Luffy didn't need any Redfield-like Observation Haki.
Luffy possessed a terrifyingly accurate, almost supernatural instinct for reading the true nature of people.
He didn't understand Light's grand design. He didn't care about the complex philosophies of filth, justice, the World Government, or the overarching architecture of this "New World" Light spoke of. His mind was entirely devoid of political ambition.
"Hmmmmm..." Luffy's brows furrowed as if he was struggling to make friends with the guy who killed people for work but also had helped him when he needed it.
But he understood the weight of a promise, and he understood the raw, unfiltered truth behind a man's gaze.
From the start to the finish, there was only a simple truth.
He had been given help.
"Oye Light-guy, you will only hurt the bad guys?"
The Saviour asked the God.
"Ha..."
Light's smile slowly softened and his eyes turned serious.
There was a fundamental truth to Light that he himself couldn't deny.
He viewed himself a God.
Not considering the trash, Light Yagami viewed the old, the sick, the poor, the rich, the fortunate, the unfortunate, the father, the child- ALL, in one equal glance.
Only he, himself was above.
And a God could make no mistakes in his judgement.
The very thought of an otherwise possibility filled him with disgust to no ends.
His sheer despise at being vulnerable to mistakes is the only reason why back in Impel Down, he chose truth over power.
"Yes, I promise," Light answered, the words carrying the heavy, unbreakable weight of a vow.
Luffy, in real-time, had been closely watching Light's eyes.
And that was all Monkey D. Luffy needed to hear.
And he made up his mind.
The swordsman and the cook couldn't help but glare at the floating butcher.
"Oye you..." Zoro's brows furrowed but Sanji butted in first.
"Yeah right! As soon as Sengoku finished his announcement, you're suddenly looking for an alliance, huh?!"
Light offered no excuse.
What needed to be said, was already said.
STEP! STEP! STEP!
Luffy kept his pace, his rubbery legs pumping relentlessly against the slick, blood-stained ice. He looked at the extended hand of the False Deity, then looked back up at Light's dark, piercing eyes.
"Luffy! Don't fall for it!"
"He might pull out his saber and betray us the next second you know!" Sanji spat.
Zoro, on the other hand, remained silent.
Alliance with a potential future enemy or not, it was the Luffly's decision.
He would follow the Captain.
Swooosh.
Step! Step! Step!
The freezing wind whipped between them, carrying the distant groans of the fainted Marine vanguard.
"NANIIIIII?!"
Luffy apparently took 4 seconds to understand everything.
"OYE!"
"WILL YOU BETRAY US LATER?!!!"
"No I will not." Light answered plainly.
"Oh, that's good." Luffy nodded.
""LUFFYYY!!""
Zoro and Sanji couldn't stand it!
At least give it a thought, damn it!
"SHISHISHISHI!"
"He's a good guy!"
"Don't worry about it!" Luffy's eyes sparkled!
""HOW CAN WE NOT!""
"Hahahahaha!"
"Light!"
"I trust you!"
"Let's do it!!!"
His first Pirate Alliance, Luffy was thrilled.
He accepted on the spot.
Zoro and Sanji looked towards each other, ironically on the same page once again for the second time in their journey.
They both sighed.
'Well... so be it.' Zoro thought.
'At least he's strong.'
Zoro hadn't forgotten that the man beside him had fought the World's Strongest Swordsman to a standstill in swordsmanship.
Come to think of it...he was getting excited.
Sanji, on the other hand, was panicking and biting his collar... for a reason absurd to anyone other than himself.
'Damn it all..."
'This bastard is so handsome... will he be visiting our ship?'
"Ahhhh Nami-swan... Robin-chan... "
"No! I absolutely won't allow this guy to trap you!'
Though fate had wished the reason could be different, just like the swordsman, the cook had a fire in his eyes too.
And just like that, the most dangerous, unpredictable alliance in the history of the world was forged.
Light's smile returned, though it was warmer this time. Now, he had an obligation to fulfill, and some things to accomplish.
"Then."
Light declared, his dark eyes snapping forward, locking onto the execution scaffold with terrifying intensity.
"I'm doing it."
Running just half a step behind them, Zoro and Sanji exchanged a frantic, alarmed glance.
"Oye!"
"Do what?!" Zoro barked, his eyes widening as he instinctively gripped the hilts of his swords tighter.
