Well, well, well! Ah, it is time for me to finally begin another chapter with the obligatory disclaimer! And, taking a deep breath, I shall...oh! Oh...erm, er...Admiral Akainu! I didn't see you there!
Akainu: So, writing a work glorifying pirates, hmm? Scum like you don't deserve to live!
No, no, no! Nothing of the sort! It's a fanfiction! I'm not trying to glorify anything!
Akainu: Enough talk! That is even worse; you are definitely a Pirate! Those characters aren't yours!
Fair use! Fair use, I say! This is my commentary! Just let me begin with the disclaimer!
Akainu: I think not! As an enforcer of Justice, I shall do it instead! Author-san does not own One Piece, Naruto or any other fandom referenced herein; these works belong to their respective owners. Please support the official release.
The Baratie had played host to many a pirate attempting to hold the ship ransom, or perhaps rob its oft-wealthy clientele, or even to liberate for themselves a good meal, only to find the ship's cooks more than a match for those insignificant brigands who could not even remember how to use a flintlock pistol. Perhaps as a consequence, many such cooks had no experience against pirates such as Krieg, built to be 'invincible' – though really, he was no more deserving of the title when stacked against legends of the Sea and Marines alike; never, in the Grand Line, did anyone foolishly speak of Don Krieg's name in the same manner they would the Emperors, Admirals, Garp or Uzumaki. It was also said, however, that the East Blue bred complacency. Indeed, Buggy the Clown, having mired himself in the East Blue for perhaps twenty or so years now, never really established any growth in strength – character, perhaps, but never strength.
Thus the Baratie's cooks found themselves sprawled on the ground as Krieg, gun barrels still leaking wisps of smoke – and there were quite many; a considerable number mounted into a Wootz steel armour which seemed to be quite deceiving, appearing more akin to a ceremonial golden colour.
"I'm the admiral of 50 ships, commander of five-thousand men!" Don Krieg released a guttural snarl. "When I tell you to prepare food," he kept growling as he kicked away a cook sprawled out over on the ground, "you shut up," he continued as his left foot lashed out, smashing into the rib-cage of another hapless cook, "AND DO IT!"
Krieg's diatribe found itself interrupted as old Zeff came limping down on his peg-leg, roughly tossing a burlap sack rivalling Don Krieg in size down at the towering pirate's feet.
"Owner Zeff!" The cooks could not believe it. Having only barely stopped Sanji from entering the kitchen to nourish the remaining Krieg pirates before their utter humiliation at Krieg's hands…the owner was caving? Just like that? Sanji, they reasoned, could be a naïve fool, but Zeff – old "Red Leg" was no rookie sailor; surely he would know the calamity to come from feeding Don Krieg and his crew?
"There's enough food for a hundred men in this sack." Zeff grumbled, twirling his moustache. "Hurry it up, and bring it to your men."
"Owner Zeff!" Cries of dismay rang out from the remaining Baratie cooks!
"Sir!"
"How could you just give them the food?"
"What are you doing?"
"They will take over our restaurant!"
Zeff let out a low chuckle. "That's only if they have the will to fight anymore." Pausing as sounds of shock escaped from gaps between lips of the cooks and Usopp, Zeff continued, "isn't that right, you defeated warriors of the Grand Line?"
Krieg did not snarl or seethe, instead, a grin began to grow on his face. "So, it is you…Red Leg Zeff. You were alive after all, the unmatched former captain and cook of his own crew!"
"What of it? I am a mere cook now."
"By choice? Or by circumstance?" Krieg let out a chuckle. "The name 'Red-Leg' came from your powerful legs, dyed in blood after a fight, capable of pulverising even bedrock. With one of them gone, can you even fight?"
"I may not be able to fight anymore, but as long as I have these hands, I can still cook." Zeff dismissed. "Just what are you getting at, exactly?"
"As a man who once braved the Devil's sea, the Grand Line – and without injury, too! You must have kept a log during your travels on that ocean! What I'm saying is…give that to me."
"Why should I? That log is the pride of my men and I, who bravely ventured the Grand Line together; it is much too valuable to be given to the likes of you!"
Though anger began to show on Krieg's face, he did not yet move, settling for arguing with Zeff. "Then I'll just steal it from you! Yes, I came defeated from the Grand Line, but I am still Don Krieg! The pirate with enough power, enough manpower, enough ambition to conquer the Grand Line!" Before Don Krieg could finish his spiel, however, Boruto loudly cleared his throat, causing Usopp to quickly duck underneath the table, desperately hoping that he would not be seen.
"Something you want to say, punk?"
"Not at all," Boruto chuckled. "Although, I am curious…you say you are the strongest?"
"Did you live under a rock, kid?"
"Do the names 'Whitebeard', 'Shanks', or 'Kaido' mean anything to you?"
"Who is Whitebeard, that I should be afraid of him?" Krieg roared. "And Shanks? Kaido? Are you making names up, brat? I am Don Krieg! I am the strongest!" He stalked up to Boruto, jabbing a finger repeatedly into his chest. "You had better remember that, punk."
Boruto's chuckles ceased as he felt his irritation rise with every stab of Krieg's finger towards his torso. "Move that finger," he rasped, voice deathly silent.
"Or what?" Krieg began to guffaw. "Who are you, to order me around? Me! The man who will find One Piece and become the Pirate King!"
"Had you known my name, Krieg," Boruto drawled as his fingers began to play with the handle of his straight sword, "you would be cowering pitifully in fear. However," he continued as Luffy, too, stood up from his seat. "The one who will become Pirate King is my Captain there, and I will make sure the title of Pirate King is his alone to use."
"I'll let your comments slide…"
"It's fine anyway. We're just saying the truth."
