What is an ideal? It is the imagination of a goal that accords with rational thought, a vision formed by one's reason toward an objective. It is a beautiful hope for the future, and also a concept of bringing something to its most perfect state.
"To become the Pirate King?"
Since taking command of the Sisters of Battle, Arisa had heard many of her subordinates speak of their ideals.
Some wished to render meritorious service to the Empire. Some hoped to temper themselves and grow stronger. Some dreamed of enjoying a better life after retirement. Others longed for a day when their hometowns would no longer discriminate against the so-called Cursed Children...
In short, all of them were positive and uplifting.
But this was the first time she had heard something like this.
You want to become the Pirate King? You want to be the king of thieves?
Based on her life experience, truly, this was the first time Arisa had encountered such a... grounded ambition.
Grounded was one thing. No one told you to dig straight into the underworld.
Repeating the newcomer's words, even Sanguinius was momentarily stunned.
"So... you wish to be a thief—and not just any thief, but the king of them?"
"Interesting. Is this some unique cultural byproduct of this world's peculiar social order? To regard becoming a thief—a pirate, a Pirate King—as an ideal."
Though he did not fully understand how this world's pirates differed from the pirates he knew, Sanguinius could not help the surge of disgust that rose within him.
Under Imperial law, whether rapists, sea bandits, mountain bandits, or common thieves—any crime bearing the character 'thief'—began with facial branding and exile to forced labor. And that was merely the minimum sentence.
Prison? Don't even think about it. The Empire did not waste resources housing idlers.
Well... legally speaking, the entire Empire only supported one idler—and that was Selene.
Watching the foolish boy who had just knocked aside one of her Sisters of Battle, Arisa's mind filled with question marks.
"That short one—you're certain he's a thief? His appearance and temperament don't match."
As the elongated arm snapped back into place, a small figure landed on the dock, a massive bundle slung over his back. A comically fake mustache still clung to his face.
A straw hat shaded his black hair. He wore a red sleeveless vest, blue knee-length shorts, and sandals, with a yellow sash tied around his waist. Across his chest stretched an 'X'-shaped burn scar that covered nearly the entire torso.
His mouth split wide in a grin, revealing neat white teeth. His smile radiated carefree optimism. Everything about him gave off an almost naive sincerity.
"Hey, Luffy! Long time no see!"
On the deck of the Thousand Sunny, the perverted cyborg in a loud floral shirt and only a pair of briefs stopped his bizarre dance and raised his square mechanical arm in greeting.
"Yo! Franky! Didn't expect you to be the first one here! Thanks for taking care of the Sunny! Hahaha... I'm so happy! We can finally set sail again! Have the others arrived yet?"
Pulling off the fake mustache and dropping the enormous pack—nearly larger than himself—Luffy waved his arms excitedly, brimming with joy.
"Not yet. You're the second one here, Luffy."
...
"Are they idiots? Aren't pirates supposed to be ugly, sly brutes with vicious faces? This short one is nothing like the pirates in the Caribbean stories Sebas told."
Arisa crossed her arms and shot Sanguinius a displeased glance.
"Lady Arisa, do not be deceived by appearances. How many things in this world are truly the same inside and out? One who aspires to be a thief cannot be tolerated under Imperial rule."
Sanguinius' voice turned sharp. With a sweep of his hand, he commanded,
"Blood Angels. Seize this thief. Dead or alive. The sailing ship and the cyborg—exercise discretion."
Such was his arrogance. Sanguinius had no interest in the so-called special meanings of 'pirate' in this world.
Now that the Imperial Expeditionary Force had arrived, this world would fall under Imperial dominion. Everything would be overturned and rebuilt. All usable resources would serve the Empire.
To live as a thief under Imperial rule—refusing production, surviving by plunder? That was courting death.
Bang bang bang!
Clang clang clang!
Sensing danger with Observation Haki, Luffy grabbed his bundle and leapt into the air. The next instant, the ground beneath him was torn apart, shattered earth erupting skyward.
Standard Astartes bolt pistols began at .75 caliber. The thunderous roar of a bolt round far surpassed that of a flintlock.
"Whoa, that was close."
