Chapter 36: The Plague and the Prince
The screen flickered, the desolate, open rooftop replaced by the chaotic, neon-lit interior of the Performance Floor. The sound of explosions above was muffled, replaced by a rhythmic, metallic thumping—the sound of a massive, cybernetic beast dancing.
The Scene: The 1.32 Billion Berry Disaster
Sanji was shown crashing through the ceiling, slamming into a pile of rubble. He looked like hell. His suit was gone, his torso was a map of burns and bruises, and he was gasping for air. But before he could even stand, a shadow loomed over him.
Queen the Plague, in his massive cyborg-brachiosaurus form, was doing a victory dance.
"FUNK! YOU'RE STILL ALIVE, JUDGE'S SON?!" Queen's voice boomed, his mechanical eye spinning. "To survive the rooftop and come down here just to be stepped on by me... you really are a failure!"
Sanji spat out a mouthful of blood and forced himself up. His left leg was twitching, the blue sparks of Ifrit Jambe now replaced by a dull, flickering red. "Stop... calling me by that name. And stop the damn music. It's tacky."
The Global Chat: The Heavyweights
The world held its breath. They had just seen Sanji face gods; now he was facing a monster of science that mirrored his own unwanted heritage.
> [Marco]: "Queen... that bastard. He's a walking laboratory of death. Even for a Zoan, his durability is abnormal. Sanji is running on fumes-yoi."
> [Vinsmoke Judge]: "Queen?! That man was a colleague in MADS! If Number 4 now face a Commander of Kaido, then Number 4 stands no chance. Queen knows every secret of the Vinsmoke bloodline. He will dismantle that 'failure' piece by piece!"
> [Franky]: "SUPER! Hey, curly-bro! Don't let that oversized lizard talk down to you! Real 'Hard-Boiled' men don't care about blueprints!"
> [Kaido]: (Present Day) "WORORORO! Queen is a sadistic brat, but he is effective. If the cook survived the rooftop, he won't survive the 'Plague'. No one does."
> [Sanji]: (Typing from Sabaody) "I've survived a desert island and a shitty old man's cooking. A dancing dinosaur is nothing."
>
The Action: The Battle of Heritage
Queen didn't wait. He unleashed a barrage of lasers from his mouth and his mechanical tail. "I'll show you! I can do everything your brothers can! SPARKING QUEEN! HENRY QUEEN!"
The screen was a blur of neon lights. Sanji moved, but he was slower. He took a direct hit from a laser, the beam piercing his thigh. The world gasped, but the clank was louder this time. The wound didn't bleed; it sizzled and then tightened, the skin pulling itself back together with a sickening sound of snapping metal.
Sanji stopped. He looked at his hands. They were trembling. "My heart... it's not beating faster because I'm scared. It's beating because it's trying to turn into a piston."
He dodged a massive swing of Queen's mechanical claw and landed a kick to the cyborg's neck. The impact didn't just create fire; it created a shockwave that cracked the floor.
"I told you," Sanji growled, his voice dropping an octave as the blue hue began to leak from his eyes again. "I'm the cook of the Pirate King. I don't care what you 'invented'. I'm going to tenderize you until you're nothing but scrap metal!"
Queen laughed, a grating, mechanical sound. He reached for a button on his belt. "Oh? Then let's see how you handle this! I've mastered the one thing you hated most!"
In a flash of light, Queen vanished. Not through speed—but through Invisibility.
"Stealth Black!" Queen's voice echoed from the empty air. "The pride of Germa science! You can't hit what you can't see, brat!"
Sanji stood in the center of the room, closing his eyes. The world watched, mesmerized. He wasn't looking with his eyes; he was feeling the air. The "Observation Haki" he had honed through years of dodging Nami's punches and Zeff's kicks was reaching a fever pitch.
> [Charlotte Katakuri]: "He's searching. He's not looking for a body; he's looking for the 'scent' of the intent. If he finds it... the dinosaur is dead."
> [Rocks D. Xebec]: "♪ THE HUNTER IS HIDDEN~ THE CHEF IS ALONE~ A MECHANICAL MONSTER~ UPON THE THRONE~ BUT THE BLUE FIRE WHISPERS~ IT WANTS TO BE BORN~ THE VEIL OF THE STEALTH~ IS ABOUT TO BE TORN! ♪"
>
A sudden crunch echoed. Sanji's leg didn't just ignite; the floor beneath him melted into lava. He didn't look at the empty space, but he sensed it.
"If I lose my heart to win this..." Sanji whispered to the void, "I'll make sure your head is the last thing I see before I go cold."
He vanished. Two speeds clashing in total silence. Then, a massive explosion of blue fire erupted in the middle of the room, revealing Queen's surprised face as Sanji's foot was buried inches deep in his metallic gut.
[System Note: The internal conflict is reaching its boiling point. Rank 46 is not just about power... it's about the moment the Cook kills the Prince.]