probably wouldn't happen if he was at his normal state.

"All right, get the trash out."

Some butlers catch the pirate and throw him elsewhere, only Luffy and Sanji pay attention to where he was taken.

"Too bad, to be that weak must have been a mistake." Kada said lamenting the lack of reward.

Cain shrugs and sits back down.

Sanji takes another drag on his cigarette before tossing it to the ground and extinguishing it with his foot.

"You can place your orders."

Abusing the promise of free food Bonney and Kada ate everything they could. Nami ate a lot less, she didn't seem willing and that didn't escape the straw hat's eyes. Luffy, on the other hand, paid for everything he could eat while the others ate more normally. The dark-haired only stopped eating when he saw Sanji, going to the same place they had thrown Gin, with a plate of food in his hand.

He got up and wente there, curious.

Outside on a small balcony, Don Krieg's right arm lay almost unconscious. In his current state it's hard to tell if he would wake up again if he lost consciousness. His mind wanders between memories of an almost unearthly mountain, a place with the weather worse than hell, and a man who resembled the devil himself. His memories were vague, they resembled nightmares and he still had trouble telling what was real and what wasn't.

During his daydream he starts smelling food, and opening his eyes he sees a plate placed in front of him, beside a glass of water. Sanji watched the sea while smoking another cigarette and Luffy had sat on a bench facing away from the ocean.

"I don't want your pity..."

The cook blows the smoke into his mouth and sees it dissipating.

"Shut up and eat. Starving is no way for a person to die. So don't see it as a pity, but me fulfilling my role as a cook."

Gin gapes. He could see that there really was no pity there, the man in front of him had his values and was simply following them. Even someone like him realized that. With a little hesitation and with a shaking hand he takes the plate and takes the first bite.

They say hunger is the best seasoning and the Don Krieg's pirate had plenty. But even if it wasn't, he knew, it was the best dish he'd ever eaten in his entire life.

"So?"

With tears in his eyes he responds as he eats.

"I've never had anything better."

Sanji smirks.

"Oh yeah?"

Luffy observed everything calmly and his estimation of Saji had risen too high. He knew what it was like to go hungry. Whether it was his grandfather, who boasted of being a fair sailor despite various morally and legally questionable attitudes, threw him out of a ravine and it took him a few days to find an animal to kill, or in the first days of his life with the bandits of the mountain where he still had trouble getting more food. He should have just used the Yami Yami no Mi back then and kicked everyone asses, but he still didn't know how to kill at the time and today he's happy that he didn't kill any of them. They might have been awkward with him at first but they were his friends now.

Anyway, the boy had a pretty good idea of what it was like to go hungry.

"You're a nice guy."

"I already said I'm just doing what I have to do."

"But your friends don't seem to think so." Luffy says, remembering how the cooks acted with Gin earlier.

Sanji takes another drag on his cigarette before answering.

"Me and them are different. They are good people but they don't understand what it really is to starve."

The one with the straw hat saw in the blonde's eyes that there was a story.

"Got it. Tell me, are you as strong as that friend of yours who punched the navy guy?"

"Patty?" Sanji makes a smug expression. "I'm much stronger than him."

"Oh yeah?", excitment was raising in Luffy's voice, "Do you want to join my gang?"

Gin stops eating and looks at the smiling boy in the red shirt in surprise and Sanji almost chokes.

"My bad, but I pass. Despite the beautiful ladies in your crew, I have a duty here." He says, while seriousyly facing the ocean.

"Well, too bad, because I can stay here until you change your mind." Luffy answers smiling.

" Hey hey..."

"Huh, excuse me. Are you really a pirate?" Gin asks, meddling in the conversation.

Luffy and Sanji look at him nodding.

"Never heard of him? If I'm not mistaken, his reward isn't far from your captain's."

He gets shocked to hear this.

"How much are you worth?"

"Fifteen million, shishishi."

"Take into account that they say he has the ability of a Devil Fruit."

The Don Krieg's pirate seems to be a little relieved to hear this.

"Oh, I see, those things... Anyway, I still don't think you can compare yourself to Don Krieg."

Luffy frowns his forehead.

"Why?"

He questions with his head turned to the side. Gin then takes on a proud, dreamy look.

"Don Krieg is the strongest person in East Blue. And even though it's in the weakest sea, I'm sure he must be one of the strongest of the four initial seas."

"Nah, I think I'm even stronger."

Luffy says, crossing his legs and resting his head in front of both his hands. Sanji chuckles.

"Whatever, believe what you want."

Gin finishes eating and drinks the entire glass of water. So he does something he's never done in his life, bowing to someone.

"This isn't necessary." The cook says, asking the pirate to stop.

"Just as you fulfilled your obligation, I am only fulfilling mine." However, Gin didn't seem to mind.

"If you say so."

The pirate gets up and looks at Luffy one last time.

"Whatever you make out of your life, good luck boy."

"Shishishi, you too ossan."

So he jumps into the sea. Sanji almost drops the cigarette out of his mouth and Luffy looks down in surprise, but there they see a navy boat. Gin walks away waving at them.

"Have you stopped wasting time?"

On a balcony above, an old man of medium height appears, with an extravagant mustache, wooden leg and a generic chef's outfit.

"Yeah, shitty old man."

He drops the cigarette to the ground and crushes it out.

"Your boss?" The straw hat asks, pointing at the man.

"Yes."

"Are you going to get in any trouble?"

He sees as Sanji stop for a moment, a small smile forming on his face.

"No, he understands."

Luffy considers it for a moment.

"He looks strong."

Sanji smiles, looking amused.

"A little bit."

Then the captain joined with the rest of his friends, and they ate until they no longer could. It was late afternoon when they gathered on the deck of the Going Merry.

"Fuck, that guy? Are you sure Luffy?" Bonney complained. She already got annoyed with Sanji with how much he tried to flert with them, she couldn't imagine staying in the same ship as him, and not wanting to throw him in the ocean.

"Yes, his food is delicious." He answers simply.

Zoro and Law sigh in defeat. They already knew he wasn't going to change his mind. Ucy seemed to agree with his owner and Usopp didn't really care. Nami was strangely quiet.

"But hasn't he already refused? Let's find another guy then." The pinkette says, still trying to change her captain mind.

Luffy shakes his head from side to side in a negative.

"I've already made up my mind. He's the cook we need."

"After the hundredth time Bonney kicked him again I came to a different conclusion, but if it's the captain's decision I won't complain." Zoro says with his eyes closed and arms crossed.

"At least the food is good. I believe he would be able to use the full nutritional potential of our diets, it's just a shame that..."

Law gives a sigh before finishing his sentence. Their captain just laughs at their reactions to Sanji.

"Now we just need to convince him." Usopp says, not having the slightest idea to how they would convince him to gave up his job and become a pirate.

"Hmmm... I think I'll talk to his boss."

"Why?" Bonney asks, raising one eyebrow.

"I don't know... my gut is telling me it might lead somewhere." Luffy answers shrugging, making Bonney roll her eyes.

"If you say so. But I'm still going to kick him in the face every time he tries to flirt with me."

"Shishishi. And you Zoro, found out about the guy you were looking for?"

The swordsman clicks his tongue in annoyance.

"That idiot of Yosaku confused Hawk Eyes with one drunken eye, an alcoholic, and a hawk eye, who only eats chicken every time he comes here."

"Already meet that guy before, nice guy" Kada says, but they couldn't tell if she was serious or not.

Either way, the entire crew starts laughing. While they seem to enjoy themselves Nami silently and with a dark look goes to her room. This time both Luffy and Bonney noticed. But they both knew that the navigator's position within the crew was fragile so they didn't want to bother her. It wouldn't be long before they regretted that decision.

...

The next day Fullbody had already left, swearing he would come back or something, nobody paid attention. The hunters continued their small camp on the deck of the pirate ship. Usopp bought some firearms and ammo from them. Law was in the kitchen reading. Zoro trained doing exercises, this not being the right place to find Mihawk motivated him even more. Nami still hadn't left her room. Luffy, Bonney and Ucy went to see the ex-pirate, owner of the restaurant as soon as it opened.

"RED LEG ZEFF?"

If the restaurant staff were still sleepy, Bonney scream sure woke them up.

"Don't scream brat, I'm not old enough for this." The man says, pretending he was annoyed.

"Do you know him?" Luffy asks her.

"Do I know? Damn Luffy, he's a legend, one of the few East Blue pirates to successfully make it to and came back from the Grand Line." She says, clearly excited.

"Uuuhhh, so you've been to the Grand Line old man."

The one-legged cock sighs. In his opinion these young people were getting more and more disrespectful, and what's with this girl's clothes? Too short!

"Anyway, what do you want here?"

"I want Sanji in my crew!"

The retired pirate stares at the rookie in surprise.

"Why?"

"He's the perfect cook for my crew."

Luffy says with a grin from ear to ear, while Zeff seems to have his interest piqued.

"And, why do you say that?" The older man asked, with a grin in his face. Maybe this kid wasn't that bad.

"He knows how bad it is for people to suffer from hunger and sees feeding them as his duty, whether he has been paid or not. I can't want another cook after meeting him."

Even Bonney gaped at her captain's reason. She just thought he liked that guy, and that was the whole reason he was insisting on him. Once again she reassessed her opinion of him positively. Zeff himself didn't know what to say, he just laughed.

