To be honest, Luffy had been somewhat spaced out ever since Reiju told him the information about Roy.
The reason was simple — he always felt like he had heard the name 'Roy Amos' somewhere before.
But before he had time to think deeply, the conversation between Jinbe and Roy attracted his attention even more.
Ace — his older brother who had set out to sea slightly earlier than him.
After the changes in the original plotline at Alabasta, this was the first time Luffy had heard news about him.
And more crucially, the content of this news was — his ship was sunk by that Fish-Man uncle?
Admittedly, Luffy was very confident in his older brother's strength.
But he had just seen Jinbe's strength with his own eyes.
This Fish-Man uncle's strength similarly far exceeded his cognition.
Luffy had always been somewhat confident in his own strength — but regarding the battle between Smoker and Jinbe just now, he figured that if he had participated, he definitely wouldn't have lasted long.
Therefore, facing Jinbe as an opponent, Luffy was truly a bit worried about Ace's situation.
He really wanted to ask Jinbe about Ace's current whereabouts right now.
"Luffy!"
Chopper, seeing Luffy still seemingly spaced out, couldn't help but shout loudly.
"Mm... I know, I'm heading over right now."
Luffy took a deep breath.
He glanced at Jinbe, already having an idea in his mind.
He understood — now was not the time to ask.
Luffy hesitated slightly, then took a step and ran towards Chopper.
Just after running a few steps—
BOOM!
Luffy felt the earth tremble — that massive tremor made him stumble, almost falling on the spot.
"Hm? What's wrong?"
He muttered while raising his head.
But—
"Lu... Lu... Luffy!"
The next moment, he heard Chopper's trembling voice.
When he raised his head, he even saw the gloomy and horrified expressions of Reiju and Zoro.
Their gazes stared fixedly behind Luffy — the panic and horror in their eyes were visible to the naked eye.
Luffy instinctively turned around.
Then he saw that figure behind him.
Amidst the golden wave that suddenly descended, the high wall behind Luffy that had been helping them conceal their tracks was reduced to fine powder.
That countless dust looked like flickering stardust within the golden wave.
That figure holding a cola stood there not far behind Luffy, his expression as calm and unhurried as always.
"My, my — I truly didn't expect there would actually be a group of kids hiding here."
"This is not good — what if you get caught in the crossfire?"
As Roy spoke, Smoker, standing beside him, widened his eyes.
His gaze looked at Luffy. "Hey, Roy — this guy is..."
But halfway through his sentence, he was directly interrupted by Roy raising his hand.
"Smoker, I've told you before, right?"
Roy looked at Smoker with a serious face. "Subordinates should address their superiors by their titles when speaking — it's not that I'm boasting about my military rank, nor is it that I want to hear you call me 'Sir' or something like that. It's mainly because the rules are such."
"You know, I have always respected rules..."
He muttered like this, and Smoker listened with a head full of black lines.
If it were a normal day, facing such humiliation, he would definitely argue — although he joined the Star Hunter Unit and indeed became Roy's subordinate, he still couldn't accept just calling his good bro 'Sir' whenever he opened his mouth.
Clearly, he was in no mood to argue about this right now.
"Commander Roy — this guy is 'Straw Hat'."
His gaze locked onto Luffy. "Truly unexpected to actually meet him in Sabaody."
To this day, Smoker still remembered that scene he saw in Loguetown back then — on the execution platform, that young pirate who smiled a genuine smile identical to Roger's.
That was also the biggest reason he firmly chose to join the Star Hunter Unit.
He believed that the pirate he let go from Loguetown would eventually shake the sea.
He believed that even compared to the Four Emperors and The Zodiac, the other party would eventually reach a similar level of existence sooner or later.
And now, he finally met the other party again in Sabaody.
"Oh? Monkey D. Luffy..."
Roy then looked thoughtfully at Luffy as if hearing this name for the first time. "Mm... he indeed looks very much like Vice Admiral Garp."
