Chapter 12: Not too long after the events of Chapter 11

"God dammit, you people! Can you go one day without hurting yourselves?!" Law shouted. "I've already got enough problems dealing with him!" he pointed at Zoro, still laying on the bed in Law's clinic/basement.

"Well, sorry for fuckin' inconveniencing you. Didn't know my gunshot wound is such a huge burden on you."

"Shut up. Baby, let me fix your hand," he said, beckoning her over. She sat on a countertop, letting Sanji lean back next to her while Law unwrapped the mess of gauze they had wrapped her hand in.

Luffy looked down at Zoro, waving his hand in front of the man's face and watching his eye follow it. "How ya feelin'?"

Zoro shrugged, trying to sit up more. With some effort and holding his side, he managed to do so. "Eh, better. I'll make it. How about you? You two look downright miserable. The hell was going on up there?"

Before either of them could answer, Law suddenly said "Hey, why is her lipstick all over your face?!"

Three heads and five eyes all whipped in Law, Sanji, and Baby's direction. Both of them looked like teenagers who just got caught smoking behind school. Which is actually something that happened to both of them in their youth.

"What? No it's-" Sanji wiped at his face with the back of his hand.

"We were not-" Baby stammered. "We- So-! So who is zhis man who was visiting anyway?" she said with an obviously forced smile. She crossed her legs and rested her chin in the palm of her good hand, looking wide-eyed in Luffy and Nami's direction. "Tell us! We are all very interested!"

Law continued to rebandage Baby's hand while occasionally glaring overprotective glares towards Sanji. Nami and Luffy caught everyone in the room up to speed, which is something I literally just covered so I won't bore you with that. What I will bore you with is what happened next! And also what happened long before all that.

After everything was explained, Sanji stroked his chin in thought. "So you guys don't believe him, right? That he's here to make amends?"

Nami shrugged. "Man, I don't trust anyone by default, but that's because of my upbringing as the daughter of a town leader who had to worry about the safety of all of her people. But I mean, even Luffy could tell he was up to something." She realized what she just said and tried to roll it back. "W-wait, I mean-"

"Yeah, even I noticed he was up to something!" Luffy said with no hint of irony whatsoever.

Sanji furrowed his brow. "Good, because you're absolutely right. He's pulled this shit before. I've seen it myself. He's gonna be back and he's going to try taking this place."

"He will have to pry it from my cold dead hands!" Baby shouted.

"It'll be cold dead hand if you don't sit still and let me work!" Law said. "... Because if the wound gets infected, it might get gangrene and I might have to amputate it. That's what I was going for."

"No, we got it," Zoro said. He turned back to Sanji. "So, you seem to know a lot about this Krieg…"

Sanji waved a dismissive hand. "Hey, before you get any ideas, I was on the receiving end of his… generosity when we met. I never worked for the guy."

Once upon a time, there was a restaurant in West Virginia. It was owned by a crotchety old Italian guy who may or may not have had mob ties. The restaurant was called Baratie and the guy was called Zeff. Now, Zeff was not going to let something as stupid as Zombie Day get in the way of his business model. God had put him on this planet to do two things, prepare and serve food, and break fools.

The Baratie would remain open for business and he would continue taking customers and hiring staff. But before you get any ideas about him being a kindly old man who gave away food for free, hold your horses. He would still demand a payment of some kind. Maybe you worked for him, maybe you traded some supplies. Maybe you just provided the food and had him and his chefs prepare it.

That being said, it was so worth it. Baratie was like an oasis in a ruined world. Rumors spread about the place and people sought it out, seeking refuge and trading whatever they could for a real cooked meal. Yes there were the occasional struggles. Rowdy patrons, attacks from raiders. But no one was really all that interested in trying to conquer the place. Why ruin a good thing?

About a year after Zombie Day, Sanji found himself working at Baratie as a chef. It was like a dream come true. Sure, he was still the new guy, but he was surrounded by food and surly chefs like himself. He was younger than the rest of the staff by a good ten years at least, but he fit right in. And Zeff couldn't have been a better father figure. Which wasn't hard to do, considering Zeff never tried to convince him assassination was a viable career path.

Before Sanji could break his way out of the "new guy" phase, a guy named Gin showed up at the Baratie's door. He was starving, looked exhausted and ragged, could barely stay on his feet. He had enough to trade for his own meal, but after inhaling everything on his plate, he asked about more. He explained that he had a group nearby that didn't have the resources to make it out to the restaurant together, so they sent him. They were running low on food, only a few days' worth left when he took off.

