The air on the Baratie's deck tasted of salt, blood, and impending storm. Gin's ragged breaths were the only sound for a terrifying moment, each one a wet, shallow gasp that seemed to claw its way out of his ruined chest.
"Don't you die," Luffy's voice cut through the silence, low and vibrating with a fury that made the very wood beneath their feet tremble. He wasn't looking at the dying man; his straw hat shadowed his eyes, his gaze locked on the monstrous silhouette of Don Krieg across the ruined bridge. "You hear me, Gin? You don't get to die for *him*."
Gin tried to speak, but only a trickle of blood escaped his lips. His eyes, clouded with pain, held a final, stubborn loyalty.
"He's got an hour, if that," Krieg's voice boomed, dripping with casual cruelty. "A fitting end for a traitor. Now, who's next for the grave?"
Luffy's hands clenched into fists so tight the knuckles turned bone-white. "I'm going to beat you," he promised, the words simple, absolute, and heavier than iron. "No matter what."
Sanji's hand landed on Luffy's shoulder, firm and urgent. "Idiot! Look at him! He's a walking arsenal! You charge in there, you're just adding your name to his list!"
Luffy didn't shrug him off. He just slowly turned his head, and when Sanji met his eyes, the cook felt a chill that had nothing to do with the sea breeze. There was no bravado there, no reckless glee. Only a bedrock, unshakable certainty.
"I won't die," Luffy said, and the simplicity of it was more terrifying than any war cry. He brushed Sanji's hand away, not with anger, but with a finality that left no room for argument.
Then he moved.
He was a streak of red against the grey wreckage, charging headlong across the splintered bridge. No strategy, no feint—just a straight, furious line drawn toward his enemy.
"Foolish to the last!" Krieg laughed, his massive arm swinging. He didn't aim at Luffy; he aimed at the bridge itself. "Let's see you swim through fire!"
The cluster of bombs left his launcher with a soft *thump*. For a heartbeat, they sailed through the air. Then the world dissolved into light and sound.
**KABOOM!**
The explosion wasn't just a blast; it was a devouring flower of flame and force. The bridge vaporized in its heart, and the shockwave hurled a wall of water high into the air, a temporary, shimmering curtain that hid the carnage.
Sanji's heart seized. "Luffy!"
Through the roaring in his ears, he heard it—the distinct, sickening *thwack-thwack-thwack* of iron spikes burying themselves into flesh.
"Interesting," Krieg mused, his voice carrying over the hiss of falling water. "The boy would rather be a pincushion than retreat. A rare breed of idiot."
The mist began to clear, shredded by the sea wind.
Sanji's breath caught.
There he stood. In the center of the devastation, knee-deep in churning water where solid wood had been moments before. Two of Krieg's heavy iron spikes protruded grotesquely from his body—one from his lower side, another clean through the meat of his left shoulder. Blood darkened his red vest, spreading in grim blossoms.
But he was standing. And he was *smiling*.
"You…" Krieg's smirk faltered for a fraction of a second.
Luffy's eyes burned with a light that had nothing to do with the reflected flames. He ignored the spikes as if they were mere splinters. With a grunt of effort, he lifted his leg high and stomped down on the water's surface.
**SLAM!**
The impact wasn't a splash; it was a concussive blast that shot a new geyser into the air, a vertical screen between him and Krieg. In the same motion, Luffy coiled his right arm back, the muscles straining against his skin. The spikes in his body didn't even make him wince.
"He's going to punch *through* it," Sanji whispered, understanding dawning with a wave of sheer, incredulous awe.
Krieg saw it too—the utter, insane determination to connect, cost be damned. "You never learn!" he bellowed, but a note of panic edged his voice. His hands flew to his cape. "Iron Wall: Porcupine Cape!"
The heavy cloth flared around him, and with a sinister *shink-shink-shink*, hundreds of wickedly long steel spikes snapped out from its lining, transforming him into an impregnable fortress of blades. He crouched behind the glistening thicket, a smug laugh building in his throat. "Your fist will be shredded before it even touches—"
Luffy's arm shot forward.
***"GUM-GUM…"***
It elongated like a cannonball, tearing through the curtain of falling water. He didn't aim for the gaps. He didn't try to avoid the spikes.
He aimed *straight through them*.
***"PISTOL!"***
The sound was horrific. A wet, crunching *smash* of flesh and rubber meeting unyielding metal. Sanji winced, expecting to see Luffy's fist torn to ribbons.
But the fist kept going.
It plowed through the forest of spikes, bending them, snapping them, a unstoppable mass of pure will wrapped in bone and sinew. Krieg's eyes widened in utter disbelief behind his spiked veil. It was impossible.
Luffy's fist, bleeding and battered, crashed through the final layer of spikes and connected squarely with Don Krieg's jaw.
***CRACK.***
The sound echoed across the sea. It wasn't just the sound of a hit. It was the sound of an invincible legend breaking.
For the first time in the entire battle, the invulnerable Don Krieg, the self-proclaimed strongest man in the East Blue, was lifted off his feet. His spiked cape fluttered uselessly as he was thrown backwards through the air, a look of pure, uncomprehending shock etched on his face before he vanished into the settling mist and spray.
Silence.
Luffy stood panting, his extended arm slowly retracting, dripping blood and seawater. The spikes still impaled him. The bridge was gone. But he was standing.
Sanji let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "He… he actually did it."
From the thick mist where Krieg had fallen, there was no splash. No cry of pain.
Only a deep, ominous silence, and then a low, grinding, mechanical sound that was entirely new. A sound like heavy plates of armor shifting and locking into place.
And then Don Krieg's voice emerged from the haze, not pained, but colder, steadier, and more venomous than ever before.
"A lucky hit, boy," the voice rumbled. The mist began to swirl, pushed aside by something large and dark. "But you've just shown me your best. Now let me show you mine. This is the true power of the Krieg Armada."
The mist parted.
And Sanji's blood ran cold.
"Luffy…" he choked out. "Get back. **Get back now!**"
But Luffy couldn't move. He could only stare, his triumphant grin freezing on his face as the monstrous, transformed figure of Don Krieg emerged from the haze, and leveled a weapon the size of a ship's cannon directly at his heart.