Chapter 11: Krieg's Attack and Zoro's Vow

Here we go, another chapter amidst the chaos that my life has become with the approach of finals. I feel like this and concert band are the only things I enjoy now that my workload is through the roof. Anyway...

Chapter 11:

Krieg's Attack and Zoro's Vow

The Straw Hats stayed docked at the Baratié for six more days, Luffy pestering Sanji to join his crew the whole time. Zoro and Coby used that time to train. The older man would push the younger far past the breaking point each day, but it had noticeable results. By their third day on the Baratié, Coby was able to lift two bokken at once and he could use them on the fourth. He'd also taken to wearing them strapped across his back in an X shape so there was one handle over each shoulder.

Nice weather became prominent in the area, so Zoro had them training outside on the decks. The customers, most of them anyway, enjoyed watching the boy run laps to increase his speed and stamina in the mornings. In the afternoons, Zeff would raise the ship's extra platform from below the sea so Coby and Zoro could spar and give the customers a show, the former with both wooden swords and the latter with only a sheathed Wado Ichimonji. After dinner, they would go into the dojo on the Going Merry and lift weights until Coby couldn't move. Zoro would then take him to the men's quarters before going back to training. By the sixth day, Coby had lost most of his extra weight and would probably be able to hold his own in a fight. Don Krieg arrived in the seventh day.

Zoro smirked at his student, the young rosette scowling as he tried in vain to overpower the man's block with his own double overhead swing. With little effort, Zoro pushed up and dislodged Coby, causing the boy to stumble backwards and lose his balance as well as his weapons. Almost casually, Zoro strode forward and tapped his sheathed weapon on the boy's neck.

"Dead."

"For the fifth time," Coby grumbled, reaching over to grab his bokken.

"Hey, look at I this way. It took me almost two minutes to overpower you that time."

"It's still not enough," Coby whined, securing his wooden weapons on his back. "I won't be of any use to Captain Luffy until I'm strong enough to beat anyone who threatens our crew. At this level, I'm nothing but a reliability."

"I wouldn't say that," Zoro replied as they stepped into the restaurant. "I bet you would be able to take down any of those pirates from Usopp's island one on one at your level."

"Really?" Zoro only smirked in response as they reached the table with the rest of their crew. Sanji danced away with a dopey grin on his face, leaving a giant sundae in front of their only female crewmember. Nami shook her head, taking only a single bite from the ice cream before pushing it toward Luffy and /Usopp, the former of who swallow the rest in one gulp.

I'm going to go change," Nami announced, standing. She ignored the mired of sounds her crew responded with and left the establishment.

"So what now?" Usopp asked, somewhat sour at not getting any of the ice cream Luffy had snatched from under his long nose. "It's getting really boring here."

"You could train with us," Zoro suggested with an evil smile, the sniper paling at the idea.

"I'm getting close to breaking Sanji," Luffy said. "I can feel it."

"Krieg!" a patron yelled, standing so quickly that his chair toppled. "Don Krieg is here!" The customers panicked and fled. Looking out the window, a great shape in the fog grew closer a ragged ship tapped the seafaring restaurant. A moment later, the front door flew open. At the entrance stood Gin once more, this time with a large man slung over his side.

"Please," the man begged. "Help him. Please!"

"Yeah right!" Patty laughed. "This is a golden chance! Someone call the Marines right now!"

"No!" Gin cried. "If it's money you want, we can pay this time! Just help him!"

"Like we'd help a man like Don Krieg," Carne scoffed. "The world would be better off without him!"

"I promise I won't attack the restaurant," the man, who Luffy suspected was Krieg, vowed. "Just give me food." Don Krieg was an older man with short, gray hair, long sideburns, and a square face that was ragged and gaunt from hunger. His dress involved golden, fur-lined armor with his jolly roger on each shoulder covered by the jacket he was using as a cape. Under his chest plate was a gray shirt and dark pants hung on his waist. Bandages were wrapped around his head and various parts of his body. Pulling his arm back from his subordinate, Krieg threw himself on the ground and bowed.

"Don, no!" Gin cried. "This is unbecoming of you."

Patty laughed. "Haha-urk!" With a sudden jolt, the large chef was thrown to the side. Sanji walked through the space Patty had previously occupied, a plate of food coming to rest in front of the sickly villain. The older man forwent table manners and dug in with his hands, Gin thanking the chef profusely.

