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by 2ilver8ox

Pirate King Monkey D. Luffy has agreed to go back in time some years when he was first starting out as a pirate. It is clear this decision was based due to his dead crew, no doubt he wishes to stop their demise. All details are on his contract but he has agreed to take me with him and off this godforsaken rock. (Time travel) (Fix it fic) (OC) (All anime and movies) On hiatus

15. Don Krieg

DON KRIEG

Luffy pumps his arms, "Come on Yosaku!" as they made their way to the front of the Baratie where the chefs and Sanji were standing, "So, who's ready to fight?"

Sanji glares right back, "You punched him into the deck!"

"Not that hard," Luffy points at the wooden wreckage starting to crumble as the asshole in question arose out of anger, "See, he is alive."

"Damn," Yosaku sneers in disappointment.

Sanji stares at Luffy in disbelief, a thousand questions on his mind, but only one came out, "Are you serious about that... being Pirate King?"

"Yeah, of course!" Luffy folds his arms, "I WILL become the Pirate King!"

Sanji cocks his head in thought, "I see a lot of people who talk beyond their strength. But I rarely see someone who says it so confidently."

Luffy looks past Sanji at Zeff, "You also wanted to become the Pirate King, right?"

Zeff shrugs, "I have forgotten about the past. Right now, I'm the Head Chef of this restaurant. This is enough."

"Men!" Krieg yells in anger, "As long as we have that ship, we don't need to fear the Grand Line anymore!" and blah blah blah he started rallying his people and just being an asshole all around.

Sanji starts barking orders of his own, "Go to the control room and open the Fin."

The chef in question stumbles, "Eh! Open the Fin? We're gonna give the enemy a place to fight?"

"Who cares? We can't let the inner part of the restaurant become a battlefield," Sanji waves off the question, "If we fight inside, The old fart will never shut up."

"Did you say something, you little shit?" Zeff folds his arms.

Sanji naturally makes a face, "Yeah, I said you never shut up!" as the chef leaves to do as he was told.

"They're finally here!" Tobio picks up his pitchfork, 100% ready to fight, "Here they come!"

Ganzo grabs him by the collar, "No, you don't," and throws him back into the restaurant, shutting the door behind with flair.

Hundreds of pirates start crawling over the ship wreckage like spiders, bloodthirst in their eyes and bellies full.

Luffy yawns at the sight, "Boring!" last time he let his crew take care of the fodder it was because Usopp really wanted the revenge and Zoro was getting antsy. But the more he thought about it the more he really did not want to bother with these losers, "Well, got to practice sometime..."

Sanji almost turns to the boy, "Practice? What are you-"

The feeling of being crushed by a thousand pounds weighing down on you. You can't move you can't speak you can't breathe. You know there is nothing on you physically but it is on your soul. Like every atom of your being was being pushed down to the ground and you can only comply. Not even time can move under its weight. It could have been a second it could have been 50 years. All you know is you have no control.

Sanji doesn't know when he fell to his knees but he was drenched in sweat when his sight started coming back.

"What... the hell..." he gasps out.

He isn't really expecting an answer, "Get up, eggplant," Zeff puts a hand under Sanji's arm, "Best not to be asleep at a time like this."

Sanji takes a deep breath, he never thought air could have been heavy but he was sure that is what happened, "That..."

"Was Haki," Zeff supplies, "Conqueror's, if I am getting this right. Never saw it myself but it's well known on the Line."

Luffy, completely fine, sheepishly scratches the back of his head, "Sorry, still trying to get used to the whole reeling it back thing."

Sanji looks a bit amazed, if not completely disturbed, "In the Grand Line... are there are people like him?"

"Sanji," Zeff says carefully. "Watch carefully how he fights. Watch him until the battle finishes," hopefully this brat will learn a thing or two about fighting for one's dreams… and see staying on the Baratie isn't the answer.

"Battle?" Sanji questions, "Krieg's still standing?!" from taking a look around it would seem that the attack took everyone out from pirates to even their own chefs. Yosaku, Ganzo, Patty, Carne were all on the floor, "You gotta be shitting me..."

Krieg sadly is standing, leaning heavily on a golden spear but he is standing, breathing heavily and glaring furiously at the two still conscious on the ship.

Luffy turns his gaze on the fool himself, ass-kicking time, "Hey you ungrateful bastard!" Luffy shouts from his spot on the railings, "I'll send you to the sky!"

If one doubted Krieg's stupidity before it was cemented with his next words, "You…" he take a breath, "...have no chance with me, hammer boy," he stands to his full height on shaky legs, "I don't know what kind of Devil Fruit powers you have, but our fight is in the sea where there is nowhere to stand," he spread his arms out wide, "I know people who possess the power of the Devil Fruit are afraid of the sea."

Luffy nods in complete agreement, "Yeah, you sure are at a disadvantage!"

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I SAID AT ALL!"

"Sanji! The Fin is going to open!" a voice comes back from the restaurant. Tobio opens the door as the platforms start to rise from the ocean, "Mich fell asleep at the controls so I finished for him. I was wondering-" the boy stops outside seeing a bunch of passed out pirates floating in the sea and his fellow chefs sleeping on the floor, "Nevermind," he goes back inside and firmly closes the door.

"Smart boy," Sanji smokes leisurely, "Stay inside for now, Chore boy."

"Oh, I see," Krieg observes the fins, "The restaurant won't be harmed," his fishy smile plasters on his face, "How convenient for me since I'm going to take it. Now I want this ship even more."

"D-Don't you even think... huff... about having this restaurant!" A voice that sounds like Patty's voice grumbles from the floor.

"Ye-Yeah! Don't... oof... don't underestimate us! We are... we're fighting cooks!" Carne shouts as well trying to come back from unconsciousness, "Forget it! You won't step one foot inside here."

"Wow you guys sure are determined," Luffy looks at them borderlining condescendingly, "Are you sure you don't want to take a nap?"

"SHUT UP! We've been cooks for more than ten years," Patty peppered in finally getting his hand under him, "And we've been in 300 restaurants. During those days, we'd be fired every time we started a fight."

Carne added saltily regaining his scenes, "Then finally, we arrived at this place! Here we can fight and cook as much as we want. There's isn't another great restaurant for us like this! That's right."

"Understand, Krieg? Every day preparing meals is like a battle," Patty starts getting on his elbows

"These guys are nothing compared to those days!" said Carne, coming around as well, "Right! Let's fight!"

Sanji looked at them from the floor, "Oh, You're alive?" he kicks them both, waking them up completely.

"ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US, YOU BASTARD?!" Both get up yelling.

"Yeah," Sanji says like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Whaddya mean Yeah?! I'll cook you like an octopus!" Patty screams.

"You nearly lost us, you Italian Spaghetti!" Carne screams right next to him.

"Why I oughta-! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?" Patty starts and ends seeing both the chefs and pirates on the floor. Well, chefs on the ship's deck and pirates either floating in the sea or on the wreckage.

Sanji sighs, "Fodder is taken care of," he points inside, "Go make yourselves useful and take care of the bodies, why don't you?"

Patty grounds his teeth but starts going inside, "The Sabagashira #1 deserves more respect than this!" he points to a still standing Krieg, "What about him?"

Luffy stomps his feet, "No! That's my fight!"

"Don't be such a brat, kid!" Carne yells, "You don't have a chance without a weapon!"

Luffy rolls his eyes, "You're not helping..."

"Get going you, morons!" Zeffs snaps at both of them, whipping them into shape

Both chefs went to their pedal-powered fish battleship, while there was nothing to shoot at, they sure as hell were making certain the pirates stayed down.

Luffy had sparkles in his eyes, "Cool! I want one too!" he totally has to tell Franky about this! "But now is time for me to kick Krieg's -" A fuck boy is climbing on the fins, "OH, COME ON!"

