"It's over," Luffy murmured as he looked at the blood on his sword. He flicked it off with a swing, then slowly sheathed the blade. His intense energy subsided along with his fading stamina.
As his body came down from battle mode, the pain started to spread, making his skin sting all over. Superficial injuries were unavoidable.
"Let's get out of here." Beckman jumped down from the building.
Luffy nodded, dragging his cart towards the port.
Once they left, the Marines finally arrived, cleaning up the bodies of the fallen pirates. Many of them were still unconscious from the shockwave of Luffy's Conqueror's Haki, allowing the Marines to easily round them up as free captures.
---
"Hiss…"
On the ship, Luffy lay shirtless on his bed, wincing as Uta dabbed medicine on his wounds. His back was marked with numerous shallow cuts from swords, but nothing too severe.
"Dummy Luffy, you're hurt now, huh? Serves you right for not letting Beckman step in!" Uta teased, sitting cross-legged beside him as she applied the ointment with a smirk.
"I had to test my own strength sometime. Otherwise, all that training means nothing," Luffy muttered, hugging a pillow.
"Still, the number of shots I had with the gun wasn't nearly enough. I ran out of bullets during the fight and didn't have time to reload," he grumbled.
"Hey, Beckman, how did you manage that trick—three bullets, four holes!" Luffy asked, looking over at Beckman leaning against the doorway.
"When you're skilled enough, you'll figure it out." Beckman replied calmly. "Gunslingers can be more intimidating than swordsmen, but guns have their own limitations. To keep your intimidation at its peak, you have to make every shot count. If you're wasting bullets on hot-headed, brainless pirates charging at you, you lose your advantage."
"It's about intimidation, huh…" Luffy muttered, lying back as Uta continued her work.
The coolness of the ointment gradually lulled him to sleep.
---
"Ha ha ha! Luffy, you really pulled off something amazing, taking down a small pirate crew all by yourself!"
That night, Luffy was awakened by loud laughter and cheers as the crew returned to the ship. The Marines on Glass Orb Island had forced all the pirates to leave, meaning Shanks had to cut his plans short and set sail immediately. Fortunately, they had already stocked up on essentials.
"Hey! You guys started eating without me!" Luffy, now wrapped in bandages, rushed to grab a spot, eagerly tearing into a giant leg of meat.
"Our young warrior is here!" Shanks called out, raising a drink to Luffy, prompting the rest of the pirates to cheer for their new "hero" of the day.
Luffy devoured the meat with gusto, savoring every bite.
"When I was Luffy's age, I was still guarding Captain Roger's ship. Really impressive, kid!" Shanks praised, downing his drink.
Tonight, Luffy was the star, the young "warrior" who had fought a hundred men—well, maybe not exactly one hundred. His Conqueror's Haki had knocked out a bunch, a few fell to his bombs and bullets, and the rest were cut down.
"Hmph! Luffy's fighting style has no grace. Unlike Shanks, who can take out pirates with a single sword stroke!" Uta huffed, eager to shift the spotlight back to Shanks.
The pirates burst into laughter.
Once Luffy and Uta finished eating, she went to take a bath, and Luffy returned to his room, grabbing the transponder snail from the cart.
He dialed the number, and soon the snail morphed into a square-shaped face.
"Luffy! That idiot Shanks didn't fill your head with any weird ideas, did he?" Garp's booming voice came through, even louder than usual.
"Of course not, Grandpa. Shanks' crew are all good people," Luffy replied.
"Oh no, you're already defending pirates?!" The transponder snail's eyes bugged out as Garp's voice came through loud and clear.
"Well, Grandpa, I did cut down quite a few pirates today!" Luffy said proudly, recounting the events of the day.
"That's my grandson!" Garp roared, full of pride. The fact that Luffy had taken down pirates on his own reassured him that Shanks wasn't leading Luffy astray.
"But it's not enough, Grandpa!" Luffy said, revealing his true purpose.
"I'm still too weak. I want to learn Haki—even if it's just a basic form of it!"
In this world, strength ruled all. Luffy understood that the superhuman abilities in this world—whether it was the Marines' training or the natural power of certain people—were something to aspire to. Haki, a hidden force within one's body, was an ability he didn't want to miss out on.
Though Garp believed Luffy wasn't yet ready to handle Haki, Luffy disagreed. It was a power that needed to be developed, just like muscles. The sooner he started training in it, the better.
"Grandpa, I really want to master this strength—the latent power within me!" Luffy's tone was determined as he listened to Garp's response.
After a moment's hesitation, Garp finally began explaining the basics of Haki's two main forms.
As one of the world's strongest warriors who had reached the top relying solely on Haki, Garp had an understanding of Haki that few could match. For him, Haki had always been straightforward, nothing mysterious about it. But he understood that for Luffy, tapping into this innate power early on might be exactly what he needed.
"Teaching him Haki… at this age… is it the right thing to do?" Garp wondered aloud, staring at the little tra
nsponder snail as it drifted off to sleep in his hand, his expression conflicted.
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