The hulking golden giant croaked out with a weak voice as he sat, though I couldn't hear a single word he had said. His right-hand man Gin leaned in close to make sense of what he was saying.
"Don, please let one of the other men. They haven't eaten in a week."
"…DAMNIT GIN! Taste it… Now!" Was I like that back then? It feels so long ago yet I can never forget the overwhelming hunger, the madness it drove me to and the shame and guilt I felt after seeing the old man in his state. Did I have the rationale to check if the food was poisoned when we were saved? Would I have even bothered?
I couldn't muster any answer but no. This guy was untrustful to his very core. It defined him. He was cautious to an almost cowardly degree. If the madness of hunger couldn't eclipse that worry, then nothing could.
"…Understood." Taking a small spoonful from the plate, trying to make the smallest dent in the fixed portion for his captain. I was glad for the care Gin was taking but I'd let them all eat their fill. So long as the hungry appeared on this doorstep, then they were welcome here.
"…It's fine, Don. Eat, you need to get your strength back."
Don Krieg hunched over the table, shovelling the food into his mouth without caring to reach for a utensil. His haunch face bleached white from continual starvation. Bloodshot eyes as if he hadn't slept in days, his eyes studying the room and peering into the shadows even as he ate.
"Sanji-san. Could I ask you to prepare food for the others? We have money on the ship. We'll pay you generously for it, you have my word." Even without the promise of money we would do the exact same. I was sure the old man would say it even if I didn't make the first move.
"You're all customers here. Patty, make the preparations."
"Hah? Don't you order me around, shitty cook. It's your fault we're in this mess at all. Should've just called the damn marines." The orangutan made an annoyed expression. If he was going to make a face like a slapped arse, I should probably kick him up it to match.
"Patty." The old man's gruff voice was powerful without excessive noise. He was an annoying old geezer, but it was good to see he hadn't forgotten the reasoning for this restaurant's existence… So long as they're hungry, they're our customers.
"Chef Zeff… Right away." If you were going to just do it, you might as well have done it when I asked.
"Zeff… ZEFF!" In between the atrocious sniffles and snarls as he stuffed his mouth a grumble came from him. A loud roar and clang from the table with the Don. Before I could even turn, I felt the cold metallic surface of his golden pauldron as he grabbed me by the head and slammed me through the table. Wood splintered and my head ached. My own blood ebbed and flowed uselessly, from my brow to my mouth and nose. I could taste it. A single drop extinguished the flare of my cigarette.
He's ate. My job as a cook is to feed, not judge a man… But that gets pretty hard when the urge to kick that food back out of his gullet is so overwhelming! No good. I'm already craving another cigarette…
"Red leg Zeff! You've been to the Grand Line, haven't you? I heard the stories, the Cook pirates. You guys were taken out in a storm, no-one's seen hide nor hair of you since. Who would've thought you were hiding out in this dump?!" That storm… That brings back bad memories. Stranded on that isolated cliff… Swallowing down mouldy bread and maggot infested cheese, eating not for enjoyment but for survival. Rationing meals that were once scraped into a wastebin. And after it all the image of the old man. His share of the rations and the reality of how he had actually survived. Useless riches that could never be used on that island and the smell of rotting flesh, with the smear of red along his mouth. His eyes the visage of madness itself. The taste of despair at that moment was truly frightening, yet beautiful… That was the first time someone had went to such lengths for me… All because of a dream we shared. I had decided to forego my own dreams to ensure the man that saved me could have his. This restaurant. This haven for the starved, so that no one ever has to experience the same hell we did all those years ago…
It had been over a decade since the old man was active as a pirate, just how much intelligence had this guy obtained over the years? But he had been to the Grand Line? The old geezer never talked about it…
"…"
"I wasn't ready last time, that's my mistake. You, red leg Zeff, have a journal of your travels. I want it. With that information we'll be ready for anything!"
"I don't have what you're looking for."
