Luffy's rubber body dispersed and absorbed the terrifying impact, but the spot that was hit still stung fiercely.
Zephyr, meanwhile, felt his ribs tremble from Luffy's concentrated bullet punch. Even his coated Haki rippled slightly. He involuntarily took half a step back, a flicker of pain crossing his face.
This brat's attacks had immense penetrating power!
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
Zephyr steadied himself and, without pause, raised his mechanical arm again, firing a barrage of bullets to block all of Luffy's possible escape routes.
This time, however, Luffy chose not to tank it.
His Kenbunshoku Haki keenly captured that among the dense ordinary bullets, there were several with slightly different colors bullets that instinctively made him feel disgusting and dangerous.
His body drifted like willow catkins, weaving through gaps that left barely any room for error. He let the deadly metal torrent brush past the edges of his clothes and the tips of his hair, not a single one hitting him.
Seeing this, Zephyr stopped firing. He looked at Luffy, whose movements were as agile as a ghost, and grinned. "Such sharp Kenbunshoku Haki. So you noticed the Kairoseki bullets mixed in?"
He didn't bother to hide his killing move.
Luffy naturally knew what Kairoseki was. For Devil Fruit users, it was like a deadly poison.
He stared at Zephyr's complex mechanical arm and said with certainty, "Besides the Kairoseki bullets, the entire framework of that arm is also made of Kairoseki, isn't it?"
When he had been in close contact and stepping on it earlier, he had vaguely felt a sensation from the mechanical arm that made his power feel slightly stagnant.
"Oh? Good eye. What, are you scared?" Zephyr flexed his mechanical arm and barked provocatively.
To detect this so quickly in the middle of a battle ,such insight was also quite remarkable.
"Scared?"
Luffy acted as if he had heard something funny. He picked his ear. "I wasn't scared when I faced Admiral Aokiji. Why would I be scared of a retired old man's toy arm?"
"Kuzan, that brat?"
Zephyr let out a cold laugh. "Hmph. He definitely held back when he fought you, didn't he? That kid is sometimes too favour-bound, too indecisive! I refuse to believe that with his abilities, he wouldn't have the means to arrest you!"
In his view, Aokiji's lazy sense of justice was, at times, a form of indulgence.
Luffy was immediately dissatisfied upon hearing this. He felt his strength was being underestimated.
"Hey! What do you mean by that, old man?! I fought that ice-face fair and square! He was serious!"
Although they hadn't been able to determine a true outcome in the end due to Garp's intervention and Aokiji's own considerations, Luffy would never allow anyone to question the intensity of that fight or his all-out effort.
"That's exactly what I mean!"
Zephyr watched Luffy's unconvinced expression, as if seeing a shadow of someone from the past in his youth. His tone softened slightly.
"How about this, brat. For Garp's sake, and also because you don't seem to have committed any unforgivable crimes yet—come back and become a Marine!
I can use all my connections to help clear your pirate status. I can even personally teach you, mold you into a top-tier combatant who protects justice! I can forgive your previous foolishness."
The Straw Hat crew hadn't really done anything too extreme.
The most serious thing was defeating a Warlord of the Sea.
For Zephyr, defeating a Warlord was even a bonus item.
Weren't the Warlords also pirates?
"Impossible. I'm going to become the Pirate King. Who wants to be a tethered Marine?!"
Luffy didn't even think about it. He refused to be direct.
"Pirate King? You have such talent and potential, yet you're willing to fall and become the most vicious pirate? How disappointing! You're defiling your power!" Zephyr roared.
"I don't think so, old man!"
Luffy stomped his foot hard. The deck was shattered. His figure charged back in front of Zephyr in an instant. His fist, already covered in pitch-black Busoshoku Haki, shot straight for Zephyr's chest like a cannonball.
CRACK!!
Zephyr reacted extremely quickly. He raised his mechanical arm to block Luffy's fist with its extremely hard Kairoseki framework, producing a heavy metallic clang.
Luffy could see it now. This man, like his grandfather Garp, was the type who had trained his physical techniques and Haki to the limit and believed in a fighting style of punch-to-flesh.
This kind of fight was exactly what he needed right now.
Perhaps under the pressure of the edge of life and death, in the fierce collision with the strong, he could more quickly comprehend the coveted Haoshoku Haki Infusion.
As these thoughts raced through his mind, Luffy narrowed his eyes. His rubber body displayed amazing flexibility. He bent sharply, like a boneless snake, and slipped directly under Zephyr's huge mechanical arm.
At the same time, one leg rose like a poised viper, its heel cutting through the air with a piercing sound, aimed straight for Zephyr's chin.
SMACK!
The kick landed solidly!
Zephyr's head involuntarily jerked back. He let out a grunt.
However, a former Admiral was still an Admiral.
