Admiral Aokiji slowed his bicycle and stepped off at the edge of the pier, boots crunching softly on the sand-covered stone. His gaze fell on Luffy, who stood there waiting with a relaxed grin, hands still in his pockets.
"Well…" Aokiji muttered, raising a brow. "Didn't expect you'd be waiting for me."
Luffy chuckled softly, his voice carrying across the calm water.
"Waiting? Nah…" He said playfully. "More like giving you time to catch up."
"Catch up?" Aokiji blinked, momentarily speechless.
Luffy shrugged, lightning crackling faintly across his shoulders as he smirked. "You're not bad, Kuzan-san. Took you a while, but you finally made it."
The faint sound of waves filled the silence that followed.
Aokiji's expression twitched slightly, a faint frown breaking his usual calm.
"So you knew I was coming, huh?"
"Of course," Luffy replied, grinning as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You think Grandpa Sengoku would just let me play around without keeping a leash on me?"
Aokiji sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Tch… you're too sharp for your age, kid."
Luffy tilted his head, pretending to think for a moment.
"Sharp? Nah… I just know how people like Sengoku think." He smiled, his tone smooth, confident. "After all, if it wasn't you… It would've been Uncle Borsalino. And if he wasn't available…"
His eyes darkened slightly, a flicker of lightning flashing behind him. "Then they'd have sent that hotheaded magma bastard, Sakazuki. But even they know that'd just end… badly."
Aokiji looked at him silently for a long moment before chuckling softly, though his eyes stayed sharp. "Heh. You talk like you already know how this'll play out."
Luffy smirked, his aura flaring faintly as the ground beneath his feet crackled with static.
"Maybe I do," He said softly. "Maybe I already decided it."
The air around them grew heavy, the sea beginning to shift as the faint crackle of lightning danced along its surface.
For a moment, the two simply stood there under the sunlight, painting them as opposites of the same coin.
Then, Luffy's voice broke the silence again, almost teasing, but carrying a dangerous undertone.
"So, Aokiji… you came all the way here… What are you planning to do now?"
The question hung in the air like thunder about to strike.
"Depends," Aokiji's eyes narrowed slightly. He murmured, his breath turning white in the cold air. "You've turned Wano upside down in just a span of days. You planning to rest or… start another mess?"
Luffy smirked faintly, turning his gaze toward the horizon. His coat fluttered with the wind as sparks of electricity occasionally ran along his shoulders, flickering like restless fireflies.
"Rest?" He asked with a quiet chuckle. "Nah… I'll leave that to the others. I've got a short trip to make."
Aokiji's brow lifted, his single visible eye narrowing.
"A short trip?" He repeated. "Don't tell me you're planning to—"
Before he could finish, Luffy cut in, his voice calm but filled with that trademark recklessness that made even admirals uneasy.
"Relax, Aokiji. I'm not planning on destroying a country." He turned to face him fully, the sunlight glinting off his sharp grin. "I'm just going to Kaido's lair."
The silence that followed was heavy. Even the ocean seemed to hold its breath.
Aokiji's face twitched. He blinked once, then twice.
"…Kaido's lair?"
"Yeah," Luffy said casually, as if mentioning a walk through a park. "Onigashima. Since the big guy isn't home, might as well check his place out, right? Never hurts to see where the monsters sleep."
The admiral stared at him blankly, his expression a perfect mix of disbelief and exhaustion. He rubbed his temples, letting out a deep sigh that fogged the air in front of him.
"You do realize what you're saying, right?" He muttered, half to himself. "The Marines barely finished cleaning up the mess you made not long ago… and now you want to waltz into a Yonko's territory like it's a sightseeing trip?"
Luffy grinned wider, his eyes bright with mischief.
"Pretty much."
"You're insane," Aokiji muttered, shaking his head. His voice held no anger, just weary amusement, like a teacher trying to reason with an unteachable prodigy. "You're making people in Marineford lose their minds, you know that? Sengoku probably hasn't slept properly since you left."
Luffy chuckled softly, his tone teasing yet calm. "That's his problem, not mine."
The admiral gave him a long look, as if trying to find a trace of hesitation in his expression, but there was none. Only steady confidence and that strange, dangerous calm that surrounded him whenever he was about to do something insane.
"You really think you can just stroll into Kaido's den and make it out alive?" Aokiji asked, his voice lowering, a mix of disbelief and warning. "You've already made enough enemies. You don't need another Yonko breathing down your neck."
Luffy tilted his head slightly, the corners of his lips curling upward in a confident smirk.
"Who said I'd let him breathe?"
A brief silence followed his words, broken only by the sound of the waves crashing against the frozen shore.
Aokiji exhaled through his nose, shaking his head with a quiet, almost reluctant laugh.
"You really don't know fear, huh?"
Luffy's grin softened, almost nostalgic for a fleeting moment. "I learned a long time ago that fear doesn't change anything. If I'm going to fight monsters, I might as well do it my way."
Aokiji's gaze lingered on him for a few seconds, his expression unreadable. Then he sighed again and rubbed the back of his neck. "Fine. Do what you want. I'm too old to argue with maniacs. Just don't expect me to pick up the pieces if you get yourself killed."
"You won't have to," Luffy said, lightning beginning to crackle faintly at his feet. "I'll come back before they even finish the feast."
Aokiji arched a brow. "Confident, aren't you?"
Luffy laughed, the sound carefree and bright even as static electricity filled the air around him. "Wouldn't be fun otherwise."
BOOM!
A blinding flash of light erupted around him, followed by the crack of thunder that split the sky apart.
The ground beneath his boots trembled as a surge of electricity exploded outward, sending a shockwave through the sand and air.
Aokiji instinctively raised a hand to shield his eyes as Luffy's figure blurred, his body transforming into a streak of pure lightning.
CRRRAAAAACK!
The sound tore through the night like a dragon's roar, and the clouds above split apart, illuminating the entire port in a brief burst of light.
When the glare faded, the place where Luffy had been standing was empty; only faint arcs of lightning danced across the ground, flickering like fading stars.
Aokiji stood there for a moment, his expression blank, before letting out a slow, exasperated sigh. He rubbed his messy hair and muttered under his breath, voice echoing faintly over the wind.
"Tch… damn kid. Every time I think I've figured him out, he shows me something new."
He glanced up at the sky, where the storm clouds were still glowing faintly with electric light.
"So he's a Logia too…" He murmured, half in wonder, half in disbelief. "A lightning user, huh? Just what the hell are you planning, Luffy…"
The wind picked up again, carrying the faint scent of ozone.
Aokiji looked toward the direction of Onigashima and exhaled deeply.
"Guess things just got a lot more interesting."
He turned away and began walking toward the capital, the sound of ice crunching softly under his boots.
--- ✦ ✦ ✦ ---
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