Chapter 337 - 176

Chapter 176: The Tables Have Turned!!The sea breeze swept away some of the smell of gunpowder, leaving only the scent of blood and scorched earth.Luffy had just let out a sigh of relief when he saw Sanji bracing his knees and slowly straightening up, his lips suddenly curling into an arc Luffy had never seen before.That smile made the hairs on the back of Luffy's neck stand up."Hey, Luffy,"Sanji's voice was unnaturally light; he wiped the blood from his eyelids, his eyes gleaming with an eerie light in the setting sun, "Shouldn't we... start the second half of the training?"Luffy blinked: "The second half?"Before the words had even faded, Sanji's hand had already reached into the inner pocket of his suit, which was now little more than ribbons of cloth—the pocket had miraculously remained intact—and pulled out a pair of pitch-black handcuffs.The metal had a matte sheen under the setting sun, with intricate suppression patterns engraved along the edges.Sea Stone!!Luffy's expression froze instantly.He subconsciously took a half-step back, his rubber soles scraping against the rubble with a harsh sound."W-wait..."He let out two dry laughs, his fingers curling involuntarily, "Sanji, isn't that enough for today?""You're so badly hurt, and I'm tired too. How about... we continue tomorrow?"He stole a glance at Sanji as he spoke.The guy was covered in blood, his shirt shredded into strips sticking to his torn flesh, and his left leg was bent at an unnatural angle, yet the smile on his face was growing deeper and deeper, less and less... like the usual Sanji.It was as if a devil were smiling."Tomorrow?" Sanji tilted his head, his blonde hair falling down to cover one eye, "But this was Rayleigh's arrangement."He dragged his injured leg, walking closer step by step.The sound of his footsteps was exceptionally clear in the silent ruins."For the first half of the day, you helped me train my Observation Haki, Armament Haki, and Devil Fruit mastery."Sanji raised the handcuffs, the metal rings dangling from his fingertips, "For the second half... it's my turn to help you train your'survival skills under extreme limitations'."He stopped half a step in front of Luffy, the smell of blood rushing towards him.Luffy could see the punch mark he had left below Sanji's collarbone; it was a shiny purplish-black, rising and falling slightly with his breathing."Rayleigh said, 'That brat relies too much on his Devil Fruit; he needs to taste what it's like to get beaten up while powerless'."Sanji mimicked Pluton's deep voice, perfectly.Luffy's Adam's apple bobbed."Look," Sanji opened the hand not holding the handcuffs, which was covered in small cuts, "I followed the rules and fought with you until my bones were almost falling apart. Now..."He lowered his voice, almost whispering, "It's your turn to follow the rules, right?"He shook the handcuffs, the chains making a cold clinking sound."My dear Captain," Sanji's voice was sickeningly sweet, yet his face wore the expression of a devil, "You wouldn't want today's incident—where you used special training as a pretext, but were actually just itching for a fight, destroyed my new suit, and demolished half the island along the way—to..."He leaned in closer, his breath spraying onto Luffy's stiff face: "...be discovered by Rayleigh, would you?"Luffy was stunned.His brain processed too much information in that instant: Sanji's devilish smile, the terrifying sheen of the Sea Stone, the Iron Fist education he would receive if Rayleigh found out the truth, and the cook in front of him who was covered in blood but clearly had no intention of stopping...A few seconds later, Luffy resignedly closed his eyes, his eyelashes trembling like leaves in the wind.He slowly, extremely slowly, extended his hands, wrists pressed together, and held them out to Sanji.Click!The moment the cuffs locked tight, the color drained from Luffy's face.A cold, heavy sense of emptiness exploded along the skin of his wrists, like a frozen sea breaking its dam, instantly devouring the strength in every inch of his muscles.His vision swayed and blurred for a moment, and his ears began to ring—he could barely stand.How could it... be like this?He lowered his head with difficulty, looking at his handcuffed hands.That originally plump and elastic rubber skin was now like tree bark that had lost all its moisture, clinging tightly to his bones.His knuckles were stiff; he couldn't even bend a single finger.An unprecedented feeling of powerlessness enveloped him, as if even the strength to keep standing was being rapidly drained away.Sweat slid down his temples and dripped onto the scorched stone, making a faint "sizzle" sound.He could feel his muscles trembling slightly—not a shiver of excitement, but a pure, involuntary weakness.How could he be so... powerless?He had heard Rayleigh say that Sea Stone's suppression of Devil Fruit users had nothing to do with their strength.It was the crystallization of the sea, representing the rules themselves, an absolute "negation."But "hearing about it" and "experiencing it firsthand" were, after all, worlds apart.Luffy gritted his teeth hard, trying to fight against the fatigue surging from the depths of his bone marrow.He had once stormed into Impel Down single-handedly, withstood Garp's Iron Fist, and fought the Four Emperors at Onigashima until his very last breath...His will had been tempered like the toughest rubber, almost able to deflect any impact.But at this moment, that will was like a punch thrown into thin air, with nowhere to land.Sea Stone's "negation" was not an attack, but a stripping away.It did not contend with him; it simply, silently, and thoroughly took away the "characteristics" he relied on to survive.For the first time, Luffy felt the boundaries of the "rules" so clearly.As someone who cheated, he was an "anomaly" on this sea, a miracle that had broken free from the shackles of common sense.But these shackles, this cold black stone, were silently proclaiming some deeper, insurmountable, absolute law.Even though he was one of the top combatants standing at the peak of this sea, and even though his Haki could already crack the firmament, in the face of this pure "negation," he was as fragile as a newborn baby."