Chapter 159: Insightful Red Eyes! The Untouchable "Soru"
The night of Water 7 was completely torn apart by a violent storm.
The super tsunami known as "Aqua Laguna" was imminent, and the entire city swayed in the wind and rain.
However, inside the Galley-La Company headquarters building at Dock 1...
In Iceburg's room, the candlelight flickered wildly in the wind pouring in from the broken window.
When Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and Tatsuya kicked open the door and rushed in...
What they saw was not an injured Iceburg, but those familiar yet strange figures.
Several top foremen of the Galley-La Company—Rob Lucci, Kaku, and Kalifa—had now cast off their disguises.
"I knew you would come."
Rob Lucci stood in the center of the room, the shadow from his black top hat obscuring the upper half of his face.
He slowly removed his mask and tossed it onto the ground.
Clack.
The sound of the mask shattering was exceptionally piercing in the silent room.
Lucci looked up, his emotionless black eyes locking onto Tatsuya, his voice like a beast's low growl:
"Although I don't like that trash Blueno... he was a member of CP9 after all."
"For killing Blueno... Crimson Lotus Victor, you must die."
Lucci took off his coat, revealing a lean, muscular physique, while the pigeon Hattori on his shoulder flew to the windowsill:
"Originally, according to the Chief's orders, I planned to take you to Enies Lobby for a public execution. But now... I've changed my mind."
"I will eliminate you all right here."
Before the words had even faded...
Whoosh!
Lucci's figure vanished instantly from where he stood.
No run-up, no wind-up, not even a change in the air current.
He simply disappeared into thin air.
Marine Six Powers: Soru.
This is a high-speed movement technique that generates explosive counterforce by stomping the ground dozens of times in an instant.
To an ordinary person's retina, it is equivalent to teleportation.
"He disappeared?!" Nami covered her mouth in horror.
In the next second, Lucci had appeared in front of Tatsuya, less than half a meter away.
His right index finger was extended, with power concentrated at the tip enough to pierce through steel, thrusting straight for Tatsuya's heart.
"Finger Pistol!!"
This strike was too fast, so fast there wasn't even time to think.
Unfortunately, the opponent he chose was Tatsuya, who possessed the Sharingan.
"Too slow."
Tatsuya's eyes, which had been slightly closed, suddenly snapped open.
In that instant, his originally black pupils were immediately dyed with an eerie blood-red.
Three black tomoe spun wildly within his pupils.
Under the Sharingan's nearly abnormal dynamic vision, Lucci's movements—previously too fast to capture—seemed as if a slow-motion button had been pressed.
Tatsuya clearly saw the contraction of Lucci's leg muscles, the cracking of the ground, the trajectory of his forward dash, and the angle at which that finger was thrusting.
There was no need for large-scale evasion.
Tatsuya simply tilted his body slightly and raised his black blade, still in its sheath.
At an extremely tricky angle, he precisely parried Lucci's wrist.
Clang!!
A crisp sound of metal clashing rang out.
Sparks flew in all directions.
Lucci's lethal strike was actually parried aside effortlessly by Tatsuya using his scabbard.
The Finger Pistol grazed the collar of Tatsuya's trench coat and pierced into the wall behind him, poking a bottomless black hole directly into the stone wall.
"What?!"
For the first time, a look of shock appeared on Lucci's perpetually frozen face:
"You can see the trajectory of'Soru'?!"
"I told you, it's too slow." Tatsuya's gaze was cold. "In my eyes, your movements are full of openings."
At the exact moment Lucci was momentarily stiffened from his attack being parried...
"Don't ignore me! Pigeon guy!!"
A roar came from the side.
Luffy had already finished charging up; he didn't miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"Gomu Gomu no—Stamp!!!"
With one foot on the ground, Luffy's other leg compressed like a spring and then kicked out violently, hitting Lucci squarely in the abdomen.
"Iron Body!!"
Lucci reacted extremely quickly, his abdominal muscles instantly tightening like steel.
Thump!!!
A dull impact sound echoed.
Even with Iron Body, under Luffy's supernaturally strong and furious strike, Lucci was still sent sliding backward.
His feet plowed two deep furrows into the wooden floor, and he retreated five full steps before steadying himself.
"Cough..." Lucci brushed the dust off his abdomen, his gaze turning even darker.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield...
"Your opponent is me, long-nose."
Zoro untied his bandana and tied it around his head. His three swords were already drawn, and he stared at Kaku on the roof beams with a ghostly, menacing aura.
"Hmph, arrogant swordsman."
Kaku had his hands in his pockets as his body spun in the air, his legs whipping out:
"Let me show you... Tempest Kick: Ran!!"
Swish swish swish swish!!
Dozens of blue vacuum slashes rained down like a storm, each one enough to cut through rock.
Facing this dense long-range barrage, Zoro didn't retreat but advanced.
"Three Sword Style: Bull Demon - Brave Claw!!"
The muscles in Zoro's arms bulged, and Armament Haki coiled around his blades.
He He swung the knife suddenly., three black sword beams met the attack head-on.
Clang clang clang clang!!
Dense shattering sounds erupted in the air.
Kaku's proud vacuum slashes, before Zoro's incredibly heavy strikes...
Were like glass hitting a hammer, instantly shattered into pieces and dissipating into turbulent air currents.
"How is that possible... He actually shattered the Tempest Kick head-on?" Kaku landed, somewhat surprised.
Zoro bit down on his Wado Ichimonji, a wild and arrogant smile curling at the corner of his mouth:
"Your swordsmanship... or rather, your kicking technique, is too light."
"Slashes that carry no weight cannot wound me."
In the corner of the room, the only female agent, Kalifa, was attempting a sneak attack from the side.
