"How is this possible…? Ace, you're still alive, but your ability is gone?"
Monkey D. Luffy stared at Portgas D. Ace, shock written plainly across his face.
But there was no time to think.
A massive pink dragon shadow swept down from the sky.
Vice Admiral Onigumo, in his artificial Azure Dragon form, twisted his body midair and roared, flames gathering in his throat.
"Don't think you're leaving here alive!"
A blast of dragon breath shot toward them.
Luffy didn't hesitate. He grabbed Ace and hurled him toward the shore.
At the same time, his arm stretched far beyond normal limits and snapped forward—
Bang!
His fist slammed into the dragon's snout, sending the enormous body crashing down.
The ground—already turned elastic by Luffy's awakening—absorbed the impact like rubber. The dragon bounced once before rolling to a stop.
Ace landed safely. The rubberized earth softened his fall like a trampoline.
He clenched his fists.
Without the Mera Mera no Mi, his strength had dropped sharply. Worse, he still bore the weakness of a Devil Fruit user. Sea-Prism Stone would still restrain him. And he could not simply eat another fruit.
Blackbeard had stripped him of power and left him crippled.
Above, Onigumo rose again, fury burning in his eyes.
"Even if Ace escapes… I will kill you here! Son of Dragon!"
He lunged forward, blade in hand.
Luffy stood still.
The drums continued.
Dong… dong… dong…
He pressed his palm to his chest.
"Resonate… heartbeat."
The rhythm intensified.
The ground rippled.
Under his feet, the entire plaza warped into rolling rubber waves. Marines lost their footing and were thrown aside.
Onigumo swung his blade down at Luffy's head.
Duang.
The sound was strange.
The blade struck—but instead of cutting, it bent.
The steel softened on contact, turning pliable like rubber.
Onigumo's eyes widened.
"What—?!"
The weapon in his hands had been assimilated.
Luffy didn't even look at him. His body moved freely, almost instinctively, laughing as he ran across the bending battlefield.
The dragon roared and threw away the ruined sword.
"If weapons won't work—!"
He kicked.
Dragon claws smashed into Luffy's head.
But Luffy's body dented inward like soft rubber.
The force compressed him downward, flattening him briefly—
Then the ground beneath him rebounded.
The energy was returned in full.
Onigumo was blasted backward by the recoil.
A thick pillar of rubber shot up from the earth, slamming into his torso and launching him into the air.
Luffy ran straight up the bending pillar as if gravity no longer applied.
His arms stretched, twisted, and coiled midair.
Both Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki wrapped around him instinctively—not forced, not deliberate, but natural.
Onigumo tried to regain control of his flight.
But every surface he touched softened.
Every attack he launched was absorbed.
In this awakened state, the battlefield itself had become Luffy's ally.
The pink dragon twisted desperately in the air, but he was fighting inside someone else's domain now.
And in that domain—
Nika laughed.
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