"Wrong answer, red leg. This is what's going to happen. You're going to provide us with food and your journal. If you fail to do so I'm going to kill everyone here and believe me, I have plenty of methods at my disposal to do so."
"Like hell we'll give you any food!" A few of the chefs shouted in unison to the golden tyrant.
"This is an order! Not a request. You do not defy the ruler of the seas!"
"…"
"I AM DON KRIEG! The strongest conqueror the world has ever seen! I command a fleet of 50 ships, fitted with 5,000 men. I wear the finest Woltz steel in the world, with the ultimate spear to match. I have diamond gauntlets to crush any in my way! I own this East Blue and soon enough the rest of the world's oceans will be mine too!" He flexed each item of his apparel as he spoke, the heavy steel armour with a golden sheen, the diamond encrusted gauntlets and the spearhead that covered his back under the cloak. Weapons. I was familiar with them. I knew the danger that they posed.
"Don! Please, we can get the food and the journal. But spare their lives!" Gin asked his captain.
"None of their lives will be in danger if they give me what I want. You have one hour. Come hell or high water, if your people aren't ready to surrender then you'll become feed for the sea kings before you can sink to the ocean floor. Think it over carefully." The imposing pirate captain turned his back on the restaurant, not sparing a glance at a single person other than the old man.
"No way, you're going to the Grand Line, me too! I'm going to become King of the pirates!" What was this idiot saying?! The same dumbass that couldn't pay for his meal thought he was going to become king of the pirates? And he's saying it to someone a hundred times more likely to succeed! He had a fleet, weapons of mass destruction and 5,000 allies! It gave me a brief flashback to the humiliation I felt when talking about the All Blue.
"Luffy!" Long nose reached to shut his mouth. I was surprised to see that the two bounty hunters had yet to make a move. Though they followed the invading pirates with their eyes, a single hand resting on the sword hilts hung by their belts.
"Ha… HAHAHAHA! The fear seems to have warped your young waiter's mind! C'mon Gin." Yes. That was the right response. When someone said something ridiculous just laugh it off. For his dream and mine, that was the response they needed.
"…Please. Just give us what the Don requested. I don't want to kill those that saved us." Gin bowed his head.
"Fuck you! You brought death to us, ungrateful scum!" Patty and Carne shouted derisively at the second in command of the Krieg pirates.
"…Be that as it may. I don't want to deliver that death myself. For your own lives, please." He began to retreat from the restaurant. "And straw hat…"
"Hm?"
"Whatever you do… Don't go to the Grand Line, humans can't survive there."
"No thanks, I'm still going."
"If even the Don was defeated then no one stands a chance. Don't waste your life on an empty possibility."
"Hey old man! Did you really go the Grand Line?" Our newest serving boy turned to the old geezer. Not taking a single word coming from Gin's mouth seriously. Idiot's like him, their days were numbered…
"What part of what I just said sounded like a joke to you…" Gin mumbled to himself.
"…Oi, Gin. If no one can survive there… Are you still going to follow Don Krieg to that place?" Was it blind fealty that urged him to serve Don Krieg or did he knowingly support his cause?
"Sanji-san… Yes. Following him is the only thing I have left. For that, even my death is a small price to pay." I knew from those words alone and the look in his eyes, that he was serious. "I hope in the next hour you will all come to your senses."
Why was Gin willingly following him? Don Krieg was powerful, he had influence. But it was the sort of power that I held no admiration for. It was dirty. It reminded me of him and the rest of those ghosts of the past. It had been so long that all I wanted to do was just forget about them… But they had an uncanny way of sneaking back into the recesses of my mind. The only tangible difference they held was that Don Krieg used weapons whereas the others made their body a weapon… It was no different from the past. Would I allow myself to be beaten and placed in a cage once again?
No. Not with the old man's dream on the line… I owe him too much. Even if it means breaking my legs on that steel armour, even if I lose the function of my arms and can never cook again… I'll never let them take this restaurant!
