🏴☠️️Ch.28: We Won't Die! Future King of the Pirates vs. the Pirate Commodore!🏴☠️️
Everything seems to go in slow motion as the gas bomb approaches the Baratie, but not for me. During those few seconds, I witness Ghin throw the mask given to him by Luffy back at the rubber boy and is now forcefully holding down the second gas mask onto Sanji's face. 'That fool! He's willing to give up his own life for a crap excuse for a captain who is willing to kill probably his most loyal crew member.'
I tied a bandana around my nose and mouth and placed my (Favorite Color) diving goggles over my eyes.
I tied a bandana around my nose and mouth and placed my (Favorite Color) diving goggles over my eyes.
As the bomb made contact with the restaurant a thick cloud of purple gas begins to spread throughout the vicinity. Umi and I have to be quick if we want to pull this off. I raise my hands forward, palms facing the ocean, and send my will to the sea. And like it always had, it answered without fail. In the center of the gas cloud, a giant geyser erupts from the water and morphs into a whirlpool and begins extracting the gas out of harm's way. Umi was doing the exact same thing. The large sea snake jaw is wide open sucking up what poison gas the whirlpool couldn't reach in time.
Once the gas was all cleared up and now swirling inside the whirlpool, I reshaped it into a large orb of water with the poison swirling inside of it.
"WHAT?!"
I smirk at Don Krieg's unhappiness at his most deadly weapon being rendered useless.
"Surprised? I guess you should be."
"My MH-5 gas! What did you do with it?!"
I hold up the orb of water stained with the purple of the poison gas swimming inside it. "Most of it's in here. What I couldn't catch is in my sea snake partner's stomach. Here you go, Umi." I toss her the poisoned orb and she catches it in her wide mouth. Her sharp fangs puncture the water orb and begin to drain it of its toxins. Once the water is purified, the orb loses its form and reverts back to its normal liquid form and drips from her mouth.
"My sea snake here is of an extremely rare breed. Not only does she possess the ability to swim to deep depths in the ocean, but her venom can vary from poisonous to paralysis. And guess why hers is one of the most potent kinds known to man?"
A look of realization is written across Don Krieg's face. "No, don't tell me—"
"That's right." I singsong. "She feeds off poisonous substances. Plants, other animals, and even your precious MH-5. In solid, liquid, or gaseous form, she can devour it. Face it Krieg, you're outclassed and outmatched in every way. Be lucky I'm not going to kill you myself. One of your own crew, who's never asked anything of you probably his entire time working under you, decides to grow a backbone and go against you for once. Any of this other sorry bunch you'd shoot without hesitation." My hands clench into fists. "You heartless, son of a bitch! You'd go so far as to kill the most loyal man on your crew! You don't deserve a man like Ghin. He's too good to be a part of this shit-show of a pirate crew."
"Oh?! So, you think he'd be better off with another crew. What crew would possibly take him in now?"
"The Straw Hats would!"
Ghin is shocked at my declaration.
"Without question. I would happily ask him to sail with me and my friends!"
"You'd want a sniveling, lowlife who came out of the gutter?"
"I don't need to repeat myself to a bastard who uses cheap tricks to win a fight. At least Ghin has more honor than you could ever even hope to have! If I didn't do anything he'd probably be under the effects of the poison right now, and you, you would just laugh at him like he was dirt. And those are the kind of people I just can't stand."
"He was a fool. He would pay for a plate of food with his life. Maybe he'll learn when he's truly dead." He smirks a disgusting smirk.
I am seething now. How dare a captain think of his own crewmember like this?
"Ghin."
The man in question looks at my back, with dark glare still being directed at his now former captain. "Even after everything that's happened, is Don Krieg still the man you want to follow?"
"I . . .I don't know anymore. Don Krieg is the strongest man in the East Blue. I looked up to him for that."
"Yes, but being strong physical-wise doesn't actually mean everything. I sailed the Grand Line for nearly 13 years and survived, not because of my powers or because of the size of bounty the Marines put on my head. No. It was because of my animal pack, my friends. They keep me sane, from going off the deep end and always have my back, even when things are at their worse. That's what real strength is." I look over my shoulder and smile at him.
He holds back the tears in his eyes. "Why? Why do you insist on continuing to save me. I don't deserve your kindness."
"Your actions from when we first met say otherwise. You can be a great man, Ghin, and an even greater pirate. But if there's one thing I know now for certain is that if you continue to follow this man, you're going to die before you even have a chance to live your life."
"It still figures that you still feel for that pathetic scum!" Krieg laughs.
"Scum?!" Sanji exclaims.
