Chapter 108: The Victory of Physics! Breaking Sea Stone with Ice and Fire
Inside the VIP room cage beneath Rain Diners.
"Rumble..."
With Crocodile's departure, the water-filling mechanism hidden behind the walls was fully activated.
The cold underground lake water rushed in like a bursting dam, the water level rising extremely fast, submerging everyone up to their knees in the blink of an eye.
"Waaah... I have no strength..."
As soon as Luffy came into contact with the water, it was as if his spine had been removed; his whole body went limp, and he fell face-first into the water.
Smoker, on the other side, was equally disheveled. The Sea Stone bars combined with the lake water, which contained the energy of the sea, instantly turned him, a Logia-type ability user, into a useless person.
He knelt on one knee, gasping for breath, unable to even lift a finger.
Just as everyone fell into despair once again.
"Bang!!"
A muffled sound.
The giant Banana Crocodile guarding the outside of the cage was kicked away fiercely by a black leather shoe, crashing into the wall and passing out.
"I've sent Clay to guard the entrance."
Immediately after, a blonde figure with a cigarette in his mouth and wearing sunglasses landed coolly.
"Sorry to keep you all waiting."
Sanji (Mr. Prince) adjusted his sunglasses and flashed a confident smile:
"Are you all okay! The Prince has come to save you... However, I took a look around just now, and it seems the key was swallowed by a Crocodile, but as for which one specifically..."
Everyone looked at the fierce Crocodiles swimming in the pool, and their hearts sank.
If things had followed the original trajectory of fate, Mr. 3, who hadn't died yet, should have used his Wax-Wax Fruit to forge a key and open the cage.
But now...
Tatsuya looked at the empty Crocodile pool and sighed helplessly:
"The grass on Mr. 3's grave is probably two meters high by now; where would a wax key come from?"
"Since there's no key, then we'll cut it open!"
Zoro, biting down on Wado Ichimonji, struggled to exert force in the water and slashed down fiercely at the bars.
"Clang!!"
Sparks flew, and the recoil made Zoro's hand go numb, but the gray bar didn't budge, without even a single scratch.
"It's no use... this thing is harder than steel, I can't cut through it at all!" Zoro's expression was grim.
The water level rose higher and higher, already reaching everyone's chests.
"Glug glug..." Luffy had already started rolling his eyes and blowing bubbles.
Under the resistance of the water, it was difficult for Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji to exert force underwater to break the cage, not to mention the cage was incredibly hard.
Just then.
"Hum."
Tatsuya took a deep breath, blue Chakra light swirling and gathering at the soles of his feet.
Under the shocked gazes of everyone, including Smoker, Tatsuya didn't soak in the water like the others but stood firmly on the rippling surface!
He leaned down, grabbing the back of the collar of the nearly drowned Luffy with one hand.
He lifted him up like a little chick, letting his head stay above the water to breathe.
"Crimson... Crimson Lotus... you're actually standing on water?!" Smoker said weakly.
Tatsuya ignored his surprise, looking at the indestructible Sea Stone bars before him with a furrowed brow.
"This is the butterfly effect... because I killed Mr. 3, the original escape route is gone."
"Sea Stone's hardness is comparable to diamond; physical attacks are useless. But..."
Tatsuya's gaze sharpened as his thoughts instantly connected with the system.
"System! Exchange Ninjutsu!"
[Ding! Consumed 1,500 Ninja Points to exchange for Water Release Ninjutsu: Water Style: Water Severing Wave.]
As the knowledge flooded into his mind, a smile curled on the corner of Tatsuya's mouth.
"Since physical hardness couldn't be overcome, he would use a scientific method."
He looked at Zoro in the water and Sanji outside, shouting loudly:
"Zoro, Sanji, get ready! Wait for my command and attack this bar with all your strength!"
"Huh? It's no use!" Zoro shouted. "This thing is too hard; the swords will break!"
"Who said I'm going to cut it by force?"
Standing on the water, Tatsuya's hands quickly formed seals as Chakra surged at his fingertips:
"Everything has a weakness, and Sea Stone is no exception."
Step one: Extreme heat.
Tatsuya's chest swelled high as the fire-attribute Chakra within his body compressed frantically at his throat.
He then performed a fixed-point high-pressure spray onto a specific spot on the Sea Stone bar.
"Burn!!"
[Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!]
"Boom—!!"
A line of fire condensed to the extreme, carrying terrifying heat, scorched the middle section of that Sea Stone bar relentlessly.
