One Piece, Volume 7

Chapter 54
The Don Krieg pirates attack the Baratie chefs. Both claim to be more powerful as they've each faced separate, but challenging perils. Patty and Carne, who have exited safely from their tank, beat back many of the Krieg Pirates and cheer on their fellow workers. They remind them they fight not for just the Baratie, but their freedom to cook and fight where they are shunned from most ordinary restaurants.

However, the self-proclaimed Invincible Pearl appears behind the two chefs. He claims to be the most powerful and proves it by beating the chef duo in one punch as he wears his armor made of pearl and steel. When Sanji see that some of Krieg's pirates take the opportunity to steal Carne's knives, he kicks away all of the pirates and retains ownership of the knife for his chef friend.

When this Pearl continues his arrogant taunts, claiming he has not even bled one time in his battles, Sanji attacks him. At the same time, Don Krieg treacherously attacks Luffy who was enjoying Sanji's show. Luffy is sent flying in the process, but accidentally fall back on Pearl's head, knocking it into his armor. Pearl lifts his head and reveals A drop of blood coming from his nose as the first time he's bled in battle.

Chapter 55
When Pearl receives the first bloody nose of his life, he enters a berserk rage and sets his armor on fire by punching the pearls on it. Many of the chefs become frightened and warn him that he will set the entire ship on fire. However, as a cook, Sanji warns the other chefs they should not be afraid of fire as he leaps over the firewall Pearl has created.

Sanji continues to battle Pearl with his superior speed and kicking abilities. He tells them that a chef's tools include his hands so he only uses his feet when fighting. Pearl becomes increasingly upset as he is trashed by Sanji.

In order to stop him from destroying the ship, Don Krieg throws a knob toward Sanji and Pearl. Luffy is able to deflect it with his Gum Gum Bazooka. The knob instead destroys Don Krieg's ship mast which falls over and subsequently renders Pearl unconscious.

However, the Krieg Pirates have not said their last word. While they were fighting, Gin has taken Zeff down and threatens to take his life as he holds a gun to his head.

Chapter 56
Taking Zeff hostage, Gin asks Sanji to leave the ship. Sanji refuses and tells him to go to hell. What might appear as a very egotistical reaction on Sanji's part, turns out to be a gesture of sacrifice. Indeed, Sanji asks Gin to point the gun at him instead of the owner, and when the newly conscious Pearl attacks him, he does not avoid or counter him anymore. Luffy gets ready to punch Pearl, but Sanji yells at him to stop. If they do anything further to harm the Krieg pirates, Gin is highly liable to act on his threat. Sanji knows this, and holds himself accountable for Zeff and the Baratie. The reasons behind his weird shift in behavior are hidden in the past of these two chefs: Sanji blames himself for having destroyed Zeff's former life, his dreams, and his strength. He does not want him to lose anything more and would die rather than give Don Krieg the Baratie.

Pearl takes this opportunity to wallop Sanji, since he won't raise a finger to possibly endanger Zeff. The cooks around them are dying to know what could have possibly happened to them so long ago, because they were under the impression that Sanji had hated the head cook. While Sanji is down after several attacks from Pearl, two words come to mind before the scene flashes back in time: All Blue.  Nine years ago, young Sanji was an apprentice chef on the Orbit cruise ship. He one day told his older chef companions about his dream to find the All Blue, a legendary sea where all species of fish and seafood from all the world's oceans could be found. After mocking him for believing that such a sea exists, they began to eat the many leftovers left by the clients. Sanji finds this disgusting, and berates them for eating scraps, when there is still fresh food and their next port of call is only two days away. The more experienced cooks reply that on the sea, one does not know what may happen. A sea-faring cook must take advantage of whatever resources are available. He doesn't see the allure, and rejects their leftovers again.

Suddenly people on the deck began running and yelling for help. The ship is being attacked by Zeff and his crew, the Cook Pirates.

