"Deploy the fins.
Seeing Tom and Krieg fighting inside the Baratie, already destroying the main door and part of a wall within moments, Chef Zeff gave the order to his staff, knowing the restaurant would be ruined if this continued.
The so-called "fins" were two massive deck plates designed by the sea restaurant to protect its interior facilities. They were normally stored on the sides of the ship and could be raised when needed.
"I see. The ship can even provide a temporary battlefield. This suits me perfectly. I'm getting more and more interested in this ship. I must have it!" Krieg said, seeing the huge deck plates rise on both sides of the restaurant, further strengthening his determination to seize the vessel.
"I'm sure you'll taste the feeling of being robbed before you manage to snatch this ship," Tom said, using his long rod to vault into the air and deliver a kick straight at Krieg's front, sending him flying back.
"He kicked Krieg away!"
"He's a pirate too, right? Which crew is he from?"
"Their pirate ship is moored outside. I saw their Jolly Roger—a skull wearing a straw hat."
"So he's a member of the Straw Hat Pirates. But I've never heard of that crew before."
The chefs and patrons of the Baratie were shocked to see Tom holding a slight advantage in the fight against Krieg.
"He calls himself a fisherman. If even a crewmate like him is so strong, how strong must the captain and other members of this crew be?" many in the restaurant thought, looking toward Luffy and the others.
What they saw was Luffy and Usopp rolling on the ground wrestling each other. The reason? Usopp had eaten the last piece of meat on a dining table, prompting Luffy to brawl with him.
As for Zoro, he shook an empty wine bottle a few times, but not a drop came out. Feeling quite helpless with no wine to drink, he lay back in his chair, his half-sleepy expression suggesting he was ready to nap.
Seeing Luffy's group completely ignoring Tom's situation, as if it had nothing to do with them, left the surrounding chefs and customers utterly petrified.
"Hey! Isn't that guy your teammate? Couldn't you at least show some concern for his situation?" Sanji yelled at the sleepy-looking Zoro.
"He said he could handle it. We'd only get in his way if we got involved. It's better for everyone if we each do our own thing," Zoro said, obviously not getting along with Sanji. After a few words, he didn't want to speak further.
Hearing Zoro's words, Sanji fell silent. Having spent so long at the Baratie, he had seen many pirates, but he had never seen a crew like Luffy's, where one teammate fought a life-or-death battle while the others only cared about eating and drinking.
Tom was now locked in fierce combat with Krieg. Krieg's Damascus steel armor was indeed very tough, but Tom's target wasn't to break the armor; it was to get the four large diamonds embedded on Krieg's right gauntlet.
"Kid, that's a nice weapon. I'll take it!" Krieg said, his face swollen from being slapped hard by Tom's suddenly extending rod. Seeing Tom's weapon could extend and contract freely and was extremely durable, greed rose in him.
"If you have the skill, you're welcome to try and snatch it from me!" Tom said, leaping and bringing his rod down in a direct strike toward Krieg's head.
Clang!
Krieg blocked the attack with his diamond-studded right gauntlet. He wanted to retort, but Tom gave him no chance to speak.
Whoosh!
As Krieg blocked the attack, Tom elongated the rod, drove it into the deck, and used the momentum to land rapidly right before Krieg.
Before Krieg could react, Tom—now right in front of him—delivered a flying kick straight to his chin, sending him upward. Krieg, about to speak, was suddenly kicked in the jaw, nearly biting his tongue off.
Krieg, who had bitten his tongue, had blood flowing from the corner of his mouth and let out a scream. Tom gave him no chance to catch his breath.
As Krieg fell, Tom gripped his rod, spun rapidly, and aimed a sweeping strike at the diamond gauntlet on his right hand.
Another loud CLANG!
This made it the thirteenth time Tom had struck Krieg's diamond gauntlet with his rod.
BOOM!
Krieg was sent flying and crashed heavily onto the deck, shaking the ship slightly.
"He's so strong!"
"Facing the East Blue's overlord, he's not falling behind at all!"
Johnny and Yosaku stood by the Going Merry's railing, watching Tom battle Krieg and even suppress him, feeling quite shocked. After all, they hadn't spent much time with Tom, and this was the first time they'd seen him fight seriously.
"That idiot! Doesn't he know how to stay low-key?!" Nami's expression looked terrible. She had originally decided to leave Tom and the others today, but before she could act, she saw Tom fighting Krieg, who had a terrifying reputation in the East Blue.
Worried Tom might get hurt, Nami had to delay her escape plan. She wanted to wait until the fight was over and confirm Tom was safe before leaving.
"You've really pissed me off! I am the strongest in the world! Don't think you can defeat me!" Krieg said, wiping the blood from his mouth. He drew pistols with both hands, and multiple mechanisms opened on his armor. Guns and cannons all over his body locked onto Tom.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The machine guns on Krieg's armor combined with the pistols in his hands—at least a dozen guns—fired at Tom simultaneously.
