The journey from Walter's shack to Pastoria Village quickly went from being a fun little outing to being a desperate scramble, with Zoro, Spruce and Walter taking off as fast as they could, while Kiki stayed behind to hold down the fort as well as steer clear from any dangerous individuals. Because really, who in their right mind would let a child endanger themselves with the company of villains like the members of an Evil Team? It would be completely irresponsible.
Spruce and Zoro ran alongside each other, with Walter following behind and keeping pace as best he could manage with his body being what it was. Vacating the beach, Spruce led the swordsman up into the barren plains, a desolate landscape populated by pockets of Pokemon whose own fierce territorial tendencies had driven them into isolation from both Oreburgh Cave and the Eterna Grove. With every step they took, both the swordsman and the trainer could feel dozens of eyes, seen and unseen alike, watching them carefully and preparing to retaliate against any slights on their part. Unfortunately, crossing through the plains was the fastest shortcut to get to Pastoria Village, even if it was the most dangerous.
"What's so dangerous about this Admin in the first place?" Zoro asked Spruce as they ran. While Whiskers had been hastily returned to his Pokeball, Pex flew overhead and Ria ran between them and Walter, keeping her senses peeled for any attacks from the rear.
"Out of all the trainers who are part of Team Steel, the three strongest among them are the ones called Admins." Spruce explained with a grimace, "Copper, Brass and Nickel."
"Those names are stupid." Zoro commented.
"But they aren't." Spruce said, "There's no lack of competition for their positions. They've trained their Pokemon for years, battled with them for years, and carefully honed a wide range of attacks to suit their Pokémon's unique strengths. Not to mention that each one uses different strategies, meaning that even if you can manage to defeat one, the exact thing that made it happen can be what makes it so easy for one of the others to crush you. Though that's also looking through the lens of Pokemon battles… since you and your crew aren't trainers, you'll be even less prepared to face them and everything their Pokemon are capable of."
"That goes both ways." Zoro said, "They don't know what we're capable of either."
"What, all six of you?" Spruce said, "Or the three of you that actually fight? There might only be three Admins, and one Leader above them, but their grunts are packing strength in numbers. Your crew's only hope is to be able to evade their initial force and then escape to the sea. There are no boats they could use to catch up, and by that point you wouldn't be worth the effort anyway."
"Wait, you think we're heading to that village so our crew can run away?" Zoro said.
"Do I think that- Yes, I do!" Spruce exclaimed, "I'm already their enemy and I don't have any family they can threaten, so I'll help fight them off. Walter's coming along so he can beg for mercy towards any other innocent people with too much conscience for their own good."
"We're not running away." Zoro scoffed, "If this Admin is really as much of a threat as you say, that means that either my captain or that stupid love-chef are gonna be the one to defeat him. And if it's the latter, that means I need to beat an even stronger enemy than that before we leave. Luffy's probably going to beat the Leader, though, so I'll settle for beating two Admins if I have to."
"Whether you pirates want to stick around and pick fights or not, I will not let you defeat Leader Mercury, no matter what happens." Spruce snarled.
"Why not? Aren't you her enemy?" Zoro said.
"Because it-!" Spruce began, only to be interrupted by a sudden gasp from Walter behind them, quickly followed by a yell from Ria, which prompted the trainer to skid to a stop and whirl around to see the old man having fallen down onto one knee as he clutched his chest with a pained look on his face. Zoro kept on running, leaving them behind and going his own way, with Pex flying after him.
"Walter? GRAMPS?!" Spruce said fearfully, racing over to kneel down beside Walter and place a supportive arm over his shoulders, helping sit him down, "Dammit… I knew you weren't up to this kind of thing-!"
"I'll not have some junior trainer trying to lecture me on my limits!" Walter snapped amidst his laboured breathing, "I just need a second to catch my breath, is all. Damn feeble, elderly lungs…"
"We might not have a second." Spruce muttered, as a trio of Luxio began to circle them from a distance, "And of course the swordsman's gone ahead without us. Does he even know where Pastoria Village is in the first place?"
"I'm sure he'll find his way there. He strikes me as a troublemaker." Walter said, reaching down and retrieving a Pokeball of his own from his pocket, "Maybe going by water would have been faster after all."
"Iron Island is only big enough for the one troublemaker." Spruce retorted as the formation of Luxio began to close in around them, "Ria, you ready to battle?"
"Riolu!" Ria said with an eager nod, beginning to hop up and down with anticipation.
"Alright, then Pex-" Spruce began, only to take notice of the bird's absence, "Oh, he flew off too."
"Maybe he's guiding Mister Roronoa towards Pastoria?" Walter suggested with a slight chuckle.
"More like guiding himself towards someone else's lunch." Spruce grumbled, "Try and actually take one out yourself instead of leaving us to do the heavy lifting."
"Brat." Walter said, "I think Mister Roronoa had better manners than you. Now, how about I show you how a real trainer battles?"
Rising to his feet, Walter tossed the Pokeball out in front of him just as the Luxio all attacked at once.
"SOAK 'EM TO THE BONE, FLOATZEL!"
-O-
Following the path that led from the shore into the island, the trio of Straw Hat pirates along, with their royal passenger and her duck joining them, headed in the direction that they assumed Sanji would have gone in earlier. Or rather, everyone except Luffy followed the path, as the captain was busy letting himself be distracted by every different species of Pokemon that he saw, much to the annoyance of his crew as they nervously watched him run about and shove his face into them.
"Wow! And look at this one!" Luffy exclaimed, peering down at a purple and cream furred Pokemon with a bushy tail which was currently standing at attention in response to Luffy's proximity, "It kinda looks like a skunk!"