Almost at the same moment he was kicked, Zephyr used the momentum of his body leaning back to bring his heavy mechanical arm crashing down on Luffy below, like a mountain falling.
If that hit landed solidly, even Luffy, with his rubber body, would be seriously injured by the immense force and the characteristics of the Kairoseki.
A flash of red light appeared in Luffy's pupils. His Kenbunshoku Haki foresaw this dangerous attack.
At the critical moment when the mechanical arm was coming down, he quickly pulled back and retreated like a loach, narrowly dodging past the edge of the arm.
The mechanical arm was slammed heavily onto the deck. With a KABOOM, it punched a large hole straight through, sending wood splinters flying.
"You little brat are truly terrifying."
Zephyr rubbed his slightly numb chin. He looked at Luffy, whose aura was still strong and whose eyes were growing more excited, and spoke with a complex tone. "You've already mastered all three types of Haki to this extent, haven't you?"
His Busoshoku Haki was extremely hard. His Kenbunshoku Haki was exceptionally sharp. And although he hadn't yet used his Haoshoku Haki for attack, he had already begun exploring the level of Haoshoku Haki Infusion.
To have trained to such a proficiency at this age?!
"I owe it all to the foundation my grandpa built for me." Luffy grinned.
He unceremoniously shifted the credit onto Garp.
In the Navy's eyes, this credit was a huge pot.
Who told Garp to throw bombs at him? Let him carry this pot first.
In reality, Luffy also felt he hadn't wronged Garp. He remembered his childhood days in Foosha Village, being tormented by Garp's Fists of Love and all kinds of inhuman training. That had indeed built an incredibly solid foundation.
"Garp, that old bastard! He's never been reliable!"
At the mention of Garp, Zephyr seemed to recall many unpleasant memories. He also cursed with considerable resentment.
Then, as if pouring out all his resentment toward these unreliable old friends along with his anger at the fallen Luffy, he stopped talking.
With a low growl—
"Straw Hat!"
His massive body burst of speed that belied its size, charging at Luffy. His good left fist was again wrapped in deep Busoshoku Haki, carrying the will to crush everything.
At that moment, on the distant sea horizon, a warship with a heavier build than an ordinary Navy vessel was cutting through the waves, racing toward them.
It flew Zephyr's Navy flag.
On the deck of the warship stood many Marines in special uniforms. At the forefront were two young men and women with unique temperaments.
The young woman, with deep blue shoulder-length hair, a pretty face, and sharp eyes, saw from afar the fierce battle on Bonney's ship—and that conspicuous figure wearing a straw hat.
Her pupils suddenly contracted. She cried out in shock, "That guy is Straw Hat Luffy?!"
As a Supernova who had recently caused huge waves on the sea, with a bounty as high as 660,000,000 Berry, Luffy's face was already etched into the memory of every attentive Marine.
They called him a pirate Supernova, but many had already begun to single him out separately.
He was what Garp called the so-called Fifth Emperor of the Sea.
The rumors in the Navy had already spread to the open sea.
Ain never imagined that she would encounter such a dangerous person—one that even Admiral Aokiji had been unable to detain—here, in this way, at this time.
"Yo! Hello there!"
In the midst of the fierce battle, Luffy actually had the spare time to wave toward the approaching warship.
As if greeting an old friend.
In Ain's eyes, this move was nothing short of naked ridicule and provocation!
Her face turned pale with anger. She was about to request instructions from Zephyr-sensei to assist.
"Ain! You and Binz lead the others to pursue the rest of the Straw Hat crew. This ship and Straw Hat are this old man's responsibility!" Zephyr ordered without looking back.
Straw Hat's crewmates were no pushovers either. He had to prevent them from interfering with the fight or escaping in the chaos.
"That won't do!" Luffy's smile instantly vanished upon hearing this. "Your opponent is me."
"Gomu Gomu no... Giant Pistol!"
He took a deep breath. His arm expanded rapidly, instantly transforming into a giant fist as massive as a mountain, covered in pitch-black Busoshoku Haki.
He turned and aimed it at the Navy The warship that had just pulled up.
Then he swung.
KABOOOOOM!
Like a meteor falling from the sky.
The giant fist slammed solidly into the warship's side armor.
That thick armor, before this absolute force, was as fragile as paper.
The marines on the ship lurched, nearly thrown off.
The entire enormous warship was rocked side to side by this terrifying blow. A huge hole was torn open in its side. Seawater came rushing in.
Though it didn't sink immediately, it had completely lost its maneuverability and could only perform emergency repairs on the spot.
Forget pursuing—it could barely save itself!
"You little brat—are you ignoring this old man?!" Zephyr roared.
Zephyr watched helplessly as his own flagship was almost destroyed by Luffy's single punch. He was furious.
***
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