Just as Cain was loudly complaining, Law slowly walked over with his crew.
"Yo, you're here!"
Seeing him, Cain raised a hand in greeting, then turned toward Luffy.
"Let me introduce him. This is the Torao I told you about before, the guy who helped us a lot!"
"It's Trafalgar Law!"
Law corrected him expressionlessly, his tone carrying a trace of helplessness.
"And didn't we already meet on the Sabaody Archipelago?"
"Oh…"
Luffy only gave a casual response, with no attention to spare for that little detail.
His focus had long since been stolen by the contents of Cain's bounty poster.
Cain's pirate affiliation had clearly been split apart, and that made Luffy very unhappy!
Cain was his crewmate, after all.
He had even entrusted the Merry to Cain, so how could he let anyone steal Cain away?
He immediately clenched his fists and shouted that he would defeat the Four Emperors, beat Big Mom and Kaido, and take Cain back!
Hearing this, Cain raised a finger and flicked Luffy on the forehead.
"What are you getting so worked up for? With your current strength, do you really think you can beat an Emperor? If I hadn't gathered all those people, you probably wouldn't even have been able to save Ace this time by yourself! Do you understand the gap between you and this world, Luffy?"
As Cain spoke, he twirled the hat in his fingers.
It was the hat Ace had dropped back then.
Luffy instantly quieted down.
His gaze landed on the hat, and he sank into long thought before slowly speaking to Cain.
"Cain, I finally understand! All those things you kept saying before about strength, strength, strength… If I don't have strength, then I can't protect anything, and I can't make any decisions!"
"So… I have to get stronger!"
Cain rubbed his chin and quietly pondered.
He still had a lot of things to deal with later.
Was he really supposed to leave Luffy's training to Rayleigh?
There was no denying that what Rayleigh taught was practical.
But his teaching method was not fast enough.
And it was not harsh enough.
Did Cain really have to learn from Kaido and hit Luffy with a Thunder Bagua every time he saw him?
A thought stirred in Cain's mind.
Maybe he should try it.
Of course, not at full power.
With that in mind, he turned toward Luffy, his tone somewhat probing.
"Luffy, since you really want to get stronger, let's give it a try. Use Armament Haki and defend with everything you've got. I won't use Conqueror's Haki coating. Let's see whether you can block it."
"Huh? You can coat things with Conqueror's Haki?"
Luffy looked confused, but his hands were already rapidly covered in Armament Haki as he entered a defensive stance.
Clearly, he had already prepared himself to take the hit.
"Of course."
Cain had already lowered his waist and taken his stance, his gaze locking onto Luffy's head.
"For now, just remember this move. If you really want to learn it, then cling to old man Rayleigh with everything you've got and make him teach you."
As he spoke, Cain raised his chin toward Law not far away, signaling that if Luffy got hurt later, he would have to trouble him for treatment.
Then—
"Thunder Bagua!"
Before the words had fully fallen, Cain's attack had already landed.
In the blink of an eye, Luffy flew backward like a leaf swept up by a violent gale, drawing a beautiful arc through the air before crashing heavily into the other side of the island.
"Cain, didn't you go a little too far?"
Uta looked at Luffy's distant figure and muttered softly.
Cain gazed into the distance with a calm face.
"It should be fine. I already held back quite a lot."
"Uh, that's not what I meant."
Uta froze for a moment, then quickly said,
"What you hit just now seemed to be…"
"Now that you mention it… I think I forgot to tell Luffy that this move was aimed at his head."
Cain belatedly slapped his forehead, then turned to Uta.
"He seemed to be defending with his hands just now, right?"
"Let's go! Hurry, we need to catch up!"
As Uta spoke, she instantly rushed out. After running a few steps, she turned back and grabbed Cain's hand.
Cain let Uta pull him along, following her quickly.
"Yeah, yeah!"
On the other side, Law shook his head helplessly and followed at an unhurried pace.
After all, he needed to keep an eye on Uta's condition and make sure that Demon King did not suddenly pop out…
When Cain and Uta arrived at the destination, the scene before them made them freeze for a moment.
The Pirate Empress, dressed in a purple robe, was gently rubbing the large bump on Luffy's forehead.
Her eyes, usually filled with affection when looking at Luffy, were now glaring fiercely at them.
After dealing with Aokiji's matter, Hancock had rushed over without stopping for even a moment.
And then she had seen Luffy being sent flying straight to her side.
Someone dared to hurt Luffy…
How could she possibly allow that?!
"So it was you who did this to Luffy, wasn't it? Even if you are his bro—!"
The Pirate Empress' voice was cold, filled with undisguised anger.
"It's fine, Hancock. I asked Cain to do it."
Luffy hurriedly stopped Hancock from directing her anger at Cain.
"Yees~."
The moment Luffy pleaded for him, Hancock instantly changed from her earlier rage into a gentle expression as she gazed at Luffy.
Then she turned her head and glared viciously at the two people before her.
"Hey, Cain, if I'm guessing right…"
Uta rose onto her tiptoes and leaned close to Cain's ear, lowering her voice.
"Yeah, you're right."
Cain sighed and shook his head helplessly.
"It's just that my little brother is a complete block of wood. He hasn't awakened to anything at all."
The moment his words fell, a thunderous boom suddenly came from the sky.
A brilliant flash of lightning tore across the heavens, and a figure wrapped in electric currents dove down with a sharp howl of wind.
The first thing that entered their view was a girl carrying a silver jetpack on her back, with fine arcs of lightning coiling around her body.
Cain recognized her at a glance as Koala.
Sabo was probably nearby too.
Just as Cain expected, Sabo was currently in his elementalized state, transformed into a mass of surging lightning and attached to the jetpack on Koala's back, clearly providing energy to the device.
Luffy's eyes were already shining as he stared fixedly at the strangely shaped jetpack, his face full of obvious eagerness that practically screamed, 'I want to try that too.'
After Koala landed steadily, the roar of the jetpack gradually faded.
Only then did Sabo return from his lightning form to his human body and slowly walk out from the device.
Seeing this, Luffy stopped paying attention to the jetpack and instead clung tightly to Sabo, pulling at his arm while asking question after question.
Sabo answered patiently and helplessly, explaining their past to him piece by piece.
At the same time, he introduced Koala to everyone and answered many of their doubts as well.
For example, he explained that he had been the one who stopped Cain from exposing himself too early…
And also—
"So the one who melted that huge block of ice back then was you, Sabo! You're really amazing! But what happened to that long-eared guy? I remember your ability belonged to him."
"Ah, after that guy had his ability removed, Dr. Vegapunk managed to save him when he was hanging by a thread."
Sabo scratched the back of his head and spoke quietly. After all, no matter how one put it, this was still a secret.
"After losing his ability, and after undergoing all kinds of 'adjustments,' he has 'deeply' realized his mistakes. Because his situation is very special and he can't be discovered by the World Government, he took quite a lot of equipment from Vegapunk. In a way, he's following his own wish now."
"By this point, he's probably already on the moon."
After hearing Sabo's explanation, Luffy grew even more fascinated with the outside world.
After all, that was the moon.
A place even higher than the sky islands.
Then what about the sun?
Those were places even Pirate King Roger had never reached.
Once he became Pirate King of these seas, his next goal would be to become the Pirate King of outer space!
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