"Ah—huh?"
Monkey D. Luffy had already braced himself to scream, but halfway through, he realized… it didn't hurt at all. There was no overwhelming force like before.
Confused, he stopped, lowered his head, and looked at Rob Lucci's fist pressing against his stomach.
"It definitely hit me, though?"
Luffy scratched the back of his head in confusion, tilting it slightly. His belly bounced with a duang, directly rebounding Lucci's fist.
Now even more puzzled, Luffy casually picked his nose and looked at Lucci. "Hey… did you suddenly go soft? Why'd you lose all your strength?"
"Oh!"
Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he clapped his hands. "That's your Devil Fruit ability, right?"
"Vein!!"
Lucci's forehead bulged with veins as he listened to Luffy's nonsense. Ignoring his sudden loss of power, he glared viciously and roared, "Go to hell, you arrogant brat! Even with my body weakened, I can still crush you!"
With that, Lucci raised his fist again and struck Luffy.
To be fair, even with his reduced strength, his Zoan-enhanced physique still sent Luffy flying.
But—
Luffy clearly felt no pain. Not even a scratch.
While flying backward, he stretched his arm to grab onto a piece of broken wall, then snapped it tight—
"Gomu Gomu no… Invincible Headbutt!!!"
He launched himself back at terrifying speed, slamming his head directly into Lucci's stomach.
The impact bent Lucci's body into an arc.
If this were before his mysterious weakening, such an attack would've been nothing.
But now—
"Pfft!"
With his body severely degraded, how could he withstand it?
Lucci spat out a mouthful of blood and was sent flying, smashing through a wall before crashing into the ground. His eyes rolled back as he lost consciousness.
His Zoan transformation faded.
"Huh?"
Luffy tilted his head again, completely confused at how fragile Lucci had suddenly become.
He walked over, crouched down, and patted Lucci's face. "Hey! Hey! Wake up! Wake up!"
No response.
"Really out cold?"
Still unconvinced, Luffy raised his hand and delivered several loud piapapap! slaps across Lucci's face.
Lucci's already injured face visibly swelled—
But he still didn't wake up.
Luffy scratched his head helplessly. "Man, what am I supposed to do with you? You just dropped like that."
"Well, whatever! I'm heading out! Hehehe!"
He stood up, stretched lazily, adjusted his straw hat, and walked toward the other side of the ruins.
Below, the Going Merry was approaching with his crew—
Behind them, countless warships were in pursuit.
"Boom!"
Cannons fired repeatedly, sending towering water columns into the sky.
"Hmm?"
Halfway there, Luffy felt something odd under his foot.
Looking down, he saw a strange scroll.
"Feels kinda familiar…"
He paused, scratching his chin in thought. "Where have I seen something like this before?"
But the more he thought, the less he remembered.
So he gave up, picked up the scroll, and tucked it into his waistband.
"Luffy! Hurry! Jump down! Now!!"
From below, Nami, Roronoa Zoro, and the others shouted urgently.
"I'm coming! Shishishishi!"
Luffy laughed and flung both arms toward the Going Merry, grabbing its railing—
Then reeled himself in.
"Bam!"
He slammed straight into Zoro, knocking him flat on his back and nearly knocking the wind out of him.
Zoro shoved him away, face dark. "Do that again, and I'll kill you, you idiot!"
How many times had this happened already?
He was done with it.
"Hahaha!"
Luffy just laughed it off and shouted to the ship, "Merry! Set sail! Get us out of here!"
As if responding, the ship accelerated, weaving through warships and cannon fire like a miracle.
"Hmm?"
At that moment, Nami noticed the scroll tucked at Luffy's waist.
She pulled it out and began opening it while asking, "Luffy, where did you get this?"
"Oh, that?" Luffy replied casually. "Found it on the ground where we were fighting. Stepped on it. Looked familiar, so I took it. You know it?"
"Ahhh!!!"
Instead of answering, Nami suddenly screamed in excitement.
"It's the same kind of scroll as last time! But this one is a body-tempering technique called Lightning Body Tempering Art!"
"No wonder it looked familiar—it's definitely from the same source!"
The style, the handwriting—
Clearly from the same person.
But why did it appear here?
"Are you serious?!"
"Lightning Body Tempering?"
Zoro and the others immediately reacted.
They all knew about the chakra extraction scroll and chakra seed Nami got last time.
They had tried learning it themselves—but without chakra seeds, they couldn't succeed.
And now, another one appeared?
"Huh?"
Luffy tilted his head again, recalling something. "Now that I think about it… when I fought the long-eared guy before, and just now against leopard guy…"
"They both suddenly got weaker, and I beat them easily."
"So… when leopard guy couldn't hurt me earlier… that wasn't his Devil Fruit ability?"
Luffy finally realized something.
"Idiot!"
Usopp punched him on the head. "What kind of useless ability would that be?! Even if it existed, why would he use it on you? You think he's your dad or something?"
To Read More Advance Chapters Head Over To My Patreon
patreon.com/ted11