Chapter 426: The Straw Hat Crew vs. the Red Hair Crew
Swish! Swish!
The moment they reappeared, the two figures were already in front of each other.
Clang!
A bright light accompanied the unsheathing of the blade. Red-Hair drew his sword and slashed horizontally from bottom to top. The cold blade was sharp and exposed!
Luffy raised his right leg high, and a pitch-black Haki quickly coiled around his lower leg. His eyes hardened, and he fiercely chopped down at the incoming sword!
CLANG!!
The moment of collision sparked black lightning, and a fierce, circular shockwave vibrated out. The blade, 'kaka', hummed as it was in a stalemate with Luffy.
"Your Haki training is not bad."
Red-Hair chuckled in a low voice. He twisted his wrist, and his strength and Haki surged again and were transmitted to the Gryphon!
Luffy's pupils constricted. He pushed off the sword with his foot and quickly flipped back and leaped. The next moment...
Clang!
A red, crescent-moon-shaped slash grazed his body dangerously and flew into the sky, cutting the spire of the castle in two. The spire slid down from the sky along the slanted cut.
Luffy hugged his knees, flipped several times, and landed on the ground. Just as his feet were firm, a crimson shadow, with a ghostly trajectory, rapidly approached.
"What's going on! I can't see anything at all?!"
Luffy frowned, a little shocked. A strong premonition made him feel a biological sense of crisis that he hadn't felt in a long time. He immediately stomped on the floor and leaped high.
The so-called 'can't see' naturally did not refer to being unable to see with the naked eye, but that his Observation Haki was ineffective and he could no longer see Red-Hair's future.
As expected, the moment Luffy leaped up, a sharp sword wind instantly scraped the ground, leaving several sword marks on the stone slabs.
Then, Red-Hair's figure was revealed, his pitch-black cape fluttering. He looked up, and a corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
"A quick reaction. But it's hard to dodge in the air."
Zing! Zing! Zing!
A cold light flashed! Red-Hair quickly swung his sword, and a large number of flying slashes, like red flying scythes, poured into the sky!
Faced with this sky-covering barrage of powerful slashes, Luffy opened his mouth and took a deep breath. He raised his hand, bit his thumb, and blew hard to inflate his body.
Dodging was obviously unrealistic in a situation where he had no leverage. He could only blast away as much as he could.
"Gear Fourth! Snakeman Form!"
His Haki-covered body and limbs inflated and swelled, further strengthening the rubber's tension. Luffy stretched his hands and swung them behind him.
"Gomu Gomu no... King Cobra!!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Powerful and fast fists rained down like a storm, smashing into the dense slashes and causing a series of explosions in the air!
Luffy's eyes were wide with anger as he furiously punched. His two arms were a blur of afterimages, but there were still some missed slashes that flew out, cutting bloody gashes on his tough skin.
A fiery, stinging pain gradually came from all over his body. Luffy gritted his teeth, knowing that if this went on, he would sooner or later be suppressed.
Just as he was thinking of a countermeasure and preparing to find a chance to return to the ground, the slashes from below came to an abrupt end.
Luffy's two eyes widened in shock. A streak of crimson light shuttled through the storm of falling fists and arrived in front of him in a flash!
Red-Hair's two pupils were as cold as a blade. He held the Gryphon and looked down at Luffy. His Haki transformed into dark red lightning that coiled around the blade, and with the momentum of thunder, he quickly chopped down!
Faced with this sudden flash attack, Luffy had absolutely no time to counterattack. He could only hurriedly raise his arms and cross them in front of him to block.
CLANG!!
Sparks flew. His two wrists, after being covered in Haki, had a defense comparable to bronze skin and iron bones. But the blade still cut through his skin and flesh, and a few drops of blood flew out from the cut.
Luffy's gaze was astonished, a little in disbelief.
Red-Hair turned with the momentum and delivered a heavy roundhouse kick to Luffy's abdomen, sending him flying down from the sky, falling straight like a meteor.
Bang!!
The ground trembled, and a rolling cloud of thick smoke was kicked up. Luffy's back smashed into the ground, and he lay on his back in a deep pit.
Before he could get up, Shanks, dragging his longsword, dived straight at him from the air.
"What's wrong, Luffy? This level is not enough to take the last Road Poneglyph from my hands. You have to bring out something stronger."
"The last Road Poneglyph? I see. So that's how it is."
A corner of Luffy's mouth lifted. He did a carp jump and leaped up. His figure was nimble as he did a few somersaults and jumped backward. After landing, he surged the air in his body to flow to his arms, and his fists, which had swelled another size, were tightly coiled.
"Gomu Gomu no... King Cobra!!"
Luffy roared, and with a mighty punch, he predicted Shanks's landing position and smashed out!