"Everyone get your weapons ready! I'll open the battle decks. Carne, get the Sabagashira ready for combat!" Combat was inevitable, but something took priority above all else.
"Sanji, come help me in the kitchen." The gruff voice requested. Yeah, I was already on my way old man! Don't tell me you think I'm the same as these layabouts. Did you really think I learnt nothing from that time?
"…Gotcha, old man."
"Chef Zeff… Sanji, you can't be serious they're trying to kill us all!"
"Help or don't, we'll make it all ourselves if need be." He grabbed two large pots and filled them with water. I suppose I'm on vegetable duty, like usual.
"Chef Zeff… I… I love this place. It was the only place that accepted cooks and crooks like us. I want to protect it. I can't allow it to be desecrated by some pirate scum like them!" Patty shouted with his hat in hand.
"Agreed! That Don Krieg, he's known for using any means necessary. If there's any man that deserves the tile 'scum of the sea' it's him. He once stole a ship from the marines by posing as one, that was how he started his career. I've heard he flies merchant flags to port at islands and slaughter and pillage the people there! Letting those men starve will be a boon to the rest of the world." Carne quickly agreed with him.
"If you believe that, you are no chef of mine! Our jobs as chefs is to serve food, not to question the morals of man! So long as this restaurant exists, I will provide food to the hungry. If you disagree you can hand in your apron and hat and find another restaurant to work in." The old man stated coldly. Pointing to the rack.
"…"
"…Patty, Carne. The rest of you."
"…"
"We'll feed them, that much is all but guaranteed. But if they try to take our home and lives after that. We'll show them no mercy. What is this ship?"
"…The Baratie?" Patty muttered in a befuddled manner.
"The Baratie, the same fearsome ship that sends pirates fleeing. The brawling restaurant. This isn't the first time we've fought off unruly guests and it won't be the last! We'll feed every last one of them! And if they want to fight after that… Feel free to knock it right back out of them. Just know that whoever makes the biggest mess will be on deck duty." The old man's voice rose an octave as he roused the crew. He wasn't a previous captain for nothing I suppose… This was a different strength than Don Krieg's or theirs. A strength that made me want to follow him. I wondered if Gin would be the same if he had met someone like that, even whilst in Don Krieg's service…
"…AYE, AYE!"
"Get ready to make enough to feed a few hundred men!"
"YES, CHEF ZEFF!" We threw ourselves into the craft. Before we knew it the hour was over, and the inevitable conflict on its way.
[Piracy?]
"What is your answer?"
"Enough food for your crew." The old man threw a large sack onto the deck, whilst the other cooks brought in the still boiling pots overflowing with stew. The starved crew visibly began to salivate at the prospect of a meal.
"And your journal." The Don didn't even think twice about his crew's hunger.
"There's no such thing."
"That's not the answer I wanted to hear… That information is invaluable for my conquest of the Grand Line. And much more valuable than the rest of your miserable lives."
"Captain Krieg, we're going back… To certain death?" He didn't even turn to face the pirate that uttered those words. A single blast of buckshot, a grunt of disapproval and the plop of a body into the restless sea. That single drop of blood wasn't enough to spread the red colour of his death. It was a single drop in the endlessly blue sea. One that didn't care how many lives would depart today.
"Does anyone else have any stupid questions to ask me?" He didn't ask that of the crew but the entire battlefield, one which he intended to preside over like an all-powerful judge.
"…" His crew was deathly quiet in the face of the tyrant's power. Each and every member of his crew filtered down the bridge boarding the Baratie.
"You would treat your own crew like that?!" The long nose's captain shouted from the rafters. His eyes bloodshot. The handrail squeaking under the pressure of his grip.
"Crew? These are my subordinates, they are mine to use. Just another weapon in my arsenal. Mere objects for me to use as I please." He said it almost as if he were bored.
