"Shanks?!" Ace stared in astonishment at the red-haired man with the missing arm who had suddenly appeared to block his path. "Something's definitely wrong with you!"
"What's wrong is you trying to harm our savior!" Shanks retorted, his eyes flashing with an unnatural crimson light as a twisted sneer crossed his lips.
Without further warning, he suddenly exerted tremendous force and struck Ace with his blade, sending the fire-user flying backward through the air.
Seeing this unexpected betrayal, Jerry looked past Shanks and locked his gaze on the white-clad Luffy who was laughing maniacally above them. He spoke to Ace, who had managed to return to his side: "I don't know if the real Luffy can be saved, but I'll do everything in my power to try."
"Whether his body gets damaged during this process..." Jerry paused grimly. "I can't make any guarantees about that."
Ace nodded with grim determination, taking a deep breath before speaking in a low voice: "Go ahead and do what you have to do. If you can save him, that would be ideal. Either way, it can't be worse than this inexplicable state he's in now."
"Alright, leave it to me!" Jerry raised his hand and patted his chest firmly, accepting the responsibility.
Then he turned his head toward the plaza below and spoke with calm authority: "Hawkeye, if you want to protect your red-haired friend, I suggest you help restrain him. It would be best if you could completely immobilize him."
"Otherwise, I'll eliminate any obstacles that stand in my way."
"Young man, you're incredibly arrogant!" Shanks stood atop the ruins of a collapsed building with his sword at the ready, sarcasm evident on his face. He clearly didn't believe Jerry possessed the strength to back up such bold claims.
Jerry glanced at him dismissively, and before Mihawk could respond, a sudden sonic boom erupted in the space where Jerry had been standing.
Immediately afterward, his figure flashed across the sky like a bolt of lightning.
A powerful gust of wind swept past, and Shanks' pupils contracted sharply. He instinctively raised his arm to swing his sword in defense, but before he could complete the motion, he felt excruciating pain lance through his abdomen and spread throughout his entire body in an instant.
In the interplay of light and shadow, Jerry was already standing in the exact spot where Shanks had been positioned moments before. He glanced coldly at the red-haired pirate now lying motionless in the distance and chuckled with satisfaction.
After activating his Free Breakthrough enhancement, although his various attribute values had only doubled numerically, the actual combat bonus was far more than double that increase.
Therefore, Jerry's current strength could be said to have completely surpassed fighters like Shanks and reached an entirely different tier of power.
Despite this overwhelming advantage, Jerry still didn't dare take the situation lightly when facing the white-clad figure whose fighting style was completely unpredictable.
After all, even though Luffy hadn't stated it explicitly, he had indirectly admitted through his words that he was Joy Boy from 800 years ago. Who could predict what other incredible abilities he might have hidden?
"Gum-Gum Pistol!"
"Luffy" also had red light flashing in his eyes as he suddenly launched a punch toward Jerry's position.
"Hey, trying to sneak attack me without any sense of honor?" Jerry's figure flickered and vanished without a trace.
Then, the floor where he had been standing seemed to be transformed into rubber, and suddenly a fist the size of a cooking pot erupted upward from the surface.
Jerry maintained constant vigilance against the unpredictable nature of the Nika Fruit's powers. After all, this was arguably the most powerful and most arbitrary Devil Fruit ability, capable of making any fantasy in the user's mind become reality. He had no intention of being turned into some kind of comedic character by accident.
"You're going down too!" Jerry suddenly appeared above Luffy's trajectory and brought his fishing rod down with devastating force.
"Woah!" Luffy shouted in surprise.
The white-clad figure fell heavily to the ground like a meteorite, creating another massive crater in the already damaged plaza before bouncing upward again like a rubber ball.
"You think this is amusing, don't you?" Jerry stared at "Luffy" who was about to bounce back into the air, grinning with cold anticipation as his exposed teeth gleamed menacingly. "Actually, I feel the same way—especially when I think about the moment when a balloon finally pops! Take this!"
