"Where are you looking?"
Jerry's voice suddenly echoed from behind, and Luffy instinctively spun around to deliver a fierce kick in response.
However, when he extended his leg and kicked with full force, his attack was firmly caught and held in place by an enormous hand.
At that moment, Luffy turned completely around and saw clearly that the lower half of the azure giant had merged seamlessly with the ocean itself, leaving only the upper torso exposed above the water's surface—yet it still appeared as majestic and imposing as a mountain range.
What proved truly shocking was that the massive body visible above the sea was crackling with black lightning from advanced Haki coating.
Moreover, the giant's current appearance was no longer a simple humanoid form. Countless streams of water were extending from its body, writhing through the air like living tentacles with minds of their own.
"Hey there! Let me show you the true power of a tentacle monster!" Jerry declared with obvious relish.
As he spoke, he controlled the giant's arms and thousands of water tentacles to launch a coordinated violent assault.
In an instant, countless appendages wrapped in advanced Haki blocked off all escape routes around "Luffy's" position.
"Luffy's" pupils contracted sharply as he clenched both fists and launched his own fierce counterattack.
"Liberation Fist Barrage!"
Fist shadows erupted everywhere in a desperate tit-for-tat exchange.
But within mere moments, Luffy's punch combinations were completely overwhelmed and submerged beneath the sheer number of attacking tentacles.
"What Nika Fruit?! Ugh! Only tentacle monsters reign supreme!" Jerry taunted with shameless enthusiasm.
Because of the extremely powerful Haki wrapped around each appendage and their fundamental nature as seawater, the tentacles striking Luffy couldn't be rubberized by his fruit abilities. Instead, each impact caused the expected devastating damage.
Due to this overwhelming assault, even though Luffy's recovery abilities remained exceptionally strong, he inevitably began resembling a beaten prizefighter in record time.
Realizing that his opponent's attacks vastly outnumbered his own defensive options, and that Jerry's Haki showed no signs of weakening or diminishing, Luffy's eyes caught sight of massive fists approaching through the gaps between tentacles.
He acted decisively, leaping through the air with supernatural agility as his figure immediately vanished from the enormous area covered by the writhing water appendages.
As a being whose speed could closely match Admiral Kizaru's light-based movement, the abilities granted by Luffy's mythical fruit could truly be described as comprehensively overwhelming.
However, Luffy soon discovered that no matter how fast he moved, the blue giant would always follow him like an persistent shadow.
"I never expected that someone over 800 years old could still be so naive!" Jerry's mocking voice echoed across the battlefield as the giant suddenly materialized directly in front of Luffy once again. "Did you really think you could escape from me that easily?"
Seeing the colossal figure blocking his path yet again, with Jerry's ridicule ringing in his ears, "Luffy" couldn't help but ask in genuine astonishment: "Who exactly are you? How can you maintain such an intimate connection with the ocean and even use its power to move at will?"
Apparently, he had finally noticed the azure giant's impossible method of rapid transportation.
Although Luffy hadn't yet figured out the underlying principles behind this ability, that didn't prevent him from making educated guesses about its mechanics.
After all, he had witnessed firsthand how the Jerry-controlled giant had shrunk into the sea in the blink of an eye, only to teleport directly in front of him the next moment.
This development left him completely puzzled, because the ocean had always been a barren wasteland and forbidden territory for Devil Fruit users.
"Luffy" obviously possessed extensive knowledge about Devil Fruit mechanics. Because of this expertise, he had never heard of anyone being able to control or even merge with seawater through fruit abilities.
He naturally understood that Devil Fruits were "unnatural" products that manifested as possibilities of "human evolution" that people desperately hoped for, and would inevitably be rejected by nature's mother—the ocean itself. This fundamental opposition was precisely why Devil Fruit users couldn't swim.
Therefore, under this basic contradiction between supernatural powers and natural forces, the world had never produced a Devil Fruit capable of transforming or controlling the ocean.
"Want to know the secret? I can tell you," Jerry replied with obvious amusement while continuing his relentless tentacle assault. "It's... use that rotting brain of yours and guess!"
Luffy was visibly startled by this dismissive response and immediately flushed with indignation.
"Shishishishi! You dimensional stowaway! You're asking for death!" he roared with fury.
"Gum-Gum Super White Giant!"