"Eh? Grandpa!?"
Even facing Smoker and Roy, who had already recognized him, Luffy was still as scatterbrained as always.
He seemed to not realize the danger he was in, instead immediately extracting his grandpa's name from Roy's words.
Then—
"!!!"
He revealed a look of sudden realization.
He knew he seemed to have heard the name 'Roy Amos' somewhere before, and now he finally remembered.
"You're that guy Grandpa talked about — that Marine he wanted me to take as my master!"
He pointed at Roy, his eyes widening.
That's right.
It was exactly because of this that he chose to set out to sea ahead of schedule back then.
"Oh, Vice Admiral Garp did mention it to me. There indeed was such a thing."
Roy smiled and nodded.
"He originally asked me to test your level first before considering whether to teach you, but after that, I heard you went out to sea and became a pirate. I was quite surprised too."
While speaking, he raised his arm. "However... testing your level now is the same thing."
The golden wave swirling in his hand stirred up a fierce wind in the surroundings.
"Are you ready?"
"Pirate — 'Straw Hat' Luffy."
As the words fell, the fist in his hand had already swung out.
"Luffy!!!" ×2
Seeing this, Chopper and Reiju widened their eyes.
They had all witnessed the power Roy displayed just now — even though Roy was clearly not as serious right now as when he dealt with Jinbe, but—
BOOM!
The earth that shattered along with the edge of Roy's fist and the trembling air were enough to show that even a casual wave of the hand, a strike from Black Judge was absolutely not something ordinary pirates could handle.
At this critical moment—
VMMM!
Roy saw Luffy clench his fists tight.
And what he didn't expect was — on Luffy's fists right now, there was actually pitch-black Armament Haki slowly swirling out.
This made Roy raise an eyebrow involuntarily.
Although Roy had previously pretended to be seeing Luffy for the first time, in reality, regarding this Straw Hat kid, he had not only seen him through The Zodiac, but had always been paying attention to his situation.
Roy also knew that due to the butterfly effect he caused, Luffy's sailing route had undergone certain changes.
The Alabasta Incident, Enies Lobby Incident, and Thriller Bark Incident that allowed him to grow massively in the original story had not occurred.
This directly resulted in Luffy's bounty still being a pitiful 30 million or so to this day — not even reaching a hundred million. He couldn't even be called a Supernova.
So Roy originally thought Luffy's strength must be much weaker than in the original story.
But the fact was clearly the opposite.
"Even without Rayleigh's teaching, he has already preliminarily mastered Armament?"
Roy couldn't help but sigh in admiration — as expected of the protagonist of the original timeline.
The situation was indeed so.
"Gomu Gomu no... Black JET Bazooka!"
While controlling his Armament Haki to coat his fists, Luffy met Roy's fist and thrust his twin fists forward.
That's right.
Although he missed several battles in this timeline, in exchange — after witnessing the duel between the Zodiac Monkey and Dorry and Brogy on Little Garden, he watched the duel between the Zodiac Snake and Hawkeye together with Zoro.
Every one of those battles brought a shock to Luffy no less than a true life-and-death battle.
Those powerhouses who could destroy an island with just the aftermath of their battles made even a scatterbrained optimist like Luffy clearly realize that he would absolutely not be a match for these people.
Therefore—
"I am the Captain!"
"If I want to protect my comrades, of course I have to become stronger!"
Holding such thoughts, Luffy's training had never stopped.
Coincidentally, also due to the influence of The Zodiac, Shimotsuki Koshiro had already informed Zoro of the existence of Armament Haki and some corresponding simple training methods before Zoro set out to sea.
That was why Luffy was able to display what he did right now — he had already preliminarily mastered Armament Haki.
But—
BOOM!
Luffy's Bazooka strike that utilized all his strength was intercepted just the next moment.
"!!!"
Luffy couldn't help but widen his eyes.