"It is I, Pearl!" the... being said. Calling it a person is an insult to people everywhere, "Also known as Krieg Pirate's Invincible Iron Wall Shield Man!"

Sanji steps up, "Stop your whining Luffy, I'll take care of this guy."

Pearl snorts, "Oh, really? Pray tell are you going to cut me with your kitchenware?"

Sanji shakes his head tapping his toes on the ground, "A knife is the soul of a cook. An outsider doesn't deserve to touch a cook's knife."

Luffy feets a little bad that his Conqueror's didn't even cover everybody, but he really just wants to get this over with. Somewhere Nami is crying and he had a fish to fry, "Alright, just kick the crap out of that bastard would you?"

Sanji lights up another cigarette, "That's the plan."

Pearl scoffs oh-so confidently, "In my last sixty-one battles, I have won them all COMPLETELY unharmed. I have never even spilled a single drop of blood in a battle," he just kept going... "This justifies how strong I am. I'm the strongest of the strongest! You think you can take me down? Is he joking? It's not very funny!"

Krieg, who must have been getting impatient, gets a ball and chain out of nowhere, "Hey, straw hat guy!" he starts whipping it around, "If you're looking for a fight, you'll get hurt!" sending the ball flying over to the Baratie, right in Luffy's face.

Luffy grabs the ball with one hand, all fingers missing any spikes, "Shut up," oh, there's an idea! He stretches his arm back and threw the ball back-!

"Even the Marine's cannons can't resist me. No attacks can hurt me-" right into the face of a certain asshole.

Krieg grits his teeth, "Shit…"

The ball drops and Pearl stands there utterly out of it.

"What the hell is he doing?" Sanji looks at the man in front of him with more wariness as he just stood there. Surprisingly the spiked ball only gave the larger a nose bleed. Nothing to get upset about.

"Something stupid, trust me," Luffy says.

Pearl seems to disagree as he starts banging his pearl shields together, "BODILY HARM! BODILY HARM! BODILY HARM! FIRE PEARL!" And he set himself on fire…"Special favor!"

He starts throwing little pearls of fire at Sanji, "With these shields of fire, I'm indestructible!"

Krieg looks on disappointed, "Idiot! Are you planning to burn the ship that we are going to steal?"

Sanji jumps gracefully out of the way, taking the high road by looking to kick the guy's teeth in, "Bastard!" he jumps over the fat man, "Don't you dare burn this restaurant!" does a flip in the air as he aims a kick to land right in the center of Pearl's head.

Only to be blocked with the fat man's shielded arm... while it is on fire, "How is he so impudent! Isn't he afraid of becoming a fireball? He even attacks Fire Pearl, someone who is even feared by beasts!"

Sanji does a backflip, regaining his footing on the ground… that is also on fire, "Moron," takes a quick smoke by lighting it with the flames starting to spread on the Fins, "What kind of cook is afraid of fire?"

Luffy silently cheers… nah, he totally cheers out loud, "SO COOL!"

Pearl doesn't think it was cool at all, "Argh! What an annoying guy. FIRE PEARL!" he throws a straight fist to Sanji's face.

It is pathetic. Sanji ducks forward making it a direct hit to Pearl's unprotected face!

Pearl falls to the floor utterly down as he just panics even more about the blood coming out of his face, "This isn't good! Damn! Damn! Damn it! Fire! Fire! Fire Pearl keeps on burning!"

Patty and Carne, obediently picking up passed out pirates and throwing them carelessly in their dinghy after a good hit to the head, look on troubled, "The restaurant is going to be set on fire!" "If those fireballs get into the kitchen, then the restaurant is finished!"

Even Tobio opens the door, slightly watching the entire action, "Owner!" Seeing Fire Pearls coming towards the old man, "Run away! Owner!"

Zeff doesn't bother moving, doing a quick swift kick and the pearls fell to the floor, "This is nothing."

Tobio's jaw drops, "He blew out the fire with the wind of his kick!? The old man is strong!" he cheers.

"Who are you calling old, brat?!" Zeff tries to hit the boy with his leg. Tobio quickly ducks back into the restaurant.

Krieg looks pissed, "If that's how it is, then I'll sink you and your Fins into the sea before the fire burns the restaurant!"

"Give me a break," Sanji jumps behind the distracted Pearl and kicks the back of his head so hard it bounces off the front of his armor.

"That's got to hurt!" Luffy winces. He thought only his head could bounce like that! "Really make sure he is out, Sanji! Kick him again, preferably into the floorboards!"

Sanji looks back, "Are you sure? That was a pretty hard kick," he isn't against it, just seemed overkill.

"Yes!" Luffy shouts, "It's the fat ones that go down the hardest! They got blubber to protect them," Just like Zoro and the cow guy.

Sanji shrugs, "Okay" lifting a single leg and bringing it down on his fallen foe with a sickening CRUNCH. He is a chef with morals but all is fair game when it comes to fighting so it is fine. The kick digs the bastard's face into the wood, causing a gush of wind so strong that it put out the flames around them.

Tobio, coming out of nowhere, blows a silver whistle, where did he get that? "Pearl is out!"

Krieg rolls his eyes, "What was he doing? Every single time, I have to do it by myself in the end!"

Luffy cracks his knuckles, "Finally, now I get to-"

"Please stop fighting, Sanji," A voice echoes out into the sea.

Luffy bites his tongue to keep himself from groaning out loud. He just wants to kick this guy's ass. Is that so much to ask for?

Everyone turns around to see Gin standing over Zeff fallen body, gun right at the old man's head, "I don't want to end up killing you."

Sanji's jaw drops a little, "Gin!"

Patty and Carne jaws drop, "OWNER ZEFF!" Too far out to make any impact.

"Regardless of how great a man he was before, now he's just an ordinary chef. Blasting his head off is no problem now," In Gin's hand he is holding a gun to Zeff's head, in his other hand is Zeff's peg leg, "You want to save this man, don't you, Sanji? So just heed my word and get off this ship. I don't want to kill you!"

Sanji looks more annoyed than anything else, "Leave this ship? Not a chance!" not the answer Gin was expecting, "You look pathetic, old fart. In that state, you can't order the cooks around to fight, can you?"

Zeff looks equally as annoyed, " I don't want to hear all this crap from a puny eggplant."

"Who are you calling puny, asshole!" Sanji whines like a kid, "Stop treating me like a kid!" and just as quickly Sanji gets on his knees. His face quickly turning calm again, "Gin, aim that pistol at me."

Gin tries to hide his reaction, "Sanji... Why?" he starts to struggle, not moving his gun, "Why are you doing all this? If you'd just abandon this restaurant, everyone will be saved! It's that simple!"

Sanji looks dead serious, "This restaurant is that old man's treasure. I'm the one who took everything from that old fart," his voice becomes harder with each word, "His power. And his dreams…" he looks down hiding his face with his hair, "That's why, now...I DON'T WANT THAT OLD FART TO LOSE ANYMORE!"

Luffy watches Sanji with a careful eye. Sanji blames himself for Zeff losing his leg. He never asked how Zeff lost it, but he knew that Sanji, even after everything, still felt responsible for it.

Heh, Sanji and his dreams of the All Blue. Even his dream was selfless. He wanted to find a sea to cook food for everyone. He was a cook at heart, a pirate second, and a romantic third. Really, what more could you want out of a man like Black Leg Sanji? For a cook of the sea, it's an unattainable paradise! It's his dream. any ingredient of the world in that sea. That's what our cooking skills were meant for!

Sanji hits his fist to the ground, "He gave up his leg so that I could live. He's a geezer who gave up everything for the sake of one little brat!" he smiles a sad smile "Even if I can make this restaurant last for just one moment longer."