Even above the water, the scorching flames emitted a suffocating heatwave, and the surrounding water vapor evaporated instantly.
Under the continuous ultra-high temperature scorching.
The Sea Stone bar, claimed to be indestructible and undeformable no matter what, actually began to slowly change color.
From gray to dark red, and finally to a transparent bright red!
Step two: Extreme cold.
"Now!!"
Tatsuya abruptly stopped the Fire Release output and instantly changed his hand seals, mobilizing the cold lake water beneath his feet.
Tiger-Rabbit-Boar-Dog-Ox!
[Water Style: Water Severing Wave!!]
This was the signature hardcore Water Style of the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama. It possessed immense cutting power and had even severed the roots of the God Tree in the original work.
"Psh—!!"
Tatsuya violently spat out an ultra-thin jet of water like a high-pressure water cutter from his mouth.
The bone-chilling lake water, carrying the kinetic energy to cut through anything, instantly slammed into the bar that had just been scorched red-hot.
"Sizzle————!!!"
A massive cloud of white smoke rose; it was the violent reaction between water and fire.
Having experienced a temperature difference of thousands of degrees in a very short time, the internal structure of the indestructible Sea Stone underwent violent stress changes and collapse.
"Crack!"
A crisp and pleasant sound rang out in the deathly silent water prison.
A visible crack appeared on the glowing red bar!
"Do it!!!" Tatsuya roared.
The two main forces, who had long been ready, instantly surged into action.
"One Sword Style: Iai: Oni Giri!!"
Zoro drew his sword in the water, a cold light flashing.
"Lamb Shot!!"
Sanji fiercely kicked out his right leg from above.
The blade and the kick struck the fragile crack simultaneously and precisely.
"Clatter!!!"
The Sea Stone bar, claimed to be uncuttable even by diamonds, finally let out a mournful cry under the dual onslaught of physical laws and brute force, shattering into a pile of fragments!
"It's open!!"
"Let's go!!"
The water level was about to submerge the ceiling.
Everyone grabbed the half-dead Luffy and Smoker, and a second before the room was completely submerged, they darted out of that desperate cage like fish.
...
"Cough! Cough, cough!"
On the corridor of Rain Diners, everyone was soaking wet, collapsed on the floor, breathing in fresh air greedily.
Smoker lay on the ground, spitting out a few mouthfuls of bitter water from his stomach; that feeling of powerlessness finally receded, and his strength gradually returned.
He looked up, his gaze complex as he watched the group of pirates before him wringing their clothes and bickering with each other.
As a Marine, he should have immediately moved to arrest them.
But...
Smoker gripped the Jitte in his hand and asked in a raspy voice:
"Why did you save me?"
"I'm a Marine. As long as I live, I will keep hunting you."
Luffy, who was currently spitting out water from his stomach like a fountain, looked back as if it were the most natural thing in the world:
"Because if we didn't save you, you'd die."
There were no grand principles, nor any calculations.
Simply because... he didn't want to watch him die before his eyes.
Smoker was stunned.
He looked into Luffy's clear eyes and remained silent for a long time.
Finally, he took a deep breath, put away his weapon, and turned his back.
"...Get lost."
Smoker bit his cigar, his tone blunt:
"This time... I'll pretend I didn't see you."
"But Straw Hat, and Crimson Lotus... the next time we meet, I will definitely arrest you with my own hands! I stake my justice on it!"
Luffy grinned: "Hehe, we'll see about that next time!"
Everyone stood up, preparing to leave.
Tatsuya stopped as he walked past Smoker.
He reached out and lightly patted the wet shoulder of the Marine Captain, saying with a smile:
"Don't be in such a hurry to catch us, Captain."
"Instead of chasing pirates, why don't you go and see the truth of this country first?"
Tatsuya pointed meaningfully at the city outside the window:
"Sometimes, the 'justice' seen by the eyes... might not be real."
After saying that, Tatsuya followed the team with a Body Flicker.
...
Rushing out of the Rain Diners casino.
A giant, long-legged Moving Crab had long been waiting—it was a friend of 'Eyelashes' whom Chopper had saved earlier.
"Where are we going? Alubarna?" Nami asked.
Luffy stood on the crab's back, looking towards the direction of the royal palace in the distance, his gaze burning with an unprecedented anger and fighting spirit.
"No, he's there."
"Crocodile... I'm definitely going to send you flying!!!"
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