"That's right! Anyone who loses focus and betrays my ship is worthless to me. They'll almost certainly do it again. Putting him out of his misery would have been an act of mercy to keep him from dishonoring himself in the future and endangering my crew."
I then hear two Krieg Pirates conversing about the true loyalty Ghin's showed to the Krieg Pirate over the years, even hearing about how he disguised himself as Don Krieg, sacrificing himself, to lure Fullbody and his Marines away from the galleon after they escaped from the Grand Line. Without Ghin, the Krieg Pirates wouldn't even be alive right now.
I look to Umi and shift my gaze to Ghin. She catches on and begins coiling herself around him, keeping him in place.
"What the hell?! What's going on, (First Name)?!" He demands.
Without looking at him I respond. "Ghin, I want you to observe what's about to happen next. My captain is about to reveal to you that Don Krieg is not the person you think he is."
Ghin's struggles cease and he begins to relax into Umi's grip, his gaze completely focused on what's going on in front of him.
"It's no use, girlie. He's going to die along with everyone else here within the hour, and you are going to become a Krieg Pirate whether you like it or not."
"The only way she's going with you is if you step over my cold, dead body and take her. And I'm not about to let that happen! I could never let someone like you win and put their filthy hands on her!" Luffy rebuffs.
"Wait a second, attacking him head on is exactly what he wants; He's strongest that way!"
"I'm not worried. Go ahead and give it your best shot!" Luffy shouts.
Luffy charges in after Krieg.
"Don't!!" Sanji tries to reason, but Luffy is already making his way across the broken mast.
"Dumb kid, when you lose your patience you become easy prey." Krieg smirks. "You are only running toward one thing, chore boy. And that is . . ." The Pirate Commodore reaches into his armor and pulls out more of the same small black orbs and throws them into the water. " . . .Your funeral."
The orbs cause more explosions as they hit the ocean causing a gushing wall of water to come up between Luffy and Krieg. Krieg uses the shielding to fire the spiked-stakes from his armor shield. Luffy takes a few hits, but I keep him well protected after the first few shots, using the water to redirect the spikes away from him and harmlessly into the ocean.
When Krieg sees Luffy still coming right at him he pulls out a metal-spiked net to protect himself.
But if I know Luffy, he won't give two shits.
"GUM-GUM . . .PISTOL!" Luffy manages to break through an iron net landing a hit to Krieg's face, but not without some damage to his own fist in the process. Don Krieg goes down to the ground with a thud that felt as if it could be heard from miles away. Silence is all that's heard, as everyone begins to soak in what just happened.
"Don Krieg is down!" A Krieg Pirate yells. "That punk got him!"
"What is that kid anyway?"
"He punched him right through the spikes!" A cook exclaims.
"That's messed up." The Krieg Pirates continue conversing.
"I've never seen him get hit in any kind of fight, EVER!"
"He busted right through that porcupine cape and smashed him right in the face!"
"I . . .I can't believe it!"
Luffy takes this pause in the fight to remove the stakes that managed to strike him. "So, is this my funeral or yours? You can't kill me with little spikes! My funeral will take more than this! You'll have to do better than that if you want to beat me . . .because I don't think it's time for me to die just yet." He finishes with a grin.
"I know one thing . . ." I hear Sanji speak up. " . . .He's nuts."
"No way . . .Don Krieg was actually hit and has been knocked out." Ghin breathes.
Zeff glances at the blond chef, then returns his gaze to the ongoing fight. "I've seen one or two like him before, but no one like (First Name). Yet, they're both stubborn kids who'd rather die than have to turn away from a fight once it's started."
"He'll stay, and so will she and the rest of that strange bunch. That's for sure." Sanji replies.
"I'm glad they're with us because people like them are hell to fight. I don't care if he wins or loses; I consider it an honor just to be able to watch him."
Krieg suddenly regains consciousness and stands up. He rams his shield into Luffy and fires a projectile, telling him to go to hell. But Luffy manages to dodge it as he leaps overhead.
"YOU FIRST!!" Luffy counters by latching his foot against Krieg's shoulder and pulling him off his feet and lands on his back.
Onlookers shriek in disbelief as Don Krieg is knocked down once more. The Krieg Pirates start to wonder whether their captain is really invisible and question just what Luffy is. The cooks begin to cheer for Luffy. But Krieg doesn't look to be down for the count just yet.
"SHUT UP, MAGGOTS!! NEVER DOUBT ME!" He takes his other shoulder plate and presses it together with the first one. A staff is extended from the bottom half and a sharp spear tip erects from the other end. Krieg brings the weapon down to strike Luffy. It misses but the terrifying thing was that when the spear tip made contact with the piece of galleon debris the two are standing on it caused an explosion.
