The sunlight over the Sabaody Archipelago was blinding, filtering through the massive resin bubbles floating lazily into the sky. The air was thick, humid, and smelled of salt and sap. It was a smell Monkey D. Luffy had only ever imagined while reading black-and-white panels in a previous life.
But now, as he stood atop a moss-covered root in Grove 33, the smell was real. The itch of the scar on his chest was real. And the monstrous power humming beneath his skin was very, very real.
Luffy adjusted the brim of his straw hat, casting a shadow over his eyes. A massive backpack, easily three times his size and stuffed with the roasted meat of giant beasts from Ruskaina, rested lightly on his shoulders.
Two years, he thought, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. Two years of fighting beasts that make Sea Kings look like goldfish. Two years of Rayleigh beating the basics into me, and two years of me secretly perfecting the things he didn't teach.
He clenched his fist. His skin didn't change color, but the air around his hand distorted slightly. Ryou. Internal Destruction. Future Sight. The original Luffy learned these through life-and-death struggles in Wano and Whole Cake Island. I just skipped the line.
"Shishishi!"
He let out the laugh. It felt natural now. At first, the rubber throat and the strange vocal cords had felt alien, but after two years, the transmigrator and the body were perfectly synchronized. He was Luffy. He had the memories, the instincts, and the bottomless appetite. But he also had the script.
"Hey! You there! The runt with the backpack!"
A rough, gravelly voice broke his train of thought. Luffy turned slowly, blinking with wide, innocent eyes.
A group of five pirates stood before him. They were dirty, smelled of cheap rum, and the leader—a man with a jagged scar running down his nose—was pointing a flintlock pistol directly at Luffy's forehead.
"Are you talking to me?" Luffy asked, tilting his head.
"Yeah, I'm talking to you!" The leader sneered, stepping closer. "You bumped into my subordinate a mile back. He dropped his grog. You owe us 50,000 berries, or I'll blow your brains out."
Luffy stared at the gun. He didn't feel fear. In fact, his Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki) was already screaming at him. He saw the next five seconds play out clearly in his mind. The man pulls the trigger. The gun jams. The barrel explodes. He screams.
"I don't have money," Luffy said honestly. "I only have meat."
"Meat?" The pirate scoffed. "Then die!"
His finger tightened on the trigger.
Click.
The hammer fell. But the powder didn't ignite properly. The blockage in the rusted barrel caused a backfire.
BANG!
Just as Luffy had foreseen, the barrel ruptured. Metal shrapnel flew backward, slicing the pirate's cheek. The man screamed, dropping the ruined weapon and clutching his face as blood poured between his fingers.
"My face! You cursed brat!" The leader howled. "Kill him! Cut him to pieces!"
The remaining four pirates drew their cutlasses, screaming battle cries that sounded pathetic to Luffy's ears. Their movements were sluggish, like they were moving through molasses.
Luffy sighed. This is barely a warm-up. It's actually kind of boring.
He didn't move his feet. As the first pirate swung a rusted blade at his neck, Luffy simply leaned his head to the left. The blade bit into the air where his ear had been a millisecond before.
The second pirate thrust a sword at his stomach. Luffy sucked his gut in, his rubber body compressing unnaturally, leaving the sword to stab empty space.
"Too slow," Luffy whispered.
He raised his right hand. He didn't clench a fist. He just flicked his middle finger against his thumb.
"Gomu Gomu no..."
He coated the tip of his finger in an invisible layer of Ryou.
"...Dekopin (Forehead Flick)."
PAKH!
His finger connected with the forehead of the closest pirate.
The sound was like a gunshot. The shockwave rippled through the pirate's skull, not breaking the bone but rattling the brain inside with precise, non-lethal force. The pirate's eyes rolled back into his head instantly, and he was launched backward as if hit by a cannonball. He crashed into his three comrades, the momentum bowling them all over like pins. They slammed into a nearby tree and slumped to the ground, unconscious.
Silence descended on the grove.
Passersby stopped dead in their tracks. They hadn't seen a fight. They had seen a blur, a flick, and then four grown men flying through the air.