"That's what you think your crew are? That what you think friends are?!" Some people even think family is the same…
"That's the way of the world, waiter boy. Strength is having the best tools, knowledge and manpower to accommodate them. Nothing else." Don Krieg smirked at the boy. "Make them surrender, you can eat after." The crew mustered what strength they could in face of that instruction. The madness that starvation granted a man was no laughing matter. They could even turn on their saviour in a dire situation, I was no exception…
"…Old man. If I beat his ass, can you let me off the hook?"
"Hmph. Knock yourself out brat. I was thinking I might be stuck with you after all this." You're letting him?! He's going to get himself killed! His debt wasn't that much!
"Alright." He threw the uniform we gave him to the ground. Cracking his knuckles and rolling his shoulders before the fight. Did he really think he could win? He didn't even have a weapon.
"Don't do it straw hat. I can't let you hurt my captain." Gin handled his batons roughly. Twirling the thick club in a circular motion, gradually picking up speed. A mass of bodies stood writhing behind the first mate, an obstacle that straw hat would have to force aside. I didn't want him to kill himself, I guess I was up…
"I won't apologise. Out of the way, Gin."
"…No, but I should." Straw hat and Gin ran towards each other, but before the baton could make contact with him it was intercepted by that green-haired swordsman. He was finally awake.
"Let's leave the captains to talk. For now you can make do with me."
"Tch. You again?"
"Yeah, and no shitty cook is gonna save you this time." Bastard, I can still hear you!
"I would've preferred they ate the food we prepared… They can stuff their mouths with lead instead! Patty, Carne. Drop the battlements. Man the Sabagashira!" The geezer's unmistakable voice resounded throughout the ship. The Baratie rumbled as the circular base extended to form the wings of the battle deck. The face of the ship detached, and the two cooks sat together snugly in the helm.
"Yosaku! We'll make space for Luffy to come through!" The bounty hunter wearing sunglasses shouted to his partner.
"Got it." The two bounty hunters unsheathed the swords by their waists, standing side by side, covering each other's weak spots. They were weak… But the weak had their own way of fighting.
"A battleship disguised as a restaurant. I like it! I think I'll have it!" The Don shouted from the deck of his monstrously large ship. It's cracked, destroyed remains reminiscent of a deep-sea monster. "Remove the cooks from the ship. Drop them all into the sea!" The cooks took up their weapons in response, prepared to fight off the hundreds of members of the Don's crew.
"Don! This isn't what you promised! You said you would leave them be if we got the food!" Gin pleaded futilely.
"Oh please, I'd be a fool to turn this down. Not a single soul will even see us coming, the ships will lower their anchor for us to board, we'd sail through the grand line with no difficulty. Besides, you've done worse before haven't you Gin. Now make good on that debt you still owe me and knock the idiots into the water. That's the last mercy they get, if they get in the way again. Kill them."
"Ngh… I'm sorry Sanji-san." He bat the swordsman away for a moment.
"There's nothing to apologise for. I'll just put you in the ground myself. That golden turd you call a captain can go next." But I'll let him have a go first. I still needed to make sure they didn't try something with the old man whilst I was here.
"This way!" I shouted whilst directing a few choice kicks to the invading pirates. Those that didn't move were given no choice but to fall into the ocean below. Where is that guy going? Can't he see this is the best option? Even Don Krieg wouldn't fire into the line of his own crew… Actually, scratch that. That's probably not true.
"Don't think you're getting through us all that quickly." My legs rebounded heavily off a large steel object. A man stood with steel shields strapped to his arms and the front and back of his torso with a single large pearl in the middle of each of them. Oh, great, just what I needed another weirdo.
"No need." The boy captain ran for the open water off the battlements, was he going to swim? That would just leave him vulnerable… I quickly swallowed my misgivings as his arm's extended several times the length of a human's and grabbed the edge of the Don's Galleon. His body became a blur as he rocketed towards the golden man, creating such an impact that he barrelled through the cabin of his ship, a heavy gong like sound erupting from the ship.