Zeff is looking more and more annoyed and more and more worried, "Damn kid! I'm not someone feeble enough to be rescued by a little eggplant!"

Sanji isn't phased, "If you hadn't given up your leg for my sake then these guys wouldn't be able to push you around."

Krieg makes a disgusted sneer, "Gin! Blow his head off!" Krieg yells impatiently, "Hurry up!"

Again, Gin hesitates, "B-But He's the one who gave us enough to feed our men!"

Krieg is losing his temper, "Gin, you bastard..."

"Gin!" Sanji demands with just as much authority, "Point that gun at me!"

Luffy feels his heart tug. His cook always had the biggest heart! Rivaled by how stupid he is being right now! Really! Sanji could be so smart and so dumb at the same time. It was kinda impressive.

"Are you stupid?" Luffy yells at Sanji, "You dying isn't going to help anyone."

"And what do you know about this!?" Sanji scream back not looking at the boy, "What do you know about the immensity of my debt to this place?!"

Zeff lost a leg. Shanks lost an arm. Luffy may admit he can be an idiot but at that moment he knows better than anyone what it means to own your life to someone else because of their sacrifice.

"So you're going to die for it? Are you stupid?" Luffy loves and hates this side of Sanji, the kind that refuses to just ask for help or see how important he is to everyone.

"What did you say?" Sanji is getting pissed. Good! It is better than looking so resigned to accept death so easily.

"It's not about death! Dying isn't paying him back!" Luffy screams with as much gusto he can , "That's not what he put his life on the line for! He saved you so that you could live, yet you want to die!?" Sanji actually lifts his head up at that, "Only a weak person would act like that!"

Sanji matches Luffy's anger with his own, standing up at will, "Then what the hell do you suggest!?"

"THIS!" Tobio shouts, armed with a pitchfork, aims for Gin's legs.

Gin must be really out of it because he drops the gun as the fork pierces the back of his leg, "Brat!" What is with the people here? "Just give up!" as he kicks Tobio away.

"Hey, leave that brat alone!" Patty yells, "Yeah, the only people who can beat up on that brat is us!" Carne yells. They can't use their fish-ship on Gin in fear of hitting the brat or the boss (Sanji would be fine) but they refuse to let that treatment go unanswered!

Now, most people (Patty, Carne) wouldn't know it but veteran pirates (Zeff, Luffy) can tell Gin went easy on the brat by the absence of broken bones.

Gin takes a breath, grabbing the fork out of his leg and dropping it. He looks at the gun… And walks over past Zeff.

"What are you doing, Gin?" Kriegs shouts at his 2nd in command, "You betraying me?"

"Forgive me, Don Krieg," Gin says with as much courage he could muster, stepping on the Fins, "This person saved us. I don't want him to die like this," he holds up his batons, "At least... At least let me finish him with my own hands."

Krieg sneers, "Have you lost your mind? My own pirate fleet Battle commanding officer?"

Gin focus was solely on Sanji, "Sanji! I wanted you to get off this ship so that I wouldn't have to hurt you. But it doesn't look like that's gonna happen."

Sanji gets out a cig, "Yeah. I won't go," he lights it up, "This restaurant, I won't give it to you even if it costs my life."

"Then at least, let me kill you with my own hands. I can't make this right or wrong," yes you can, just stop following this asshole, "It's been a pleasure, my good friend."

Sanji gives an unamusing laugh, "Thanks. Eat shit."

Gin looks at the King, "The same for you, Straw-hat guy."

Luffy gives him a flat look, "Really," he raises a brow thumbing to Krieg, "Who do you really think is going to win?"

Gin furrows his brow in annoyance but... doesn't answer.

Luffy goes on, "I mean sure you had the biggest crew in the East Blue but now all your fodder is gone… Kinda makes you less than a crew don't it?" he gives Krieg a pitying look.

You can hear Krieg grinding his teeth together.

Sanji blows a stream of smoke, "Looks like you hit 'em where it hurts."

Luffy chuckles, "Definitely."

Sanji sees Tobio getting up again, holding his ribs, "Hey, brat!" making the boy flinch, "Don't you even think about getting involved! Just keep an eye on the geezer!"

Tobio grumbles, "That's all I do," but he manages to get up to Zeff.

Zeff slaps the kid's hand away in his poor admit to help him up. He stands up on his own despite the lack of peg leg, "I don't need your help."

"Cut the crap!" Tobio hands him the fallen leg, "I don't need your attitude!"

Krieg tries to give a chuckle of his own, "When a guy gets flustered because someone calls him weak, it's proof that he recognizes he IS weak," he says with faux confidence, "Let the outcome determine the weak and the strong. I'm still here. So don't make a fuss," he looks to his second in command, "Gin. You're responsible for killing that cook," he points to Luffy, "That insolent Hammerboy... Leave him to me."

Gin gets into a fighting position, "I understand, Don Krieg."

Krieg turns back to Luffy, "Hey, kid! I'll show you the power that conquered East Blue. I don't care if you've eaten a devil fruit. You will come to understand such a thing is meaningless."

Luffy doesn't even roll his eyes to waste energy, "You never shut up. I want to kick your ass."

"That's it," Krieg gets his shields out, "Shall we start now? You just wait right there for me. You arrogant son of a bitch, can't tell strong from weak," he smirks, "If Gin takes out that weapon he's serious! He's called a Devil-man for a reason. No matter how his opponent pleaded for mercy, he would always kill him without any hesitation."

Gin doesn't react to his captain's useless jabber. A Devil-man. A human with no feelings, "I'm sorry, Sanji-san. You can't defeat me," he starts twirling his batons, eyes on his own enemy, "It's time to finish this!"

Sanji gives his leg a practice kick, "Took the words right out of my mouth."

Gin makes the first move, coming at Sanji with batons twirling. He hit the floor first.

"Hm?" Sanji takes a step back but a moment too late as Gin sends the floor underneath him flying with one fell swoop.

"Damn it!" Sanji regains his balance, aiming a kick for Gin's head, missing by millimeters. Which made all the difference in the world.

Gin smiles as he jumps out of the way, "Sanji! Didn't I tell you?" he does a twist mid-air, slashing his baton at the still air-born Sanji, sending both of them to the floor, his baton on Sanji's neck, "You can't defeat me," he starts twirling his other baton in the air, getting ready for the finishing blow, "Just disappear from this world."

Sanji calmly blows smoke out of his nose, not looking the least bit phased. So cool...

...And spits his cigarette in Gin's face.

A millimeter makes all the difference but so does a millisecond, as Gin lost focus at the ash slightly burning his face, "Ah!"

Sanji pushes off his hands, projecting his feet right into the air into Gin's chin turning his head upwards, almost making him fall back.

It was tough but Gin isn't out as he took Sanji's moment of leaving himself open and quickly swung his body from the side, taking Sanji's left side, right in the ribs.

Both fall on impact.

Luffy looks Krieg up and down, "Are you going to fight with me or not?" he is at the edge of the Fins, ready to jump but he is kinda expecting… I don't know, bullets or something?

Krieg looks unimpressed, lips sagging, "Fight with you? Is it necessary? I use methods to kill people. It is a human's power. Remember that, stinky monkey."

Luffy pulls at his rubbery mouth, "OO-OO-AAH! You better be careful underestimating monkeys," he lets them go with a slap, "You'll get clawed!"

Krieg glared at him, "Idiot. I didn't become-"

"GUM GUM PISTOL!" Luffy sends a fist right at Krieg's face.

Krieg blocks it in a last-minute reaction, lifting his shield to take most of the impact, "Nice try, monkey boy but my shields are not to be taken light-" his shields are dented in like tin foil, "EH?!" The only reason he had time to block was because of the distance. Any closer and he would be fish food.

