The time was about right. What needed to be discussed had been discussed.
Rayleigh saw a familiar shadow in Luffy.
After so many years—
That man seemed to appear before him again.
Still with that straw hat.
Rayleigh stood up.
"The hardships of the Grand Line are far beyond what you can currently imagine—especially the second half, the New World. And your enemies will only grow stronger."
He looked at Luffy and smiled. "Monkey D. Luffy, can you rule this tenacious and vast sea?"
"I don't plan on ruling anything."
Luffy also stood up, pressing down his straw hat as he smiled.
"The freest person on this sea is the Pirate King!"
This sentence had a pun meaning.
For Luffy, only by becoming the Pirate King could he free himself from the shackles of the Pirate King Training Plan.
And in his eyes, the Pirate King was indeed the freest existence on the sea.
Rayleigh's smile grew even brighter.
He had once asked the same question to a certain man.
That man had ultimately given him a dramatically eventful life.
That figure gradually overlapped with the one before him.
His laughter faded.
Rayleigh's expression sharpened again. He looked up at the sky, where a faint, heart-stopping wave of energy could be felt.
"Well, the time for idle talk is over."
Rayleigh looked at Luffy, a playful smile at the corner of his mouth. "Do you need this old man to step in?"
"No."
Luffy refused simply and neatly. "Let me handle it."
"Hahaha. If you need me, this old man can step in at any time."
SWISH!
Almost the moment Rayleigh's voice fell, a dazzling, brilliant golden beam appeared. It burst down from the sky at a speed beyond the limit of the naked eye, its target clearly the three unconscious Celestial Dragons on the ground.
The speed was so fast that no one could react in time!
Gear Second·PLUS!
But at this critical moment, Luffy's figure instantly vanished from its spot, leaving behind only a sonic boom and a faint trail of red steam in the air!
The next moment, he was already in the path of that golden beam.
A foot wrapped with armed domineering energy, like a battle axe, kicked sideways, precisely resting on that ball of light.
THUD!!
A dull, thunderous impact exploded in the air.
The beam of light was blocked by this powerful strike. The light dimmed slightly, revealing the figure within.
That person also had one leg raised, his foot glowing with golden light, having blocked Luffy's kick.
The two formed a brief standoff in mid-air.
"Are you the Marine Admiral?"
Luffy looked at the tall, thin man before him—wearing a yellow-and-white striped suit, sunglasses, and a somewhat wretched expression on his face—and asked directly.
The person forced out of the sky by Luffy was none other than one of the Marine Headquarters' top combatants.
Logia-type Pika Pika no Mi user, Borsalino—codename: Kizaru!
"Oh, how terrifying~ Straw Hat Luffy~"
Kizaru tilted his head slightly, speaking in his unique slow drawl. "You can keep up with the speed of light."
With the official arrival of a Marine Admiral, the previously somewhat stalled encirclement below instantly sprang into action like a wound-up clock, began to shrink more rapidly and forcefully. The sounds of shouts and footsteps became clear again.
Nami, Vivi, Robin, and the others all stood up, their expressions grave, ready to fight.
"Marine Admiral! Admiral Kizaru!"
Roswald, who had just regained consciousness, saw the figure in the sky and, as if grasping a lifeline, screamed at the top of his lungs, "Kill them! Kill These untouchables who dare to insult the World Nobles!"
SMACK!
A crisp slap!
This time, a more fierce wind pressure condensed into an invisible hand, slamming hard against his mouth, knocking out one of his teeth. Blood trickled from the corner of his lips.
Vivi stared at him with a dark expression, her eyes flickering with cold murderous intent. Her queenly aura was on full display. "Say one more word, and I'll kill you right now."
For some reason, Vivi's disgust and killing intent toward these Celestial Dragons were especially strong.
As if they were naturally arrogant. She couldn't stand their arrogant, life-is-worthless attitude.
"Brutal."
Nearby, Nika, who had been raring to go, blinked her round eyes and nodded approvingly. She even found Vivi more agreeable now.
Earlier, Nika had been constantly egging Luffy on, trying to fool him into going after Vivi. After being educated by Luffy countless times, she had given up.
Now, seeing the Celestial Dragons, Nika was ready to move again.
But Vivi had beaten her to it.
Under the real threat of death, Roswald stammered twice. Fear finally appeared on his face. He couldn't bring himself to say another word.
The Celestial Dragons weren't stupid. They were just spoiled, arrogant, and cruel. That didn't mean they couldn't read the situation.
At the very least, the look in this blue-haired woman's eyes was so cold that he had no doubt she would actually kill him.
"It's Admiral Kizaru, Borsalino."
Robin calmly identified the newcomer and quickly shared information about that man with his friends.
