Of course, Ability Users are an exception.
Someone like Buggy can do all of the above.
But this kind of thing, that looks like the influence of an ability yet feels even stranger, with a sense of slapstick that's more real and more bizarre, is unheard of—and downright hair-raising.
What the hell is this?!
Sun God?
Since when does any Sun God look like this?
"This is really weird..."
Sage swung his club, looked Luffy up and down, then couldn't help shaking his head with a small laugh.
Sun God, yeah, he knew about that.
Nika, Joyboy, it's all this Fruit.
But facing it head-on like this, this was also his first time.
That strange feeling was lingering in his heart—not simply because this guy, like him, was wrapped head to toe in Haki and seemed to be showing signs of restraining it inward. It was that this feeling blooming on the outside was... different.
It was practically like...
"He's a different person."
Sage laughed and said, "Who are you really?"
"Monkey D. Luffy!"
Luffy clenched his fist, his mouth stretching into an arc that looked comical yet twisted past the limits of human normalcy into horror. "The man who's gonna become the Pirate King!"
"I think you should just rename yourself Monkey D. Nika."
Sage raised his head slightly, looking down at him in a condescending posture, and said with utter disdain, "Yeah, you got stronger, but how is this still you? Kid, being influenced by your ability is not a good thing."
Ability Users being influenced by their Devil Fruit is actually perfectly normal. Even when you first eat a Devil Fruit, the most obvious feature is that your personality gets affected by it, gradually becoming like the 'personality' your power manifests.
Thunder means arrogance.
Fire means blazing hot.
Magma means irritable.
Ice is naturally frigid.
Light... won't boil into soup, it just scatters like dust in the light.
"Top-tier powerhouses, even if they're influenced, can still rely on their will to keep themselves intact, standing above their abilities. Will is what stands above everything. Otherwise, nobody would ever become a top-tier powerhouse by relying on a single aspect of will alone."
"Abilities are of course handy, but when you use them, you at least have to make sure you don't get assimilated. Just look at you right now! Monkey D. Luffy? Hmph-hmph-hmph-hmph, the sunny kid with a bit of cleverness I remember is not an idiot like this!"
"I don't care what you say! Let's fight!"
Luffy snickered, grabbed his right shoulder with his left hand, and his right arm suddenly spun like a windmill. His tongue stuck out of his mouth and, with a grin, he licked the corner of his upper lip.
"Rubber Rubber, uh..."
"Call it whatever you want!"
Bang!
A sonic boom exploded; the instant he struck the pose, everyone behind Sage withdrew, leaving an open field.
No one knew if this was winnable, but what they did know was: right now they absolutely couldn't let Sage's fight get disrupted.
If the power involved was too great, either Sage would have to split his focus, or he wouldn't—at which point someone else would pay the price. Either way, it was not an outcome they wanted.
Back off on their own and don't drag him down—that much they understood.
Facing the sudden punch, Sage's gaze sharpened. The Eight Precepts in his hands immediately Coiled with a mass of black-red lightning, and he smashed it out viciously.
BANG!!
There wasn't much Haki clash—their Haki was both held inward—so Luffy's fist smashed straight into the spiked Wolf Fang Club.
It was clearly a weapon strengthened by Homiez, its spikes delivering slashing damage and its iron rod delivering blunt force. Yet when it hit that fist, it was like hitting something with extreme elasticity. One swing drove the spikes into the fist, then the shaft as well, sinking into the surface so the entire fist flattened out like a pancake, wrapping around the club. Then it snapped back in and bounced the club away.
"Ow ow ow ow!"
Luffy bared his teeth, wildly shaking his hand. His fist had been stamped like a mold, turned into the model of a Wolf Fang Club.
His eyes suddenly lit up. He flung his hand out horizontally again. "Got it! Rubber Rubber Wolf Fang Club!"
Sage's face stayed blank as he swung again. One blow met the incoming rubber club, hitting it right at the tip. The rectangular fist was blasted into a perfect square, and the ripple of impact flattened it completely into a giant pancake.
Then from that pancake, five long strips suddenly shot out, snaking around the Wolf Fang Club and wrapping around Sage's torso.
"Hee-hee-hee-hee, Rubber Rubber Five-Finger Net!"
Luffy giggled. His whole body twisted like a whirlwind, the extended arm winding into a winch. As he spun, he gradually rose into the air, then his rotating body suddenly halted and snapped back upright.
"Fly—!"
The force generated flung Sage far, far away, his body turning into a shooting star in the sky.
Luffy lifted one hand to his brow like a visor, pretending to peer into the distance, roaring with laughter. "He flew so high! Let's call that Rubber Rubber Meteor."
He'd barely finished speaking when that "meteor" that had been flung out came streaking back at an even faster speed, closing in on Luffy in the blink of an eye—and the Wolf Fang Club was already horizontal in front of his face.
BANG!!
The heavy blow drove the club into Luffy's face, bursting out from the back of his skull. After a brief moment of stiffness, his body flew straight backward with his head snapping back, tumbling across the ground and plowing open a massive trench.
"Straight through..."
Sage glanced at the iron club in his hand, then at the space in front of him, and clicked his tongue. "This is such a... fucking ridiculous ability."
He'd never had an attack leave this deep an imprint before.
Normally, when Sage's blows sank into someone, it was always tearing muscle; at the very least, if it didn't reach the organs, it'd still injure them.
But the rebound on this guy's body was totally different. It was like he was hitting a top-grade tension ball. Aside from knocking him away... it did nothing.
Thunk!
At the end of the trench, Luffy bounced up. His face had stretched into a long strip, the upper half caved inward with spiked imprints all over it. He didn't even look human anymore; his face was weirder than a Sea King's.
And the weirder it was, the more terrifying it felt.
"Rubber club man!"
Luffy giggled and slapped his face hard, and that bizarre-looking visage popped back to normal.
"Well then..."
He put both hands on the ground, striking a sprinter's pose. "Here I come!"
His legs started pumping rapidly, churning like a whirlwind, dragging the ground backward under his feet. The solid earth behind him surged and piled up like giant waves.
"Charge!!"
No sudden flash step, no leap—just pure running. Luffy's legs turned into rolling wheels as he sprinted straight at Sage.
Sage narrowed his eyes and took up a batter's stance. The moment Luffy rushed in and lifted his fist, the Wolf Fang Club—and his hands along with it—vanished into invisible speed, only to reappear right in front of Luffy.
"Galaxy Strike!"
BANG!!
The outstretched fist was smashed by the iron club, driven straight into his own face, flattening it and embedding it in.
"That hurts!"
Luffy bounced up from the pain, his mouth yawning open so wide his tongue sprang out huge. The hand that got hit swelled up red and puffy, ballooning like a Giant's hand, and vents opened in his temples, spewing jets of steam.
Pain, exaggerated to the extreme!
And what was even more exaggerated was...
"Rubber Rubber..."
Luffy suddenly ducked his head down hard, and the steam spraying from his temples actually solidified, taking on an abnormal heat as it fired downward.
Sage's brows knit tight. He shifted his steps back, dodging the downward blast of steam, then instinctively swung his club upward, smacking right into the swollen giant hand that was dropping down.
"Get the hell away from me!"
Sage shouted, muscles straining as he slammed the huge hand away.
The hand snapped back to normal mid-flight, and Luffy dropped from the air, bouncing off the ground with a delighted grin, boinging along. "Hahahaha, this is so fun!"
"You really shouldn't call yourself Nika either..."
Sage took a deep breath and tossed the Wolf Fang Club behind him, rolling his shoulders and flexing his hands. "You should be Tom instead."
This level of expressiveness...
It's just like a damn gag manga!