Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a while! I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year! I have been very busy with family stuff for the holiday season so I haven't had much time to write but fear not! I am not dead yet! This will be the final chapter of the Baratie arc so I really hope you enjoy the new chapter! I really can't wait to continue this story as I have so many future ideas for it! So please make sure to leave a review on what you think of the new chapter or just the story overall and enjoy the newest chapter to The Straw Hat's Pyro!

Even though he's been battered and burnt, Luffy smirks proudly as he has, yet again, managed to get past another one of Krieg's weapons.

"You ready for this?" The rubber boy taunts. "Because that was all I needed. Now that your little toy's broken you're nothing to me."

Krieg's eyebrow twitches slightly. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. Without the blade, it's just a bomb-on-a-stick. And let's face it, that's pretty lame."

"You think so?" Krieg questions.

"Sure do." Luffy replies.

Now Krieg's got a smug look on his face. "Fine. So, what if it is just a bomb-on-a-stick. You're in a bad shape, kiddo. I think it'll be more than enough to blow you to pieces. Y'know, it sounds to me like this is some sort of pathetic attempt at a bluff."

"Okay, but you're wrong?" Luffy cracks back.

"Just give up. You're defeat is imminent." Krieg lifts up what's left of his Battle Spear. "You see when you defied me, you signed your own death warrant!"

"Nuh-uh." Luffy childishly sticks out his tongue at the Pirate Commodore.

Krieg charges at Luffy and is about to bring down the broken Battle Spear onto the rubber boy, but miraculously, even heavily wounded, Luffy finds the energy to stretch his arms to grab the yard of a broken mast.

"Hey, up here!" Luffy mocks Krieg while swinging above him.

Krieg doesn't take kindly to being mocked and brings his weapon down upon the base of the mast causing it to fall.

The portion of the yard Luffy is clinging to breaks off, but the rubber captain has a better idea how to use it. He hurls the yard piece at Krieg, but the cheating pirate has another trick up his sleeve. A flamethrower attached at the wrist!

"How many weapons does that guy have?!" Sanji and Natsu exclaim.

Krieg's flamethrower burns the incoming projectile into ashes.

Though Luffy's idea didn't have the results he wanted, he still keeps on fighting. "Now GUM GUM GATLING!" The multitude of punches strike Krieg's armor blow for blow, but none do any damage and leave Krieg unharmed.

Krieg laughs at Luffy's failed attempts and continues to mock him. "Weakling! What exactly did you expect to happen, boy? I'm wearing wootz-steel body armor. This stuff is practically indestructible. You don't stand a chance boy!" He shouts down. "Real power comes from deadly weapons. They're the source of true strength. See, only the strong are meant to live and that's me!"

"I really want to turn this guy into barbecue so bad." Natsu grunts behind clenched teeth.

"Yeah, that's what you think!" Luffy exclaims as he dashes up the mast. "GUM GUM….

"It's useless!" Krieg barks. "Foolish pride will only get you so far!" He brings down his weapon on Luffy once more, but the rubber boy keeps up his strides without even flinching.

"...BAZOOKA!"

Luffy's attack successfully connects with Krieg, but the previous explosion stuns Luffy into a stand still. With this sudden halt, Krieg uses this opening to fling more of his exploding marbles.

"That's it?! After all that big talk, that's all you got?!" Krieg bellows. But the pirate commodore's laughter is cut short as his armor begins to crack. However, Krieg isn't too worried as the marbles come into contact with the ocean below it causes a massive explosion to surround Luffy.

"It's a trap! Get out!" Sanji warns. But his warning comes a little too late.

The blast causes the onlookers still in the water to get caught in the shockwave.

Natsu just laughs at this.

"Why the hell are you laughing?!" Sanji shouts angrily. "Can't you see that your captain is losing?!"

Natsu just looks at Sanji and smirks. "If I was so worried about Luffy losing to a jerk like that then there would be no way I could call him my captain!" Natsu says laughing again and then looks back up to look at the battle.

Sanji just stares at Natsu with wide eyes and without saying anything looks back to the fight as well.

All of a sudden Luffy rises from the smoke with a huge grin on his face. To see that Krieg is shocked when the rubber boy burst through the billowing smoke is an understatement. Luffy's arms stretched and ready for another attack.

"GUM GUM BAZOOKA!"

