Chapter 8 Second Gear Jet Pistol Shoots Kroo Away"Is that so?"
Luffy's face showed no anger, instead radiating an unfathomable confident smile.
"Then what do you think a true Marine should be like?"
Luffy casually swung his right arm to the side, his right hand contracting sharply like a high-pressure pump.
Sizzle!
Instantly, Luffy's skin turned an eerie red, billowing white steam erupting from his pores—the sound of blood rushing through his body.
"Consider yourself lucky. I only recently figured out this move. You're the first unlucky soul to experience Gear Second."
Kuro scoffed, "Playing tricks! Gear First, Gear Second—before my Silent Step, you can only obediently stretch out your necks and wait to die!"
Before he finished speaking, Kuro kicked Usopp away, charging straight at Luffy with his unpredictable, elusive steps.
Zoro, standing nearby, narrowed his eyes, instantly drawing his sword to shield Luffy.
Luffy waved his hand to stop him: "Don't move. I'm just using this guy to practice my new moves. He's a rare live target."
"Tch."
Zoro sheathed his sword with a displeased expression, muttering something.
"How dare you underestimate me? Die!"
Kuro's voice echoed from all directions, making it impossible to discern direction. Ten sharp blades appeared without warning behind Luffy's head, slashing down with a piercing shriek.
"Watch out behind you!"
Usopp, who had just gotten up from the ground, was so frightened by what he saw that his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
With his extraordinary dynamic vision, he barely managed to catch Kuro's fleeting afterimage.
"Too late!"
Kuro laughed wildly, his sharp cat claws about to slice Luffy's head in two.
Luffy, however, smiled with a contemptuous smile, the composure of a strongman.
Kuro only felt a blur before his eyes; his deadly strike had grazed Luffy's cheek, not even touching a hair.
"What?!"
Kuro stared in disbelief at his missed attack. "How could I have missed?"
"Something's wrong!"
A strong sense of unease surged through him. Instinctively, Kuro swung his claws again, sweeping towards Luffy.
However, Luffy seemed to have anticipated his movement, leaning back slightly and easily dodging the attack once more.
"I don't believe it!"
Kuro roared in fury, his blade flashing like a ball of silver light.
But the next second, he suddenly felt a sharp pain on his cheek, as if he'd been struck by a hammer.
Bang!
Kuro was sent flying backward, crashing into the wall like a cannonball, creating a large hole and sending debris flying.
"Idiot, with your speed, you're no different from a crawling tortoise in front of Observation Haki."
Luffy looked at Kuro, who was embedded in the wall, with disdain and couldn't help but complain.
"Observation Haki? What's that new term?"
Zoro, listening from the side, was completely confused and full of curiosity.
Back then, with the freakish super perception and reaction speed of the first template, "Sea King," Luffy had managed to unlock Observation Haki ahead of time.
Even the most basic beginner level is akin to a dimensional attack in the East Blue, known as the weakest sea.
With Kuro's limited understanding of the world, trying to even touch Luffy's clothes is a pipe dream.
However, Kuro clearly lacked this awareness.
He crawled out of the ruins like a mad dog, blood streaming from his forehead, radiating hysterical madness: "I'm the man who single-handedly destroyed an entire Navy warship!"
"As long as I kill you all, my plan can continue!"
Kuro, bent over, swaying like a drunkard, let out a chilling laugh: "I'll show you just how terrifying a pirate who crawled out of hell really is!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Kuro vanished into thin air, leaving not even a trace.
Zoro stared in shock ahead: "This speed... it's almost as fast as 'Shave' from the Navy's Six Powers!"
Even with Zoro's current strength, facing this speed was somewhat troublesome.
"Spoon!"
With a furious roar from Kuro, the entire villa's hall instantly transformed into a scene of carnage.
Deep, seemingly bottomless five-fingered claw marks appeared inexplicably on the walls, floors, and furniture, splinters flying everywhere.
"This is an indiscriminate attack using extreme speed, so fast that even I don't know what I'll hit next!"