"This kind of attack is useless on me," Tom said, gripping his rod with both hands and spinning it at extreme speed, forming an airtight shield that blocked all the bullets.
It had to be said, Tom's strength now was much greater than when he first set sail with Luffy.
On the Going Merry, Nami saw Tom easily intercepting the bullets. She remembered back at Shells Town, Tom had been in a very sorry state because of Marine gunfire. Now, he could handle such attacks effortlessly.
He's gotten this strong already… But… it's still not enough. I can't drag them into this.
An image of a vicious fish-man flashed in Nami's mind. She felt her whole body go cold and shivered subconsciously. Johnny and Yosaku, engrossed in the fight, didn't notice her abnormal state.
"If bullets are useless, try this!" Krieg said, removing the golden circular shield with a skull pattern from his right shoulder. He opened its mechanism and fired over a dozen short spears at Tom.
"Is that all your so-called strongest-in-the-world amounts to? Boring tricks," Tom said, stepping back several paces and extending his rod, knocking down each spear shot toward him.
Then Tom used Silent Step, not even panting as he dodged Krieg's second volley of short spears, arriving within three steps of him.
"I'm tired of this. I'm taking what I want now! With strength like yours, you're called the strongest pirate crew in the East Blue? You claim to have five thousand subordinates? Seems to me you're just relying on numbers!"
Tom stepped forward forcefully, drove the rod into the deck, clenched his left fist, and struck Krieg with all his power.
"You dare look down on me! You think your fist can compare to my indestructible diamond fist?!" Krieg, caught off guard by Tom's close approach, couldn't use any other moves and could only swing his diamond-gauntleted right fist to collide head-on.
BAM!
Tom's fist and Krieg's diamond fist collided. Neither retreated, forming a deadlock.
"Hmph! Your hand must hurt! But it's too early to regret! I'll take my time dealing with you!" Krieg said with a sinister grin.
"Idiot! You think punching hard diamond hurts? I've experienced pain hundreds of times worse than this! Compared to that, your so-called indestructible diamond fist feels like scratching an itch!" Tom said truthfully. Back in Orange Town, when he fought Luffy with sharp stones between his fingers, the stones embedded deep into his bone. That had been far worse than this.
"Still acting tough! Your speed is fast, but at this close range, can you still dodge my attack?" Krieg said, rage rising. He raised the circular shield in his left hand, opened its mechanism, and aimed it at Tom's face.
Just then, a cracking sound echoed.
"What?!" Krieg's eyes bulged, his expression changed drastically as he saw the diamond gauntlet on his right hand fracture apart.
Tom's left fist now directly touched Krieg's knuckles through the broken gauntlet. Seizing the opportunity, Tom drove his fist forward, sending Krieg flying.
"All I did was hit your so-called indestructible diamond fist a dozen times with my rod, and it broke. Looks like your fist isn't hard enough!"
As Krieg was knocked into the restaurant, the four large diamonds embedded in his broken gauntlet fell. Before they hit the ground, Tom scooped them up in his hand and grinned.
"Look! Your diamonds… I'll take them! And I can be even faster. But for someone like you, I didn't need that move."
Putting away the four large diamonds, Tom accidentally saw Nami standing on the Going Merry watching him. He happily waved at her.
Nami pressed her lips together, lowered her head for a moment, then looked up with a bright, sunny smile and waved hard at him.
Huh? Am I imagining things?
It feels like she's giving a silent goodbye…
And this smile looks even sadder than crying?
Tom, looking up at the waving Nami, felt something wrong. Before he could think further, he heard Krieg's crazed shout:
"I will not lose to you! Fight me again!"
"The things I wanted from you, I already took. As for your other junk, you can keep wearing it," Tom said. His goal was achieved, and he didn't bother with Krieg's madness.
Usopp tried to ask Tom for one of the diamonds but was immediately rejected. Those four diamonds meant four chances to avoid being beaten by Nami. He wasn't going to hand one over to the guy who thought he could ask so easily. Do you think I'm stupid?
Seeing Tom refuse, Usopp tried to scam one, but Tom saw through him immediately. The two ended up wrestling each other.
"I'll kill you!" Krieg, having his diamond gauntlet destroyed, his diamonds stolen in front of everyone, and then being ignored, felt utterly humiliated. His fury skyrocketed to the point of losing reason.
"Boss, calm down! Now's not the time to fight them to the death!" Gin hugged Krieg tightly. He hadn't expected the Krieg he always believed strongest to actually be outmatched by Tom. Even though Krieg hadn't used his full power, Tom was clearly holding back too. If they fought to the death, Gin no longer had 100% confidence that Krieg would win.
