The sickly, yellow-green cloud of MH5 poison gas finally dissipated, carried away by the sea breeze, revealing a scene of quiet devastation. The Krieg pirates who had worn their masks were standing, shaken. The Baratie cooks were resurfacing, gasping for air.
And Gin, the Man-Demon, was dying.
He lay on the deck, his body convulsing violently, black, poisonous blood pouring from his mouth, his nose, and his eyes. His sacrifice had saved Sanji and Luffy, but it had cost him his life.
Don Krieg looked down at the pathetic, writhing form of his most loyal commander with utter contempt. "He disobeyed a direct order. A piece of garbage that has outlived its usefulness is best disposed of by its master's own hand. He should be grateful for such an honor."
The sheer, monstrous callousness of the statement enraged Sanji, but Luffy's anger was a cold, silent fire.
"Sanji!" Patty and Carne's voices cut through the air as they emerged from the restaurant.
Sanji's head snapped towards them, his eyes wide with a desperate urgency. "The antidote! Does the Baratie have any kind of universal antitoxin?! Anything?!"
The two cooks hesitated, looking at the dying enemy pirate. "But… he's one of them…"
"HE'S A HUNGRY MAN WHO'S DYING!" Sanji roared, his voice cracking with a pain that went deeper than his own wounds. "HELP HIM!"
Before they could argue, Zeff's voice boomed from the restaurant's main deck, calm and commanding. "Stop wasting time! There's antitoxin residue in the mask's filter! Put a mask back on him, now! Then get him to the upper deck where the air is clearest. It's his only chance!"
Patty and Carne stared, amazed by the old man's sudden, precise medical knowledge. Sanji's voice snapped them out of their stupor. "DIDN'T YOU HEAR HIM?! GO!" They rushed to help, carefully lifting Gin's convulsing body.
As they began to carry him away, Luffy yelled after him, his voice filled with a raw, furious energy. "HEY! YOU HEAR ME?! YOU CAN'T DIE! YOU HAVE TO LIVE! YOU HAVE TO SURVIVE JUST TO SPITE THAT BASTARD!"
Krieg just laughed. "He has an hour left to live, at most. A generous amount of time for you to contemplate your own demise."
"I'll beat you before that hour is up," Luffy promised, his voice a low growl.
Gin, being carried away, could only whisper, "You can't… Straw Hat… you can't beat him…"
Sanji, seeing Luffy tense up for a charge, stepped in front of him. "Luffy, don't! He's a walking arsenal! You'll be killed!"
Luffy simply brushed his hand away, his gaze never leaving Krieg. His eyes were burning with an unshakeable resolve.
"I won't die," he said.
And then he charged.
He ran headlong into the fray, a reckless, fearless force of nature, fearing no bullets, no stakes, no tricks. Sanji could only watch, a sense of awe overriding his concern. Krieg just smirked at what he perceived to be reckless foolishness.
"Come then, monkey!" Krieg roared, welcoming the charge. He aimed his shoulder cannons not at Luffy, but at the floating platform in front of him. "Welcome to your grave!"
BOOM!
A massive explosion ripped through the wooden planks, erupting in a towering wall of seawater and mist, completely obscuring the battlefield. Krieg then fired another volley, this time of sharp, iron stakes, directly into the water screen.
Sanji heard the sickening thump-thump-thump of the stakes hitting their target. 'He's been hit!'
Krieg laughed, intrigued. "He'd rather die than retreat? What a fool."
But then, a figure emerged from the mist. It was Luffy. He was walking, not running, a grim and terrible determination on his face. Two iron stakes were embedded deep in his side and his left shoulder, blood trickling from the wounds. But he was undeterred. He hadn't even slowed down.
He used Krieg's tactic against him. Hidden by the remaining mist, he flipped forward, using an outstretched leg to crash into the surface of the water. He then stretched his arm far back, preparing a punch that would cut through the watery curtain.
Krieg saw the blur of the arm stretching back. 'He's determined to land a hit, no matter the cost.' Thinking fast, he implemented his ultimate defense. With a series of clicks, his heavy cape unfurled, revealing its inner lining: a dense field of massive, razor-sharp spikes. The Porcupine Cape.
"You cannot touch me now!" Krieg gloated.
Luffy's fist shot forward. He didn't stop. He didn't hesitate. He punched right through the wall of spikes.
The sound was a sickening mixture of a crunch and a thud. Luffy's rubbery fist was pierced and torn by the spikes, but his momentum and sheer willpower were so immense that he forced it through. His bloody fist connected squarely with Don Krieg's jaw.
For the first time in the fight, the Pirate Fleet Admiral was sent sprawling to the ground.
Luffy stood over him, panting. He calmly reached up, gripped the stake in his shoulder, and pulled it out with a grunt of pain, tossing it aside.
"So," he asked, his voice low and steady. "Is this my grave, or yours?"
He looked at the stunned Krieg. "You have all these sneaky weapons… bombs and poison and spikes. I don't have anything like that. But I'm still standing."
He clenched his bleeding fist. "And I'm not going to die here."
Sanji watched, completely speechless. "That guy… is insane."
"No," Zeff's voice came from the deck beside him. "Watch him, Sanji. Watch him fight."
On the upper deck, Patty and Carne were tending to the convulsing Gin. They had placed a mask on his face. "Now what?!" Patty asked.
"How should I know?!" Carne shot back. "Maybe we should make him some food?"
"Are you an idiot?! He's already been poisoned once today!"
Their argument was interrupted by a violent cough from Gin. He was still alive.
"It's not often," Zeff said quietly to Sanji, his eyes still fixed on the battle below, "that you meet a man like that. A man who, once he has his eyes set on a goal, will never, ever quit. No matter the odds, no matter the pain. Regardless of whether he wins or loses this fight… that's the kind of man I respect."
Sanji looked at Luffy, then back at Zeff, and the old man's words began to resonate deep within him.
The Krieg pirates were getting nervous. The Baratie chefs, however, won over by Luffy's impossible spirit, began to cheer. "GO, STRAW HAT! KICK HIS ASS!"
Enraged by the cheers for his enemy, Krieg leaped to his feet. He threw a furious punch, catching Luffy on the shoulder guard. As Luffy staggered, Krieg smirked and fired the cannon built into his gauntlet at point-blank range.
But he had paid for his miscalculation. Luffy, anticipating a trick, had already dodged before the blast even fired. He used the opening, hooking his rubbery foot around the back of Krieg's neck and pulling with all his might, bringing the armored tyrant crashing down to the deck for a second time.