The air on the Baratie's deck grew thick, not just with the salt of the sea, but with the sour taste of betrayal.
"Go free?" Krieg's voice was a low, volcanic rumble that shook the very planks beneath their feet. His massive frame trembled, not with fear, but with a rage so pure it seemed to warp the light around him. "You dare grant *my* subordinate mercy? You, a floating restaurant chef?"
Gin stood between them, his body a tense line of defiance and despair. The Krieg Pirates behind him murmured in confusion, their eyes darting between their fallen commander and their furious captain. What sorcery had the straw-hat boy used? Where had Gin's lethal strength vanished to?
"Enough of this farce!" Krieg boomed, his gauntleted hand rising. In it, a sinister, pearl-shaped device caught the sun—the MH5. A collective, sharp inhale came from his crew. In a synchronized, practiced motion, fifty hands went to fifty belts, pulling up grotesque gas masks that transformed them into a legion of metallic insects.
"Gin!" Krieg's voice sliced through the preparatory silence. "You are demoted. From commander… to garbage."
Gin flinched as if struck.
"Throw away your mask."
A stunned silence fell, deeper and more profound than any before it. Across the Krieg Pirates, eyes widened behind glass lenses. *Kill Gin?* The man who had bled for them? The one they called "Demon" not out of fear, but awe? Memories flashed through the ranks: Gin, standing alone on the deck of a Marine ship, pretending to be the captain to draw Fullbody's fire while the rest of the crew escaped. Gin, taking the punishment meant for Krieg after a failed raid. Gin, who would carve a path to victory with his own flesh if he had to.
"He can't…" one pirate whispered, the voice muffled by his mask. "Not the Demon…"
"Luffy, now!" Sanji yelled, but Luffy was already a blur of motion. He shot toward Krieg, arm stretching back for a pistol-shot punch. Krieg didn't even look. He simply shifted his bulk, and his colossal golden cape swept out like a fortress wall, deflecting Luffy with a shocking, metallic *clang*. Luffy stumbled back, shaking his stinging fist.
"He's mine to save!" Luffy announced, planting his feet firmly between Krieg and the wheezing Gin. His eyes were locked on the loyal commander. "You don't have to obey him!"
But Gin's eyes, hollow with shattered faith, found Krieg's. A lifetime of loyalty, a mountain of sacrifices, all distilled into one final act of obedience. With a trembling hand, he unclipped the mask from his belt. He held it for a heartbeat—a promise of life—then let it clatter to the deck.
"As you command… Captain."
Krieg's thumb pressed the trigger.
*FSSSSSSSSH—*
The MH5 bomb launched, not with an explosion, but with a sickening hiss. A cloud of vibrant, emerald-green gas erupted, voracious and beautiful, rolling across the deck like a poisonous tide.
"Down!" Sanji roared at the Baratie cooks. They didn't need telling; they were already vaulting over the railings, plunging into the safety of the sea below. The Krieg Pirates ducked behind barrels and rigging, their sealed masks humming with filtered air.
In the heart of the chaos, Luffy moved.
"Gum-Gum… Snatch!" His arms became whirling windmills, shooting into the panicked Krieg pirates. He didn't throw punches; he grabbed. *Snatch! Snatch!* Two masks were ripped from the faces of stunned crewmen. He tossed one to Sanji, who caught it mid-air. The other, he thrust toward Gin.
"Put it on!"
He turned to find one for himself. Nothing. The deck was clear. The green mist was at his ankles, burning like ice-fire where it touched. Then he saw it—a single, discarded mask, kicked near the main mast. The MH5 gas swirled, rising to his knees, his waist.
He dove for it, sliding through the toxic fog, and slapped the mask over his face just as the world turned a burning, opaque green.
Five agonizing minutes. The only sounds were the hiss of the gas, the lap of the waves, and the ragged, filtered breathing of the masked. Finally, a sea breeze picked up, tearing the emerald veil to shreds.
The gas cleared, revealing the aftermath.
Sanji stood, mask on, eyes sharp. Luffy stood, mask on, chest heaving.
And Gin… knelt.
He was bare-faced, his head bowed, taking in deep, shuddering breaths of the clean air. His skin was pale, a sheen of sickly sweat upon it.
Luffy's hand flew to his own face, to the mask sealing his mouth. His eyes, wide with horror, shot to Gin. *He never put it on.* The mask Luffy wore… Gin had thrown his away. The one Luffy found…
*He gave it to me.*
A selfless act from the man they called a demon. The final, brutal truth dawned on Luffy, and a fury hotter than any poison gas ignited in his gut.
"Hah!" Krieg's laugh was a derisive bark. He gestured at the kneeling Gin with his weapon. "See? Garbage, disposing of itself. It's only proper for a failed tool to die by its master's hand. It's the only honor it has left."
The Krieg Pirates were statues. They could not believe what they were seeing, what they were hearing. This was their captain. This was their Demon.
Sanji's cigarette, tucked under his mask, nearly snapped in two. "You vile…"
"ANTIDOTE!" Luffy's roar cut through everything, raw and desperate. He wasn't looking at Krieg. He was looking at the restaurant doors.
Patty and Carne stumbled out, coughing, their faces ashen from the residual fumes. "Sanji! What's the—"
"Antitoxin!" Sanji barked, pointing at Gin. "Now! Anything we have!"
The two cooks hesitated, their eyes on the uniform of the enemy who had besieged their home.
"HE'S DYING!" Sanji's voice broke with a fury they'd never heard. "MOVE!"
From the doorway, a calm, authoritative voice cut through. Zeff stood there, his face grim. "The mask, you bone-headed waiters! Put a clean mask on him right now! Whatever antitoxin residue is in the filter might slow the poison. Then get him to the upper deck for clear air. It's his only chance."
Patty and Carne scrambled, amazed by the order but compelled into action. They fumbled for a spare mask.
But Krieg's smile only widened. He raised his other arm, the one not holding the empty MH5 launcher. With a series of sharp *clicks* and *whirs*, the armor on his forearm reconfigured, panels sliding back to reveal the glittering, diamond-studded barrel of a massive pistol.
"A waste of effort," Krieg sneered, the barrel centering not on Luffy, not on Sanji, but on the back of Gin's bowed head. "I don't leave my garbage for others to clean up."
The diamond barrel began to glow with a terrifying, concentrated light.
**"PUT THE MASK ON HIM,"** Luffy commanded, his voice dropping into a terrifying, quiet register. He took a single step forward, his sandal crunching on the deck. The air crackled. **"I'LL HANDLE THE TRASH."**
Krieg's glowing pistol reached its peak, a miniature sun in his hand. "Fool. You can't stop a *Diamond Impact* at this range."
Luffy's legs coiled like springs, his eyes holding not the weapon, but the man behind it. "I don't need to stop it."
He shot a glance at Sanji, a wordless message passing between them. *Get him clear.*
Sanji gave a nearly imperceptible nod, his body tensing to drag Gin away.
Krieg's finger tightened on the trigger. The light was blinding. "Then DIE with your new friend, Straw Hat!"
Luffy launched himself forward, not at the gun, but directly at Krieg's chest, a human cannonball aimed at the heart of the tyrant.
The diamond barrel flashed.
And in that split second, as the lethal light consumed the space between them, a shadow fell over the deck—a shadow far too large to be a cloud, accompanied by the deafening, familiar roar of tearing wood and the terrified scream of a Krieg pirate from the crow's nest:
**"CAPTAIN! FROM THE SEA—IT'S THE *HAWK-EYES*!"**