"This ain't a game, brats." Krieg began to growl. "I had five thousand men and fifty ships, yet we found ourselves decimated by that devilish sea," at this, Krieg began to yell, not unlike the ramblings and screams of a man possessed, "simply because we lacked information!"
"Fifty ships gone in one week?" Usopp's whispers floated from underneath the table-cloth.
"I hate empty boasting just like yours! Your comments show just how ignorant you are of reality!" Krieg was now frothing at the mouth, barely restraining his rage. "Keep saying that, and I'll kill you where you stand after I get back from unloading this food!"
Don Krieg would never receive the chance to unload any food, however, for the battered wreck that was the Dreadnought Sabre, barely held together by peeling tar, frayed ropes and many a desperate prayer was suddenly sliced into two, its crew-men flopping aimlessly onboard the decks of the destroyed vessel, many rolling into the depths of the East Blue.
"What?" Krieg seethed as his head turned, beckoned by the death rattles of his ship, Gin scampering behind him as he stalked through the Baratie doors. Curious, Luffy, Boruto and Zoro all snuck after Krieg, with Zoro dragging a reluctant Usopp by the ear. Their curiosity was rewarded, for indeed they were treated to the sight of a galleon cut in half, yet there was no sign of a gigantic buzzsaw, nor oversized blade. No, save for the remains of the Krieg Pirates' flagship, there was but a single craft.
It was a simple craft, so simple that one could look at it and scratch their head wondering how, just how the one piloting such a ship could even sail that boat through the treacherous waters of the Grand Line or the Calm belts. There was only one sail no bigger than even an elephant's body upon the ship – no, it could not even really be called a ship, for who – just who – would set sail in a coffin, declaring the oceans to be the grave of a dead man sailing? Yet indeed it was a ship housing one man seated cross-legged in the centre of the vessel, head bowed with eyes hidden by the shade of a wide-brimmed hat. Unlike his arms or legs, hidden behind clothing, his chest, lightly muscled, was bared for the world to see. Mounted behind his back was a cross-like structure with it's top standing two heads over the man's own.
"It's him!" Gin stammered out in shock. "The man who destroyed our fleet!"
"What?" Krieg jerked his head toward Gin, who could only keep shaking as his finger pointed at the craft.
"Dracule Mihawk, hmm?" Zeff, twirling his moustache, sauntered out onto the deck of the Baratie. The remaining cooks, who followed him, tightly clutching many an oversized fork or knife, too stared in shock.
"He's the one who sank a fleet of fifty ships?"
"And he just destroyed Krieg's ship then?"
"He looks so normal…"
"And he doesn't look like he has a special weapon…"
"It's on his back!" Zeff interrupted. "Mihawk is an unparalleled swordsman, more renowned than any other in the world!"
Indeed, Mihawk had considerable skill with the large blade, for with mere twitches of the blade did he deflect back many a bullet from the few Krieg pirates strong enough to attempt firing off one or two shots from their pistols before their strength gave and fell into the depths of the East blue.
"Why?" Krieg seethed. "Why follow us all the way out here?"
"To kill time." Mihawk bluntly replied as he stowed the sword, whose name was Yoru, one of the Supreme Grade Swords back onto his back.
Zoro grinned. At last – Mihawk! Though he knew himself – and Boruto showed as much – that he himself had quite a journey to embark on if he was to challenge Mihawk for the title of "Strongest Swordsman", he was desperate to know – know just where he stood against such a legend, to know how far along his journey he had come, how far away from his ambition he was. "You really are the strongest!"
"Zoro…" Boruto glanced at him warningly.
"I know." He replied, his face set into a determined expression. "But I must do this."
"Hmmm?" Mihawk turned his head as the coffin-ship sailed next to the Baratie.
"I set sail to meet you!"
"Just what is the Silent Ninja doing in this sea next to some no-name brats?" Mihawk whispered to himself, before replying, "what do you aim for?"
"To be the strongest." Zoro grinned as he replied. "You said you had some time to kill, right? So, let's have a duel."
"So that's the 'Pirate Hunter'?" Krieg muttered as he caught sight of Zoro's three swords.
"Pitiful Weakling." Mihawk replied as he began to stand up, walking onto the remaining wreckage of the Dreadnought Sabre. "If you are, indeed, a competent swordsman, then I can demonstrate the difference in skill between you and I without the need to cross blades at all. But still, you challenge me, though knowing that I hold the title of 'Greatest'. I wonder…"
"…Does your desire for this duel come from your conviction, or your ignorance?"
"Neither." Zoro answered as he began to unsheathe his blades, placing one into his mouth. "It comes from my ambition…and a promise I made to a friend." With his three swords all drawn, Zoro beckoned towards Mihawk. "To be honest, I had never thought that I would be able to meet you so early on, to see how far away my goal is!"
"A waste, if you ask me," muttered Mihawk, as he took a cross pendant he wore on his chest, beginning to uncap it.
"Just what," Zoro began to growl as Mihawk revealed the crucifix to house a small knife, "are you planning to do with that?"
"I'm different," Mihawk drawled, looking quite bored, "from one of those brutes who would go all out just to hunt a stupid rabbit. Though you may be a swordsman of some renown," Mihawk's eyes glanced at Boruto again, who was merely standing by the deck of the Baratie, before he continued his spiel. "You sail with the Silent Ninja, correct?"
"Do you mean Boruto?" Zoro seemed quite confused. Boruto was the only ninja he ever knew, but what was with this 'Silent Ninja' business?
"Have you ever come victorious in a spar against him?"
Zoro grit his teeth. Even with his three-sword style, Boruto was faster, stronger, and better in those spars – and he could tell that the first mate was holding back; never did he replicate the lightning blade technique which he had seen used in combat many times against him. No movement was wasted, no posturing – just kill strikes, one after the other, that Zoro had to defend against.