As his hands slam into Krieg's armor, this time it crushes the thing entirely. With Luffy's win, the cooks and Natsu burst into cheers.

"I TOTALLY WIN!" Luffy cheers as well.

But the sweet taste of victory turns sour when all of a sudden….

"THIS ISN'T OVER YET, BOY!" In a last-ditch attempt to accomplish victory, he traps Luffy in a weighted steel net, trying to drag him down into the ocean.

Krieg laughs at his own dirty trick as Luffy struggles to get out of the net before they both hit the water. "You can't escape; It's a steel net!" The two are approaching the water real fast. "It's over! That's the ocean down there below us! It looks like I'll be getting the last laugh after all, chore boy!"

The Krieg Pirates cheer for their captain's sure-in victory, but Luffy is not phased in the slightest. In fact, he looks rather happy to be caught. He squeezes his arms and legs through the gaps of the net. Using his feet and legs, he stretches them out while twisting them and grabs ahold of Krieg's head by his feet.

"Time for me to end this right now!" Luffy exclaims. "GUM GUM HAMMER!" As Luffy's legs quickly unwind, with Krieg still in his grip, he hurls the pirate still spinning pirate to crash land on the destroyed Baratie fin. The fight is finally won, and the cooks and Natsu cheer even louder than before. The fight is Luffy's win, but everyone seems to have forgotten Luffy's a Devil Fruit user, so he no longer has the ability to swim.

"Oh shit!" Natsu suddenly realizes with wide eyes.

"Huh? What is it?" Sanji asks.

"Luffy is a Devil Fruit eater! So he can't swim!" Natsu exclaims.

"WHAT? WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU SAY SO EARLIER?!" Sanji shouts before he and Natsu both go diving in after the rubber pirate.

Halfway through the deep dive for Luffy, Natsu suddenly stops moving and makes a weird face. Sanji notices this so he grabs Natsu and dives further down for Luffy. Finally Sanji manages to grab Luffy and carries the two pirates up from the water and onto the Baratie deck.

When Sanji found out Luffy was just sleeping and not dead he turns to a green faced Natsu that seemed to be throwing up into the ocean blue (or ocean green now I guess). "Hey what the hell was that back there?" Sanji asks.

"Oh right, I forgot…. I can only swim in the ocean for so long before I get really really sick." Natsu says meekly.

"What the hell? That's pretty weird." Sanji says.

"You're telling me…." Natsu groans.

Afterwards Gin departs from the Baratie with the rest of the beaten Krieg pirates and sets off and apologizes. After that with Luffy and Natsu up and rested they join the other cooks for a celebratory meal.

With Luffy and Natsu shoving all the food they can into their mouths, they hear someone shout.

"Hey! What is this? Who prepared the soup this morning?" Patty suddenly yells as he rises from his seat at the table.

Sanji starts to wave his hand in the air with a prideful smile. "Oh, I did! The stuff is pretty good, huh? I think I really outdid myself!"

Patty, on the other hand, doesn't share Sanji's liveliness of the dish. "Is that a joke? I can barely hold this slop down!" He sputters and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand in disgust.

The blonde chef looks ready to pop a vein.

"I thought someone like you would like slop. It makes sense to me seeing as that's what pigs like." Sanji tries to defend his culinary creation by insulting Patty.

"Ha! Just face it Sanji, your soup sucks! It's disgusting!" Patty gives a thumbs down.

Sanji strides calmly towards the other chef. "That soup is nothing short of a delicacy. There's something wrong with your taste buds."

Soon after, Carne joins in on the insulting. "That's gross!"

"I can't eat this!"

"Peh! Peh! Revolting!"

"This soup is horrible!"

The insults keep coming, as does the sounds of spoons being forcefully slammed onto the table.

"What the hell's going on, you bastards?!" Sanji demands.

"We're sick of the way you run things. You're a sham of a sous chef and everybody knows it!" Patty continues to insult Sanji, now backed by the rest of the cooks.

"You can't just settle every single little disagreement with violence."

"If the food's bad, then we're gonna say so."

Sanji growls in anger, ready to blow up any second now. "What'd you say?!"