"STUNKY!" The Pokemon in question exclaimed, opening up its mouth to exhale a thick cloud of purple smoke right into Luffy's face. The instant his nostrils picked up the aroma of the gas, he jumped several feet back and began gagging, all while the others continued on their way. They were standing enough of a distance away that they, luckily, couldn't pick up the stench themselves.
"That's odd. I would have thought a skunk would spray him using the other end." Vivi said.
"Whatever he got sprayed with better wash off quick, because I will not get on the Merry with him otherwise." Nami said.
"Did that thing just yell 'Stunky' before it sprayed him?" Usopp said.
It didn't take long for Luffy to shrug off the noxious gas blast, though he at least had enough sense not to pester any Stunky. Instead, it was a bipedal, humanoid Pokemon with blue-grey skin and markings around its pelvic region that gave the impression it was wearing briefs, which drew Luffy's attention. He ran over towards the Pokemon, standing in front of it and turning his head to call out to his crewmates who were getting further ahead. He didn't notice it gagging at his smell.
"HEY GUYS, THIS ONE'S WEARING UNDERPANTS!" Luffy yelled, pointing back at the briefs in question. His statement drew the attention of Usopp and Vivi, who turned around to see what he was talking about.
"Huh… so it is." Usopp said.
"What a pervert, walking around in nothing but underwear!" Vivi gasped.
"Uh, I think this is actually the only one wearing clothes." Usopp pointed out, "So if anything, it's modest."
"Hmm, that is true, actually." Vivi nodded. Meanwhile, Luffy turned to face the Pokemon, a wide grin on his face, only to see that it was baring its teeth at him angrily and winding back a punch. Before he even realised what was happening, the Pokemon threw its fist forward, striking Luffy with an uppercut that send his head shooting up into the sky atop his rapidly stretching neck.
"So that's how it is, huh?" Luffy said with a grin, far out of earshot of anyone else, "GUM-GUM…"
Just as it had stretched like rubber, so too did his neck snap back to its previous length like rubber, bringing Luffy's head crashing back down as he slammed the Pokemon with a headbutt. Though, for all the excitement, he missed the instant where the straw hat atop his head was snatched off his head during its descent by a bird Pokemon.
"BELL!" Luffy finished, snickering to himself as he saw the force of his headbutt drive the Pokémon's own head down into the ground with such force that it actually embedded itself, leaving it flailing around as it tried to remove its head from the hole. Staring at the predicament he had put it in, Luffy began to snicker, before his hand suddenly shot up to his bare head and his eyes widened.
"My hat! Where'd it go?!" He said, looking around him in every direction and managing to spot a black and white bird that looked like a smaller Pex, flying off in the direction of a distant forest, clutching the straw hat in its beak.
"GIVE ME BACK MY TREASURE!" Luffy roared, running after the bird as the other four all watched.
"Is that straw hat really so important to him?" Vivi asked as Luffy quickly shrank into the distance.
"It was given to him by someone he was very close to." Nami explained, "When Luffy becomes the Pirate King, he'll give it back to them."
"It's a man's promise." Usopp added with a nod, "No treasure could be more valuable than that."
"A man's promise…" Vivi murmured, "Should we, er, follow him?"
"Why? We're trying to find Sanji, and he has the sense to follow the path." Nami said, "Unless he went looking for ingredients, I suppose…"
"Well it's just that I thought we were sticking around Luffy as protection against any more of these Pokemon creatures." Vivi said, "So if we split up, that would leave us unprotected."
Nami and Usopp both looked at each other, and then looked over to see the humanoid Pokemon that Luffy had attacked finally managing to rip its head out from the ground.
"Ma… CHOKE!" Machoke yelled victoriously, throwing its arms up in the air in triumph. It quickly set its sights on the three humans and duck, glaring at them as it slowly lowered its hands and cracked its knuckles.
"Though I'm never really unprotected, because I've got Carue!" Vivi added brightly, which elicited a shocked quack from the duck in question along with an incredulous look.
"Maybe we should hurry and go somewhere with less Pokemon." Usopp mumbled, beginning to slowly step backwards and put more distance between him and the Machoke.
"Good idea." Nami said, stepping behind Usopp and positioning him between the Machoke and herself, "Hopefully Sanji didn't get too far."
"WHY ARE YOU HIDING BEHIND ME?!" The sniper said angrily.
"If that thing tries to attack us, you have to buy me and Vivi time to escape because we're cute." Nami said, patting him on the shoulder supportively, "You've got this, right?"
The Machoke cracked its neck, rolled its shoulders, and got down into a running pose.
"NO I DON'T!" Usopp said, turning around and taking off down the path as fast as he could. Nami, Vivi and Carue were all quick to follow his lead, running away from the Machoke, which watched them retreat with a satisfied look on its face. Once they were out of sight, it stood back up and went back to its business.
It didn't take long for the lot of them to come across a village. Usopp slowed to a stop in front of a battered wooden sign that had been knocked to the ground, though which was still legible as saying 'PASTORIA VILLAGE'. Kneeling down, he picked it up and tried to stand it up again, only for Nami to furiously smack him on the side of the head.
"OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" Usopp yelled, looking back at Nami as he rubbed the area she had just struck.
"FOR RUNNING AWAY BEFORE WE DID!" Nami retorted.
"YOU WANTED TO USE ME AS A SACRIFICE ANYWAY!" Usopp countered.
