Moria's body slammed into the wall with a lot of force. He cracked the stone behind him like glass as his massive frame destroyed everything behind him.
For just a fraction of a second, the room went quiet. Dust drifted through the air and then...
"Kyaaaaa—" That shit hurt like a bitch.
Moria forced his body up. Shit hurt like a motherfucker. It felt like getting punched by Ryo.
He knew what Ryo was—he was mostly raised in Wano, so he was close to that concept.
"...What the hell was that punch?"
He pondered it for a bit. That punch was hard, it stretched the fuck out of him, no pause.
While yes, Luffy's punch did hurt, it shouldn't have hurt as much. He wasn't as weak as he would have been in canon—his ass did train after his bout with Kaido. He trained a lot more to master his ability.
He groaned a bit, standing back up. He had gotten down the basics of Haki and Ryo in that long time span. Granted, like Gohan, his ass still did slack, but his current self would slam the fuck out of his canon self without needing to try, and the reason for that was simple.
His ass was aware of ninja, and his ass was also maybe slightly a dweeb, which was also why he kinda stopped training 6 years ago, and only recently started training again. Really thought he would not see one again, only for the next time he saw one probably being his death.
Well, anyway about his past.
"That was Ryo, wasn't it?"
Even though it was phrased like a question, it wasn't. Moria knew what had blown his back out, and it was Ryo.
"Yup," Luffy said without an ounce of shame showing on his face.
He was getting Ryo down fast. Currently, his Armament Haki was good—it wasn't flickering anymore. Shit was stable now.
His Observation Haki had not yet evolved into Future Sight, though it was close. Something about getting his shit kicked in by Kairo last time they fought helped with that.
And he could now actively release his Conqueror's Haki. While he couldn't control it like Kairo, the guy could be in a room with 100 people and when he released his Conqueror's Haki, only the people he wanted to feel it would.
Out here having more MASTERY of using Conqueror's Haki than any other living person—and I said mastery, not sheer output. He just controlled his shit way better than everyone else.
Which also meant everyone around him, seeing how advanced his Haki control was, would get stronger just by being nearby. It was kinda like a Yuji–Sukuna relationship. Because of seeing such advanced Haki control being used, the others were getting better passively.
Which was also why Luffy could somewhat use delayed Ryo strikes.
Yes, the name does service to what it does—Luffy would punch you and pour his Ryo into you, yet do no damage. Each strike would add to the pile of Ryo already in your body.
And he could detonate the Ryo anytime to do damage. Kairo did that against the Admiral, sometimes even with Conqueror's Haki imbued in it.
But, well, Luffy wasn't that good yet.
"Who the hell are you?"
Moria was genuinely befuddled. Who the fuck was this gremlin who was kicking his shit in?
Luffy had the biggest shit-eating grin on his face.
"I am Monkey D. Luffy."
He paused, then pointed his thumb to his chest.
"And I am going to be the King of the Pirates!"
Moria realized that maybe he was speaking to a crack addict.
Wow.
He was going to get his shit kicked in by a crack addict.
Then he paused.
"Wait... are you the captain of the Straw Hat crew?"
Moria seemed to realize something.
"Yuh, that's me," Luffy said cheerfully. He was quite nice for a guy who just barged into Moria's house and kicked his shit in.
"You wouldn't happen to have a ninja in your crew, would you now?"
Moria's glare focused on Luffy. He just wanted to make sure, get some facts straight—maybe he wouldn't be getting fucked today.
"Oh, you mean Kairo? Yup, he is totally nice," Luffy said as if he hadn't watched—or at least felt—Kairo sliming out some people with his Observation Haki.
Kairo was a cutie patootie who could do no wrong.
Mind you, less than two months ago, said cutie was blowing his back out and making him see white.
But hey, forgive and forget, am I right?
Plus, he was taught cool jutsu—that more than made up for it.
Moria's face went pale.
Shit...
"So you're telling me the devil of the Red Line, the damn fallen and demonic Ronin is in your crew?"
Wow, the World Government was really running a smear campaign against Kairo. Not like they spent two years experimenting on him or anything like that.
But hey, he dared fight back—he deserved those titles.
"The... demonic... ronin...!?"
Luffy looked confused.
Who the fuck were those people?
"It's the damn ninja in your crew, dumbass," Moria snapped. How slow could one be?
"He's just Kairo," Luffy said with a grin.
He didn't care what the World Government said about his friend.
That was his boy.
A/N Werewolf chapter drop later today at 10 pm or so, no, i cannot stay up late to write it, cause rn as i am writing this author note, my eyes are closing by thsmefl.