"Hahahahahahahahaha. Oh, oh... kid, it's been a long time since I saw a pirate being so... charitable, for lack of a better term."

"I'll take that as a compliment, shishishi."

"You can be sure it is. All right, I'll try to help you to convince that junk to go with you."

"Thanks old man, I'm counting on you."

Outside the room Sanji lit a cigarette as he was in thought. The idea of joining the crew began to get slightly more realistic in his mind after hearing the captain's reason.

...

While the rest of the crew go to the restaurant to eat breakfast, Law and Zoro remain on the boat trying to interact as little as possible with Sanji as they knew it was inevitable that their captain would drag him. So the less they have to put up with him now the better. Nami stared once more at the poster of that merman on the deck while no one was there. At least not until Kada shows up and sees the redhead. Approaching she looks at the poster and starts looking a little scared.

"Nami-san, what's your interest in Arlong?"

The pirate thief almost jumps at hearing this question.

"I-It's no big deal..."

The bounty hunter realizes that something is wrong, but doesn't delve into it, knowing that if anyone has to help her it's the captain and his crew.

The restaurant had already opened and several people were arriving. It would have been a normal day if it weren't for the presence of the Straw Hats crew, and that doesn't even refer to the fear people had of them, but to the fact that the cooks were having to work triplicate to feed them. Nobody could understand how someone like Bonney and Luffy had those bodies with that appetite, neither Ucy eat as much as they did. Sometime ago Law came to the conclusion that it must be the effect of their Devil Fruits.

After two hours of breakfast most of the group retired to the ship while Luffy accompanied Sanji whenever he left the kitchen.

"When are you going to stop following me? And if you're going to be walking around with me at least do it with one of those beauties!" The blonde one complains, between a break in his work.

"Shishishi. I will stop when you join my crew."

They were talking on the same balcony as yesterday during the break. Smoking a doubt arises in Sanji's mind about that smiling pirate.

"Why do you want to be a pirate? I've dealt with enough of these guys at the restaurant and you don't look like any of them?" He waits the answer, while seeing a big smile forming in Luffy's face.

"Good, because if I were like everyone else I wouldn't be able to be the Pirate King."

He says this with such a serene face and with such casualness and confidence that Sanji even drops the cigarette from his mouth. He remembers when he read a book about a legendary sea, when in the cold and solitude of that cell he decided he would thind it. Even though people later laughed at him, in the end he was saved by someone who believed in this same crazy dream. And now someone else who has a dream as crazy as his is in front of him, talking about it with all the calm in the world. He didn't know anything about straw hat boy, but he could see he wasn't kidding. He would go all the way until fullfilling his dream. Without realizing it, the words start escaping his mouth.

"Hey, have you heard of the All Blue?"

Luffy looks at him confused.

"All Blue? Is it a sea like the East Blue?"

The cook shakes his head.

"It's not just any sea. Is the sea! It has all the marine species there, it's a cook's dream. The cook who found it would be able to make any dish in the world. And all the ingredients there are of the highest quality."

Luffy widens his eyes and opens his mouth in surprise.

"That must be good! And where is it?"

Sanji can see the expectant gleam in his eyes. If it was some other pirate they would laugh or make fun of him. Luffy not only believed but was also full of anticipation. He really was different.

"Nobody knows. My dream is to find it." He says with a small smile on his face.

"Oh! So you don't think you should come with me? The cook who found the sea with all the fish is from the Pirate King's crew."

The blonde was so taken by surprise by the sentence that he couldn't even come up with an answer.

"I think it fits really well. And you guys would do me a favor by getting this perverted thing out of here." Zeff says, seeing to have arrived out of nowhere.

Sanji frowns and looks back annoyed.

"Repeat that you s-"

"Boy! Do you think I saved you so you could stay here for the rest of your life without ever going after your dream? There is someone here willing to take you and help you. You won't get a second chance if you let them go. Do you really want me to live the rest of my life thinking you didn't fulfill your dream because of some stupid sense of duty you have to me?"

Once again in that day Sanji was speechless. Luffy has a small smile on his face seeing the situation. Sanji takes another cigarette out of his pocket and lights it.

"Tell me Captain, where do we go from here?"

"Shishishi, for the Grand Line. I bet if the All Blue is somewhere, it's there."

Sanji takes a deep breath and releases the smoke through his mouth.

"What a coincidence, I was imagining the same thing."

"Shishishi, I'm going to the Merry to talk to the crew. I think you'll need to separate your things, right?"

The cook nods in agreement.

"Yes. As soon as I'm ready to leave I'll let you know."

They greet each other. Luffy goes to the ship and Sanji goes to his room to pack his things, they would also probably need to take provisions so he should still sort them.

"Guys, I did it! Sanji is coming!"

Usopp had a smirk on his face thanks to his captain's animation. Zoro, Bonney and Law sighed in defeat. The bounty hunters raised a thumbs up for Luffy and Nami couldn't be seen anywhere.

At that moment, while they were still distracted and relaxing, a galleon approached the Baratie. It's shadow was so big that it covered the Going Merry and the restaurant. The galleon looked destroyed, with holes in various parts of it. Its sails had been destroyed and several cracks covered the entire ship. It looked more like a ghost ship than something anyone would actually use.

Law closed his eyes at the sight of the flag.

"That's Jolly Roger is from the Don Krieg Pirates."

"Hm? Don Krieg? Gin's captain?" Luffy asks, more confused with the state of the ship than with anything else.

Bonney, with a piece of pizza in her mouth, looks on.

"I wonder what he came here for."

Everyone in the restaurant was in a panic. Those who could run away have already fled and without even paying the bill. But the employees didn't have time to care about it. Apprehensively, they watched a large man being carried by someone who appeared to be half his height.

"Please help us! This time I have money! So please just give us some food! Save Don Krieg!" Gin plead, almost putting his head on the floor.

It was a strange scene for many. A pirate who was famous for being cruel was almost crying on his knees.

"I... will pay well... so... please..."

The Straw Hats and the bounty hunters, except for Johnny and Yosaku, enter the restaurant. Kada's eyes light up at the sight of the nearly dead man.

"So he really was Don Krieg's right hand man. They must have gone through a lot of shit to end up this way. An opportunity like this won't show up again!"

While the cooks still refused to do anything for Don Krieg, Kada drew her ax and went to attack the pirate. But before she attacked a kick delivered just below the beginning of the ax's head sent it flying into a wall.

"WHAT?"

The person who stopped her attack was an old man with a wooden leg. He carried a bag on his shoulder and a plate of food in his hand.

"Don't get involved, brat." Zeff said, and ignored the bounty hunter complains.

"Boss what are you doing?" Paty asked, not understaing Zeff's actions.

"What a cook does." He simply says, not minding their complains. The other cooks had no choice but to open space to him. He was their boss, and could beat anyone of them.

He put the plate in front of Don Krieg and then the bag.

"There's enough food in the bag for your men."

"Thank...thank you..."

Someone murmured asking how he did so much food in so little time, but there was no answer.

Don Krieg devours all the food within minutes. The cooks starts despairing even more and the people get out of there as fast as they can. Sanji was coming down the stairs with his things when he saw this scene. He puts his belongings in a corner and goes to the side of his captain, watching the development alongside him.

"What the fuck is he doing?" Kada asks incredulous.

"He may have thrown away the best chance we'd have against Don Krieg." Cain says clenching his teeth.

Krieg finishes eating. He no longer resembled at all that weak figure he had a few minutes ago. He was tall, with gray hair and long sideburns. A cape on his back, purple pants and the entire upper part of his body was covered in a golden armor.

"That food was good, incredible I would say. And this also looks like a good ship to me."

Except for Zeff, everyone widened their eyes.

"D-Don Krieg?" Gin called for his captain, not understanding what he was trying to say. Or understanding but not wanting to acknowledge it.

"Gin, take this bag to the others. I'll be right behind you."

He throws the food bag to his right hand man. Gin takes it, he seems to hesitate a bit but goes to the galleon."

"We'll do it like this", He looks around the restaurant and his eyes stop on Bonney and Kada, "leave the women behind the boat and you all will live. I'll just say that."

After saying this, Don Krieg turns and goes back to his ship. Sanji lights a cigarette, his chest heaving with anger. All the other cooks looks like they were in despair.

"I think you'd better leave."

The Straw Hats and the two bounty hunters face the old man.

"Are you kidding me? That guy deserves to die just for the way he looked at Bonney. Let us return the favor this restaurant did for us with the food and Sanji." Luffy says with a daring smile.

"I would love to have the opportunity to hit the face of that piece of shit." Bonney says, agreeing with her captain.

"Luffy and Bonney-chan are right old man. You have to go back, we're going to send Krieg to hell." Sanji, before draging his cigarette.

"Maybe I get a reward for it." Law says, imagining how much he would get for his head.

"If I shoot them enough, will I get one too?" Usopp asks with a hopeful look.

"How much can I increase mine with this?" Zoro also asks with an interested smile.

To the surprise of the cooks, rather than scared, the crew seem eager for the opportunity to face Don Krieg.

"My bad pirates, but I'm going to kill Don Krieg. If he thinks he can think of me as sexual relief for his men, he's sorely mistaken." Kada says, with her ax already in hand.

