Disclaimer: All the characters herein, with the exception of some random extras, are the intellectual property of Eiichiro Oda and all the companies involved with publishing and production of the One Piece manga and anime. I just twisted 'em a bit.
Spoilers/Warnings: This story will eventually encompass the entire first season of the anime, which is up to about halfway through volume 11 of the manga, just so you know. This is an AU, so many things have been changed/altered/warped to suit my needs. Also, there is some language and violence.
Pairing: None. However, I like subtext, so you can probably find hints of just about anything, if you look for it.
Dedication: To the OP at the fanforall at LJ, for requesting a cowboy AU and spawning this in my brain. Many thanks to Dandy Wonderous for beta-ing.
A/N: Name order for all characters has been westernized. Don't like it? Tough cookies! I do not claim to be an expert on anything involving gun fighting, the old west, or the cavalry. I did some very basic research for some of this, but I probably got lots of stuff wrong. Humor me!
A/N 2: Double update! Happy New Year a tad belatedly!
Part 14- Debts of Honor
Gin and Sanji circled each other warily in the small space. They each took a few exploratory shots, blocking one another with relative ease. Sanji, however, wanted to make it clear that he was serious.
He dropped down and swept a leg at his opponent's feet. Gin hopped over the attack only to be met with a kick to the chin seconds later. He stumbled back, wiping away a trickle of blood with the back of his hand.
"Gin!" Krieg snapped from outside. "Quit playing around in there! I'm losing patience! Hurry it up, or I'll shoot that little rat myself!"
Gin tensed slightly at the threat, before reaching down to the special holsters he had strapped to each thigh. He removed two side-handled clubs, holding one in a defensive position along his forearm and twirling the other at a deceptively lazy pace. He easily blocked Sanji's next kick with one arm and swung the club in his other hand into a spot on Sanji's ribcage that had been left exposed during the chef's attack.
Sanji couldn't help a slight wince. He didn't think any of the ribs were broken, but he was definitely going to bruise. The chef reassessed his foe. The weapons significantly increased Gin's reach, as well as his defense. Sanji's previous fighting strategy was no longer going to work, as it left him too open to retaliatory strikes.
"It's rather ironic, really," Sanji panted. "I'm used to seeing weapons like that in the hands of policemen."
"It would be best for you to just surrender." Gin's voice was pitched to carry only as far as Sanji's ears, and he scarcely moved his lips. "Krieg might be willing to spare your lives if you all just give in and leave."
"This restaurant means more to us than that," Sanji countered in a equally low tone. "Everyone here would rather die than simply let that bastard have what he wants without a fight. I owe that old man my very life, and I'll not set one foot outside these walls until he does first."
"And I owe you my life." Gin sighed wearily. "I would have starved, if you hadn't shown me compassion. I don't want to have to kill you, Sanji... If you continue to resist Don Krieg, you will all die, and, if that must be the case, a quick death at my hands is the only mercy I can offer."
"Big talk," Sanji sneered. "You've barely even managed to bruise me, and you're talking about killing!"
"I'm sorry." Gin looked pained. "Please remember that I offered you an out." With no further warning, Gin surged forward, clubs whirling through the air fast enough to create a faint whistling sound. Sanji blocked the first swing, but the second landed square in his gut, knocking him backward and sending the air out of his lungs in a painful gasp.
As he struggled to pull much needed oxygen back into his body, Sanji momentarily saw stars. When his vision returned to normal, Gin was looming over him, clubs at the ready. The outlaw's resolve wavered, and Sanji took the opportunity to lash out with a hard kick to one of Gin's knees. He was forced to fall back with a pained hiss.
"I won't have you look at me with that sort of pity!" Sanji heaved himself to his feet again. "If you truly mean to kill me, then do it!"
"I agree," Krieg yelled from outside. "I'm beginning to doubt you've got the nerve anymore, Gin!"
The expression full of barely suppressed hurt was on Gin's face once more. He shook his head angrily and rushed at Sanji. He dodged the chef's kicks and darted in close enough that Sanji couldn't get in a good kick. Gin snatched a handful of Sanji's shirt and slammed him into the wall adjacent to the missing window. He pressed the edge of one club to Sanji's throat hard enough to make breathing a rather difficult prospect and raised the other club to strike. He bit his lip and pulled his arm back, but then let the club fall from his hand.
"I can't do it, Don Krieg!" Gin sobbed hoarsely. "He saved my life!"
"I thought you'd learned by now," Krieg spat with a scowl, "that such foolish notions are a weakness." The outlaw walked to his horse and rummaged in the saddle bags, emerging with what appeared to be another grenade. "I guess I'll just have to take your life along with the rest of these fools. A dog that won't obey its master should be put down, don't you agree?"
Gin gaped at the object in Krieg's hand, face pale. "No... Not the gas!"
Kreig merely smiled in his disdainful way and tossed the weapon through the busted window. With a loud pop, the round casing exploded, splattering liquid in its general vicinity. An overpowering smell drenched the room.
"Chlorine!" Zeff gasped between coughs. "Everyone out the back!" They were all too eager to comply.