Still descending midair, Luffy casually tossed the bundle toward Franky aboard the Thousand Sunny.
"Hey, Franky! These are gifts from Hancock for everyone!"
Landing in a crouch, he looked up at the crimson heavy-armored warriors closing in from all sides and grinned.
"I don't know who you are, but you can't have the Sunny. I'm waiting here for my friends. I won't let you mess that up."
"I'm going to become the Pirate King!"
"Gear Second!"
With a sound like steam being forced through a pressurized valve, Luffy's skin flushed red and vapor began rising from his body, as though he had injected himself with a stimulant.
At that very moment, a powerful gust of wind swept in from his flank, accompanied by the crackling discharge of a power hammer's Honkai disintegration field activating.
Whoom—!
The nearest Blood Angels warrior swung his power hammer down at Luffy with crushing force.
Luffy bent backward at the waist, his body arching unnaturally. Making full use of his unimpressive height, he narrowly avoided the descending hammer. Then his leg shot upward, stretching violently as he delivered a high kick toward the Astartes' hand.
"Gum-Gum Jet Bullet!"
Boom!
The ground split apart inch by inch, shockwaves blasting outward. The Blood Angels warrior was forced back three steps.
Luffy himself was thrown backward, spinning twice in midair before landing dozens of paces away.
Looking around at the surrounding Astartes, he muttered in surprise,
"Huh... your armor's amazing! I couldn't budge you at all. Are you Marines?"
"..."
Faced with Luffy's foolish question, the Blood Angels responded with silence. They treated it as meaningless chatter from the enemy. As long as the foe did not insult the Empress, they generally remained composed.
Boom!
"Gum-Gum Jet Whip!"
Clang!
"Gum-Gum Jet Mace!"
Surrounded by Astartes, Luffy's steam-wreathed figure darted up and down, desperately avoiding the sharp weapons sweeping toward him—chainswords, power swords, lightning claws.
Several Astartes were knocked flying, yet after shaking their heads, they rose again as if unharmed and rejoined the assault.
His rubber body was both Luffy's greatest strength and his greatest weakness. He possessed immense resistance to blunt force, and was virtually immune to lead bullets fired from flintlocks and ordinary cannon shells—so long as they were not coated in Haki.
But bladed weapons—like those wielded by the great swordsman Mihawk, or the chainswords in the Astartes' hands—were precisely the kind that countered his abilities.
Luffy's attacks lacked the lethality of bladed weapons of a similar level.
Facing Astartes clad in standard power armor with composite orichalcum outer plating and Tyrant-cell electronic muscle fiber undersuits, even ordinary soldiers proved formidable. At Luffy's current level, any attack below Gear Third struggled to inflict significant damage.
As the battle continued, Luffy realized this. He might be simple, but he was not stupid.
If he allowed himself to remain surrounded without using Gear Third or above, he truly might not be able to defeat these soldiers.
Boom!
Suddenly, accompanied by the detonation of a bolt round, Luffy's body was blasted backward.
Hiss!
"Can't block bullets?"
Bracing himself with both hands against the ground, Luffy slid back rapidly. He adjusted his straw hat and glanced at the small wound torn open on his abdomen, where blood now dripped.
Compared to the lead bullets fired from flintlocks, those massive bolt shells struck his rubberized body with tremendous force—yet still within his tolerance. What he had not anticipated was the secondary explosion.
Within his stretched rubber flesh, the bolt round detonated in a focused, conical blast. The damage it caused far surpassed that of any spherical lead shot.
Because he had not used Armament Haki, his body had been injured.
Lowering the brim of his hat, Luffy's expression grew serious.
"You guys are dangerous... those weapons of yours. I'm getting serious now."
A pitch-black sheen spread across his steam-wreathed arm. Then Luffy raised his thumb to his mouth and bit down.
"Gear Third!"
Humm—!
As he blew air into his arm, it swelled to enormous size before the naked eye.
"Gum-Gum Elephant Gun!"
The instant the massive fist was fully coated in black Armament Haki, Luffy leapt into the air. Pulling his arm back, he then thrust it forward with explosive force.
The fist dwarfed even an Astartes in scale.
"Scatter! Increase distance immediately!" a Blood Angels officer commanded.