"I wonder if anyone in this village has seen Sanji…" Vivi mused to herself and tuning out the other two's squabbling. Grabbing the sign herself, she stood it back up, and then furrowed her brow as she noticed a series of tracks that had been left on it, "These look like the tracks from some kind of animal. I wonder if there was some kind of stampede recently. Oh! Hopefully he wasn't hurt or anything."
"Don't worry about Sanji, he's a monster." Nami reassured Vivi, taking a break from her fighting with Usopp, "I doubt any of those Pokemon we saw could have really hurt him, anyway."
"It was a Rhyhorn stampede."
A new voice suddenly piped up, joining their conversation. It was a young boy's voice, and everyone looked to its source, that being a young boy. He was skinny, with blonde hair, and he spoke with a sort of matter-of-fact voice that ascribed a mundanity to everything he mentioned.
"What?" Vivi said.
"The sign got broken earlier today by a Rhyhorn stampede." The boy said, "There were a bunch of them, but no one got hurt. You have a weird nose."
He pointed at Usopp as he said that last part, and the sniper shot to his feet with a look of outrage on his face. Before the sniper had a chance to retaliate or scold the boy, however, a young woman with matching blonde hair hurried over to beat him to the punch.
"Timothy!" The woman snapped, grabbing the boy by the arm, "You cannot just go up to strangers and insult their appearances like- oh, that is a rather peculiar nose, actually."
"I got this nose from my mother." Usopp mumbled, crossing his arms with a scowl. His comment prompted the woman to realise exactly what she had just said, and she let out a gasp as her hand flew to her mouth.
"Oh- oh, goodness!" She said, "That was terribly rude of me! I didn't- I didn't mean peculiar in a bad sense, just in a sense that not many people have noses that look like that!"
"It's fine, don't mind him." Nami interjected with a friendly smile, stepping towards the lady, "I'm Nami, he's Usopp, and this is Vivi and Carue. We're looking for a couple of friends of ours, a green-haired swordsman named Zoro and a blonde man in a suit named Sanji. Have you seen either of them?"
"A blonde man in a suit named Sanji?" The woman said, warmth quickly flavouring her voice, "Oh! Are you talking about that charming young chef?"
'Charming?' Usopp and Nami thought.
"His eyebrow looked weird. It was all swirly." Timothy commented.
"That's him alright." Nami nodded.
"He came around earlier, just around the time the stampede happened. He was quite the sweet talker…" The woman trailed off, her cheeks going slightly rosy before she shook her head and continued, "I'm afraid I haven't seen this Zoro person around, though. From how you described him, he must really stand out in a crowd."
"Can you do cool stuff like he could?" Timothy asked, "He managed to stop a stampeding Rhyhorn with one leg. It was awesome."
"What? He had to use a leg?" Usopp scoffed, "When we first landed here on Little Garden, we were met by a stampede of over a hundred Rhyhorns. And do you know what I, the great Captain Usopp, did?"
"What's Little Garden?" Timothy said.
"With nothing but the strength of my voice, I brought them all to- huh?" Usopp stopped and blinked, "Little Garden? Isn't that the name of this island?"
"Where did you ever get that idea?" The woman said, "This is Iron Island."
"Iron Island?" Vivi muttered, "But Miss All-Sunday said…"
"We can figure that out later." Nami said quietly to Vivi, before speaking up, "Do you know where Sanji went? We just found out some information about this island, and wanted to warn him about it before he did something to put himself in danger."
"Put himself in danger…" The woman murmured, becoming sullen in an instant as she looked shamefully to the side, "He left earlier to go gather ingredients, then came back just recently and started preparing food for the entire village."
"Good thing Luffy split off from us earlier, or he'd eat an entire village's worth all by himself." Usopp said.
"I'll take you to him." The woman said, turning around and beckoning for them to all follow her as she led them into the village, "I'm Tiffany, by the way. And this is my son Timothy."
"It's lovely to meet you, Tiffany." Vivi said kindly, "If I might ask, are these Rhyhorn stampedes common? That sign seemed quite battered from the look of things."
"Oh, they happen on and off." Tiffany said, her voice carrying a tinge of melancholy in it, "Whenever Team Steel goes to train in the Oreburgh Caves, they disturb the Pokemon living there and send the herd of Rhyhorn into a frenzy."
"Team Steel?" Nami said, "We were told about them. They're the ones we came to warn Sanji about."
"To think that they would willingly and continuously endanger this village like that." Vivi said, "How despicable of them!"
"You came to warn him?" Tiffany said quietly, sounding even more sullen as she said it. By now, a rich and exotic aroma combining a myriad of spicy, sweet, bitter and sour scents had filled the area that they were all approaching. Standing out in the open, surrounded by several benches laid out with cooking utensils of all kinds, along with a few large baskets of bizarre and colourful fruits as well as a campfire behind him, was Sanji.
The chef was in the zone, to such a degree that he didn't even react to the appearance of three beautiful women all coming his way, as he exhibited the kind of unparalleled multitasking mastery that could only come from a chef forced to deal with a countless number of rushes in the past. An intense focus burned in his one visible eye, and he had since discarded his jacket, as he prepared a number of different dishes all at once. Once something was finished cooking, it was plated and served in an instant to one of the dozens of villagers all crowded around him from a distance. Those who had been served were digging into their food eagerly, all of them in states of bliss as they each tasted the greatest meal they had ever eaten in their lives. Some of them were even crying.
"How incredible." Vivi said in awe, "I've never seen a chef who could prepare such a variety of food all on their own like that!"
"That's a first-rate chef for you." Usopp said proudly, "But look at those people! You'd think they'd never eaten a proper meal with those kinds of reactions."
