Gin's final, heartbreaking declaration hung in the air, heavier and more devastating than any cannonball. Tears streamed down his face, but the gun in his hand, pointed at Sanji, was rock steady. He was a man torn apart, his loyalty to his monstrous captain at war with the profound debt of kindness he owed the cook who had saved his life. In his twisted, broken mind, delivering a merciful, personal death was the only way to honor both.
Sanji, kneeling on the wreckage, simply looked up at him, his expression not of fear, but of a deep, weary acceptance. He had already decided to die for this restaurant, for the old man's dream. The identity of his executioner was a trivial detail.
Luffy, however, was not so accepting. He looked from the crying Gin to the unresisting Sanji, and he just didn't get it. He let out an exasperated sigh.
"What are you crying about?" he asked Gin, his tone completely devoid of sympathy for the dramatic scene. "You can't kill him. Because I'm here. And I'm not going to lose to you guys."
His simple, unshakable confidence was a profound insult to the Krieg Pirates. The very idea that this lone, straw-hatted boy could stand against their entire force after what they had endured was laughable.
"You little bastard!" one of them roared, his fear replaced by rage. "A kid who just got lucky dares to mock the mighty Krieg Armada?!"
They began to surge forward, ready to tear Luffy apart.
But a single, booming voice stopped them dead in their tracks.
"STAND DOWN!"
Don Krieg stepped forward, his massive, armored form radiating an aura of absolute authority. "As long as I am here," he declared, his voice a low, menacing rumble, "you do not need to worry about who is stronger. On this sea, in the entire East Blue, there is only one man who stands at the top. And that man is me."
He turned his full, intimidating presence on Luffy, the lesser pirates forgotten. "Tell me, Straw Hat. I'm curious. Between you and me, who is the strongest one here?"
Luffy didn't even have to think. He grinned, a wide, cheerful, and utterly defiant smile, and pointed a thumb at his own chest.
"Me, of course!"
The answer was so instantaneous, so devoid of doubt or fear, that it was the ultimate act of disrespect to Krieg's immense ego. The air grew thick and heavy.
"I see," Krieg said, his voice dangerously calm. "It seems you are a frog in a well who does not understand the vastness of the sea. You need to be taught the difference in power between us."
He raised his arm, and a section of his golden shoulder-plate clicked open, revealing a hidden cannon. "Allow me to educate you. This is my most feared weapon, the one that has brought entire nations to their knees. A deadly poison gas bomb… MH5."
He described it with the detached cruelty of a scientist. "A single breath, and your lungs will liquefy. Your skin will blister and peel from your bones. It is a slow, agonizing death. Now, let's see if your rubber body can bounce back from this!"
He fired.
A single, ominous, skull-shaped projectile shot from his shoulder, arcing through the air not towards Luffy, but towards the main dining hall of the Baratie, where the other chefs were trapped.
Luffy reacted instantly. "Not this time! I'll just bounce it back at you!"
He leaped into the path of the bomb, taking a deep breath. "Gomu Gomu no Fusen!"
His body inflated into a giant, rubbery shield, ready to reflect the deadly weapon.
The projectile made contact.
But it didn't bounce.
POP!
The shell of the bomb burst open on impact, but it wasn't gas that came out. It was a shower of sharp, iron stakes, a deadly shrapnel cloud that had been hidden inside.
SHINK! SHINK! SHINK!
Luffy cried out in pain as dozens of the sharp projectiles pierced his inflated rubber body. He deflated with a pained hiss, his torso now peppered with small, bleeding wounds.
He collapsed to his knees, panting. "Damn it… he tricked me…"
Krieg let out a hearty, booming laugh. "Deception is a weapon, just like any other, brat! The Grand Line is not a place for simple-minded fools who fight with honor! It is a place for the strong, and the cunning!"
Luffy pushed himself up, blood trickling down his chest, but the defiant grin was still on his face.
"That was a good trick…" he admitted, his eyes burning with a new fire. "But I'm still the strongest."
That unwavering confidence, that refusal to be broken in the face of pain and treachery, was the final straw. Krieg's anger reached its peak. He was done playing games.
He turned to his most loyal officer.
"Gin! Take care of the cook. I will deal with this rubber bastard personally."
His voice was a low, final command.
"I am going to enjoy breaking him."