Chaos threatened to consume the Live Stage.
Despite the mutiny of the cured Beast Pirates and the arrival of the Straw Hat crew, the volume of combatants made the cavern dangerous. Stray bullets ricocheted off stone pillars. Explosions rattled the floorboards.
Standing on a high balcony overlooking the fray, Queen the Plague grew tired of the shifting loyalties. The cyborg shifted his thick cigar to the corner of his mouth.
"Worthless trash," the All-Star grumbled, looking down at the cured Waiters and Pleasures defending the reindeer doctor. "If you won't die from the virus, I will just crush all of you myself."
Opening a large hatch on his mechanical arm, the cyborg revealed a cluster of heavy, explosive warheads. Targeting the center of the medical station, Queen prepared to wipe out the entire cluster of samurai and mutineers in a single blast.
Before the firing mechanism could click, a blur of dark fabric materialized in the air beside the balcony.
Moving with the frictionless, sliding footwork of Renewal Taekwondo, Sanji bypassed the vision of the ancient Zoan. Pivoting smoothly on his left heel, his right leg blurred into motion.
Bo-bup. Roundhouse.
A heavy leather shoe, coated in dense, black Armament Haki, slammed into the side of the cyborg's face.
The impact cracked the stone balcony instantly. The force lifted the towering commander off his feet. Launching horizontally through the air, Queen crashed through the heavy wooden walls of the Live Stage, disappearing into the dark, winding corridors of the Right Brain Tower.
Landing lightly on the edge of the ruined balcony, Sanji adjusted his dark suit jacket.
"I can't let you drop bombs in the middle of a dining hall," the cook muttered, brushing a speck of dust from his sleeve. "It ruins the appetite."
Ignoring the cheering samurai below, the pirate stepped through the shattered wall, following his target into the depths of the fortress to ensure the fight remained isolated.
Several corridors away, a massive pile of rubble shifted.
Pushing heavy stone blocks aside, Queen rose to his feet. The All-Star rubbed his jaw, spitting a broken mechanical tooth onto the floorboards. The blow had not caused critical damage, but the weight behind the kick irritated the proud commander.
"A Vinsmoke," Queen sneered, spotting the dark-suited pirate walking calmly through the settling dust. "Judge's little failure. You actually think you can take me on alone?"
Stepping into the ruined hall, Sanji scanned the environment.
The room appeared to be an abandoned weapons manufacturing sector. Heavy iron anvils, broken conveyor belts, and piles of scrap metal littered the massive space. The thick walls and reinforced ceiling made it the perfect place to dismantle a noisy cyborg without worrying about collateral damage.
"Don't mention that man's name to me," the cook replied casually, lighting a fresh cigarette. Exhaling a thin cloud of gray smoke, he kept his hands resting in his pockets. "And I don't think I can take you. I know I can. This won't take long."
The dismissive tone infuriated the All-Star.
"Arrogant brat!" Queen roared.
Activating his Devil Fruit, the cyborg's body expanded rapidly. Shifting into his massive Brachiosaurus hybrid form, the bulk of the ancient Zoan threatened to crush the heavy iron machinery scattered around the room. Mechanical augmentations lined his thick hide.
Opening his jaws, a bright yellow light gathered in the back of his throat.
Black Coffee!
A concentrated, highly destructive laser beam shot across the room, intended to vaporize the pirate instantly.
Sanji leaned his torso slightly to the left, the cook kept his hands in his pockets.
The laser beam scorched the air mere inches from his ear, blowing a massive hole through the reinforced stone wall behind him. Heat washed over his suit, but the fabric remained untouched.
"Missed," Sanji noted, taking another drag from his cigarette.
"Don't get cocky!" the Brachiosaurus yelled.
Extending his mechanical neck, Queen launched a barrage of rapid-fire laser blasts from his mouth and the hidden ports along his augmented shoulders. A deadly grid of yellow light crisscrossed the room, obliterating the iron anvils and tearing the floorboards to splinters.
Sanji moved through the crossfire like a leaf dancing on the wind.
Stepping forward, slipping backward, and pivoting on his heels, the cook navigated the lethal maze of light effortlessly. The advanced observation Haki made the frantic barrage look like a slow, poorly coordinated light show.
Closing the distance without a scratch, Sanji arrived beneath the towering dinosaur.
"My turn," the cook announced, removing his right hand from his pocket.
Planting his hands lightly on the floor, he pushed his body upward into a perfectly balanced handstand. Spinning his legs like the blades of a helicopter, he generated momentum.