Chapter 57
9 years ago, a cruise ship was attacked by pirates, fresh from their journey to the Grand Line. They are the fearsome Cook Pirates captained by the chef pirate Zeff. The two captains meet, and hardly a second passes after the cruise ship captain asks their demands when Zeff commands his men to take everything of value. After pillaging, they bring back their spoils to the deck, in order to transfer it to their ship. Zeff notices something amiss with one of the bags that his underling set down, and he commands him to stop. The pirate knows he has been caught stealing food from the bag, and he starts to make excuses, but Zeff delivers a megaton force kick and sends him across the deck. Zeff reiterates that you should never touch someone else's food. Meanwhile, Sanji does not accept this fate and has decided to bravely attack the pirates with his cooking knives. He is easily beaten but does not surrender. The young boy does not want to die, until he has realized his dream to find All Blue. Upon hearing this, Zeff has a pensive look on his face, as if he is considering Sanji, but all the other pirates burst into raucous laughter, stating that such a place does not exist, even on the Grand Line.

With the storm getting stronger, Zeff orders his men back to their ship. But a large wave catches Sanji and he is thrown overboard. Immediately, Zeff snaps a mast off with a kick and grabs it while he jumps in to save him, against his better judgment. Unfortunately, an even bigger wave smashes both ships to pieces, and all is in chaos as the storm goes on.

After a few days, Sanji wakes up on a large rock, deserted at sea. He sees that he only has Zeff for a companion, and starts when he realizes the possible threat. After being kicked though, it is evident that he is in no condition to move so fast. Sanji asks about his ship, and Zeff guesses that there were no survivors. The wreckage of his own ship around him indicates that no one is likely to have made it. They have no choice but to wait for rescue, which they both know is unlikely, due to their precarious situation. He informs Sanji that the storm was two days ago, and they were washed up on this barren rock, stranded with no resources whatsoever. They still maintain their rivalrous banter, but Zeff at least deigns to give him a portion of some food that washed up with them. Sanji complains at how much bigger Zeff's portion is, but he only says that he needs more since he is bigger. Sanji isn't at all happy about this, but Zeff has complete control of the situation, and without this food, they face the horrible possibility of having to resort to cannibalism. Zeff tells him to stay on one side of the island, while he goes to the other, so they have a greater chance of spotting a ship.

Now alone, Sanji watches the sun setting over the ocean. He is very hungry and turns to look at his food supply, but thinks on what Zeff said earlier: Normally, it would be enough food for five days, but as chefs, they should be able to make it last longer. He hangs his head, starving but determined to stick it out. On the other side, Zeff holds a boulder aloft, and through a piece of wood clenched in his teeth, he says determinedly that this is the end of "Red Leg" Zeff. He brings the rock down on his leg, severing it just below the right knee.

Chapter 58
Sanji tried to divide his small portion of food wisely, but after 25 days he had only one piece of moldy bread left. He had only seen one ship that did not even see him pass. After 70 days, weak and hopeless, he decided to reach Zeff to steal his food.

Upon arriving, he found Zeff's bag was still almost full. He became enraged and approached Zeff with a knife, declaring he was taking the food and did not care about him. However, when Sanji opened the bag, he found it had only been filled with treasures. Sanji realized that Zeff had given him all the food and that he had only survived by eating his own leg. When asked why he acted such foolishly while they hate each other, the pirate revealed that, he too, believed in the All Blue and that he was trying to find it in the Grand Line. However, now that he no longer has his crew, he could not realize this dream anymore. He decided if they were rescued, he would retire from piracy and start a restaurant.

The miracle occurred, after 85 days, the ship Sanji had seen came back and saved them.

Back in the present, Sanji's behavior makes more sense: in the memory of the old man that saved his life, he will not allow anyone to kill him or steal his last dream.

Chapter 59
Sanji continues to let Pearl assault him as he has decided to die rather than let the Baratie be taken by the Krieg Pirates. Luffy becomes angry as he does not understand how Sanji's death would repay Zeff's sacrifice. To put an end to Sanji's suicide, he destroys the Baratie since it is the target of Don Krieg. While Sanji and Luffy fighting about the best solution to save Zeff, Pearl decides to attack them. However, he is stopped by Gin, who defeats him with one blow. He proclaims he will take care of Sanji's death, personally.

