It was a strange sight.
Two pirate crews facing each other beneath the execution platform of Gol D. Roger—
and the man standing at the very top was neither captured nor restrained.
He was smiling.
The plaza buzzed with confusion, whispers spreading like wildfire as civilians craned their necks upward.
Then a voice cracked through the noise.
"HEY!"
A trembling man shoved his way forward, finger shaking as he pointed upward.
"T-That guy…!"
Every head turned.
"That man is a rookie pirate with a hundred million berry bounty on his head!"
The words struck the square like a cannon blast.
"He's the Thunder Demon—
Straw Hat Luffy!"
Fear spread instantly.
People backed away.
Mothers pulled children close.
Merchants abandoned stalls.
Eyes searched desperately for Marines.
At the center of it all, Luffy smiled wider.
"So they finally said it out loud," he thought.
The sky above Loguetown rumbled.
Thunderclouds—already thick—began to coil tighter, lower, darker.
Luffy stepped forward to the very edge of the platform.
Wind tugged at his coat.
He spread his arms wide.
And then—
He shouted.
"MY NAME IS MONKEY D. LUFFY!"
His voice carried unnaturally far, echoing through the streets, through the harbor, through the bones of the city itself.
"And I—"
The sky cracked.
Lightning flared behind him.
"—AM THE MAN WHO WILL BECOME—"
Thunder roared like a living thing.
"KING OF THE PIRATES!"
The moment froze.
Lightning exploded across the clouds, illuminating his silhouette—
arms spread, straw hat shadowing his eyes, execution platform beneath his feet.
Gasps rippled through the plaza.
"He… he said it."
"In this city?"
"That's insane…"
Before disbelief could settle—
The clouds split.
Not violently.
Not by force.
They opened.
A hole formed directly above the platform, and through it poured a single, brilliant shaft of sunlight—
pure, radiant, impossibly precise.
It bathed Luffy in gold.
The crowd went silent.
Sanji and Zoro, hidden among the civilians, stared.
"…You seeing this?" Sanji muttered.
Zoro didn't answer.
He couldn't.
Smoker stood frozen at the edge of the square.
His cigarette slipped from his fingers and hit the ground, forgotten.
Marines stared upward, dread crawling into their throats.
Buggy's crew fell to their knees.
Buggy himself trembled, eyes wide, sweat dripping down his painted face.
Luffy stood unmoving, light cascading over him, thunder growling above.
For a fraction of a second—
Even Luffy was confused.
"I didn't do that."
His grin faltered.
The light felt… wrong.
Not his.
Not controlled.
Not electricity.
Something else.
He glanced down.
Hundreds of people stared at him as if witnessing a miracle.
Then it clicked.
"…Oh."
He laughed.
Not loud.
Not manic.
Just amused.
"Heh… guess this is how legends start."
As the hole in the clouds slowly began to close, Luffy raised his head once more.
Lightning erupted violently from his body—
a single deafening burst—
as if punctuating the moment.
The sunlight vanished.
The clouds sealed.
Thunder faded.
Reality crashed back in.
Luffy lowered his arms.
The plaza remained frozen.
Then—
CRACK.
Luffy vanished.
He reappeared instantly behind Sanji and Zoro.
"Close your mouths," he said flatly. "You'll catch flies."
Sanji jumped.
"LUFF—! That was—!"
"Don't ask," Luffy replied. "I don't know either."
Zoro snorted. "Figures."
"Ready?" Luffy asked.
Both nodded.
They turned to leave.
That was when the Marines arrived.
Boots thundered.
Rifles raised.
Smoke rolled across the plaza as hundreds—no, thousands—of Marines flooded in from every direction.
"Straw Hat Luffy!" a voice shouted. "You are surrounded!"
Sanji lit a cigarette calmly.
"Looks crowded."
Zoro counted silently. "…At least a thousand."
Luffy grinned.
"Good. Let's make it memorable."
He raised his hand.
"Electro-Murder."
From his fingertips burst arcs of lightning—thin, precise, alive.
They wrapped around ten Marines—
Then jumped.
Chains of electricity leapt from body to body, racing through ranks, screaming echoing as fifty Marines were bound in an instant.
Voltage surged.
Two seconds.
Then silence.
Bodies collapsed.
Dead.
Luffy turned.
Behind him—
A violent whirlwind tore through Marine lines.
Zoro stood at its center, swords drawn, Marines flung aside like leaves.
A body suddenly slammed into Luffy's shoulder.
Electricity crackled.
Luffy looked up.
Sanji was spinning through the air, kicking Marines into oblivion.
"HEY!" Luffy shouted. "Aim better!"
"Sorry, Captain!" Sanji yelled, laughing.
Luffy smirked.
"Alright."
He turned toward the harbor.
"Let's go."
The Heavenly Thunder Demon ran.
And Loguetown would remember this day forever.