"HAHAHA! Not bad, squirt! But it's no match for this steel Woltz armour! To think a devil of the sea was here. Think you're special because you got your hands on a devil fruit, do you?!" The Don didn't seem the least affected by that attack.
"Do you think you're strong because of all these men with you?"
"Of course. Martial might is dictated by numbers, anyone with half a brain can tell you that!"
"Really? To me you just look like weaklings huddling together…" Huh?
"Numbers, strategy and weapons. I'll show you." The gauntlets of his golden carapace shifted as several gun barrels appeared underneath. Innumerable bullets firing from the dozen guns. "HAHAHAHA! How's that?" Smoke billowed and swept as the barrels heated and unloaded projectile after projectile. After the smoke settled the straw hat just looked completely unaffected… staring at Don Krieg.
"…You aren't very smart, are you?" He said in full seriousness.
"…" Don Krieg's face took on a red shade and his frown got fiercer than before. The rage slowly subsided into understanding, though the red glow still remained.
"I- I see. So, blunt force doesn't affect you, in that case. TRY THIS!" He grabbed his right pauldron and shifted a mechanism. Darts the size of wooden stakes shot out of the golden shell covering the ship, all the straw-hat could do was jump and evade as best he could. However even that didn't stop him from receiving injuries. The darts sunk into flesh leaving dots of blood to drip along the deck of the ship.
"The greatest spear!" His pauldrons formed the guard just before the blade of a spear. He swung it down mightily, an explosion following the impact of steel against the solid oak ship.
"Cool!"
"Kicking my ass seems a bit too out of your league. You aren't going to stay over there forever, are you?" Such an obvious taunt would only work on an idiot…
"Coming!" And he was talking to one…
"You should pay more attention to what's happening here!" A pearl gradually came closer to my face. I avoided by the skin of my teeth. Performing a back handspring and planting my foot directly on his face gave me some distance. Though every single person seemed to rush away as a single glob of blood fell from his nose to the floor.
"OH SHIT! RUN! PEARL'S BLEEDING!"
"Crap! Pearl, calm down. We need that ship after this!" Don Krieg pleaded with his crew for the first time. Just what was he so afraid of?
"…My blood. I'm bleeding. I'm hurt… It hurts… There's blood. There's blood… My blood… ARRRRGGGHHH, I'M BLEEEEEEDDDDDIIIIIINNNNNGGGGG!" The large man wailed like an infant child, smacking the shield on his torso with both in his hands, the pearl began to glow like a red-hot iron. Until it erupted into flames along with the shields on his arms, as he flailed, more and more embers fell from the shields. Gathering flames along the battle deck until it was a raging inferno.
"Put the flames out now!" Cooks gathered the water with whatever they could.
"Stay over there, Pearl!" The crew begged the naked flame to stay away. It's wood it'll spread eventually, you dolts.
I kicked and spun and kicked as the man-child flailed something fierce, the pearl begun to crack slightly. But that just made him all the more inconsolable and the heat of the fire that much fiercer. My leg caught in the blaze was seared on contact, along with the density of the steel left my feet feeling and looking mangled.
"Can you not take care of that?" The swordsman shouted at me.
"A bit harder than it looks."
"Whatever. Switch."
"Hah?!"
"Coming your way."
"Enough of this! Pearl, go to sleep for a while." Gin threw his shoulder a few times, the tonfa in his hand completed a few rotations picking up a deadly amount of speed before smashing the shield and shattering into pieces. The whites of his eyes brought to the front and his pupils ascended beyond his eyelids.
"I think you'll regret that." Sure, but it certainly does make things easier.
"We still need this ship later. I alone am enough to stop the likes of you." First it was their captain and now it was Gin. I guess it made sense that he was the second in command. The audacity of both of them was off the charts.
"Hey mosshead."
"Huh? Who the hell you calling mosshead, shitty cook?!"
"Go help out your captain, I'll take care of this."
