"Saaabooooo—!!!"
The moment he realized what had happened, Monkey D. Luffy's roar tore across the entire street district—loud enough to briefly drown out even the thunder of lightning raging in the sky.
"Gomu Gomu no—!"
He forgot everything.
Even the seastone bars binding him.
His body instinctively stretched violently toward the gaping hole blasted open in the wall where Gern Reginald Sigmar had disappeared.
He wanted to intercept him.
Even if it was only for a single second.
Even if it meant throwing his own body in the way.
But at that exact moment—when Luffy's emotions exploded and his entire focus was fixed on saving Sabo—
The sudden chaos on the ground also drew part of Enel's attention.
He glanced briefly at Gern's retreating figure dragging Sabo away, then at the enraged Luffy below.
A more intrigued smile curled across his lips.
"Oh?"
"Looks like something interesting is happening down there too."
"However—"
Just as Enel was about to move—
Deep within Luffy's eyes, a flash of dark crimson light flickered and vanished.
The next instant—
The stretching arm suddenly relaxed.
"Whoosh!"
The body that had been extending toward the broken wall vanished in a blur—
And appeared high in the sky.
Enel, hovering in the air, suddenly felt an intense presence materialize beside him without warning.
His pupils shrank slightly.
He turned his head in surprise.
The boy who had been trapped helplessly inside the cage only a second earlier—
Was now floating in the air at almost the same altitude as him.
The distance between them—
Less than five meters.
What shocked Enel even more was something else entirely.
His Mantra—
The ability that allowed him to hear the thoughts of others—
Was now completely silent.
He could not hear a single thought from the man in front of him.
"Hmm?"
For the first time, the lazy amusement on Enel's face shifted noticeably.
He carefully examined the young man before him—eyes blazing red, body radiating a dangerous aura.
Then a memory stirred somewhere in the back of his mind.
The grin on his lips widened into a savage smile.
"So it's you."
"That brat from Sabaody Archipelago…"
"The Straw Hat kid?!"
But Luffy didn't waste a single word.
The rage of seeing his brother taken—
The explosion of power in a desperate situation—
Everything he had was condensed into this one strike.
In midair, he forcibly twisted his body.
His right leg pulled back like a massive battle axe being drawn for execution.
Muscles bulged violently.
A faint dark-red aura of Haki began to coil around it.
"Gomu Gomu no—!"
Enel reacted instantly.
The moment he recognized Luffy, his earlier contempt vanished.
Both arms snapped up, crossing before his chest as they were coated in deep black Armament Haki.
He could sense it.
This attack was different.
But Luffy moved faster than logic itself.
It wasn't just speed.
It felt more like—
A strike driven by inevitability.
"JET STAMP!!!"
The kick—packed with every ounce of his strength and the faint budding form of Conqueror's Haki infusion—slammed brutally into Enel's crossed arms.
"BOOOOM!!!!"
A thunderous explosion far heavier than any previous collision erupted in the sky.
The shockwave expanded outward in a violent ring.
Roofs across the surrounding buildings were blown off in massive sheets.
"Conqueror's…?!"
Enel felt as though an entire mountain traveling at high speed had slammed into him head-on.
Pain shot through both arms.
Armament Haki alone could not fully neutralize the overwhelming pressure of Conqueror's power.
The sheer force exceeded all his expectations.
His body shot through the sky like a baseball struck by a titan.
"BOOM!!!"
He crashed violently into the street below.
The impact carved out a massive crater as dust and rubble blasted skyward.
One strike.
Just one.
The self-proclaimed "God," Enel, had been kicked straight out of the sky by the enraged Luffy—who now seemed to have brushed against a higher level of power.
The scene left Roronoa Zoro and Kin'emon completely dumbfounded as they recovered from the shock of Sabo's capture.
Even Donquixote Doflamingo, who had just stabilized himself in preparation for Enel's next assault, widened his eyes behind his sunglasses.
…
Luffy landed steadily back on the ground.
He tore off the ragged cloak he had been using as a disguise, revealing his iconic straw hat.
Slowly, he raised his head.
The impatience and desperation that had filled his gaze earlier were gone.
In their place was something steadier—
A seriousness forged through storms.
A quiet resolve.
He glanced briefly in the direction where Gern had gone.
Then toward the rubble where a terrifying aura was now spreading from the crater.
His voice rang out clearly—like a declaration.
Or perhaps a reminder to himself.
"Sorry about this, God guy…"
Luffy clenched his fists.
Armament Haki spread across both arms like flowing black metal.
"Compared to two years ago at Sabaody Archipelago…"
"I'm way stronger now."
"And not just by a little."
Not far away, Gern—who had been preparing to leave—also stopped when this sudden reversal caught his attention.
He turned slightly.
His gaze followed the fading shockwave in the sky and then settled on Luffy standing below, radiating a completely different presence.
For once, a trace of genuine surprise appeared on his usually calm face.
"Oh?"
Gern raised an eyebrow and murmured softly.
"Interesting… that kick had quite some weight behind it."
He was genuinely puzzled.
He knew Enel's strength better than anyone.
Though the man's personality was eccentric, his combat power was unquestionably at the peak of admiral-level forces.
The speed granted by the Goro Goro no Mi combined with his Mantra made him incredibly troublesome to deal with.
Under normal circumstances, the current Luffy shouldn't even have fully overcome Doflamingo yet.
So how had he managed to strike Enel so effectively—even kicking him straight out of the sky?
"…Don't tell me it's actually the power of being the protagonist," Gern muttered, stroking his chin as he briefly entertained a thoroughly unscientific theory.
"Activating ahead of schedule?"
The absurd thought flickered through his mind before he dismissed it.
More likely—
Luffy's potential had erupted under extreme emotional pressure and a life-or-death situation.
Then again…
In about three months, the future Pirate King would defeat Kaido, become one of the Four Emperors, and awaken Gear Fifth.
When viewed that way, this sudden surge didn't seem so impossible.
Regardless—
It made what came next far more interesting.
So Gern simply decided not to leave.
He casually leaned the unconscious Sabo against a nearby broken wall.
Then he found a relatively clean stone block and sat down.
Crossing his arms slightly—
Taking the posture of someone watching a show.
…
"BOOOOM!"
From the crater of the collapsed ruins where Enel had fallen—
A violent burst of pale-blue Conqueror's Haki erupted into the air.
The pressure expanded outward in a spherical wave, pulverizing the surrounding rubble into dust.
The dust cloud was swept away instantly.
At the center of the crater—
Enel rose slowly to his feet with one hand pressed against the ground.
His clothes were slightly torn.
But aside from some dust on his exposed skin—
There wasn't a single visible wound.
The devastating blow that would have crippled most fighters had only left him looking somewhat disheveled.
He lifted a hand and tilted his stiff neck.
Crack.
The sound echoed faintly.
For the first time, the half-lidded laziness in his eyes vanished completely.
His pupils locked onto Luffy.
No more amusement.
No more mockery.
Only cold focus.
"Human…"
His voice dropped low.
"You clearly know what kind of level you stand on."
"So you should also know…"
He slowly straightened, lightning beginning to crackle faintly around his body.
"That two years ago—"
"—the mercy this God showed to insects like you…"
...
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