Wrapped around Kojin like a stubborn snake, Luffy coated himself in Conqueror's Haki and hammered both fists down like a storm.
Hearing Luffy insist that he was a dragon made Kojin laugh. In some ways, Joy Boy from eight hundred years ago really did have a personality surprisingly similar to Luffy's.
"So you imagined yourself as a dragon and attacked like this?" Kojin burst out laughing.
Then his body trembled, and began expanding rapidly.
In the blink of an eye, he was already a thousand meters tall, twice his previous size. But even that wasn't the end.
Fifteen hundred meters. Two thousand. Twenty-five hundred. Three thousand.
Only when he reached three thousand meters did he finally stop growing.
His head disappeared into the clouds. A colossal figure like a god now towered over the Sabaody Archipelago, leaving countless people staring in shock and awe.
As Kojin expanded, Luffy, still imagining himself as a dragon, was forcibly shaken loose and sent falling through the air.
Kojin looked down, bent forward, and reached out, catching Luffy in one hand and squeezing tightly.
"W-Whoa! You're huge!" Luffy shouted in astonishment.
Even with the power of the Nika Fruit, turning his own body that large wouldn't be easy. A creature of Kojin's size was simply beyond normal imagination.
Luffy suddenly shrank down and sprinted across Kojin's palm. Escaping the grip, he leapt from one of Kojin's finger joints like a tiny ant.
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
"You really are enormous!" Luffy laughed in amazement.
Both of his arms stretched out again, lengthening and rapidly expanding until, in moments, they had grown to nearly the same thickness as Kojin's own arms. Black-and-red lightning crackled around them as Conqueror's Haki coated his fists.
Then he swung.
"What a troublesome guy," Kojin muttered.
They were currently fighting on roughly the same level, so there was no way either of them could settle this quickly.
Kojin threw a punch. His gigantic fist blasted through the clouds and crashed forward.
BOOM!
Lightning exploded. Shockwaves spread outward in rings. Thunder rolled across the entire Sabaody Archipelago, and violent winds swept over the islands. Even the surrounding sea churned wildly, waves rolling one after another.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
The sound of their repeated clashes thundered through the clouds as the two fought head-on once again.
This time, Luffy's expression was serious and his gaze sharp. He was using everything he had, but Kojin's power was no weaker; their battle remained almost completely even.
"Hurricane!" Kojin opened his mouth and blasted out countless blades of wind.
Luffy pulled back his fists, stretched one arm upward, and yanked down a cloud from above. The cloud turned into rubber in his hands and became a shield.
The wind blades struck it, and bounced straight back toward Kojin.
"This might be the most interesting fight I've ever had," Kojin chuckled, casually sweeping the reflected wind blades away before clenching both fists.
Joy Boy's Devil Fruit abilities were bizarre and endlessly entertaining, but when it came down to actual fighting, the two of them were still trading blow after blow at close range. And that kind of direct physical combat was exactly what Kojin enjoyed most. To him, this was how men were supposed to fight.
"Let's keep going!" Kojin looked toward Luffy, who seemed no bigger than a mosquito from his current height.
But the moment he saw him, Kojin froze. The fists he had just clenched slowly loosened.
Luffy was still smiling, but the smile had become stiff. The light in his eyes was fading rapidly before his pupils disappeared entirely, leaving only blank white eyes.
At the same time, the overwhelming Conqueror's Haki filling the sky vanished. His body began drifting downward, slowly dropping from the sky like a falling leaf, gaining speed as he fell.
"So it's over?" Kojin sighed softly.
He wasn't surprised. Joy Boy had died long ago, and the Luffy of this era wasn't yet the emperor-level fighter who could awaken the Nika Fruit by his own strength. The fact that Joy Boy had managed to fight Kojin this long was already impressive.
"It's been a long time since I felt that excited during a fight," Kojin murmured.
His enormous body gradually shrank back to normal as he swept his gaze across the battlefield. Soon, he spotted Rayleigh below, the old man had caught the falling Luffy and was holding the unconscious boy in his arms.
"I'm afraid I can't let you take Straw Hat with you, Rayleigh," Kojin sighed.
Rayleigh's eyes sharpened as he stared at him. "Do you really have to finish him off?"
Kojin smiled faintly and stepped forward.
At that moment, Bartholomew Kuma suddenly moved, appearing directly in front of Rayleigh in an instant.
Their eyes met, and something flickered in Rayleigh's gaze.
Kuma raised his right hand, and struck forward.
BANG!
Rayleigh vanished, along with the unconscious Luffy in his arms.
Kojin paused, then looked toward Kuma, a dark glint flashing through his eyes.
"Bartholomew Kuma. I think highly of you. But my respect for you doesn't give you permission to pull tricks right in front of me."
Kuma's expression remained serious. He stared back at Kojin but said nothing.
Kojin stepped forward again. "You should probably explain what you just did."
Kuma's lips moved slightly before he finally spoke in a low voice. "I could tell you never intended to truly harm them."
"My decisions aren't yours to make," Kojin's voice turned cold.
Kuma fell silent. Sending the Straw Hats away one after another right in front of Kojin had already been an extremely reckless act, and now he had done it again.
