"Mamamama!" Big Mom's eyes flared with a lethal light as she stared down at the heavily bruised, blood-drenched Luffy. "Straw Hat kid! I will personally deliver your severed head to your precious brother, Drake, as a grand token of my regard!"
Watching the overwhelming sheer volume of high-tier combatants closing in to seal his perimeter, Luffy displayed absolutely zero hesitation or fear in his eyes, though heavy, ragged gasps continuously escaped his chest.
This battle against Katakuri had been an exceptionally grueling calculation; it was an encounter where he had literally walked a thin razor's edge between survival and death. He had managed to break through Katakuri's myth only by successfully evolving his system to see the immediate future at the final microsecond.
Based on his current diagnostic outputs, his physical stamina was completely exhausted.
However, his internal composure remained uncompromised. Since Drake had given him his explicit word that he would extract him from the independent dimension, the outcome was a mathematical certainty.
The Thousand Sunny
"Waaaaah... the glass has completely fractured into pieces!" Chopper wept loudly, his tiny hooves clutching several shattered shards of the pocket mirror.
Having processed the data that Luffy would utilize the mirror's reflective surface as his primary extraction vector, Chopper and Carrot had stationed themselves right beside the glass, tracking its structural integrity with absolute focus. They never could have calculated a scenario where the mirror would suddenly detonate into fragments right before their eyes, a variable that thoroughly terrified them.
Initially, they assumed they were trapped inside a bad dream. But delivering a swift slap to their own cheeks yielded a heavy dose of physical pain.
This wasn't a sensory illusion... This was reality.
"Luffy..." The frantic, heartbroken weeping of Chopper and Carrot immediately drew the cognitive attention of the remaining personnel on deck.
"What's the matter!? What exact structural failure occurred?" Sanji shouted, dropping his dish towel and bolting straight out of the galley. The exact microsecond his eyes locked onto the pulverized heap of reflective shards, his physical frame went completely rigid.
"This... this is statistically impossible..."
"What happened?" The rest of the crew members quickly consolidated their coordinates. The moment Nami processed the destroyed mirror, she instinctively clamped her hands over her mouth, heavy tears spilling uncontrollably from her eyes.
"Why... why did the parameters shift like this?" Brook muttered, his frame losing all relative balance as he slid helplessly against the cabin door framework for structural support.
Jinbe and Pedro's pupils shrank to pinpricks, a dense, suffocating sensation tightening around their throats, rendering them completely speechless.
"Does this imply... Luffy possesses zero baseline options to return to the grid?"
Following a long, heavy silence...
"We must re-calibrate our trajectory and mount a counter-offensive to extract him!" Nami declared, her voice burning with fierce resolve.
"I'll execute the infiltration alone!"
Sanji drew a deep, continuous drag from his cigarette before aggressively snapping the ember out, his features hardening into a mask of absolute, suicidal determination.
"Negative. If a deployment is deemed necessary, we launch as a synchronized unit! Sanji, entering that high-density enemy grid in your isolated state carries a near-certain casualty rating," Brook countered.
"Mmm, mmm!" Chopper nodded frantically through his tears.
"No, the optimal approach is for me to deploy solo. I possess aerial flight capabilities through Sky Walk; if the objective is simply to lock onto a single target and execute a high-speed extraction, my individual profile yields the highest probability of success," Sanji argued, shaking his head.
The crew fell into a tense, silent contemplation, their logical faculties validating the structural soundness of his argument.
"What exact narrative are you guys translating over here?" Drake's calm voice suddenly cut through the heavy atmosphere as he and Kenshin stepped into the living quarters, having caught the acoustic feedback of the commotion from the main deck.
"Captain Drake...!" Chopper sobbed, extending his trembling hooves to display the mangled mirror fragments to the spatial master. "The extraction mirror... it's been completely pulverized... It's entirely my fault for failing to secure the baseline infrastructure..."
Staring down at the handful of glass shards clutched in the reindeer's paws, Drake let out a long sigh, casually waving his hand. "Whew... you guys nearly gave me a system heart attack. I calculated a severe structural breach had occurred, but it turns out you're just stressed over a common broken mirror."
Just a broken mirror?
The collective brainpower of the Straw Hat crew stalled completely.
"We are referring to this specific mirror," Chopper clarified, pointing a hoof toward the ruined framework. He naturally deduced that Drake lacked the baseline context regarding how the mirror mapped to their extraction protocols.
Drake studied the frame, looking entirely nonplussed. "Mmm? What exact anomaly is associated with this household decoration?"
"This was the solitary beacon enabling Luffy to traverse back to our coordinates! Now that the glass parameters have been reduced to zero, Luffy... is permanently locked out of reality! Waaaaah!" Chopper's emotional dam broke once more.
"Step aside and let me deploy! I give you my absolute word that I will return the captain safely to this deck. Leave the execution to me," Sanji commanded the room, adjusting his stance.
"Hold your horses, let's take a second to re-calibrate your logic loops," Drake interjected smoothly, raising a hand to pause their movements. "So, your calculations suggest that because this commercial piece of glass sustained mechanical failure, Luffy is mathematically doomed, correct?"
"Eh...?"
Staring at Drake's casual demeanor, the crew's cognitive gears ground to a halt. Judging by the absolute lack of panic in the captain's tone, the structural integrity of the mirror carried zero statistical weight against his extraction capabilities.
"Ahem, the reality of the situation is quite simple," Drake cleared his throat, offering a relaxed smirk. "The spatial manipulation I deploy is entirely a product of my independent capabilities; it functions completely outside the operational constraints of the Mirror-Mirror Fruit's localized loops."
