"Luffy!"
Realizing something was wrong, Red abruptly halted his movements, his gaze locking tightly onto the HP bar on Luffy's status panel.
The next moment—
Luffy's HP value began to change again.
0.5… 1… 3… 12… 30…
As a drumbeat that seemed to echo from time immemorial resounded, Luffy's body suddenly convulsed violently, as if struck by lightning.
White steam drifted out from his battered, scarred skin.
With every pulse of his body, the HP bar on Luffy's status panel recovered in an irregular yet increasingly pronounced manner.
In the blink of an eye, his HP was fully restored.
Yet even so, the changes did not stop. Instead, his HP surged forward with unstoppable momentum, breaking through its original maximum limit and rapidly climbing toward an even higher tier!
"It's coming!"
Realizing that Luffy had successfully entered an awakened state, Red instead grew even more tense than before.
He instantly shut down the system panel before him. Without even having time to warn his companions, he directly amplified the power of his spiritual vision and stared straight at Luffy.
In an instant, his gaze pierced through the murky material world.
To Red's eyes, the entire world became drifting strands of spiritual energy and individual existences in the form of souls!
And Luffy's soul was right there before him.
However, compared to the rapidly rising HP bar, Luffy's soul showed no change at all. It was exactly the same as before.
In fact…
Because he had just passed through a near-death state, the flame of Luffy's soul was far weaker than usual—visibly listless at a glance.
At the same time, Luffy's body, which had been lying on the ground, suddenly began to emit an extraordinary presence.
Sharp Conqueror's Haki erupted from him, bursting forth like pitch-black lightning. Nami and the others nearby instantly changed expressions, unable to resist stepping back to distance themselves from Luffy.
The drumbeats grew clearer—more intense!
Even the Sea Kings roaming around Fish-Man Island were startled awake by the ancient rhythm. They slowly opened their massive eyes and gazed toward the direction of the island.
"This is!?"
Possessing intelligence not inferior to humans, the Sea Kings sensed this familiar yet alien drumbeat and revealed puzzled expressions.
After all, their king had not yet fully matured.
According to the covenant, this was not the time for them to act.
So then…
Why had Joy Boy appeared at this moment!?
Shock and uncertainty surfaced in the Sea Kings' enormous pupils.
Because this meant that, from this instant onward, the destiny that had once been written had suddenly changed.
They could not judge—
Whether this change would be a blessing, or a curse.
…
…
On the other side.
Red's nerves remained taut.
The signs of Nika on Luffy's body were growing more and more pronounced.
Based on Red's memory of the anime, in just a few more seconds, Luffy—still unconscious—would display that eerie smile, then burst into the wild, belly-clutching laughter of "Nika"!
He had to stop everything before Luffy became "happy"!
As if responding to Red's thoughts—
At that very instant, a strange spiritual power suddenly appeared from within Luffy's body and swiftly wrapped around his soul.
At the same time, with the emergence of that special spiritual force, the "power of Nika" surging from Luffy's body abruptly intensified.
As though all of it had been prepared for this exact moment!
"It's appeared!!!"
Red's pupils contracted sharply. Already prepared, he acted at once.
Surging spiritual energy roared like a raging torrent, condensing into a sharp arrow that shot straight toward the spiritual power hidden within the Devil Fruit ability.
And reality proved—
That peculiar spiritual force was indeed the Fruit's will concealed within Luffy.
Because upon detecting Red's mental assault, the spiritual power suddenly veered away, dodging his attack with uncanny precision.
Fortunately, Red had anticipated this.
He immediately reshaped his spiritual power into a solid barrier, blocking the will's path forward.
At the same time, Red suddenly shouted, "Brook!"
Brook, who had already begun moving, responded instantly.
"Leave the rest to me!"
"I won't let the Devil Fruit's power affect Luffy!"
As he spoke, Brook—who had somehow already transformed into a green ghost-flame spirit—manifested countless fists. They rained down on Luffy's body like a torrential storm, yet perfectly avoided Luffy's vital soul points, minimizing the damage as much as possible.
After all…
His goal wasn't to force Luffy into permanent silence while he was still unconscious.
It was to trigger Brook's miraculous ability!
Ability · Wandering Spirit: When engaging in close combat, there is a certain probability of exchanging souls with the opponent!
That's right!
Red and Brook's plan was to use Brook's ability to completely protect Luffy's soul.
As for whether Nika's will might infect Brook—
Red believed that was impossible!
If Nika's will could so easily merge with someone outside of destiny, it wouldn't have gone eight hundred years without finding a host beyond Joy Boy!
Even punches thrown by Brook in his soul state counted as close combat—and could still trigger Wandering Spirit…
And this was the best solution Red could think of to help Luffy avoid being invaded by Nika's will!!!
Brook, who had rehearsed this countless times in his mind, did not disappoint.
Almost the instant hundreds of afterimages of fists fell, his ability successfully activated.
Under the miraculous power of Pokémon abilities, Brook—now pure ghost flame—directly entered Luffy's body.
In exchange…
Luffy's soul transformed into a soft, strange form and flew out of his body, heading straight toward Brook.
In an instant!
The Nika will, which had been relentlessly charging toward Luffy's soul, suddenly froze in place—as if it had crashed and shut down.
Clearly, even the will representing the godly power of the pirate world—the Sun God Nika—had never imagined encountering such a scenario.
Just as Red had predicted…
When Luffy's body no longer housed the destined soul, the Nika Fruit's will instantly lost its target, utterly at a loss.
