"Let go of me!!!" The bald man clawed desperately at Luffy's arms, struggling with all his might, but it was useless.
Luffy held him up in one hand, his gaze fixed on the chaos below, where bullets and cannon fire were tearing through lives like paper.
His heart ached.
Those were all my gold coins down there!
Damn it! I got careless again!
Over the years, Luffy had grown used to relying on overwhelming strength or foresight from his system to crush threats or avoid danger.
But this was the first time he'd been tricked, by a nobody who didn't even exist in the original story.
Looking back, it should've been obvious.
Sabaody Archipelago was close to a Marine base. Recruiting pirates here might pass for a lesser crew, but for the infamous Reaper Pirates, criminals who had slaughtered a naval outpost?
The Marine would never allow that disgrace to spread into the New World.
Unfortunately, their opponent had been smarter than expected.
The Reaper Pirates had deliberately leaked false information and hired some poor bastard to play decoy.
To pull a stunt like this, fooling the Marine and a crowd of ruthless pirates, this bald man was as good as dead.
Because Captain Vincent was here, Luffy couldn't risk exposing Robin.
Otherwise, with her powers, those hundreds of pirates would've been taken care of in no time.
Watching pirate after pirate fall, Luffy's fury boiled over. He hoisted the bald man up and hurled him straight toward Captain Vincent like a cannonball.
Amid the chaos, he darted back to Robin's side.
Ignoring the concern in her eyes, he said quickly, "Robin, find a way to escape. Now."
"But—"
"Trust me. I'll be fine!"
Without waiting for a reply, Luffy plunged into the fray. Time was money, and he wasn't wasting a second more.
Meanwhile, the bald man crashed down at Vincent's feet, smashing a crater into the ground.
Vincent's eyes turned to Luffy.
He had noticed Luffy the moment he leapt up and subdued "Reaper George" so effortlessly.
Vincent had fought George himself, he knew that a 270 million bounty wasn't just handed out lightly.
Now Luffy was rampaging through the crowd, attacking pirates instead of siding with them. Vincent couldn't make sense of his actions.
But Vincent wasn't a thinker, he was a doer.
And when you don't understand something, you ask with an axe.
He lifted his massive battle axe and let out a furious roar that sent chills through both pirates and Marine soldiers alike.
"Rankyaku!"
He swung his axe violently, sending a flurry of shockwaves slicing through the air toward Luffy.
Each slash ripped the air apart, creating vacuum bursts so intense they kicked up whirlwinds, sending clouds of dust spiraling as the shockwaves tore through the battlefield, blasting aside any pirate in their path as they homed in on Luffy.
Prepared for the attack, Luffy punched through a pirate in front of him, then turned.
He raised his fist, gathering an overwhelming surge of energy.
Flames erupted, casting the world in red.
A fiery giant, like a god descending from the heavens, rose behind him, towering into the sky.
The clouds overhead turned crimson. The sun itself seemed to dim, as if unwilling to challenge Luffy's brilliance.
The air grew dry and hot, dozens of pirates passed out from lack of oxygen.
"Ryusoken!"
With that, Luffy hurled his blazing punch at the incoming shockwaves.
The flame giant clashed with the whirlwind slashes like an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, incinerating every pirate caught in between.
"What the hell is that?!"
"Damn it, this isn't a fight we can join!"
"Scatter! Get away now!"
"Who is that guy?!"
In that moment, both marines and pirates had only one thought: run.
Even the aftershocks of this battle were far beyond what any of them could endure.
But the expected explosion never came.
Instead, the fire and wind merged, under Luffy's control, into a towering flaming tornado that blazed between Luffy and Vincent.
The twister grew stronger, faster, pulling in every weak pirate nearby, burning them to ash before scattering them across the scorched earth like fertilizer for a reborn battlefield.
Sweat trickled from Vincent's palms.
That last attack had been eighty percent of his full power, a test of Luffy's strength.
And yet, Luffy had absorbed it, amplified it, and redirected it against the pirates without breaking a sweat.
Vincent knew: if that tornado had come for him, he wouldn't have survived unscathed.
The firestorm continued to rage, scorching grass, blood, and bodies, restoring the land to its raw, scorched beginnings.
The system chimed again and again as pirate bounties were claimed.
Finally, when no one remained standing, Luffy raised his hand.
Instantly, the flames froze in place, then scattered into embers that drifted gently to the ground like stardust.
Luffy looked around.
No signs of life.
He turned to the wary Captain and said calmly, "Relax, Marine-san. No need to be so tense."
But Vincent didn't lower his guard. Gripping his axe tightly, he growled, "Who are you?"
He knew he might not be Luffy's match, but he wasn't some coward.
The day he put on a Marine uniform was the day he vowed never to run from duty.
"Don't get the wrong idea," Luffy said. "I'm just a bounty hunter."
He gestured to the dying pirate behind Vincent.
"As you can see, we had the same target today. And we both got played."
Vincent's eyes flicked back to the crater.
And froze.
His pupils shrank. His face twisted in rage.
He'd fought the real George before, he knew exactly what the bastard looked like.
This bald guy?
Aside from being roughly the same size, he didn't resemble George at all.
Vincent had been tricked.
First the distance, then the distraction with Luffy, he hadn't looked closely until now.
"ARRRGH!!!"
With a furious roar, Vincent brought down his axe and ended the bald man's life for good.
Then he howled into the sky, venting his fury and humiliation.
The battle was over.
Hundreds of pirates lay dead, only a lucky few or those with special abilities managed to escape.
Luffy's name echoed through the Sabaody Archipelago like a storm.
It wouldn't be long before it spread across the entire Grand Line.
==========
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