The rejection was instantaneous. Luffy didn't wait for a signal; he lunged, his fist already stretching. But as his arm flew toward Teach, the dark aura around the pirate captain acted like a 'Buffer Overflow'. Luffy's arm didn't hit meat; it hit a wall of pure data-corruption, causing his limb to flicker and lose its texture.
"Luffy, get back! You can't hit what isn't fully 'Compiled'!" Amine screamed. He slammed his stylus onto the air, drawing a massive 'Firewall: Level 5' between the two captains.
The town of Mock Town, just a few hundred meters away, began to suffer from the proximity of the two 'Anomalies'. Buildings started to float, and the pirates in the bars turned into low-resolution 'Wireframes'. The 'Recycle Bin' nature of Jaya was being pushed to its limit.
"You're fighting for a dream that's already been 'Commented Out', Scholar!" Teach roared, unleashing a wave of darkness that shattered Amine's firewall like it was glass.
Amine felt the feedback in his brain. [System Integrity: 42%. Warning: User is experiencing 'Data Leakage'.] He fell to one knee, blood dripping from his eyes. He realized then that Teach wasn't just another villain; he was the Anti-System. If Amine was the 'Editor', Teach was the 'Virus' that the Author couldn't delete because he was too integral to the plot.
"Zoro! Nami! We have to leave Jaya now!" Amine gasped, his vision blurring. "The Senior Editor is using Teach to 'Locate' us! If we stay, he'll trigger a 'Global Wipe' of this island!"
Suddenly, a giant bolt of blue lightning struck the center of the town, but it didn't come from the clouds. It came from a 'Connection Port' in the upper atmosphere.
"The Sky Island..." Robin whispered, looking up at the swirling vortex above them. "The gateway is opening. But it's not a natural current. Someone is 'Downloading' us up there."
Amine looked at the golden compass Robin had given him. It was glowing with a blinding white light. "It's Enel," Amine realized, a chill running down his spine. "He's not an 'Admin' like Crocodile. He's a 'Cloud-Server' God. And he's trying to 'Sync' our souls to the Ark Maxim!"
"Let's go then!" Luffy shouted, grabbing Amine and the crew. "We're going to the sky! I've got a feeling the meat up there is 'High-Definition'!"