OP: AMP Ch. 225

Luffy's punches still weren't doing jack shit to Shiki.

The old pirate floated there like he was made of stone, his entire body coated in Haki that made Luffy's attacks bounce off like pebbles against steel. Below them, the massive lion continued to rise.

"Your time's running out."

Steam poured off Luffy's body in thick waves. His skin had started turning purple.

Shiki wasn't just standing there because he enjoyed getting punched in the face. He could've floated higher or repositioned at any moment. Hell, with his Float-Float Fruit, dodging would've been trivial.

But he had reasons for taking the hits.

Partly, he wanted to watch his enemy slowly break down from desperation, it was a psychological tactic he'd used for decades. But more than that, he was curious about this Straw Hat kid.

The fight hadn't lasted long, yet he could already tell Luffy was the type who grew during combat. Like a compressed spring, the more pressure you applied, the harder he'd snap back.

In just one exchange, the kid had figured out the control mechanism of the Float-Float Fruit. That kind of combat intelligence was rare.

What kind of talent did this brat possess? What made Marcus choose to follow this rubber idiot instead of someone with power and ambition?

"Haki isn't all the same. It's like comparing your punch to a baby's punch. You both know how to throw one, but does that mean the baby could knock you out just because it learned the technique?"

The analogy was crude but effective.

Luffy understood. Or rather, his body understood even if his brain hadn't quite caught up.

"So I'm just... not strong enough."

He stared at Shiki, who still hadn't bothered to counterattack. The old pirate was just hovering there, letting Luffy wail on him, and it wasn't even scratching his defenses. The gap in their strength was painfully obvious.

Luffy's expression hardened.

"I can't win like this."

"Oh? Giving up already?" Shiki raised an eyebrow mockingly.

Luffy shook his head and looked at his hands. He took a deep breath, then bit down hard on his wrist.

Instantly, his arm began to swell. The expansion spread rapidly from his arm to his shoulder, then his torso, then his entire body.

"What the hell?!"

Even Shiki looked surprised at what he was witnessing.

"Gear Second!"

The transformation was dramatic. Luffy's body inflated like a balloon, but instead of becoming round and ridiculous, his muscles expanded proportionally. Steam poured off him in waves as his cardiovascular system went into overdrive.

Thanks to Life Return he could control his body on a level most people would never achieve. In the original timeline, Gear Second had been a desperate technique he'd developed through trial and error. Here, with better understanding of his own physiology, he'd created something different. Hell, the whole "Gear" concept had started because he wanted to eat more of the insanely filling food. He'd needed a way to burn through calories faster, and accidentally stumbled onto a combat application in the process.

As for Gear Third, blowing air into his bones to make himself bigger? With Life Return, he could enlarge his limbs whenever he wanted. No need for that inflation technique.

Down below, inside the earth lion's closing jaws...

"Gear Second?"

Marcus heard the proclamation and looked like he wanted to say something but held back. He felt both proud and slightly exasperated. He wasn't surprised Luffy had developed this form, he'd been subtly guiding him toward it over the past few days. The crew had decided not to rely on him as a crutch anymore, but that didn't mean he couldn't offer advice and training.

After everyone had eaten their Devil Fruits and started showing improvement, he had spent time discussing Haki development and creative fruit applications with them.

Take Shira's Shroom-Shroom Fruit as an example. Growing pointed mushrooms was easy enough, but making those mushrooms hard enough to pierce armor? Nearly impossible with the fruit alone. But coat those mushroom spikes with Armament Haki, and suddenly you had lethal weapons that could punch through steel.

You could take it further too, grow mushroom shields, mushroom swords, even weird shit like mushroom maces if you wanted. The key was combining the fruit's versatility with Haki's hardening properties.

The crew shared the ideas and experimented together, testing and refining different ways to put them into practice. Now Luffy was putting those lessons into practice, and the plot had gone so far off the rails that Marcus barely recognized it anymore. Fighting Shiki right after the Skypiea Arc? That wasn't in any version of the story he'd watched.