Luffy adjusted his backpack, which hadn't shifted an inch.
"I need to find Sanji," he muttered, his stomach growling loudly enough to startle a nearby squirrel. "Ruskaina's food was filling, but it lacked spices."
He began walking, ignoring the terrified whispers of the civilians. He navigated the twisting roots of the mangroves, his senses expanded. His Observation Haki covered the entire Archipelago like a radar.
Zoro is... shockingly close to the right spot? No, wait, he's getting on a fishing boat. Ah, Perona is dragging him back. Good ghost girl.
Sanji is at a fish market. His heart rate is dangerously high. He must be looking at women.
Usopp is at a bar. His aura is dense. He's gotten stronger.
Luffy smiled warmly. They were all here. His family.
He turned a corner and walked into a wide plaza where a massive crowd had gathered. Shouts and cheers echoed off the buildings. In the center of the plaza stood a man. He was fat, ugly, and wearing a cheap, ill-fitting imitation of Luffy's outfit. A fake scar was painted poorly under his eye.
"I am the son of the Dragon! The grandson of the Hero Garp! I am Monkey D. Luffy, with a bounty of 400 Million Berries!" the fake shouted, waving a pistol. "Bring me more recruits! Anyone with a bounty under 70 Million isn't worth my time!"
The crowd cheered fanatically. "Luffy-sama! Luffy-sama!"
Real Luffy stood at the back of the crowd, watching the spectacle with deadpan eyes. He picked his nose absentmindedly.
He looks even uglier in person, Luffy thought. And his voice... it grates on the ears. Is this really how the world sees me? Fat and loud?
The Fake Luffy scanned the crowd, his eyes landing on a woman sitting at a nearby outdoor bar. She had long, flowing orange hair and was sipping a drink, completely ignoring the commotion.
Nami.
Luffy's heart skipped a beat. She looked beautiful. Mature. Safe.
"Hey, you! Woman!" Fake Luffy shouted, waddling over to her. "Come have a drink with the Pirate King! You should be honored!"
Nami didn't even look up. "Not interested. I'm waiting for someone."
"Waiting? No one is more important than me!" The Fake Luffy reached out his greasy hand to grab her shoulder.
The air temperature in the plaza seemed to drop ten degrees instantly.
Before the Fake Luffy's hand could touch Nami's bare shoulder, a hand clad in a red sleeve intercepted it.
The grip was iron. Immovable.
"Hey, old man," the real Luffy said. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a strange weight, a pressure that cut through the noise of the crowd like a blade. "Don't touch my navigator."
Nami froze. She knew that voice. She turned slowly, her eyes widening as she saw the familiar straw hat shading the face of the man standing beside her.
"Luffy?" she whispered, her hand covering her mouth.
The Fake Luffy tried to yank his hand away, but it wouldn't budge. It felt like his arm was trapped in a hydraulic press. "Let go of me! Do you know who I am? I am Monkey D. Luffy!"
The real Luffy tilted his head up. The shadow of his hat obscured his eyes, but his grin was visible—predatory and wide.
"You are Luffy?" real Luffy asked. "That's weird."
He squeezed.
CRACK.
The sound of the Fake Luffy's wrist fracturing echoed across the silent plaza. The impostor screamed, his knees buckling.
"Because I'm Luffy," the real Luffy said.
He released the man's hand and stepped forward. The sheer pressure of his Haoshoku Haki (Conqueror's Haki) leaked out—just a fraction of a percent.
Vwoom.
A wave of black lightning crackled invisibly through the air. The Fake Straw Hats—the Fake Zoro, Fake Sanji, and Fake Franky—all rolled their eyes back and foamed at the mouth, collapsing instantly. The weak-willed pirates in the crowd dropped like flies, unconscious before they hit the ground.
Only Nami and a few strong rookies remained standing, sweating profusely, their knees shaking from the sudden oppressive atmosphere.
Luffy looked down at the unconscious impostor drooling on the pavement. "And you are too weak to be me."
"Luffy!"
Nami launched herself from the stool, burying her face in his chest. She hit him with enough force to knock a normal man over, but Luffy didn't budge an inch.
