Shhh!
Luffy vanished from his spot, lunging violently toward the masked agent who had been sent flying.
"Gum-Gum... Elephant Gun!"
A colossal, hardened fist swung down like a falling meteor.
"What?!" The masked agent's face contorted in shock. He frantically raised both arms to brace himself.
BOOM!
The crushing impact pushed his arms far past their structural limit, smashing him straight into the stone and carving out a massive crater.
"Hah... Gum-Gum... Gatling!"
Luffy's arms were heavily shrouded in Armament Haki, and he poured every ounce of his Advanced Conqueror's Haki into a relentless onslaught.
Before the masked agent could even catch his breath within the crater, Luffy's fists began to rain down upon him like a furious, apocalyptic storm.
"Iron Body: Steel!" the agent roared, desperately locking his posture.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
Without exception, every single punch slammed squarely into his frame. The surrounding earth fractured and collapsed as his feet sank deeper into the stone amidst a shower of crumbling debris. The terrifying thunder of the impacts sent shivers down the spines of everyone watching. Not even the clashing of legendary blades carried a sound this violently destructive.
"RAAAAAH!"
Finally, Luffy drew his arm back to its absolute limit and unleashed a massive finishing blow.
KABOOM!
The surrounding stonework exploded into dust.
"Gah..."
The masked agent, who had previously maintained an air of absolute disdain and detached calm, suddenly let out a sharp cry of agonizing pain. In the next instant, his body went entirely limp as he collapsed onto the ground.
"What?!" Lucci's brow twitched, a sudden sense of dread washing over him.
With a sharp swoosh, Lucci began executing a rapid series of mid-air jumps, shifting his position across the sky. Ace gently laid Yamato down on the stone and dissolved into a streak of fire to give chase. Although Lucci's mastery of Moonwalk had reached an absolute pinnacle, Ace still managed to close the distance.
BOOM!
The two clashed violently in mid-air before rebounding away from each other. Ace refused to grant him even a single inch of clearance to approach Luffy. Without a second's pause, he launched another assault.
"Fire Meteor!"
A massive column of fire erupted from Ace's palm. Lucci kicked the air head-on to meet it, crossing his forearms to shield himself.
CRASH!
The torrent of fire tore through space and slammed directly into Lucci, but he endured it!
Ace's eyes widened slightly in disbelief. He actually blocked a Fire Meteor just like that?!
"Six King Pistol!" Lucci pressed his fists together and violently unleashed a devastating shockwave.
As the ultimate secret art of the Rokushiki, Lucci showed no intention of holding back; he was striking with his absolute maximum power. He needed to secure Nico Robin in the shortest time possible.
Ace's pupils shrank, and he countered with a heavy punch of his own.
BOOM!
The fists collided. Because Ace's output was slightly dampened from exhaustion, he was blasted backward by the concussive force. Seizing the opening, Lucci shot up into the sky and immediately angled his descent toward Luffy.
Luffy cut his gaze sideways, immediately throwing a punch infused with Advanced Conqueror's Haki. His eyes flickered with a dangerous crimson light; he had pushed his Observation Haki to its absolute limit, tracking Lucci's trajectory the exact microsecond the assassin made his move.
Lucci had not expected Luffy to react with such terrifying speed. In mid-air, he hastily executed a Moonwalk to alter his path. Yet, this precise evasion had already been foreseen by Luffy, who snapped a heavy kick toward the empty space behind him.
KABOOM!
Sure enough, Lucci materialized directly into the path of the kick in the very next second and was sent blasting away.
"Impossible!"
The remaining white-cloaked agents froze in sheer disbelief. They understood Lucci's strength better than anyone; he possessed the combat prowess to trade blows with a Yonko. How could he be swatted aside so cleanly by Luffy?
Luffy touched down on the stone, his chest heaving as he panted frantically for air. Bael blurred across the ground, taking up a position right next to him, the two warriors standing back-to-back.
Bael's condition was also far from ideal. After the prolonged, brutal warfare against the Beast Pirates, his physical stamina was rapidly approaching its absolute nadir. Furthermore, these CP0 agents were far from weak; every single one of them was an elite assassin with exceptional martial prowess.
Brook gently laid Robin on the ground, joining Luffy and Bael to form a tight defensive perimeter with Robin safely guarded at the center.