"I am much, much stronger than he." Mihawk shrugged his shoulders. "And I would not expend much effort in defeating him; why would I bother going all out against you? Unfortunately, I don't have any blade smaller than this," he continued, pointing at the knife, "at the moment."
Zoro roared as he launched himself in anger towards the older swordsman. "There is a limit to how much you can underestimate me! You had better not regret it when you die!"
"Frog of the well," Mihawk, face full of scorn, said as Zoro was in mid-charge. "It is time for you experience the world, a world bigger than what you can see from within the well."
Zoro paid no heed as he continued to charge recklessly, not unlike an enraged bull. "ONI…" he roared as he crossed two of his swords, one arm over the other, ready to slash Mihawk away, "…GIRI!"
However, the swords did not slash, nor did they strike at their target. Mihawk's little knife, tiny as it was, held the three katana at bay by its point. I can't move, Zoro realised, as he attempted to keep moving forward in vain. How…no one's ever seen through this move…Boruto had always dodged it…how strong is he? Every subsequent strike as he disengaged the blade-lock found itself refuted by the mocking blade; every movement anticipated; every blade deflected. The First Mate said Mihawk was far above me…but I didn't think it was this far! But I didn't train hard just to fight against a stupid little toy!
I trained to win, Zoro insisted as he began to recall her words – words that always stayed with him to this day. The promise he made to his dear friend, Shimotsuki Kuina, as he had found himself lying on the ground of the dojo:
One day, one of us will become the World's Greatest Swordsman! Let's compete to see which of us it will be!
I will beat this man, Zoro thought as Kuina's image floated to the forefront of his mind. For your sake, Kuina, I will carry on your dream!
"What," Mihawk asked as he effortlessly parried another sword strike, "burdens you so? What is it you desire, at the extent of your strength, weakling?"
Weakling? Zoro wanted to shout, wanted to retort, as he found himself flipped, launched away by a swing of the crucifix-knife. Yet he stayed his mouth as he instead moved to charge again, two swords behind his back poised for an over-head strike. "TORA…" he let loose a guttural yell as his arms descended, "GARI!"
No katana met its mark as Mihawk nimbly ducked between the falling blades, thrusting his knife into Zoro's chest. Luffy, seeing this, clenched his teeth. This was important to Zoro, so he knew not to interfere – but Zoro was a comrade. A companion. He didn't want him to die – Sabo was already lost to him; he didn't want to lose another comrade! He kept struggling with himself – oh, he wanted dearly to pull Zoro back, to tell him that that's enough, Zoro – but would the swordsman ever forgive him? After all, Zoro's words still stood out to him:
I'm joining your crew only to help fulfill that dream, to become the World's Greatest Swordsman! If I wind up having to abandon that dream, you had better accept responsibility, and pay with your life!
Luffy could only harden his heart as Zoro stood, unwavering, Mihawk's knife with blade fully stabbed into Zoro's chest.
"Why do you refuse to step back? Do you wish for me to pierce your heart?"
"If I step back," Zoro's breathing became ragged, "I feel that I would lose something very important to me…a promise…an oath…whatever it is, it would be left irreversibly broken. How could I return to where I am standing right now?"
"Such is defeat."
"That's why I can't step back."
"Even if it means your death?"
"So be it."
What conviction, Mihawk pondered. What a conviction he possesses, to choose death over defeat!
"Kid…" he finally spoke again, "what is your name?"
"Roronoa Zoro."
"I shall remember it," Mihawk announced as his hand reached for the hilt of Yoru, having stowed away the small knife. "And I shall pay you the ultimate respect I can pay as a fellow swordsman by ending this duel with the world's strongest sword – the black blade, Yoru."
Krieg and Gin, watching from the Baratie, twitched. The sword used to cut through their ships being used on this one swordsman? Just how much could this guy look down on them?
Mihawk began to swing as Zoro, too began to rotate two of his swords rapidly as he moved to charge. "Three Sword Style Secret Technique: Sanzen Sekai!"
What normally would have been a charge shielded and capped by the destructive power of three blades at full strength manifest and distilled into three slices leaving howling gashes into any opponent was instead reduced to two swords shattered as Yoru broke through the katana in Zoro's hands to cut at his abdomen, with only the blade held by his mouth left unscathed.
So…I've lost, huh?
I had never thought about losing here…though it was probably to be expected, now that I truly understand what the world's strongest is really like, huh…
As Mihawk turned around to finish the duel will a final slash, there was Zoro, head held up defiantly, sword in white sheath – the remaining blade left unshattered – held in outstretched arms, staring into his own eyes.
"What?"
"Wounds on the back are a swordsman's shame." Zoro said nothing more as he let a smile return to his face – and wasn't this smile terrifying, for much dried blood caked his face and dripped from his mouth, with some staining into his teeth.
"Splendid!" Mihawk softly spoke, as he brought Yoru down for a final slash. Zoro crumpled down, his body rolling into the sea as the Dreadnought Sabre's ruins.
"ZORO!" Luffy cried out in anguish.
"Usopp! Go, draw him out now!" Boruto immediately barked as he began to draw his own sword.
"Huh…oh, yes, yessir!"
So even "Pirate Hunter" Zoro couldn't stand a chance, huh? Was the thought amongst many of the chefs of the Baratie. Is this the power of the Grand Line?
As Usopp corralled two of the Baratie's chefs on hand to help drag Zoro out of the sea before diving in himself, Mihawk side-stepped an outstretched fist, sending Luffy crashing to the deck of the Sabre as his arm recoiled. Undeterred, Luffy stood to pull his head out of the deck where he smashed into, flipping his body out from the deck, though he would find himself flat on his back.