Collier Strike.
The rising kick caught the Brachiosaurus squarely under the chin.
Instead of relying solely on surface impact, Sanji utilized advanced Armament Haki. He flowed his spiritual energy directly into the dinosaur's thick hide, bypassing the hardened outer scales. The force erupted internally, causing devastating shockwaves within the cyborg's neck mechanics.
Choking on a metallic cough, Queen stumbled backward. His massive head snapped upward, gears grinding in protest as the internal destruction rattled his artificial vocal cords.
Flipping back onto his feet, Sanji landed silently. The power gap between the two combatants stood glaringly apparent. The cook wasn't breathing heavily. No sweat beaded on his forehead. He dismantled the All-Star's offense with the casual ease of a chef chopping vegetables.
"Your armor is thick," Sanji commented, tapping his leather shoe against the floorboards to clear some dust. "But it doesn't matter how thick the pan is if the heat cooks the inside perfectly."
Recovering his balance, Queen glared down at the small pirate. The mockery burned worse than the damage.
"You think you are special?" Queen growled, reaching a heavy hand toward a control panel on his augmented belt. "I know all about Germa science. I worked with Judge. I can replicate every single toy your pathetic siblings use. Let's see how you handle this."
Pressing a button, the cyborg vanished from sight.
The massive Brachiosaurus did not merely turn transparent; the advanced stealth technology erased his visual presence and muffled the heavy thud of his boots.
"Stealth Black," Queen's voice echoed from everywhere at once, bouncing off the stone walls. "The perfect invisibility. You can't hit what you can't see!"
Standing in the center of the empty room, Sanji let out a long, tired sigh.
Taking the cigarette from his mouth, he dropped it onto the floor and crushed the ember beneath his heel. The constant references to his biological family drained his patience.
"You rely on cheap tricks," Sanji said to the empty air.
Closing his eyes, the cook expanded his spiritual awareness. Basic Observation Haki relied on visual or auditory cues, easily fooled by advanced stealth technology. Advanced Observation, however, felt the very presence of living energy, the subtle shifts in air pressure, and the hostile intent radiating from a target.
To the cook's honed senses, the invisible dinosaur shone like a lighthouse in the dark.
A sudden displacement of air rushed toward his right side. An invisible, massive claw aimed to crush his ribs.
Raising his right leg, he coated his shin in dense, blackened Armament Haki. He met the incoming invisible strike head-on.
The heavy leather shoe clashed against the unseen claws. A shockwave cleared the dust from the floorboards. The immense weight of the ancient Zoan pressed down, attempting to overpower the block.
Pushing back, Sanji tapped into the reserves of his willpower.
Black lightning suddenly began to spark violently from his raised leg. The jagged streaks of Conqueror's Haki danced across his dark suit, tearing at the air. The realization of his own kingly ambition, fully embraced after his training with the marimo, flooded his strikes with overwhelming spiritual pressure.
"What is that?!" the invisible cyborg gasped, feeling the crushing weight of the advanced coating.
"Get out of my sight," Sanji commanded softly.
Snapping his leg forward in a short burst, the supreme spiritual pressure shattered the stealth generators hidden within the cyborg's arm.
The invisibility cloaking failed instantly in a shower of blue sparks. Queen reappeared, stumbling backward in shock, holding his dented, smoking mechanical limb. The realization that the cook possessed the color of the supreme king rattled the All-Star's confidence.
"You... you have it too?" Queen stammered, his eyes widening.
"I have a lot of things," Sanji replied, his voice turning cold. "But patience isn't one of them."
Taking the offensive, the cook blurred into motion.
Renewal Taekwondo: 3rd Stance - Hwechook.
Whipping his leg around in a rapid triple-kick sequence, Sanji targeted the thick joints of the Brachiosaurus. The first strike hit the left knee, buckling the heavy leg. The second strike caught the right shoulder, disrupting the cyborg's balance. The final, spinning heel kick slammed into the center of Queen's chest.
Coated in advanced Armament and trailing black lightning, the impact echoed like a cannon shot.
The internal destruction tore through the cyborg's chest cavity. Metal plating buckled outward. Wires snapped, and thick, black oil sprayed across the room as the internal mechanisms failed violently.
Crashing onto his back, the massive dinosaur shook the foundations of the tower.
Gasping for air, Queen struggled to push himself up. The superiority of the pirate was undeniable. Every attack the All-Star launched met a flawless defense. Every counter-attack broke through his thickest armor. The fight had never been a balanced contest.
Desperation fueled the commander's final gambit.