"They probably haven't… have they, Tiffany?" Vivi said sombrely, "The boy who warned us about Team Steel described their leader as a woman without a shred of kindness in her body. That's not the kind of ruler who would care to make sure her subjects are well-off and well-fed."
Nami didn't say anything, instead looking to the gathering of villagers with new eyes. Many of them wore baggy or loose-fitting clothes that made their body types hard to discern, but there wasn't a single one among them who could be described as anything more than 'skinny'. A small number of them had gaunt faces. Those were the ones who were mostly crying as they ate.
"Iron Island is not a very hospitable island." Tiffany said quietly, looking to the side and unable to meet any of their eyes- and certainly not able to look Sanji's way, "Most of the land isn't suitable for farming. Fishermen catch fish for us to eat, but most of our diet has to consist of berries. Most households have a plant or two of their own they can harvest a few berries from, but the two main areas where large amounts of berries grow are the Eterna Grove and Team Steel's base."
"I understand why that second one would be a problem, but what's this Eterna Grove?" Nami inquired.
"It's a forest with the most concentrated Pokemon population on the island." Tiffany said.
"Oh… considering the attitudes we got from the Pokemon on the way here, I can understand why you would steer clear of a place like that." Nami admitted.
"Yes… Things were better when the previous Leader was around." Tiffany said, "The Pokemon in the Eterna Grove weren't as hostile towards people, and the harvests from the berry garden in the gym were split fairly between everyone on the island."
"But you said Sanji went off to gather ingredients earlier." Usopp said, "That would have to mean he went to either that Grove or the base? Which one was it?"
"He went to the Team Steel base." Timothy said, "He probably stole all those berries from them and then came back here."
"Timothy!" Tiffany said sternly, before quickly simmering down and becoming sullen again, "Sorry, no, I shouldn't tell you off for telling the truth… Yes, there's no doubt he went and stole all those berries from Team Steel before returning and cooking with them."
"Figures." Nami sighed good-naturedly, "After Luffy was technically the first one to start trouble, it was only a matter of time until Sanji or Zoro did the same."
"I guess a warning would have been pretty pointless with a situation like this." Usopp said, "It's a little problematic if we have to fight them after Luffy agreed not to, though…"
"A little problematic-?!" Tiffany gaped, "You- you're making this sound like some minor inconvenience! He provoked an army of powerful Pokemon trainers, including the four strongest ones on the entire island! And he… he did it because of…"
"I guess you're going to have to end up helping these people even without payment." Vivi said slyly to Nami.
"Ugh, don't remind me." Nami said, "And with how isolated this island is, they definitely won't have any money I can steal that would be worth anything anywhere else."
"I suppose that Luffy only ever said he wouldn't fight that Mercury woman." Usopp mused, "It wouldn't be going against his word if we took out every other member of Team Steel but not her."
"You say 'we' as if you'd be fighting them along with the others." Nami pointed out.
"I CAN FIGHT TOO!" Usopp retorted heatedly, "I once defeated an army of five-thousand rabid bandits all on my own!"
"No you didn't." Timothy deadpanned.
"GAH! How did you see through it?!"
"This is ridiculous!" Tiffany said, letting out a nervous laugh, "Talking about fighting Team Steel… there are only, what? Six of you? Seven? You only have one Pokemon with you, from the looks of things!"
She pointed at Carue, who gave a confused quack at the statement.
"Oh, Carue's not a Pokemon, actually." Vivi said, "He's a duck."
"Then you don't have any Pokemon!" Tiffany said.
"Don't underestimate us just because our numbers are small." Nami said, "Sure, Usopp and I might not be anything that special-"
"Hey!"
"-but Sanji and Zoro? They're both worth one hundred men each, just by themselves. And Luffy? He's even stronger than that. They're the guys who saved the whole East Blue." Nami finished.
"East Blue? Sorry, I've never heard of such a place before." Tiffany said, "But, erm, that does all sound very impressive, what you're saying."
"Alright, looks like Spruce wasn't just stupid." Usopp said quietly, "This entire island's been totally isolated from the rest of the world for whatever reason."
"The only stupid person here is the fool who thought that he could attack Team Steel and walk away unscathed!"
This new addition was a man's voice, one that was snide and rather unpleasant to listen to. It came from a man who was about half a head shorter than Usopp, with a gleaming bald cranium and a bushy silver moustache that was twirled to such a degree that it did three whole loops on both ends. He wore a white tank top with a black jacket, both of which were tucked into the waistband of his pants, which were in turn held up by a belt which had two Pokeballs attached to it. His belt buckle was a stylized metal 'S'.
"An old man?" Vivi gasped. Her comment seemed to incense the man, whose eye twitched.
"I AM NOT AN OLD MAN!" He exploded, his moustache trembling with sheer anger, "I AM IN THE PRIME OF MY LIFE AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-SIX, AND MY HAIR JUST HAPPENS TO BE THIS COLOUR NATURALLY!"
"Already bald at twenty-six?" Usopp said, "I dunno, I think the prime of your life already came and went."
"THIS IS A STYLISTIC CHOICE! I COULD GROW HAIR IF I WANTED TO!" The man roared.
"Usopp, Vivi, that- that man is…" Tiffany began nervously, swallowing before continuing, "That man is Team Steel Admin Nickel, one of the four strongest trainers on this island. You shouldn't antagonize him like that…"
Nickel's outbursts had drawn the attention of the other villagers, who were all quick to disperse at the sight of the Admin. Those who had been served their foot retreated into the safety of their homes, while those who had not yet eaten cleared away from where Sanji was set up, with varying looks of annoyance and dissatisfaction at how events had turned out. With his nose turned up at them all, Nickel strode forwards towards Sanji, who simply continued as he was, though he did slow his pace considerably in order to turn some attention towards the new arrival. The other Straw Hats present watched closely.
