Bam!
The fist fiercely struck Luffy on the top of his head, with one punch sending Luffy crashing down. As he fell, you could see his painful expression as he held his head, and a huge lump swelled up there, with several droplets of fresh blood splattering out.
"Ho ho ho ho!"
Sage dispersed the haki concentrated on his fist, bounced in the air, and looked down at the rapidly descending Luffy, "The punch of your grandfather, have another one!"
Overall, he's truly worth of the guy known for his sit-ups.
The resilience of rubber against punches is indeed strong, even when the fist carries haki, but it is fundamentally still a punch. The difference being, without haki, the Straw Hat wouldn't feel any pain.
It is precisely the haki that causes the punch to be damaging, yet the overall punch immunity can mitigate a lot of it.
But that's just about it.
His potential is excellent, could even be considered monstrous. Following this growth trajectory, he could be an obstacle in the future.
But...
There's nothing to be afraid of!
Afraid that others might become stronger in the future, should you preemptively nip them in the bud?
Strong people in the sea are as abundant as crucian carp crossing the river, killing one will just bring another. What Sage wants is to duel to the death with strong opponents, not be a child killer.
That kind of mindset represents fear, representing confusion and weakness of will.
He's just here to confirm this guy's characteristics and limits, as well as to amuse himself and act on a whim.
Otherwise, if he were serious, one punch could finish the fight.
That kind of bodily constitution might withstand one full-strength haki attack from him, then perhaps stand up once with sheer will, but definitely wouldn't withstand a single barrage from the North Star Divine Fist.
After all, the person is already blown up, can't stand without legs.
A misstep?
Impossible.
If someone of this level could injure him, even slightly, Sage would immediately trigger the Brake Hole self-destruct a hundred times.
Just training for nothing it would be.
Boom!!!
A sound echoed from below, Sage's mouth curled into a slight smile; he was just about to drop down, but he suddenly paused.
The sound is off...
The impact sound shouldn't be that loud.
Moreover... why is steam erupting?
Sage focused his gaze; little Luffy, suffering the aftermath of using Third Gear, lay on the ground, his head full of blood. The ground which was supposed to form a crater was now full of cracks, with large amounts of steam emerging from them, making the fissures expand. Before long, the entire platform, akin to a hot spring pool, shattered into fragments.
What's going on?
Didn't use Galaxy Impact?
Just coated it with a layer of haki, moderate in strength, not here to kill anyone. He is very confident in his control over power, wouldn't exceed it by even a little.
"Sage, the volcano is erupting, hurry!"
Suddenly, Lily's scream came from below.
Beside her, Blueno had opened an Air Door, and everyone was retreating into it. That raccoon cat transformed into a reindeer, dashed quickly to little Luffy, picked him up, and swiftly rushed into the door.
Almost at the same time that they all dashed into the Air Door, the entire platform shattered in completion. That pillar also exploded, exposing the sea and the anchored ships, while deeper in the sea, a hint of crimson color was faintly emerging.
"I'll go first!"
Almost at the moment when the platform shattered, they arrived at the landing point of the Death Star through the Air Door. As soon as Franky exited the door, he jumped from the Death Star onto the Sunny next door, dashed into the cabin, and activated the cola system.
Meanwhile, Renedia's hands emitted sparks and she pressed fiercely onto the deck.
"Power..."
"Wind..."
The raspy, slightly rugged voice emerged from the base of the ship's hull, echoing with Renedia almost simultaneously.
"Brake!!"
"Cannon!!"
The Death Star was like being propelled by some giant beast, plowing through giant waves on the sea like a speeding car, dashing forward.
And that Sunny, its aft erupted with a burst of shock waves, propelling the ship into the air, flying far away from the sea surface that was starting to turn crimson, until reaching a great distance, the ship landed heavily into the sea, leading the Death Star by a considerable margin.
"Hmph! Small ship!"
Renedia snorted unhappily.
The smaller the ship, naturally the faster it sails and accelerates, there's currently no comparison.
Once she fully understands Pluton's technology, they'll compare again when the time comes.
"So close, it was actually a volcanic eruption..."
Hawkins stared blankly at the ruined sea not far away, cold sweat appearing on his forehead involuntarily.
"Impossible!"
Nami ran to the edge of the deck, looking at the sea ahead, in disbelief:
"How could it erupt? Clearly impossible, this is a thermally stable sea area, the volcano always maintains a certain state. Even if it were to erupt, the sea water here would have been steaming long before, and even then it would take at least a decade to erupt, how did this happen so quickly!"
Lily, counting the numbers, turned her head upon hearing this, and said calmly: "I told you, you don't understand Sage."
Volcanic eruption?
Prepared ages ago.
Not a hint of panic.
She looked around, furrowed her brows: "Where's Sage?"
Whoosh!
"What's going on?"
In the next moment, with the sound came Sage, who appeared ghost-like on the deck.
No matter how fast the ship could go, it was nothing compared to him after accelerating a hundred-fold. Closing this distance, time would be extremely short.
"It was fine just now, why did it suddenly erupt?"