Red, of course, wouldn't miss such a perfect opportunity!
He increased his output of spiritual power, instantly forming an unbreakable net of mental energy. Seizing the moment while the Nika will was stuck in indecision, he wrapped it up completely—
And forcibly pulled that mysterious Nika will out of Luffy's body.
"That's enough, Brook!" Red shouted again.
Receiving the order, Brook immediately canceled Wandering Spirit, allowing him and Luffy's soul to switch back once more.
"In that case, Luffy should be able to awaken Gear Fifth without being infected by Nika's will, right?!"
Red looked at Luffy with anticipation.
But what Red didn't expect was—
With the disappearance of the Nika Fruit's will, the power of Nika that had been surging within Luffy began to gradually fade.
Even Luffy's hair, which had already turned white, started shifting into a black-and-white mix.
"What's going on!?"
Brook, who had just returned to his skeletal body, asked in alarm.
Unfortunately…
Red himself was frowning deeply, equally unable to understand what was happening inside Luffy.
"Could it be… that the power of Nika can only function if the will of Nika is present!?"
"If that's the case… then Zoan awakenings might require merging with the Fruit's will!?"
"That would explain why there are so many failed Zoan awakenings in Impel Down."
"Perhaps those users' souls or wills were too weak, allowing their own souls to be replaced by the Fruit's will, leaving them in that dull, vacant state…"
A bold hypothesis suddenly flashed through Red's mind—and the more he thought about it, the closer it seemed to the truth.
"So… did Luffy's awakening fail?"
Watching the Nika power continue to recede within Luffy, Red couldn't help but look at the Nika will trapped in his spiritual barrier.
He was certain—
If he released it and allowed it to merge with Luffy's soul again, Luffy could still successfully awaken the Nika form.
But if he did that, a Luffy influenced by Nika's will would become exactly like in the anime—laughing maniacally no matter the situation.
Perhaps…
That was the true reason Nika's will chose Luffy in the first place.
Maybe the Nika will never had malicious intent.
Beyond destiny, it might have chosen Luffy simply because no one else's soul was strong enough to bear its fusion.
Even Luffy, the protagonist himself, struggled to control his emotions after merging with Nika's will.
Anyone else might have had their consciousness shattered outright, resulting in a failed awakening.
But still…
Letting Luffy's will be influenced by an external force for the sake of power was something Red could never accept.
So rather than see Luffy become strange, he would rather see the awakening fail.
"Forget it. A failure is a failure."
Countless thoughts flashed through Red's mind in an instant.
He sighed softly, then reassured himself with confidence:
"Anyway, even without Nika's power, the system alone is enough to push Luffy to the top!"
However…
Just as Red was thinking about how to comfort Luffy after a failed awakening—
A miraculous power suddenly erupted once more from Luffy's body!
At that very moment, the unconscious Luffy snapped his eyes open.
"Red… everyone!?"
"…What's going on with me?!"
Still in a half-Nika state, Luffy blinked in confusion.
But the next second, as if realizing something, he suddenly looked down at his hands.
"This is…"
Confusion flashed through his eyes—then he abruptly leapt up from the ground.
Feeling the lingering power of Nika within him, Luffy seemed to grasp an invisible, mysterious key!
And the door that matched this key had already appeared before him long ago.
Without the slightest hesitation, almost purely by instinct, Luffy extended the key and opened that tightly sealed door.
In an instant—
The Fairy-type attribute, which had always been difficult for Luffy to fully control and awaken, surged out from an unknown, mysterious space and rapidly spread throughout his entire body.
Brilliant light of evolution burst forth around him.
Seeing this, the entire Straw Hat crew—including Red—revealed looks of astonishment.
The next moment, the Drums of Liberation, which had fallen silent, began to resound once more.
With his powerful perception, Red immediately understood what was happening to Luffy.
From a macro perspective, Luffy's condition could be summarized as follows:
Originally, under the guidance of Nika's will, the power of Nika was about to find a new home. But after discovering that their general—the Nika will—had disappeared, it was preparing to return to the Fruit's origin and await true liberation…
Yet at that very instant, the awakened Luffy, leveraging the traits of Nika's power, directly awakened the even more mysterious Fairy-type energy within himself!
And because Luffy's Fairy-type energy itself originated from the Nika Fruit, it naturally possessed an innate affinity with Nika's power.
So, put more anthropomorphically—
The awakened Fairy-type energy, upon discovering the power of Nika within Luffy, clapped its hands and declared:
"Your boss is gone. From now on, I'm your new boss!"
And the Nika power—lacking any true self-awareness—immediately pledged allegiance upon sensing that enthusiasm!
Thus, led by the Fairy-type energy, Luffy's awakening continued.
The aggressive drumbeats soon enveloped the entirety of Fish-Man Island.
As the radiant evolutionary light descended, Luffy's body rapidly transformed.
Though countless things happened in that brief moment, from the start of Luffy's Nika awakening to the fading of the evolutionary glow, it all took only a few dozen seconds—less than a minute.
The violent state changes placed immense psychological pressure on the Straw Hats.
And when the light finally dissolved into countless sparkling motes, a brand-new Luffy stood before them.
Yet unlike the eerily gleeful Luffy from the anime, this Luffy wore a wide, exaggerated grin—
A smile everyone recognized all too well.
It was the expression Luffy always wore when he was truly happy.
(End of Chapter)