As he spoke, within the dizzying chaos of the tentacle barrage, a white figure began rapidly expanding in size. In the blink of an eye, it had grown to a height nearly matching the azure giant confronting him.
"Damn... this fruit ability really is complete nonsense," Jerry couldn't help but complain after witnessing this latest transformation. "Is there absolutely no limit to your balloon expansion?"
Even though to outside observers, both combatants' abilities appeared equally exaggerated and reality-defying, as an internationally renowned advocate of double standards, Jerry saw nothing problematic with his own equally sky-high capabilities.
After his enhanced "Free Breakthrough," his current Sovereign of Water abilities bore no resemblance to basic Fishman Karate techniques.
Apart from being unable to transform Jerry's original physical body into pure water element, this enhanced skill had even granted him teleportation capabilities through water manipulation, making him feel as though every ocean, river, and water source in the world fell under his absolute control.
"Gum-Gum Giant Gatling Gun!"
As soon as the ten-thousand-meter-tall white giant took its full form, Luffy immediately flexed his massive arm muscles and began exchanging devastating blows with the azure colossus.
For an extended period, the two enormous giants engaged in fierce combat across the vast New World seas. They moved with incredible speed during their battle, traveling all the way from Mariejois through the Calm Belt. After reaching the North Blue, they returned to New World waters under "Luffy's" intentional guidance.
Fortunately, under Jerry's careful control, the ocean would calm instantly whenever their battle's aftermath threatened to create massive tsunamis. Otherwise, countless islands scattered across the sea would have been destroyed by this unexpected natural disaster.
Even with these precautions, the tremendous noise and earth-shaking impacts caused by the battle between these two behemoths terrified people in every location they passed through.
As time progressed, the two titans fought their way across the ocean until they reached the waters near Laugh Tale.
"Luffy" glanced toward where the legendary final island should be located and extended his arms during their ongoing combat exchange.
But in the next second, he froze completely and gasped in shocked disbelief: "How is this possible?!"
"How is it impossible? With me, anything is possible!" Jerry's mouth curved into a supremely smug smile.
"What did you do?" "Luffy" suddenly whipped his head around, raising his arm to block the azure giant's incoming punch while speaking with obvious rage.
Jerry's grin widened with satisfaction. "Did you happen to notice that Laugh Tale has disappeared?"
Without waiting for his opponent to respond, he adopted an deliberately arrogant expression and continued: "That's right—I'm the one who made it vanish! If you've got the courage, come and hit me! If you're really tough, come and cut me down!"
"Luffy" laughed with unhinged fury: "Ahhhhhh! I'll kill you for this!"
Only Joy Boy truly understood that Laugh Tale wasn't merely an ordinary island.
Beneath its seemingly mundane exterior, it possessed the most advanced technological equipment that his ancient kingdom and its allies had developed 800 years ago. These technologies were far more sophisticated than anything available in the modern era, and many of his long-term plans depended entirely on accessing these resources.
That was precisely why "Luffy's" eyes blazed with murderous intent, as if he wanted to devour Jerry alive.
Seeing this explosive reaction, a gleam of calculated satisfaction flashed in Jerry's eyes, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously curved skyward with triumph.
He understood perfectly that Laugh Tale represented Joy Boy's ancient legacy, so when he realized this enemy was still active and their battlefield was drawing closer to that location, he had quietly deployed a water clone during their fight. The duplicate had attacked the unguarded but still heavily fortified island, successfully completing what could only be described as the perfect backdoor strike.
While "Luffy" had been completely absorbed in their direct confrontation, Jerry had systematically dismantled the technological foundation that Joy Boy's entire scheme depended upon. The ancient ruler's most crucial strategic resource had been eliminated while he was distracted by combat, leaving his centuries-old plans in ruins.
"You bastard!" "Luffy" roared as the full implications of Jerry's tactical maneuver became clear. "Those technologies were irreplaceable! Do you have any idea what you've destroyed?"
Jerry shrugged with deliberate casualness, even as his giant form continued deflecting massive punches. "I know exactly what I did—I eliminated your backup plan. What's the matter? Didn't ancient kings always teach their subjects to never put all their eggs in one basket?"
The psychological warfare was working perfectly. By striking at Joy Boy's hidden assets rather than engaging him directly, Jerry had forced his opponent into a state of desperate fury that would likely lead to increasingly reckless decisions.