One Piece: Truly Precious
Thank you to all of you that favorited and followed this story so far. It is your support that inspires me to keep writing this fanfic. The end battles for the Krieg arc draw near and several more crewmembers will be joining once it is complete. I know the amount of crew for the ship is going to make things very cramped very quickly, but I'm working on an idea to fix that.
Any additional ideas for the improvement of this fic will be taken into consideration.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
The Krieg Pirates watched the end of the battle between the two master swordsmen with awe and watched as Zoro limped over to Luffy's side and pulled the dagger out from the deck, placing it back in the sheath around his neck.
"So," said Luffy, "after seeing the strength of my First Mate, do you still want to take this restaurant knowing we'd be protecting it?"
This caused the Krieg pirates to take a step back. They would be fighting these people? If the First Mate was strong enough to fight on a Shichibukai's level when said First Mate wasn't even at his best.
"Oi," growled Krieg as he glared at his crew, "my crew is not a bunch of cowardly worms. If you want to leave, then get out."
"Um," said one crewmember, "I might want to…"
*BANG*
The crewmember that just spoke fell to the ground dead from a bullet hole in his head while Krieg lowered a smoking flintlock, while the crew looked on in horror.
"Anyone else?" asked Krieg, "No? Good. Now, take down this trash! Pearl, Gin, take out these pirates. The rest of you, seize my new ship!"
"YES SIR!" yelled the pirates.
A large man wearing pear adorned iron shields on his body marched forward to face the Straw Hats, "I am the Commander of the Krieg Pirates' Second Unit, Pearl the Iron Wall! I will be your opponent. I have never once bled in battle, so your chances of beating me are ZERO!"
"Funny," said Zoro, "you don't seem that tough to me."
"Out of the way, shitty-marimo," said Sanji as he blew out a cloud of smoke, "I have a score to settle with pearl-brain here."
"Oh?" asked Pearl, "I don't believe we've met."
"The name's Sanji," said Sanji as he took a drag from his cigarette, "sous-chef of the floating restaurant Baratie. I won't let you crap-bastards set one foot inside."
"You think you can injure me?" laughed Pearl, "None have been able to breach my Iron Pearl Shields! A chef like you…GUH!"
Pearl's rant was cut off when Sanji spun and landed a powerful, Haki coated kick into the center of Pearl's shield, causing him to go skidding back. Luckily for the large man, he regained control before he ran out of deck and fell into the ocean. Unfortunately, the kick had been so powerful that it caused him to cough up a bit of blood.
"Wh-what's this?" gasped Pearl.
"Crap!" exclaimed another pirate, "He made Pearl bleed!"
"B-blood," stammered Pearl, "BLOOOOD!"
Suddenly white flames erupted on Pearl's shields as the armored man bashed them together and yelled hysterically.
"Great," said Zoro, "now he's on fire."
"Shut up," grumbled Sanji, "I can handle it."
"DIE!" yelled Pearl, "Fire Pearl Daitokuten!"
Pearl threw several small pearls at the Baratie that had been ignited by his flames, turning them into mini fireballs. As the Fire Pearls streaked toward the restaurant, the sous chef calmly stepped between them and the restaurant that was his pride. With several lightning fast kicks, Sanji deflected the pearls while using the air generated from the speed of his kicks to extinguish the flames.
"Your fire is nothing compared to the hell I endured," said Sanji, "in fact it's actually quite cold. Diable Jambe: Flanchet Strike!"
Sanji spun on his leg, using the friction to cause it to ignite, before slamming a Haki coated kick into the center of Pearl's body shield. The power and force behind the strike was great enough that, not only was the large shield on Pearl's front shattered, but the shield on his back was shattered as well when the force blasted through his body. The Invincible Pearl fell to the ground dead with blood dripping from his mouth due to the internal injuries he suffered from Sanji's kick.
"No way," gasped the Krieg Pirates, "they beat Pearl."
"Gin," growled Krieg, "don't just stand there. Slaughter these whelps and show them the might of the Krieg Armada!"
"But Don…" Gin said hesitantly.
"Are you going to disobey me?" asked Krieg threateningly.
Before Gin could answer, a mocking laugh cut through the tense silence.
"Shishishi," laughed Luffy, "what's wrong? Is the great Don Krieg so afraid to get his hand's dirty that he forces his subordinates to fight in his place?"
"What was that?" growled Krieg.
"You heard me," said Luffy, "I bet I could take you, so how about we settle this, captain to captain. Unless, of course, you're too scared and weak that you need to hide behind your crew instead of fighting me yourself."
"Brat," Krieg snarled as he revealed his guns, "you want to die so badly? I'll be happy to oblige you. Dangan!"
Krieg fired a barrage of bullets at the young captain, but Luffy simply stood firm, allowing the bullets to hit his body, using his rubber nature to bounce them right back, forcing the Don to have to shield himself from his own weapons.
"Sorry," said Luffy, "but that won't work."
"I see," said Krieg, "so you've eaten a Devil Fruit."
"Yup," said Luffy, "I ate the Gum Gum Fruit and became rubber."
"Well then," said Krieg as he removed one of his shoulder plates, "then I'll have to switch ammo."
Aiming the plate at Luffy, slots slid open to reveal a chain gun array, "Needle Machine Gun!"