He gripped his fishing rod tightly and positioned it at his side. Black lightning crackled along its length, tearing violently through the fabric of space. Simultaneously, an extremely powerful whirlwind began swirling with the fishing rod as its center, forming a devastating vortex of destructive energy.
Jerry exerted tremendous force, and his figure flashed forward like a stream of pure light.
"Water Blade: Sky Piercing Breakthrough!"
Wherever the fishing rod pointed, even gods would flee in terror!
"Eh?!" Luffy was stunned, his eyeballs actually bulging out of their sockets in cartoon-like fashion.
At this critical moment, he suddenly stretched out both hands and firmly grasped several distant buildings that were still standing.
"Gum-Gum Escape Rocket!"
With a whooshing sound, "Luffy" launched himself away and barely avoided the enormous "drill" that descended like an alien weapon.
Unparalleled Haki and raw physical power exploded instantly. The tremendous force—strong enough to surpass anything at the pinnacle of this world—penetrated deep into the ground in an instant. Even the rubberized surface couldn't withstand this reality-breaking blow.
Using the impact point as ground zero, countless cracks spread in all directions like an enormous spider web, extending thousands of meters without showing any signs of stopping.
An invisible shockwave propagated outward from underground, causing the earth to shake violently. The surface within a radius of several thousand meters was shattered into debris that floated on the wind, while smoke and dust filled the sky instantly.
Some portions of land at the edge of the Red Line broke away from the ten-thousand-meter height and collapsed along the cliff face.
"Are you kidding me?!" Ace and Mihawk exchanged glances of mutual disbelief. They had just witnessed Shanks being defeated with a single blow, and now they were desperately trying to avoid the devastating aftermath of Jerry's attack.
Feeling the violent tremors beneath their feet, the people in the plaza who had been watching the battle with excitement suddenly stopped their activities in shock and hurriedly sought shelter.
Fortunately, when Jerry realized his attack had been dodged, he redirected the technique's power as far underground as possible, creating an earthquake in the depths. The surface was only shaken into fragments and sank considerably, but didn't completely collapse.
Otherwise, the slaves they had worked so hard to rescue would likely have become casualties as well.
"Where... where do you, a dimensional stowaway, get so many terrifying techniques?!" "Luffy" bounced around frantically in the air, looking at the devastation below and roaring with obvious frustration.
"What a shame! I thought you'd be like those straightforward guys who like to test their luck when they see an enemy's finishing move," Jerry said with mock disappointment as he emerged from underground through a fishing line portal. He casually patted his hair, which remained perfectly styled despite his subterranean journey.
"Do I look like an idiot to you?!" Luffy raised both arms and shouted, "Muscle Balloon!"
His normally thin frame suddenly expanded with powerful muscle mass, making him appear incredibly strong and imposing.
"Shishishishi! Now it's your turn to experience my attack!"
"Luffy's" entire body began spinning violently, moving through the air at high speed in completely irregular patterns that were dizzying to observe.
Among the blurry afterimages filling the sky, he suddenly appeared beside Jerry, and a massive foot filled with advanced Haki burst forth from his whirlwind-like spinning body.
"Gum-Gum White Whip!"
"Tsk, so you know sneak attacks too?" Jerry clicked his tongue in disapproval.
Faced with this extremely confusing and high-speed assault, although his predictive Observation Haki was proving ineffective against the chaotic movement, he felt no discomfort whatsoever.
Using his water element detection to firmly lock onto his enemy's position, Jerry leaped up and launched his own kick.
The two fighters' supreme-speed kicks collided with tremendous violence, and after a thunderous impact, both were sent flying backward.
In the next second, they launched themselves at each other simultaneously.
"This really does feel as natural as wearing comfortable slippers!" Jerry exclaimed, genuinely impressed by Luffy's various abilities that had been forcibly enhanced yet remained magically compatible with his body without any sense of awkward delay or contradiction.