Free Heart

Ch. 24 - I am Helping You Decide.

It all seemed to be going pretty well from what Emmy could tell. Sanji, himself, was able to fend off the invading pirates single handedly. Or in his case, single "footedly". He had informed all those who were watching that he only used his legs in battle in order to preserve his hands, the most important tools for a chef.

Pearl and Don Krieg stayed out of the fight, coolly observing their fellow crew members get taken down one by one. They didn't seem to care one bit over the loss of their own men. In fact, Pearl didn't seem to care about anything at all. That is, until Krieg accidentally sent Luffy sailing right into the back of Pearl's head.

The rubber boy's harsh landing forced Pearl to smash his nose into one of his large iron shields. Blood dripped out of his nose and Pearl lost his cool completely both physically and mentally. He had burst into a fiery rage and set himself ablaze with a white flame. He had set the whole platform on fire and for just a second, Emmy thought that the fight had turned for the worst.

However, Sanji was able to handle the heat and it did not stop him from attacking the burning man, making the other nostril bleed. Chef Zeff also intervened, just slightly, by extinguishing from Pearl's fiery projectiles with just the gust of a kick from his peg leg. He didn't even budge an inch from his position right under the doorway.

"Woo. Pops is really cool," Luffy smiled from the platform, seemingly unfazed by the flames encircling him, "I'm impressed."

"Sanji-san! Above you!" Emmy warned as Krieg swung over a chain connected to a heavy, spiked iron ball, the size of half a fishing boat, right over Luffy's head. It came flying down towards Sanji, who was also fenced in by fire.

Sanji was backed into a corner. He could either run through the flame and get burned to a crisp or jump out of the way with only a slim chance he'd be able to avoid the weapon. "Shit!"

"Ow, ow, ow, ow!" Luffy cried as he ran through the fire and towards the blond cook. He stretched out his hands and caught the iron ball, "GUM GUM BAZOOKA!"

He pushed the iron spiked ball back exactly where it came from and Krieg had to shift to the side just to avoid getting hit with his own weapon. The ball broke the mast and sent it falling directly on top of Pearl's head. Emmy was about to let out a small sigh of relief when suddenly, she felt someone grab her from behind. Beside her, the old chef fell forward and a heavy boot was stomped right in the middle of his back.

"GAHHH!" Zeff groaned on the floor as Gin pointed a pistol at the old chef's head.

"Gin-san?!" Emmy gasped as she struggled against his hold.

"Shut up," Gin said coldly as he moved his hand to Emmy's throat and gave it a harsh squeeze to stop her from saying anything more.

"Emmy!"

"Damn geezer!"

"The battle ends here," Gin stated, his eyes meeting Luffy's and Sanji's widened ones.

Krieg laughed victoriously. "That's right! Shoot 'Red Foot' Zeff! All we need to do is kill him. Then the restaurant is ours! You even got the girl too!"

"Gin-san..." Emmy rasped, "You...don't want to do this..."

"I thought I told you to shut up," Gin hissed and pressed his fingers into Emmy's larynx.

"Gak!"

"Gin! You jerk! What are you doing?!" Luffy yelled as he bent his arm back, "You're hurting, Emmy!"

"NO! STOP!" Sanji shouted, grabbing Luffy's wrist to stop him from making an impulsive move, "He'll pull the trigger if you do anything to him!"

"That's right. Even if this old man was once a great pirate, he's just a cook now. It'll be easy for me to blow his brains out," Gin said, his eyes not moving from Sanji's face, "You want to save this man, right, Sanji-san? Please, leave this ship without a fight. I don't want to kill you."