"A comrade of the young swordsman, hmm? So, you've also witnessed what just transpired! Fear not, however, for that man is still alive."
Indeed, did Luffy catch sight of Usopp having dragged Zoro up the Baratie deck, beginning to apply medicine and bandages – though one must ask just how Usopp had those things on him – onto Zoro's many wounds, though he soon found his sight occupied as Boruto landed on the deck, blade wreathed in lightning, held in reverse grip. The dark blue marks on his face and right arm began to emit a light-blue glow as well as an aura that screamed strength.
Mihawk hummed to himself. "It seems that I won't be able to use the knife against you."
"What do you want, Hawk-eyes?" Boruto snapped.
"You have piqued my interest, Silent Ninja." Mihawk answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "I wish to cross blades."
"I refuse. What do you have to gain?"
"You speak as though you had a choice in this matter." Mihawk chuckled. "But first – let me say some words. Roronoa Zoro!" he yelled, turning towards the supine Zoro lying on the Baratie deck. "I am Dracule Mihawk! It is much too early for you to die! Know yourself and the world; become stronger! No matter how many months or years pass by, I shall stand at the top of the world, waiting for you! Forge ahead with that conviction of yours! Surpass me!" Chuckling again, he turned back towards Boruto. "That boy," he pointed Yoru at Luffy, "what is he to you?"
"My captain." Boruto grunted, having slipped into a stance, resigned. "The man who will become the Pirate King."
"A tough path, indeed. Even more so than surpassing myself."
"Whatever!" Luffy cried out as he had gotten up from the deck of the Dreadnought Sabre. "I'm going to do it anyways! And Boruto's going to be with me every step of the way!"
"You really are his grandson…" Mihawk muttered as Luffy turned his head back towards the Baratie.
"Usopp! Is Zoro alright? And where is Nami?"
"Like hell he's alright! But he's still alive, he's only just unconscious and…" Usopp, looking around, suddenly went pale. "Oh….no…MERRY! Nami must have taken the ship!"
"Grr…damn witch…" Zoro growled as he struggled to lift his remaining sword. "Luffy…Boruto…can you hear me?" He rasped, Sanji and the Baratie chefs looking on. What was this foolhardy idiot doing? He should rest, they thought, he can't take it any further; he had already given it his all…
"Yeah!" Luffy and Boruto both answered.
Zoro, having finally lifted the sword upright, continued to cry out. "Sorry for worrying the two of you…haha…Boruto…you were right! But I know…that if I don't become the world's strongest swordsman, it will only embarrass the two of you! I swear that I will never lose a fight again! Until the day I fight him and win…I swear! To never lose again!"
"Any problems…Pirate King? Cataclysm?"
"Cataclysm, eh?" Boruto smirked. "That's a new one, you know! But I hear you, Zoro! No problems there!"
"Boruto!" Luffy whined. "I'm the Captain! I'm supposed to be the one to say that!"
Mihawk suddenly stowed his blade. "I'm impressed, young ones! I'd like to meet all of you again sometime in the future; we will have our fight then, Silent Ninja." He paused for a moment, before continuing again. "You make a good team."
"Hawk-eyes!"
Krieg, having returned to the wreck of the Dreadnought Sabre, standing tall behind Mihawk, defiant. "Didn't you come all the way out here for my head? The head of the infamous ruler of East Blue, 'Don Krieg'?"
"You are a fool if you claim to be the strongest even in this sea," Mihawk replied, "but for a while, I did. However, I've already enjoyed myself enough here, and I'll now return for my nap."
"You may have had your fun, but I sure haven't!" Krieg let out a snarl as he revealed his hidden armament. "How about you die…grrrk…"
Krieg's head splattered, blood splashing everywhere as Luffy's fist smashed through the front of his skull whilst Boruto's straight sword, still humming with lightning, ripped through the wootz steel armour on his person. Many of the remaining Krieg pirates, laying on the wreckage or clinging onto the broken masts, stared with mouths open in shock and wonder – Krieg, defeated by a bunch of no-namers in the East Blue so effortlessly? How…how could this happen?
"We can't stay here for long, Luffy." Boruto acknowledged, sheathing his blade. "I'll get Nami and the ship, can I trust you to get Sanji?"
"Shishishi!" Luffy chuckled, "I'll get it done…"
"HOLD IT!" There was a shout as Zeff suddenly found himself knocked to the ground, his head prodded by the barrel of a pistol – an admittedly weird pistol with two barrels, more closely resembling a sawn-off shotgun, really, though the flint-lock gave it away; his peg-leg broken, with Gin holding the stump of the peg-leg in his other hand. "No one's doing anything without my say-so, or the owner's getting it! No matter how great of a man he may have been in the past, he's just another cook I can easily kill at gunpoint now!"
Murmurings came from many of the Baratie cooks. "That rotten bastard!"
"Son of a bitch!"
"He broke owner Zeff's peg leg!"
"Boruto!" Luffy roared as the two leapt back onto the Baratie, forming up with the remaining cooks. "Let's send this man…"
"Wait!" Sanji, hand outstretched, motioned for both Luffy and Boruto to stop their advance.
"What? Why?"
"Let's see what he has to say first."
"I can kill…"
"I'm not risking the old geezer's life!"
Gin, tears streaming from his eyes, struggled to blurt words out as he kept his emotions at bay. "You…you want to save this man, don't you, Sanji? Then leave this ship! All of you!"
"Leave this ship?" Sanji's eyes appeared darker suddenly as the gravitas of Gin's words sunk in. "As if I could do that!"
"Sanji, you idiot!", came the frantic yells of the Baratie crew.
"Don't provoke him anymore!"