"Countless innocent souls of my reckless underlings have died by this move. Today, you'll all be buried with this ultimate technique! Hahaha!"
Kaya's bodyguards were already terrified, cowering in a corner, trembling with fear.
Usopp, recklessly, rushed to Kaya's side, pulling her tightly into his arms, refusing to let go even with a bloody gash on his back.
"How can such a madman's attack exist in this world, indiscriminately targeting friend or foe!"
Nami stared wide-eyed in horror, trying to find Kuro, but could only see flashes of cold light in the air.
Zoro gripped his sword hilt tightly, head bowed as if deep in thought.
Only the seemingly impossible sword marks were frantically dismantling the luxurious villa.
"Die! Die, all of you!"
Kuro's maniacal roar echoed through the air.
"Luffy, watch out!"
Nami screamed in terror as a cold light hurtled towards Luffy.
"What a brainless idiot."
Luffy merely sidestepped, easily dodging another fatal slash, his eyes fixed on a clown.
"Didn't I tell you? Your speed..."
Luffy suddenly raised his arm, steam billowing out.
"Too slow!"
"Second Gear! Jet Pistol!"
"What?!"
Kuro felt a darkness before his eyes, unable to react at all.
A fist steaming with scorching heat slammed into his face.
Boom!
A deafening roar shook the entire villa; the floorboards shattered instantly, the force of the impact causing the whole house to shake violently.
A massive crater appeared in the center of the living room, billowing smoke and dust.
Kro coughed up blood, struggling to lift his head, his eyes unfocused yet still filled with resentment: "My...perfect plan...how could it...fail..."
Bang!
Luffy didn't give him a chance to talk, delivering another kick that shoved Kuro's head deep into the floorboards.
After doing all this, Luffy turned around with a serious expression, looking at the stunned crowd.
"W-What happened?"
Nami, seeing Luffy's grave expression, felt a pang of anxiety and swallowed hard before asking.
Luffy said in a deep voice, "The villa... looks like it's going to collapse..."
Everyone: "..."
"Damn it! Run!"
"Are you an idiot?!"
Nami, running while slamming a punch into Luffy's rubber head, roared, "You've destroyed their house! How are we supposed to ask to borrow a boat?!"
Zoro, clutching his sword, ran frantically: "Is that the point? We're going to die!"
The group scrambled out of the ruins, looking at the collapsed luxury villa behind them, exchanging bewildered glances.
Luffy innocently spread his hands, blinking, "It's a new move, I didn't expect it to be so powerful, I couldn't stop myself."
You have to understand, Luffy in Gear Second is someone who can go toe-to-toe with CP9, this country bumpkin's villa is nothing but paper in front of him.
Kaya, supported by her butler Merry, walked over, still shaken, and said gently, "It's alright, as long as everyone's okay, we can ask the villagers to rebuild the house later."
Luffy immediately pointed at Kaya and said, "See that? That's called magnanimity! That's called vision!"
Nami stomped her foot angrily, "Magnanimity my foot! You demolished their house!"
"Oh, I was just trying to prevent a human tragedy, a little sacrifice is reasonable."
Usopp, hiding to the side, watched the group joking around in front of the ruins, a hint of envy flashing in his eyes.
He glanced deeply at Kaya, who was now out of danger, silently turned around, and ran towards his dilapidated hut.
Zoro and the others glanced at his retreating figure but said nothing.
Luffy, not idle either, pulled the unconscious Kuro from the rubble like a radish and tossed him to the ground.
Nami looked at the mangled Kuro with disgust: "Why did you even save this freak? Just bury him!"
Nami harbored a deep-seated hatred for pirates.
In the original story, Luffy only chased Kuro away, leaving this ruthless killer to continue wreaking havoc in the East Blue. Now that Luffy was here, he wouldn't let the tiger return to the mountain.
After two heavy blows, Kuro was now barely breathing.
"What do you know? Is this a pirate? This is clearly a walking 16 million Berry!"
As he spoke, Luffy magically pulled a miniature video Den Den Mushi from his pocket, the one he'd stolen from the Marine base in Shells Town.