"I won't lose to Judge's brat!" Queen roared, his voice distorting through broken vocal synthesizers.
The Brachiosaurus triggered a grotesque, hidden mechanism. The massive body of the dinosaur detached from its own torso. Like a snake leaving its skin, the long neck, head, and tail shot forward, leaving the bulky legs and heavy torso behind.
Brachiojaurus!
The snake construct shot across the room, wrapping tightly around the cook.
The pressure of the constriction technique possessed enough force to shatter every bone in an ordinary warrior's body. Queen intended to squeeze the life out of the pirate.
"I will break every bone in your body!" the snake-like head laughed, tightening the coils.
"You talk too much about breaking bones," Sanji noted calmly.
The pirate activated the genetic enhancements lying dormant within his blood. Thanks to Ben, he did not lose his emotions or turn into a cold, unfeeling machine. He simply allowed the reinforced exoskeleton to harden, providing an unbreakable foundation. The crushing pressure of the ancient Zoan squeezed against his ribs, failing to crack the hardened structure beneath his skin.
Igniting the friction within his own body, the cook's leg burst into blinding, white-hot blue flames.
The heat radiating from the Ifrit Jambe did not require scientific augmentation or raid suits. It burned with the passion and raw spiritual energy of his own soul, intensified by the advanced Haki flowing through his veins.
The sudden, searing heat scorched the scaly coils wrapping around him.
Screaming in agony, the Brachiojaurus loosened its grip, unable to withstand the melting temperature of the blue fire.
Slipping free from the burning coils, Sanji stepped back. The blue flames climbed higher, wrapping around his lower leg, crackling with intense, devastating heat and trailing thick streaks of black lightning.
"Let me show you a real technique," the cook offered, lowering his stance.
Realizing the impending danger, Queen pulled his snake-like body back toward his abandoned torso. Reconnecting the biological components frantically, the cyborg prepared his ultimate, most desperate defense.
Opening every single hidden weapons port on his massive body, Queen charged every laser, loaded every explosive round, and readied his heavy mechanical arms.
"Die!" Queen screamed, unleashing a massive, simultaneous barrage of light, fire, and steel.
Sanji ignored the incoming wall of destruction.
Taking a deep breath, pushing off the floorboards, he slid forward.
Ifrit Jambe: Renewal Supreme Hwechook.
Spinning with blinding velocity, the cook bypassed the barrage of lasers. The intense heat of his blue flames melted the incoming explosive rounds mid-air, creating a safe tunnel through the destruction.
Closing the distance, Sanji unleashed the kick.
The flaming leather shoe struck the dead center of the Brachiosaurus's chest.
The impact defied ordinary physics.
A shockwave of blue fire and black lightning expanded outward, consuming the entire weapons manufacturing room. The advanced Armament Haki poured directly into the cyborg, obliterating the mechanical core and shattering the ancient Zoan skeleton simultaneously.
The rotational force of the Renewal Taekwondo technique generated a massive, spiraling cyclone of heat and kinetic energy.
Unable to withstand the overwhelming power, Queen's massive body lifted off the floor. The armor plating melted. The internal circuitry exploded in a chain reaction of catastrophic failures.
Carried by the immense force of the kick, the All-Star crashed through the heavy stone walls of the Right Brain Tower.
The dinosaur blew through the outer defenses of the fortress, sailing out into the cold night sky. Unconscious long before he ever cleared the island, the defeated commander plummeted rapidly toward the dark, churning ocean far below.
The blinding blue light faded from the ruined room.
Landing smoothly on his feet, the flames extinguishing from his leg, Sanji stood alone amidst the smoking rubble. The heavy iron machinery had melted into slag. The walls were gone, offering a clear, breezy view of the night sky.
Breathing steadily, the cook showed no signs of fatigue. The battle had demanded focus, but the power gap had never truly been in question.
Reaching into his pocket, Sanji pulled out a fresh, uncrushed cigarette.
Placing it between his lips, he raised his lighter. A tiny spark of normal, orange flame flickered to life, lighting the tobacco. Taking a slow drag, he exhaled a thin cloud of smoke into the cool night air.
Stepping lightly over a pool of spilled oil, the pirate brushed a few stray specks of ash from his suit jacket, ensuring the fabric remained pristine.
"Now then," Sanji murmured to himself, turning his back on the massive hole in the wall. "I should probably check on others."
Adjusting his cuffs, the cook walked calmly back toward the interior corridors of the fortress, leaving the destruction of an Emperor's top commander behind him as an afterthought.