If I can't eat you, what good are you?
You're not friends.
It's no fun if they just get back up after you beat them down.
Even though Luffy could do the same.
That's one thing. But being able to look but not eat was pure torture for him.
Resentment swelled like a torrential flood, continuous and unending.
I can't lay a finger on that damned plan, but can't I teach you all a lesson?
The playful mood from before vanished. A cold expression settled on his face. The moment Luffy turned his head, the previously snarling giant monsters instantly sobered up, not even daring to bare their teeth anymore.
[The subjects of this dream projection are real entities, possessing natural emotions: joy, anger, sorrow, fear.]
So, communication is possible?
[Animal Language Experience +3]
This could open up a new path too?
Might even lead to a passive talent.
The beings Luffy had dealt with most as a child were all sorts of animals. It had to be said, he had a real affinity with them.
Though generally, animals around him only had two outcomes: either they ended up as meat, like just now, or they became friends.
Hmm, if they're friends, then he wouldn't eat them.
The gains from the earlier fight were mediocre. After all, Luffy couldn't control how these big guys attacked, and he was too focused on wanting to eat them, going all out to beat them down.
Since he couldn't eat them... if they could communicate, things would be much easier.
"Hey, you don't want to be eaten either, do you?"
Luffy's gaze swept over them, and he grinned.
After a session of "persuasion by force," he quickly established absolute authority among this group of monsters.
If they weren't edible, then he'd make them useful!
And so began the roll call.
"Different species, different attack methods. But the ultimate goal is the same: to achieve the objective of the hunt."
His eyes soon locked onto the giant King Cobra.
Immediately, the other animals around the King Cobra took a synchronised step back, leaving a clear space around the giant snake.
King Cobra: "..."
Thanks a lot, guys.
Learning wasn't a simple thing.
Luffy's only real teacher from childhood had probably been Garp.
But Garp's education... how to put it? Most of the time, he'd just let Luffy run wild. Apart from shouting about "training you into the finest Marine," he didn't interfere much.
To put it nicely, it gave Luffy extremely high freedom to grow on his own, with great potential.
It certainly trained Luffy's ability to teach himself.
If you had to describe the King Cobra's attack in a few words, it would be fast, precise, and ruthless.
The so-called one-hit kill.
To learn their attack methods, you had to become them.
"A rubber man turning into a snake man, ape man, things like that?"
Images flashed through Luffy's mind.
The giant King Cobra was still diligently demonstrating.
Luffy watched intently.
By anchoring a part of its body and using the elastic force of its muscles to launch a sudden strike... in a way, it was similar to him, a rubber man... So Luffy tried to mimic it.
"Gomu Gomu no... Hydra!!"
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Several jet-black rubber arms shot out from behind his shoulder blades—afterimages from extreme speed.
It was a method of attack similar to Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun, but the difference was that Luffy wanted his attacks to be able to follow an enemy dodging left and right.
If Gomu Gomu no Gatling was like a bulldozer flattening everything, Gomu Gomu no Hydra could display a flexible, adaptable nature, automatically tracking its target.
But the fists were straight. If you forced them to bend, it seemed genuinely difficult.
It was like trying to bend a straight stick. The most likely outcome is it snaps.
The other possibility is that the stick's material is poor to begin with, so bending easily makes sense.
Luffy's arms were in such a situation. When the two arms tried to curve, they collided, then tangled and knotted together like they'd had too much to drink.
The scene instantly became absurdly comical.
"Tough."
Luffy retracted his arms. In theory, as a rubber man, his elasticity should be more than enough. Bending shouldn't be too hard; he could even coil up.
But once bent, the force would dissipate. The launched attack would become limp and weak.
That would just be an "excitement punch" for the enemy.
Who could stand that kind of humiliation?
"Wait, if it's hard to control because there are too many..."
Luffy felt he'd fallen into a misconception.
As the saying goes, if you take too big a step, you might trip.
Even the King Cobra only attacks with one head.
Luffy stood still, then threw a punch, making his arm sway like a snake.
"Right! Attacks can curve..."
Luffy's eyes lit up.
And not only that. With each curve, power could be accumulated, building up. The more curves, the greater the damage upon final impact!
That's it!
His smile became brilliant.
Species diversity meant diversity in strengths. Each animal's attack method was different. Before he knew it, Luffy was fully immersed.
When you truly gain something, you forget that you never really wanted to gain it in the first place.
Because wanting to gain comes at a cost.
By the end, Luffy didn't even have the strength to curse.
But the gains were substantial enough.
[Animal Language Experience significantly increased!]
[Animal Language Level increased to Lv 1 (100/200)—Comprehension threshold breakthrough!]
He didn't know how much time had passed. Exhausted, Luffy simply collapsed on the ground, his rubber body splayed out. "So hungry..."
The previously harmonious atmosphere instantly froze. The giant beasts took three synchronised steps back.
Luffy's ears were immediately filled with the fragmented, intermittent sounds of various animals.
"Don't worry. Good friends don't eat good friends."
...
Six in the morning. He woke up right on time. Luffy stared blankly at the ceiling.
Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?
Slept for six hours, yet it felt like he hadn't slept at all.
Who could understand this feeling?
He'd skipped less than an hour of that scraped-together time. On paper, he slept for six hours. In reality, he'd endured an extra day of torment.
He couldn't even begin to calculate the math on that one.
After a long while, he let out a deep, weary sigh.
As exhausting as it was... I'd dare to do it again!
Luffy wondered if he'd developed some kind of masochistic streak.
As he gradually regained his senses, it belatedly dawned on him—what was he looking at?
In one word: white.
In two words: so white!
[Warning...]
No time for hesitation. What greeted him next was the familiar sound. And because his "morning energy" was too vigorous, even the initial phase was already over.
Not good, not good! Luffy hurriedly moved Nami's hand, which was resting on him. But as he looked up, he found a pair of lovely, large eyes blinking unwaveringly at him.
It was Merry.
"Luffy, what are you doing?!"
Her voice was crisp, neither too loud nor too soft. Nami let out a soft moan and opened her eyes. Four eyes met. Luffy's hand was still suspended mid-air, looking like he was about to do something.
"Luffy..."
Luffy's heart sank along with his hopes.
***
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