But then again, once he'd arrived and learned the movie villains existed too, the original plot was basically fucked. Timeline? What timeline?

They'd encountered Shiki way earlier than they should have, and eventually they'd run into other movie characters whose stories didn't line up at all with the main timeline. The whole thing was a mess.

Still, watching Luffy develop Gear Second here, before Enies Lobby, wasn't the worst outcome. In the late-game manga, regular Gear Second had become basically worthless anyway. Only Gear Fourth and Fifth mattered in real fights.

Though this version looked different from the original. Instead of the bulky "Boundman" form, Luffy's build was sleeker and more balanced, similar to the "Snakeman" variant he'd developed after fighting Katakuri, but much larger, easily five meters tall.

"Interesting." Shiki studied the transformation.

Even Luffy's Geppo had changed. His legs could compress and release like coiled springs, launching him through the air with explosive force.

In just a few seconds, Shiki had analyzed the entire technique. Life Return combined with Haki to control and reinforce his expanded body. Crude, but effective for someone with Luffy's Devil Fruit.

"You're burning through stamina like crazy. That'll just make you lose faster."

The words were dismissive, but his actions told a different story. He had shifted his attention to the fight in front of him.

Silently, the Armament Haki coating his entire body flowed downward, concentrating in his legs, or more specifically, in his swords, Oto and Kogarashi.

Before he'd eaten his Devil Fruit, he had been a master swordsman. That skill had never left him.

He lifted one leg and slashed downward.

WHING.

The sound of splitting air rang out as a blue crescent blade shot from his foot. It wasn't particularly large, but the compressed cutting force made it deadly as any strike from a great swordsman, maybe deadlier, considering how much Haki was packed into it.

The flying slash hurtled toward Luffy's expanded form.

Luffy's fist shot forward to intercept.

CLANG.

The impact sent shockwaves rippling through the air as his Haki-coated punch caught the blade of compressed air. For a moment they struggled against each other, then the slash dissipated into nothing.

"You caught it." Shiki's grin widened. "You're getting interesting, kid. Let's see how many more you can handle."

He raised both legs this time.

Countless blue crescents erupted from his feet, filling the sky as they rained down toward Luffy.

BOOM!

The collision of fists and blade sent multicolored light exploding across the sky.

Below them, the massive lion formation that had been rising from the earth suddenly stopped growing. Everyone on the ground breathed a sigh of relief.

The Straw Hats immediately got to work.

Usopp moved through the streets and alleys of the floating island, touching the larger buildings as he passed. Each touch was deliberate, marking structures for later use.

Meanwhile, the others were frantically transporting Impact Shells to strategic locations.

Shiki could manipulate matter itself, pulling multiple islands together and arranging them around Upper Yard like pieces on a chessboard. Fighting him on his own turf was borderline suicidal.

Back at the White Sea, his hastily controlled water attacks had nearly drowned them all. Here, on territory he'd prepared, Shiki had two of the three strategic advantages locked down: terrain and manpower.

As for timing... if they'd had a storm to exploit, maybe this fight would've been easier. But at this altitude, tens of thousands of meters above the rain clouds, making it rain was basically impossible. That was one of the main reasons Shiki had come to Skypiea in the first place.

Up here, there was no natural counter to his Float-Float Fruit.

The battle of Edd War had taught him that lesson decades ago. He wouldn't let weather screw him over a second time.

But just at that moment, something strange began happening in the cloudless sky. White clouds quietly started gathering overhead. The two fighters didn't notice. They were too focused on trying to kill each other.

---

CRACK!

Another exchange of blade and fist sent shockwaves rippling through the air.

Without the effect of Luck of the Sea or Riptide, Luffy couldn't match Shiki's aerial mobility with speed alone. Even with his new Gear Second letting him use elastic propulsion for Geppo, he was still a step slower than when he'd had the sea working for him.

"Soft and hard at the same time," Shiki muttered, studying Luffy's body after landing another clean hit with Advanced Armament Haki. "What kind of ability is this?"