"So," Nickel spat, "you must be the monster."
-O-
"GET BACK HERE YOU STUPID BIRD!" Luffy raged, continuing to chase after the bird with a single-minded determination. His pursuit brought him well away from the path, and past the plains into a forest. Although he tried repeatedly to stretch his hand out in order to grab the bird out of the air, it proved too agile and crafty for him, as it weaved around his limb. As they came into the forest, it began turning the terrain to its advantage, zigzagging around trees and ducking and swooping over branches.
In his pursuit, Luffy recklessly tore through whatever got in his way. He trampled through bushes, blasted trees apart with punches that were like pistol shots, and in a couple of cases outright stomped on Pokemon that were in his path, all trying to nail that damned bird. In his wake, he left quite the trail of very angry Pokemon, which were gradually amassing into a mob following behind him as he ran.
It turned out that the bird had not stolen Luffy's hat merely on whim, nor had it flown away without a clear direction in mind. As it managed to briefly lose him by flying above the treetops and then diving down, it wasted no time swerving around to the right and flying towards its destination. Namely, a tree branch upon which another bird of the same species of Pokemon sat, its beak turned up haughtily as the bird approached it.
"Starly! Starly-Star!" Thief Starly chirped as he landed on the branch across from his beloved Haughty Starly and set the straw hat down between them as an offering. He nudged it forwards with his beak, and then waited expectantly for her reaction.
"Starly?" Haughty Starly said, examining the hat closely and idly prodding at it with her beak.
"Star, Starly-Ly!" Thief Starly exclaimed hopefully, nodding his head up and down.
"Ly…" Haughty Starly said distastefully. She stepped away from the straw hat, and then with a sweep of her wing, sent it careening off the tree branch towards the ground below.
"STARLY!" Thief Starly said with utter distraught as he watched his hopes and dreams crash and burn there in that moment. He threw himself to his feet, prostrating as best as a bird could manage while perching on a tree branch.
"Starly." Haughty Starly said coldly, turning around and flying off and leaving Thief Starly there to stew in his despair and failure as a Starly.
In the meantime, Luffy came to a stop in the middle of the forest, having since lost sight of the bird that stole his hat. He looked around, trying to spot where it had flown off to, only to feel a weight land on his head from above. Glancing upwards, he saw the brim of his treasured straw hat, and quickly reached up to feel that the hat had indeed just landed on his head.
"Phew! I was worried I'd lost this for a second!" Luffy said, laughing with relief, "Well, better go meet up with everyone else now. All this running made me hungry, so I'll have to ask Sanji to cook me something once I find him!"
With a cheerful, innocent grin plastered on his face, Monkey D. Luffy turned around in order to go back the way he came, and promptly found himself face-to-face with a large horde of a few dozen Pokemon of varying shapes, sizes and colours that were all looking at him. Specifically, they were all looking at him with very angry expressions on their faces, as best as one could interpret anger from a creature that did not necessarily speak the same languages as them.
"Hey!" Luffy said brightly, giving the assembled Pokemon a friendly wave, seemingly oblivious to the aura of violence that was wafting off them. Either that or he just didn't care.
"Urs…" Rumbled a large, bear-like Pokemon with a yellow circle on its stomach as it lumbered forwards ahead of the pack, towering over Luffy as it did so, "Ursaring."
"Beedrill!" A large, bee-like Pokemon chittered, following behind the Ursaring. And after the Beedrill came a white and red Pokemon that looked like it was wearing a pair of baggy pants.
"You all wanna fight, huh?" Luffy said, smirking to himself as he reached behind him with his two arms, which began to stretch further and further back, "Okay then. Gum-Gum…"
The sight of Luffy stretching the way that he did was enough to give some of the smaller and weaker Pokemon pause, and it certainly confused the stronger ones that were preparing to all jump him as one, but only a small handful were weak and cowardly enough that the mere sight of a human that would fight back against them was enough to send them fleeing. That handful of them were the lucky ones.
"BAZOOKA!" Luffy finished, bringing both hands shooting forwards so that the palms slammed into the stomach of the Ursaring. There was a CLAP of palm against flesh, echoing all throughout the forest as the Ursaring was launched off its feet and sent flying back.
Instantly, any will to fight died out in the Pokemon that had just witnessed the true strength of their opponent. They were all quick to turn and flee, scrambling to get away from Luffy, who just stood there and snickered at the sight of all the Pokemon being sent packing.
"Hey, Luffy!"
At the sound of Zoro's voice, Luffy's snicker turned into a grin as he looked over to see the green-haired swordsman coming his way.
"Zoro!" Luffy said, "You missed a bunch of cool stuff while you were missing! The guy that attacked us is called Spruce, and those monsters were called Pokemon, and he can do this thing where he senses our Aura, so he's gonna join the crew as our scout!"
"Huh, so he wasn't lying about us no longer being enemies." Zoro said, "Good, that means I won't have to kill him. Does he know he's joining?"
"Yep!" Luffy nodded, "I told him, but he didn't wanna come along. There are some bad guys here that he has to beat before he can leave, but that's okay! I promised I wouldn't fight their boss, so that means we'll have to beat up everyone else and let him beat her instead! Shishishi!"
"He mentioned that." Zoro said, looking around at the forest, "This isn't Pastoria Village, is it?"
"Uh, I don't think so." Luffy said, "This doesn't look like a village. Why?"
"I heard that the people ruling the island sent one of their strongest fighters there." Zoro explained, "I figured either you or the love-chef would probably be the target. If it's not you, that must mean he's the one that'll fight them."