Zeff, who has been calmly sitting down since the start of the dispute, continues to slurp up his soup with an unreadable expression. "Don't forget that we're seafaring cooks, so you better not waste one single drop of that soup." Once every last drop of soup from his bowl has been devoured, he shocks everyone with what he does next. As they wait to hear the old chef's opinion of his protégé's dish, Zeff flings the empty bowl onto the floor, shattering it to pieces.

Sanji freezes in shock.

"BOSS!" The chefs cry out.

"Geezer." Sanji snarls.

"That wretched little dish tasted like stewed garbage. If we ever serve that kind of trash here we'd go out of business." The old chef insults.

In a fit of rage, Sanji nabs Zeff by the collar. "Are you really this stupid? Just how is my soup any different from the stuff you make. How?!"

Zeff chortles. "You think they're the same? Don't flatter yourself." Zeff raises his hand and punches Sanji across the face.

"The boss punched him!" Patty exclaims in shock.

"He didn't kick him!" Carne adds in disbelief.

Sanji glares up at Zeff from his spot on the floor, clutching the side of his face that was struck.

"You think you can lecture me about the art of cooking?! Do ya?! Fat chance! I'm a man who has cooked on more seas than days that you've been alive!" He tells Sanji.

The two chefs glare at each other, before the younger gets to his feet and storms out of the restaurant like a child throwing a tantrum.

As soon as Sanji left, Natsu goes over and tries the soup. "WOAH!" This stuff is so good!" Natsu exclaims while shoving more of it into his mouth. "The heck is wrong with you guys? This soup rocks!" Natsu says.

"Yeah, what's all the fuss about? This soup's totally awesome!" Luffy comments as he tries some too.

"All of us know the soup is good." Zeff replies.

"Huh?" Luffy and Natsu look at the head chef confused.

"I know he's an outstanding chef. Everyone here on the Baratie does."

"Yeah, he's great."

"Aside from Chef Zeff, he's the best we got."

The chefs continue to praise Sanji.

"That was scary, wasn't it? He seriously snapped."

"But that thick-skulled idiot wouldn't listen to us if we tried to reason with him. Hey, listen. You were saying that you needed a cook for your ship, right?" Zeff asks Luffy. "Well this isn't something I want to be asking anyone, but would you mind taking that little brat along with you? Take him to the Grand Line. That would be best for him. Finding the All Blue is his dream." Zeff smiles.

Patty and Carne begin to joke around saying they were worried if Sanji would figure them out which then leads the two to laugh about who was the more terrible actor. The rest of the cooks go for some more of Sanji's soup and truly praise it for the delicious dish it is.

"So, what do ya say, kids?" Zeff asks.

"No way." Luffy replies bluntly.

"But earlier you mentioned you needed a cook for your ship. Just what are ya trying to say? That he's suddenly not good enough for you all?"

"It's Sanji's decision. I can't force someone's will to join." Luffy simply replies.

"Well I agree with you but damn it! I really wanna eat more of his food! He's also really cool…." Natsu glooms.

"So, what you're saying is that you can't agree to it until he tells you himself." The old chef strokes his braided mustache.

"Yep." Luffy replies.

"Well I suppose that's fair enough, but who knows if that hard-headed little brat will ever agree to join up with ya."

"Yeah. Once that guy makes up his mind there's nothing anybody can do to change it." Patty says.

Crash!

Out of nowhere, a really big something crashes into the restaurant. As the smoke clears, the 'something' turns out to be a PanShark with Yosaku's lower body stuck in its jaws and Sanji lying under the big fish. Everyone rushes to help the two men in this odd situation.

"Sanji!"

"What is that?"

"A fishman?"

"Did he come all the way from Fishman Island?"

Natsu suddenly helps Yosaku off of the shark. "Oi! Yosaku! What the hell happened to you?"

Oh, hey Big Bro Natsu and Big Bro Luffy…." The man greets meekly.

"How come you're alone? Where're the others?" Luffy questions. "Did you find Nami?"

Yosaku is then wrapped in a blanket and fed some soup as he begins to explain what went on when he went off with Zoro, Usopp, and Johnny.

"We never actually caught up to her, but from the direction Big Sis is heading we think we figured out where she's heading and what she plans to do."

Luffy listens with intent to Yosaku's explanation. "I see. Then we can bring her back."

Yosaku doesn't seem to share Luffy's optimism about recovering their Navigator. "Maybe…. It's just that if our suspicions turn out to be true, then the place she intends to go could mean certain death for all of us if we follow her."

