"Are you alright?"
Just as Sanji was about to pass out, someone caught him.
Sanji quickly shook his head and then saw clearly who was in front of him. It was that guy with the swords, his name was...
Roronoa Zoro?
Sanji pushed his hand away and said with a hint of disgust, "A big man who smells like fish, don't come near me."
A whirlpool appeared above Zoro's head, but considering that this curly-browed, blonde-haired fellow had saved his life, he managed to hold back. After letting go, he asked, "What happened to you just now?"
"It has nothing to do with you," Sanji said quietly. "Since you're awake, you should take them and leave."
"...You saved us, and then you're just letting us go?" Zoro was a bit confused. He didn't understand why Sanji had saved them. He initially thought Sanji had an ulterior motive, but now that Sanji was awake, he was telling them to leave quickly?
"What else? Pirates like you showing up at the Baratie won't bring any good news." Sanji chuckled. "Although, everyone who comes to eat is a customer to me, you're not eating now, so you're not a customer. Therefore, I don't welcome pirates like you."
"Why did you save us?" Zoro didn't leave just because of Sanji's words. He still asked the question.
"How would I know?" Sanji took out a cigarette, lit it, took a deep drag, and exhaled a smoke ring. "Old man told me to save you, so I did. That's all."
Taking another drag from his cigarette, Sanji turned around stylishly and walked back towards the restaurant.
"Alright, that young lady doesn't seem to be in good condition. You should go and check on her."
With that, he jumped directly off the ship, landing precisely on the steps of the Baratie. His landing was incredibly gentle, not even kicking up any dust.
Zoro narrowed his eyes slightly. From Sanji's actions, he could tell he wasn't an ordinary person. Was this kind of person just a chef at the Baratie?
That made sense. Wasn't the owner of the Baratie also a big shot who returned from the Grand Line? It was normal for the chefs here to be extraordinary...
Zoro clutched his chest in pain. The injury from the lash was still clearly visible. Just one strike from that whip had corroded a huge hole in his chest, seemingly close to his heart.
"Hmph, as expected of the Demon King, you're really something."
Zoro gritted his teeth and returned to the room. Luffy had been forcefully put inside and was still asleep. Nami, who was lying on the bed, had her arms and legs tied down.
"What… did that guy do?"
Zoro was puzzled. He had been unconscious at the time, so he didn't know that Muzan had turned Nami into a demon. Of course, he also didn't know about the scene later where Nami tried to eat Luffy.
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However, Zoro didn't know Nami very well anyway. Sanji had said her condition wasn't good...
"!"
Suddenly, Nami's eyes snapped open, revealing a pair of crimson, wicked eyes. She of course saw Zoro and began to struggle wildly. Saliva dripped from her lips, as if Zoro wasn't a standing person, but a live, delicious meal.
"No… no way?" Zoro instinctively took a step back. When he noticed Nami's condition, he couldn't help but say, "You… you've become a demon?"
His gaze sharpened, and he was about to draw his sword to cut off Nami's head. But just as he drew his sword, the unconscious Luffy seemed to sense Zoro's killing intent and woke up.
"She's Bellemere's daughter, Nami!"
As soon as Luffy opened his eyes, he saw Zoro drawing his sword at Nami and immediately shouted.
"What?" Zoro paused upon hearing Luffy's voice, then said, "So what? Didn't you see? She's become a demon, and not like Bellemere, a demon with memories and self. She right now..."
He looked at Nami, who was struggling and could barely speak, and said coldly, "Even Bellemere wouldn't want to see her daughter like this, would she?"
"No!" Luffy was stubborn. He regained his original form, and although he felt incredibly tired, he still stood in front of Zoro and said firmly, "Nami is our navigator. You can't hurt her."
"..." Zoro looked at Luffy seriously, as if trying to find his brain. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said, "Do you think she can still be a navigator like this?"
"Go and beat up that demon Muzan! Make him turn Nami back to normal!" Luffy shouted, as if he had forgotten how he was easily defeated by Muzan earlier.
"Next time, I definitely won't lose again!"
Indeed, it's not a proper boss unless you defeat Luffy three or four times...
Bosses like Crocodile and Kaido gave a thumbs up.
Even if you defeat Luffy once or twice instantly, he'll still get back up, and with his health gauge full, defeat everyone.
However, according to Genichi's observation, this isn't considered an 'abnormal phenomenon'...
It sounds far-fetched, but based on Genichi's several battles since he went out to sea, combined with Luffy's some performances in the original work, he made a guess.
Luffy ate the Nika Fruit. According to the author's explanation, it allows Luffy to enter the world of Tom and Jerry. And now, although the external manifestation is the Gum-Gum Fruit, from Genichi's observation, besides giving Luffy rubber properties, he also possesses a passive aura or a domain.
Those who are enemies with Luffy will have their strength become extremely vague.
Especially if the battle lasts longer, the gap in strength between the two sides will become even more blurred, eventually bringing the enemy to his own level, and Luffy can defeat them with his rich experience.
And within this domain or aura, everything becomes natural. So even though he defeated Crocodile, who could fight evenly with Barrett, immediately after arriving at the Grand Line, and then successively defeated Lucci and Moria, he could still, with the full strength of his crew, defeat a Pacifista.
However, even when this happened, outsiders wouldn't find anything wrong.
Although, from an out-of-game perspective, it's like the author of One Piece is patching things up as they go, and the power system logic is chaotic, this is a real world now...
Although it's just Genichi's guess, if Luffy really has such an aura...
Perhaps, he understands why it takes over a hundred million emotion points to surpass this world.
Perhaps, only a character card of over a hundred million emotion points can be immune to Luffy's ability!
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