"SO GOOD—!!!"
Luffy held his punching pose and threw his head back, letting out a thunderous roar.
With that punch, the energy that had been on the verge of bursting him apart finally found an outlet.
A portion of it surged out through his fist, and the sheer relief made every pore in his body open wide.
He turned around, still radiating terrifying heat.
"Zoro! Sanji!"
Luffy looked at his two companions, who were still wracked with agony, his eyes blazing with fervor.
"Come fight me! This is the only way to speed up absorption!"
"Just what I wanted!!"
Zoro roared, drawing all three swords as he turned into a whirlwind and charged straight at Luffy.
"I was just thinking there was nothing tough enough to cut!!"
"I've been dying to kick something hard myself!!"
Sanji's legs, glowing like red-hot iron, lashed out toward Luffy's other side with explosive force.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A chaotic melee between monsters erupted in this prehistoric jungle.
This wasn't a friendly spar.
It was brutal, flesh-and-bone brawling.
Luffy's rubber fists, Zoro's slashes, Sanji's kicks—none of them held back as they smashed into their own comrades.
The deafening explosions echoed endlessly. The ground cracked. Ancient trees snapped and fell.
Because they knew—
With their current bodies—indestructible bodies—they couldn't be broken.
...
The madness lasted until dawn.
When the first rays of morning light pierced the canopy and fell upon the ravaged battlefield, the noise finally died away.
Three figures lay sprawled on the ground in starfish shapes, gulping air. Sweat mixed with mud covered their bodies, but their eyes shone brighter than ever before.
The violent medicinal energy within them was completely gone.
In its place was a depthless, unfathomable power.
"Huff…"
Luffy sprang to his feet with a kip-up, staring at his body in amazement.
His height had stabilized at around two meters.
His once-slim frame was now wrapped in sleek, streamlined muscle—powerful without being bulky, every line brimming with explosive strength.
His skin had taken on a healthy bronze hue, faint streams of light flickering beneath it.
"Ronan!"
Luffy clenched his fist, jet-black Armament Haki instantly coating his arm.
"I feel like my body's got endless strength! And my Armament's way stronger too! I feel like I'm ten times stronger than before!"
"Hmph. Don't get cocky."
Zoro rose slowly, and the pressure he gave off was overwhelming.
His height had surged to an astonishing two meters thirty.
With his broad shoulders and knotted muscles, he looked like a tyrannosaurus walking upright.
"It's not just raw strength. This body's toughness is insane."
Zoro drew Wado Ichimonji and slashed once into empty space.
SHHHK—!!
A green flying slash burst from the blade, shrieking as it tore through the air. It split a massive boulder in half and carved a trench several meters deep into the ground beyond.
"A flying slash…"
Ronan clicked his tongue in admiration.
"Zoro has clearly stepped into the realm of a true swordmaster now.
"No need for listening to the 'breath of all things'—this sheer power alone is enough to cut the air itself and produce sword energy."
On the other side, Sanji's transformation was the strangest of all.
His height had reached two meters twenty, his figure tall and well-proportioned, muscle lines elegant yet tightly coiled.
"It's not just my body changing," Sanji said, flexing his leg as a sharp whistle cut through the air.
"When the medicinal force hit my spine, I felt like something inside me… woke up."
"Not only did my strength skyrocket, my defense became really weird too…"
"It's like there's an invisible layer of armor protecting me."
Ronan heard this and instantly understood.
"There's no doubt about it…"
He looked at Sanji, thinking silently.
"Sanji's Germa lineage factor.
"During the opening of the Ren and Du meridians and the marrow-cleansing process, it was prematurely activated by the violent medicinal force."
"Exoskeleton plus indestructible body—right now, Sanji's physical potential might be the most terrifying of them all."
Ronan looked at the three of them, utterly transformed, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
"No wonder they're the main cast. Their talent really is top-tier on these seas."
"Power like that, and not a single drop was wasted—every bit absorbed completely."
"That efficiency… honestly, do I have the system, or do you?"
Just as they were basking in the joy of newfound strength, thunderous footsteps rolled through the jungle.
"GAHAHAHAHA!!"
"GIBABABABA!!"
The forest trembled as two gigantic figures pushed aside the trees and emerged.
Bluegilly—no, the Blue Ogre Dorry and the Red Ogre Brogy.
The two giant warriors who had battled for over a century looked down at the four tiny humans, genuine respect shining in their eyes.
"Honored human warriors!"
Dorry stroked his golden beard, his voice booming like thunder.
"We felt last night's disturbance even from afar. Truly terrifying strength."
Brogy rested his massive axe on his shoulder and nodded.
"We've fought on this island for a hundred years. It's been a long time since we met humans as strong as you."
"Within your bodies flows the glorious blood of warriors!"
To the giants, who revered strength above all else, overwhelming physical power was the highest form of honor.
"Hehehe, it's the giant uncles!"
Luffy looked up, grinning.
Even at two meters tall, he was still tiny compared to them—but his presence as a warrior was undeniable.
...
Morning light tore through the mist of the prehistoric jungle, golden rays falling upon the devastated battlefield.
Vivi sat astride Karoo, her hands still trembling as she gripped the reins.
It wasn't fear.
It was the tremor that came after one's understanding of reality had been shattered.
Just minutes earlier, she had witnessed the destruction of the Baroque Works senior agent she had always feared—Mr. 3.
In Vivi's memory, Mr. 3 was sinister and cunning, his ability to create iron-hard wax an almost invincible defense.
Yet before that five- to six-meter-tall giant Luffy, the so-called "Candle Champion" was nothing more than a fragile sugar sculpture.
Just one punch.
A punch so purely violent, so utterly overwhelming, that it erased Mr. 3—man and armor alike—into flying dust.
That visual impact made Vivi doubt whether she was still standing in the real world.
"So this is… their true strength?"
She looked at Ronan and the others, her heart surging like a stormy sea.
This wasn't just superiority in power.
It was dominance on an entirely different level of existence.
In the chaotic battle that followed—meant to digest the remaining medicinal force—the three of them fought like demons of legend until dawn.
The ground shattered. Ancient trees fell.
Power that reshaped the terrain with casual movements completely crushed Vivi's former understanding of what the word strong meant.
"If they're here…"
"Then even Crocodile…"
Her breath caught.
"No—definitely! Definitely he'll be defeated!"
At that moment, within the heart of the desert princess who had known only despair, a blazing fire finally ignited—
The fire called victory.
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