"Oh, that's great!" Luffy said.
"But if he's fighting one, that means you'll still need to fight one too." Zoro said, muttering to himself a bit, "Not counting the leader, there are three, which means two for us to fight. I was planning on fighting two on my own if I had to, but I'll just have to check and make sure I fight one who's stronger than whoever swirly-brow's fighting…"
"Why do you care?" Luffy asked innocently.
"BECAUSE I NEED TO BEAT A STRONGER ENEMY THAN WHOEVER SHIT-COOK FIGHTS!" Zoro answered.
"Oh. Okay then!" Luffy nodded, "Do you know where Spruce went? He'll have to come along so he can beat Mercu-lady."
"We were both heading to the village after we heard the news." Zoro said, "He must have taken a wrong turn somewhere and we got split up."
Luffy stared at him.
"Do you know where the village is?" He inquired.
"No, but it can't be too hard to find if swirly-brow ended up there." Zoro scoffed.
-O-
For a brief moment, there was silence as Sanji and Nickel stared each other down. The latter had a burning intensity in his eyes, his every cell just bubbling with anger and anticipation for the inevitable fight. In contrast, the former was downright relaxed, regarding Nickel with disinterest as he continued to cut and squeeze and cook his stolen ingredients right in front of the very person that he had stolen them from.
"You could call me a monster." Sanji finally said, breaking the silence, "Though I'd rather be referred to as a first-rate chef. If you'd like something to eat, I'll be happy to serve you, but you've scared off the hungry people I was going to feed before you."
"You broke down our base's gate with nothing but your own brute strength, demanded our berries, and then pummelled every grunt who was at the base when they refused." Nickel said, "They didn't even have a chance to send out their Pokemon first. And all so you could come here and cook for these people?"
"There was a conflict of interest." Sanji said, "These people needed to eat, and your subordinates… they are your subordinates, aren't they? I'm assuming because they all looked identical, somehow."
"I'm Team Steel Admin Nickel, one of the four strongest trainers on Iron Island." Nickel said.
"As I was saying, there was a conflict of interest. These people needed to eat, and your subordinates were the ones with the ingredients necessary to cook for them." Sanji said.
"Surely you didn't think you could do something so outrageous and walk away unscathed, did you?" Nickel snarled.
"I don't get it, where's his Pokemon?" Usopp muttered, "He must have one with him to be threatening Sanji like that."
"Yes, actually. That's how our crew's luck tends to go." Sanji admitted.
"Well I hope you're ready to deal with someone who'll actually put up a fight." Nickel said, reaching down and grabbing one of the Pokeballs from his belt. Before he had a chance to send out the Pokemon contained inside, however, Tiffany suddenly burst forwards, scurrying over to position herself between Nickel and Sanji.
"What?!" Usopp said.
"Mum?" Timothy said.
"What's she doing?!" Vivi gasped.
"No, don't-!" Sanji said, his eyes wide.
"What is this?" Nickel growled, Pokeball still clutched tightly in his hands.
"PLEASE!" Tiffany begged, arms spread wide as if to shield Sanji from danger, "This man- this kind man! Please, don't punish him for his ignorance! Everything that he's done today- everything that's spat in the face of Team Steel- he's done it because we manipulated him!"
"What are you talking about?" Sanji said, brow furrowing, "Manipulated me?"
Tears had begun to stream down Tiffany's face as she continued her confession, "We- all of us here in Pastoria Village- we all manipulated you, Sanji! We preyed on your ignorance of this island's laws because we knew that only you would be punished for it, and not us! The truth… THE TRUTH IS THAT SERVING FOOD TO OTHER PEOPLE IS CONSIDERED A CRIME!"
"Serving food is a crime?" Vivi murmured, "Serving food is a CRIME?!"
Though Sanji did not react verbally, he clenched his fists tightly, so tightly that the berry he had been holding in his left hand was crushed into pulp. It was a horrible waste of a good ingredient, but he didn't even register it in the moment.
"We kept the information a secret from you, Sanji, so that you would cook for us!" Tiffany sobbed, turning her head to look back at him, "Even if you hadn't attacked them to gather the ingredients, even if you had been so kind as to use your own supplies… this all would still have happened! Being served food is not a crime, so we all wanted to enjoy this delicious cooking while we could even though we knew you would end up being punished for it!"
"Tiffany…" Sanji whispered, looking down at the ground ashamedly.
"S-SO PLEASE!" Tiffany said, facing Nickel once again, "DON'T PUNISH THIS KINDHEARTED MAN FOR OUR OWN SELFISHNESS! If Team Steel needs someone to make an example of for what he did… THEN MAKE AN EXAMPLE OUT OF ME!"
Her request hung in the air for several seconds, as she stood there with her arms spread out and closed her eyes, ready for whatever punishment would come her way.
"You want punishment so bad? Then so be it!" Nickel declared, "Go, Golbat! Use Poison Fang!"
The Pokeball in his hands opened up, much to the shock of those present who were not familiar with the workings of these devices, and a stream of blue and white light burst out, materialising in the air in front of Nickel as a blue and purple bat-like Pokemon with an open, gaping mouth and four sharp, gleaming fangs. A Golbat.
"The Pokemon was inside that ball?!" Nami said, "Was that some kind of Devil Fruit ability, or something?!"
"GOLBAT!" Golbat yelled, flapping its wings for a moment before flying towards Tiffany. Its fangs took on a dark purple hue, with droplets of deadly poison beginning to form around the tips of them as it prepared to sink them into her.
"EPAULE SHOOT!"
