The fight was about to explode into full violence. But the rest of the crew held back, weapons ready but not moving to interfere.
This was the captain's fight, after all.
It became clear immediately that Krieg had no intention of fighting with any honor or dignity. The moment he realized Luffy was a Devil Fruit user, he barked orders at his subordinate.
"Gin! Grab the rubber boy and throw him into the sea!"
He wasn't unleashing his full firepower for one simple reason, he didn't want to damage this ocean-going restaurant. A ship this well-built would make an excellent flagship for his fleet.
Gin, whose ribs were still cracked from Krieg's earlier "discipline," winced in pain when he heard the command. But despite the agony shooting through his chest, he stood up.
"Hey! Gin! You don't have to listen to him! He's the same guy who beats up people who give him food!" Luffy shouted angrily, launching himself forward again.
But fighting inside the restaurant was limiting his options. He couldn't use his usual stretching-and-rebounding tactics to build up momentum for his attacks. And Krieg's armor was proving too tough for Luffy's basic punches to penetrate.
Before Gin could make his move, Marcus had already stepped forward, blocking his path.
"Right now this is a captain-versus-captain duel. Interference isn't allowed," he said with a smile.
He knew all too well what kind of person Gin was, loyal to a fault, even when that loyalty was undeserved. If Krieg ordered him to take his own life, Gin would obey without hesitation. And if Krieg were the one to die, hell, he'd probably still carry his captain's body away to give it a proper burial.
When Marcus had first saw Gin, he'd actually admired that kind of loyalty. But facing it in person was a completely different story.
Blocked from his goal, Gin's eyes flickered. But the hesitation lasted only a moment before his gaze hardened.
On the surface, he seemed to give up, even letting out what appeared to be a sigh of relief. But in the next instant, he suddenly shifted sideways, accelerating toward the ongoing battle between Luffy and Krieg.
Unfortunately for him, Marcus had already predicted exactly this move.
The moment Gin broke into his sprint, he crashed headfirst into a wooden wall that definitely hadn't been there a second before. And since he'd thrown everything into that charge, he had no way to stop himself or cushion the impact.
THUD!
"Nice headbutt," Marcus muttered, shaking his head as he watched Gin slump to the floor, completely unconscious.
Seeing this, Zoro relaxed and slid his partially drawn sword back into its sheath.
Krieg naturally witnessed the whole scene, and his face darkened.
"Useless piece of trash!" he snarled, then turned his full attention back to Luffy. Taking one of the rubber boy's punches directly to his chest, he swung a counterpunch that sent Luffy flying across the restaurant.
Afterward, he removed a piece of armor plating from his shoulder and attached it to his wrist.
"Luffy, he's about to throw a poison gas bomb," Marcus warned, then fell silent again. Poison meant absolutely nothing to him.
Being called out didn't seem to bother Krieg in the slightest. His use of poison gas bombs was hardly a secret in the East Blue, everyone knew he fought dirty.
"Let's see if you can bounce this one back!"
With that taunt, he hurled the poison gas bomb directly at Luffy's feet.
He pulled the trigger while simultaneously putting on a gas mask.
BOOM!
A massive cloud of toxic green gas exploded outward from the point of impact.
In an instant, everyone in the restaurant panicked. Customers and staff alike tried desperately to flee, but there simply wasn't enough time. The gas was expanding too fast, and the exits were too far away.
It all happened far too quickly for any normal person to react.
The poison spread everywhere, filling the air with a sickly sweet smell... But in the very next moment, all the poison gas suddenly reversed direction, flowing in a single stream toward one specific point.
Luffy was inhaling it all into his stomach, his cheeks puffing out like a balloon as he sucked in every last wisp of the toxic cloud.
His entire body turned a sickly blue-purple color.
This scene left not only the people inside the restaurant speechless, but even Krieg himself staring in disbelief.
If Luffy had just held his breath and smashed through a window to escape, Krieg wouldn't have been surprised. The poison worked through the respiratory system, so holding your breath and breaking out made sense.
Krieg had even prepared to spray him with bullets the moment he tried to flee in panic.
But this? Deliberately poisoning himself to save a bunch of strangers?
What kind of self-sacrificing lunatic was this supposed to be?
He couldn't understand it, but that didn't stop him from throwing back his head and laughing out loud.
He'd thought this straw hat kid would be a troublesome opponent, but it turned out he was just another bleeding-heart fool.
Sanji immediately threw open the nearest window. "Luffy! Spit it out here! Patty, Carne, find the antidote on their ship, hurry!"
Luffy stumbled over to the window and spewed out all the poison. But at the same moment he finished purging the gas, blood began streaming from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
"You idiot! Didn't you say you wanted to be the Pirate King? If you die, how are you supposed to achieve that?!" Sanji shouted, shaken by what he'd just witnessed.
The cook's emotions were in turmoil. He'd never held much prejudice against pirates. Many of the people aboard this restaurant were former pirates themselves, and he was willing to help them regardless of their past, after all, in this harsh world, countless people became pirates simply because they had no other way to survive.
When he'd learned that Luffy wasn't the kind of pirate who lived by pillaging and terrorizing innocent people, but rather an adventurer chasing a dream, Sanji had even shared his own aspiration as a cook, finding the legendary All Blue.
But he'd never imagined this rubber boy would be willing to sacrifice his own life for the sake of complete strangers.
After expelling every last bit of poison from his stomach, Luffy wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
He glared at Krieg, showing not a trace of fear or regret despite the poison ravaging his body.
At that moment, Marcus walked up beside him, holding out a simple glass of milk.
Without hesitation, Luffy grabbed it and drank it down in one gulp.
In just the blink of an eye, the sickly blue-purple hue faded from his face and he straightened up.
Both Sanji and Krieg just stared.
What the hell? He was cured... just like that?!
"Hey! I might have to wreck your restaurant a little bit!" Luffy called out, then whipped both arms back behind him.
"Gum-Gum Rocket!"
His rubber rocket punch smashed straight into Krieg's stomach. The supposedly impenetrable wootz steel armor shattered like glass.
Krieg's entire body was launched through the air like a missile, crashing through the restaurant's wall and flying toward the ocean.
By sheer coincidence, his trajectory took him directly over a small boat that was floating nearby.
Instead of plunging into the sea, Krieg's body was casually swatted aside by the swordsman aboard that boat, sent crashing back onto his own massive pirate ship.
---
Inside the restaurant, cheers and applause erupted from every corner.
The customers and staff celebrated Luffy's victory. Many of them were openly weeping with relief, if he hadn't absorbed that poison gas, every last one of them would have died horribly. The thought of such a fate was almost too unbearable.
Luffy, however, looked uncomfortable with all the cheering and praise being directed his way.
Sanji noticed right away. "What's wrong?"
Luffy pulled his straw hat down onto his head, then flashed his trademark grin.
"Sanji! Join my crew!"
"Huh? How did the conversation suddenly jump to that?" Sanji muttered, completely unable to follow Luffy's thought process. Still, he didn't want to ruin the moment, so he replied, "Well... maybe... just wait a—"
Before he could finish his sentence, a huge crash resounded from outside the restaurant, shaking the entire structure.
Everyone turned toward the source of the noise in alarm.
There, pressed against the hull of Krieg's massive battleship, they could see Zoro.
"What the hell?!"
What was happening out there?!
"Don't tell me... is that Dracule Mihawk?!" one of the restaurant patrons shouted, his jaw dropping.
Thanks to that cry, the rest of the crowd quickly realized what they were looking at.
"The World's Strongest Swordsman!"