This feeling, he had experienced it with Luffy so many times before.
He was very familiar with it!
Light grinned.
GRIPPP.
The False Deity tapped into the absolute maximum output of his Force Authority. The air around the Monster Trio instantly hardened, wrapping around Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji like an invisible, inescapable vice of pure pressure.
"Aauaauaa-- what are you-"
Together with the ice they were walking on, he uprooted them into the air and-
Before any of the three pirates could even draw a breath to protest or brace themselves, Light violently twisted his wrist.
FLING.
BOOOOOOM!
With a deafening crack of displaced air, Light violently threw all three Straw Hats forward.
""BASTARD!""
They were launched like living cannonballs.
"I'm coming! Ace!" Luffy merely looked at the scaffold magnifying into his eyes, the grin slowed and a determination flowed into his dark eyes.
The sudden, hypersonic acceleration tore the breath from their lungs. They blurred through the freezing air, skipping the remaining thirty yards of the plaza entirely.
High above the ice, Fleet Admiral Sengoku's golden eyes had been closely monitoring teh False Deity.
"So it has come to this after all..."
When Light had been talking to the Straw Hats, with his intellect, he had already imagined the possibility.
"Ha... no choice now."
As he saw the three rookies hurtling through the sky directly toward the platform, he was ready.
Boom!
"GARP!" Sengoku roared, his skin erupting in a blinding, incandescent golden radiance as his muscles expanded, fully assuming his colossal, towering Buddha form.
The sheer divine pressure of the Fleet Admiral radiated outward, a beacon of absolute Marine authority.
Step. Step. Step.
"Aa. I know."
Vice Admiral Garp stepped forward to the very edge of the wooden planks. The Hero of the Marines grit his teeth, the agonizing weight of his duty warring with the love in his heart.
Sling!
Thick, pitch-black Armament Haki violently bled into his knuckles, turning his fists into weapons capable of shattering mountains.
"I know damn it!" Garp yelled back, preparing to strike down his own flesh and blood.
But.
The Monster Trio wasn't the only one coming.
"Heh."
Light smirked.
Down on the frozen ice, Light Yagami was no longer floating. His boots slammed heavily into the permafrost.
His Haki levels were absolute mastery, honed close to the pinnacle. But it was his Life Force that was the true, terrifying anomaly of his existence.
At Life Force Level 20, Light's physical vessel was no longer bound by the frailties of standard human biology. His muscles, his bones, his cardiovascular system—they had evolved into a hyper-efficient, supernatural engine capable of withstanding and producing astronomical amounts of kinetic stress.
SHUA! Sling!
Light unleashed his Armament Haki. This time, he didn't just coat his pitch-black saber; he also let the dense, invisible armor wash over his entire body, turning his flesh, his bones, and his very blood as hard as diamond.
Crackkk.
He crouched slightly, his black coat whipping violently around his ankles. He channeled every single ounce of that terrifying Level 20 Life Force into his legs.
He locked eyes with The Fleet Admiral.
Then grinned.
"Soru." (Shave)
BOOOOM!
For the Fleet Admiral, he especially performed the standard Marine Rokushiki technique. He pushed it to his utmost, absolute maximum.
The resulting sonic boom was apocalyptic.
The thick, reinforced permafrost of the plaza shattered for a hundred yards in every direction, instantly reduced to pulverized snow. A massive, concussive shockwave tore through the surrounding fainted Marine forces, throwing unconscious bodies into the air as the sheer kinetic displacement created a boom.
"Don't forget me, Sengoku!"
Light vanished.
And slammed directly into Sengoku the Buddha!
KRA-KOOOOOOM!
The collision shattered the eardrums of anyone who was still conscious within a mile radius.
The blinding, righteous golden shockwave of the Fleet Admiral met the hyper-dense, Armament-coated, Level 20 physical mass of the False Deity. The air itself rippled, warped, and tore open, emitting a blinding flash of colliding energies. The sound was so deafening it caused the heavy, reinforced wooden beams of the towering scaffold to splinter and crack under the sheer atmospheric pressure.
That was Light's true plan.
He hadn't thrown the Straw Hats just to get them to Ace faster. He had thrown them to force Sengoku and Garp to divide their attention.
Because his ultimate goal coming into this war was entirely different.
He wanted to kill Sengoku!
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