The figure suddenly dropped his shoulder and swung his arm.
The long staff wrapped in bandages came crashing straight down toward Luffy's head, splitting the air with a shrill howl.
"Get out of the way!"
Zoro grabbed the unconscious Yosaku and retreated at once, while Sanji seized Luffy by the back of the neck and leapt away with all his strength.
The instant they barely avoided the descending blow, savage cracks tore across the ground.
Arlong Park's gate, its thick walls, and half the surrounding buildings all collapsed with a thunderous roar.
Rubble flew everywhere, and dust surged into the sky.
"You've got to be kidding... that attack power..."
Sanji's pupils contracted sharply. He could hardly believe the destruction in front of him!
"Is this guy on the same level as Mihawk or something?"
Zoro gritted his teeth and yanked Wado Ichimonji from its sheath with one hand, a flash of cold light slicing through the air.
His injuries from his earlier battle with Mihawk had yet to heal, and two of his swords had already been destroyed.
There was no way he could fight at full strength.
"Sanji, Zoro, don't interfere! I'll send him flying myself!"
Luffy broke free from Sanji's grip and charged forward with a shout.
"Idiot, now's not the time to show off!"
Before Sanji had even finished speaking, that imposing figure had already appeared behind him without a sound.
"There's no need to make this so troublesome."
The figure casually swept the staff sideways.
The shaft cracked through the air with a heavy snap, and Sanji was instantly hurled away by overwhelming force, crashing into the distant sea with a huge splash several meters high.
Before Luffy could even react, the staff struck Zoro squarely on the rear like a bolt of lightning.
He flew like a kite with its string cut and crashed into a pool, sending water everywhere and muddying it completely.
"Zoro! Sanji!"
The sudden collapse of the situation left Luffy able to do nothing but shout hoarsely, his anxiety with nowhere to go.
"You should be more worried about yourself."
The heavy staff swung down again.
Luffy's rubber body was stretched straight by the force of the blow, then slammed hard into the still-standing buildings.
The walls shattered and caved in at once, and the dust swallowed him whole.
"Gum-Gum Pistol!"
From within the dust of the ruined buildings, Luffy's arm suddenly shot out through the air.
His fist screamed forward with thunderous force and smashed toward the giant figure.
But the figure did not budge in the slightest.
He stood there and took the blow head-on. The fist landed with nothing more than a dull thud, and he did not move back even half a step.
"Too slow."
The moment the words fell, the figure shot out one massive hand and accurately caught Luffy's extended arm.
Just as he started to pull, Luffy's right leg had already swung high above his head, crashing down with crushing force!
"Gum-Gum Axe!"
The figure casually lifted his left hand and firmly caught Luffy's descending ankle.
His body did not bend in the slightest as he forcibly endured the heavy strike.
The only result was deeper cracks smashed into the ground.
"Too weak."
Now both Luffy's arm and leg were firmly seized.
The figure suddenly yanked hard, sending Luffy flying backward.
His stretched limbs wrapped uncontrollably around his own body, twisting him into a round rubber ball.
Taking advantage of the motion, the figure hoisted Luffy up and swung him violently from side to side, smashing him into the ground over and over.
Each impact came with the sharp sound of the earth breaking apart as shattered stone flew in every direction.
Even though his rubber body made him immune to most physical attacks, such relentless high-speed pummeling still left Luffy wracked with pain, cold sweat rolling down his face.
The next second, the figure hurled Luffy high into the sky, then leapt up after him.
Gripping the bandage-wrapped staff tightly in both hands, he drew it back and brought it crashing down onto Luffy's back, smashing him toward the ground like a meteor!
The earth exploded into a deep crater, and the dust hung thick in the air.
"With this level of strength.... you want to become the Pirate King? Don't make me laugh!"
The figure roared arrogantly from above, his gaze fixed on the silhouette slowly rising within the dust.
"Oh, right. That Nami you mentioned earlier—she's dead."
"What?"
Luffy's pupils shrank violently, his eyes filling with disbelief.
Just moments ago she had been standing right in front of him—that navigator he had already decided was his crewmate.
And now, in the blink of an eye, she was dead?
How could he possibly accept losing a companion like that again?
"She spent eight years working for the Arlong Pirates to save the village. I didn't want to kill her, but she found out my secret. What a pity."