Chapter 60
Gin promises he will honor Sanji by killing him by his own hands. Sanji has little reaction to Gin's threats. This also goes for Luffy, who does not see himself loosing in front of such a crew.

For the Krieg Pirates, who see themselves as the most powerful of East Blue, this is unforgivable and they rush the two kids. However, they are immediately stopped by their captain; while he is here they have not to be worry of who is the stronger. However, when Krieg asks Luffy the question of who is stronger, Luffy naturally responds that he is the strongest one here.

In order to make him realize the difference between the two of them, Don Krieg threatens Luffy with one of his strongest weapons - the poison gas MH5. Krieg fires the bomb at the Baratie. When Luffy attempts to bounce the bomb back, it reveals to actually be a shuriken bomb and not a poison bomb. Hurt by the sharp stakes, Luffy admits he was tricked, but he continues to assert that he is the strongest. As his anger rises, Don Krieg asks Gin to take care of Sanji. He tells him he will deal with Luffy personally.

Chapter 61
Sanji and Gin fight but their attacks cause little damage. They find their abilities are equally matched. The Krieg Pirates estimate that Gin will lose, but Don Krieg says Gin's fighting abilities will no give out. He explains that Gin is a calm and collected "Demon". He tells them that Gin can kill his opponents without pardon and many people have called him "The Demon". That's why he had placed him as the battle commander in his armada. Due to his injuries from fighting with Pearl, Sanji is cornered by Gin. Patty and the other Baratie cooks become worried.

Meanwhile, Luffy attacks Don Krieg, but Don Krieg releases his armor and plans to kill Luffy. He shoots Luffy with bombs and spears. That spears impale Luffy's foot, and he almost falls into the ocean. Luffy asks if Don Krieg is not serious to fight him directly. Krieg answers the most important skill in fighting is to kill the opponent. Krieg jeers that Luffy is a monkey because he attacks without strategy.

Don Krieg's Pirates scream that Sanji's bone is broken. Gin roughs up Sanji ten times. Gin attacks Sanji and brings him close to his death. Krieg's Pirates cheer at Gin's win. When Gin prepares to execute Sanji, he remembers how Sanji gave him food. Gin begins crying. He admits he cannot kill the only man who treated him kindly in his entire life.

Chapter 62
Don Krieg is disappointed with Gin because he disobeys his order to kill Sanji. Before that, Gin was the person he trusted the most. Krieg sees excess in Gin's personality that will win in the battlefield. Gin says he will always respect and admire Krieg. However, he cannot kill Sanji and requests to let the Baratie go free. Krieg becomes angered at Gin's gall. The Krieg Pirates remain confused about what happened to Gin.

Krieg prepares to shoot his MH5 bomb. All of Krieg's crew pull out their masks to survive. Krieg demotes Gin and asks him to throw away his mask. The Don Krieg Pirates cannot believe that Krieg would kill Gin. Gin was very loyal, such as when the crew hazed from Fullbody, Gin went alone to the ships of the Marine and masqueraded as captain. Gin always sacrificed himself to save Krieg and he did anything to win, that's why people called him "Demon".

Meanwhile, Luffy attempts to stop Krieg, but fails. Luffy takes back his step and announces he will save Gin from Krieg. But Gin still believes in Krieg as his commander and throws away his mask as he was commanded. Krieg shoots the MH5. The Baratie cooks escape by diving underwater and Krieg's crew uses their masks to protect themselves from the poison gas.

Thinking quick, Luffy takes two masks away from some of Krieg's pirates. He gives the masks to Sanji and Gin. When Luffy wants to take a mask for himself, no masks remain. Suddenly, he spots a mask as the MH5 activates and places it on his face. After 5 minutes, the gas dissipates and Gin is revealed to have not worn his mask. Luffy realizes that Gin selflessly gave him his mask.