Krieg, that low-down asshole, finally waltzed into the Baratie, Gin practically dragging his sorry butt.
The scumbag hit the deck the second he was inside, playing the "save me!" card and begging for grub. Sanji, bless his heart, brought the guy a freakin' feast.
And wouldn't ya know it? As soon as he'd stuffed his face, Krieg blasted Sanji across the room and showed his true, ugly colors!
He demanded enough food for a hundred guys, and he wanted to steal their ship while he was at it!
Sanji, that soft-hearted chef, actually agreed to cook for Krieg's crew! In his book, feeding a hungry belly was a chef's sacred duty!
Good guy or bad guy, didn't matter.
Just like a doctor's gotta heal the sick,
Good guy or bad guy, didn't matter.
Ignis just shook his head. Stuff that couldn't happen in a million years in the real world happened every freakin' day in this place!
The pirate world, man! These One Piece folks were something else, wearing their earnest stupidity like a badge of honor, clinging to their crazy beliefs. You couldn't help but laugh... and kinda respect 'em too.
Sanji had barely finished his speech when Patty, that goofy-faced chef, snapped! He sucker-punched Sanji from behind and barked orders at the other cooks to tie him up!
The chefs went ballistic! Patty led the charge, naturally.
He whipped out his hand cannon and blasted Krieg with a point-blank shot!
"Let's see what you're really made of, ya jerk!"
KABOOM!
The restaurant filled with smoke!
But you know the rule: no smoke, no hurt! Krieg strolled outta the cloud in his shiny gold armor, not a scratch on him!
He was seeing red now! He was gonna take out his rage on these chefs!
The chefs didn't flinch! They grabbed their weapons and charged right back at Krieg!
But Ignis knew it was a lost cause. These chefs were tough, but they weren't in Krieg's league.
He sighed, and WHOOSH! Searing Charge!
Rolling lava rippled under his feet, and the ghost of a red ram blazed to life!
Four gun barrels popped outta Krieg's armor, spitting bullets like crazy! The chefs were caught in the crossfire!
WHOOSH! A wall of heat slammed into 'em, stopping 'em dead in their tracks!
Ignis was standing between 'em and the bullets, taking the full brunt of the attack!
Ping! Ping! Ping! The bullets hit Ignis and flattened like pancakes, dropping to the floor!
Ignis, who'd been dead silent until now, stood face-to-face with the scuzzy pirate.
"Sure, you got a raw deal, taking a cannon blast to the face..."
"But c'mon, man! You can't just beat up the cooks after you've had your fill, can ya?"
His voice was calm, but the icy contempt in it made Captain Krieg's blood boil!
"Who the hell are you? Gotta play hero, huh?"
The air crackled with tension! But the showdown was cut short by a voice.
"Here's the food for a hundred men! Take it and GET OUT!" The head chef, Zeff, marched over with a mountain of sacks.
Zeff had spoken! Ignis wasn't looking for trouble, so he backed off.
Krieg wasn't going anywhere, anyway. They could settle the score later.
The chefs who hadn't been shot full of holes started grilling Zeff about giving Krieg food. What if Krieg's pirates ate their fill and then trashed the place?
Captain Krieg finally noticed the restaurant owner.
"Red-Leg... Zeff?"
Krieg's words hit everyone like a thunderclap! The head chef wasn't just some cook! He was the legendary "Red-Leg" Zeff, the pirate of the high-kicking legend!
Back in the day, Red-Leg Zeff was a freakin' monster! But now? He was old, and he was missing a leg! For a guy who built his rep on his killer kicks, that was a major handicap!
Hearing Krieg rattle off Zeff's past, Sanji's face flickered with something like pain. Memories of how he'd become a chef flashed before his eyes.
Seeing Zeff looking all washed up, Krieg's nasty gears started turning again.
"Gimme your logbook!"
He was convinced that the only reason he hadn't conquered the Grand Line was that he didn't have enough info! Zeff, who'd sailed the Grand Line, must have a treasure trove of charts and secrets!
Ignis just rolled his eyes. The real problem was Krieg's crew! He'd rolled up with 5,000 goons, and they'd dropped like flies at the first sign of trouble!
In this world, only the craziest dreamers and the vilest villains had what it took to tame the sea!
Krieg was neither.
While Krieg was spouting his delusions of grandeur, Luffy finally blew a gasket!
"Hold up! I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!"
The restaurant erupted in cries of "Shut up, Luffy!" They didn't want Krieg to lose his temper!
"Hey, I'm just saying, our captain might be a rubber-brained idiot, but don't underestimate him!"
Ignis cut off the "shut up" chorus.
Watching the two of 'em face off, Zoro, who'd finally cleaned his plate, spoke up.
"Fight time?"
Usopp pretended nothing was happening. Nami was gone.
Figures. She was probably trying to sweet-talk her way back home. No need to sweat that bad egg just yet.
In the end, Krieg hauled the food back to his ship. He was still trying to figure these guys out. There was Ignis, who was clearly a powerhouse, and Luffy, who was a total wild card. He decided to let his crew chow down, then come back for round two.
After Krieg left, Gin was spitting out apologies left and right. Zeff was planning to sneak the chefs out the back to avoid a bloodbath.
But the chefs weren't running scared! They were pirates, dammit! They weren't gonna hand over their turf to some two-bit thug!
Usopp: "Let's bail!"
Usopp was a freakin' broken record! You could practically write his lines for him!
"Run from what? My hands are itching for a fight!" Ignis felt his little hammer begging for some action! Zoro was gonna get his butt kicked by Hawkeye and be out of the picture, so it looked like he'd have the field to himself tonight!
He had to hit level three tonight!
That was the key to unlocking all the early-game skills!
The rest would have to wait 'til level six.
He figured his fighting power would get a major boost at level six.
Bashing bad guys gave you experience, too! Just like last-hitting creeps in a MOBA! Ignis had clawed his way from level one to level two after joining Luffy's crew, and he'd been stuck there for a while now.
But fighting the small fry was a slow grind! He might not even keep pace with the Straw Hats' crazy growth spurt! And if this followed game logic, the higher the level, the more experience you needed!
"Where's Nami?" Luffy hadn't spotted the redhead either.
"She bolted, that's for sure! Luffy, let's get outta here! Ignis has lost his freakin' mind! There are a hundred of 'em!"
"What's there to be scared of, Usopp?" Zoro was already stropping his swords.
Just then, on the distant sea, a lone black figure drifted closer, moving without a breeze!
While they waited for the storm to break, Luffy was bugging Gin about his run-in with Krieg.
Gin closed his eyes and started telling the tale of a man... a man who'd dealt 'em a devastating blow.
The coolest freakin' man in the world, Hawkeye, was coming!