"He's a Logia-type Pika Pika no Mi user. He can turn any part of his body into light. He has the ability to move and attack at lightspeed. Very troublesome."
Gathering intelligence on high-ranking Navy officers and strong pirates was one of Vivi and Robin's important tasks on the ship.
"I really want to try it out."
Zoro's body tensed. His hand was already on the hilt of Wado Ichimonji. "I didn't expect to go up against a Marine Admiral again so soon."
Last time on Long Ring Long Land, they had encountered Aokiji. Later, at Enies Lobby, Luffy had fought Aokiji. Only Luffy could stand up to him. This had made Zoro, who aspired to become the world's greatest swordsman, felt incredibly frustrated and urgent.
He needed to become stronger—strong enough to share the captain's burden, strong enough to cut through any obstacle!
"They're truly insane. They're really fighting a Marine Admiral."
From the shadows, Kid, who had just been revived by His subordinates and barely regaining some consciousness, saw Luffy facing off against Kizaru in the air. Even his usual arrogance temporarily subsided.
For Supernovas like them, the first choice upon encountering an Admiral was definitely a strategic retreat.
Unlike Straw Hat, who not only didn't run but waited here for the Admiral to arrive!
Hawkins looked at the Tarot card he had just drawn. His face still showed that Furui Muha expression. He said flatly, "According to my divination, Straw Hat's chance of complete defeat in this fight is only 30%. However, their chance of successful evacuation is as high as 99%. It seems this fight will not continue to the death."
The reason was obvious.
The three Celestial Dragons firmly in their hands were the best hostages and amulets.
With them in hand, the Marine Admiral would be a rat trap. There would be no real danger to life.
Moreover, on Luffy's side, there was also a legendary pirate who had been completely at ease from start to finish.
"Dark King" Rayleigh!
The fight between Luffy and Kizaru was beyond the comprehension of ordinary people in terms of speed.
They were too fast.
THUD!
A dull impact exploded in the east.
After the first collision, their bodies vanished from their spots as if teleporting. The next second, they were already in a corner of the area hundreds of meters away. The explosive sounds of their fists and feet colliding came belatedly.
Then, another flash of light, and they collided again. The battlefield rapidly shifted across the vast Grove 1 area. Ordinary people could barely catch their afterimages.
Luffy's rubber fist and Kizaru's shin, glowing with golden light, slammed into each other. The shockwave instantly cleared the gravel from the ground.
Almost simultaneously, their figures vanished again. The next second, they collided again in the air on the west side, hundreds of meters away!
THUD! THUD! THUD!
The dense crash echoed across the wide area like rapid drumbeats, but the combatants' trajectories were nearly invisible.
Each collision only briefly revealed their forms before they turned back into blurs of light and trails of red steam.
Luffy's combat instincts were terrifying.
After only brief contact, he had already figured out the general characteristics of Kizaru's ability.
Lightspeed movement was indeed ridiculously fast.
But as long as he didn't let Kizaru freely distance—
"Before you elementally transform and fly away, if I hit you with a Haki-infused attack, I can stop you!"
Luffy instantly formulated a tactic in his mind.
Therefore, every time their figures appeared somewhere, Luffy was bound to use both hands and feet.
His rubber fists and feet rained down like a storm from all kinds of tricky angles, aiming at Kizaru. The goal was to give Kizaru no chance to catch his breath or escape the battle, keeping him pinned down in close-quarters combat.
The relentless attacks were relentless.
His fists and feet, crackling with Armament Haki, rained down like a raging storm, each time precisely aimed at the moment Kizaru was about to transform into light and escape, forcing him to either block or counterattack.
"How troublesome~"
Kizaru's characteristic slow drawl sounded somewhat distorted at high speed. But he consistently used only one leg for blocking and counterattacks.
His other hand occasionally rose, his fingertips unleashing dangerous beams of light, but Luffy narrowly avoided them with his astonishing Observation Haki and the agility of his rubber body.
Kizaru's intention was also clear. He wanted to use his absolute speed advantage to first rescue the three hot-potato Celestial Dragons, then free his hands to slowly deal with these lawless pirates.
But Luffy was like an appendage, giving him no opportunity at all.
Luffy was keenly aware of something strange.
No matter what attack he used—
Rubber Pistol, Rubber Whip, Rubber Bazooka... Kizaru seemed habitually to use only his golden-glowing leg to block and counterattack.
This was completely different from Aokiji's fighting style, which perfectly combined freezing fruit abilities with superb taijutsu.
Aokiji freely used ice spears, ice sabers, Ice Age—his physical techniques worked seamlessly together.
But Kizaru—his attacks seemed overly reliant on the Pika Pika no Mi's lasers and lightspeed kicks. His physical technique, or rather, his non-fruit-based combat skills, seemed somewhat lacking.
***
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