After a long silence, Kojin spoke. "You'll have to pay a price for that."
"I'm willing to pay any price," Kuma replied in a low voice.
"Is it really worth it? You could have become one of the people I trusted most among my subordinates." Kojin slowly raised his head and sighed.
Kuma's expression tightened slightly. "I'm grateful for your trust and recognition."
Kojin shook his head, then looked toward Zoro, who was standing beside Kuina. The moment Zoro noticed Kojin looking at him, his body tensed.
"Kuina. You're sure Luffy and the others are okay?"
Kuina nodded. "Sensei isn't the kind of person who'd seriously go after little rookies like you."
Zoro took a deep breath, his expression complicated.
During their duel, Kuina had completely overwhelmed him from beginning to end. The difference between them wasn't small, they were on entirely different levels. That realization had dealt a serious blow to Zoro's confidence.
He had trained for more than ten years, yet the gap between them had only grown wider. Worse still, the only technique he possessed that could truly contend with Kuina was the very first sword technique Kojin himself had taught him.
'If I can completely understand that slash…' Zoro clenched his fist. 'Then maybe I won't lose to Kuina.'
'But what exactly is that man trying to do?'
Zoro raised his head and met Kojin's gaze. There was no fear in his eyes, only confusion.
"Roronoa Zoro." Kojin looked back toward Kuma with a faint smile. "You planning to send him away too?"
Bartholomew Kuma remained silent, his face giving nothing away.
When Kuma continued standing there without moving, Kojin chuckled and started walking forward again.
Then,
Kuma vanished.
When he reappeared, he was already standing directly in front of Zoro. His right palm swung out with terrifying speed.
SMACK!
A loud slap rang out. Zoro's expression froze, confusion flashing across his face.
Then,
POP!
He vanished.
A light breeze swept across the battlefield, stirring the dust. Kuma remained where he stood.
After briefly glancing at Kuina's stunned expression, he slowly turned around and once again faced Kojin's cold gaze.
"I'll bear every consequence."
The coldness in Kojin's expression eased slightly. He walked forward, passed Kuma after a few steps, and stopped just behind him.
"Then… I hope you mean that."
Kuma said nothing. He knew exactly what kind of consequences his interference could bring, especially after doing something like this right in front of Kojin. He had almost certainly angered the man.
But Kuma still believed it was worth it. Just as Rayleigh had said, this world needed seeds for the future.
After personally witnessing what had happened to Luffy, and seeing the bond between these young people, the kind of trust that allowed them to place their lives in one another's hands, Kuma felt that everything he had done was worth the price.
"Sensei is really angry," Kuina spoke quietly. "He actually trusts you a lot. And he thinks very highly of you."
Kuma's body stiffened, then he sighed. "I've wronged him."
Thinking back to their first meeting and their conversations afterward, Kuma had actually come to respect Kojin just as much. There was probably no one else in the world who understood him as well as Kojin did.
And the more time Kuma spent around him, the more surprising Kojin became. This legendary, notoriously powerful man was actually much gentler and easier to get along with than people imagined. Even that little girl from Moria's crew could joke around with him without fear.
What stood out even more to Kuma was Kojin's concern for ordinary civilians.
As a superior, Kojin was unquestionably the kind of man people would willingly entrust everything to, even their lives. As a friend, he was just as dependable.
Kuma completely understood why so many powerful people had gathered around him. Men as strong as Bullet. Men as proud and unruly as Crocodile. And people like Buggy, Rosinante, Smoker, and many others. All of them were willing to follow his orders.
There was no doubt about it: Kojin possessed extraordinary charisma. To many people, he was a hero, the embodiment of justice.
In some ways… his path even seemed more correct than Dragon's.
Without realizing it, Kuma began comparing the two men in his mind.
---
WHOOSH!
Wind roared past Zoro's ears. To his shock, he discovered that he was lying inside some kind of bubble.
The scenery on both sides flashed past at incredible speed. In what felt like no time at all, he was already flying over the sea.
Zoro carefully sat up, terrified that he might accidentally pop the bubble. Below him stretched an endless ocean, dotted with tiny black shapes that were actually ships.
"What the hell is going on?!"
The wind howled around him. For once, Zoro looked genuinely nervous. He could do nothing except wait as the bubble continued racing across the sea.
He had no idea how long he had been flying when an enormous Gate of Justice finally appeared below. Then he saw warships, dozens of Marine battleships flying the familiar anchor insignia.
The bubble passed straight through the Gate of Justice, flew over the massive inner harbor of a fortress, and headed toward a densely packed cluster of buildings.
Its altitude gradually dropped. Lower. Lower.
Until finally, when it was only about ten meters above the ground,
POP!
The bubble burst.
"AAAAAH!"
Zoro fell out of the sky.
BANG!
He crashed directly into a training field. Groaning, he slowly climbed back to his feet, then froze.
All around him were figures dressed in Marine uniforms. And among them were several faces he knew far too well.
"Long Nose?!"
"Pigeon Guy?!"
The Marines stared back at him in equal shock.
"Roronoa Zoro?!"
"How the hell did you fall into Marineford?!"
(End of Chapter)
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