Luffy grabs his returning arm, "Let's try that again," he sends fist after fist at Krieg!

"Is Sanji alright?" Tobio looks worried, "This isn't looking good."

Zeff just stares, not bothering to answer. He doesn't want to think of an answer.

Sanji spits out some blood, "You Octopus Battle commander, that's all you've got?" Sanji gets up shaking, "Guess the mighty Krieg pirates were all talk and not bite."

Gin gets up as well, licking the blood coming from his mouth just to spit it out.

"It doesn't hurt a bit, small fry," Sanji taunts again.

"Don't bother struggling anymore!" Gin comes at him again, both batons swinging, "Prepare to be finished."

Sanji moves out of the way flipping on his hands as Gin aims where he was just at, "Were you going easy on me just now or what?" but rather than completing the flip he immediately brings his foot back down on Gin's head, "Piss off!"

Gin's head impacts the floor but he doesn't stay down, he immediately aims right at Sanji's leg, head still in the floorboards, "SHIT!"

Gin makes a move to get on top but Sanji… is just too fast.

Other leg out of commission, Sanji lands on his hands, swinging his other leg right at Gin head!

WHAM!

Gin is set flying all the way back to the restaurant as Sanji takes a knee. This is it. His leg is out for the count but he is still breathing, a little broken and bruised but breathing at the end.

CLICK

Sanji looks up, face dropping, "That's not fair…"

"Pirate…" Gin cocks the pistol, previously forgotten on the ground, now in his hands, aiming right at Sanji's face.

Sanji looks up, no fear but regret lingering on his face, "Son of a…"

Krieg has been forced back, having to jump from ship wreckage to ship wreckage to get away from the monkey's punches, it wasn't looking good for him, "Great! Kill him, Gin!"

But there was a pause… a hesitation. A tear, "Shit….I can't…." a small voice says to themselves…

Krieg lowers his shields, not hearing but seeing no movement, "What the hell?"

Gin takes a shuddering breath, "I- Don Krieg... I really- I CAN'T KILL THIS MAN! DON KRIEG!" he screams to high heavens.

Luffy stops his attacks, looking on with interest, "Gin…"

Gin keeps talking rapidly like a sinner confessing, "I really... I really can't kill him."

"What did you say?!" Krieg looks murderous, completely disregarding his own battle.

"Because I- I- I am... For the first time…" I thought I was a goner. Delicious, so delicious. This was my first time eating something so good. Tears flowed freely down the demon's face, he grabs his headband to cover it as if covering his shame, "This is the first time anyone has ever been kind to me... that's why... I can't kill this man."

Everyone looks with various degrees of shock but only Krieg looks on in disgust, "You can't kill him?" he completely lowering his shield, a foolish move, "That's quite disappointing Gin. I always believed you to be my most loyal subordinate, who could adhere to my philosophy of war more than anything else…" he shakes his head in memory, "The reason why I placed you as the battle commander of my pirate fleet of 50 ships was because of your fighting abilities as well as your will to win by any means no matter how vile or despicable."

Gin kneels on the ground "I don't plan on ever betraying you, nor do I think what I've done was a mistake," his tears still flow, "I respect your strength and am grateful to you and I'm very happy that you praise my strength and let me be the commander…" holding you back, "That's why I do whatever you say. And I'll still do it in the future…" You are more than a tool.

He looks at his captain with eyes begging, "But I simply cannot kill this man! Don Krieg, I beg of you... Couldn't we just leave this restaurant alone?!"

This was the first time Krieg actually looks like he lost his cool. Sure he got angry before but this time is different. His eyes turn white, teeth about to break they were grinding so hard in anger, "You bastard! Not only do you disobey my orders, but then you tell me what to do! Do you wish to die so much?" he lifts his shield, opening a special apartment, "Didn't I always say that I detest those feelings of principle?!"

Gin pales at the sight, "K-Krieg, please. You can't use that!"

Krieg's fish lips stretch into a gross smile, "All is fair in battle and that includes," pause for dramatic effect, "POISONOUS GAS!"

Tobio panics, "Poisonous gas!? What the hell kind of weapon are you gonna use?"

Zeff growls, "Using that kind of weapon!"

"You bastard!" Patty starts pedaling the fish boat back to the restaurant, pirates be damned, "Don't you know the consequences of using it!?"

Krieg gets his shield up, "You know that there's nothing I hate more than foolish naive things like honor or compassion," he hold his arms out high, "Listen well, this is a battle we're in. And in battle, you fight to win. So all you have to do is win. Treacherous? Despicable? Don't you agree that this is acceptable?" Krieg ignores them all getting his gun ready, "Winning is the goal. The method doesn't matter, only the goal is important. I don't care what consequences the poisonous gas will bring. As long as I win. That is strength!" he looks Gin right in the eye, "Throw away your gas mask, Gin. You're no longer one of my crew!"

Gin is shaken to his core, "Wha- Don... Krieg…"

"THROW YOUR MASK AWAY!" Krieg yells, getting his weapon ready.

"For the love of…" Luffy sighs, he rubs his face his his hands. I am too old for this, "Krieg you are starting to make me look smart!"

Everyone looks at Luffy, that is a bold claim, "If you disown him then he doesn't have to follow your orders, asshole! AND GIN!" Luffy yells, catching the dejected man's attention, "There's no need to listen to a big coward like him!" he thumbs to himself, "I'm gonna destroy him."

Gin looks to Luffy. His automatic response is to defend his captain to say that he had no chance of beating him but… as he looked at this kid, no, the man, he sees nothing... but strength. Not the kind that Krieg has, the kind that can wipe out an enemy in an instant with so many followers but… a new kind of strength, one Gin couldn't even describe but just knows… it was the strongest thing he had ever seen.

Sanji looks on with annoyance and concern, getting up to grab Gin's arm, "You idiot! Open your eyes! That guy's trying to kill you! "

Gin looks down dejectedly at his mask in his hands, "Of course. For me to talk about my feelings... Is to betray the role I have. That's why... That's why this is an obvious consequence!" he holds on to his mask tightly, ready to throw it into the ocean.

Sanji really does shake him this time, "Gin! Why? Why? You realize you are getting yourself killed!"

Gin shakes his head slowly, "But it's too late..." the only honor he has left is through death...

Krieg sneers, "Die together with that cook POISONOUS GAS MH5!"

"Dive into the sea!" Patty and Carne go down. Tobio pulls Zeff along, "Owner! Into the restaurant, quickly!" Everyone panics...!

… at nothing...

"Sweet!" a voice rings out. Everyone looks to see Luffy holding the bullet, throwing it up and down like a ball with one hand, "Oyal said they wanted to keep this intact!"

Everyone's jaws drop. Sanji is the only one willing to break the silence, "LUFFY, WHAT THE HELL?!" he shouts.

Luffy keeps throwing the bomb up and down, "What?" Krieg aimed the bomb right to the left of his head. It wasn't that hard just to, you know, grabbed it as it sailed past him.

"Stop that!"

Luffy drops the thing to the floor with a thud, "Okay!"

"BASTARD!" As everyone got a second heart attack.

Luffy kicks the poison gas all the way back to the Baratie. It is Gin who catches it, sweat pouring down his face, "Don't die, Gin," he orders seriously, "Don't die for that guy."

Gin feels years of mental conditioning running down his back, "No... stop... You-You can't win against him..." but even he doesn't sound convinced.

"I'm not going to die," Luffy says, "I'm not even going to get a scratch," he looks to Krieg finally able to stop holding back, "Let's go," and jumps at the man.