"If he looked at my sister like that he has to die!" Cain says with a strong fighting spirit.

"So let's make a run to see who kills him first!" The captain says looking like he was having fun.

"Closed!" They all answer at the same time.

Even Zeff was surprised by the attitude they were taking. While the cooks were hoping that they could indeed defeat Krieg..

"The Straw Hat's reward is almost as big as Don Krieg's... maybe he can..."

Patty says to himself. At the moment this boy was Baratie's only hope.

"Now let's take a step back and watch." Zeff says to all the chiefs.

They were all leaving the restaurant when Johnny and Yosaku appear desperate. The two were all wet, as if they had swam in the sea.

"What happened to you guys?" Luffy asked raising an eyebrow.

"Luffy-bro, it's horrible! Nami-sis stole your ship." They both said at the same time with panick in their voices.

"WHAT?"

All the straw hats run out onto the front porch to see the Merry leaving.

"What the fuck is that bitch doing?" Bonney asks furious.

"GRRRR!" Ucy was also not taking this lightly.

"Damn, we shouldn't have trusted her." Law says with a furied expression.

"OUR THINGS!" Usopp screams, thinking of all their belongins in the ship.

"Tsk, that piss of shit." Zoro complains with a murderous face.

"Why would that beautiful angel do something like that?" Sanji with an increduluos expression.

Luffy clenches his fists remembering how strange Nami has been acting since yesterday.

"Something's wrong! Sanji, you want to help the restaurant here, right?" He says, turning to the blonde one.

"Huh? Me..."

Nami wanted to, but he knew he should, and would, follow his captain's orders if he went after the redhead.

"All right, you and I are going to stay here and send Don Krieg to hell. The rest of you go after Nami to find out what's going on, and also get Merry and our stuff back."

They all nod their heads as Sanji's jaw drops once more.

"Captain...thank you."

Luffy shakes his head.

"I know you want to kick Don Krieg as much as I do."

Just as the pirates were preparing the boats to go after their ship, one more extraordinary thing happened. Don Krieg's galleon was cut in half.

It is true that the galleon was not in it's best condition. Yet there was no natural way for it to be split in two so perfectly out of nowhere. Everyone watched in awe as the ship of the proud Don Krieg, the East Blue's most feared pirate, was reduced to wreckage, with several of his men dying in the process, being from the impact, or because they fell into the ocean and drowned.

"Ha, got it." Zeff suddenly says with a small grin on his face.

"What is it?" Luffy asks confused.

"I heard that Krieg entered the Grand Line a few days ago with all of his troops. So I was wondering what he was doing back here with just one of his ships. I figured he was no match for the Grand Line, but it also looks like they got some shitty luck."

"What are you talking about?"

Zeff's cynical smile grew even more.

"Just watch boy."

Don Krieg and Gin were standing on one of the ship's wreckage. The others who survived the attack tried to climb on some of the floating parts, while the sea was painted red with the blood of those who died from the attack. The wreckage was split on two sides, being even more proof that the ship had actually been cut in half. In the space that existed between one wreckage and another, there was a man on top of a small boat.

Zoro gaped, his eyes widened and his fists trembling in anticipation of seeing him.

"Zoro?"

Seeing the reaction of his first mate, the captain was confused.

"Luffy... it's him!"

The eyes of the Straw Hat and the crew were as wide as the swordsman's as they understood what he meant. Luffy grits his teeth and thinks fast.

"All right, the rest of you go after Nami. Zoro, Sanji and I will stay here."

Out of her stupor, the quatermaster responds.

"Right captain!"

Ucy also nods his head showing that he has understood the order.

"Good luck!" Usopp wishes to his friends.

"Be careful." The surgeon says to Zoro. The man he wanted to face had the same title as Doflamingo, so he knew Zoro probably wasn't an opponent for him, still the green-haired swordsman needed that.

"We'll go with you too!" Yosaku and Johnny said feeling responsible for letting Nami run with their friends ship.

The four along with the bounty hunters jump into the boat. Luffy looks at the other two bounty hunters.

"And you?"

"Don Krieg isn't going anywhere." Kada says with her will to fight clear in her eyes, and Cain also seemed to agree with her. Luffy nods his head and turn to his friends.

"Right. Then go!"

"YES!"

They start paddling after Merry with all their strenght.

"Luffy, thank you so much!" Zoro says to the dark-haired boy.

"It's my duty as captain to make sure you fulfill your dreams."

Once again Zoro was reassured that he had made the right choice in following that man.

The three members of the Straw Hat crew still present at the restaurant faces the one who holds the title of best swordsman in the world.

He was on a small boat that could only fit one person. The boat somewhat resembled the shape of a coffin, with a cross-shaped mast in the middle, a chair a little forward, and two sails with a green fire burning in them. The man sitting in the chair was tall, thin, with black hair, a short beard with mustache and sideburns that point up. His eyes are yellow and live up to its nickname of Hawk Eyes.

His attire was a black coat, with red details on the sleeves and a long cape. His pants were white and his boots were also black. Plus a wide-brimmed black hat with a large feather. Around his neck is a necklace of a cross, and on his back he carries a black sword so large that it also resembles a cross.

"Hawk Eyes... WHY? WHY DO YOU KEEP CHASING US?" Krieg asks, not noticing the despair in his own voice.

The best swordsman in the world then turns to the said greatest pirate of the East Blue.

"I was bored. And you interrupted my nap."

His voice was monotonous, and his eyes painted with disinterest. All of this made Don Krieg even more enraged, with veins almost bursting in his forehead.

"DID YOU DESTROY ALL MY TROOPS OUT OF BOREDOM?"

"But of course." He simply says unfazed.

The chiefs and the two bounty hunters swallow hard, imagining the power of this man. Even Luffy, Zoro and Sanji take a deep breath because of it.

"This must be some bad joke... MEN END HIM!"

Hearing the order, his crew pulls their remaining guns and tries to shoot Mihawk. He simply pulled his gigantic sword from his back and positioned in a way that the bullets slid along the blade, shocking the pirates.

"We aimed wrong?" They aks themselves confused.

"No... the smoothness of this guy wielding the sword is something I've never seen before. Captain I'm going."

Zoro whispers to himself.

"Good luck."

Luffy spoke very eagerly. The Straw Hat Captain knew, having grown up in a forest he could recognize the aura of a "strong animal", and one day he would learn more about this power, but now he was limited to feeling someone who was much stronger than he was. And this man, the best swordsman in the world, was one of the strongest people he had ever seen.

"Zoro, fight it knowing that this guy is much more powerful."

Zoro thins his captain's words were weird, but seeing how serious Luffy is, he just nods.

"Kada-chan, what's this guy's reward?"

Sanji asks her, and the ax user's face turns grim.

"He has no reward because he's one of the seven warlords. He is a pirate who works directly for the government."

'I think I remember grandpa and grandma talking about this before.' Luffy thinks to himself.

Sanji lights a cigarette and puts it in his mouth.

"It looks troublesome."

Zoro dives into the sea and swims to the wreckage, entering the midst of Don Krieg's pirates.

"Who is this one?" Don Krieg asks, more annoyed that there were still people showing up to interfere.

The Don Krieg's pirates first frown and then jump away, in fear from the swordsman.

"It's Roronoa Zoro, the pirate hunter!"

A smile forms in his face hearing this.

"I stopped hunting a long time ago, now I'm a pirate too."

He says as he walks towards Mihawk.

"WHAT?"

The swordsman of the straw hats stands a few meters from the shichibukai and points his sword, which belonged to his childhood friend, at him.

'Come on Kuina.'

"Dracule Mihawk, I challenge you!"

While everyone around, except Luffy, Sanji and Zeff, is stunned, the challenged seems to ponder, bored.

"Tell me why?" He says, still using a monotonous voice.

"I made a promise to become the best in the world, for that I must defeat you!"

In contrast to his eargeness, Mihawk seems uninterested.

"Humph. You said you are a pirate, are you the captain?"

"No, my captain is right there."

Zoro nods in Luffy's direction. Looking at the boy, the black sword user recognizes the straw hat and associates him with the kid Red Hair talked about so much that it irritated his ears. Besides, it might be at a rough level and so low it would be useless in a fight, but for a weaker sea, the boy showed a minuscule level of a power that even people from the first part of the Grand Line don't usually have.

"Boy", he says referring to Luffy, "you should know that letting your crewmate do this is suicide."

Luffy clenches his fists and responds.

"I'm not getting in front of his dream! And I won't let him die!"

The determination in his eyes made Mihawk realize that everything Red Hair said wasn't just bullshit.

"Okay", he turn his head, once again facing Zoro, "your captain seems to have more sense than you. The fact that you can't see your inferiority just by looking, tells me you're not only very weak, but you're way behind your captain as well."

The green haired one closes his eyes.

"If I'm that incapable, show me and don't just talk."

Mihawk sighed while Luffy got even more anxious. His first mate's impatience was not a good sign.

The shichibukai pulls his cross-like necklace from his neck and pulls the sheath off, revealing a blade that is half the size of a kitchen knife.

"What is this?" Zoro asks, frowning his eyebrows.

"Hm? Ah, unfortunately I don't have a smaller blade."

Mihawk said it without any sarcasm in his voice.