Sanji and Gin were closest to the source, and Sanji tried to hold his breath, tears streaming from his eyes. Gin grabbed ahold of him and tossed him toward the door leading into the kitchens. Friendly hands dragged him the rest of the way out behind the building.
"Gin," Sanji managed to pant, taking in large gulps of fresh air, "he's still in there!" He tried to crawl back toward the door, but Zeff hauled him back by his ankle.
"Going back in there won't do anything but get you killed, boy." The older man frowned at the doorway and licked a finger to test the wind direction. "That broken window should allow the air to clear, but we should move further back from the door."
A choked gurgle issued from said doorway, and Gin dragged himself painfully out into the fading light. The gas had caused his lungs to partially fill with fluid and he panted shallowly, in desperate need of air. Sanji dragged him over to a large rock, propping him up in hopes of easing the other man's breathing. Everyone else was still coughing themselves.
Luffy scowled back in the direction of the building. He couldn't see Krieg or any of his men anymore. He felt anger pooling in his gut. Krieg was a coward! Real men should fight hand to hand and face to face like Gin and Sanji had done, not hide at a distance and use weapons like that gas.
"I'm gonna fight Krieg," Luffy declared, hand dropping to the gun at his hip. "He's their boss; if we take him out, the rest should be easy."
"No..." Gin moaned softly. "Don Krieg..." Luffy frowned down at the man.
"I don't get it," he sighed. "How can he be so loyal to somebody that just tried to kill him? Krieg obviously doesn't care, not like a boss should."
"Sometimes," Sanji muttered, head angled down so most of his expression was shadowed by his hair, "we can't help the loyalties we feel. Maybe there's a story we haven't heard. Maybe Gin owes him some kind of debt."
"Don't start with that, brat," Zeff growled, scowling. "It was a long time ago and I'd do it again in a heartbeat." The restaurant owner pushed to his feet and limped over to check on the well-being of the rest of their group.
Luffy blinked at Zeff's back, then looked over to Sanji, his question unspoken, but clear just the same.
"I understand the burden of a debt of honor," Sanji explained, jaw set firmly. "When I was younger, I apprenticed myself to a ship's cook on a merchant vessel. We were on a voyage from London to Savannah, when our ship was attacked by pirates."
"Pirates?" Luffy interrupted eagerly. "Really? Real pirates?"
"Shut up and listen," Sanji chided. "Everything probably would have been fine. The pirates would have just taken what they wanted and gone, but I decided to try and fight back. The ship was transporting arms and powder. We were all in the hold. I tried the rush their leader, but he kicked me out of the way. One of his men got nervous, though, and fired his weapon, and the whole place exploded. The last thing I remember is a body standing in front of me.
"When I woke up, I was in a lifeboat with the pirate captain."
"Zeff?" Luffy asked. Sanji answered with a nod and mild glare.
"I'm not sure why he saved me. Maybe he was impressed with how I tried to stand up to them, I don't know. A piece of debris hit him in the leg. We had no way to treat it and no food. The ship hadn't been far off the coast, but we drifted for days. All we had was some of the money the pirates had taken and a small flask of water, and Zeff let me have the water.
"When we finally reached land, the leg had become infected and the doctors removed it from the knee down. The old man told me how all he really wanted anymore was to be able to cook, and that he planned to open a restaurant and feed anyone who was hungry. I had nowhere to go and no money of my own, so he offered to let me go with him, if I promised to work.
"I owe him my life, and I will repay that debt of honor by helping him defend what matters most to him in this world, even if it kills me."
Luffy scratched at his nose. "So, you think the restaurant matters more to him than you?" The question was innocent enough, but the next remark caused Sanji's anger to flare. "You're pretty dumb, ain't ya?"
"I beg your pardon?!"
"I can't rightly say I know what he was thinking, but I don't reckon he saved you just so you could go and die later."
"Forgive me if your opinion doesn't change my mind."
"Okay," Luffy shrugged. "At any rate, we need to take out Krieg. I'm sure I can do it, if I can just get closer to him, but he's got men with him and all those crazy weapons."
"I may be able to help you with that problem," Sanji informed him, glancing back toward the back door, "but I'll need my rifle."
End Notes:
I do not need to be informed that canon Gin's weapons are tonfa. However, for the setting provided, they would not be referred to as such, and side-handled clubs are basically the same thing.
Chlorine gas was not officially weaponized until WWI, but they almost used it in the American Civil War, so the technology did exist. Chlorine gas is horrible stuff... The gas causes the body to send fluid to the lungs, essentially resulting in death by drowning. It also burns the eyes and airways. It is possible to survive exposure, but life-long lung problems often result. (Sucks to be Gin...)
Zeff still gets to be a pirate because he's awesome and I say so. XD Of course, by pirate, I simply mean one engaging in the act of piracy, because the golden age of actual pirates ended in the early 1800s.
I originally wrote that Zeff's leg was hit by a piece of shrapnel, but it turns out that term, which is actually derived from somebody whose last name was Shrapnel, didn't come into use until the 1940s. Oh well... (It's interesting the things you learn when you can't remember how "shrapnel" is spelled while typing end notes and you Google it!)