Everything went into slow motion as the gas bomb approached the Baratie. During those few seconds, you witnessed Ghin throw the mask given to him by Luffy back at the rubber boy and is now forcefully holding down the second mask onto Sanji's face.
That dumbass!! He's willing to give up his own life for that pathetic excuse of the captain who is ready to kill his loyal crewmate without a heartbeat!!
You got ready as the bomb made contact with the restaurant with a thick cloud of purple smoke gas begins to spread throughout the vicinity. You have to be quick to pull this off. You exhaled all the air out of you before you could inhale deeply, sucking up all the poison into your mouth.
Once all the gas is cleared, you panted for air as you sucked it all in one breath. The poison turned out to be a weak one so it's good that it's not lethal. As you panted, you smirked at Kreig's shock and unhappiness at his most deadly weapon being rendered useless.
"Pant . . .pant . . .Surprise?? You should be"
"My MH-5 gas!! What did you do with it?!"
You covered your mouth and let out a big burp. "I ate it. What do you think I did??" you said nonchalantly.
Everyone looked at you in shock with their eyes bursting out of their sockets. "YOU DID WHAT?!"
"What?? I can eat it even in liquid or solid form. Plus my blood is poisonous if you think about it. Anyways, that aside. Be glad I didn't kill you from the start. A fast death would be too easy for someone like you. I should have done so 8 years ago if it weren't for one of your crew who asked me to spare his life in exchange for the map of the Grand Line" you snickered.
A look of realisation is written on Don Kreig's face. "No, don't tell me it was . . ."
You laughed. "That's right. I was the thief who stole the map of the Grand Line 8 years ago and now we meet again. What a sad twist of fate you have. I could have killed you on the spot right here . . .right now" your face darkened and Kreig pirates shivered in their spines in fear.
"One of your crew, who never asked anything of you probably his entire time working under you, decided to grow a fucking backbone and go against you for once. You'd go as far as to kill the most loyal man on your crew. You don't deserve a man like Ghin. He would've been better off with another crew" you snarled.
"Oh?! Then what crew would possibly take him in now??"
"The Straw hats would!!"
Ghin is shocked at your declaration.
"I may not have known the crew for very long but I can tell that they'll be able to achieve something big. Big enough that will shake the whole pirate world!!" you grinned.
"You'd want a snivelling, lowlife who came out of the gutter??"
"At least he had more honour than a bastard like you. He would've been under the effects of the poison if I didn't do anything and you would laugh at him like he was dirt"
"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 gave a disgusting smirk.
You furrowed your eyebrows in disgust. Calm down, you've seen way worse than this . . .
"Ghin"
The man in question looked at your back with a dark glare still being directed at his now former captain. "Even after everything that's happened, do you still want to follow that man??"
"I . . .I don't know anymore. Don Kreig is the strongest man in East Blue. I looked up to him for that"
"It doesn't have to be physical wise, Ghin. I sailed the Grand Line for 8 years and survived, not because of my strength or the size of the bounty the Marines put on my head before I became a Warlord, it's because of the people I met and the kids of these brats. Without support, how will you survive??" you looked down over your shoulder with a smile.
He held back the tears in his eyes. "Why?? Why do you insist on continuing to save me?? I don't deserve your kindness" he asked.
"Your actions from when we first met 8 years ago say otherwise. Even now, you're still a great man and you can be an even greater pirate, Ghin. I just can't believe that a great man like you is on that bastard's crew" you grinned then turned serious. "But one thing is 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!!" Kreig laughed.
"Scum?!" Sanji exclaimed.
"That's right!! Anyone who loses focus and betrays my ship is worthless to me. They'll most certainly do it again. Putting him out of his misery would have been an act of mercy to keep him from dishonouring himself in the future and endangering my crew"
You shift to your shark form and coiled your tail around Ghin, keeping him in place.
"What the hell?! What's going on, (First Name)?!" he demanded.
Without looking at him, you replied, "Ghin, I want you to observe what's about to happen next. That rubber boy is about to reveal to you that Don Kreig is not the person you think he is"
Ghin's struggle ceased and has now relaxed in your tail grip, completely focusing his gaze on what's going to happen in front of him.