Krieg smirks, clearly not understanding the situation he is in, "Still trying even though you know you're going to die. The sea is your hell, Hammerboy," he gets some battle bombs from his armor, "In front of you lies… YOUR GRAVE!" he throws the bombs in the ocean making a huge wave of water covering Luffy's sight. With the wave up he shot sharp projectiles at the wave, hitting them all where only Luffy could be running towards him.

Sanji gasps, "He's hit!"

Kriegs smirks, "Killed, eh? He-"

Out of the wave came a completely unharmed rubber boy, "GUM-GUM AXE!" Making a leg crash right into the sea in front of Krieg.

"Using my own trick against me?" Krieg wraps a shield of spikes around himself as now he can't see where Luffy will attack, "Come on then! Why don't you try hitting KENZ CAPE? You can't lay a hand on me as long as I-"

"PISTOL!" and Luffy punches him right in the fucking face.

Patty's, who resurfaced from the sea a while ago, eye's widen, "WHAAAT? Don Krieg got hit! What is that guy?" "He punched right into the frickin' spikes! This can't be! I've never seen this before," Carne says equally surprised. "Don Krieg getting beaten like this. Can you believe it?" Patty shakes his head as the punch send the bastard flying.

"What a reckless guy" Sanji almost fondly says himself.

"Like hell! You don't decide where my grave, I'm not meant to die here?" Luffy said casually as he lifted up his completely fine, not at all hurt hand.

Sanji just shakes his head, "Reckless, I tell you."

Zeff stands up proudly, using the pitchfork Tobio forced on him as a crutch, "Sometimes you see idiots like him. People that fight till the death, once they've chosen their target."

Sanji looks on, "That's fight till the death, huh?"

Zeff nods, "To have that sort of person as your enemy is bad. His fight will end. Whether he wins or loses," he smirks, "I like those kinds of guys."

Krieg gets up just barely, "You say- You say you're not meant to die here? If this isn't your grave, Then whose can it be?" he swings his other shield, the not dented one, at Luffy, "It has to be yours, right?" He foolishly thinks he sent Luffy flying when really Luffy just jumped over him.

To slam his foot in his face, "ERR! WRONG ANSWER! IT'S YOURS!"

Tobio jumps at that, "He got beaten again! Luffy is the strongest!"

"Yeah..." Gin silently agrees. He really is. Not Krieg. A small part of his mind, a part that he always shut out start getting louder and louder. How could he have Krieg was unbeatable in the first place? He is just a human. Why did he think that Krieg was the strongest when so much evidence proven otherwise, from the Grand Line to even back in the East Blue. Was it because he wanted to believe? Or was it... because he had to believe?

"Kick his ass, monkey boy! Just defeat Krieg already" Patty gets back on the fish ship. "That guy's awesome! It's possible! If it's that guy!" Carne agrees.

"That kid, he's a match for Don," Sanji furrows his brow, "No, he really is better than him in every single way."

Krieg hears every word, "Don't be ridiculous!" he puts both his shields together, dented and undented, "My ultimate weapon, The Great Battle Spear!" he looks at Luffy with killing intent, "This spear is totally different from those tiny ones earlier. After 2 or 3 hits with this, you won't survive. If it hits you, you're finished!"

Luffy looks a little bit interested, "What kind of weapon is that? It explodes every time it hits? Neat!"

Krieg jabs the spear right at Luffy.

Luffy grabs the spear, "Shit," and the bomb blew in his face.

Krieg smiled, "FINALLY, I WIN!" he pulls his spear back to see his handy work but... he can't move it.

When the smoke cleared it showed Luffy holding the spear with both hands, "I got it."

Krieg jaw drop, only now getting a hint of how royally fucked he is, "How…?"

Luffy smiles a merciless smile. He crunched the spear like it was a balloon between two completely covered in blacks, "Now, it's my turn," Haha! Oyal is going to be so surprised at this! Armament Haki is back, baby!

Sanji looked in shock, "What the hell is that?"

"Haki..." Gin whispers, "I have only heard about it but... to see it..."

Tobio whistles, "Foul play: Unauthorized weapons on the field!"

Zeff does hit Tobio this time, "Give me that!" aiming for the whistle only for the boy to duck last minute.

Sanji shakes his head, "That Krieg... he just brings weapons out one after the other."

Gin bites the inside of his cheek, "Yea... that is his usual plan of attack. Just keep using tools one right after another."

Zeff huffs, "Even if he was equipped with a thousand weapons. He may not be able to defeat the one 'spear' that kid has. Nothing special. You should realize who is the strongest here," both men look over in curiosity, "Life or death. In a pirate's fight, the one who hesitates, even for a split second, thinking about death can get crushed."

"What are you talking about?" Gin asks for the both of them.

Zeff smiles, "At least that kid has no hesitation."

Sanji eyes widen at that, something... connecting.

"Is it because he has what it takes to survive?" Zeff continues, "Or does his conviction mean he simply refuses to die."

"His conviction?" Sanji asks innocently.

"That kid's 'spear' is equal to it," he looks at Sanji, "That same spear, I know someone like that. Someone who would get attached to that 'spear' for his own stupid reasons," leaving his sentence with a critical bow at that certain someone.

"You-You damned-" Krieg waves the broken spear at Luffy who jumps at the mast to grab on, "YOU DAMN MONKEY!"

Luffy grins, "OOHH OOH! AHAH!" he breaks the mast he was hanging on. New weapon in hand he falls back to battle as the mask is aimed right on Krieg. Who only used the last of his bomb to break the mast in half. That spear's all broken. It's nothing but a bomb-on-a-stick now.

Krieg looks murderous, "You…" his eyes drift away for just a moment. Luffy feels his murderous spirit arise, "If I can't get a flawless victory…" He takes out a normal hand gun, "then I will make sure you get a crushing defeat…"

Before Luffy could move… Krieg aims back at the restaurant. Damn body, damn thoughts. Damn damn damn!

"SANJI!"

BANG!

A bullet is sent not at Sanji, no, that would be too simple. But right at the gas bomb on the floor!

Only one person saw that trick coming. And only one person moved fast enough to push the bomb into the sea.

SPLASH!

That person went down with it.

BOOM!

A bomb going off underwater…

"GIN!"

Zeff grabs Sanji before he could jump in, "DON'T YOU DARE!" he shouts, "Those waters are poisonous now, you would just die along with him!"

"WE GOT HIM!" Patty and Carne paddle as fast as their fish ship could go, leading to the darker waters, looking for any signs of life, "Where is he? Where is- I SEE SOMETHING!" Carne points to a shadow just below the surface, "Quick get the pole!"

Both men carefully scoop the battered man onto the fish ship and back to the Baratie as fast as they could. Gin is utterly soaked and barely breathing. Only the whites of his eyes being seen.

Sanji takes over, "Gin! You idiot!"

Krieg clicks his tongue, "That bastard... defying me even till the end," he puts his gun away, "This happened because you made such a big deal out of food. I guess an idiot won't learn till he dies."

Patty shakes his head at the sight, "That guy is the Devil!" Carne nods, "Yeah, that's not how humans fight."

Tobio looks on worried, "Is he going to die?"

Luffy's hat covers his eyes, his voice just above a whisper "Gin... you chose the wrong man to follow."

Krieg turns his disgust on Luffy, "Are you sympathizing with my little scumbag?"

"Scumbag..." Luffy repeats slowly.

"Exactly," Krieg carries on, his own preservation instinct running away from him, "An idiot who refused my order without thought of the consequences, is no good for anything. Isn't killing him before he makes the same mistake again, a sign of my love?"

Luffy remembers this. He remembers Krieg spouting such nonsense that really showed how much of a scumbag this guy was and Luffy hated him. He got mad and kicked his ass, that's that.