Zeff wasn't in the business of giving out food to people he couldn't see, but Gin was insistent. Sanji volunteered to make the delivery himself, provided Gin could cough up some manner of payment. Eventually Gin and Sanji managed to talk Zeff into letting the newcomer clean dishes and mop the floors for a few days. Zeff intentionally cut things close, knowing Gin's people were on the verge of running out of food, to ensure that he would do a good job.

Again, he wasn't exactly a kindly old soul.

After Gin's time was up, he and Sanji loaded a truck with canned goods and aluminum trays of cooked food to bring back to Gin's people. They were found in a gas station a few miles away from Baratie. About 15 men in total, all of them looking like they belonged in an underground fight club. Sanji had never seen such pure relief and gratitude in his life when they showed up with the food. No one more grateful than the one known as Don Krieg, who looked like he could be a manager of an underground fight club.

Krieg was so grateful, in fact, that when his strength had returned, he made a personal trip to Baratie to thank Zeff. It was the kind of heartwarming moment that reminded the staff why they were doing this. To see a grown man nearly brought to tears, saved from the brink of death.

And then Krieg's balls decided to get big and he figured he would like to own the damn restaurant himself. So he gathered up the guns he could find, the ammo he could scrounge up, and simply walked through the Baratie's front door like an old friend. You see, that is what separated Krieg from the other assholes who tried to take the Baratie. They were unorganized shitheads who came in with guns drawn. Krieg managed to get into the kitchen before he made his move.

Let's go ahead and set the scene as it was all those years ago.

Krieg and his 15 men had surrounded the staff, disarmed them, and had various firearms pointed at them. The staff had their hands up, growling and glaring ineffectively at their captors. All except for Zeff, who was on the ground clutching the knee Krieg had put a shell of buckshot into.

Sanji's hatred was reserved almost exclusively for Gin. He was glaring daggers at the older man, growling "What the fuck, man?! We worked together! We were friends!"

Gin shrugged, trying to act like he didn't care. "It's just business. This is the world now, Sanji." He sounded like he was trying to justify his actions to himself as well.

"That's fucking bullshit. And when this is over, I'm going to stomp your ass into the dirt!" Sanji snapped.

"Shut up, Sanji…" Zeff said from his spot on the floor. He was sweating, breathing heavily, but trying his damnedest to remain composed. "We lost this one. There isn't any way this ends well for us… He's got us by the balls."

Sanji and the rest of the crew shot their head chef a surprised look. Krieg just laughed, applauding slowly. He started pacing around the group, slow circles, like a vulture circling a dying man. "Now, see, I really do appreciate a man who understands the gravity of the situation he's in! Too often we get those wild cards who go off and think themselves some big time hero, savin' the day! But that ain't how the world works, is it? As my associate said, this here is just business. Now, you have something that I want." He was talking in this slow, condescending tone. "And I, you see, have the means, and the desire, to take it. Now, I would be a fool not to! But I am not without a sense of fairness. You helped me and my men and I am still so very grateful f'r that. So if y'all wanna just walk out the front door, no fuss, I am feelin' inclined to let you."

He looked to Sanji, a wide smile pulling across his face. "Besides, I would hate to be the one to wipe out the Vinsmoke family line by killin' their only remainin' son."

Sanji's chest tightened and the rage he was feeling melted into a combination of fear and confusion. "Wh-what did you say?!"

Krieg laughed again, shaking his head. "Now I thought I recognized you! Just took me a while to place the face… Your folks did a whole lotta good.. Be a shame to waste that potential… How about you come work for me, boy?"

At that, Sanji almost lunged at him, but Zeff yelled at him to stop. "Don't you dare, ya idiot! It ain't worth it!"

"Not worth it?!" one of the chefs yelled. "This place is our home! Sanji's our brother! And you're just going to let these guys walk all over us?!"

Zeff didn't look away from Krieg. "It's just a building," he said to the chef.

"Just a building my ass!" He suddenly lunged for one of the thugs who had their gun trained on the staff. A few more got the idea and joined him, five of them making a desperate charge for the group surrounding them. They attempted to wrench the guns from Krieg's men's hands, and before they could even make an effort to pull on them, they were gunned down without a thought.

