Chapter 92: Rayleigh's Powerlessness
Standing beneath the towering stone pillars, Rayleigh spotted Luo Han charging toward him. He couldn't spare a glance at his crewmates—he simply raised his sword and slashed upward.
Clang! Luo Han's fist crashed against Rayleigh's blade, lightning-like sparks dancing between them.
"This kid's strength…?" Rayleigh's pupils shrank as he felt the pressure. "It's only been six or seven days… how has he grown this much?!"
Seeing the shock in Rayleigh's eyes, Luo Han chuckled. "Oh, you'll be even more surprised." With a thought, an invisible telekinetic fist formed and slammed into Rayleigh's abdomen while they were still locked in place.
Rayleigh's body bent like it had been hit by a high-speed cannonball. Boom! A deep crater exploded into the stone pillar behind him, debris tumbling down.
Lying spread-eagle at the center of the crater, Rayleigh coughed up blood. His eyes, filled with pain and disbelief, locked onto Luo Han.
But before Rayleigh could recover, Luo Han waved his hand. The fallen stones around him gathered at his side, compressed by his telekinesis into a solid pillar. He then punched forward.
The stone pillar launched like a railgun round, glowing red-hot as it tore through the air. Zzzhhmm! It blasted forward, leaving a trail of heat behind.
Rayleigh rolled to his feet just in time. He raised his sword and slashed at the incoming projectile.
Clang! BOOM…! The pillar split in two, carving burning black trenches on either side of him as it passed.
Thud! Luo Han landed right in front of him. With a lift of his arms, two more stone streams surged up at his sides like coiling serpents, ready to strike.
"How about that, Rayleigh?" Luo Han grinned.
Rayleigh stared at him grimly, clearly shaken. "I didn't expect your power to rise so fast." Without further warning, he lunged at Luo Han, hoping to catch him off guard.
Luo Han smirked and activated bullet-time. In a flash, he repositioned to Rayleigh's right and struck with a telekinetic stone stream like a snapping serpent.
Rayleigh barely managed to block with his sword. Clang…! They locked briefly.
"You blocked one, but not the second."
Luo Han punched with his left. BOOM! A flash of red light, and the second stone stream blasted Rayleigh like a cannonball. He smashed into the rocky cliff, leaving an even larger crater.
Thump! Rayleigh slid down the wall and dropped to the ground, spitting blood and gripping the rocks for support. He wiped his mouth and looked up at Luo Han, now floating high above.
"He's a monster. Faster than before. Stronger, too. I'm just a sandbag now—no room to fight back."
Luo Han looked over the battlefield from the sky.
"Rayleigh's held down. Roger and Whitebeard have already taken their fight to the southern tip of the island.
Sister Shao and Jabber are north of here. Their battle's intense—first time I've seen her kicks this powerful. She's actually holding her own against Jabber's blade."
"So she was holding back when we fought before," Luo Han thought with a wry smile.
Then he looked toward Cole—and was shocked. Despite being surrounded by several members of the Roger Pirates, Cole was holding his own. If he was ever overwhelmed, he simply ducked into his space or flew high into the sky—no one could touch him. He looked… relaxed.
The rest weren't so lucky. Many of the Rocks Pirates were being beaten back and had already retreated to the other side of the island—the one Roger's first slash had split.
Roger's crew didn't pursue. Instead, they slowly began surrounding Luo Han and Cole.
Thud! Thud! The giant fish-man, the one-armed swordsman, and several others landed beside Rayleigh.
"You okay, Rayleigh?"
Seeing his torn clothes and bloodied face, their concern was evident.
Rayleigh shook his head and stood with sword in hand. "That kid's even faster than before… and stronger."
They all looked toward the twin trenches still smoking beside Rayleigh—and the giant crater behind him. Silence followed.
"Even Rayleigh didn't get a hit in…"
"That kid's power has gotten ridiculous," the one-armed swordsman said bitterly, clutching his severed limb.
Everyone silently agreed. Luo Han was nearing Roger-level speed. He could hit them—and they couldn't land a hit in return.
"There's no way around it. Absolute speed means absolute dominance. That's not something you can just counter," Luo Han laughed from above.
It was exhilarating. Even Luo Han hadn't expected such a leap after his mental breakthrough.
If his past power had been like a bucket of water, now it was like four barrels of molten steel—greater in quantity and vastly superior in quality.
As a result, even while maintaining Mind Force Armament Mode for high-speed movement and defense, he could still unleash even more devastating telekinetic attacks.
By compressing and accelerating stone, even without physical strength added, he could deliver impacts so powerful that not even Rayleigh's advanced Armament Haki could absorb them without bleeding.
All that passed through his mind in an instant.
Luo Han glanced down at the Roger Pirates clustered near Rayleigh. He smirked and shot up to 2,000 meters.
"They can't touch me here. Time to show them."
With a thought, he extended his hands. All around the island, rocks crumbled into fist-sized chunks and gathered above him—forming a massive, 100-meter-wide sphere of telekinetically bound stone.
"Hey, Rayleigh! This is looking pretty dangerous, don't you think?" said the one-armed swordsman, his voice trembling as he stared up at the floating stone ball.
Rayleigh didn't hesitate. "Scatter!"
The moment he spoke, Luo Han hurled his fist downward. A single, bucket-thick stream of stone burst from the sphere like a falling meteor, targeting their group.
BOOM! A flash of red light blazed like a descending star. Accelerated from 2,000 meters high, the impact obliterated part of the island, carving a massive, 100-meter-wide crater ten meters deep. Magma oozed from below, black smoke rising into the air.
Rayleigh and the others had dodged in time, now standing on the crater's edge. Looking down at the molten core and feeling the searing heat, they wiped cold sweat from their brows.
"That power's no joke, Rayleigh… Is that really the same Luo Han brat?" the giant fish-man asked, voice trembling.
Rayleigh said nothing.
(END CHAPTER)
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