But now... Luffy is just a little bit older. Now, he was just a little bit wiser. Now, he was just a little bit bitter... That young excitement he saw the world in was gone. He could never go back to being the boy he once was. Now he was just an old man in a young boy's body. He had years of anger and resentment weighing on his soul. And to see a captain killing his own crew...

"To think he'd really kill him! That's cruel..." Patty shakes his head, getting off the fish-ship onto the Baratie. He doesn't like the damn pirate but even he could tell when someone has gone too far.

"Patty!" Sanji takes Gin from Patty, "There's antidote inside right?"

Patty folds his arms, "Yes, but it's for food poisoning."

"Who cares?" Sanji orders, "Just get it!"

Tobio is the first to move, "I'll get it!"

Sanji gets Gin's mask, that he didn't even bother using! "First put the mask on his face quickly, There should some kind of antidote on there already," Sanji hands him off to Carne, "Take him upstairs and lay him down, that should let him breathe easier. It's the best we can do if we want to save him."

Carne stiffens as he held the body but quickly went into battle mode, "Hurry up, Patty!"

"Carne?!" Patty has an inner moment of debate before just following, "I got it!" chasing after his partner up the stairs.

Tobio starts rubbing his head as he forced the antidote down Gin's throat, "Come with us, he said. I have the perfect place for you, he said," he mutters under his breath, "Perfect, my ass."

"It's useless," Kreig observes their struggles, "At the most, he's got an hour."

"You know I was wrong…" Luffy voice rings out despite it being so calm, "You do have some potential," his big old eyes where shadowed by his hat, "Kinda strong, could get stronger. Able to get 50 ships to follow you, very interesting but…" Luffy grabs another mast to break, throwing his makeshift spear at Krieg, "It wouldn't really matter at the end…"

"Useless…" Krieg mutters taking his arm flamethrower and burned the stick at once.

"-Because you still don't know what true strength is," Krieg does not see Luffy coming in for a close-range attack, "GUM GUM GATLING GUN!"

Krieg barely blocks it with his dented shields, "Useless! Against this metal armor, your punches are useless."

But Luffy just needs that attack to get a proper landing. With his feet on the ground, Luffy finally got his fist ready, "GUM GUM PISTOL!"

Right in his golden chest.

CRACK

And into soft flesh.

"You think you can take over the world with just a few toys," Luffy feels Krieg's rib breaks under his fist, "But you are all talk, all glitter and no action. Just some actor in a fancy costume!"

It didn't matter if someone had the best-crafted equipment, the biggest crew, or most powerful weapons. None of that made you strong. It was limited. Everyone had a limit, some must give up and accept those limits and others who are either too stupid or too determined overcome them. The strongest people in Luffy's life don't have a lot, they lost more than they gain in fact, but to him… they were invincible.

Luffy knew it was coming before Krieg even shot the trigger on his last attack, "If I die!" he coughs out some blood, "I'm taking you with me!"

Tobio screams seeing the secret attack, "Run! Luffy!"

"You can't run away from this iron net," oh no, there was an iron net surrounding Luffy, "The sea is below us! It's clear who the victor is, hammer boy! I'm always the one who has the last laugh!"

"No problem," Luffy swings his legs up! And to bring them twirling down, capturing Krieg's face between his two feet, "Coz my hands and feet are still free."

"How can he… keep fighting?" Sanji looks up. How can he keep charging without the slightest hesitation? With no fear of consequences, without rational or thought.

"This time it's over!" Luffy starts twirling the absolutely buffoon a million times like a top, making him went sky high for all the world to see his shame, just to bring him as hard downwards… "GUM GUM SLEDGEHAMMER!"

….on his own sinking ship.

Tobio dances up and down from the window seat, "Don Krieg's defeated!"

Patty gapes like a fish, "He really did it! That guy did it! Awesome!"

Carne slaps his hands in glory, "Way to go, pirate boy! Great!"

Yosaku finally opens his eyes at the sound of cheering, "Huh? What I miss?"

"Something stupid I'm sure," Ganzo mutters on the ground, refusing to wake up.

But Gin doesn't get up, his gas mask is cut so that only the bottom covered his face, leaving his eyes uncovered. His eyes... are open.

Tobio sees the change walking to the pirate, "You're up now? That's great!"

"He's defeated," Patty looks over his shoulder, "Your Don lost."

They don't know if Gin could understand them, or even if he can hear them but he did. Don Krieg lost? No way. He's the King of the East Blue. He's the only man Gin's admired. He's... always believed that he's the best.

You followed the wrong man.

Tears well in his eyes as a feeling he never thought he would have to feel again wells up inside him as well... regret.

Luffy smiles as he falls into the sea with a splash. He hates repeating this kind of stuff, but this time… this isn't taking a risk at all. Because he knows for a fact. His crew is there to protect him.

Zeff looks at Sanji, "If you've got the time to space out, why don't you go and rescue him? He's not going to resurface, you know."

Sanji looks back at Zeff with panic, "What?!"

He carries on casually, "Those who gain powers from the Devil Fruit are cast away by the sea, becoming deadweight in waters."

"Why didn't you say so earlier?!" Sanji takes off his shoes while yelling, "I'll hold you responsible if anything happens!" he goes into the ocean already looking for the boy.

Where was he? Where was he? Hey, hang in there! Wasn't he the one who refused to die? Wasn't he the one who was going to be the King of the Pirates? Wasn't that what he believed in?

Luffy is not gonna die. This isn't his grave. He knows this. He knows this. But the feeling of the ocean around him takes away all his strength in an instant. He should be panicking yet he feels calm in the ocean, almost like the ocean itself was wrapping him in a blanket rather than trying to suffocate him.

Sanji grabs on to the boy, taking off the net and resurfacing as fast as he could with a gasp. He sees that Luffy had his eyes closed as he looks for any injuries. Not a single scratch, "You guys…" Sanji starts swimming towards the Baratie. Thoughts swirling in his head.

I don't know. I'm not sure why myself. But if I were to take even one step back, I believe that all those important oaths, promises, and many other deals 'till now, will all go to waste and I'll never be able to return before you, ever again.

You still can't do much against the one 'spear' he has. Someone who'd hold that same spear for his own foolish reasons.

The All Blue.

Sanji lightly slaps on the boy's cheek once they get to the deck, "Hey, Rubber boy! Don't you dare die on me now!"

Luffy isn't even passed out, he is just... relaxing. He is completely out of control of his body, can't move. And in the arms of his nakama, he is awake but he just wanted to… enjoy being close to Sanji again.

Sanji doesn't seem to get this as he kept yelling, concern rising, "You can't die, you hear?! You've got things to do, don't you? Hey, you can't just die! Say something already! Why you... You're such a pain in the butt!"

Luffy finally opens his eyes, "I'm awake!" and wraps his arms around his chef, "You saved me~"

"YOU WERE FAKING!" Sanji grabs both of his cheeks and starts pulling.

Luffy only smiles, a thought coming to his head, "'Ey, 'ere iz Gim?" he says through pulled cheeks.

Sanji lets them go with a slap and sighs, "Follow me," and leads Luffy inside the restaurant to the fallen commander.

Luffy looks down on Gin getting on eye level. The only proof of Gin reconsidering this was that his eyes twitched, "Hmmm," he digs in his captain pockets.

Sanji looks down as well, "I... he does not look so well. he might not be able to-"

Gin coughs, his body shaking. It is the most movement he made but... "Don…"

Luffy looks at him, really looked at him, "Gin… just admit it… stop being so stubborn. It's okay."

Gin feels tears come out of his eyes, "I made… a mistake," he followed the wrong man. Looked up to the wrong man. Did everything wrong for the wrong man!