"You idiot! You're finally here!" she cried into his vest.
Luffy caught her, laughing. "Shishishi! Nami! You got bigger!"
Nami pulled back instantly, smacking the top of his head. "Don't say that in public! And look what you did! You just knocked out half the plaza! The Marines will be here any second!"
"Let them come," Luffy said, his demeanor shifting from playful to serious in a heartbeat. He looked toward the direction of Grove 46. His eyes narrowed. He could feel two distinct, mechanical signatures approaching rapidly.
"The Pacifistas are coming," he said calmly. "And Sentomaru."
Nami's face went pale. "Pacifistas? Those monsters from two years ago? We have to run, Luffy! We can't fight them yet, we need to regroup!"
Luffy adjusted his hat. He remembered the despair of two years ago. The helplessness of watching his crew disappear one by one.
Not today. Never again.
"No running, Nami," Luffy said. He stepped in front of her, shielding her with his body. "Watch."
BOOM! BOOM!
Two massive cyborgs landed in the center of the plaza, crushing the stone beneath their feet. Dust billowed out. They raised their hands, lasers charging in their palms with a high-pitched whine.
"Pirate Monkey D. Luffy identified," the first Pacifista droned. "Bounty: 400 Million. Eliminate."
A beam of yellow light, hot enough to melt steel, fired directly at Luffy's head.
"Luffy!" Nami screamed.
Luffy didn't dodge. He simply raised his left hand, palm open. He coated his palm in a heavy, black layer of Armament Haki.
The laser hit his hand.
Fizzzz.
The light didn't explode. It didn't burn him. It dissipated against his palm like water hitting a hot pan. Luffy crushed the residual energy in his grip, smoke rising from his fingers.
"Too slow," Luffy said.
He vanished.
He utilized Soru, but amplified by the elasticity of his blood vessels—a technique he perfected to simulate Gear Second without the steaming side effect. He appeared directly in front of the first Pacifista.
"Jet Pistol."
No steam. No pumping his legs. Just raw, condensed power delivered with the speed of a bullet.
His fist, black as night, struck the Pacifista's chest plate.
CRACK-BOOM!
The sound was deafening. The cyborg didn't just break; it folded. The armor shattered, circuits exploded, and the massive machine was launched backward through three consecutive mangrove trees before exploding into a ball of fire.
The second Pacifista turned to target him, but Luffy was already in the air above it.
"You guys were scary two years ago," Luffy said, looking down at the machine. He bit his thumb. "Gear Third."
His arm inflated instantly, gigantic and coated in Haki. But unlike before, where the arm was balloon-like, he compressed the air, making the arm denser, slightly smaller than the traditional Gigant Pistol but infinitely harder.
"Elephant Gun."
He brought the fist down.
The second Pacifista raised its arms to block. It was futile. The fist crushed the machine into scrap metal, driving it ten meters deep into the ground. The entire grove shook as if an earthquake had hit.
Luffy landed softly on the ruined pavement. His arm deflated instantly. He didn't shrink. He didn't pant. He looked as if he had just swatted a fly.
Sentomaru, who had just arrived at the edge of the plaza with a squad of Marines, stopped dead in his tracks. His massive axe hung loosely in his hand. His eyes were wide with disbelief.
"He... he destroyed two prototypes in one hit each?" Sentomaru muttered, sweat beading on his forehead. "Wait. He used Haki? And he barely moved. That wasn't just brute force..."
Luffy turned to look at Sentomaru. His eyes flashed red again—Future Sight showing him Sentomaru's intention to retreat and call for an Admiral.
"Tell the old guys at the top," Luffy said, his voice carrying across the devastation. He wasn't shouting, but everyone heard him.
He turned to a stunned Nami, grabbing her hand.
"The Straw Hats are back."
"Come on, Nami! Let's go! I smell Sanji's cooking!"
"Shishishi!"
As they ran, leaving the burning wreckage behind, Nami looked at her captain's back. He seemed the same—the same red vest, the same straw hat, the same carefree laugh. But the aura radiating off him was different. It was terrifying. It was absolute.