"It's no use, woman. He's going to die along with everyone else here within an hour and you are going to be a Kreig 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 your filthy hands on her!!" Luffy rebuffed.
"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 shouted.
Luffy charged in after Kreig. "Don't!!" Sanji tried to reason with him but Luffy is already on his way across the broken mast.
"Dumb kid, when you lose your patience, you become easy prey" Kreig smirked.
____________________________________________________
Silence is in the air as everyone is soaked in what had happened.
"Don Kreig is down!!" a Kreig Pirate yelled. "That punk got him!!"
"What is that kid anyway??"
"He punched him right through the spikes!!"
"That's messed up"
"I've never seen him get hit in any fight, EVER!!"
"He busted right through that porcupine cape and smashed him right in the face!!"
"I . . .I can't believe it!!"
Luffy pauses a fight to remove the stakes that struck him. "So, is this my funeral or yours?? You can't kill me with little spikes!! My funeral will take more than this!! You have to do better than that to defeat me . . .because I don't think it's time for me to die just yet" he finished off with a grin.
"I know one thing . . ." you heard Sanji speak up. ". . .he's nuts"
"No way . . .Don Kreig was hit and has been knocked out" Ghin breathed.
You squinted your vision to see that Kreig suddenly regained consciousness and stood up. He rammed his shield into Luffy and fired a projectile, telling him to go to hell. But Luffy managed to dodge it as he leapt overhead.
"YOU FIRST!!" Luffy counters by latching his foot against Kreig's shoulder and pulling him off his feet and landing on his back.
The onlookers shrieked in disbelief as Don Kreig is knocked down once more. The Kreig pirates started to wonder whether their captain is invincible and question just what Luffy is. The chefs began to cheer for Luffy but it seems that piece of shit doesn't look to be down just yet.
"SHUT UP, MAGGOTS!! NEVER DOUBT ME!!" he takes his other shoulder plate and pressed it together with the first one. A staff is extended from the bottom half and the spear tip erects from the other end. Kreig brought down the weapon to strike Luffy. It missed but the terrifying thing was that when the spear tip made contact with the piece of galleon debris the two are standing on caused an explosion.
"What was that??" Sanji questioned in disbelief at what he just saw.
"It seems to be the spear is designed to explode when comes in contact with something and cause more damage which shows how fucking desperate he is" you observed.
"Finally!! He's gonna stop messing around and step up his game!!"
"The Mighty Battle Spear"
You facepalmed as you groaned. "At least give it a better, original name"
You watched the battle calmly as Luffy started to lose more blood and got exploded from the spear after sending him midair. As Luffy stands, Kreig began to mock him and Sanji is now more worried that Luffy won't be able to take any more hits and still won't be able to get back up. Zeff and you thought otherwise.
"You're wrong about that," you said without a doubt.
While the fight is still ongoing, you turned to Zeff. "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 said.
"What are you talking about??" Sanji questioned.
"That kid out there . . ." Zeff continued.
You heard another explosion but you still listen.
". . .when he's fighting, he's not afraid of anything . . .Not even death. The same goes for (First Name)"
Then goes the fourth one.
"Is it just instinct or all a plan?? We'll know soon if he lives"
"What plan??" Sanji wondered. "Killing himself??"
Luffy still got back up and Kreig looks ready to pop a vein on his forehead because of the rubber boy's unwavering will to keep on fighting. You smirked at this as you said, "Well, at least I know one thing from this battle. It's that you gonna need a lot of willpower to beat this monkey"
Zeff scoffed. "Can't say I don't agree"
The chefs roared in encouragement.
Kreig goes in for another attack, bringing about yet another explosion.
While Zeff is talking to Sanji, you went to full focus on the ongoing battle that will end soon. You were grinning from ear to ear that Luffy managed to take care of this faux. Then Luffy broke the spear tip as it shatters to pieces.
"What?! My Battle Spear!! What the hell did you do?!" Kreig demanded.
"I just punched it in the head five times. It looks tired, maybe it needs rest" Luffy explained while mocking at the same time with a grin. "Now it's my turn"