Luffy's glare remained fixed on the distant clearing, where Lucci was slowly rising to his feet. Lucci casually brushed the dust off his white suit, casting a cold glance at the young pirate.
"I see. It appears we have both grown significantly stronger over the last two years," Lucci remarked, before his tone abruptly shifted into a chilling sneer. "However... given your current state of exhaustion, do you honestly believe you can defeat me?"
The corners of Lucci's mouth curled upward. He could easily discern that Luffy's previous counterattack had drawn upon the absolute last of his reserved strength. A blow of that caliber was nothing more than a superficial nuisance to him; it couldn't inflict any substantial, lasting damage.
Swoosh!
Lucci plummeted from the sky, snapping a lethal kick straight toward Luffy. In his Hybrid form, his movements were incredibly swift, precise, and ruthless.
Just as he was about to close the distance to Luffy, the ocean surrounding Onigashima suddenly began to violently churn as colossal waves rolled over the shore. In the distance, a massive, terrifying silhouette was tearing across the sea at a staggering velocity, hurtling straight toward the island.
"BIG MOM?!"
Every single fighter on the battlefield froze in utter bewilderment. The members of the Beast Pirates were especially shell-shocked. Since when did another Emperor of the Sea arrive at Onigashima?!
They hadn't received a single shred of intelligence regarding her approach. They had no way of knowing that the scouts left to guard the coast had already been systematically liquidated by Drake long ago. Naturally, no warnings would ever come.
Sailing closely behind the Emperor was a colossal flagship, cutting through the waves—the Big Mom Pirates! At the vanguard of the fleet was Big Mom herself, rapidly closing the distance to Onigashima aboard a massive vessel of condensed candy.
The sight sent a jolt of alarm even through Lucci's calculated composure. Why is she here? Wasn't she locked in a deathmatch against Drake?
Based on CP0's intelligence networks, they had thoroughly verified Drake's current capabilities; his status as an Emperor-caliber powerhouse was an indisputable fact. To ensure the absolute success of his operation, Lucci had explicitly taken a wide detour to avoid the coordinate of their duel.
How had she broken away so quickly?
"DRAAAA-AAAKE!!" Big Mom suddenly threw her head back and unleashed a feral, deafening screech. The sound waves roared across the vast expanse of the ocean, easily bridging a distance of several miles to slam directly into Onigashima.
"Gah!"
Countless fighters across the battlefield instantly clutched their ears, their faces contorting in agonizing pain. The very fabric of the atmosphere seemed to vibrate violently under the sheer weight of her vocal fury. The raw terror of a Yonko's enraged roar was an absolute nightmare.
Lucci, who had been on the verge of striking Luffy, immediately aborted his trajectory and leaped back, his cold eyes fixed on the approaching Emperor.
Initially, the fighters below couldn't comprehend the cause of her manic frenzy, but as Big Mom drew closer, the reality became jarringly clear. The Emperor no longer possessed a single shred of her usual majestic, imposing grandeur. Her royal garments hung in tattered, blood-soaked rags, her hair was a wild, tangled mane, and fresh blood dripped continuously from several deep lacerations across her frame. Her face was completely twisted into a mask of pure, unadulterated homicidal rage.
An Emperor's wrath will dye the seas crimson. This was an absolute axiom known to every pirate in the New World. And the Big Mom charging at them right now was precisely that kind of unhinged, apocalyptic calamity.
For an ordinary warrior, to cross her path meant instant death.
Crack!
Right then, a sharp sound like shattering glass echoed from the air above the nearby shoreline. A silhouette stepped out from the empty space, materializing right before the eyes of the battlefield.
The young man appeared somewhat disheveled, his clothing lightly torn from the elements of war, but there wasn't a single trace of blood or serious injury anywhere on his body. His overall condition was visibly, incomparably superior to Big Mom's.
"Drake!" Ace and Luffy shouted in unison, an instant wave of relief washing over their faces the moment they saw him.
BOOM!
Suddenly, a heavy sound resonated. Luffy was violently blasted backward into the stone.
Lucci stood in his place, his expression dripping with absolute disdain. "Still as careless as ever. You should know by now that you are on a battlefield."
On a true battlefield, a single moment of distraction was a luxury that cost a man his life. This was a truth Lucci had drilled into his soul since his childhood days in CP9. A half-baked, sentimental pirate like Luffy was someone he truly held in complete contempt.
He was a true weapon of war; Luffy was not.