Resting one hand on the long staff, the figure spoke in a casual, arrogant tone, as though a human life meant nothing at all.
At once, monstrous fury ignited in Luffy's eyes.
His throat worked for a long time before he finally forced out a cold sentence:
"I'm going to make you pay!"
"You're angry now, aren't you? Right?"
The man took up a fighting stance and muttered lightly, while inwardly thinking:
That's right.
Just like that, Luffy.
Even if the fruit carries a will of its own, you still have to understand who you are.
Joy is important, but if you hide your real emotions behind endless cheerfulness, then how are you any different from a puppet?
"Gum-Gum Gatling!"
Luffy tensed every muscle in his body and unleashed a furious storm of punches.
His fists rained down in a dense barrage, driven by rage, each one landing with a heavy thud as the force of the blows kicked dust off the ground.
The figure still did not move at all.
He simply endured the entire barrage head-on, utterly unmoved.
Then Luffy's left hand seized a pillar of the building behind the giant figure, while his right arm stretched back to its limit.
His whole body compressed like a spring wound to the utmost and then launched toward the giant figure.
"Gum-Gum Rocket Pistol!"
His body shot forward at tremendous speed, and his contracting right arm screamed through the air straight at the other man's face.
"This next part might hurt a little."
The low words slipped quietly into Luffy's ears.
In the next instant, the man vanished from sight.
The long staff suddenly swept sideways and slammed into Luffy's chest with a violent gust of wind.
Once again, Luffy was blasted high into the sky like an arrow loosed from a bowstring.
This time, the bandages wrapped around the staff had turned a dense black.
The man leapt up, the staff carrying savage force as it came crashing straight down toward Luffy's head, the black-wrapped shaft carving a sharp arc through the air.
Luffy smashed heavily into the bottom of the crater, his eyes rolling white, his whole body screaming in pain—yet he still did not lose consciousness.
'Why? Why don't any of my attacks hurt him? And why does it hurt so much? It's just like Grandpa... what is going on? Am I really weak? Nami, Sanji, Zoro... can't I... can't I even protect my own crewmates?'
"This feeling isn't pleasant, is it?"
The man crouched down and leaned toward Luffy at the bottom of the crater.
The mask on his face, which had already been webbed with cracks from the earlier collision, now slowly slipped down his cheek.
Fragment after fragment fell to the ground.
"Then get stronger as quickly as you can. Don't let Grandpa, don't let yourself, don't let me, and don't let everyone else experience this kind of powerlessness again!"
The mask fell away completely, revealing a face covered in dragon scales.
Then he raised his voice toward the distance.
"You can come out now, can't you, Nami-san? This guy being your captain shouldn't be a problem, right?"
"Yeah. He's a little reckless... but he's not bad."
Nami, who was supposed to have died, slowly stepped out, one hand supporting a red-faced Zoro and the still-fuming Sanji.
Since Zoro was injured, it was perfectly natural for Nami to be helping him.
But the flush on his face was not because she was standing too close!
Zoro's old wounds still had not healed, and that earlier strike had not hit any of them.
Instead, it had landed squarely on his ass!
It had not added a new injury, but for someone as proud as Zoro, the humiliation alone had turned even his neck faintly red, and the way he walked looked slightly unnatural!
And the one standing before them was none other than Cain, who had only recently finished forging his own exclusive weapon.
Although Garp had told him to meet up with Luffy at Loguetown, after thinking it over, Cain had decided that he should become the first true powerful enemy on his little brother's journey right here.
After all, once they passed Loguetown, they would enter the Grand Line, and only then would their real adventure begin.
The Grand Line was full of danger.
There, Luffy would encounter many opponents he simply could not handle—one of the Seven Warlords, Crocodile, whose Sand-Sand Fruit's elemental body made him impossible to fight and his ability to drain moisture was even more terrifying, and later Enel on Skypiea—if not for the special properties of the Gum-Gum Fruit, Luffy would already have lost several times over.
Then came Enies Lobby, where Luffy began frequently using Second Gear, a technique that consumed his lifespan, and from that point on his battles became more and more like gambling with his life.
Luffy had never cared much about his own life.
As his older brother, Cain had to prepare the road ahead for him in advance—make him recognize his own shortcomings as early as possible, so that he could face every battle that would come after.
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Uta will debut in 10 more chapters and its a single pairing so if you like harem better to drop this now!