[One Piece World]
"It's over…"
"It's so over! This time it's really over!"
"Even if Luffy can rubberize his whole body in an instant, so he's not afraid of heavy blows…"
"That Fleet Admiral Sengoku is obviously not holding back at all!"
"I seriously doubt… can Luffy really endure it?"
In the real world.
On the Straw Hat Pirates' ship, everyone had gathered close together.
Watching the scene on-screen, Chopper's eyes went wide. His voice trembled with a sobbing tone—he could barely stand to keep watching.
Beside him, Nami, Robin, and Usopp were just as pale, cold sweat pouring down as their bodies went stiff.
Even the two who usually had the strongest fighting spirit—who always believed in Luffy, and had fought shoulder-to-shoulder with him all this time—
Zoro.
Sanji.
Their expressions weren't outright terrified…
But their brows were tightly knitted, worry written all over their faces.
It couldn't be helped!
The enemy was the Fleet Admiral—absurdly strong!
A powerhouse on the level of an Admiral—there was no need to question his strength!
So even if they had complete faith in Luffy…
Even if they had always believed that this naive, optimistic, hot-blooded young man would never be crushed by any hardship or setback…
Still…
What they were seeing right now felt like despair.
Not even the tiniest sliver of hope.
Not even the faintest chance of a miracle.
But Luffy himself was different.
Under his black hair, his expression remained calm as always.
Luffy wasn't blind.
He could clearly see that his future self was facing lethal danger—Sengoku's fist was already hanging over his head!
And yet…
Because of his optimism…
Because his emotions and resolve had synchronized with his future self—
He swore he would give everything he had to save Ace, the Straw Hat's brother!
So right now, Luffy's state of mind was steady.
Or rather… he had practically shut his eyes and focused on nothing but the enemy.
And…
Out of battle instinct, Luffy vaguely sensed it—
In the next moment, his future self would definitely rely on his Devil Fruit ability and rubberize his whole body!
That way…
Once Sengoku's massive palm came down—
Slamming into rubber would cause an immediate rebound!
The power would be reduced, and it could even create an opposing shock force!
In short—
Luffy wasn't afraid of getting hurt!
As long as his future self could save Ace…
Even if the price was heavy, he was willing to sacrifice himself!!!
Meanwhile…
On the transparent light screen—
In the eyes of the entire world, the battle footage continued.
And what happened next…
Completely exceeded everyone's expectations.
Just when everyone thought Luffy was about to get hit—
That he would go down injured with no suspense at all—
A sudden reversal happened!!!
To the side…
Those two sword-wielding executioners who had been guarding Ace—
The ones who had already collapsed unconscious from Conqueror's Haki—
One of them…
Actually stood up.
He removed his cap, faced the camera, and revealed his face.
It was none other than—
The man who had appeared back in Impel Down during the mass breakout…
The one who had sacrificed himself to block Magellan's direct attack…
The one Luffy and the others had mistakenly believed was already dead—
One of Crocodile's former key subordinates…
Mr. 3!
That's right.
Right then—
Under Luffy's astonished gaze—
Mr. 3 used the power of the Candle-Candle Fruit.
Above the area where he, Luffy, and Ace were positioned—
Right in front of the camera—
He conjured a gigantic, umbrella-shaped, rock-hard white barrier out of wax!
At the same time, Luffy didn't just stand there.
He took a deep breath and blew hard, using a technique—
Gum-Gum Giant Balloon!
He inflated himself and braced beneath the wax barrier!
And so—
When Sengoku's enormous Buddha palm—
Wrapped in blinding golden light—
Came crashing down with violent force—
It was stopped.
As a result—
What looked like a furious, full-power strike…
In reality didn't cause that much damage at all.
When it landed on Luffy's body, it only shook him enough to make him cough up a small mouthful of blood.
As for Ace and Mr. 3—
Even though they had been in a terrifying situation—
The execution platform had been blasted apart, and they had fallen from high above…
In the end—
They still weren't injured.
Not a scratch on either of them.
At most, their clothes were a bit dirty, their faces dusted with smoke and ash.
The entire sequence—
From beginning to end—
Was broadcast live by the ranking video, transmitted everywhere in the real world.
And when it was over—
Future Sengoku, after failing to land the strike and even accidentally collapsing the execution platform—allowing Ace and the others to escape—
Bit down lightly under the seagull-emblazoned cap and muttered to himself:
"This is bad!"
That segment ended right there.
It had looked like Luffy was trapped in a dead end—
Yet in the end, he turned the tables and survived!
More than that—
He completed the objective beautifully—
Rescuing Ace from captivity without injuries.
Such a result…
Naturally left everyone stunned and incredulous.
And because of that—
A flood of comments scrolled across the top of the screen in real time:
"Marechiyo: ??? No way! Th-This… seriously?! He actually pulled the rescue off just like that?!"
"Toshiro: The rescue process was way too easy! This is easier than pushing a box!"
"Kenpachi: What is this…? So the 'Fleet Admiral' is this weak? That's all?"
"Shunsui: The Fleet Admiral's live on-air 'scratch damage'… what a letdown."
First—
It was the Soul Reaper captains.
Watching from the First Division barracks, they all stared blankly at the screen.
The anticipation on their faces instantly turned into speechless awkwardness.
What was that…?
Isn't the Fleet Admiral supposed to be one of the Navy's strongest?
So why was Sengoku's furious, full-power strike just now…
So pathetic?
Forget seriously injuring Luffy—
To put it bluntly, it looked like he was scrubbing the guy's rubber body in public.
And what left them even more at a loss was this—
They had assumed that with Karp and Sengoku—two legendary powerhouses—personally stationed there…
The execution platform should have been the most dangerous, most tightly guarded, most difficult-to-approach location on the entire battlefield.
But instead…
The situation flipped to an absurd extreme.
From Luffy leaping up onto the execution platform—
To the platform getting blown apart by a single punch—
The platform's defenses were basically nonexistent.
And Karp and Sengoku—
Those two "veteran actors"—
Felt like transparent men.
Not only were they seemingly letting things slide…
It was almost like they were one step away from openly being insiders.
Faced with a plot development like this—
The captains hadn't predicted it at all.
So of course—
They fired off comments immediately to vent in real time.
Because it was genuinely hard to keep a straight face.
(End of Chapter)
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