"The Navy gets bounties for catching pirates?"
Nami's ears perked up instantly at this.
"Of course I can't do that with my official position, but Zoro's unemployed, right? It's called being flexible, you know!"
"Yeah, right!" Nami's eyes instantly lit up with the symbol of Beli, a gleam of money. "How come I didn't think of that!"
Nami snatched the Den Den Mushi from Luffy's hand. "Get out of the way! Let me do this technical work! Make sure the shot is clear, especially that iconic cat paw, so those Marines won't deny it later!"
Luffy: "..."
Watching Nami's practiced and undisguised actions, Luffy's lips twitched. Sure enough, in Nami's mind, dreams come first, money second, and the captain is probably relegated to the sewers.
"Let's go, let's go to town for a free meal, and wait for Joyce to come and pick them up."
"Joyce? Wasn't that guy supposed to be back at Marine Headquarters reporting for duty?"
"Oh, I made a quick call and he's here to escort the Black Cat Pirates. We can't exactly drag a bunch of prisoners on a Grand Line tour, can we?"
"...Poor Joyce."
Under Kaya and Merry's dumbfounded gazes, Luffy and his two companions chatted casually as they slipped down the mountain.
As they walked, their pace unconsciously turned into a jog.
The way they looked from behind made it seem like they were worried Kaya would demand compensation for the villa's demolition.
"Why are you running?"
"Of course! I only ran because I saw you running!"
The three of them noisily made their way into a tavern.
"You guys think Kaya understood our obvious hints earlier?"
"You're acting like a righteous Marine all over again. Be careful your grandpa Garp comes after you and breaks your legs."
"What's there to be afraid of? If all else fails, we'll wait for Zoro to get that 16 million back, and then we'll use the money to buy her a ship as a way of repaying her."
"Dream on! That 16 million is for my emotional distress!"
Nami clung tightly to the video Den Den Mushi like a possessive kitten.
Luffy and Zoro, watching from the side, couldn't help but twitch their eyes.
"Once we get the ship, shouldn't we take a trip to your hometown?"
Luffy smiled at Nami. "I swore to the old man I'd take care of that fish-man who's causing trouble there."
"Fish-man? You mean those monsters with fish heads and human bodies?"
Zoro asked curiously, stuffing meat into his mouth.
Nami's cheerful expression froze instantly. After a long silence, she forced a smile and said, "No rush. I heard there's an amazing restaurant nearby. Let's go there for a good meal."
"Besides, we haven't even seen a single chart of the Grand Line yet."
"Don't worry about the charts. The Marines have mountains of them in their warehouses. I'll have the old man send a stack over later. You can choose any of the eight routes."
Luffy tapped his fingers lightly on the table, looking relaxed.
"Oh...oh, that's great! Let's go check out the sea restaurant first."
Nami quickly changed the subject, her eyes darting away.
Luffy gave Nami a deep look, not exposing her pretense: "Alright, since our navigator has spoken, let's go try it out."
Nami forced a smile.
Just then, Kaya, accompanied by Butler Merry, entered the restaurant.
"Oh, finally found my benefactors!"
Kaya, now dressed in clean clothes, greeted Luffy with a smile.
"You look much better now," Luffy nodded. "What brings you here?"
Kaya looked at everyone with gratitude and said,
"This time, with Kro... no, with Kuro, I've caused you all so much trouble, and even saved my life. I came here mainly to thank you in person, and also to offer a small token of my appreciation. Please accept it."
Luffy immediately gave her a thumbs up: "Then I'll gladly accept! How generous!"
Nami and Zoro: "You should at least be a little more polite!!"
Kaya couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh, her eyes crinkling.
When Luffy and the others arrived at the beach, a light sailboat with an adorable sheep's head prow came into view.
The Going Merry!
This legendary ship that earned the tears of countless One Piece fans worldwide in the original Water 7 arc.
At this moment, the Going Merry gleamed new and was quietly moored on the water, gently rising and falling with the waves, waiting for its master to set sail.