"You sure? You couldn't even take that shield guy out."
"Shut up. It isn't like you beat Gin in that time either!"
"I don't really plan on letting either of you go…" Twirling the tonfa's. Always prepared for one of us to approach him.
"Your plans don't matter all that much to me. Go." Marimo ran towards the ship and its bridge. Gin swung violently in his direction which I met with a kick of my own. AHH! Still tender from the fire. We recoiled from the impact.
"Don't do this Sanji-san, you can't win."
"Says the small fry."
"…Oh well. If there's at least one saving grace it means I can take your life with my own hands. It's the very least I can do for my saviour."
"Hah. Spare me the platitudes."
"As you wish!" Bending at the waist I threw a kick at his head from above, he twisted and jumped into the air, with no escape I jumped as well planting a solid kick into his midsection.
"Take this." But was rebuffed by the heavy steel mass plummeting into my flank, my ribs audibly creaking from the heft of the object. Blood sputtered from my mouth uselessly onto the floor. The clang of steel against wood trapped me on the ground, the baton across my throat giving no purchase. All the while the other tonfa spun rapidly prepared to come down and reap my head.
"Don't struggle." I spat my cigarette into his face just as he swung his arm, slipping from his stranglehold and planting a firm kick onto his head from the sky. My ribs shook and lungs heaved as I attempted to stand, it was for nothing. I couldn't gather the strength in my legs to get up. Gin struggled to come towards me, slumping his shoulders and wearing the appearance of his moniker, the man-demon.
He swung weakly at me, even in my state I could dodge it easily enough…
"Is this pity?! Don't you underestimate me!" Another kick did as much damage to him as it did to me. We settled on the deck, my legs didn't have the strength to move anymore… A hand roughly grabbed me by the neck.
"Good. Finish it, Gin." The all-powerful voice of Don Krieg erupt once more. What were those two doing? "I've already disposed of the rubber boy, his swordsman friend will be next."
"…Yes Don." Was this how it ended? If I did everything over, would I change anything? Would I have let Gin starve? Should I have left him? Was it the wrong choice to help him? Were all of these deaths on my hands?
It didn't matter. I would do it all the same. I knew the fear of starvation all too well. The ocean was a cruel mistress, if I could help to soothe that fear and madness even a small amount. Well, I suppose that isn't half bad…
"…I can't." Tears flowed and dripped onto my face from above. Gin's face was a distorted mess of sadness and shame.
"What?"
"…I can't. I owe Sanji my life, just as I owe you, my life. It's like asking me to kill you, Don Krieg."
"I see. You put me on the same level as some backwater cook, is that it Gin?"
"No, sir. But I can't do this. I beg you! Please, turn the ship around and leave these people. They saved us in our hour of need, the least we can do is let them live."
The straw-hat and his swordsman friend grabbed onto the deck from under the water. Apparently, they had been thrust into the water at some point… Or more likely the devil fruit user needed to be saved by the swordsman… Good thing I sent him ahead. In the heat of battle, people were quickly lost. When your life hung in the balance it wasn't very smart to look at other fights.
"Take this! Sabagashira, fire!" The Sabagashira jumped into the air from under the sea, diving head-first for Don Krieg. The cannon lay in the mouth of the small boat fired at point blank range. Don Krieg was covered in smoke, his silhouette barely visible through the billowing smoke.
The smoke dissipated and he held the fish like contraption and both its riders in the palm of a single hand…
"Fish shouldn't be on land. Go back home!" He threw the Sabagashira at the restaurant, crushing the double entrance door and sliding into the main compartment. What monstrous strength.
"Such arrogance, weakness and cowardice. From my own crew as well. This is not the fearsome man-demon. If anyone gets in the way take their head. That goes for our previous vice-captain as well… In fact. Gin, throw your mask away! MH5!" A red capsule shot onto the deck after a moment gas bellowed out.