A mass of blackness came shooting down into the Golbat, slamming into the top of its head and forcing its mouth shut as it was driven into the ground with such force that a small crater was created from the impact. 'Black Leg' Sanji stood in front of Tiffany, a lit cigarette in his mouth and with one dress shoe-clad foot pressing into the Golbat, keeping it firmly pinned against the ground. A look of sheer bloody murder burned in his eyes.
Both Sanji's shout and the subsequent sound of the attack landing prompted Tiffany to open her eyes and see Sanji standing there in front of her, and she let out a gasp at the sight of him.
"You… you saved me?" She said, tears burning at the edges of her eyes once again, "Even after- after what I-?"
"Don't cry." Sanji ordered, "There's not a single person in this village who has done anything wrong today. The only one of us who has anything to apologise for is me… for the unforgivable crime of bringing a beautiful woman to tears."
"G-Golbat?!" Nickel exclaimed in shock, "But how could he- it's not possible!"
"LISTEN CLOSELY!" Sanji continued, raising his voice as he addressed all the villagers present, "THERE IS NO ONE IN THIS WORLD WHO DESERVES TO GO HUNGRY! NOT A SINGLE PERSON! WE ALL NEED FOOD TO SURVIVE, AND IT'S THE DUTY OF A CHEF TO PREPARE FOOD FOR THOSE WHO NEED IT! YOU BEAR NO GUILT FOR ALLOWING ME TO COOK FOR YOU!"
"Then y-you… you forgive me?" Tiffany whispered, "For lying?"
"A real man forgives a woman's lies." Sanji said coolly, "Though I can't deny that it was a terrible mistake for you to not warn me about Team Steel's laws regarding cooking for others."
Tiffany bowed her head in shame.
"Because now I'm going to have to take another trip to their base." Sanji continued, causing Tiffany's head to snap right back up, "If I had known earlier, I could have done it when I went to gather ingredients. Knowing that such an unjust law exists, and that they enforce it… I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO BEAT EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM SENSELESS SO THAT THEY CAN FEEL A FRACTION OF THE PAIN THEY INFLICT UPON OTHERS!"
"Oh, Sanji!" Tiffany gasped, falling to her knees.
"AND AS FOR YOU, SCUM OF THE EARTH!" Sanji said, lifting his foot up off the Golbat and taking several steps towards Nickel, "Don't you have even a shred of humanity? The homecooked meals filled with love a mother makes for her children, the dinners shared between friends to strengthen their bonds, the gourmet meals enjoyed in order to celebrate the achievements in one's life… FOOD IS LIFE ITSELF! Not even the Devil would be so cruel as to deny people something so quintessential. Kill yourself and atone for living such a worthless life."
"WHO CARES ABOUT ANY OF THAT STUFF?!" Nickel yelled right back, "LOVE? FRIENDSHIP? IRON ISLAND IS THE ISLAND OF THE STRONG! AND THE STRONG ARE THE ONES WHO GET TO EAT! GOLBAT, USE SCREECH!"
Behind Sanji, Golbat lifted up off the ground and flew into the sky, ascending a couple of feet above Sanji for safety, and it opened its mouth back up in order to unleash a shrill, high-pitched shriek that sliced through the air and washed over Sanji. It didn't injure him, but the chef's hands rose to cover his ears as a discomforted grimace appeared on his face.
"What kind of attack is that?" Nami wondered.
"That's screech." Timothy explained, "It's a non-damaging move that lowers the defence of whoever it's used on."
"A non-damaging move?" Nami said, "Oh! Like those afterimages that Spruce's bird used!"
"Nickel seems really distracted…" Vivi noted, "Hey! Why don't we attack him while he's focusing on Sanji?"
"Didn't you hear what Sanji said?" Usopp said, "This isn't merely a fight between two men! Sanji is fighting against the opposition to his very ideology itself! If he wanted us to interrupt, he would ask! But as none of us are chefs like he is, this is a fight he must win on his own!"
"You're not just saying that to avoid fighting, are you?" Vivi said doubtfully, raising an eyebrow at Usopp as she tried to spot any signs of his cowardice.
"No." Usopp said firmly, "Sanji is my precious comrade, fighting for the beliefs that he holds true more than anything else. If he asked me to, I would stand alongside him and fight just as hard as he is!"
"Even though you really don't want him to." Nami said.
"Even though I really don't want him to." Usopp nodded.
"Now, use Mean Look before he has a chance to regret his idiocy!" Nickel instructed as Golbat stopped shrieking, giving Sanji a reprieve so that he could lower his hands from his ears.
"Gol… BAT!" Golbat said, descending a few feet and fixing Sanji with a stern look. Despite how innocuous the 'attack' seemed to the ignorant spectators, something about the look and the way that it bore into his very soul… it caused his entire body to lock up for just an instant. And once that instant had passed, Sanji knew that he absolutely could not run away from this fight. Although, he had never planned on running away in the first place.
"Mean Look prevents an enemy from being able to escape." Timothy explained.
"COLLIER SHOOT!" Sanji roared, leaping up and kicking a leg out in order to try and smash Golbat in the side of the neck. Ordinarily, the attack would be targeted towards his opponent's neck, but that was one body part that Golbat lacked, so he made do the best he could.
"DODGE IT GOLBAT!" Nickel said, and Golbat swooped below Sanji's leg, which only struck the air before gravity brought him back down to the ground.
"AIR CUTTER!"