"Do you really want to keep fighting? You fallen pirate who was defeated in the Grand Line," Zeff said, tossing a large bag of food in front of Krieg.
At Zeff's words, the chefs and patrons who had been shocked by Tom stealing Krieg's diamonds fell silent. Soon, though, gasps filled the room.
"Impossible! The East Blue's overlord, the admiral of a fifty-ship fleet… he's a fallen pirate?"
Hearing Zeff mention the Grand Line, Tom and Luffy's attention shifted immediately. Tom also temporarily forgot about Nami's strange behavior.
"You… Red-Leg Zeff?" Krieg said in disbelief, looking at the man with the tall chef's hat, the wooden peg leg, and the long braided mustache. A drop of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
Red-Leg Zeff was once a great pirate who sailed the Grand Line for a full year. He was a kicking master who never used his hands, could easily kick through rock, and leave footprints on steel. The blood of enemies he kicked dyed his shoes red, earning him the name "Red-Leg." But now, having lost a leg, he was effectively unable to fight.
Tom listened as Krieg spoke and glanced at Sanji, thinking: No wonder his kicks are so strong. Taking one head-on numbed my whole arm.
Seeing Zeff, Krieg initially felt fear, but after confirming he had lost a leg, his courage returned. He even threatened Zeff, demanding he hand over the logbook detailing his entire year-long voyage. The logbook held the pride of his former crewmates, and Zeff refused to give it up.
"If you won't hand it over, then I'll just have to take it!" Krieg said, clenching his fist. "So what if I suffered in the Grand Line? I am still the strongest man! The only thing I lack now is information! Once I have your logbook, I will rebuild my fleet, return to the Grand Line, find the legendary treasure, become Pirate King, and dominate this great pirate era!"
"He already lost to you. How does he still have the face to say something like that?" Usopp, having stopped wrestling with Tom, asked.
"Who knows? Maybe his face is growing on his butt," Tom said, making Krieg's veins nearly burst. But Krieg didn't attack. He simply glared coldly, hoisted the bag of food for one hundred people, and prepared to leave.
"Wait right there! The one who'll become Pirate King is me! That is something I absolutely will not back down on!" Luffy said, stepping forward with the white cloth still tied around his waist. He pointed at Krieg with firm determination.
"You want to become Pirate King? Those aren't words to say casually. If you take back what you just said, I can pretend I didn't hear it," Krieg said, his face darkening more than when he fought Tom.
"Then listen carefully. What I said is all true. The one who will become Pirate King is definitely me!" Luffy said, confronting Krieg head-on.
"That straw-hat guy… he's the captain of the one who stole the diamonds from Krieg, right?"
"Yeah. And he wants to become Pirate King?"
"The overlord of the East Blue and the captain of a new pirate crew are about to clash?"
"I think… Krieg might really lose. You saw it. That guy who punched Krieg earlier wasn't even the captain, and he had that kind of strength."
The people around them, seeing Luffy and Krieg on the verge of battle, swallowed nervously and didn't dare speak loudly.
"You heard him! Krieg had five thousand men and fifty ships, and he still couldn't cross the Grand Line! I think we should drop it and not go to that place!" Usopp said, nearly crying, to Zoro and Tom after learning Krieg's huge fleet had suffered devastation.
"Shut up! Be quiet!" Tom and Zoro each punched Usopp, knocking him flat, saying the same thing at the same time.
"You all underestimate the Grand Line! Just because my information was lacking, in only seven days, my fifty-ship fleet with five thousand men suffered devastating damage! If you still insist on what you said earlier, then don't run! I'll come back later to deal with you!" Krieg's words left many people stunned.
Tom also hadn't expected Krieg's fleet of five thousand to last only a single week in the Grand Line before being destroyed. That was too ridiculous. He had thought Krieg must have lasted at least a year before ending up like this.
But in fact, in only seven days, Krieg's fifty-ship fleet that dominated the East Blue was wiped out in the Grand Line. This news was truly shocking.
"Hey! Did you two hear that? Fifty ships destroyed in one week! We only have one ship! How long could we last in the Grand Line?" Usopp said, terrified, to Tom and Zoro.
"Isn't that exciting?" Zoro said, completely unbothered by Krieg's warning, becoming even more motivated.
"Don't worry. We're not like that East Blue overlord who only relied on numbers. Counting the cook Luffy invited, there are only six of us. The Going Merry can hold us easily. One ship is enough," Tom said, patting Usopp's shoulder to comfort him, seeing how worried he looked.
As soon as Tom finished speaking, Usopp was so frightened that his legs gave out, and he collapsed on the ground, unable to get up…
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
T/N :
Support me and Access 25 chapters in Advance on my P@treon: [email protected]/GodFic