Bodies hit the ground and stayed that way. No one said a word at first. There was a chill that washed over the remaining staff. They stared in disbelief at the bodies, quiet murmurs traveling through each of them. Krieg ultimately broke the silence by asking "Anyone else wanna deny my generosity?"

The anger building up in the remaining staff was about to boil over in a suicide charge. But Zeff silenced them. "NO! No. We're done. It's over. It isn't worth dying over… It's just a building…"

"But-!" one of them protested.

"It's not! Worth! Dying for!" Zeff barked. "Now someone fucking help me up."

It was the absolute worst feeling in the world. Their choices were to either go out with their tails between their legs, or end up dead on the floor of their home. They weren't sure they were even making the right call when Sanji and another chef helped Zeff stand up and carried him toward the door. As he passed by Krieg, he muttered to him, almost threatening, "It's just a building."

Krieg had no idea what he meant at the time. He would realize it later, but I'll cover that in a little bit.

I'll sum up what happened afterward. Zeff lost the leg. They had to amputate it since they lacked the medical means to try and fix his shattered knee. He didn't make it much further after that. When you can't run, the zombies will get you eventually. After that, the others started going, One by one. As mentioned earlier, Sanji was the only one left by the time he made it to Funkytown.

Sanji told everyone almost all of this. He left out the part about him being a Vinsmoke, but he left in all the other details. It was silent in Law's office as they all processed it. Eventually, Zoro sucked in a breath. "Damn. That's a rough deal," he said. Which is honestly more than anyone else expected from him. Everyone has dead people, that's how it goes in this world. The respectable thing to do is give someone the solemn nod that you understand and empathise.

Sanji nodded grimly, trying to find some amount of levity after dropping his requisite tragic backstory on everyone. "Yeah, you could say th-oof!" the wind was knocked out of him as Baby threw her arms around him in as tight a hug he'd ever had.

It was rib-crushing. She buried her face into his neck and he could hear her growling, "Zhat bastard! Zhat cruel, evil bastard! And zhat Gin fucker, turning on you like zhat?!" Her face was red with anger and her fingers were curled into his shirt.

Sanji laughed, but it was completely mirthless. "Yeah… The one good thing about this is that, if he's still alive, I have a chance to lose a shoe up his ass."

Luffy was fired up just like Baby. "So he kicks you outta your home, kills your friends, leaves the rest of you to die… And now he's here?! He came all the way out here just to mess with you more! I hate this guy so much!"

"I don't think he knows I'm still alive, actually. The fact that I get a chance to pay him back is more… serendipity."

"I dunno what that means, but I'm still gonna knock his teeth out!" Luffy punched a fist into his palm.

"So we got a plan for this guy or what?" Zoro asked. "I'm a fan of striking first. When he shows up again, we don't even let him get to the door. Take him down before he's even a threat."

"Wow, so we just jump straight to preemptive murder, alright…" Nami said a little uneasily. "I mean I was open to suggestions but we're going right for it."

"What's wrong with it? Murder is fun, especially when the victim deserves it. I'm down for it," Zoro said, shrugging.

"Me too! I will kill him!" Baby chirped.

Nami sucked in a breath. "Alright then, well… Are we armed for a full-frontal assault? I don't recall a lot of guns being brought our way. Sanji, what do you think?"

"I honestly have no idea. I only met the guy and his crew the one time, and that was years ago… Who knows what state he's in now? Really, the only advantage we have is that he doesn't know we're on to him."

"That's not a very good advantage…" Luffy pouted. "Why can't we have the advantage where we know everything and we can steamroll all over him?"

"Well, we're a few days off from Hancock's first scheduled shipment. Maybe they'll bring us some guns or ammo. Or we could have them send an army or something?" Nami suggested.

Law lifted his head. "Hey, I got a really important question. Do you have to talk about all this in my fucking office?"

The next couple of days were somehow even more stressful than the previous one. For some reason, I have no idea why, knowing that the Enemy (with a capital E) was actually coming for them one day didn't do much to calm everyone's mood. Everyone had to stay on the lookout for any sign Krig was going to make a move, while simultaneously acting like they weren't on the lookout for any sign he was still watching them. Just in case he was actually still watching them.

This made patrol duty, already everyone's least favorite job, even less fun. It wasn't just a casual walkaround to see if there was a zombie cluster that needed silencing. They were on the lookout for snipers. Or scouts. Or spies. (They probably didn't need to worry about medics or pyros though.) No one was more stressed out than Vivi, who was already not taking things well.

