"Three Sword Style Secret Technique · Iai · Annihilation…"
"CUT!!!!"
"Ifrit Jambe · Concassé à Point · SHOOT!!!!"
Clang!!!BOOM!!!
A slash that seemed ready to split heaven and earth apart, and flames that looked capable of evaporating the entire sea, surged toward Luffy from his left and right respectively.
Not long ago, Zoro and Sanji had still been trying to persuade Luffy not to take such a risk.Yet now, when it came to actually fighting him, neither of them showed the slightest restraint.
At this moment, both men were unleashing 120% of their strength, hurling their strongest attacks straight at their own captain.
It was no exaggeration to say that even during their escape from Holy Land · Mary Geoise, or when facing Saint Mars of the Five Elders, they had never gone this far!
Granted, this wasn't the first time the two of them had teamed up against Luffy…
Before Sanji obtained the Speed-Speed Fruit, they had even done "righteous two-on-one sparring sessions" with him for training purposes.
But launching their strongest attacks with genuine killing intent—like this—
That was truly a first!
Once the initial probing phase ended, Zoro and Sanji seemed to instantly find their rhythm.Their attacks grew fiercer with every exchange, sharper and more ruthless by the second.
"Are these two idiots trying to vent all their long-standing grudges at once!?"
Watching the brilliant flashes of light tearing through the sky, even Red, who had activated a protective barrier to shield himself and Brook, couldn't help but shake his head with an amused smile.
Naturally, Luffy wasn't about to just sit there and take the pincer attack.
His eyes flew wide open as a deep, muffled roar burst from his chest.
"Gum-Gum · Armament · Spinning Rebound!!!"
Whoosh!!!
The instant the words left his mouth, Luffy's two pitch-black arms—reinforced by Armament Haki—shot forward like cannons, charging straight toward Zoro's slash and Sanji's flames.
At the same time, his palms suddenly ballooned in midair, as if pumped full of compressed air, expanding into massive hands like a giant net—
One hand seized Zoro's sword slash.The other wrapped tightly around Sanji's raging flames.
At the moment of impact, Luffy gritted his teeth, enduring the shock and pain transmitted through his palms.
Then—
Suspended in midair, his body spun violently.
His fingers released.
In the blink of an eye, Zoro's razor-sharp slash screamed straight toward Sanji, who was caught in post-attack stiffness—while Sanji's blazing flames engulfed Zoro entirely, roaring as they detonated.
BOOM!!!
With two thunderous explosions, Zoro and Sanji were blasted away like meteors, hurtling down toward the ground below.
There was no helping it.
Even though Sanji had already mastered dual-attribute Awakening…Even though Zoro had found a path perfectly suited to himself…
Against a Luffy who outleveled them by nearly ten full levels, they were still at a disadvantage.
After all—
Everything they could do, Luffy understood just as well—and with superior base stats, he executed it even better!
In the end, the captain was still the captain.
Though along their journey Luffy hadn't shown many particularly dazzling performances—and although Red had recently been focusing more on training Nami, Usopp, and the others—
Luffy's monstrous talent and strength had always loomed firmly over Zoro and Sanji.
Never giving them even the slightest chance to surpass him.
Fortunately…
This battle had never been fair to begin with.
...
...
"You damn perverted cook! Can't you aim your attacks properly!?"
RUMBLE—
From a crater scorched by intense heat, Zoro yanked out a bottle of Super Potion from his waist and downed it without hesitation.
In an instant, the faint burns on his body vanished completely.
Bang!
Elsewhere, Sanji burst free from beneath a pile of shattered trees, flames still clinging to him, and shot Zoro an annoyed glare.
"Huh?!"
"It's obviously your stupid attacks that are too predictable and easy to control!!!"
Even while fighting a common enemy, these two eternal rivals never missed a chance to mock each other.
And the empty bottle in Sanji's hand—still labeled Super Potion—made it clear that he too had fully recovered.
That's right.
To help Luffy successfully Awaken—or rather, to let Zoro and Sanji grind this absurdly tanky, max-level endurance monster until he was utterly exhausted and on the brink of death—
Red had prepared unlimited Super Potions for them.
In a normal, evenly matched battle, once the enemy realized how broken Super Potions were, they'd never allow Zoro and Sanji to abuse them so freely.
But this was training with the explicit goal of "killing" Luffy.
So they drank as much as they pleased.
Red's intention was crystal clear—
He wanted Zoro and Sanji to forcibly grind Luffy down until he "died."
However…
Things didn't go as smoothly as Red had imagined.
He'd thought that with Zoro and Sanji already touching top-tier Yonko-Commander-level combat power, plus the cheat of "infinite stamina," it would be easy to push Luffy into critical condition.
Reality proved otherwise.
He had underestimated Luffy.
Or rather—
He had underestimated the horrifying regeneration that came with Luffy's Normal-type Awakening.
With the Regenerator Ability, Luffy already recovered stamina rapidly whenever he wasn't attacking or defending—like a passive healing monster.
After Awakening the Normal attribute, that regeneration was amplified as if slapped with a percentage-based buff.
Before, he needed to stuff himself with food to recover.
Now?
He could just stand there breathing fresh air—and his stamina would keep climbing.
Simply put…
Unless someone could unleash damage in a single instant that exceeded Luffy's entire HP bar, he was like an unkillable cockroach—always getting back up no matter how many times he fell.
And truthfully, this wasn't entirely Red's fault.
Back when they'd first arrived at Fish-Man Island, Red had taken Luffy to challenge the final boss of Pokémon: Let's Go—Mewtwo.
A level-70 Mewtwo that could freely switch between Mega X and Mega Y forms had instantly wiped Luffy out with a single blow.
