Kairo weaved as a punch narrowly missed him. He didn't know what Luffy was on, but he would not be defeated by this guy.
He gritted his teeth—his wounds were reopening, and he could not fight at his full capacity.
He decided to cauterize his wounds so they couldn't get any larger. Then he gazed at Luffy, who was in Gear 2, rushing toward him.
Kairo dodged under a kick and reached out his hand.
Luffy attempted to dodge, but Kairo grabbed him by the head, jumped into the sky, and slammed him headfirst into the floor.
"You don't even stand a chance against me! What makes you think you have the power to challenge the entire government, huh?" Kairo shouted, looking at Luffy.
Luffy slowly got out of the rubble. Sure, he had taken a beating—it wasn't much—but he could still tank that damage.
He knew Gear 2 wouldn't be enough. Hell, Gear 3 might have the power, but it wouldn't have the speed to hit Kairo.
He needed more power.
"I will just get stronger!" he yelled.
"I am not leaving my friend behind!" Kairo rushed at Luffy, and Luffy rushed at him.
Meanwhile, with the Straw Hats:
"Why are they fighting? They are friends—they shouldn't fight," Chopper said, wanting to stop them. But Zoro held him back.
"No... we cannot interfere in this fight. Luffy must do it alone."
"Why? Why do they have to hit each other so much? Does Kairo really want to leave the crew?" The reindeer looked like he was about to cry. Sanji added, "Kairo is horrible at hiding his emotions. He doesn't want to leave because he hates us."
Chopper perked up at that. If Kairo didn't want to leave because of that... why would he?
"He doesn't want us to be targeted by the World Government," Nami added.
TL;DR—he didn't want them to get squad wiped.
"If he wanted to kill us, we would all be dead," Zoro would say calmly. Kairo was holding back.
Massively, he wasn't using his axe or sword, nor Haki, the thing that was practically someone's willpower.
Kairo's Haki was flickering, which was the only reason Luffy was hitting him. His Haki was turning on and off.
His heart wasn't in it.
Meanwhile, with Luffy and Kairo:
GUM-GUM...Drill Kairo barely managed to dodge Luffy's blow. His wounds made it hard to move, yet even weakened, with his Conqueror's Haki coating, he still had plenty left in the tank.
Cocking his fist back, he punched Luffy in the stomach with Ryo coating his fist.
Luffy's eyes turned white as he was sent flying.
Bam
"LUFFY!" Chopper shouted, worried about his captain.
"He's fine," Zoro said calmly.
A few seconds later, Kairo shouted, "Stop struggling!" as Luffy got up once more.
"Never!" Luffy shouted, rushing at Kairo like his life was on the line.
Kairo gritted his teeth. He didn't want to hurt the guy, but he needed to get through Luffy's thick skull—the world wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, and he could die if he continued with his lofty ideals.
The fuck did he think he was... Joy Boy...
And that though trigger something in him.
Kairo coated his hand with Conqueror's Haki.
What followed this was a one-sided beatdown.
When Luffy threw a punch, Kairo grabbed his fist, pulled him into a sucker punch, bounced him off the floor, and slammed him again.
Hell, he even sent him crashing god knows how many times.
But no matter how many times he hit Luffy, no matter how much he tried to push him away, Luffy always weakly stood up. His body shaken, his Gear 2 had run out, and it was only barely allowing him to see Kairo and react.
Now he was practically a glorified punching bag.
For fuck's sake, Kairo had been beating his shit for a day now.
Yes... a solid day.
"Stay down, dammit!"
"You're talking all that big crap, but there's no weight behind your blows. Stop lying to yourself. I know you're hurting more than me."
Kairo froze. He had underestimated this guy's emotional intelligence a bit too much.
But he hid his shocked face. So what if he was? What was Luffy going to do about it?
"I made my choices... and you will not stop me."
Luffy went into the Gear 2 pose.
"I will... you will not leave here!"
Kairo gritted his teeth.
"Do you really think Gear 2 will let you win?" Kairo asked, annoyed. He didn't want to continue beating Luffy up—he felt really bad.
"I know," Luffy said, biting into his own flesh.
Kairo's brow furrowed—was he planning on using Gear 3?
"I was planning on using this later. I don't even think it will work."
"So you're better off gambling it all," Kairo said, looking at his captain.
"I will win." As those words left Luffy's mouth, he began blowing into his muscles, filling them to the brim with Haki.
He didn't want power—he needed speed. A shit ton of speed.
He began compressing his muscles like no other. He felt like his body was being crushed and pushed to the limit, but he didn't care. Fate be damned.
Smoke enveloped Luffy as his body began to shift, his hair taking on a more serpentine-like grace, reminiscent of his father.
His body lifted into the air, the smoke signaling that Luffy was gearing up to fight.
"Gear 4... Snakeman."
A/N....now....before you jump on my ass, how does he have it...one gear 4 aint that complicated, just have some haki in your muscle, condense that shit in case of snake man, though his time limit here is close to 2 minute instead of the 5 originally.
I still think Kairo would win.