"Nani!!!!"
The camera slowly pulls back. Starting from the three main forces standing in tight formation, Sadgeo's full body is gradually revealed.
He bares his teeth in a grin, then his eyes light up as he also begins blowing air toward his wrist.
"Huff~!!!"
Smoke begins to swirl as an enormous mass of compressed air bursts outward, shockwaves scattering in all directions, accompanied by a thunderous roar.
Boom…
Boom…
Boom…
As the smoke dissipates, a gigantic elastic humanoid can be seen bouncing across the ground. Each time it makes contact with the earth, the land shatters across dozens of meters.
"Gear Fourth—Elastic Giant!!!"
Sadgeo's expression turns ferocious, as if he is not quite accustomed to a body filled with air.
"This is…"
Everyone in the Straw Hat crew freezes in place, because this form is essentially an enlarged version of—a forty-meter-tall Luffy.
"Stop copying me already, hey!!!"
Creak creak creak creak—
With a furious roar, Luffy clenches his left fist and begins compressing it inward, producing a spring-like creaking sound.
"Gomu Gomu!!!"
Sadgeo refuses to be outdone. His arm compresses as well, a fist far larger than Luffy's entire body blasting straight forward.
Bang!!!!
Crack crack crack crack!!!!
Black-and-red lightning rages wildly.
With one punch colliding against another, the ground within several hundred meters begins to shatter!
"Heh… even though I still kind of hate you, there's no blood feud between us. Come join me. Let's seize this world together!!!"
Sadgeo laughs unrestrainedly, his ambition swelling to its absolute peak.
"Taking over the world or whatever—I'm not interested!!! I'm going to become the Pirate King, the freest man on this sea!!!"
Luffy glares fiercely, teeth clenched tight as he loudly rejects the offer.
But Sadgeo only finds him naive and foolish.
"Once you seize the world, what dream can't be fulfilled??? This world may be free, but that freedom can only be granted by me!!!"
"What kind of freedom is that supposed to be!!!"
"Aaaaaahhh!!!!"
Luffy pushes himself to the limit, gas continuously blasting backward from beneath his feet as his power keeps increasing.
"Yeah… now that's our captain~"
A slightly magnetic voice sounds behind Sadgeo at that moment.
Blazing flames coil around his leg as Sanji charges down from the sky using Geppo, flipping midair to gather momentum before kicking straight toward Sadgeo's head.
"Diable Jambe!!!"
Sadgeo's pupils shift. Even though he can't turn around, that doesn't mean he can't block it.
"Clang—"
His Armament Haki–hardened arm snaps back, jet-black Haki covering his elbow as it crashes into the flame-wreathed leg, releasing a deafening explosion.
"Damn it!!!"
The kick lands solidly, colliding with the hardened elbow. In an instant, Sanji's eyes fill with bloodshot veins.
A faint cracking sound echoes from his leg.
The bone… cracked…
"Trying to defeat me won't be that easy!!!"
Sadgeo snickers, suddenly increasing the force in his arm and smashing elastic-form Luffy straight into the ground with a single punch.
Just as he's about to follow up with another blow—
Several cannonballs suddenly appear midair, along with strange plant seeds and arcs of lightning…
All of them rush toward Sadgeo's body at once. Though he coats himself in Armament Haki in advance under Observation Haki, the attacks still manage to affect him.
Sadgeo's massive figure slowly twists around, his gaze landing on the remaining members of the Straw Hat crew.
A serious expression spreads across his face.
"Don't think I'll hold back just because you're weak!!!"
Already enormous, his body becomes even more imposing in elastic form, like a small mountain.
When that serious gaze sweeps over them, the oppressive pressure is overwhelming, frightening the remaining Straw Hat pirates until their faces turn pale.
"We're finished!!!"
"Damn it!!!"
Lightning is completely useless against rubber. Only Usopp continues firing various plants, but they have absolutely no effect on Sadgeo.
Creak creak creak creak—
His fist caves inward along his arm as Sadgeo begins charging power.
On the other side, Zoro—whose arm was damaged after directly clashing with Sadgeo—sees this and his pupils contract sharply.
"This is bad!!!"
He immediately launches himself forward.
"Gomu Gomu—"
"Elastic Gun Barrage!!!"
Fists several meters wide, wrapped in Armament Haki, rain down wildly toward the Straw Hat crew.
The punches are so fast they leave afterimages. Every blow pulverizes dozens of meters of ground into dust, smoke and debris billowing across hundreds of meters like a collapsing mountain.
"Zoro!!!"
Luffy, crawling out from the ground after being deflated, screams at the top of his lungs.
Sanji, whose bones were cracked by the elbow strike, stares blankly in their direction. His cigarette falls to the ground as his pupils tremble.
"No… no way…"
A wave of despair surges up, just like two years ago on the Sabaody Archipelago—facing an absolutely unbeatable enemy, helplessly watching companions vanish…
Luffy and Sanji stand there with their mouths agape, completely unable to speak.
But after the barrage, Sadgeo retracts his stretched fists, his eyes turning solemn.
"What an incredible will…"
"You bastard!!!"
As the smoke slowly clears, under the gaze of the fish-men safely stationed in the protected half of Fish-Man Island, and amid Luffy and Sanji's disbelieving stares—
Zoro stands there, three swords crossed before him in a defensive stance.
Behind him, completely unharmed, are the Straw Hat crew, wrapped in Chopper's fur-strengthening protection.
"Zoro!!!" Luffy shouts excitedly.
"You damn moss-head…" Sanji exhales in relief.
But then—
"Pwah!!!"
A huge mouthful of blood sprays from Zoro's lips. His entire body feels like it's falling apart, his eyes nearly losing focus as he drops to one knee.
"Pwah…"
Having taken all of Sadgeo's Gear Fourth attacks head-on, forcing himself to endure them with sheer body strength and Haki, Zoro is now pushed straight into critical condition, blood pouring endlessly from his mouth.
"Zoro!!!"
"Zoro?!!!"
"Moss-head!!!"
Everyone shouts in alarm.
Luffy's gaze turns terrifyingly cold as red, Ryuo gradually manifests around his body.
This is the power he comprehended during the two-year special training—while fighting on the brink of life and death against Old Keek's strongest bodyguards.
[Ryuo]!!!
"Don't you dare lay a hand on my companions!!!"
Sadgeo's pupils contract. For the first time, he senses danger in Luffy's rage-filled punch—though only a little.
Because…
This ability—making Armament Haki flow—he mastered it long ago as well!!!
"I'll let you see just how vast this sea really is!!!"
[Gear Fourth · Ryuo · Elastic Giant]!!!