That experience taught Red something important—
He couldn't use the Pokémon world's power to trap Luffy in an endless near-death loop.
Because once Luffy's HP hit zero, they'd be forcibly ejected back to the real world—and the system would automatically restore Luffy to 1 HP.
Fortunately…
Zoro and Sanji were no longer who they used to be.
With their relentless, infinite bursts of power, they could pose a lethal threat to Luffy.
And so, the battle between Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji raged on for seven days and seven nights!
Their clash reduced the once lush Sea Forest into a desolate wasteland, cratered like the surface of the moon.
Finally—
When Red's stockpile of Super Potions had dwindled to just one-third…
The HP bar in Red's vision finally reached its last sliver.
"It's time, Brook!"
At that moment, a vast aura erupted from Red as surging Psychic Power flooded outward.
Zoro and Sanji—who had been about to launch another attack—were instantly displaced to the edge of the battlefield by Teleport.
And replacing them was—
Red, now transformed into his Legendary Birds Form!
"I'll deliver the final blow myself!!!"
Heterochromatic light flashed in Red's eyes as he drew back a fist coated in Armament Haki.
In the next instant, the powers of ice, lightning, and flame—drawn from the three Legendary Birds—converged on his fist.
And then—
He smashed it straight into Luffy's stunned face.
BOOOOOOM!!!!!!
The blow seemed to pierce the heavens themselves!
Luffy's body shot downward like a falling star, violent air currents igniting into fiery afterimages around him.
BOOM!!!
A second deafening impact echoed as the ground of the Sea Forest trembled violently, the shockwave rippling across the entirety of Fish-Man Island.
A massive cloud of dust billowed up like a colossal curtain, swallowing the battlefield whole.
"Luffy!!!"
Nami cried out anxiously.
She waved her hand, summoning a fierce gust that instantly swept the dust away.
What they saw made everyone's heart clench—
Luffy, usually so bright and carefree, lay motionless at the bottom of a massive crater, his expression utterly still.
In the next instant, a figure appeared beside him.
It was Red—the one who had just reduced Luffy's HP from 5 to zero.
In his hand was a crystal-like, diamond-shaped object.
A Revive.
A miraculous item—like Super Potions—that wasn't especially hard to obtain despite its powerful effect.
Unlike Super Potions, which merely restored stamina and healed injuries, a Revive was far more extraordinary.
It could fully resurrect someone from the [Near-Death] state and restore half of their stamina and injuries.
Just the ability to pull someone back from near death was enough to make it god-tier—
Yet this incredible item had one crippling drawback.
So much so that, in Red's eyes, it was usually less practical than an ordinary Super Potion.
The reason was simple:
The [Near-Death] state was almost impossible to control.
Unlike in games—where HP hitting zero meant remaining in [Near-Death] indefinitely—
In reality, the duration of that state varied wildly depending on a person's body and the severity of the final blow.
After gaining sufficient power, Red had even hypnotized pirates to experiment with Revives.
Some stayed near death for only a few dozen seconds.Others lasted several minutes.
On a real battlefield, an enemy who wanted you dead would never allow that state to persist.
And an enemy who didn't want you dead wouldn't deal a fatal blow in the first place.
On top of that, Revives could only be administered by others—you couldn't use them yourself.
Thus, this near-miraculous item had never seen widespread use.
Until now—
Their captain, Luffy, had entered the [Near-Death] state!!!
"Red…"
Seeing Luffy lying still, his life signs completely extinguished, the Straw Hat crew leapt down from Usopp's rhinoceros beetle mount and rushed over.
Jinbe, King Neptune, and the other Fish-Man Island powerhouses exchanged stunned glances, shock clear in their eyes.
By the third day of this baffling battle, the Straw Hats and Jinbe's group had already stopped their work to witness this clash of titans.
Soon after, as the battle's shockwaves began severely affecting Fish-Man Island, King Neptune arrived with his three sons.
After hearing the explanation—that this was necessary to obtain greater power—Neptune expressed full understanding and even dispatched troops to calm the citizens.
And so they remained, watching days of carnage, utterly shaken by the power displayed by the Straw Hats' top three fighters.
Even the well-traveled Jinbe was left speechless.
But none of that registered with the Straw Hats.
Zoro and Sanji—now back in their normal states—each drank another Super Potion and hurried to Luffy's side, faces etched with worry as they looked at Red.
"Well, Red—did it work?!"
"Not yet!!!"
Red answered tensely, eyes locked on the word [Near-Death] displayed on Luffy's status panel, Revive ready in hand.
Based on his extensive experience, Luffy's near-death state should last at least ten minutes—maybe longer.
But Red refused to gamble with Luffy's life.
He'd decided that if there was no sign of Nika Awakening after three minutes, he'd immediately administer the Revive.
As long as Luffy lived, there would always be another chance.
After all, they weren't desperate for Yonko-level combat power right now.
"Luffy…"
Understanding Red's resolve, the Straw Hats fell silent, eyes fixed on Luffy as they prayed in their hearts.
Time ticked by.
One second… then another…
Two and a half minutes passed in the blink of an eye.
Yet Luffy showed no sign of Awakening.
"Did it fail?!"
Overcome with worry, Red let out a relieved breath—
And just as he was about to revive Luffy before the three-minute mark—
A sound suddenly echoed, as if appearing directly inside the hearts of all living beings.
THUMP!
For a moment, no one could tell whether it was a drumbeat or a heartbeat, as it rang again and again within their minds.
"This is…?!"
Shock flashed through Red's eyes.
He immediately focused back on Luffy's status panel.
The words [Near-Death] were gone.
But that didn't mean Luffy had died.
Because the HP bar that had been at zero—
Suddenly jumped.
From [0]…
To a number Red had never seen before.
[0.1]!!!
(End of Chapter)