"Or owner Zeff…"
"Old man, you're pathetic. This is the kind of example you're setting, when the rest of the cooks are trying to fight?"
"Hmph!" Zeff bit out a grunt. "I don't need to hear that from a little eggplant like you!"
"Who are you calling a little eggplant, you old geezer?" Sanji roared. "You can't keep treating me as a kid forever!"
"Sanji!"
"You idiot!"
"Are you trying to get the owner killed?"
"Now's not the time for this!"
"GIN!" Sanji shouted over the din. "Take your gun and point it at me instead!"
"Are you stupid? Luffy asked, bewildered. "Now you'll be the one to die! Just let me…", Luffy began winding his fist back again, before Sanji let out a roar.
"DON'T YOU LAY A FINGER ON HIM!"
"WHY?"
"The damn geezer is held at gunpoint by him." Sanji, seething, bit out. "Gin, you cheap son of a bitch…"
"Hm?"
"There's no way I can accept your conditions!"
"Why not?" Gin questioned, bewildered, mouth left hanging open. "All you have to do is leave the ship, and everyone's lives will be spared! You, the rest of the cooks…"
"This ship," Sanji declared, face set in an expression that captured the attention of all the Baratie cooks and the few Krieg Pirates barely hanging on to life, "is the old man's treasure!"
"Huh?"
"I thought Sanji hated the owner?"
"I took everything from the geezer," Sanji continued to ramble. "His strength, his dreams…"
"What?"
"Huh?"
"…I don't want him to lose anything else!"
Luffy was indignant. "What the hell, Gin? Krieg's gone! Sanji saved your life! And this is how you repay him?"
"Shut up!" Gin howled, tear tracks encrusted on his cheeks. "This is how we fight! Besides, all this is your damn fault anyways! You killed our captain! Krieg was a man I had the utmost respect for, and you fuckers took him away from me…no, from us!"
Meanwhile, as Luffy and Gin continued to verbally spar, the remaining Baratie cooks were left to wonder at Sanji's mysterious words.
"Owner Zeff!"
"What the hell had happened, Sanji?"
"What do you mean you took everything away from the owner?"
Sanji, left to stare at the horizon, began to think of the moment when it all started…The All Blue? He could her his voice echoing, the sound lost to time so many years ago, back when he was on…the Morgan? No, no, that was not it…Parfait…no, no, not that either…it was so many years ago for Sanji, yet the events of those days stayed with him…ah, yes, the Orbit.
"All Blue? Of course, we've heard of it, dummy! The ocean that all cooks of the sea dream of."
"It sounds so amazing, right? And I'll search for that ocean to find it someday!" Sanji could recall himself saying.
"Oh, you'll be searching, alright."
"You can't find something that doesn't exist!"
No, it exists, Sanji insisted. It does, it does! And oh, did he shout it out, yet no one would listen.
"Just think about it!" one of the cooks had insisted. "East Blue, West Blue, North Blue, South Blue…for all of the fish of the Four Blue Seas to be found in All Blue, if a sea like that truly existed, it would truly be a paradise for cooks like us! The ultimate cooking grounds for a chef, where all the ingredients of the oceans could be gathered in one place! Of course it would sound to good to be true; and that's because it's all cooked up by a dreamer cook!"
Just some moments later from that argument did Sanji find himself dumping food of plates into bins as he looked at the cooks in disgust. There was plenty of good food to go around, he had thought, so just why were the rest of the cooks gobbling up the leftover dishes of the passengers of the cruise ship?
"Knock it off! Stop eating the leftovers! We have plenty of food left, and we'll be at the port in two days!"
"See, this stuff you say shows that you're still a kid. Don't forget, we're cooks of the sea, and you never know what can happen on these waters! So, it's never a bad ideal to be frugal."
Sanji let his memory take him down into the depths of his mind as he reflected further, just a little further…
"What…what…what's all this?" he had cried out in shock and horror as he tore open the large sack 'Red-Leg' Zeff had left behind him as he was sitting, facing the horizon, on a desolate rock.
"Didn't I say, little eggplant, no contact between us until one of us sees a ship?"
Ignoring Zeff, Sanji could not believe his eyes. "It's all jewels, pearls, nothing but…treasure…", he murmured, trailing off, before grabbing Zeff, now left skinny and desolate. "Where's all the food? How did you survive? Didn't you have that huge bag…" Sanji trailed off before something caught his eye.
"Your leg…what happened…did you…DID YOU EAT YOUR LEG?"
"Yes."
"Was the food you gave me…when you said you had five days worth…all the food you had left?"
Zeff just grunted.
"BUT YOU CAN'T BE A PIRATE WITHOUT YOUR LEG!"
"Yes, so?"
"WHY? WHY WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT? I TRIED TO KILL YOU!"
"Kid, your dream is my dream too."
"All Blue? But…"
"When the time comes, go and find it!"
"The old man gave me all his food and ate his leg so that I could live, and we could build this restaurant together," Sanji began to growl at Gin. "I'm not handing it over! And I'm not going to let you kill him. If I can't even put my life at risk for his sake, how can I repay this insurmountable debt?"
"Repay his debt?"
"Owner Zeff gave his leg up for Sanji?"
"No wonder he stayed all along…"
"Must have been to repay his debt…"
So that was his reason, Luffy thought and pondered on it as Gin continued to bluster. "Why do you still do this, Sanji?" But how could he do that? This did not make any sense to Luffy. Sure, the old guy saved Sanji and everything, but he wouldn't have wanted him to just throw his life away like that! Dadan never did, not after she saved him and Ace that night…why would be any different?
Raising his leg as he began to extend it, Luffy suddenly brought it down, splitting the Baratie's deck into two (though thankfully not destroying the entire ship completely)
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Sanji roared. These customers…why the hell were they still here, and WHY WERE THEY MAKING A GREATER MESS OF THINGS?