"Tsk. Damn, he's not even taking this seriously."

Luffy tightens his hold around the protection of the balcony, almost breaking it. Not out of anger at Mihawk's attitude, but out of fear of Zoro's reaction. The latter lowered his head and gritted his teeth, but his opponent's words reverberated in his head. His captain seemed to know he didn't stand a chance and yet he wasn't interfering. Does he really have no chance?

"If I'm really that weak, you must be right. If not, you'll regret it."

He wouldn't, and both the Shichibukai and the Straw Hat Boy knew that.

The green haired swordsman came forward, he tried to make a side cut with one of his swords but was blocked simply by the tip of Mihawk's small blade. Surprised, he retreated a bit before trying to pretend to make a cut on the right side and attack on the left side. But again, making as few moves as possible Mihawk blocked with just the tip of the knife.

Luffy was frustrated, his sense of danger screaming as his body unconsciously trembled. If it were him fighting he would be calmer, but with his crewmate, his friend, his anxiety was unstoppable. Everyone else was amazed at the difference in power. There was nothing the most famous swordsman in the East Blue could do in front of the best in the world.

Zoro flexed his muscles more, trying to increase his strength. He put his three vertical swords in parallel, took a leap rotating around himself, and again, with only the tip of a blade that was one tenth of his katana, the three swords were stopped.

It didn't even make sense to him, how had he stopped the two others without even touching them? After that his attacks became more careless, less polite, more desperate. He tried every opportunity he thought he had and all were thwarted by a simple blade, smaller than a cheese knife.

The two swords are angled against each other and he once again rotates to Mihawk. Flexing the muscles with all his strength he tries to make a cut.

"Santoryu Ogi: Sanzen Sekai!"

The result is repeated.

Taking a few steps back, the Zoro was sweating cold and breathing heavily. He always knew the best in the world was strong, he just heard his captain saying that Mihawk was much stronger and yet he never imagined the difference was so imense. It was bigger than an abyss. The promise to Kuina was far from being fulfilled and that scared him more than anything.

"What is it? Lost the will to continue?"

The question brings him back to reality. He rethinks the words Luffy said to him.

"No. Let me see a little more, how far away I am from you."

The best in the world opens his mouth a little surprised. This change in attitude really far exceeded his expectations.

"Interesting, do as you like."

Zoro takes a deep breath. He cross his arms in an X shape with his swords vertically parallel to each other, and with the white scabbard horizontal to the ground. For a second nothing happens, until he moves forward.

"Onigiri!"

Most of those present were unable to see the speed of the attack. Zoro had confidence in this attack, at least when fighting normal opponents. His swords were stopped, one after the other, at a single point where they all connected before making the cut. And again, it only took the tip of a small blade to stop it. His muscles trembled trying to move forward but it was a futile effort.

"He doesn't stand a chance..." Sanji says in an awe.

"At this point he already knows."

The protection had long been broken by Luffy's hands.

"I suppose that if the opponent's physical strength is inferior to yours, even this technique would not be stopped."

Mihawk didn't advance, just staying on the defensive, he saw no reason to attack. Zoro backed away.

"Yeah, I think you're right."

Zoro inhales.

"You already know that I'm much stronger, why do you keep going?"

"Why? If I stop now, then I don't think I'll try ever again!"

A small and unperceptible smile formed in the warlord's face. More and more, his assessment of the swordsman of the eastern sea rose.

Zoro keeps the Wado Ichimonji parallel to the ground and puts the other two swords in parallel, vertical behind it. At that moment, everyone swore they saw the aura of a tiger. Advancing one last time, the Straw Hat Pirates swordsman steps forward, also carrying his two swords forward. Mihawk saw the determination in his eyes, he knew this was all or nothing and the result would be nothing. Many when faced with the abyss hesitate and give back. This madman in front of him jumped headlong. For the first time in the fight Mihawk advanced.

Even in the middle of the attack, Zoro didn't even have a chance to react when the small blade stabbed him inches from his heart.

Sanji drops the cigarette from his mouth and Luffy almost has a small burst of gravity as an instinctive reaction.

Even in that situation, Zoro didn't back down or dropped his swords.

"If you don't take a step back, you'll die."

"I know."

"So once again I ask you, why?"

The promise with Kuina and the moments with Luffy pass through his head.

"If I take a single step back, I'm breaking a promise and failing my captain's expectations."

"And that's defeat."

Zoro stares into the shichibukai's eyes.

"So I prefer death!" He says with no hesitation.

"Zoro..."

Once more, Mihawk showed some reaction. No one but Luffy noticed that his eyes widened a little. It had been a long time that Mihawk was at the sea and more and more he saw as the new generations lacked determination and will. It seemed that more and more they were aimless, shallow and weak. Only today, in the so-called weaker sea, he found someone with such determination and someone praised even by one of the Sea Emperors. Perhaps this Age of Pirates still has something to offer.

Mihawk takes the knife from Zoro's chest and puts it away.

"Tell me your name."

"Roronoa Zoro."

The green haired has difficulty just saying that.

"I will remember it."

He pulls the black sword from his back.

"Feel honored, you will be cut by the strongest sword in the world."

Zoro, in the last effort that he knows will come to nothing, puts his swords in a circular shape, with the Wado Ichimonji pointing to the left, one of the unnamed swords in his hand pointed down to the opposite side, and the third pointed to the right, up still on the opposite side of the white-sheathed sword. He starts to rotate the swords at high speed.

["Santouryuu Ougi Sanzen Sekai!"]

It was his strongest technique. He moved forward, Mihawk raises his sword and makes a horizontal cut. The two nameless swords break when they collide with the best sword in the world and a cut appears on Zoro's hip. He spits blood, and it looks like Luffy himself is also going too. With his injuries he still stands and turns to face Mihawk with his arms spread wide open to show his chest.

"What are you doing?"

"Scars on the back... are a disgrace to a... swordsman."

The best in the world is satisfied.

"Magnificent!"

He raises his black sword and cuts a diagonal slash across the chest to hip of the Straw Hats first mate.

"ZORO!"

The others were so stunned they didn't even know what to say.

Even with this blow he doesn't even let go of Wado Ichimonji from his hand and doesn't even fall to the ground. He is barely conscious. Once again the young man's determination impresses Mihawk, it was too soon to let him die. Maybe now he should test the captain a little...

"If you can still stand up, you can still receive more attacks."

He once again raises the sword that is dripping with the green haired swordsman's blood.

"STOP!"

A small column of dark smoke appears behind Luffy. Sanji watches in awe as his captain puts his hand in that smoke which soon becomes a sphere the size of a watermelon and which the dark haired throws at the shichibukai. He just looks out of the corner of his eye before cutting it in half as it approached him.

Luffy wasn't surprised. Although only his grandfather and grandmother have been able to stop this attack so far, he expected no less from Mihawk. He just used it to have time to jump into the wreckage of the ship and get between him and his swordsman. The one in the straw hat faced the best in the world with anger and determination.

As a last test Mihawk attacked with a side cut, and without hesitation Luffy covered his fists with darkness and tried to use gravitational repulsion to stop the sword. The blade was inches from snapping his hand, and he realized it only stopped because Mihawk wanted to stop.

'Really, Red Hair got this kid right.' "Tell me, what is your ambition?"

"I'm going to be the Pirate King!"

His face was filled with anger, but he never hesitated to talk.

"So you also intend to outdo me?"

"Obviously."

He couldn't hope for a better answer.

"Don't worry, he's not dead. Roronoa, it's too soon for you to die. Taste the defeat, train, get stronger and one day come after me again. I'm waiting at the top."

And as if he did everything he came to do, Mihawk turns to leave.

"Wait a minute! I'm still here."

Don Krieg speaks jumping up as tries to punch Mihawk.

"I have no interest in you."

In turn just pulls out his little knife and makes a forward movement. A wave of energy is generated from this movement and Krieg, who was still in mid-air, is sent back to the wreckage.

No one else dares get in the way of the swordsman as he climbs into his boat.

'Monkey D. Luffy and Roronoa Zoro. It finally looks like the Age of Pirates Roger started is bearing fruits.'

While everyone is still stunned by everything that happened, Luffy picks up Zoro and takes him back to the Baratie.

"HE NEEDS HELP NOW!"

The chiefs take a while before taking the swordsman and trying to take him inside to treat him. But Zoro stops them, he falls to the ground, and points Wado Ichimonji first to his captain and then to the sky, maybe he was talking to an old childhood friend too.

"Luffy... Kuina... I'm sorry for letting you down and worrying you. But...there is... no need...no more...I'm still going to become the best in the world...so you can calm down...I won't die. And... Luffy... I WILL NEVER LOSE AGAIN!"

Tears fall from his face and his captain's. The white-sheathed sword in his hand trembles. Mihawk is still watching, these kids don't really let him down.

"It's okay this way... Pirate King?"

Luffy wipes away his tears.

"YES!"

Smiling, Zoro drops his hand and the cooks take him inside for first aid. After hearing the promise, Mihawk disappeared, but Luffy knew that sooner or later they would meet again and that both he and Zoro should be much stronger at that point.

"That was..."

"Amazing... ZORO-BRO IS SO FUCKING AWESOME."

Cain says covering his face as he cries.

