Chapter 123: Lufia: You're Far Inferior to Ralph!
In the shadows of the metal pipe exit, Ralph's hand still gripped Honey Queen's neck.
But Ralph knew this wasn't enough.
Haki could suppress Devil Fruit abilities just like Seastone, but some things were meaningless without considering the "dosage."
With his current level of Armament Haki purity, he could only briefly make contact with a Devil Fruit user's physical body. He couldn't render their abilities ineffective for long periods like Seastone could.
...
Hypnosis ability—activate.
Honey Queen's struggles gradually weakened, the panic in her eyes slowly replaced by confusion.
She looked at Ralph, at this man who had just tried to kill her, yet an inexplicable sense of... closeness inexplicably arose in her heart?
[System Notification: The host has temporarily gained Honey Queen's favor through hypnosis ability, achieving a "friend" relationship]
[Reward obtained: Can acquire the Toro Toro no Mi Devil Fruit through the Fruit Reincarnation method after Honey Queen's death]
Ralph's heart stirred.
The Toro Toro no Mi...
This fruit was quite interesting.
If Logia types were natural elements like earth, water, wind, and fire, allowing users to transform into elements and become immune to physical attacks...
The Toro Toro no Mi clearly didn't fall into that category—it belonged to the Paramecia type.
Those who ate it didn't become natural elements but rather a paste-like liquid, similar to the effects of the Gomu Gomu no Mi or the Mochi Mochi no Mi.
But used skillfully, it could achieve effects similar to elemental transformation. With proper training in the New World, one might even become a formidable force.
A pity she followed the wrong person.
Ralph looked at the beautiful woman before him.
In the original storyline, this woman had even been captured by Nami using a glass bottle.
She bullied the weak relying on her Devil Fruit powers, and judging by her proficient kidnapping methods, she had probably helped Bear King abduct many women by force.
Add to that her role as an officer of the Trump Pirates, tyrannizing Clockwork Island and treating human life as worthless for seven years...
Alright.
Having thought of these reasons for your death, you can rest in peace now.
A flash of ruthlessness passed through Ralph's eyes.
"Bang."
The gunshot echoed through the narrow alley, masked by the sounds of battle coming from the distant tower.
Ralph looked up toward the tilting tower at the city center.
"Boom—!"
Another loud explosion sounded as dust erupted from the tower's peak.
Faintly, two figures could be seen colliding within the dust.
A three-meter-tall steel giant and a rubbery, stretching, leaping Straw Hat Girl.
The decisive battle between Lufia and Bear King wasn't over yet.
He wondered if it would shatter the core clockwork like in the original storyline...
Honestly, Ralph thought relying on clockwork machinery to keep an entire city suspended atop a mountain was nothing short of an industrial miracle.
Destroying it like this was a bit of a shame.
He collected his thoughts and turned to leave the alley.
The top floor of the tower—now more appropriately called the "open-air platform."
Most of the walls had collapsed, the ceiling had become a skylight, and only the edges of the glass floor beneath his feet remained barely connected.
In the center was a ten-meter-wide hole. Through it, the intricate clockwork machinery below could be seen slowly turning—that was the heart of Clockwork Island.
And at the edge of the hole, the battle had reached its climax.
"Gomu Gomu no Rocket!"
Lufia's rubber arms stretched back to their twenty-meter limit, then released like springs compressed to their extreme! Her fists clenched together, whistling through the air as they blasted toward Bear King!
Bear King did not dodge or evade, crossing his steel arms to block.
"CLANG—!!!"
An ear-splitting metallic crash.
The ground beneath Bear King's feet shattered inch by inch, and he was blasted backward, sliding three meters and plowing two deep furrows into the floor.
But he quickly steadied himself, grinning to reveal steel teeth: "Useless! Useless! My steel body is invincible!"
"Stop bragging!"
Lufia retracted her arm, "You're nowhere near as good as Ralph!"
She said this sincerely.
Aside from Ralph, no one had ever let her fight this enjoyably.
This big clumsy bear was huge and strong, and the Kachi Kachi no Mi made his body absurdly hard, but...
Hardness ultimately has its limits.
That guy Ralph—when he used Tekkai, he was as hard as real steel; when he used Soru, he was too fast to see; when he used Rankyaku, his slashes were sharper than blades.
And Ralph would deliberately match her pace, guide her, and let her learn during their sparring.
What about this Bear King?
All he knew was to tank hits.
Oh, and he had that ability to make his body turn red and hot.
But that was about it. Lufia's fighting spirit was ignited, and a little burn like this was nowhere near enough to make her stop.
"Having fun, aren't you?"
Bear King suddenly said, his voice low, "But it's time to end this."
He took a deep breath, and the steel skin all over his body began to glow a dark red—the red of extreme heat.
The surrounding air warped from the heat waves, and the shattered glass beneath his feet began to melt.
"Kachi Kachi no Mi: Overheat Form."
Bear King spoke word by word, "In this state, my body temperature exceeds a thousand degrees."
Lufia's eyes lit up, "So cool!"
Bear King choked.
Shouldn't normal people be afraid when they hear "a thousand degrees"?
What kind of brain does this Straw Hat Girl have?
But it doesn't matter!
Seven years of effort, dreams of domination, everything...
"You destroyed my dream..."
Bear King raised his head, madness flashing in his eyes, "Then I'll destroy this island! Let's go down together!"
He suddenly raised both arms high and then jumped down the huge hole!
Lufia followed right after.
Bear King and Lufia fell simultaneously, descending toward the massive clockwork and dense gears below.
"I won't let you succeed!"
Lufia shouted in mid-air, "This island carries the dreams of many people!"
Her rubber arms stretched out violently, her body tensing in the air like a bow drawn to its limit.
Then, black Haki enveloped her arms.
"Gomu Gomu no..."
Her arms stretched back, back, and back further, until they creaked under the strain.
"Cannon—!!!"
Her palms pressed together and thrust forward!
"WHOOSH—!!!"
Her palms struck Bear King's chest squarely.
The thousand-degree steel body was hit as if by a battering ram, and he shot outward like a cannonball!
"ROOOOAR—!!!"
Bear King's roar stretched through the air.
He flew past the shattered ceiling, past the remaining framework of the tower, beyond the boundaries of Clockwork City, arcing through the night sky.
And Lufia herself, due to the recoil, accelerated her descent.
"Whoops whoops—I'm gonna get squished!"
She fell into the gear assembly.
The massive gears slowly turned, and her rubber body was wedged into the meshing gaps of the gears. Pressure came from all sides, as if trying to crush her into pulp.
"Good thing I'm rubber..."
Lufia muttered, her body being squeezed, stretched, and twisted between the gears.
Outside, people witnessed this scene:
First, the tower top exploded, and the Bear King shot out like a cannonball, tracing an arc through the air.
Immediately after, the massive gears of Clockwork Island suddenly "jammed."
"Screech—!"
A piercing metallic grinding sound echoed throughout the city.
Everyone's hearts trembled—it was over, the core spring was about to stop.