98: Chapter 98: Kuma Appears, the Inescapable Paw-Paw Fruit"Is this the Shadow-Shadow Fruit, Luffy?How many Devil Fruits have you gotten now?" Zoro asked, leaning closer.He couldn't understand why Luffy liked collecting Devil Fruits.Luffy roughly calculated that, excluding the Earth-Earth Fruit whose elemental power had been absorbed, he had obtained four Devil Fruits so far.Luffy planned to sell the Zoan-type Human-Human Fruit, Ancient Zoan, and Ape-Man form at the auction house after arriving at Sabaody Archipelago.As for the other three, Luffy had contacted his second brother Sabo recently and told him about Ace's Vivre Card starting to burn.He estimated that the two brothers would meet again on Sabaody Archipelago soon.Just as everyone was excitedly preparing to head home and celebrate their hard-won victory, a sudden change occurred!A black shadow fell from the sky like a meteorite, crashing heavily into the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.Sensing the threat posed by this powerful aura, the three top fighters immediately assumed battle stances, ready for battle.Amidst the billowing dust, a small, exquisite bear paw-shaped air cannon suddenly flew out, heading straight for the group with a fierce aura!
Knowing the devastating power of this attack, Luffy dared not be careless.He instantly attacked, conjuring a wind blade to meet the incoming air cannon.The wind blade lightly deflected the air cannon, but was shattered by the shockwave.Luffy stomped the ground, and a frozen earth shield rose up, blocking the shockwave.When Luffy removed the frozen earth shield, he saw the giant Kuma who had previously searched for Moria."Boo!Boo!Bartholomew Kuma!Straw Hat, run!" Lola exclaimed upon recognizing him, simultaneously urging her stunned underlings to take cover.Kuma indifferently surveyed the scene.When he saw Moria's corpse on the ground, he visibly paused, then mechanically stated, "Detected Gecko Moria's death.Mission to eliminate the Straw Hat crew."
As he spoke, Kuma leaped up, arriving in front of Franky in an instant.His speed was so fast that even Jarvis couldn't detect him.Franky, reacting, prepared to unleash the energy blast from his chest, but Kuma's pressure blast fired, shattering Mark 3 into pieces.Franky was also struck hard and collapsed to the ground.Nami cried out in alarm, unleashing lightning from her hand.However, Kuma merely flicked it away, deflecting the lightning with his bare hands.Fortunately, Nami managed to transform into her elemental form in time to dodge the attack."Impossible!What happened?Why was my attack deflected by him?" Nami exclaimed in disbelief.Lola leaned out and whispered, "I heard that this Bartholomew Kuma is a Paw-Paw Fruit user, a Paw-Paw Man.The characteristic of this fruit is that any attack is reflected back.As for the rest, I don't know."
Only then did everyone realize how difficult this enemy was.Luffy kept throwing punches at Kuma, but every single one was deflected.This couldn't go on, so Luffy used a command talisman to summon Enel to join the fight.Enel was annoyed, but his life was still in Kuma's hands."65 Million Volts Thunder Dragon!" With Enel rhythmically striking his drum, a gigantic thunder dragon appeared out of thin air, roaring and lunging at Kuma.Luffy, not to be outdone, followed closely behind the thunder dragon, their elements merging into a mighty thunder and flame dragon, charging towards the enemy together.
The two colossal dragons roared in unison, their passage accompanied by flashes of lightning and sparks, as if they intended to tear the world apart.Such earth-shattering power was awe-inspiring, yet the Great Bear remained remarkably calm in the face of this devastating attack.He simply raised his hand and casually flicked it, effortlessly deflecting the terrifying attack!
Everyone was stunned by what they saw.Holy crap, how is this possible?Such immense power had absolutely no effect on the bear!Just what kind of astonishing strength was this seemingly nonchalant man hiding?
"Push Pressure Cannon!" Kuma assumed a sumo wrestling stance, thrusting his arms forward repeatedly, countless air cannons erupting from his palms.Luffy dodged while searching for an opening.Since a direct attack was impossible, he would resort to surprise.Finally, the moment Kuma stopped, Luffy instantly entered Gear Second, appearing behind Kuma at incredible speed and delivering a punch to his broad back.The chilling force of his fist entered Kuma's body, momentarily pausing his movements.Seeing his attack had worked, Luffy prepared to retreat, looking for another opportunity.But something unexpected happened.The previously injured Kuma suddenly sprang up, grabbing the retreating Luffy and slapping him.A red bear paw emerged from Kuma's body.Luffy, seeing this red paw, felt a sense of foreboding."Hey, Uncle Kuma, I'm your young master!You can't do this to me!" At this moment, Luffy struggled frantically in Kuma's grasp.A hint of pity and surprise flashed in Kuma's eyes.To avoid arousing suspicion from the World Government's higher-ups, the exercise had to be carried out perfectly.The Straw Hat crew's strength had now far exceeded his expectations.This was the only way to avoid harming his young master and the others, and to prevent arousing suspicion from others."Straw Hat kid, if you don't want your crew to get hurt, then try to endure this hurt," Kuma said, throwing Luffy into his red bear paw.Before doing so, Kuma had whispered a few words in Luffy's ear.After doing everything, Kuma was about to turn and leave when a figure flashed by.Accompanied by the sound of metal clashing, a bloody gash appeared on Kuma's right shoulder."One-Sword Style: Lion's Song!You bastard, what have you done to our captain?Let him go!" Zoro launched a fierce attack without regard for anything else, and Sanji also kicked Kuma with his scorching left leg.The rest.The group rushed to the red bear paw and saw Luffy screaming inside.The four women, including Uta, felt their hearts ache.Luffy felt excruciating pain, as if someone were grinding his internal organs into a meat grinder.But seeing Zoro still fighting, Luffy felt it was all worth it.As long as his crew was safe, his own injuries were insignificant.The "Bear Paw Impact" – to quickly escape pursuit – caused the bear to compress the surrounding air into a small shockwave.As the shockwave was released, everyone was stunned.The bear, braving the chaos, left the scene.Standing on his ship at sunrise, looking at the Thriller Bark in the distance, he spoke into the Den Den Mushi: "Dragon, don't worry, your son has a reliable crew.The rest is up to you!"