"My techniques permit me to seamlessly traverse the boundaries of any existing spatial dimension. Therefore, even if you pulverize every single mirror on this island into fine powder, it has zero negative impact on my transit parameters."
Watching the crushing despair on their faces rapidly transform into overwhelming relief, Drake's grin expanded. "Based on my temporal tracking, Luffy should be concluding his duel right about now. Let's run a diagnostic sweep..."
Without further delay, Vale D. Drake activated his displacement, stepping clean through the dimensional threshold to enter the Mirro-World.
The underlying mechanics of his spatial traversal functioned exactly as he had articulated. For Drake to execute a successful dimensional shift, his cognitive systems only required a single prerequisite: anchoring onto a pre-existing sub-space signature. The infinite Class-1 Dimension he had previously summoned was the initial, unrefined layer he had mapped entirely through his own internal willpower.
Under normal parameters, the precise spatial resonance of the Mirro-World was an elusive signature that his senses couldn't easily calculate out of thin air. However, standing within the immediate vicinity of a physical mirror provided a localized amplification point, allowing his systems to easily capture the dim, underlying dimensional frequency.
In simpler terms: as long as a single piece of reflective material existed across the sector—regardless of its dimensions or scale—he could lock onto the frequency of the mirror realm. And since the egress portal he manifested was a construct of his own spatial design, he completely bypassed standard physical limitations; there was zero risk of him being blocked because a mirror was "too small" to accommodate a human frame.
The exact microsecond he crossed the threshold into the Mirro-World, his tactical senses logged the localized parameters, causing a fine bead of cold sweat to form on his brow.
BOOM!
A colossal concussive shockwave ripped across the checkerboard terrain. Ahead of his position, Luffy—his knuckles blazing with Advanced Conqueror's Haki—drove his fist forward to clash head-on against Big Mom's crushing weight.
The residual feedback of their collision generated a violent barometric wave that forcefully drove the remaining Charlotte siblings and guards to the outer edges of the corridor.
A split second later, Luffy's exhausted physical mass was overwhelmed by the Emperor's sheer kinetic torque, and he was blasted backward through the air.
Flicker!
Drake materialized instantaneously behind Luffy's airborne trajectory, extending a firm hand to smoothly absorb his momentum and stabilize his coordinates. Simultaneously, he thrust his left fist forward, unleashing a maximum-density spatial vibration directly into the path of the advancing Emperor.
CRACK... BOOM!!!
"What!?" Big Mom and her surrounding children felt their brains stall at the sudden manifestation. But the devastating kinetic feedback of the spatial fracture didn't halt its advance, roaring down their vector like a runaway freight train.
"Aaaagh!" Big Mom bellowed, coating her fist in thick Armament Haki to punch straight into the distortion.
Following the cataclysmic exchange of forces, the localized sector was left in a state of absolute, pulverized ruin, more than half of the crystalline structures anchoring the mirror realm completely shattered into dust.
As the thick screen of debris and ozone gradually settled, Big Mom's children frantically re-opened their eyes—only to discover that the spatial coordinates for Drake and Luffy had returned an absolute blank. Their signatures had completely evaporated from the dimension.
"VALE D. DRAKE! STRAW HAT KID!!" Big Mom's maddened, throat-shredding scream resonated violently across the infinite expanses of the Mirro-World.
"Ugh... cough, cough..." Suddenly, her vital systems experienced a sharp destabilization, and she coughed up a thick torrent of dark blood, her massive frame dropping heavily onto one knee.
"Mama...!"
The remaining Charlotte siblings frantically rushed forward, compressing their coordinates to form a protective wall around her battered form.
The Thousand Sunny
Space rippled violently over the deck, and Drake materialized cleanly in the center of the gathering, safely depositing the battered captain onto the wood.
"L-Luffy...!" Chopper and Carrot immediately swarmed his coordinates. Staring at the horrific array of lacerations, deep contusions, and blood coating his skin, a dense layer of agonizing worry gripped their chests.
"Hey, guys... I've officially mapped back to base. Shihihihi... cough, cough, hack..." The exact millisecond Luffy attempted to offer his signature, wide-mouthed grin, his lungs convulsed, triggering a violent fit of coughing.
"Luffy, close your mouth and cut the verbal output immediately. I need to run a full diagnostic on your vital systems," Chopper urged frantically. He rapidly unzipped his medical pack, deploying a series of emergency monitoring tools to sweep the captain's parameters.
The surrounding crew members maintained absolute, breathless silence, waiting for the data readout.
"Cardiac rhythm is stable, pulse variance sits within acceptable thresholds... Mmm... the primary diagnosis indicates extreme systemic exhaustion," Chopper reported, his hooves moving with practiced efficiency as he began applying emergency trauma dressings to stabilize the superficial wounds.
"Precisely. Luffy, prioritize shifting your system into a low-power rest state immediately. Leave the remaining navigational variables under our jurisdiction," Sanji said, tightly pressing his lips together as he stepped up to anchor the deck's security.
"By the way... Luffy, regarding the parameters of your private duel...?" Chopper asked hesitantly, his big eyes blinking.
Luffy's lips curled back into a sharp, triumphant grin. "I won!"
"Ahahaha... YES!!" Chopper and Carrot vaulted into the air, completely consumed by pure, unadulterated ecstasy.
"Excellent! Now that our captain's status is verified, let's maintain maximum velocity!" Nami commanded, her voice ringing across the deck with clear authority. "Next destination: Wano Country! Set sail!"
"OH!!!"