"Hang on a sec, bud!" Tobio tries to get him to calm down, "The poison will spread all over your body if you move around! Calm down! Calm down! That'd be fatal!"

"Sanji…" he had to speak, he doesn't know if he is going to make it, "It's the only thing I want to do. When... Don Krieg's ambition became mine as well," he is having trouble breathing… "It's kinda weird for me declaring my decision, just because I'm running out of time... but this time, I want to do what I want to do. Trusting my instincts," trust himself, "Then I won't have anywhere to run anymore..." he closed his eyes, squeezing through the pain, "What loyalty do I have to Don Krieg? I've just been using Don Krieg's name as a shield so I could run away," he refused to have any more regrets even in what little time he had now, "That's what he taught me."

Sanji looks down on Gin, the man dying right in front of him, "Gin, I-"

Luffy stabs Gin in the neck.

"WHAT THE FUCK, LUFFY!"

"What?"

"Why did you do that?!"

"Oyal told me to."

Sanji grits his teeth, "Oyal?"

"Oyal only gave me this, in case of poison but…" Luffy opens his hand to show a needle. Things turned out worse than expected though. He got careless and Gin paid the price for that, "Hmmm, but he is in a worse position than before- I mean, than my magic witch crewmate expected!" Nailed it, Luffy, "So…." he cocks his head thinking hard, "We will just have to take him with us!"

Gin looks annoyed, "I'm not…"

"Instincts… what do your instincts tell you?" Luffy grabs Gin's face, squeezing his cheeks despite the gas mask, "What do you want?"

Gin looks into impossible black eyes. His first thoughts were to go with Don, keep Don safe, make Don the King. And he is sure that he would but with this man looking right at him... Any thought of following Krieg again seemed… so pointless. He doesn't need to worry about every little detail, but…

"I want... Freedom…" it hurts to say but damn it is so... freeing.

Luffy nods, "Like any good pirate…"

Patty and Carne knock on the wall letting their presence be known, "We rounded up all the pirates, finally got Krieg's carcass on the pile as well," Patty coughs a bit in his hand trying to look nonchalant, "Since you know... you took him down, we were wondering what you wanted to do with them."

Luffy takes charge. He would usually let these no-name pirates go but... "Get me a snail. I got a call to make!"

Both look at each other shrugging, leaving to get the snail.

Sanji looks at the captain, "What are you thinking?"

Luffy giggles, actually giggles, "Nothing~ Yosaku!" he yells, "Come here, I'm going to need your help!" as Luffy walks out the door.

OOO

With Gin resting, Sanji looks over the sea horizon from his room. He got bandaged up a bit, nothing life-threatening and all the chefs started waking up one by one, wondering what the hell happened. If it wasn't for the body of pirates tied up none of them would have believed that one kid took down all of them.

Luffy sits criss-cross on rails, looking over the sea as well, as Sanji lights up a smoke.

Luffy tries to make it causal "So-

"I'm not going," Sanji saw it coming a mile away, "I don't want to be a pirate. I'm staying here to continue being a cook until that old fart acknowledges my cooking skills."

Luffy frowns not so lightly, "I see. I'll give up then."

"Your hand isn't giving up!" Sanji yells, referring to the rubber arm wrapped around his own arm! He leaves it as Luffy clearly shows he was not letting go, "I can't go. They're all unreliable around here," he lets out some smoke, "But I'll go there someday. To the Grand Line."

"Then, let's go now!" Luffy encourages.

"Not just yet though," Sanji explains. He won't admit it in a million years but he really, really, wanted to go with this guy. He thought about it... Luffy wouldn't laugh at him, he wouldn't tell him that his dream was impossible. Now he just wanted to… let it out, "Hey, have you ever heard of 'All Blue'?"

Luffy has to hold back the grin on his face, there he is. Sanji. At his purest form. A cook with a dream, "Nope," popping the p at the end.

"What? You haven't?! It's a mystical sea! In that sea, fish from all over - East Blue, West Blue, North Blue, and South Blue, can all be found there! It's like a wonderland for cooks like us! And it's in the Grand Line! How haven't you heard of it?" Sanji goes on and on about fish Luffy never bothered remembering the names of but knows the taste, about the awesome sights, and Luffy shuts up and listens and listens and listens.

Luffy is sharing the same thoughts as the old man watching them from above. Sanji looks so damn happy.

Luffy can't leave without him.

"Lunchtime, boys!" Ganzo calls.

Luffy gets down, "Finally, some grub! Food, food, food!" they go to the second floor where the tables were stacked.

"Hey, where are we sitting?" Sanji questions.

Luffy looks as well, "Where's the food?"

The chef look up, noses in the air, "We didn't save a seat for you. Eat on the floor."

Sanji is pissed, "No seat? How can that be? This is a restaurant for crying out loud!" he brushes them off quickly, "Oh well, They're acting weird," and goes to get his food.

Luffy lifts a hand, "Wait," he says in his serious voice making all the chefs sweat for a minute. Luffy walks to a certain boy trying to hide in between the larger men, "Tobio~" the boy flinches, "What's going on?"

All the chefs stop to look, trying to keep up the act as Tobio sweats, "N-Nothing, there is just no seats and we are eating," he swallows, feeling the black eyes on him as Luffy forcibly turns him around, "Y-you know how crazy things can be…"

"Tobio, Tobio, Tobio," Luffy shakes his head, "You can't lie to me, Tobio..."

The boy swallows, "Grandpa…"

Ganzo shakes his head, "I thought this plan was stupid from the start," he puts down his spoon.

Patty hisses, "Don't you dare-"

Ganzo stands up, "Shut it, you young blood," he turns to them all, "Heaven forbid you all grow up and have an actual conversation like adults," he pitches his brows, "I swear, I am surrounded by children."

All the chefs look down. For being criminal, ex-pirate, bloodthirsty monsters they look like children being scolded by a parent at that moment.

Ganzo looks at them all then to Sanji, "They made some stupid plan to make you leave by throwing your soup to the floor and insulting you," Sanji bristles at the thought, "It was all something I didn't agree to but here we are…"

"Way to go Ganzo," Zeff enters, putting his soup down on a table, "the Plan going down the drain."

Gazo rolls his eyes, "Like you could talk. All of you pirates are the same," he shakes his head, "All actions and no sense. Probably why the One PIece is still missing, heaven forbid you actually think before speaking with your fists."

Sanji looks at Zeff, "What is he talking about?"

Tobio nods his head, "You guys," he points to all the chefs, "Are the most emotionally stunted men I have ever met," oh great, now a child is scolding them, "Seriously, you are all family here, why you have to be so hard on each other. Just… chill."

All the chefs, all who rather cut off their tongue than show some emotional vulnerability, glance at one another.

Luffy takes a huge gulp of the soup, "This soup is great!"

After a beat Zeff grumbles, "...We know so."

One chef coughs, looking away from Sanji, "Sanji's cooking is revered by everyone here..."

"It doesn't taste bad at all," another pipes up, "Yeah, it's well made," one by one they start talking, "But, if we didn't pull this off, he'd never leave, that stupid brat."

Sanji looks at them, "Huh?"

Patty rubs his forehead looking like he'd rather be pulling his own teeth, "Don't you get it?!" he grabs Sanji by the collar, " We want you to go to the Grand Line!"

Carne comments just as angry, "Yeah! Can't you get it through your thick skull that we care about you, you utter moron!"

"Dumbass!" "Stupid!" "We want you happy, you bastard!"

Ganzo sweatdrops, "That's… not... You know what, close enough."

Zeff points to Luffy, "Hey kid! You mentioned that you wanted Sanji for your cook? I'm not trying to force you or anything, but that lil' eggplant of ours, Care to take him with you? To the Grand Line."