Krieg fired a barrage of spikes at Luffy from his shoulder plate, but, the Strawhat captain simply closed his eyes. The pirates watching the fight were shocked when Luffy began to easily dodge the spikes shooting at him, flowing around them like a leaf in the wind.
"Gum Gum: Pistol!" yelled Luffy as he shot his fist forward at Kreig's armored plate.
When Luffy's punch slammed into Krieg's Needle Gun, the Captain's powerful fist shattered the Wootz Steel plate, like it was mere ceramic. The Don staggered back from the Force of the strike, and pulled out a spiked cloak that he wrapped around his form.
"So you can throw a punch," spat Krieg, "that won't help if you can't hit me!"
"LIKE THAT WILL HELP!" yelled Luffy as he ran forward and punched through the cape, using a thin layer of Haki to protect his skin.
"Guh!" gasped Krieg as he was sent tumbling backwards from the force of the blow, "Damn you. I'll end this now!"
Krieg pulled on a gas mask and pulled his remaining shoulder plate off his armor, aiming it at Luffy.
"Crap!" said the pirates as they scrambled for their gas masks, "It's Don's Poison Gas Bomb!"
"I won't let you!" shouted Luffy as he shot forward and buried his fist into the shoulder plate, damaging the mechanism and causing the hidden cannon to misfire, blowing the plate to pieces along with the bomb.
"Gah!" yelled Krieg as he clutched his hand that was burnt from the misfire.
"I'm not done!" yelled Luffy as he shot forward, "Gum Gum Gattling!"
Luffy slammed powerful punches into the remaining parts of Krieg's armor, shattering the Wootz Steel like glass. The Pirate Captain then faced the Pirate Don with a stony look on his face.
"You've lost," said Luffy.
"NO!" yelled Krieg, "I AM DON KRIEG THE PIRATE ADMIRAL! I WILL NOT BE BEATEN!"
Kreig pulled out a spiked ball attached to a chain, but Luffy quickly activated Gear Second to get in close while stretching his arm back and enhancing it with Haki.
"Gum Gum," said Luffy as the power in his arm caused flames to ignite on it, "RED HAWK!"
Luffy slammed his flaming fist into Krieg's torso, causing the Pirate Don to cough up blood as the flames blasted through him with the force behind the punch caused him internal injuries. The Pirate Fleet Admiral, Don Krieg, fell to the ground dead.
"They beat Don Krieg," said the Krieg Pirates.
"Listen you lot," yelled Luffy, "you have two choices. Either you pack up and leave, or you try and fight us like your captain did. Your choice."
The Krieg pirates glanced at each other and bolted for the nearest lifeboats, getting the hell out of there as fast as they could. As Gin was about to follow, he was stopped when Luffy called out after him.
"Wait Gin!" said Luffy, "Our offer is still open though. You can come with us. Join my crew and be my nakama."
"Is that why you killed him?" asked Gin.
"Nah," said Luffy, "he was a dick, and he broke his word when he chose to attack the chefs here. This restaurant is under our protection now. But you're a nice guy. You have honor. You're the kind of guy I want to travel with and the kind of guy I want to watch my back when I become Pirate King."
"Heh," chuckled Gin, "you're really an odd one. You really think you can survive the Grand Line and the horrors that wait there? Our armada was decimated, and you are just a handful of kids."
"Shishishi," laughed Luffy, "we know we can do it, because we're not alone. We all have each other."
"You see," said Zoro, "we're not measured by our numbers. Our crew fights together. We are measured by our combined might, and that might can break down the Red Line itself."
"We're stronger because we have each other," said Nami.
"And that's what makes us nakama," said Usopp.
"Heh," chuckled Gin, "why the hell not? I could do worse than you lot."
"Great!" cheered Luffy, "We have our chef and a new nakama as well!"
"Chef?" asked Zeff from where he was watching.
"Yeah," said Luffy, "Sanji's joining our crew as well."
"You're going with them, Sanji?" asked Carne.
"Yup," said Sanji as he took a drag from his cigarette, "I'm going off to find my dream, the All Blue, and to find it I'm going to the Grand Line."
"Tch," said Zeff, "you think you can handle it, Little Eggplant? The Grand Line is like nothing you've ever seen before."
"Maybe you don't know me as well as you think, Shitty Geezer," smirked Sanji, "I think I can handle anything the sea throws at me."
"Then get out of my sight," said Zeff, "go and follow your dreams, wherever it takes you. Just don't come crying back to me."
Sanji took his cigarette out of his mouth and put it out before bowing to Zeff, "Thank you for taking care of me all these years."
"Don't get all sappy with me, Little Eggplant," said Zeff, "you've still got a long way to go."
"Guess we'll be on our way too," said Johnny.
"The sea's waiting for us," said Yosaku.
"Why not come along?" asked Luffy.
"Eh?" said Yosaku in surprise, "You want us to come?"
"But we're Bounty Hunters," said Johnny.
"So was Zoro," said Luffy, "and he's my First Mate."
"But…" began Johnny.
"Just get on board," said Zoro, "I wouldn't mind having you two along and I could teach you guys a few things about your swords."
Johnny and Yosaku glanced at each other, "We're in, Brother Zoro," they said.
"Then let's set sail!" said Luffy with a smile, "We're off to the Grand Line! Next stop, Lougetown, the town of the beginning and the end!"