"Luffy, that thing you did was the power of your devil fruit?" Sanji asks his captain, remembering the dark sphered attack.

"Huh? Yeah."

"I see."

The one in the straw hat was still eager for the swordsman. Of course that was his fight, but if he was stronger maybe... Now it's no use thinking about it.

"Anyway, what we have to do here isn't over yet."

"In fact."

They watch as Krieg regroups his men, who don't seem too interested in a fight.

"WHAT? DID YOU ALL SUDDENLY BECOME COWARDS?"

"B-b-but Don Krieg you saw it. We didn't last a week there. East Blue's best swordsman looked like a child against that monster. WE WILL DIE!"

"Yes. All our troops were destroyed, we don't even have a fifth of the army we had before. Please reconsider Don Krieg."

The captain had a grim look on his face as he pulled out a gun and shot them both in the chest.

"Son of a bitch!" Sanji says with his teeth frowned.

Luffy clicks his tongue annoyed.

"Typical." Kada comments with frowned eyes.

"And to think that we could have already dumped this guy." Cain says, lamenting the missed opportunity.

"I don't accept cowards on my crew. Listen here! I don't care if we failed once, we are the strongest in the East Blue! We'll go back to the Grand Line again! Do you think that Shichibukai is a monster? Don't be idiots, there must be some secret behind his strength."

Hearing this the Straw Hat Captain sighs.

"The idiot here must be you."

Don Krieg doesn't hear what Luffy says and continues his monologue.

"And I know exactly where we can learn some of these secrets.", He looks at Zeff, "The way you kicked that axe, your cooking. Many thought you were dead, but here you are Red Leg Zeff."

The boss reacts disinterestedly.

"It's a name I haven't heard in a while."

With his theory confirmed, a sinister smile forms on Krieg's face.

"I heard years ago you went to the Grand Line and came back after a year there."

His crew goes into shock hearing this.

"ONE YEAR?"

"WAS THIS GUY A MONSTER?

"Yeah I think I did something like that when I was younger. So what?"

The old man however, still seemed extremely uninterested in the matter.

"So what? So what if you still have your travel journal. And is has what I need, information! How to deal with Devil Fruit users, like that boy", he points to Luffy, "the climates, the islands. I didn't lack strength, but I still failed, because I lacked knowledge. GIVE ME THAT KNOWLEDGE."

Zeff looked annoyed for the first time since Krieg started talking.

" y logbook is my memory with my crewmate. It's my treasure, I won't let you take it."

"Then I'll get it from your co-"

He is interrupted by five small dark orbs that hit his chest, cracking the golden armor and sending him flying as he spits blood.

"Hey Krieg", Luffy calls, as dark smoke is coming from the tips of the five fingers of his right hand, pointing at Krieg, "your fight is with us."

The enemy captain wipes the blood from his mouth and faces the two Straw Hats and the bounty hunters.

At that moment, under the Baratie, a platform that used to resemble a fin rises. Everyone is surprised when they realize this and Zeff could be seen having just lifted a lever.

"That way you don't destroy the restaurant."

For a rare moment Luffy and Don Krieg agree, though for different reasons.

"Great." Both say at the same time.

"Men let's end this shit and get back to the Grand Line!" Krieg says, trying to raise the spirit of his crew.

"Sanji, how do you fight?"

Sanji takes out a cigarette to start smoking before answering his captain.

"The old man who taught me. I'll kick them to their fucking graves."

Luffy smiles satisfied with the answer.

"Great!"

Gin looks hesitant, but he pulls out his weapons and goes into the battle too. Don Krieg was in the center, he on the right side, and on the left side was a man taller than Don Krieg himself, only that his body appears to be protected by several shields, a gigantic gray shield protecting his front and back, and others protecting his knees, shoulders and hands. Plus a hat that looks like a giant pearl. He was the commander of Don Krieg's second strike unit, Pearl.

"Let's get this right."

Don Krieg said was one of the shoulder pieces of his armor lifts and a wave of thorns is thrown straight at the two pirates and two hunters. Luffy just laughs with contempt as he raises a column of dark smoke that derives from his shadow and absorbs all the thorns.

"Liberation."

The thorns goes back to Don Krieg's pirates. Pearl simply uses his shields to protect himself from all the thorns, Gin breaks all the thorns using his tonfa and Don Krieg protects himself with his cape. But there were those who were unable to protect themselves, some died on the spot, others survived by luck of the thorns not having hit any vital points. And some others managed to stay out of the attack zone.

"Devil Fruit user son of a bitch!" Krieg says furious.

Luffy and Sanji just huff and step forward to start the fight when Kada and Cain grab their shoulders.

"Wait a minute, Luffy-san. We want to fight alone, without the help of pirates." Kada says with her bounty hunter determination.

"That's right. Krieg's reward is ours." Cain says with a confident look.

The boy in the red shirt frowns.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes Kada-chan, let me send everyone to hell for you." Sanji says, trying to convince them.

She gives a cynical smile.

"I would become a shameful bounty hunter if I depended on pirates to fight."

The Straw Hat Captain then folds his arms.

"Okay, I don't intend to interfere in your fights, but Sanji, feel free to come in if you think it's necessary."

Sanji: Understood.

The one with the ax and the one with the chains think it won't be necessary, but they keep quiet.

Krieg doesn't move either and only some of his subordinates along with Gin and Pearl climb onto the platform. The second unit commander had a sadistic smile on his face as he went.

"So you guys are the biggest bounty hunters on the East Blue? If you're that good, you should know that you're biting a lot more than you can chew." Pearl says. There were some rumors about Kada and Cain, and since a long time, before Zoro showed up, the two were considered the best pair of bounty hunters of the East Blue.

"That's what we'll see."

Cain says pulling two chains, one in his right hand with a blade at the end and one in his left hand with a spiked metal sphere.

Kada and Gin are facing each other, with him having to look up to face her.

"I should have ended up with you when you were fucked like that, yesterday." Kada says, still regreting having lost the chance, both with Gin and Krieg.

"Even then I wouldn't lose to you." Krieg's right hand man answers unfazed.

Kada lowers her ax and Gin raises his tonfa with the steel ball, the impact of the two colliding, reverberates throughout the restaurant. Cain spins his chain with the blade and sends it straight into Pearl's face, who despite its size reacts fast enough to catch the chain inches away from his face, much to the hunter's dismay.

The pirate then demonstrates his superior physical strength by gripping the chain with both hands, lifting Cain into the air and throwing him to the ground, then lifting him again, making an arc with the chains, and then throwing him to the ground again, breaking the part of the platform where he landed. It was possible to hear the sounds of his bones breaking, he spat blood as he seemed to lose consciousness.

"Why doesn't he let go?"

Sanji asked as he took a smoke. He didn't interact much with the man, so he wasn't exactly interested in saving him.

"I think they're too tied around his arm."

The one with the straw hat also answers with his arms crossed. He also promised to not interfere, though there were some veins popping up in his forehead.

"Idiot".

"A little."

"CAIN!" Kada screams even there was no answer.

She was taken completely by surprise. They didn't imagine that Don Krieg's pirates surpassed them so much, especially now with their reduced forces. Unfortunately she couldn't help as she was in her own battle.

Gin almost hit her, but using the side of the ax blade Kada was only pushed back a bit too. Yet it seemed clear that Gin's strength was also superior.

Back with Cain, Pearl made 180 degree arcs carrying the chains back and forth to finish off the hunter. The parts where the chains were wrapped around his body were so tight that they were leaving marks and stopping the blood circulation, for example, in his arms, that he didn't even feel anymore. Laughing maniacally Pearl had fun with it until he threw him one last time on the ground. At least he tries, only that Luffy holds the hunter and breaks the chains held by Pearl using his strenght.

"I think it's enough."

Cain was unconscious with only the whites of his eyes visible. Some of his teeth had fallen out and his entire body was covered in blood, and some of his bones were popping out of his flesh. Luffy calmly picked him up and took him to the chiefs, as he did with Zoro.

"As if we were going to let it!"

Pearl and his men try to stop Luffy, but Sanji gets between them and his captain. Standing upside down and supporting himself with only his hands, he spreads his legs completely rolling around himself, he hits all the Don Krieg pirates, except Pearl who jumped back, in the neck breaking them instantly. The force of his kicks was inhuman.

The Straw Hat watched after handing Cain over to the chiefs who claimed they weren't doctors. Kada also realized that her partner was already unable to continue and couldn't contain her anxiety.

'So this is the power of the strongest crew in East Blue? Damn, we are nothing close to them.'

She traded blows with Gin, but his speed and strength once again proved superior. She could barely defend her attacks and her arm was already going numb. Gin then pretends he's going to hit her ax blade again, only that he spins his weapon changing the direction of the steel ball. He lowers his body and slams it into the side of her left knee. The leg bends, the bone seems to tear from the skin as Kada screams in pain and falls to the ground. Her leg was at an angle it should never have been, with blood spilling from where the bone was tearing at the skin.

"Your height is more of a dis-" Gin started saying, before he was interrupted by a pissed off Sanji.

"HOW DARE YOU!"

Don Krieg's right hand man is hit with a spinning kick to his face and is sent almost off the platform. Luffy remains watching as Zoro, with his entire upper body bandaged, leaves the restaurant with hatred in his eyes. Now it was the straw hats time.

