"It's time to end this."
In the void, watching Saint Figarland Garling charge straight at him with a swinging heavy fist, Luffy didn't panic in the slightest. He calmly adjusted the straw hat on his head, lifted his gaze, and looked as steady as ever.
The next second—his figure flickered, and he vanished from where he stood.
Immediately after, a surging wave of dark energy erupted within the emptiness, rolling in to engulf Garling.
"Damn it!!!"
Feeling that familiar, bizarre aura, Saint Garling ground his teeth and cursed.
Fury churned in his chest, but he forcibly steadied his breathing.
He'd already experienced the effects of that Dark-type power firsthand—so now, he had to stay calm. Only by doing that could he avoid being influenced by Luffy's strange, inexplicable force.
However…
Just as he thought he'd finally gotten used to Luffy's fighting style, an inexplicable sense of danger slammed into him.
Before Saint Garling could react, the scene in front of him suddenly warped—like paper creasing into folds.
The entire starry sky… dropped downward at terrifying speed.
In the next instant, a yawning abyssal maw appeared right in front of him, waiting for him to walk into it.
Only then did Saint Garling realize: those "folds" weren't in a real cosmos at all.
At some point, his starry sky had been replaced with a lifelike fake—an artificial starfield image crafted from his own viewpoint.
"Ninja Art: Genjutsu—Gum-Gum… One Bite Swallow!!!"
"Hah—!"
A gale-like breath blasted from Luffy's mouth, splattering damp saliva straight onto Saint Garling.
But at this moment, even the ever-proud Celestial Dragon had no mind to spare for the disgusting mess on his body.
Because the very next second, a massive mouth—like a star-devouring beast—snapped shut and swallowed him whole.
"Damn you!"
Plunged into darkness, Saint Garling instinctively coated his entire body in Armament Haki, bracing for whatever hidden follow-up might strike.
But after waiting for a long while…
Nothing came.
Just as Saint Garling's suspicion rose, two scorching beams of light suddenly descended from above, bathing him in a spotlight as if he were the protagonist of a stage play.
"Welcome, Celestial Dragon."
Luffy's voice—slightly muffled—echoed through the space.
A moment later, in the direction the light came from, a pair of enormous eyeballs appeared.
Under Saint Garling's startled gaze, the two huge eyes slowly rolled inward—flipping like something turning itself inside out.
Comical.
And deeply unsettling.
"What kind of ability is this now?!"
Even after seeing countless bizarre tricks from Luffy, being trapped inside an enclosed space still made Saint Garling voice his disbelief.
Beneath those massive eyes, a face gradually formed—strange in appearance, yet unmistakably similar to Luffy's, as if a face had been grown upside down.
Then that giant face opened its mouth and spoke.
"This is my inner world!"
"You've already been swallowed into my stomach."
"Unless you defeat me completely, you'll be sealed in this space forever."
"You bastard…" Saint Garling's hands began to twitch from sheer rage. Then he growled, his voice like it was clawing its way up from deep in his throat:
"Are you joking with me?!"
"This kind of boring parlor trick—"
BOOM!!!
Mid-sentence, Saint Garling's figure flashed as he launched himself straight toward that massive Luffy-face.
At the same time, endless power condensed around his fist, lightning-like crackles snapping through the air around him.
BOOM!!!
His punch erupted, instantly kicking up a terrifying shockwave like a raging tidal surge, sweeping across the entire space.
The giant Luffy-face that took the hit warped violently, then snapped backward like rubber, rebounding hard.
"Grr—… AHH!!!" Saint Garling roared, and the Haki surging around his fist grew even wilder.
But after several moments—no matter how badly he distorted Luffy's "face," no matter how far he drove forward—his fist still couldn't shatter everything in front of him the way he intended.
Instead…
"Mmm-yohh—"
Suddenly, Luffy's twisted mouth opened and closed, speaking in a thick, muffled tone:
"Until you finish this game… you can't leave here…"
"Because this place has already been completely sealed by me."
Shhk—
As if responding to Luffy's words, the moment his voice fell, a field of pink ripples flared to life around Saint Garling.
Strands of pink light pulsed like neon, flickering through the space until everything was illuminated.
And only now did Saint Garling see it clearly:
He was standing inside a square chamber—wrapped and enclosed by pink chains.
Deep within the room, a tangled mass of energy chains sat coiled together, radiating the same glow as the chains around him.
Fairy Lock—a Fairy-type special move.
Its original effect was to summon chains condensed from Fairy-type energy, sealing things in the material world and preventing them from escaping.
Of course, that was the move's original effect.
After combining it with the absurd, miraculous power of Nika, Luffy had already twisted this technique into something entirely new.
For example, the "Fairy Space" Saint Garling was trapped in right now was a unique technique Luffy developed by exploiting Fairy Lock's sealing properties.
But this move's activation conditions were brutally demanding—at present, Luffy could only use it in his MEGA state.
And naturally, a technique that difficult to employ came with terrifying results.
In Fairy Space, unless Luffy's energy was completely exhausted—so exhausted he could no longer maintain it—even an absolute monster like Saint Garling couldn't break out through brute force alone.
The next moment, after tossing out a few mocking words, the giant Luffy-face slowly vanished from the space.
Then—
Endless Pokémon energy surged into Fairy Space like a flood, rapidly forming one Luffy silhouette after another. They took positions all around Saint Garling, each wearing the exact same bizarre grin.
"Trial… begins!!!"
All the Luffys grinned at once and shouted in perfect unison.
In an instant, every Luffy rushed forward together, swarming Saint Garling from all sides.
"You damned insect! You dare toy with me!!!"
BOOM!!!
Endless red-black lightning exploded around Saint Garling's body, surging through the entire Fairy Space.
Powerful Armament Haki coated both his fists.
Locking onto the nearest Luffy that lunged at him, Saint Garling threw a punch with terrifying momentum.
At that moment, seeing the attack coming, the "Luffy" clone's eyes flickered—and it snapped its fist forward as well.
In the cramped space, a violent force crashed and rippled outward.
But then, the Luffy Saint Garling had targeted moved with an unbelievable motion—sliding sharply to the side and narrowly evading the punch.
Immediately after, "Luffy's" arm lashed out like a rope, wrapping around Saint Garling's body. Borrowing the impact of Saint Garling's own attack, it flung him violently away—
—and slammed him hard into a stretch of Fairy chains.
"Kh—!"
For some reason, Saint Garling's face contorted in pain. Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.
Move: Foul Play. Type: Dark.
Effect: Uses the enemy's own power to inflict damage—the stronger the opponent's power, the more damage they take!
That's right.
The force injuring Saint Garling didn't come from Luffy's energy clone at all—
It came from Saint Garling himself.
Every single clone here had been left with precisely enough energy to use Foul Play once—strong enough to clash with a monster on Saint Garling's level.
More than enough for Saint Garling to "play" in here for quite a while.
And this…
Was the first trial Luffy had prepared for him.
Next, Luffy had also prepared Parting Shot clones, and Pursuit clones.
The former could burn everything they had—rendering themselves unable to continue fighting—in exchange for massively lowering the enemy's attacking capability.
The latter, the moment they struck an enemy during a switch-in, could deal more than double the additional damage.
Three kinds of clones.
All inheriting Dark-type targeted moves.
Luffy hoped Saint Garling would come to enjoy this place he'd built for him…
This…
Dark Paradise.
Of course, that was only if Saint Garling could survive…
…long enough to escape.
(End of Chapter)