"I'm going to sink this ship."
"What?"
"What the FUCK?"
"What did he say?"
"Sink the ship?"
"OH HELL NO!"
"Are you out of your MIND?" Sanji began to gnash his teeth. "Just what the hell for do you think I've been working in this restaurant?"
"But destroying the ship will ruin all their plans!"
"You don't know what this restaurant means to me!" Sanji snarled, grabbing Luffy by the shoulder. "Nor the gravity of my debt!"
"So, you're planning to die for this restaurant? Are you stupid?"
"What."
"You won't be repaying any debt by dying! What the hell do you think he saved you for, huh? It's not for you to throw your life away like this after being saved! That's what a weakling does!"
"Like you have any better way to get us out of this mess!"
Gin, initially silent, finally spoke up. "So, it seems there's no way you'll leave this ship without hurting you, huh, Sanji?" Hoisting his pistol as he took out two tonfa – and these tonfa were rather strange, with a mace attachment on their ends – he slid into a stance.
"Nope," Sanji looked towards Gin again.
"The least I can do, then, is to kill you myself."
"Thank you. Now, eat shit, and die."
True to both men's boasts, Luffy thought – and Boruto saw as well – both Gin and Sanji were ferocious fighters. Each kick of Sanji's would be swiftly met by Gin's tonfa as he threw strikes and hits towards the cook, though his own attacks found themselves parried by Sanji's own footwork. Neither man gained any ground over the other for quite some time, though one could have thought that Sanji's legs, enough to knock down a Marine Lieutenant, could have easily ended this bout. Similarly, the few Krieg Pirates conscious enough to withstand their gnawing hunger were stunned at the sight of the "Man-Demon" being held up by a measly Sous-chef of the ship, though one could say there wasn't much left to shock them, not when the Don was killed just like that – no, that must have been a trick, that must, for he was the Don, he couldn't just die like that…
"I can kill him, that we may be done here." Boruto suggested.
"No!" Luffy insisted. "This is Sanji's fight. Besides, it's my turn to fight!"
"I let you fight Kuro!"
"Shut up! Captain's orders!"
Indeed, for although Sanji fought on valiantly, he found his strength faltering after every block, every parry, until he could hold no longer, Gin's mace tonfa smashing into his chest as his legs hesitated for a split second, succumbing to the exhaustion of kicking against Gin's strikes with the mace attachments. Raising his tonfa above his head, Gin prepared to strike, yet found his mind consumed by a memory of his own:
Sanji opened the door, setting a plate of pilaf, steaming hot, next to Gin's prone body.
"Eat it." Sanji said as he sat down on the deck, leaning against the ship's rails.
"Shut up! Beat it! Even when I'm down and out, I won't take charity from others!"
"Stop whining and just eat it already!"
"No! Take this food away now!"
"Anyone who's hungry is a customer!"
"But I'm not a customer!"
Sanji took a deep breath, before exhaling some smoke. "How cruel is it to starve on this sea…I know that better than anyone."
Gin, amazed, looked at Sanji in bewilderment as he continued to speak.
"You can die for your pride if you want, but if you eat and survive, don't you think there's a future for you?"
"I can't kill you," Gin stated as Sanji lay on the Baratie's deck, defeated, emotionally and physically spent. "The first person to show me kindness in a very long time…maybe even ever…"
What Gin wanted to say afterwards would not be ever known to man as his own chest found itself struck by Luffy's outstretched fist, hurling his body away from Sanji's vulnerable form. Gin, turning his head toward Luffy. How Gin loathed Luffy, the man who killed the Don, the one who took away from him the only one he respected! The only man who he would call 'the strongest'! His vision blurring as tears snuck into his eyes, Gin let out a mighty roar as he charged at Luffy.
"I WILL KILL YOU, MOTHERFUCKER!"
Whereas when facing Sanji Gin presented himself as merely a powerful, adaptable fighter, against Luffy, he truly resembled a demon whose wrath was to be unleashed upon its unsuspecting victims. Swing after swing was launched, swing after swing dodged in the nick of time. Sanji, having crawled towards Zeff, who himself was being supported by a wooden crutch to replace his peg-leg. How…where did the straw-hat-wearing pirate find the strength and conviction to fight on? This had nothing to do with him at all, Sanji thought. Why would he continue to risk his life for…
Sanji's monologue found itself interrupted as Gin's mace tonfas finally landed a blow on Luffy. This was it, Sanji thought, this was the end for this kid…
Yet there was no bruising, nor any sound or sign of bone broken, rather, Luffy's body moved with the blow before rebounding it back. "Shishishi…that won't work!"
Gin, snarling, threw down his tonfa, unsheathing a pair of long, wickedly sharp daggers – just where was he hiding them would perhaps never be known – as he moved to advance again. "Well, if crushing blows won't work…let's see you survive being sliced apart!"
It was oddly beautiful to see an enraged Gin hurling himself after Luffy as he ducked and danced around the blades, though it was perplexing to Boruto that Luffy would let this play out for as long as it was. Zoro was still injured and Nami had fled with the ship (though thankfully, much of the money he carried with him as part of his 'stash', so she didn't take that), so they would have to make haste. Luffy was strong, that much he knew, for he had to be to survive, as if the very world itself considered it an abomination, conspiring to be rid of him as quick as possible. Sanji, however, did not share these opinions.
"That straw-hat boy is no match for Gin," Sanji insisted as he gazed upon the duel. "How is he going to beat him, facing that monster?"
Zeff, leaning on his crutch, chuckled. "Heheh. You know, Sanji, no matter how many weapons or techniques one is well versed in, or armour one is equipped with, or even how powerful the Devil Fruits one eats…"
"Devil Fruits?"