Zoro watched with Pearl with hatred. The chiefs had told him that it was this asshole that did that with Cain. He was about to pull Wado Ichimonji from his haramaki when Luffy grabbed his arm.

"You're in no condition to fight."

"But-"

"No buts. I was also the one that let Cain end like that, so I will fight. At most sit and watch."

Zoro sighs. He knows Luffy shouldn't feel guilty, he was sure Cain had asked him not to interfere and Zoro wouldn't have interfered either. It's true that he really wasn't in the best condition to fight, yet... Anyway he just sighed as he ignored his injuries and sat back to see how things would unfold. Or rather, he sat down to watch his crew destroy the other one.

The dark haired boy walks until he stands a few meters from Pearl and looks up at him.

"What was it short thing? Do you want a beating too?" Pearl says with his pysychotic smile.

"Black Hole."

Luffy simple says, as his shadow extends just enough to pull in the pearl-headed commander and suck him into the black hole.

"Liberation."

When Peark is thrown back up the dark mass disappears. The shields, which were once intact without a single scratch, now had several cracks and loose pieces, with some even falling apart like the one on the left elbow. A third of Pearl's hat, which actually looked like a pearl, appeared to have been broken. His fingers were contorted into painful shapes and blood oozed from various parts of his body, trough the orifices in his head, trough wounds around his body that opened, veins that burst and so on. Amazingly he still looked conscious and with great difficulty got to his feet.

Don Krieg's pirates despaired seeing how easy it was for one of their strongest to stay in that state. Even Don Krieg himself was in a cold sweat at that moment.

Pearl, with great difficulty got up. He had never felt so much pain and fear in his life.

"Danger... danger... danger... DANGER!"

He starts hitting the shields he held in his hands against each other quickly ,which, in addition to breaking them further, started a spark that soon set all the other shields on fire. This was his ultimate defense, but as the shields were damaged he ended up also setting himself on fire.

"Shit!" Krieg said as cold sweat run through his forehead

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

As Pearl screams in pain, another black hole expands and once again pulls him.

"Liberation."

For the second time Pearl's body flies out of the hole and hits the ground. Only now the shields are reduced to fragments, burn marks are on various parts of his body like neck and arms. More blood had come out now and his neck was bent in a way that could only be possible by being painfully broken.

This "fight" didn't even last a minute, and one of Don Krieg's strongest men died like nothing.

Sanji watched in awe and scared by Luffy's powers. He just thanked the heavens that he was his captain.

Don Krieg's right hand man rose after the spinning kick, wiping the blood from his nose.

"Sanji-san, I don't want-"

"Shut up!"

The blonde chief doesn't even hear what he has to say before giving him a kick in the chest. Gin loses all air and takes a deep breath before standing up again.

"I have no interest in what a man who beats a lady has to say."

"Do as you please, although I prefer not to fight you."

Sanji aimed to kick the man in the neck, but he swung his weapon so that the end was tipped with the steel ball facing up. The impact makes the smoker's foot hurt a little, but he just twists his face and changes his posture. Gin takes the offensive and tries to hit Sanji using a side attack, only for the blonde to spit up the cigarette in his mouth just above Krieg's first mate's left eye. Caught by surprise, he loses his balance and the blonde lands another kick to his chin, making him fall headlong to the ground.

Gin tastes blood in his mouth, and one of his loose teeth that he soon spits out in a mixture of saliva and blood. One or two ribs are broken and he's having trouble breathing, and truth be told, his fight with Kada has left his arms more numb than he cared to admit. He shouldn't have underestimated the strength of a six-foot-tall woman.

"Sanji! Stop it, this fight is mine!"

Kada says as she finally recovered from the pain, and demands that the smoker let her continue. He just takes a drag on another cigarette that he lit and inhales.

"You can't even get up. You fought well, now leave it to me."

"But-"

They hadn't realized it but their backs were directed to Don Krieg. Noting this, the enemy captain smiled grimly as he launched a spherical projectile towards Luffy and another towards Sanji. Thinking fast the straw hat boy draws them both to him using his gravitational abilities, only for the spheres explode revealing thorns. Caught by surprise Luffy barely reacts fast enought before covering himself with darkness, making so that the thorns don't even let a scratch.

"LUFFY!" Zoro screamed his captain name as he saw the enemy attack

"I AM OK!" He responds before thinking to himself. "It was almost the same as with Buggy. I need to be faster."

Don Krieg clicks his tongue when he sees that the boy hadn't a single scratch.

"KRIEG YOU BITCH!" Sanji screams after seeing his captain defend him and Kada from an attack in their backs.

"Humph! What's the problem? This is a fight between pirates, there are no rules."

Sanji looks like he's going to retort but his captain interrupts him.

"He's right Sanji. It's a fight between pirates and anything goes. And Krieg, you should stop giving me ammo."

Luffy says, as he points his hand towards Krieg.

Don Krieg, imagining that the boy was going to shoot covers himself with his cape, but to his surprise he feels a gravitational pull pulling him towards Luffy.

"DON KRIEG!"

Gin tries to intervene but Sanji kicks him in the middle of the face.

"Our fight isn't over."

Gin takes a few leaps backwards facing the sky.

"Sanji-san, thank you very much."

"Huh?"

The chief raises an eyebrow not understanding.

"When you gave me that plate of food, for the first time in my life someone was kind to me."

Since Gin could remember, he had lived on the periphery. First he fought to survive, for food. Then it was for the entertainment of others in a clandestine coliseum. And everyone always treated him like a wild animal, never like a human. Either they looked at him with fear or as an amusing animal. Krieg was the one who got him out of there when his crew was still starting. He didn't do it as a good deed but because he appreciated Gin's abilities, and Gin knew it and didn't care. He was just grateful to have come out of a place he'd been confined to since birth. And the first thing he saw when he left was the sea.

Don Krieg certainly wasn't the ideal person to follow, as much as Gin had trouble admitting it to himself, but to him, it was to Don Krieg he owed everything.

"I really didn't want to fight you. In fact, I wish everything had gone very differently, but here we are. And I refuse to disobey my captain!"

"Loyalty would be admirable if your captain wasn't a piece of shit."

There was no further conversation between them.

The cook proceeded to try to kick his neck, but Gin dodged by ducking and rotating his tonfa to hit the other's leg. Sanji rotates his leg that was fixed on the ground, turning in the opposite direction to the attack he was going to receive. He draws more smoke from his cigarette, and inhales it in Gin's face.

"Shi-"

As a natural reaction, he instinctively closes his eyes and starts coughing. Sanji then keeps one leg on the ground, spins and with the momentum kicks the enemy pirate's left arm. The blonde's natural physical strength plus the small thrust he took caused him to break Gin's arm. Grunting in pain, he lets go of one of his weapons. With a helpless side the fight is even easier for the chief who does another kick on the left side, this time reaching up to the hip. And even with an almost inhuman strength Gin still tried to hold himself in place, only that the next thing he saw was the sole of Sanji's shoe. As if a kick to the face wasn't enough, the blonde one removes his one leg from the ground and begins to rotate in the air while still standing with his foot in the enemy's face.

After two or three laps he retracts one leg and kicks Gin in the face, again, with the other one. This time Gin is thrown back with such force that he lands on his stomach. His face is red with blood and friction, plus mucus coming out of his broken nose. Some teeth were also missing. Both of his eyes were purple, but the right one was so much that he couldn't even see with it. He had lost the strength to hold his other tunfa and now only stared at Sanji with his left eye.

"You beat me...kill me..."

"Don't get it wrong.", he takes a smoke before continuing. "I would love to kill an enemy who has raised their hands against a lady."

"I DIDN'T NEED YOUR HELP." Kada screams just to be ignored as Sanji took a sit on Gin's back, making him grunt.

"But, I don't think you're that bad. You seemed hesitant to follow some orders and didn't even feelt like fighting me. And sincerely, your loyalty to your captain is admirable. So why don't we watch while my captain kills yours and then we can decide what to do?"

The defeated makes an expression as if he had heard the greatest blasphemy in the world.

"DON KRIEG WILL NEVER LOSE!"

Sanji calmly continues to smoke his cigarette.

"We'll see."

Going back a bit to right after Luffy pulled Don Krieg.

It was an odd scene, a boy with a third of Krieg's height holding him with one hand. The luck of the one in the armor was that because he pulled his cloak, Luffy was holding it not him, so he only needed to unhook it from his shoulder.

Krieg steps forward as he turns to the straw hat, ready to shoot him, only for the boy to have a swirl of dark smoke in his right hand pointing at him.

"Liberation."

Taking a taste of his own poison, the captain of the East Blue's most feared pirates can only shield his eyes with his arms. The armor greatly reduced the damage, but a thorn still pierced his forehead and some increased the size of the cracks Luffy had made with a previous attack.

"Tsk, that's nothing. TAKE THIS!"

He removes the thorn from his forehead as the side of the armor opens to reveal firearms and Krieg pulls out two pistols. He starts shooting at Luffy in an attempt to hit him at close range, but the boy raises the cloak that was still in his hands to defend himself. The bullets still pass but with much less power and without hitting Luffy, and that was enough for the Straw Hat boy, who threw the cape at the enemy blocking his view. He was having some fun using Krieg's things against him.