"AHHHH! Mask, mask. Where the hell's my mask?" A few of the grunts looked around the deck of the ship before realising the straw hat and his friends were already wearing them. "Crap." They immediately dove into the sea.
"Gin, what the hell are you doing?!"
"Stay still, Sanji-san." I wanted to stop him, but if I put up more of a fight he might breathe even more of the toxin into his lungs. That would lower his chances even further. Why would you listen to the order of a piece of shit like that?!
The cooks and pirates alike had mostly jumped into the ocean to avoid the gas, except a few that scrambled with their masks ready in time.
"GIN! Stay with me." Blood dribbled from his mouth as slumped towards the ground, the gas was already dissipating, but he kept his entire weight pressed onto the mask ensuring I didn't take it off. It was only after the green coloured smoke had fully evaporated that he finally relented and let go. I grabbed him and lay him on his back. His breath was weak, but he still breathed. His heart was still beating, but he needed some sort of aid and soon…
"Must I explain any further?! I AM THE STRONGEST! PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS, SURRENDER YOUR SHIP AND SINK TO THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN ALREADY!" The battlefield was deathly silent. Not for the commands of Don Krieg. It was the arrival of something else. A foreboding feeling that speaking was a mistake.
All fighting ceased. There was no noise. Not a word or any event that caused such a stopper in the ongoing conflict. Nothing but pressure. A certain oppressive presence that made bile rise from the stomach in anticipation. An animal instinct that told everyone, staying here is death. To remain in his presence is death. One that you could not escape.
A small vessel approached on the horizon, slowly and deathly quiet. It gave the sense of an impending doom, one which you could run from but never hide, the grim reaper himself sat on that ship, shaped like a coffin.
"YOU AGAIN?! HAWKEYES! Find something else to do!" Don Krieg shouted with all seriousness.
"AHHHH! It's him again! Run!" The remnants of Don Krieg's lackeys screamed to each other.
"Where the hell is there left to run to?! We've already jumped into the sea!"
"Swim to the sea floor, surely he can't reach us there!"
"Hey, that'll kill me!"
"I like my chances more than up here!" One of the pirates said before indulging in an exaggerated breath and diving under the surface of the water.
"Hawkeyes Mihawk." The green-haired swordsman said after a moment. His hand immediately gripped two swords that had been abandoned by pirates on the deck, trembling all the while. That guy was insurmountable. My legs shivered just from feeling his presence.
"You aren't planning on fighting that thing, are you?!"
"Huh? Of course, I am." He said it with an air of disbelief, as if I asked something crazy. Does everyone here have a death wish or something?!
"You're going to die!"
"Better that than never trying."
"…Fine! Go get yourself killed then, marimo."
"..."
---
Word count: 5492
My goodness juggling all the characters in an actual fight scene even on this scale becomes so hard to manage. By all accounts there aren't even that many characters, but I wanted to give the important parts an equal emphasis.
I wanted to capture the chaos of an actual battle and what it would look like, because with the number of combatants even in a fight at this stage is pretty ridiculous. Don Krieg easily has a few hundred crewmates even with the single ship. So to give each fight spotlight whilst also ensuring it remained somewhat realistic was a challenge. Sanji watching Luffy's fight and nearly getting sucker punched for it being the main takeaway. To be honest it also skipped the slower portion of Luffy's fight with Don Krieg before he's taking it as seriously, so I hope there aren't many ruffled feathers among readers.
Did I do a decent job using Sanji as a POV character. I used Usopp in the last two chapters so maybe it gave whiplash changing POV so rapidly. Hopefully not. This is kinda Sanji's introductory arc, so it was needed.
Also, I'm not entirely sure of the timeline, I'm kinda going off memory which this stuff happened quite a while ago… So I can't remember if Mihawk arrives after the gas is used or before, but hopefully if it's slightly different it was a bit more interesting to read. Let me know.
The next chapter will focus on Zoro and Mihawk's duel.
Hopefully you all enjoyed the chapter. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
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Until next time.