Flapping its wings faster, Golbat seized the air around it, shaping it into razor-sharp blades of wind that it hurled at Sanji all at once, like a stream of thin white blades. Sanji stuck his hands into his pockets, seeking to protect them as best as he could, while one of the cutting winds sliced the cigarette in his mouth in half. The tensing of his body and the way he gritted his teeth with pain indicated that the attack hurt, but the damage that it actually did to him seemed superficial at best, as it mostly served to shred the clothes he was wearing.
"Is that it?" Sanji grunted once the cutting winds had subsided, and he removed a hand from his pocket in order to remove the cigarette stump from his mouth and toss it away, "Just getting to this island required braving winds a hundred times more brutal than that!"
"Damn chef!" Nickel hissed, "GOLBAT, USE SCREECH AGAIN!"
"Golbat!" Golbat said, once again unleashing its unholy shriek that pierced Sanji's eardrums and dug right into the core of his body. Nevertheless, the chef charged towards the bat, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye. As he came close enough to attack, he quickly dropped down to a handstand, and then kicked leg upwards towards the Pokémon's underside. Another attack that he couldn't quite aim at the right place due to a bizarre body type.
"COTELETTE!" Sanji said.
"POISON FANG TO BLOCK!" Nickel ordered hastily.
Like before, Golbat's fangs took on an ominous purple glow, with liquid poison collecting around the tips. Turning itself downward to face Sanjo's attack dead-on, it swerved to the side of his extending leg, and clamped its mouth down around it. Sanji's eyes widened with pain, and he had to grit his teeth to muffle the agonised gasp the moment that the attack made contact. With the momentum from his previous attack, he tried to spin around in the opposite direction and bring his leg with Golbat attached crashing down to the ground, but Golbat released him and flew back before he could, leaving him to strike the ground pointlessly.
"Oh no!" Vivi gasped, raising a hand to her mouth in horror at the sight of Sanji's newly-exposed leg.
After both the cutting wind and the bite, Sanji's pants leg had been reduced to tatters, clearly exposing the skin beneath, and the state he was in after the attack he had just taken. Although Golbat's fangs hadn't broken the skin, and instead only left bite marks, the poison from its fangs lad left a far more noticeable trace. Lines of sickly purple spread out from where the teeth had made contact, looking like veins of poison running through his body.
"Tch. Got a little careless with that one." Sanji muttered, shifting from a handstand to standing normally. As he put weight on the injured leg, his whole body tensed again while he hissed with pain, but otherwise fought through it as he reached into his pocket to retrieve another cigarette to replace the one that had been destroyed before. But then the lines of poison on his leg throbbed and extended, covering more of his leg, and Sanji let out a cry of pain as he fell to one knee.
"Oh no… he got poisoned…" Timothy said.
"Poisoned?!" Nami said.
"A lot of Poison-Type attacks have a chance to poison the enemy." The boy explained, "And the poison does damage until it's either cured, or…"
He didn't need to clarify what the second option was.
"THIS IS WHY ONLY FOOLS ARE HEROES!" Nickel taunted, "A VILLAIN HAS THE BRAINS TO NOT PICK A FIGHT THEY'LL LOSE! NOW SUFFER IN AGONY FOR THINKING YOU SHOULD DEFEAT TEAM STEEL! GOLBAT, USE POISON FANG AGAIN!"
"Suffer in agony…?" Sanji mumbled.
"Golbat!" Golbat cackled, flying high up into the air, before swooping down with its mouth wide open and its fangs glowing purple as it prepared to sink its teeth right into Sanji's shoulder. Tiffany and Vivi all watched with shared looks of distress at the sight, while Usopp and Nami observed resolutely, and Timothy held his breath in anticipation.
Then, in one flurry of movement, there was a mass of black that blurred through the air followed by a brutal impact that echoed throughout the entire village. And now Sanji stood there, the heel of his shoe pressing into a Golbat whose eyes had turned into swirls that almost matched his exposed eyebrow. The chef stared at it with unmitigated disgust in his eyes, as he once again reached into his pocket and retrieved a cigarette, which he managed to actually stick in his mouth and light this time. The poison in his leg throbbed again, and extended again, but he didn't even react.
"G-Golbat…?" Nickel mumbled, blinking repeatedly, "What's- what just happened?!"
"You think this is agony?" Sanji said, taking his foot off Golbat, "You think that being cut and bitten and having poison in my leg is agony? No, this is all euphoric in comparison to what real agony is. Real agony is shrivelling up until your skin is hanging off your bones. Real agony is the nausea and the dizziness and the lethargy that comes with a body that isn't dead but doesn't have the energy to live, either. Real agony is being forced to sit around and soak in your own despair and starvation as you stare out at the horizon and pray that salvation will come."
"No… no, no, no! No human could possibly be this strong!" Nickel said, shaking his head fervently.
"REAL AGONY IS WHAT YOUR INHUMANE LAW HAS FORCED ALL THESE PEOPLE TO EXPERIENCE!" Sanji bellowed, "REAL AGONY IS HUNGER! But you don't understand that agony…"
"Don't think this is over! I'm not some worthless hack who can only train one Pokemon!" Nickel said, reaching down to grab his second Pokeball off his belt.
"You don't understand that agony, but you will." Sanji said darkly, turning around and striding over to where he had been cooking until recently.
"Hold on, is he-?" Nami said.
"He is! I think he is!" Usopp exclaimed in surprise.
"COME ON OUT, PELIPPER-!" Nickel began. The Pokeball began to open as he spoke, with bright blue and white light bursting out of it while Sanji grabbed one particular utensil from his bench. Just as the light coalesced into a Pokemon, Sanji whirled around and there was a flash of silver and there was something shooting through the air right towards Nickel's face and…
And then the battle was over in that one moment.