"Don't interrupt me, little eggplant." Zeff continued to speak. "…none of them are any match for the strength that comes from your guts. On the pirates' battlefield, the one who fears death and hesitates, even for one moment, shall fall to their doom. Heehee…that whole crew, huh?"
"Huh?"
"That boy," Zeff pointed as Luffy thrust a punch into Gin's abdomen, sending him stumbling for a moment, "the swordsman, and the 'Silent Ninja'…within all of them, if nothing else, lie no hesitation."
"What…"
"Is it from their complete preparedness to survive no matter what, or their convictions, which do not fear death?"
"YOU INSOLENT BRAT," Gin bellowed as he began to charge once more at Luffy just as Zeff posed his final question before hobbling back into the restaurant, Sanji following him. Luffy, in response, simply adjusted his stance,
"We're done here, Sanji. The rest of you! Let's go, back to work!"
"Yes, head chef!" came the chorus of the Baratie cooks.
"DIE!" Gin charged, daggers poised to kill, ready to strike.
"Gomu Gomu no Gatling!"
True to its name, the Gomu Gomu no Gatling did feel like a gatling gun as Gin found his swings interrupted by each strike – oh oh oh OW OH GOODNESS DID THAT FUCKING HURT – coughing, gasping for breath as Luffy kept relentlessly punching. What sort of monster did he unleash…no, not unleash, Gin recognised, this was always there – the style, the ferocity – this was no weak opponent who stumbled upon a moment of good luck. Why did he ever think otherwise, Gin lamented as he began gagging and coughing up blood. That straw-hat-wearing boy – he could see that this was a man with conviction and strength not unlike the Don, and the other ones – the 'Pirate Hunter' and…oh, goodness, they faced the heinous 'Silent Ninja'; how did he manage to cling on to his life, when the Don…the Don…
I'm lost, Gin realised. The most recent years of his live were given in devoted service to the Don, but what was left for him now, with Krieg gone? Eh, he morosely thought, he was going to die anyway, what was there left for him? All he had to do was wait for death to come upon him, for he was defeated and about to die. But where was the killing blow? Why could he still see, still think? Kill me, Gin wanted to shout. Kill me and be done with it! However, his voice failed him, only letting him rasp out his final question.
"Why…won't you…kill…me?"
"Why would I do that?" Luffy tilted his head.
"You killed the Don, the only thing I've been able to use as a shield and escape behind, and I…"
"Don't care."
"But you…"
"Nope." Luffy turned around to enter the Baratie, leaving Gin to stare at his back. "Oi, Sanji!"
Gin groaned. Was a quick, merciful death too much to ask for? His hopes were briefly reignited, however, as Boruto knelt before him, hand resting on his straight sword. "Please…"
Boruto did not, however, draw his blade. Instead, placing his arm to support Gin's back, he lifted him up into a sitting position before setting him down, crossing his index and middle fingers, with those of his left hand parallel and right hand perpendicular to the ground.
"Ninja art: Shadow Clone technique!"
Two copies of Boruto suddenly appeared, gently carrying Gin to a lifeboat before preparing to set it adrift. "Let's meet again on the Grand Line one day, Gin." Boruto replied. "And when you've figured your life out, let's fight!"
"Huh," Gin forced out a rasping chuckle, struggling to speak as he let the currents begin to carry himself away. "I recognise you now…the Don and I never really had a chance, did we? To think we'd meet another frightening person from the Grand Line…"
"So, Sanji!" Luffy sauntered into the dining hall of the Baratie. "Are you going to come with us now?"
"I'm not going to be a pirate."
Luffy frowned. Where was Boruto and that transforming ninja technique when he needed it? He needed Sanji to come with them. Sanji could fight! And cook!
"But…"
"Until the old man acknowledges my cooking, I'm going to stay here and be a cook."
Luffy sighed. "Fine…I'll give up and get Boruto…"
"…Your hand…" Sanji ground out as he tried to walk away, held in place by Luffy's outstretched arm. Just how strong was this guy? "…. hasn't given up…."
Just as Luffy released his arm and Boruto walked into the dining area, Sanji, too, turned back to meet the duo. "After all that," Sanji began as he lit a cigarette, "I can't afford to leave, not with how undependable the cooks here are. But I do want to go out to the Grand Line one of these days…"
Luffy was ecstatic. "Then let's go…"
"Not just yet." Sanji sighed. "But I may as well tell you what I'm looking for. Have you heard of the All Blue?"
"The sea of miracles?" Boruto asked. The name was quite well known along the islands of the Grand Line, thrown around with names such as "Sky Islands" and "One Piece" and other tales lost to history – so that was Sanji's dream, hmm?
"You know of it!" Sanji exclaimed.
"He," Boruto jerked a thumb at his captain, "knows nothing about it though."
"Hey!"
"Well," Sanji began to excitedly chatter, "you see, in All Blue…."
"This soup is shit!"
Patty's words struck Sanji like a blow to the stomach. To say his soup – the soup that he spent so much time picking out the ingredients for, the soup that he spent so much time meticulously removing scum from and defatting, the soup that he watched over for so long, refining and perfecting – was shit…unforgivable! And for him to throw the bowl down, soup still in it? …how…how could you, Sanji thought.
"Does proper human food not suit you, you dam raccoon?"
"You call this human food? This is shit of the highest quality. Heck, did you make this with shit or what?"