"What's so special about this guy?" Luffy wondered aloud.

"You don't know?!" Coby all but yelled. "'Admiral' Dog Krieg is a man wanted for 17 million Beris by the World Government for unspeakable acts! He got his start as a piratr by enlisting in the Navy before killing his commander and stealing his ship! Since then, he's used every dirty trick in the book to win including using Marine flags to inter cities before killing everyone there!"

Luffy was appalled. He truly hated people like that, but the situation only truly escalated when Krieg, after finishing his meal, attacked Sanji. Gin could only watch as his captain struck the man who had saved them both.

"Don Krieg!" Gin shouted. "Why did you do that?! He saved our lives! I only brought you here because you'd promised not to attack!

"Yes," he'd responded. "The food was delicious." The customers fled in terror, leaving only the chefs and workers left. "This is a pretty nice ship. I think I'll take it."

"Don Krieg!" Gin cried. "Please!" Krieg ignored him. "Sanji, I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean for th-this to happen."

"I have about a hundred men on my ship," Krieg continued, ignoring his subordinate, "all weak with hunger. Feed them and leave, and I'll leave you alive." Sanji turned and started walking away.

"Sanji?" Patty asked. "Where are you going?"

"To the kitchen. I have a hundred meals to make."

"WHAT?!" Sanji was stopped by all the cooks. Patty took it a step further, beating Sanji into the ground.

"I don't care who was right and wrong all those times you fed the scumbags I'd thrown out of here, but this time you're just wrong." He walked over to one wall that he slid open to reveal a hidden compartment. Out of it, he pulled a lobster-shaped cannon. "I hope you saved room for dessert, cause here's the Meatball of Doom!" He shot a cannonball at Krieg who took the shot head-on. "Oops," Patty laughed. "Looks like I broke the doors."

The smoke cleared as the cooks laughed, revealing Krieg without a scratch. The pirate responded by activating his armor's weapons and opened fire on the cooks. Many of them only went down with minor injuries, others not so much. Zeff entered the scene, a large sack over his shoulder like a one-legged Santa. He dropped it in front of the notorious pirate.

"Here," he said. "That's about a hundred meals."

"HEAD CHEF ZEFF!" the cooks cried. Krieg seemed to recognize the name because his eyes widened.

"You're Red Foot Zeff," he gasped in reverence. "The unrivalled captain who was also the ship's cook. They say you got your name because you only used your feet in battle and they were always covered in the blood of your enemies. So you are alive."

"I am," Zeff nodded. I lose a leg, but I can still cook."

"Give me your logbook," Krieg demanded. "The Grand Line may have bested me once, but with your logbook, I would be unstoppable! I'd become the King of the Pirates!"

"No way!" Luffy yelled. "I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!"

"Shut up, Captain Luffy!" Coby shouted in worry. "He'll kill you!"

"Brat," Krieg growled, "I don't have time to deal with you right now. After I feed my men, I'll finish you off." The Admiral carried the food out of the broken doors and onto his flagship. Gin stayed behind, crying from his inner turmoil. Should he follow his captain, the man he respected the most and had listened to for years, or turn his back on Krieg because of his blatant betrayal of the man who had saved their lives?

"I'm so sorry," he cried.

"Don't apologize, Gin," Sanji told him. "Once they're fed, I have no obligation toward them. I'll kill any man who attacks this restaurant as long as they have food in their stomachs."

"Please," Gin begged. "Please leave. I don't want to see you die."

"We don't care. This restaurant is our livelihood and the old man's dream. We won't abandon it until we're dead."

"Hey, Gin," Luffy interrupted. "I thought you said you didn't know anything about the Grand Line.

"I don't know anything anymore. Our entire fleet was wiped out in only seven days! All by one man. I can still feel his murderous gaze like the cold hand of death. His eyes were like a hawk's."

Zoro and Coby tensed. "Hawk-eye Mihawk," the older of the two muttered.

"You know him, Zoro?" Luffy asked.

"How could you not know him, Luffy?" Coby questioned. "He's the world's greatest swordsman and one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea!"

"Huh. Neat."

"I'm sorry," Gin cried as the cooks prepared for war. "I'm so sorry."

Krieg's ship was in tatters, masts leaning, sail's torn, planks broken. It was a miracle that the ship was even together, much less sea-worthy. That didn't change how surprising it was when it began sinking.