Luffy and Natsu stare confused.

"The point is…." Yosaku continues. "We really need your help Big Bro Luffy, Bis Bro Natsu. Please! Come with me!"

"Okay. I don't really get it, but I got it." Luffy responds. "Let's go."

"I don't get it either but if it's dangerous then that means it's much more fun!" Natsu says smiling wide with no fear in his eyes.

With that said, the rest of the group began to make way to the small boat the Baratie offered them.

"Wait." They are then stopped by Sanji, who was taking a smoke during all the ruckus and stares at both Natsu and Luffy. "Your dreams are foolish. Then again, so is mine. Now's a good time as any. Why not start my quest right now?"

"Sanji?" Luffy tests the waters, wondering if Sanji is serious about his decision.

"I'll be joining your little crew on your journey to be King of the Pirates. You hear me? I wanna be the cook on your ship. Alright? What'd ya say?"

Luffy's face burst into a wide grin. "YEAH! OF COURSE!"

"AWESOME! WELCOME TO THE CREW SANJI!" Natsu shouts excited to have the blonde chef on the crew.

"This is great, Big Bro Luffy!" Yosaku exclaims.

Luffy, Natsu, and Yosaku begin to dance around celebrating the newest addition to the Strawhat crew. Sanji turns to face his fellow cooks asking them if they were happy now. Patty remarks his disappointment in not giving Sanji the boot himself. The blonde chef retorts sarcastically that he made them resort to bad acting. This surprises them, not realizing that he heard every word of their earlier discussion. Patty is ready to jump into a fight, but Zeff holds him back. The head chef and his protégé start their own squabble, but if you really paid attention you could see that they do care for each other deeply.

As the cooks then ready Sanji's boat for departure, Luffy and Natsu are practically cleaning out the Baratie's fridge of all their meat and Luffy denies Zeff's offer of his logbook saying that they didn't need it.

Pretty soon, Luffy, Natsu, and Yosaku are all on the boat watching Sanji as he soon follows carrying his personal belongings and cooking supplies. But he doesn't even make it two steps out the door before Patty and Carne come charging at him from both sides.

"Now it's payback time!"

"Here it comes, Sanji."

Sanji is not bothered in the slightest. In a quick, swift motion, the blond chef kicks down the two cooks without breaking a sweat.

"Really, guys? That was just dumb." A chef berates the two.

Sanji strides pass the chefs, without a word, until he reaches his small ship with Luffy, Yosaku, and Natsu as his passengers. "Let's get going."

"You don't need to say 'goodbye'?" Luffy asks.

Sanji smiles. "No, it's fine."

"Sanji." Zeff calls from the third level balcony of the Baratie. "Don't catch a cold."

That is what does it for Sanji, as his emotions get the better of him and tears begin to flow out.

"OWNER ZEFF!"

Sanji is now on his knees bowing his head in thanks to Zeff. "Thanks, you geezer. I'll never forget your kindness. I owe you my life to you, old man, so thank you!" He sobs. All the other chefs, Zeff included, are now crying as well.

"Damn wusses. Real men should part without a word, let alone tears." Zeff says as he wipes his own tears.

"LET'S GO! SET SAIL!" Luffy shouts.

"I will see you again! I'll come back someday!" Sanji promises to the waving chefs. And just like that with the help of a new member they set off towards Arlong Park to get Nami back.

Meanwhile at Arlong Park

Nami is seen walking up to Arlong Park after she beats a kid up for trying to fight the Fishman for killing his father. After he is on the ground Nami just throws a wad of cash on his body as the boy cries. Nami opens the gate to face Arlong himself.

"Well if it isn't our wonderful navigator Nami!" Arlong shouts and laughs. "How was the haul today?"

"Easy as pie! Pirates are so easy to trick after all." Nami replies with an evil look on her face.

"HEY GUYS NAMI IS BACK!" Arlong yells and all of the Fishman have a party at Nami's return.

"Gihihhihi. Hey guys! Guess who is also back?" A new voice comes through as a new figure enters Arlong Park with an equally evil smile on his face.

Arlong just looks and smiles. "Well if it isn't the only other human in the world that I don't hate!" Everyone else looks at the new presence and smiles but Nami just glares at him.

Arlong laughs. "Glad to have you back…."

Gajeel.