"I'm pretty confident in my soup," Sanji growled out, eyes hidden by the shadow of his hair. "Maybe it's your tongue that…"
"Yuck!" Now Carne, the meat master, spat out a mouthful of soup, gagging – and wasn't it an interesting sight, seeing a man whose face resembled that of a Yakuza enforcer all stuffed into a cook's garb and wearing black glasses stick his rather large tongue out in disgust, throwing his own soup bowl to the floor. Seemingly emboldened by Patty and Carne, the remaining Baratie cooks in the dining hall on the second floor of the restaurant (it was, after all, lunch-time on the next day) threw their own bowls of soup to the ground.
"Ew, ew!"
"Terrible!"
"No way we can eat this filth!"
"Throw it out! Throw it out!"
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU ALL DOING?"
"Sanji, you being the sous chef was always a sham! It was only because you've been here the longest!"
"If something tastes like shit, I'm going to say it tastes like shit!"
"I'm sick of your behaviours and violent ways!"
"What did you…"
Sanji found his diatribe halted as another soup bowl was thrown to the floor of the Baratie floor. Yet none of the cooks, Sanji found, had thrown their bowl; all the dishes were still in their hands. Frowning, Sanji turned his head around, and…
"Geezer!"
"Owner?" The cooks, too, were stunned. Old Zeff had always vouched for Sanji's cooking, claiming that the young chef was deserving of the title of sous chef, and would stand by his food any day. TO throw the soup out…
"What the hell is with this disgusting soup?" Zeff snarled as he wiped at his chin. "Is it supposed to taste like sludge, or what?"
"Old Man?"
"We'd go out of business if this shit was served to the customers!"
"Don't joke with me!" Sanji screamed himself hoarse as he grabbed at Zeff's coat, lifting him off the ground. "How the hell is this soup any different from the soup that you make?"
"The soup I make?"
"Well?" Sanji continued to yell, spittle flying into Zeff's face.
"The soup I make," Zeff snarled as he cocked his fist back, "doesn't taste like shit, unlike yours!" Capping off his exclamation, Zeff's fist smashed into Sanji's head, throwing him to the ground, stumbling a bit before standing upright again.
"The owner punched him?"
"But the owner had never…"
"I've cooked all around the world! It's a hundred years too early, little eggplant, for you to compare your soup to mine!"
Sanji, stunned into silence, could only run from the dining hall, slamming the door behind him, fleeing past a bemused Boruto. "Really?" he laughed as Luffy sprang to devour the soup from the pot, cheering about just how good the soup was.
"Saw right through that, did you?" Zeff smiled, a small yet amused smile of an old veteran who admittedly had very little left to smile about. "But if we didn't do that, the idiot would never listen to us. Hey, kid…"
"Hmm?" Both Luffy and Boruto turned their heads.
"Please take Sanji with you out to the Grand Line."
Sanji, sitting at the door of the dining hall, perked up at those words.
"It's his dream."
Boruto smiled. They had their cook, at last! Could anything have been easier? Just as he was about to accept, however, Luffy cut in.
"Don't wanna."
What? Boruto wanted to yell with the Baratie cooks. Not take Sanji alone? Was Luffy stu-actually, he must be the stupid one, Boruto realised, for he was questioning whether Luffy was stupid – a truth impressed upon him by Ace not soon after the brothers had met with Boruto – and it was up to him to set Luffy straight–
"I do want him to come along with us, but he says he wants to stay here and be a cook, so I'm not going to take him."
"So," Zeff muttered, "you won't accept it unless he says it himself?"
"Yup. More soup, please!"
"It's impossible, hmph!" Zeff sighed. "He's too hard-headed for his own good."
"W-what do you mean we're going to the Conomi Islands?" Usopp screeched as he helped Zoro stagger towards a small ship left roped by the Baratie, given to the Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates (as they called themselves, known only to themselves). "Isn't that–"
"Luffy's insistent that we get our navigator back." Boruto sighed as he set down another pack of food from the restaurant. "Besides, Usopp, I'm here, what do you have to worry about?"
"But still…"
"Wait!" A voice came from the dining hall as Sanji ran towards the ship. "I'll come too! Take me with you."
Luffy cheered. "Sanji!"
"I'll accompany you on your way to become pirate king. After all, don't we both have crazy dreams? I'll tag along to fulfill mine; I'll be the cook for your ship. That sound good? Or bad?"
"Sounds great! Let's go!"
As Sanji prepared to step onboard the ship, Zeff's voice rang out from the upper deck of the Baratie, near where his own room aboard the ship was. "Hey, Sanji!"
"Hmm?"
"Don't catch a cold."
Overcome by emotion, Sanji's eyes began to overflow with tears. "Owner Zeff!" he cried, turning to kowtow against the Baratie deck, which had filled with the many other Baratie cooks. "I'm eternally grateful," he blubbered out, "for taking care of me so long! I'll never forget for the rest of my life the debt I owe you!"
The response from the Baratie, too, was laden with emotion. "We'll miss you, you bastard!" Patty and Carne were especially loud. "Damn it! We'll be lonely without ya! Really lonely!"
"You're making us cry, damn it!"
"I'll miss you!"
Zeff smiled as he dabbed at his eyes. "Damn idiots…men should say their goodbyes quietly…"
"Alright!" Luffy cried, jubilant. "Set sail!"
As the sail of the small ship unfurled, Sanji stepped onto the deck, before yelling out a final goodbye. "Let's meet again one day!" He shouted, tears and snot staining his face quite thoroughly. "You good-for-nothing bastards!"
See, the thing with my muse is that it runs away from me - and I justify it by saying I'm concentrating on medical school, but I must admit, I had bits of the next chapter already written before I finished this one.
And to the Guest who did not like the artistic direction of the power systems - haha! I see, I see, yes, perhaps for another time. I have yet to reach the point in the narrative where just why both exist is explained, but it will be quite the plot-point within the story.
I am, after all, quite an ambitious person. It is one of the many reasons that I had decided to enter the field of Medicine.