"Speed. Power. Technique..."
Lucci's mind raced, cold rationality analyzing the battle.
His proud Six Styles were rendered so pale and powerless against Luffy's martial arts—which combined the uncanny properties of rubber with the overwhelming force of Haki.
The boost from the drugs had merely delayed defeat by a few moments, unable to bridge the chasm of fundamental gap.
"Dragging this out is meaningless. It'll only make things more pathetic."
A ferocity rose in Lucci's eyes.
He was CP9's strongest in 800 years. A ruthless weapon who placed the mission above all. Even if he was going to lose, he would lose completely—burning all his power, along with this borrowed drug strength, in this one strike!
"There's no other way!"
Luffy caught the look in Lucci's eyes and grinned. "Going all out. Good idea."
The moment the words left his mouth, Lucci growled low.
Luffy's gaze flickered. The leopard before him vanished from sight, every muscle in his body swelling and contracting violently beyond its limits. Seimei Kikan was pushed to its extreme.
THUD.
Lucci's entire body became a weapon. His leopard tail coiled around Luffy, his fists seeking to press against Luffy's chest. But Luffy's fist connected with Lucci's chest first—the huge impact sent Lucci flying. Luffy followed, his fist drawing back, then slamming downward.
Lucci's body dropped. He slapped his hands behind him. Instead of retreating from Luffy's attack, he advanced—abandoning defense and evasion, betting everything on this one strike!
"Rokushiki Ogi: Saikairin·Rokuogan!!!"
With this desperate roar, Lucci thrust both fists forward.
Two concentrated shockwaves erupted as dark red violent energy beams.
Where the beams passed, air was completely expelled. The ground was torn into deep trenches. With the devastating momentum of annihilation, they crashed toward Luffy.
This was his all-or-nothing strike—his life's learning fused with every ounce of his current power.
Facing this earth-shattering attack, Luffy's white form lowered slightly. But his face showed no dignity—instead, there was an eager excitement.
His arms stretched back—not toward the sky, but plunged into the shabby half of the Tower of Justice behind him.
A strange phenomenon occurred. The hard brick walls were assimilated, taking on rubber's unique luster and texture, then violently twisted and deformed into a giant slingshot, pulled to its limit.
Gomu Gomu no: White Rocket!!!
Before the words faded, the rubberized tower wreckage released amazing elastic force.
Luffy's feet kicked off the twisted rubber wall. He accelerated to an unimaginable degree, becoming a streak of pure white light, dragging a blazing tail flame behind him from high-speed friction with the air, charging head-on into the two dark red energy torrents.
BOOM.
Pure white and dark red collided!
The deafening roar seemed to tear Enies Lobby apart. Dazzling light erupted from the impact center. Terror energy rings spread outward, flattening everything in the vicinity.
But this stalemate lasted barely an instant.
Luffy was already close to Lucci, grinning at him.
Lucci's pupils contracted.
Impossible!
The next moment, Lucci was swallowed by the irresistible force. He flew backward like a puppet with cut strings.
Arcing through the air in a pale trajectory, he crashed heavily into the ruins below the Tower of Justice, sending up a massive cloud of dust.
His aura, forcibly boosted by the Berserker drug, rapidly sluggish like a punctured balloon.
For Luffy, this was natural. The two were no longer in the same league.
Across the battlefield, the CP9 members battling Zoro, Sanji, and the others all caught this decisive moment from the corners of their eyes.
Kaku's proboscis slash paused. Zoro seized the opening, forcing him back. Kaku sighed inwardly:
"Still not enough?"
They had all been easily handled by Luffy before. Even with drugs, the gap was insurmountable.
Jabra traded kicks with Sanji, using the force to leap back. He watched the direction Lucci had flown, his mouth twitching, but no mocking laughter came. Only overwhelming helplessness.
Kalifa, Blueno, and the others' hearts also sank.
Even Lucci—enhanced by drugs and unleashing his ultimate technique—had been so utterly defeated. Their earlier defeat hadn't been an accident.
That Straw Hat existed in a completely different dimension.
They braced themselves, expecting to be swept aside by the victor. Their tense nerves awaited the next attack.
But unexpectedly, Luffy—who had just overwhelmed Lucci—didn't even glance at them.
Using his rubber body's natural rebound from the collision, and the weak elasticity of the rubberized ground beneath his feet, he made an agile mid-air turn. Weightless, he suddenly shot higher, streaking toward the Courthouse deep within Enies Lobby—the symbol of judgment and order.
His target had been clear from the start.
SHWOOM!
Like a vast white meteor, he instantly spanned the distance. In a few bounds, he stood atop the Courthouse at the heart of Enies Lobby's.
His gaze locked onto the huge flag flying atop the highest walls in the distance—snapping in the eternal daylight.
Luffy had never seen the World Government flag before, but he figured it was like a pirate crew's Jolly Roger—if it was flying at the highest point, that had to be it.
So destroying that flag would be declaring war on the World Government, right?
But where were the witnesses?
Without witnesses, who would know it was him?
What was the difference between this and some nobody cursing the World Government in the privacy of their own home?
Just as he was wondering where to find witnesses, he spotted someone scrambling out of the entrance—Spandam.
After accidentally pressing the Buster Call button, Spandam had been both furious and panicked, rushing out to assess the situation.
Now he was leaning against a wall, catching his breath, still shaken.
He looked up—and saw the figure in the straw hat. His pupils contracted.
"S-Straw Hat?!"
Spandam's face twisted with disbelief, then he yelped like a cat with its tail stepped on, screaming:
"What are you doing here?! Didn't that worthless Lucci swear he was going to stop you?! Useless—all of CP9 is useless!"
Luffy couldn't be bothered with this yapping. He didn't even know who this guy was. He was waiting for someone behind Spandam.
"It's all because of that demon child, Nico Robin!"
It was only when Spandam turned the topic to Robin that Luffy's attention sharpened:
"You pirates have no idea what you're messing with! The World Government will not let this go! That woman should have died at Ohara..."
***
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