For a moment Don Krieg stops shooting and hits the cape that would fall in his face, knocking it to the ground. Then he realized Luffy was no longer in front of him.

Using the advantage of being shorter than the enemy and that his attention was, for a few seconds, diverted to something else, the captain of the Straw Hats ducks as he runs forward past the cloak and without Don Krieg noticing. Dark smoke starts to come out of his right arm as he positions him back, he takes a leap and when the enemy notices him it's too late. Luffy throws a punch that becomes a column of darkness right in Don Krieg's chest.

The armor that already showed some cracks, simply broke under the pressure and impact of the attack. The punch extended until Krieg fell back into the wreckage of his old galleon.

"C-Captain?"

"These Devil Fruit users are crazy!"

By then Sanji had already defeated Gin, and the two were watching the outcome of their captains' clash.

"I-It can't be..."

The blonde remained silent.

Don Krieg was lying in the wreckage the Shichibukai made his ship. His armor was destroyed, he had definitely broken more than three ribs and was spitting blood. Since becoming a pirate this was probably the hardest fight of his life, and as much as any sensible person would say he had already lost, he himself firmly believed in his victory.

"Y-you know how to punch boy, I admit that." It was harder to say this than he would like to admit.

"I already knew that before you told me."

Krieg grits his teeth seeing how convinced his opponent is.

"Make no mistake, you will still lose."

"We'll see."

"No." He talks as he takes a gas mask. "It's already decided."

Krieg runs and takes off with a jump back onto the platform. However, still in the air he pulls from his back something that resembles a shield with his Jolly Roger. His subordinates swallow hard as they realize what it was.

"I didn't think I would use this since you absorb projectiles, but..."

Taking advantage of the fact that he was in midair, Luffy tries to punch him with darkness, which makes Krieg smile. Before being hit the mouth of his Jolly Roger opens and a projectile comes out of it, soon after this Krieg is hit by Luffy's attack is sent back to the wreckage.

"THAT IS POISONOUS GAS!" Gin warns everyone.

"KRIEG YOU ASSHOLE!" Kada screams hitting the floor with her hand.

"SHIT!" Sanji says, preparing to get out of there.

"LUFFY!" Zoro calls his captain.

"DON'T WORRY!" And Luffy is still calm as the projectile comes towards them.

Sanji grabs Gin by the collar and throws him overboard. He takes Kada in bride style and throws himself into the sea with her. Zoro tries to go to Luffy, but his captain's gaze gives other orders. Hesitantly, he enters the restaurant with some of the chiefs who lock and close everything. Others just threw themselves into the water.

The bomb explodes in mid-air releasing all the gas in the makeshift courtyard. Luffy closes his mouth, holds his breath and closes his eyes as he bends down, touching his hands to the ground, creating a black hole that pulls all the gas inside. It was just a small fright that lasted less than 3 seconds. Everything Don Krieg needed for a distraction.

Krieg took a drug that he let as a pill in his mouth. It was for radical situations, like this one. He just had to do this before once, when the captain in Loguetown almost got him. He managed to escape by setting himself on fire, and taking this drug at the same time. Even with his powers, the marine captain seemed to have trouble with fire. And the drug basically made so that his body didn't feel pain or anything that could hold him back. There are a lot of problems with this, and in that ocasion he just survived because of his extensive medical unity, that he no longer had.

Luffy sighs in relief, but when he opens his eyes Don Krieg is lowering a spear on him. His moves are quick to dodge most of the damage, but not enough to avoid everything. He manages to avoid being impaled but the tip of the spear still scrapes across the side of his abdomen. As if that wasn't enough, there is an explosion that increases the size of the cut and sends him to the edge of the platform.

Zoro widens his eyes and tries to get out to get involved in the fight, but the cut Mihawk gave him hurts again, bringing him to his knees. Sanji was on the other side and is swimming, hoping to get there in time.

The boy in the straw hat holds the cut with his right hand, where a considerable amount of blood is coming out, and he also has some burn marks around him. He clenched his teeth and the other fist as he got up. It was the first time in weeks since he became a pirate that his enhanced sense of pain actually bothered him.

"I said it was already decided. What would a rookie who has never even left East Blue be able to do?"

Luffy doesn't even listen and just notices that his chief was on the platform.

"SANJI GO BACK IN THE WATER!"

First the blonde makes a surprised face, except that his new captain's voice was so decisive that before he even thought, he had followed the order. Don Krieg looks confused at the blonde, flinging himself back to the memory of what happened to the commander of his second unit. Desperate he raises the spear with the bomb and tries to hit Luffy. It was too late.

"Black Hole."

Both Don Krieg and the spear are absorbed. The black hole this time had taken up the entire platform, even Pearl's body was absorbed a third time. The gravitational pull this time was so strong that the windows broke and the glass was also absorbed. For a second, pirates or chiefs or even the bounty hunter, thought they would be absorbed, but the next second the gravitational pull was reversed.

"Liberation."

Krieg and his spear returned, but the bomb exploded the instant it left the black hole. It was close to his right arm, and after the explosion the wounds that had formed only got worse, along with the burned appearance of the arm and the wounds that were so big it was possible to see the bones. The nerves and veins had been reduced to nothing, the bones themselves seemed burned and broken by the blast. Blood didn't even come out, even if he by some miracle survived he had lost that hand. Of course Luffy wouldn't let him survive.

A black sphere, similar to the one he sent against Mihawk but much larger, is thrown at the enemy captain. The impact ensures that if they weren't all broken before, now with absolute certainty every bone in his body has been broken, some perhaps even turned to dust. Several of his teeth come out of his open mouth along with blood as he seems to cough up. The force of that sphere is so great that in addition to breaking the bones that still kept his right hand attached to his body, it released it once and for all. His body contorted at an angle that only made sense to be possible if every bone adn his spine had been reduced to nothing.

The sphere crawled until it fell apart. Luffy was still holding his injury. If the spear head had gone a little deeper it would be possible to see his internal organs. While everyone was speechless, Zoro gathers his strength and kicks the door.

"HELP HIM NOW!"

The chiefs are brought out of their trance and go to get the boy in the straw hat to treat him.

Gin, in shock, climbs onto the platform and looks at the writhing, dead body of his captain.

"Don Krieg..."

He sits on his knees while still avoiding touching the dead body. The other pirates have almost the same reaction even though they don't move. The great Don Krieg, the East Blue terror. The man who deceived the navy and his enemies. The man who was responsible for countless deaths, rapes, pain and suffering. This man suffered a death worse than that of a dog in front of a pirate who had barely a month into the sea. And now this rookie had completely destroyed the nightmare of this part of the ocean.

"And then how will Gin be?"

Sanji asked. This time he didn't smoke.

"I... I..."

He was aimless.

"Let's do it this way. I will let you go because you don't look as bad as those guys. I can't promise anything about the others there." He points to the pirates still in shock in the wreckage. "If they go with you I won't do anything, if they refuse I don't promise I won't kill them to prevent a possible future revenge."

"And who said I won't get revenge?"

"If you come back we'll kill you, it's simple. But... I don't know what your history with Krieg is, but I know you're very different from him. Go, become a captain maybe, see the world. You no longer have to follow orders, you are free to literally do whatever you want. Though if you hurt any lady I'll kill you. Anyway, I have the feeling that maybe you'll change your mind about Krieg if you travel a bit."

A part of everything Sanji said resonated in Gin's mind. He was free. Yes, Don Krieg was dead, but he was still at sea, the same sea he saw when he came out of that arena that had always trapped him. Maybe the blonde was right, he should leave first, now he just needs to follow his own orders. He doesn't need to kill anyone anymore because Krieg ordered him to, he doesn't need to capture, he doesn't need to steal. In fact, so many possibilities opened up in his mind that it took him a long time to process. After a few moments of silence he gets up.

"Thank you Sanji-san."

Gin says as he goes walking. He had taken a beating, his arm was still broken and his captain was dead. But he was free and tears came down his face. Whether it was sadness for the losses or happiness for what he had won, maybe he himself didn't know.

"Tell your captain that one day we will meet again at the Grand Line. And no need to worry, I don't hold a grudge."

He speaks without looking back. Sanji smirks.

"It's a promise then."

"Absolutely!"

After that he gathered the rest of the crew who were still alive and they left in some boats. After that day the Don Krieg pirates were destroyed and what was left would become a completely different crew, less violent and cruel. Of course they would still be pirates. As for the promise of meeting once again, it would take some time to be fullfilled.

...

A few hours had passed. Luffy went to sleep shortly after killing Don Krieg. He and Zoro were treated as best as possible by the chiefs. Law would still treat them better later though. Kada and Cain also received help.

They were both extremely depressed about how they had been nothing to Krieg.

Zoro took a nap while Luffy also lay down, resting his eyes.

The cooks were still ecstatic sedding letters to everyone they knew talking about what had happened. Luffy and Zoro's names soared to fame as the crew that killed Don Krieg and survived an encounter with Mihawk. Naturally the stories would be exaggerated making people fear the Straw Hats even more.

Sanji was once again checking his belongings, making sure he didn't forget anything. His clothes, cigarette packs and kitchen utensils were all there. Sighing he looks for what would be the last time for a long time the Baratie's porch.

"Are you finally ready to stop living off my back huh?"