"What was that?" Sanji questions in disbelief in what he just saw.
"It looks as if that spear is designed to explode when it comes into contact with something and causes a whole lot more damage." Trigger observes.
"Finally! He's gonna stop messing around and step up his game!"
"The mighty Battle Spear."
"Now what? You gonna try to hide from me?" Krieg demands as he throws off his fur-lined cape. "Alright then, boy. This should be fun. My mighty Battle Spear. It's different from the one I was fighting with earlier. When this thing hits you, you won't just be wounded and flailing, YOU WILL BE BLOWN STRAIGHT INTO HELL!!" Krieg brings down the spear, destroying the debris further and sending Luffy flying.
Luffy manages to propel himself onto a tiny scrap of ship before he can fall into the water. But then he doesn't appear to get to stand fully upright and holds the broken railing of the floating debris he's on for support.
"Oh, no. He's lost too much blood." I point out.
"This had better end quickly, then." Sanji says.
Krieg grins at the turn of events. "You look tired. Too bad. Guess you should have saved a little more energy." He leaps onto the rubber boy's part of the ship and swings the giant spear every which way to get a blow in, but Luffy manages to dodge. Krieg's swinging drives Luffy closer to the edge of the floating portion of the ship. Luffy leaps into the air to avoid another strike from the spear, but Krieg takes this chance to try and skewer Luffy while he's in midair. Luffy gets out of the way by latching onto the spear's staff end. This pisses off Krieg further as he tries to shake Luffy off his weapon. He succeeds, sending Luffy flying into the air and as he comes back down Krieg is ready to drive that spear right through the rubber boy. Luffy somehow manages to prevent the spear from skewering him, but the explosion is still set off and Luffy is the one knocked down this time. His body is burnt turning his skin into a sickly grey color.
As Luffy stands, Krieg begins to mock him.
Sanji is now worried that Luffy won't be able to take any more hits and still be able to get back up. Zeff and I think otherwise.
"No, you're wrong." I say quickly and without any doubt.
"Even with a hundred thousand more weapons, our chore boy can still bring him to his knees. Because he does not know fear."
As Krieg brings down the spear for another hit, Luffy retaliates and takes another explosion, but again, he gets right back up as Krieg had begun to walk away, thinking the fight was over.
"Stand or fall, life or death. In a struggle for your very existence, you cannot even have the slightest bit of fear or you will be lost." Zeff speaks.
"What are you talking about?" Sanji questions.
"That kid out there . . ." Zeff continues.
Luffy takes a third explosion.
" . . .When he's fighting, he's not afraid of anything . . .Not even death. Same goes for (First Name) and her Pack."
Boom!
Fourth.
"Is it just instinct or all a plan? We'll know soon, if he lives."
"What plan?" Sanji wonders. "Killing himself?"
Luffy still gets right back up and Krieg looks ready to pop a vein because of my captain's unwavering will to keep on fighting.
The cooks roar with encouragements.
Krieg goes in for another attack, bringing about yet another explosion.
"There is no doubt that Krieg and his pirates are strong, but chore boy and (First Name) have something that they'll never have. Krieg may have more pirates at his command than anyone else before him. He may have terrible weapons that cause mass destruction to everything in his path. But . . .he will never have those kid's hearts."
Luffy still stands and it looks like he did have a plan to take care of that spear. The spear tip shatters into tiny pieces.
"What?! My Battle Spear! What the hell did you do?!" Krieg demands.
"I just punched it in the head five times." Luffy explains with a grin. "It looks tired, maybe it needs a rest." He mocks. "Now it's my turn."
☠TO BE CONTINUED . . . ☠
On the Next One Piece
"Why does he keep fighting?"
"It's because he's Luffy. Fighting basically what he was born for."
"Is he trying to get himself killed?"
"He's not dying today. I'll make sure of it."
"No, he's not even scared."
"He has no reason to fear a scumbag like Krieg."
"It's been a long time since I've fought like I had something worth dying for."
"You shouldn't die for something you want to fight for, but continue to live for it, and that's exactly what my captain is going to do here."
"This is it!"
"Chore Boy, don't die like this!"
🏴☠️️Ch. 29: The Conclusion of this Battle! Blind Determination or The Willpower to Live!🏴☠️️
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☠Current Crew: Luffy | (First Name) | Zoro | Nami | Usopp☠
🐾The Pack: Carmela | Ahio | Tito | Umi | Trigger | Calder | Richie | ChouChou🐾
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