A fragile silence fell over the wreckage-strewn battlefield, thick with the unspoken weight of Gin's tearful confession. Don Krieg looked down at his battle commander, the man he had trusted above all others, now kneeling and weeping, having defied a direct order. Krieg's expression was not one of rage, but of cold, clinical disappointment.
"Gin," he said, his voice deceptively calm. "I always knew the excess in your personality was your greatest strength on the battlefield. Your capacity for feeling—gratitude, loyalty, rage—made you a demon to our enemies. But I see now that it has also become your greatest weakness."
Gin looked up, his face a mask of torment. "Captain Krieg… I will always respect you. I will always admire your strength. You are my commander." He took a deep, shuddering breath. "But I cannot kill this man. Please… I beg of you… for all my years of loyal service… let them go. Let the Baratie go free."
The plea, so full of genuine, desperate hope, was met with pure, unadulterated fury.
"GALL!" Krieg roared, his voice exploding with rage. "You dare make demands of me?! You dare to place the life of a single, worthless cook above my grand plan?!"
The Krieg Pirates, watching from the wreckage, stared in confusion. They couldn't understand what had happened to their fearsome commander, the Man-Demon who killed without a second thought.
Krieg's eyes scanned the scene, his strategic mind clicking into place. He had lost his best men in the Grand Line. His ship was destroyed. And now, his most loyal officer had been broken by a simple act of kindness. Pathetic. He would wipe the slate clean.
"Enough of this farce," he declared. He raised his arm, his shoulder plate clicking open. "Prepare for the MH5."
A new wave of terror, far greater than before, washed over everyone present. The Krieg Pirates, who had faced down cannons and swords without flinching, now scrambled in pure, primal fear, fumbling in their pouches for their gas masks.
"Gin," Krieg said, his voice once again a chillingly calm command. "As punishment for your insubordination, you are hereby demoted from your position as Battle Commander."
He looked down at the kneeling man.
"Throw away your mask."
The order was so cruel, so absolute, that even the battle-hardened pirates under his command gasped in horror. They couldn't believe it. Gin was the most loyal of them all. They remembered the time they had been cornered by Lieutenant Fullbody's fleet; it was Gin who had gone alone onto the Marine ships, masquerading as Captain Krieg himself, creating a diversion that allowed the entire crew to escape. He had always been the first to charge, the last to retreat. He had sacrificed himself for his captain and his crew a hundred times over. People called him the "Man-Demon" because he would do anything, endure anything, to win for Don Krieg.
And now, that same captain was ordering him to die.
"NO!" Luffy, seeing the situation unfold, tried to intervene. He charged at Krieg, but the pirate admiral simply swatted him away with his armored gauntlet. Luffy then turned his attention to Gin.
"Don't do it!" he yelled. "Don't listen to him! I'll save you from him!"
But Gin's loyalty was a chain forged over years of blood and battle. It was too strong to break. He still believed in his commander. He looked at Krieg, his eyes filled with a tragic, unwavering devotion.
"As you command… Captain."
With a trembling hand, Gin took his own gas mask and threw it into the churning sea.
Krieg smiled, a truly demonic expression. He aimed his cannon.
And fired.
The MH5 projectile sailed through the air and exploded in a sickening hiss, releasing a thick, sickly, yellow-green cloud of poison gas.
The world devolved into a desperate scramble for survival.
"DIVE!" Zeff roared, and the Baratie cooks leaped overboard, plunging into the relative safety of the water.
The Krieg Pirates frantically affixed their own masks, their muffled breaths the only sound in the growing cloud of death.
Luffy moved in a blur. He stretched his arms out, snatching two masks directly from the faces of a pair of surprised Krieg pirates. He then zipped across the deck, forcing one mask onto the face of the still-dazed Sanji, and the other onto the kneeling, resigned Gin.
"Put it on!" he commanded.
He looked around for a mask for himself, but there were none left. The gas was closing in, the acrid smell already burning his nostrils. Panic began to set in.
Then he saw it. A single mask, lying on the deck. He didn't know where it came from. He didn't care. He scrambled for it, grabbing it and strapping it to his face just as the yellow cloud washed over him, obscuring everything from view.
For five, long, agonizing minutes, the world was a silent, yellow hell.
Then, slowly, the gas began to dissipate.
The Baratie cooks resurfaced, coughing and gasping for air. The Krieg pirates stood amidst the eerie silence.
Luffy took off his mask, breathing in the clean, salty air with a gasp of relief. He looked over at Sanji, who was also removing his mask, looking shaken but alive.
Then he looked at Gin.
The Man-Demon was on the ground, his body convulsing violently. Black, poisonous blood was pouring from his mouth, his nose, his eyes. His own gas mask, the one Luffy had given him, lay on the deck a few feet away, completely unused.
Luffy froze. He looked from the dying Gin to the mask in his own hand.
And the horrifying, selfless truth hit him with the force of a physical blow.
The mask he had "found"… was the one he had given to Gin.
Gin had only pretended to put it on. He had deliberately left it on the deck for Luffy to find, saving the boy who had tried to save him, repaying his debt to Sanji with his own life.
Luffy stared at the mask in his hand, the symbol of a pirate's final, tragic act of kindness, and felt a profound, helpless sorrow.