...So that's how it is."He murmured, his voice hoarse from weakness.It wasn't fear, but a kind of astonishment bordering on enlightenment.Rayleigh's words echoed in his ears: "The stronger you are, the harder it is to experience the taste of 'absolute powerlessness'.""—But that is a taste you must remember."Now, he remembered it."G-gentle..." he muttered softly."Don't worry."Sanji "clicked" the chains into place with a crisp, clean motion, "I will 'properly' guide you, Captain."He stepped back half a step, watching Luffy's body slightly hunched from weakness.The devilish smile on his face could finally no longer be contained, turning into an undisguised, bloody, and brilliant laugh.~Zzzzt!!An eerie sound came from Sanji's ankle, like electric currents coursing through the gaps in his bones.Luffy barely managed to lift his heavy eyelids; in his blurred vision, Sanji's right leg, which had originally been bent at a strange angle, was now undergoing a terrifying transformation.The fractured bone ends were rapidly reconnecting and healing under his skin like living creatures, and the purplish-black bruised blood was being quickly absorbed and dissipated by the surging new tissue.No, it wasn't just repair.A blue electric arc, even more violent than during the previous fight, appeared out of thin air and coiled around his healing lower leg.It was not the scorching crimson of "Diable Jambe," but a deep-sea, ghostly blue, with the hissing of the current carrying a teeth-grinding, sharp, high frequency.Sanji stood in place, his head slightly bowed, his messy blonde hair covering his eyes.Only the arc of his lips, illuminated by the ghostly blue electric light, appeared cold and cruel."Lesson one, Captain."His voice was very soft, yet it drowned out the hissing of the electricity."In a true 'desperate situation'..."Before the words had even finished—Whoosh!!!There was no run-up, no sign of winding up.That right leg, just repaired and still wreathed in violent blue electricity, was like a deep-sea monster breaking free from its chains, turning into a blurred afterimage that tore through the air, striking straight at Luffy's defenseless abdomen at a speed that exceeded the limits of visual perception!The air was compressed and detonated by the extreme speed, emitting a brief vacuum sonic boom.The blue electric light trailed a comet-like path; wherever it passed, even the floating dust was instantly ionized and vaporized.In Luffy's red pupils, only that rapidly enlarging blue light of death was reflected.The Sea Stone shackles were as heavy as a mountain, stripping him of all his ability to react.He could "see" the trajectory of the attack and his brain sent out frantic commands to dodge, but his body was like a lead-filled puppet, unable to even make the slightest dodge.An absolute sense of powerlessness turned into cold despair, gripping his heart.Time seemed to be stretched out.He saw a flash of complex light in Sanji's eyes.It was not pure brutality, but rather something that had been suppressed for a long time, a heat mixed with anger, helplessness, and determination.And then... Bang—!!!A heavy, muffled sound, like a beating drum, exploded against Luffy's unresisting body.It wasn't a gruesome scene of flying flesh and blood; the kick wreathed in blue electricity seemed to have subtle power control the moment it made contact.Most of the destructive kinetic energy was converted into a powerful impact and penetrating force, passing through the skin and muscles, straight to the depths of his internal organs."Argh—!!"Luffy's body arched violently, like a shrimp hit by a giant hammer.His internal organs were displaced in an instant, and the excruciating pain, like a churning sea, drowned out all his senses.His whole body was kicked off the ground by this immense force, flying backward.Clatter—the chain of the Sea Stone shackles straightened out in the air, emitting a harsh friction sound, and then went slack as his body flew backward.Like a tattered sandbag, he streaked across the sky above the scorched ruins, finally crashing heavily into a pile of rubble a dozen meters away, kicking up a cloud of dust.The dust slowly dispersed.Luffy stood in the rubble, his body trembling violently and uncontrollably, stiffly enduring the burning pain spreading from the inside out.Sanji stood in place, slowly retracting his leg.The blue electric arc on his right lower leg gradually extinguished, leaving only a slightly red mark on the surface of his skin.He lowered his eyes to look at the toe of the foot he had just used for that kick, falling silent for two seconds.Then, he raised his eyes and looked toward the figure in the distance twitching slightly in the dust.His voice returned to calm, even carrying a trace of cold clarity: "...Enemies won't give you time to adapt."