Zeff asks, making a weak smile appears on the blonde's face.

"Better hope the customers still come back now the best chief is leaving."

"Hahahahahaha. It's likely to see even more customers now that you're leaving. Missing you will do very well to the business."

"Humph. Try not to go broke."

Silence settles between them as they watch the vast ocean landscape remembering the fifty days they spent seeing only that.

"Try not to die."

Zeff's voice has never been so serious in years.

"That's what I tell you old man. The chance that you have a problem because of your age is much greater than that of me getting killed around."

One more moment of silence, before Zeff says one last thing.

"Go find it...idiot son."

He doesn't look at Sanji in the face.

"I will..." He bites his lower lip and holds back the tears. "Stupid dad."

They felt the sea breeze as they silently ended their farewells.

...

"Where do we go now anyway?"

Zoro spoke yawning as he scratched his head.

"Hmmmm, I don't know. In a little while Bonney and the others should send a message somehow."

Luffy said after he finished eating everything they had put out for them.

"We have to go find those beautiful ladies soon. We don't known what kind of dangers they are facing."

Sanji said almost delirious. Zoro cursed Law's luck in having left without dealing with this shitty pervert anymore.

"Then I believe our farewell will be here." Kada says. She was already ready to go.

Cain would have nodded or said something, but he couldn't do either right now. His body was all bandaged and it would take a while for him to recover yet.

"Won't you want to go with us to find Johnny and Yosaku?"

She shakes her head.

"We'll meet them later, maybe at our base or some other palce. For now, however, I want to get back to fighting as soon as possible. I couldn't even defeat Don Krieg's right-hand man. I'm still far from being as strong as I want." Then she looks at the captain of the Straw Hats. "Luffy you will be the Pirate King?"

He smiles from ear to ear.

"Yes!"

A small grin forms in Kada's face.

"Maybe I'll end up becoming the hunter who captured the Pirate King?"

Luffy and Zoro started laughing madly.

"Hey, hey... " Zoro says as he rests his hand on his white-sheathed sword, the last one remaining. "You can try, but if you're going to fight to kill my captain I won't back down against you."

"And you would need to be even stronger." Luffy complements

Kada's sad expression by this point has completely disappeared and has been replaced by anticipation.

"Yes, I know all that. So let's see what the future holds."

"Goodbye Kada-chan, know that my heart will always be with you."

He kneels down as he raises his hands in praise of her.

"Hahahahahahaha. You are a funny chief."

"She doesn't even remember his name right?"

Zoro whispers to his captain.

"I don't think so."

Sanji tries to kick the head of the two who just tilt it to the side, dodging it.

"Shut up! There's no way brutes like you understand a lady's heart!"

He wouldn't say that about the captain in a few months...

Kada and Cain, who silently said goodbye, were leaving the restaurant as the three Straw Hats pondered what to do.

"HEY STRAW HAT!" The female bounty hunter suddenly screams.

Curious with the call of the huntress who should have already left, they went outside and together with the two acquaintances there was now a bat flying around them.

"A messenger bat?"

Zoro asks, while Luffy and Sanji's faces demonstrate that they are unaware of this.

"It's an animal made to send messages, and it's quite common among bounty hunters. This one seems to be Yosaku's."

The captain and the cook nod their heads.

"And what does it say?"

They see a piece of paper in the little bat's paw. He flies until he's on top of the dark haired boy's hand and lets go of the paper. Unfolding the message appears a writing saying that they should follow the bat.

"Looks like this guy knows where we have to go." Sanji says, poiting to the bat.

"It's time to solve whatever that witch is doing." Zoro says, still angry that Nami took the Merry.

"DON'T SAY THAT ABOUT THE BEAUTIFUL NAMI-SWAN!"

"Oh, shut up-"

"Stop!"

Luffy's tone of voice was serious. More serious than Zoro remembers seeing, even Sanji stops clowning around.

The captain turns to the chiefs.

"Would you have another boat to lend to us?"

"Of course, let us get it." Patty says as he goes to get one boat for them.

"Thanks." He turns back to Kada. "Thanks a lot too."

"It was nothing. And now it's real goodbye."

They shake hands and nod their heads in farewell to Cain. They just had to wait some minutes before Zeff said.

"The boat is ready, you can go whenever you want."

"We're leaving now. Boss, thanks for everything."

"I thank you for getting rid of this thing for me... take good care of him."

"As I do with everyone in my crew."

Zeff smirked as he wondered how far this boy would go.

"We're leaving!" He says to Zoro and Sanji.

"Yes!" Both of them exclaim at the same time.

'Nami, whatever is going on, I'm not giving up on you!' The captain thinks to himself as his determination rises even more.

They climb onto the boat while the bat starts going in a specific direction. They leave Baratie towards an as-yet-uncertain destination.

And some time passed as they continued their journey.

"So, what's your story with the magnificent Nami-swan? No idea why she ran away like this?"

The green-haired swordsman sighs.

"From the moment we met her, she made her aversion to pirates very clear. We don't know why, but it's obvious something happened. We joined in an alliance that also favored her, and we've been traveling together ever since. But I think we all thought she already saw herself as part of the group. And it seems we were wrong."

"Got it..."

"Nami... since yesterday she's been acting weird. I think Bonney noticed too, we should have talked to her. But I think we were afraid to push her away if we asked anything."

Luffy was obviously down. Zoro sighed again, it was the first time he had seen his captain like that. Sanji lit a cigarette as he considered.

At that moment a big shadow passes under their boat. The result is a small series of waves at sea that don't even rock the boat, normal people wouldn't even notice. Obviously the three members of the Straw Hat Pirates present here were anything but normal.

"Stay seated, I'll handle this. COME HERE YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"

Luffy and Zoro remain seated and close their eyes to rest a little.

Responding to the blonde's call, a sea creature stands imposingly. He was gigantic, his horns alone would be enough to fill the entire boat, his scales looking rough and ridiculously tough. His nostrils had a ring, resembling a certain species of bovine, the difference being that his spots were green.

"What the fuck is this?"

Sanjis asks as the dark-haired and the green-haired open their eyes and stare at the creature to see the reason for the cook's reaction.

"A sea cow?" Luffy asks raising an eyebrow.

"Does it taste like meat?" Zoro pondered.

The three of them seemed to be quite interested in the animal for reasons he himself was not used to seeing people arguing when they talked about him. The bat that guided them was completely terrified and hid behind the boat.

"If you guys want I can cook it."

"Not for now, let's tame him. If we use it to load the boat we'll be a lot faster." Luffy says, he was skilled when it came to taming animals. Of course, he wouldn't let the chance to eat meat pass, he was just postponing it.

"It makes sense."

Zoro replied with a hand on his chin.

"Very well then."

Offended at how calm these humans are, the sea monster tries to attack by biting the boat. Sanji kicks the top of his head, Luffy uses his steel barrel to hit him in the left side of his face and Zoro cuts his right horn with his sword. The animal almost passed out but the blonde gave him another kick keeping him awake.

With sheer terror in it's eyes, an expression he never thought he would show humans, he thought about running away. The group's haunted and terrifying gaze made him realize that maybe this wasn't the best approach. It didn't take much to convince the animal to take them.

Now, at a much faster pace, they saw an island approaching on the horizon. The bat made an agitated sign pointing there.

"I think we're here."

As they were getting closer they were making the monster slow down. A harbor was what arose in their visions, and in it was the Merry with their crewmates.

"Hi guys!"

The captain nods screaming at them, Sanji gets hearts in the pupil places as he watches Bonney and Zoro remains the same. The four of them, Bonney, Ucy, Law and Usopp were looking down thoughtfully when they heard the voice of the boy in the straw hat.

"Finally." Law said, he looked furious with something.

"Now we can sort everything out." Bonney said, feeling lighter seeing Luffy getting closer.

"But first we have to tell them everything that's going on." Usopp says with what looked like an almost saddened expression.

"Grrrrr."

The tiger agrees with the shooter. At that moment the Straw Hats gathered.

---

This sure was a long one. Luffy's enhanced sense of pain would have to come in sooner or later, and this was the first time that actually bothered him. And here I pretend to make justice to Gin's promise and we will see him again, with his own crew. But for now we are going to Arlong Park, were for the first time I will separate the arc in two chapters, mainly because the way I wrote it, so hopefully it will take sooner to update. I also don't think the next couple of chapters will be as big as this one, but I am not sure.

As some of you may have noticed, I am not taking the canon route of everything pre-time skip happening in 3 months. Here, just the East Blue arc will take a whole month, so don't think too much about the canon timeline.

Also, sorry for the inconvinience in last chapter, is already fixed.

Revies:

Xalmasy: Yes, thanks a lot. That's exactly what I aim for, even though this first chapters are still closer to canon than I would like them to be. That's also one of the reasons I want to adapt non-canonical stuff, like movies, so that I can put even more things that are away from canon, making more changes. What I want is someone that doesn't read the fic opening the current chapter I uploaded, and having no idea what the fuck is happening.

NinjaFang1331, Fighteroffates and Animelover3246: once more sorry for the trouble.

NoaRien: Thanks.

Midnightscar17: I just did.

Bastidaswilliam2005: Thanks for the idea, some times maybe ocs will be reference and have some similiarities to characters from other franchises, but this won't always be the case.