Swish—
The speeding fist tore through the air, like a venomous snake opening its fangs, gathering power to deliver a fatal blow to its prey.
Red-Hair's gaze was fixed. The moment he landed, his feet pivoted, and he immediately jumped to the side to dodge the attack, and quickly and continuously stepped on the ground, his ghostly figure rapidly approaching.
However, a corner of Luffy's mouth lifted into a proud look. The fist that had missed, with a bizarre trajectory, turned 180 degrees, and with a surge of speed, it chased after Red-Hair from behind!
As if he hadn't noticed the attack behind him at all, Red-Hair dragged his longsword and continued to charge. Until he was close to Luffy, his feet on the ground in an instant as he flashed to the side.
"Eh!!"
Before Luffy's panicked eyes, the fist that had accelerated to its limit was heading straight for him!
Bang!!
The immense force of the acceleration sent Luffy's entire person flying, tumbling a dozen or so times on the ground before crashing heavily into a corner of the castle.
The already dilapidated ruins collapsed with a heavy blow, and the falling giant rocks buried Luffy.
"You're not going to get serious, are you, Luffy? That form from the newspaper."
The sword wind churned and cleared the smoke. Shanks swung his longsword and slowly strode out.
"If you don't bring out all your strength now, you won't have a chance later. I'm very serious."
Bang!
Countless pieces of rubble exploded from the ruins. Luffy's figure jumped out. He looked at the sword-wielding Shanks before him, and his face, on the contrary, had a smile.
"You don't have to tell me. I know. After all, Shanks is really strong. Now let me show you... my strongest power!"
Luffy spread his legs into a half-squat, stretched his arms, and his fist hit the ground. A wisp of white gradually dyed the hem of his clothes and the ends of his hair, and a flame cloud, as white as snow, coiled around his shoulders like a ribbon.
"Gear Fifth: Nika Form!!"
"Be careful, Shanks! I'm coming!"
Luffy had a grin on his face, but his eyes were incomparably serious. His two legs swung out in afterimages, and like a pinwheel, they quickly spun and charged up.
"Don't be so full of yourself, Luffy. You're still too early to be talking big to me."
Seeing Luffy's appearance, a corner of Red-Hair's mouth lifted slightly. His two legs bent, and he pushed off the ground with a mighty stomp, dragging his Gryphon as he shot out!
The two once again clashed fiercely. And at the same time, the other members of the Straw Hat crew had also all found their respective opponents.
Several pirates formed a circle, and facing the target in the middle, each of them had an expression of disbelief.
"Hey, this guy is more amazing than I thought."
"This seems to be the ship's doctor of the Straw Hat crew."
"Hah? Isn't this a pet? Their ship's doctor is actually a talking tanuki?"
"It's a reindeer, not a tanuki! A reindeer! You bastards!"
Chopper roared angrily and transformed into his tall human form, elbowing a pirate and sending him flying.
"What strong power! What is this form!"
"Be careful! He's the 300 million Berri bounty Tony Tony Chopper! Don't be fooled by his cute appearance!"
A man with light yellow hair combed back and tied in a short tail at the back, holding a long staff, jumped out.
Seeing the newcomer, the pirates' faces were all overjoyed.
"Mr. Hongo!"
"That's great! A cadre is here!"
"Leave this guy to me."
Hongo's handsome face had a smile. He looked at Chopper before him, and the long staff in his hand began to spin at his side.
"Coincidentally, I am also a doctor. Let's have a spar."
"A doctor...?"
Chopper looked at the man before him and murmured.
Since he had set out to sea, this was the first time he had fought a fellow doctor. The ship's doctor of the Red Hair Pirates, and also a cadre... his medical skills must be amazing.
Thinking this, Chopper inexplicably felt a little embarrassed and excited.
On the other side.
Boom!! Boom!!
In an open space within the ruins, two violent explosions sounded at the same time. In an instant, rubble flew and dust and smoke filled the air.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Franky rolled out of the thick smoke, squatted on the ground, and covered his face with his hand. His gaze was grave as he looked at the burly man opposite, with a head of brown, long, wild hair like a lion.
"What's going on? A laser? Or something else? Is this guy a cyborg?"
Thinking of the energy shockwave that the other had released from his mouth just now, Franky's gaze became full of interest.
"No wonder you targeted me. A bit interesting. Then let's see whose modification is superior!"
"Weapons Left!"
Clack—Clack—Clack!
Franky raised his left arm, his five fingers bent as he aimed at the front. The caps on his fingertips flipped open to reveal pitch-black gun muzzles, and his entire palm began to spin!
"Franky Vulcan Gatling!!"
Rat-tat-tat-tat!!
With the various high-precision weapon blueprints he had obtained from Vegapunk's laboratory, Franky had also begun to upgrade himself. Although time was short and he hadn't had time to do a full modification, it had still brought the firepower of the weapons on his body a step further.
