Volume 7 : The First Drop of Blood
The air in the Baratie's dining hall was thick with the smell of fear and salt. Pirates swarmed like roaches, but Sanji's eyes were locked on the hulking, pearl-studded armor of Pearl the Iron Wall.
"A chef's knives are his soul," Sanji snarled, a cigarette dangling from his lips as he spun, his leg a blur of motion. *Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!* Three pirates grunted as they were kicked away from Carne's prized blades. Sanji snatched the knives from the air and tossed them back to his trembling friend. "You don't get to touch them."
Pearl's laughter boomed, arrogant and hollow from within his shell. "A kicking chef? How quaint! I, the invincible Pearl, have never once bled in battle! Not a single drop!"
*That's your first mistake,* Sanji thought, his blood simmering. *You talk too much.*
He launched himself forward, a whirlwind of focused fury. "Your armor's for show!" Sanji shouted, his heel connecting with a pearl on Pearl's shoulder with a resonant *clang*.
At that exact moment, a treacherous shadow moved. Don Krieg, a smirk of vile opportunism on his face, swung his giant spiked cape at Luffy, who was watching Sanji's fight with a grin.
"Luffy, behind you!" Sanji yelled, but it was too late.
*WHAM!*
The impact sent Luffy catapulting through the air. "Waaaah—OOOF!"
He crashed, not onto the deck, but directly onto Pearl's helmeted head, driving the giant's face down into his own armored chest with a catastrophic crunch.
For a second, there was silence.
Pearl slowly, shakily, lifted his head. A collective gasp rippled through the room. From his nose, a single, perfect crimson droplet welled, traced a path down his polished armor, and fell.
The first drop of blood.
Pearl stared at the red stain on his gauntlet. His breathing hitched, then turned into a low, animalistic growl that shook the very plates of his armor. "Blood…" he whispered, his voice trembling with unimaginable rage. "MY BLOOD!"
"Oh, hell," one of the cooks whispered.
With a roar that shattered windows, Pearl began punching the pearls on his own armor. Each strike was a hammer blow. *CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.*
With each impact, the pearls ignited, bursting into unnatural, hungry flames that raced across the metal plates until Pearl was a towering, roaring pillar of fire.
"He's insane!" shrieked Patty, backing away. "He'll burn the whole ship down!"
But Sanji stood his ground, the heat washing over him, making his suit jacket flutter. He didn't flinch. "Idiots," he said, his voice cutting through the panic. "We're cooks. Since when are cooks afraid of FIRE?"
He took a running start and leapt, a graceful arc over the ring of fire Pearl had created, landing lightly behind the burning behemoth. "Your defense is a joke. You're just a slow, over-decorated oven."
The battle became a dance of fire and fury. Sanji was a phantom, his kicks landing with surgical precision—on joints, on pressure points, on the seams of the armor. *Bam! Thud! Crack!*
"Stand still, you gnat!" Pearl bellowed, swatting at air, his flaming fists leaving trails of embers on the ruined floor.
"A chef's hands are for creation," Sanji taunted, ducking a wild swing and driving a kick into Pearl's back that sent him stumbling. "So I only use my feet to trash garbage like you!"
Pearl's rage was a tangible force, but it made him clumsy. He was destroying the restaurant with every missed swing.
From his vantage point, Don Krieg saw his weapon failing. His eyes narrowed. He reached into his cloak and hurled a spiked iron knob—a Mighty Battle Spear—directly at the combatants, aiming to skewer them both.
"Sanji!" Luffy's voice, full of anger, rang out.
"GUM-GUM… BAZOOKA!"
Luffy's stretched arms slammed together, deflecting the deadly projectile with a thunderous clang. It shot upward, shearing through the main mast of Don Krieg's own ship, which groaned and toppled like a felled giant.
The massive mast crashed down across the Baratie's deck.
*BOOOOOOM!*
The shockwave flattened pirates. And directly under its path was Pearl. The flaming armor was snuffed out in an instant as the weight of the world drove him into the splintered wood, leaving him still and silent.
A momentary lull. The cooks dared to hope.
Then, a cold, familiar voice slithered through the smoke.
"Hope is a luxury you can't afford."
They turned. Gin, the Man-Demon, stood by the entrance to the kitchen. In his grip was old Zeff, a pistol pressed mercilessly against the retired pirate's temple. Zeff's face was pale, but his single leg held him upright with stubborn pride.
"Sanji," Gin said, his eyes dead. "Leave the ship. Now. Or the old man's brains decorate his own kitchen."
The world narrowed to a single, horrifying point. Sanji froze, his blood turning to ice.
"You bastard…" Patty cried, but was held back.
Sanji's hands, usually so steady, clenched into fists. He looked at Zeff, who gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head. *Don't you dare.*
Sanji took a deep drag of his cigarette, the ember glowing bright in the gloom. He blew out the smoke slowly, meeting Gin's gaze.
"Go to hell," Sanji said, his voice low and steady.
Gin's finger tightened on the trigger. "Your choice."
"I didn't finish," Sanji interrupted, taking a step forward. His tone changed, shedding all bravado, leaving only raw, terrifying resolve. "If you need a life… take mine instead."
He spread his arms wide, completely open. "Point the gun at me. Let the old man go."
"Sanji, no!" Zeff roared, struggling.
But Sanji didn't waver. This was his debt. His choice. His sacrifice.
Behind him, the rubble shifted. A charred, enraged Pearl, somehow still conscious, rose with a final, guttural scream, his fist pulled back for a last, crushing blow aimed at the defenseless Sanji's back.
Sanji saw it. He knew. And he didn't move. He kept his arms wide, his eyes on the gun at his father-figure's head, accepting both threats.
Luffy, from across the deck, saw it all unfold—the gun, the hostage, the betrayal, and the flaming vengeance descending on his crewmate who refused to fight back. His straw hat shadowed his eyes, but the fury around him warped the air.
**"SANJI!"**
Luffy's body coiled like a spring, but he was too far. The gun was a finger-twitch away. Pearl's fist was a heartbeat from impact.
And Sanji closed his eyes, a faint, peaceful smile on his lips.
The chapter ends with two simultaneous, deafening sounds:
The **CLICK** of a hammer cocking.
And the **WHOOSH** of a flaming fist meeting its target.