I actually like the Chicken Knife. You can get it really powerful if you run from enough battles, and you can always walk around and get in extra random encounters to level up if you are escaping too much. I dont like the Brave Blade as much, because it starts out stronger, but it gets weaker if you escape at all, and there are some situations (Low on HP, MP and items and lots of progress since save point) where you want to escape.