Vivi could deal with defusing arguments, or relieving tension between two parties. She was good at compromise. Or at least, she thought of herself as good at compromise. But if Sanji was to be believed, Krieg wasn't looking to make a deal. He was looking to conquer, and no amount of bartering or parlay would help. So what on earth could she do?

She could listen at the walls, that's what she could do. It was the 14th day since arriving at Little Garden now, and let's just break that down for a second. They as a group could not go two weeks without something going wrong. Not two weeks. Think about that.

It was the 14th day and Vivi was on patrol duty with Robin. Vivi was nervous, jumping at shadows. She alternated between leaning in close to see if she could hear anything on the other side of the wall, and looking back to Robin to make sure she was still standing there and not collapsed on the ground with a sniper round in her head.

"Hear anything?" Robin asked, a bemused smile on her face as Vivi leaned her ear close to the wall.

She stayed silent for a minute, then pulled away. "No… Nothing… It's clear."

Robin raised her water bottle in a mock-toast. "To Nefertari Vivi, the most dedicated sentinel in Little Garden. Let's go another ten feet and listen, maybe the bad guys are there."

Vivi scrunched her face up and glared at Robin, biting her lower lip. "I'm doing my part to keep the outpost safe! Krieg could show up at any time, right?!"

Robin's eyes widened and she smiled wider. "Well, of course. He and his army could barrel down our gate and slaughter us all within the next five minutes! Do you think our heads would look good mounted on spikes? Or do you think Krieg is more the type to throw our bodies in a pile and burn them and be done with it?"

The younger girl shivered, running her fingers through her hair, trying to get the mental image out of her mind. "Why do you say things like that?!" she shrieked.

"I find that verbalizing the worst case scenario helps me mentally prepare for it."

"So you don't have high hopes for our survival either, huh?" Vivi said gloomily.

Robin made a show of looking surprised and a little offended. "Wha-! I didn't say the most likely outcome! I said the worst outcome!"

"Well-! I'm sorry, I'm just… I'm really freaking out here! I'm not at all ready for this kind of thing! I can kill a zombie no problem, I'm not- Well, I am afraid of them, but… I can deal with that. I can't deal with this."

Robin looked at her, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about how… Ugh! Coby and I have been… debating… whether or not we want to stay here any longer, and as much as I don't want to, I really think I should leave. And I'm trying to talk myself out of running away, but if this is going to come to a shootout in the middle of town, then I- I-..." Vivi was frustrated, tripping over her words and she had no idea if what she was saying was coming out clear or not.

The expression on Robin's face said that it was not. "Vivi, what are you talking about?"

"I don't wanna shoot people! That's what I'm saying! I know Krieg is downright evil, but I don't have it in me to shoot someone who's still alive!" she finally yelled like it was a desperate confession of something scandalous.

"Then… don't." Robin said.

"Wh-... what?"

"Don't fight. Hide. Stay safe. If you're going to hesitate, then you're going to be a liability." Robin could tell by Vivi's expression that her answer came off far more coldly than she intended. Regardless, she made no effort to backpedal. "You don't have to be a warrior, we already have a lot of those. I'd rather you stay out of the way than try and force yourself into something as serious as this."

The sound of a horn blaring made both of their hearts skip a beat. "Dammit… Alright, decide right now. Are you in or out?"

"I-I-" Vivi stammered.

"In or out, princess?" Robin demanded again.

"I-... IN!" she squeaked.

Robin nodded. "Alright. Come on," she beckoned Vivi to follow her as they both raced for the gate. Bonney, Franky, and Luffy had also heard the horn go off and were rushing for the entrance as well.

"THIS IS IT, KIDS!" Franky barked. He had a revolver in one hand and a bandolier around his chest, loaded with grenades. A shotgun was holstered to his back. Bonney had a pistol in each hand and a machete at her hip. She was in the process of chewing through a Tootsie Pop and somehow managed to make that look tough. Luffy had taken the liberty of wrapping his baseball bat in barbed wire, for that extra nefarious kick. They would be the first line of defense when the time came. They stood next to the gate, their backs against the wall. Ready to ambush Krieg at a moment's notice. Franky's free hand hovered over the opener.

Robin and Vivi scrambled up the ladder next to the gate and peered over the edge…