A tongue of fire shot out from the muzzle. The terrifying rate of fire of eighty rounds per second made the bullets, which were even denser than a rainstorm, pour out madly. Their power was even more exaggerated. Even a stone brick over a meter thick was shattered.
The wall behind him was pierced into a honeycomb by the rain of bullets. Roaring Gabu crossed his arms to block his head, maintaining a full-body Armament Haki coverage at the cost of a huge consumption.
Sparks continuously flew from various parts of his body, accompanied by a dense, crisp "ding, ding, ding" sound.
Although he had blocked with all his might, Gabu was still pushed back by the powerful inertia of the bullets. His two feet scraped the ground, leaving charred black marks, until his back slammed against a wall with a 'thump'.
Clack—Clack—Clack...
The pouring bullets came to an abrupt end, and the spinning palm slowly stopped.
"Eh?"
Franky was puzzled for a second, then tried pulling the trigger again.
Clack—Clack!
The wind blew past. Everything was silent.
"I'm out of bullets!!"
Franky let out a scream, his face pale with shock. He had only just realized that the reserve of a thousand bullets in his body had all been used up in just a dozen seconds!
What a rip-off!
At this speed, how could a few thousand bullets be enough!
Franky was resentful in his heart.
The time had simply been too short. They had stayed on Egghead for a total of less than three days. He hadn't even had time to test the newly installed weapons.
Never mind the bullet problem, now his left hand seemed to be overheating. The cannonballs also couldn't be used for now. Although the rate of fire and power were really exaggerated, this new weapon called the "Vulcan Gatling" clearly still had flaws.
And more important than all of this...
...this guy's defense was also too exaggerated!
Franky looked at the burly man's figure, who was covered in white smoke and whose pitch-black Haki was gradually fading. His eyes couldn't help but show a hint of apprehension.
It was rumored that Red-Hair's crew was the "Iron Wall Pirate Crew," whose members all had a balanced bounty. The core cadres had all mastered formidable Armament and Observation Haki. Now it seemed this rumor was not in the least bit exaggerated.
"That hurts, you bastard! Now it's my turn!"
Gabu's two eyes were angry. He stomped his right foot heavily on the ground, his knees bent slightly, and with a mighty push, his entire burly figure charged forward fiercely.
"Yūki-ryoku Ude!!" (Fierce Demon Power Arm!!)
Gabu roared as he drew back his arm. His pitch-black, Haki-wreathed elbow fiercely shot out!
"Strong Right!"
Franky gritted his teeth and clenched his right fist. Cola energy was compressed and sent to his thick mechanical arm. Steam shot out from his arm, and his iron fist fiercely smashed out!
"Franky Crushing Short Strike!!"
Bang!!
The hard iron fist and the penetrating elbow fiercely collided, and a circle of annular impact exploded from the two of them as the center.
Crack—Crack—
This guy... actually...
Before Franky's disbelieving eyes, fine cracks appeared on the surface of his iron fist. Although they were very fine, his fist was not made of scrap metal that could be used casually.
The two were in a stalemate like this. Gabu opened his large mouth, and energy began to gather.
"This is bad! Franky Destruction Cannon!!"
To force the other back, Franky opened the caps on his shoulders, revealing two heavy cannons. He aimed at Gabu and fired directly!
Boom!! Boom!!
Firelight mixed with smoke and gunpowder rolled up. The two figures flew out from within and were sent flying backward.
At this distance, Franky was also affected by the explosion. He rolled twice on the ground and stopped, the front of his body scorched black.
"You're really strong. I'd really like to know where your strength ranks on your ship."
Franky raised a corner of his mouth and asked. He couldn't help but think of his other companions. The other battles were probably no easier than his.
Gabu looked at Franky, his mind a blank. After two seconds of silence, he said in a low voice:
"There are no cadres on the ship weaker than me."
"Hah? Are you being modest? You're already very strong,"
Franky's expression didn't change much, but his heart couldn't help but become grave.
If what this guy said was true, then the others were probably in danger.
In fact, Gabu's words were not exaggerated at all.
At this time, in the main hall of the castle ruins.
"Too slow, too slow. What's wrong, Usopp? This kind of weak attack is useless for anything but cleaning up small fry."
Yasopp squatted on the giant chandelier frame on the ceiling, looking down with a teasing expression. He extended his Haki-covered pitch-black palm and, grabbing the flying green leaf shuriken, he crushed it directly.
"As a sniper, if your attacks can't pose a threat to the enemy, then they are meaningless."
With that, Yasopp lowered the muzzle of his gun, which was resting on his shoulder, and slowly aimed at Usopp below.
"A weapon like a gun should be used like this."
(End of chapter)