Two cuts. That's all he needed. The flagship was cut into three pieces, some of the men unable to save themselves from drowning. The majority of them managed to hang on to debris or swim to the platform Zeff had left up from Zoro and Coby's training.

Hawk-eye Mihawk had come on a small, coffin-shaped raft with giant candles burning green fire. He was dressed in a red musketeer outfit complete with a white feather. On his back was a grand sword with a gold handle encrusted with various jewels. Around his neck was a pain gold cross. He had a small moustache and goatee and his eyes were yellow and cold.

Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, and Coby had rushed outside, worried about the Going Merry due to all the massive waves caused by the sinking ship. When they got outside, they found Johnny and Yosaku swimming to the deck and the Merry nowhere to be found.

"Big Bro Zoro! Big Bro Luffy! Big Bro Usopp! Little Bro Coby! Big Sis Nami took the ship and left!" They explained that she'd pushed them off before saying that they would see each other again if it was meant to be. Luffy ordered them to follow her, but plans changed when Zoro caught sight of Mihawk.

"Why are you doing this?" the Krieg Pirates shouted at the man on the raft.

"Just killing time," he replied nonchalantly.

Zoro approached the man from the slowly sinking ship, tying his bandana around his head. "You are Hawk-eye Mihawk, are you not? My name is Roranoa Zoro and I challenge you to a duel."

"Holy shit!" a pirate cursed. "Three swords!"

"Roranoa Zoro!" another gasped, the group at large backing away slowly. "He's the Demon Butcher of the East Blue!" Mihawk calmly made his way onto the ship before pulling off his necklace. He opened it to reveal a blade no bigger than a butter knife.

"So you are well-known around these parts," the swordsman observed. "Still, this is the most peaceful of the Four Seas. One shouldn't use a cannonball to kill a fly, but it still feels like I'm shooting a gnat. I'm sorry; I don't have anything smaller than this." The Warlord said this without any mocking tone. Zoro was insulted anyway.

"Demon Slash!" He pulled his swords out and charged, but the man held him back with ease. Zoro pulled back and dove forward, attacking with everything he had.

"Tell me," Mihawk said without emotion, countering effortlessly. "What drives you forward? Why do you fight?"

Zoro stopped his assault to reply, backing away to put distance between the combatants. "I fight for my dream and my ambition," he answered. "I will be the world's greatest swordsman, and to do that I must defeat you. Tiger Trap!" Zoro attacked again, but his swords never connected. He continued to swig, his attacks becoming more frenzied as the time drug on. Mihawk's eyes stayed on the green-haired man as he began to sweat. Finally, Zoro overextended, the warlord's small knife stabbing Zoro just over his heart, piercing his left lung.

"You aren't stepping back," Mihawk observed as blood dripped from the wound. "Why not?"

"I don't know," the younger pirate coughed, "but I can't step back. If I retreat even a single step, I'd be turning my back on all the promises I've made."

"I like your determination. State your name."

"I am Roranoa Zoro."

"I will remember your name, Roranoa Zoro," Mihawk stated, pulling his knife out of the pirate. "You have a strong heart, so I'll fight you with the world's strongest Black Blade."

"I'm honored." Zoro began spinning his swords. "Three Sword Style Secret Technique: 3000 Worlds!" The two attacked, stopping behind each other. The two swords Zoro held in his hands shattered and blood spurted from a new wound in his chest. Disappointed but content, Zoro removed Wado Ichimonji from his mouth, sheathed it, and coughed red before turning to face his adversary and raising his arms.

"Why do you not run? It is obvious you are beaten."

"Scars on the back are a swordsman's shame."

"Very well." Hawk-eye smirked, liking the phrase, and brought his sword down across the green-haired man's chest. Zoro fell into the ocean with another spurt of blood.

"BIG BRO ZORO/ZORO-SENSEI/ZORO!" The bounty hunters and Zoro's student dove into the water after him and carried him back to the ship Johnny and Yosaku had arrived in.

"You bastard!" Luffy shouted, but before he could attack, Mihawk spoke.

"He will not die. It has been a long time since I have found a worthy opponent. My name is Dracule Mihawk! Become stronger, Roranoa Zoro, and seek me out! We will have a proper duel then."

Zoro raised his now-single sword. "Luffy," he wheezed for all to hear. "I'm sorry. I've failed you. From this moment on, I will never lose again. Not until I am the strongest. Is that alright, King of the Pirates?!"

End of Chapter 11

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-SwordOfTheGods