The brief aerial exchange had given him plenty of opportunities to target Luffy's stretching arms. Even though the kid could snap them back fast and coat them with Armament, against someone with Observation Haki this advanced, those extended limbs should've been fatal weaknesses.

Plus, he wasn't limited to just kicking. He could slash with his legs while fighting with his hands.

Yet after four consecutive strikes to the exact same spot, all he'd managed was leaving white marks on Luffy's arm. Had this brat somehow developed a body as tough as Kaido's in just a few days?

That shouldn't be possible. Even the most talented monsters needed years to build that kind of durability.

So it had to be his Devil Fruit doing something weird. But did rubber really work like this?

Ting!

Shiki's blade struck the center of the mark on Luffy's left arm again, aiming for what should've been his best opening yet.

But the rubber arm went limp, absorbing and redirecting the force no matter how much power Shiki put into the strike.

The only thing getting through was Haki itself, specifically the Advanced Armament flowing from the blade.

Snap.

Luffy retracted his arm and rubbed the spot where Shiki had hit him. No visible wound, but the pain was definitely real.

"Ow... that really hurts. Feels like getting stabbed with a needle. What kind of Haki is that?"

"Just feels like a needle?" Shiki's confidence took a hit at that description.

Had he really gotten that old? Had his Haki deteriorated this much?

He'd hit the same spot five times in a row using Advanced Armament and Future Sight-level Observation. With that combination of technique and power, even Kaido's dragon scales or Big Mom's body should've been pierced through or slashed to the bone.

But this rubber kid just felt like he'd been poked?

He found himself questioning his entire life.

Luffy didn't understand the weird expression on Shiki's face. When the old pirate didn't explain, he just kept fighting. This form wouldn't last forever. If Shiki wouldn't talk, he'd figure it out with his fists.

The fist blurred toward Shiki again, even faster than before.

But Shiki barely seemed interested in countering. He was too busy thinking about what kind of ability could resist Advanced Armament Haki this effectively.

If it really was a Devil Fruit technique... then he'd need to use an even more advanced form of Haki, Conqueror's Coating.

When Conqueror's Haki reached a certain level, it could suppress Devil Fruit abilities entirely. Force Logia users back into their physical bodies. Make Zoan transformations revert. Nullify Paramecia effects whether they created substances or altered physical properties.

He had possessed that power in his youth.

But now...

Luffy's fists came so fast his arms seemed to multiply, creating what looked like six solid limbs attacking from above. Some of them could even change direction mid-flight. The attacks came from blind spots and frontal positions simultaneously, creating an overwhelming barrage that should've been impossible to dodge.

Yet he just shifted his body slightly, letting every punch pass by without even touching his clothes.

Luffy remembered what Marcus had mentioned back at Twin Cape when discussing Observation Haki. When developed to its peak, you could see the future itself.

He had been eating at the time, but he'd heard it. He just hadn't cared, figuring that if he was fast enough, seeing the future wouldn't matter. But watching Shiki's microscopic movements now, seeing how Shiki seemed to know exactly where every punch would be before it arrived... even if he doubled his speed, he probably still wouldn't land a clean hit.

"Is this the gap between us?"

If not for the diamond armor, his arms would already be broken. He likely wouldn't even qualify to stand here fighting.

After all, when he'd clashed with those flying slashes earlier, he'd realized he could shatter them, but only because of the equipment boost. Without it, those slashes would've cut right through his Haki.

The difference in their strength was painfully obvious.

Thud.

Luffy pulled his rapidly attacking arms back.

Shiki continued watching him calmly.

"Out of stamina already?"

Luffy's breathing was ragged, sweat pouring down his forehead. Both the fierce offense and the newly developed Gear Second consumed massive amounts of energy. He didn't respond to the taunt. Instead, he reached into the pouch at his waist and pulled out a golden apple.

Shiki had never seen anything like it before.

But he saw it through his Future Sight.

Should he try to stop him?

In every future he glimpsed, it was already too late. The kid would block any attack with his body, whether close-range or long-distance. Nothing could prevent him from eating that apple. And if he tried to close in for melee combat, he'd just expose an opening.