At the same time, he raised his reinforced power gauntlet. Violet-red Honkai energy particles surged across his entire body.
Crackle crackle—
The power field activated. Crimson gauntlet met jet-black colossal fist.
Boom—!!
An even greater explosion erupted. The earth trembled violently. Shockwaves traced in dust rippled outward from the point where their fists collided, sending debris skyward as the ground deformed in expanding rings.
A towering explosion cloud rose, erasing nearly half the harbor in an instant. The Thousand Sunny, moored at the shore, was shoved more than a hundred paces away by the surging waves.
Thud!
The impact shock sent Arisa hopping involuntarily off the ground.
"Sanguinius, that Luffy seems rather capable. And his ability is fascinating—it's like rubber. I wonder if he's an insulator..."
Turning her head, Arisa spoke with clear battle intent.
"Won't you step in? With just the soldiers, they won't take down this... hmph, Pirate King anytime soon."
Watching the battlefield through the fading dust, Sanguinius nodded.
"Gigantifying his limbs, and that black aura—once wrapped around him, his destructive power and strength increase dramatically."
As the dust dispersed, the Blood Angels officer was sent flying backward, carving a long trench across the ground. Only when other nearby Astartes moved aside and caught him did he finally come to a stop.
"There's no need to trouble Lady Arisa. I will handle this."
The next instant—
Boom!!
His pure white wings trembled slightly. A sonic blast erupted. The entire ground flipped upward, leaving behind a deep furrow of shattered stone and heaped earth.
"Luffy, was it? You should understand—being a thief is not a promising path."
"Huh?"
His enlarged arm still shrinking, Luffy heard a gentle voice by his ear and froze.
He barely had time to coat himself in Armament Haki before—
"Ugh—pff!"
A violent gale swallowed him as a golden gauntlet nearly the size of his torso smashed into his body.
Bang!
With a dull impact, Sanguinius' resplendent and beautiful figure reappeared. He had seized Luffy by the chest with one hand, Luffy's body arched backward as overwhelming force drove him relentlessly through the ground.
Whoosh!
Under that terrifying brute strength, Luffy's body shot away like a cannon shell, tearing through the atmosphere.
The sky was split in two by a streak of golden light. The shockwave shredded the thick cloud layers above.
Shing!
The blazing arc crossed the sea, flying from Area 50 straight into the mangrove trunk marked "60GR" on the opposite shore—and pierced straight through it.
Crack!
Rumble—!!!
With its center shattered, the massive mangrove of GR 60 began to tilt. In an instant, smoke and debris erupted skyward. Amid deafening thunder, another mushroom cloud rose above the tree island.
Crash!
In the end, Luffy smashed through more than a dozen buildings below, buried beneath the rubble.
"Ugh... cough..."
Pushing away the broken stones that covered him, the black sheen of Armament Haki gradually faded from his body. He gasped for breath.
His appearance was now utterly miserable. Blood streamed from his mouth and nose. His front teeth were broken, his nasal bone fractured, even his skull slightly deformed.
"Boy, I will ask only once. Surrender, and you may bathe in the radiance of the great Empress—"
Before Sanguinius could finish, the moment Luffy heard the word surrender, he roared instinctively,
"I refuse! I'm going to become the Pirate King! How could I give up now?!"
"Stubborn fool!"
Smack!
Sanguinius lifted his knee and stomped downward, planting his foot squarely on Luffy's chest and driving him into the earth.
Boom!
The ground split apart. The strata fractured.
In moments, Sanguinius had forced Luffy several meters underground before stopping, compressing the very foundation solid beneath his heel. Billowing dust rose, obscuring their figures.
Whoosh—!
Angelic white wings spread wide. A gust of wind blasted away the surrounding sand and debris, revealing Luffy embedded deep within the earth.
Lowering his gaze, Sanguinius' pupils flashed crimson as he looked down from above. In his hand, the Crimson Blade began to crackle with threads of scarlet disintegration arcs.
Thud.
The blade struck the ground. From its tip, spiderweb-like fissures spread outward in widening circles.
"Say it again," he asked coldly. "What kind of king did you say you wanted to be?"