Shock.
Surprise.
Completely beyond everyone's expectations.
Right there in front of the camera, Luffy actually fearlessly shouted at Aokiji to his face that he wanted to fight him one-on-one!
And the moment that decision—
as well as every single word of Luffy's voice—
was revealed through the ranking video, after the hidden spoiler barrier was broken,
in an instant,
it set off a huge uproar throughout the world of pirates.
Viewers across the entire world, along with countless powerhouses, were thrown into an uproar!
They were both extremely surprised,
and at the same time utterly stunned by Luffy's words!!!
"???"
"Wait… does Straw Hat Luffy even know what nonsense he's saying?!"
"That's Navy Admiral Aokiji! The terrifyingly powerful Ice Admiral!!!"
"In the entire Grand Line, Aokiji's strength is overwhelmingly at the very top!!!"
"What Straw Hat is doing… is basically asking to die!!!"
In an instant,
countless viewers exploded into an uproar.
Every last one of them believed Luffy was courting death, that his actions were nothing more than brainless provocation, with absolutely no chance of victory at all!
What kind of joke was this…
A Navy Admiral was one of the Navy's strongest fighting forces!
If a pirate could really defeat one that easily,
then over all these past years,
Whitebeard, Kaido, Big Mom, Red-Haired Shanks, and the other mighty Emperors of the Sea and their pirate forces
would have already launched an assault from the New World long ago!
They would have crossed thousands of miles and charged straight at Marine Headquarters, trampling it flat!
The reason the Four Emperors had never done that
was precisely because they were wary of the Navy's overall strength, and the biggest reason among them was the three Admirals!!!
Therefore,
there was no need to think about it at all.
Even if Luffy was stubborn, reckless, and could even be called admirably brave for daring to proactively challenge a Navy Admiral to a duel—
still…
from the very moment those words left his mouth,
the ending was already decided!
There was no suspense whatsoever in this battle. Luffy was destined to be crushed!
And as his opponent,
Aokiji would very likely not even need to break a sweat.
Relying only on his overwhelming strength and the terrifying power of the Ice-Ice Fruit, he would be more than enough to completely defeat and crush Luffy!!!
—
At this very moment,
on the Sabaody Archipelago, with the sea breeze swaying around them,
upon the deck of the Thousand Sunny,
after hearing clearly the words Luffy shouted in the video,
his crewmates—
the members of the Straw Hat Pirates—
although just as shocked as everyone else, and equally aware of how overconfident it was,
still didn't find it strange.
Instead, they smiled, because they felt that this was exactly Luffy's style!
"Luffy…"
"Even though we already know the result of this matter,"
"looking at it now from a third-person perspective, from the point of view of an audience member, what you did was just too cool!"
"As expected of the captain who's always led us forward!!!"
From the back,
Sanji clenched a cigarette between his teeth.
After slowly exhaling a ring of smoke, he said with a faint smile.
There was no need to say anything about the result of the battle.
There truly had never been any suspense.
But…
one matter was one matter, another was another…
At the very least, right now, there was something they could be proud of because of Luffy.
Through the exposure of this incident, Luffy had a perfect chance to show the world what kind of person he was!
Sure, you could say
that he was a king of connections, someone with an enviable network of top-tier ties!
But…
Luffy himself was outstanding too.
His confidence, his will, and his fighting spirit
were all overflowing with passion and courage!
Daring to challenge a Navy Admiral to his face—
that wasn't something just anyone would have the courage to do!!!
"Yeah…" Zoro nodded and said proudly, "The more that gets exposed, the more it proves that as captain, Luffy is the everlasting pride of our Straw Hat Pirates!"
To be honest,
after watching the video for so long,
as the first mate,
and one of the three main combatants of the Straw Hat Pirates,
Zoro, who possessed the mindset of a true strong man, was also hoping that in the rankings to come,
maybe he too would get a chance to be featured!
Maybe he could even have
a king-level title of his own, and even a whole new ranking dedicated solely to him?
—
Meanwhile,
just as everyone was discussing it,
the video sped up, and the result of the battle was quickly shown—
Freezing!
Luffy's body was invaded by a chilling frost!
There was no counterattack,
nor was there any possibility of one!
Just like that,
under the close-up of the camera,
Luffy himself, the figure beneath the straw hat,
rapidly turned into an ice sculpture!
It was exactly the result the audience had expected.
Before an absolutely overwhelming gap in strength, he was completely and instantly crushed!
That white-clad figure,
after being frozen,
looked as though it would remain like that forever!
It even seemed as if life had already left him!!!
(End of Chapter)
[200 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter]
[Check out my Patreon to read 20+ chapters ahead]
[[email protected]/Zukooo]
[Thanks for your support!]