She brandished a specially-made thorn whip in her hand, a lethal weapon covered in spikes.
"That red-eyed man seems to be consuming a lot of energy; finish him first."
Kalifa pushed up her glasses, and the long whip coiled toward the back of Tatsuya's neck like a venomous snake.
Tatsuya didn't even turn around.
He just tilted his head slightly, and those crimson Sharingan eyes looked coldly at Kalifa through his lenses.
Their eyes met.
"Sharingan: Genjutsu."
Hum—
Kalifa's movements instantly froze in place.
In her vision, Tatsuya's figure vanished.
In its place were countless giant, slimy black venomous snakes emerging from the floor, walls, and ceiling, instantly coiling around her body.
"Ah... What is this?! Let me go!!"
Kalifa screamed in terror.
She felt her throat being constricted and her limbs unable to move, cold sweat instantly soaking her back.
But to outsiders, Kalifa was just standing there stupidly with her whip raised, her eyes vacant and her body trembling.
"Don't waste your energy."
Tatsuya withdrew his gaze and looked back at Lucci:
"Before my eyes, sneak attacks are useless."
In just one minute of engagement...
The three main forces of CP9 had failed to gain any advantage whatsoever, and instead seemed to be slightly at a disadvantage.
"..."
Lucci stood up straight and gently cracked his neck, making a series of clicking sounds.
"It seems... we underestimated you."
Lucci took off his cumbersome black suit jacket, revealing the scars on his back that looked like some kind of totem:
"You are no ordinary pirates. In that case..."
"Roar..."
Lucci's body began to undergo a startling transformation.
His bones crackled and his muscles expanded rapidly.
His originally human face began to elongate, growing fangs and whiskers, and his skin became covered in leopard spots.
Zoan: Cat-Cat Fruit, Model: Leopard.
A terrifying aura, several times stronger than before, instantly filled the entire room.
"I'm going to tear you apart."
After transforming, Lucci's speed and power had undergone a qualitative leap.
"Soru!"
This time, even with the Sharingan, Tatsuya felt a hint of pressure.
Just as both sides were prepared for a life-and-death struggle and the situation was about to spiral completely out of control...
"Enough!!!!"
A sharp scream interrupted everyone's movements.
Robin, who had been standing silently in the corner, suddenly rushed out.
"Cien Fleur: Big Tree!!"
Robin crossed her arms, eyes filled with tears.
Countless arms suddenly sprouted from Luffy and Tatsuya's bodies, intertwining and locking with each other.
Instantly, they formed a massive joint-lock shackle, pinning their hands and feet behind their backs and pressing them to the ground.
"Robin?! What are you doing!!"
Luffy was pinned to the ground, looking at Robin with shock, completely unable to understand what was happening.
"Don't worry about me anymore!!"
Robin looked at the suppressed Luffy and Tatsuya, tears streaming down her face, her voice hoarse and desperate:
"I'm going with them of my own free will!!"
"I don't want to be with you anymore! You only bring me trouble!
"I want to live, so I traded Mr. Iceburg for a ticket to the New World!"
"These are my true feelings!!"
Robin's words were like sharp knives stabbing into the hearts of the Straw Hat crew.
She looked at the transformed Lucci, her heart filled with fear.
She knew this was only a portion of CP9's power, and behind them was the terrifying "Buster Call."
If the fight continued, Luffy and the others would truly die here.
To protect this group, her only companions, she chose betrayal.
Lucci watched this scene, deactivated his hybrid form, and sneered:
"It seems she understands the cruelty of reality better than you. This is the choice of the 'devil child'."
"Let me go!! Robin!!" Luffy struggled desperately, but he couldn't bring himself to use Haki against Robin's arms.
Just then...
Poof!
A cloud of smoke erupted.
The "Tatsuya" pinned to the ground by Robin turned into a wooden log.
"Substitution Jutsu."
Tatsuya's real body had, at some point, jumped onto the windowsill of the room's large, broken floor-to-ceiling window.
Behind him was the violent storm caused by "Aqua Laguna."
In the pitch-black night sky, thunder roared and lightning flashed, with giant waves surging as if it were the end of the world.
The wind ruffled Tatsuya's black hair and trench coat.
He stood on the edge of the storm, looking down at the farce inside the room.
"Heh..."
Tatsuya's lips curled up in a wild and unrestrained smile.
Those crimson Three-Tomoe Sharingan eyes, illuminated by the lightning behind him, appeared incredibly eerie and dangerous.
"I don't care if you're willing or not, Robin."
Tatsuya's voice cut through the thunder, clearly reaching everyone:
"If you want to leave, then defeat us first."
"With such a clumsy lie, you couldn't even fool a single-celled organism like Luffy, let alone my eyes."
As he spoke, Tatsuya slowly raised his right hand, palm facing the sky.
"Lucci, did you think that was our limit just now?"
Tatsuya looked at the solemn Lucci, a crazy light flashing in his eyes:
"No... that was just a warm-up."
Zzzzt zzzzt zzzzt!!!!!
Guided by Tatsuya's Chakra, the naturally violent and rampaging lightning in the sky seemed to receive some kind of summons.
A brilliant bolt of lightning struck down, but instead of hitting the ground, it converged on Tatsuya's raised right hand.
That was no ordinary Ninjutsu; it was the power of a natural disaster harnessed with the help of nature's might.
Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp————!!!!
The sharp, piercing sound of electricity rang through the night sky, like the simultaneous crying of tens of thousands of birds.
Bathed in the light of the lightning, Tatsuya looked like a god controlling thunder, baring his fangs at the CP9 members:
"Take a good look... this is... the true power of the Straw Hat crew!"
Loving Book So Far Check Out 80+ Advanced Chapters At Pa Treon:
patreon.com/FicTonic1