"The Grand Line is what he's always dreamed about," the chefs explain as if Luffy doesn't already know, "You see, the boss is a real troublemaker." "Please take care of him!"

Sanji almost chokes on his cigarette, "W-Wait a minute!"

Zeff turns to him, "How 'bout it, kid?"

Luffy grins, "No."

The chefs scream, "WHAT?!"

Zeff looks impatient, "Didn't you say you need a cook on your ship? Or do you not like the guy?" sounding offended at the last part.

Luffy shrugs eating more of Sanji's food, "It's nothing like that. I want to take him with me, but he said that he wanted to stay here as a cook. I can't take him along even if you guys insist," Luffy looks right at Sanji.

"So you're saying that you can't do anything about it unless he says yes?" Zeff understands.

"Exactly. I need to go soon because my navigator's in danger," he says finishing up his meal, "Seconds please!"

The chefs surround Sanji, "Sanji, say yes damn it!" "Go find that All Blue!" "Stop holding yourself back!"

"But I-"Sanji tries and fails to get a word in.

"Come on," Patty shakes him roughly, "You think you have to stay here and waste your talents," he points to Luffy, "You belong on the Pirate King's ship!"

"I've known you since you were a brat, boy!" "You deserve better!" "Follow your dreams!" "We are cheering you on!" It is like a waterfall, once they got through the barrier the floodgates where open and would not stop.

Sanji looks so uncomfortable. He feels so light and weird. He never… he's never… the Baratie was his home but they were all guys. All guys with tough exteriors and so there wasn't a lot of hugs or mussy crap that went around. That was only for ladies. But here they were, blatantly, embarrassingly, encouraging Sanji to go and follow his dream.

He feels...loved.

Patty puts Sanji down. He looks at Zeff, the old man looks back, "I…" don't be selfish, don't wish for any more than you had.

The sea's a huge place. Someday… you'll find people who are good to you!

He hasn't thought about her in years…

"I... want to go," he turns to Luffy, "We both have foolish dreams… and I-I'm gonna do this for my own dream, for All Blue," he coughs in his hands, his throat was closing for some reason, "As you wanted, I'll go with you. On this road to the Pirate King. Allow me to take up the position of cook aboard your ship," he feels too open under Luffy's gaze, his defenses coming back up again, "You got a problem with that or what?"

Luffy slingshots himself at Sanji, "YEESS! Great!" he starts doing a happy dance, grabbing a startled Yosaku to join in, "This is great!" "Isn't this great, Luffy-Bro?" "Yay! Yay! We got our cook! We'll always have something to eat now!"

Sanji turns back to his… family, "So that's it, people. I gave you a lot of trouble, didn't I?"

Patty folds his arms, "Man, you piss me off. I wanted to throw you out of here myself, but now things turn out to be easy."

Tobio rolls his yes, "You're all morons."

Zeff nods, "That's right, you li'l eggplant. I told you from the beginning that I hate kids!"

"That's just nice, old fart," Sanji says making his exit, "Now you can sit back and relax for the rest of your life.

Luffy goes out to prepare the ship. He had some chefs help with food storage, "Oh! Nice ship there! You sure we can use this?" he asks the chef.

The guy nods, "It's Sanji's, so of course you can," he puts another sack of meat in the boat, "Aren't you done yet?

"Nope, more meat, please," Luffy asks politely.

The chef sags his shoulders, "How many days are you gonna be sailing?"

Like 2 hours, "Dunno. Could be a week," Luffy says easily. It's not lying, it's extending the truth!

Zeff comes from behind, "Kid!"

Luffy turns back, "Oh, old man."

Zeff holds out his journal, "You want this? It's my journal during the year I ventured the Grand Line."

Luffy shakes his head, "Don't need it! Got a journal of my own, and I don't want any more information," he would know.

Zeff shrugs, "Thought so."

"I want that frozen beef up there!" Luffy points to another sack.

"Can't you cut it out!?" the chef yells.

Yosaku comes out of the restaurant, a sleeping Gin in his hands, "Cook-Bro's rather slow, isn't he?" he places Gin carefully in the ship, careful not to wake him up.

Sanji steps out as all the cooks gather around the fins. The man who had been here since the beginning, yet he is the youngest on the ship not including Tobio.

After the original heart to heart session inside, the fins are deadly quiet.

Until Patty and Carne try to sneak attack behind the boy, "This is the fury I've accumulated for years!" "Prepare yourself, Sanji!"

Sanji keeps walking as the two men were left bleeding on the floor, "You can never beat him," a chef says to the bruised men.

Sanji looks around for the old geezer and tries not to feel dejected when he doesn't see him, "Let's go…"

"You sure?" Yosaku asks, "No goodbyes?"

Sanji shakes his head, last time he got a goodbye it did not end well, "Nah-"

"Bye, Big Bro!" Tobio comes from behind and gives Sanji a surprise hug!

Sanji feels his whole body go rigid. When was the last time he got hugged? He doesn't really know what to do, trying to turn and... let his arms fall on the smaller boy, "Um… bye?"

Tobio looks up and smiled a blinding Luffy-rivaling grin. Sanji returns it, feeling his child-like side resurfacing again. The chefs had to look away from the sight, knowing they will have to punch a wall to feel manly again after such a display.

"Sanji!" Zeff's voice sounds right behind him as Tobio lets go. Sanji doesn't even see Zeef coming down with Ganzo to his left. Zeff looks like he was being forced to eat his other leg before sighing, "I'm going to kick your ass, Ganzo," and pulls Sanji in a hard hug, "Don't catch cold now."

Sanji... definitely has no idea what to do. When was the last time Zeff hugged him? Never? He kinda just stands there for a moment, arms carefully hugging back the old man, as if Sanji would break him. Then he... relaxes. His fatal mistake as he feels tears well in his eyes. Shit.

"Zeff..." Sanji doesn't care how uncool he looks right now, hanging on Zeff like a lifeline, "All this time... I owe you a hell of a lot! What you've done for me, I shall never forget!"

Zeff doesn't say anything either as neither address the wet feeling on Sanji's shoulder.

"You damn bastard! I'm gonna miss you, damn it!" Patty picks the both of them up in his stupidly big arms.

"Gonna miss you alright!" Carne replies.

Again the chefs start crying and shouting, "This is so sad!" "I'm so sad, damn it!" "We are going to miss you, Sanji!"

Zeff tries to wipe his eyes but fails as he can't move his arms, "You morons! Men should just leave without saying a word."

Ganzo rolls his eyes, tearing up a bit as well, "Men also know when it's alright to cry."

Patty lets them all go and Sanji doesn't even try to stop the tears, "'Till we meet again, you good for nothing bastards!"

Luffy smiles as Sanji got on the ship, "All right! Let's go!"

The chefs don't turn away as they see their little bro go with the Future King of the Pirates, "I told you, it wouldn't kill you," Ganzo says snarkily.

"Shut up," Zeff bites back.

Ganzo doesn't even flinch, "Every dad misses their son..."

Zeff stiffens his shoulders looking as the last bit of the boat leaves their sights, "With the belief and refusal to die, they will find All Blue," Zeff nods, "Alright men! Customers will be flooding in soon! Get back to work!"

"Excuse me," a voice grabs everyone's attention, "We got an anonymous call about pirates being captured around here," there stood a large man, no, a large marine at the edge of the deck.

Zeff went back into cold, cruel, professional mode in an instant, "Yeah, who's asking?"

The Marine took out his cigar, both cigars actually, "Captain Smoker," he points back into his ship, "We are here to collect the pirates and give the reward money," he looks Zeff up and down, "That is… if you have them?"

OOO

I would like to thank The Patient One, Miep42, and MadGirl for editing!