Because right now, he only felt his twin fists full of rubber elasticity seem to have smashed into a massive mountain, huge beyond words.
His full-strength strike — let alone shattering the mountain — couldn't even make it budge in the slightest, as if a ship had crashed head-on into the Red Line.
But in fact, Luffy's eyes also told him the truth.
What stopped him was not a mountain, nor was it the Red Line.
It was just... a single finger.
"Not a bad strike."
Yes.
At the end of the two punches Luffy threw out, Roy gently raised his left hand and extended a single finger.
On that slightly raised finger, a golden wave circulated — it was exactly what completely blocked Luffy's strike.
This scene directly caused an almost unprecedented shock to appear in Luffy's expression.
But he didn't even have time to react.
The fist Roy formed with his other hand had already swung down with unabated momentum, about to bombard his body.
Pfft!
Just the wave wrapped around the edge of the fist almost pierced through the Armament Haki on Luffy's body, causing blood to instantly seep from the corner of his mouth.
But in the very next instant—
"Three Sword Style: Three Thousand Worlds!"
"Pink Poison: Queen Wing Strike!"
Luffy saw two figures had already blocked in front of him.
Those were none other than Zoro — who had drawn his three swords and swung a slash — and Reiju, who wore her Germa Raid Suit with moth wings growing from her back.
Both unhesitatingly used their strongest strikes — Zoro's three swords were similarly coated with Armament Haki, and Reiju's strike enhanced by her Raid Suit was wrapped in purple deadly poison, enough to instantly corrode a building.
They went all out, erupting with their maximum power simultaneously to meet Roy's swinging Hadoken.
But—
Crack!
Similarly, in just an instant.
Among Zoro's three swords, except for the Great Grade Sword Wado Ichimonji he bit in his mouth, both the Sandai Kitetsu and the Skillful Grade Sword Yubashiri shattered and disintegrated, leaving only the hilts still held in Zoro's hands.
The situation for Reiju on the other side was similar.
Even with the enhancement of the Raid Suit made by Germa technology and her Exoskeleton as a modified human, her body similarly spilled blood in an instant — even the moth wings condensed from deadly poison behind her back disintegrated.
The figures of the two were instantly defeated and blown away.
Even so, they still accomplished their goal — at least they bought a split second for Luffy.
"Chopper!" ×2
Amidst the low roars of the two, Chopper — who had already performed Walk Point — leaped up, carrying the blown-away Luffy along with the two on his back.
His four hooves hit the ground, instantly fleeing towards the distance.
But—
Whoosh!
He had barely run a few steps.
Pure white smoke had already followed closely, swirling around and trapping him within.
"Not a bad tactic — risking severe injuries to two people to save someone from a formidable enemy's hands. This is indeed the only theoretically viable plan."
Smoker's head emerged from the smoke, looking at Chopper and the three already severely injured Straw Hat crew members on his back.
"But unfortunately, you encountered Commander Roy."
"To you, he is not an opponent you can defeat by relying on intellect."
"And I won't let you get away again."
He spoke in a deep voice. "This time, there won't be a guy like the Revolutionary Dragon to save you."
Yes.
Compared to Roy, Smoker's obsession with the Straw Hat crew was clearly heavier.
So upon seeing Chopper flee with Luffy and the others, he chose to pursue them immediately.
"D-Damn it..."
Chopper gritted his teeth tightly, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.
Behind him, Zoro, Reiju, and Luffy looked at their current predicament, feeling the severe pain from their bodies, their expressions similarly gloomy.
Yes.
At this very moment, this sudden encounter had silently explained a fact.
Even though they had traversed half of the Grand Line, even though they had arrived at the Sabaody Archipelago.
But just like what they experienced in Little Garden — facing the true top-tier powerhouses of this sea, they were still vulnerable to a single blow.
Black Judge — that monster who was still casually drinking cola even now — even just a casual strike was an existence they couldn't resist even with all their strength.
(End of Chapter)
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