With Luffy stepping up to fight—
The atmosphere on the battlefield shifted dramatically.
The oppressive mood of guilt that had filled the air just moments ago was instantly ignited by the boy's sky-piercing fighting spirit.
"What an interesting kid..."
From a distance, Marco let out his signature low chuckle. As he watched the scene unfold, his eyes shone with admiration.
No wonder he's Ace's brother.
This kind of raw purity—throwing fists not for reason, but simply to grow stronger—was exactly like that idiot older brother of his, Ace.
Meanwhile, Boa Hancock's heart leapt into her throat.
Her hands were clenched tightly over her chest, and her beautiful face was filled with worry. Her gaze flicked anxiously between Luffy and Lucian Thorn.
"Luffy..."
She wanted him to release his emotions through battle, to grow stronger.
But she also feared that this mysterious and unfathomable man might hurt the one she loved.
Lucian ignored the eyes of the onlookers. His full attention was locked solely on the Straw Hat boy in front of him.
Luffy cracked his joints with sharp popping sounds.
He lowered his stance, taking up a textbook fighting pose. In that instant, the aura around him changed from that of a confused boy to a beast ready to hunt.
"I'm coming at you!"
Luffy shouted, as if announcing the start of the fight.
A second later—
"Gear Second!"
Vmmm—!
A strange, muffled sound erupted from within his body.
Luffy stomped down hard, legs pumping like pistons, rapidly pushing blood through his body!
White steam burst visibly from his pores, engulfing his entire figure.
His skin turned red from the intense blood flow, and heat radiated from him like a furnace.
This was the technique he developed at the cost of burning his own life force—just to match CP9's speed!
"So fast!"
Even Marco's sharp vision could barely track Luffy's figure as he turned into a red blur, rocketing toward Lucian Thorn!
Hancock held her breath in tension.
"Jet Pistol!"
A red streak cut across the air, and Luffy's already battered fist, wrapped in scorching steam, thundered forward at a supersonic speed—aimed straight at Lucian's heart!
This punch carried all of his fury, frustration, and unwavering determination!
But—
Faced with a blow powerful enough to pierce steel, Lucian didn't so much as flinch.
He simply stood there.
At the instant Luffy's punch was about to brush the edge of his shirt—
Lucian's eyes narrowed slightly.
BOOOOM——!!!!!!!
A formless pressure exploded from Lucian like a meteor crashing into the earth—heavier than the sky, deeper than the sea.
No sound.
No aura.
Yet the world itself seemed to fall into silence.
Conqueror's Haki.
But this wasn't mere intimidation or presence.
This was a force born from fusing Peak Whitebeard's godlike Conqueror's Haki with Peak Rayleigh's precise mastery—a type of Haki that belonged to Lucian Thorn alone. Absolute. Unrivaled.
Crack... crack—CRACK!
From beneath Lucian's feet, the ground spiderwebbed with fractures, as though struck by an invisible hammer. The cracks surged outward in all directions like a living net.
Far in the jungle, hundreds of towering red trees swayed wildly as if caught in a Category 12 hurricane. Leaves were torn from branches in a blizzard of green rain.
Birds and beasts hidden in the forest dropped like flies, foam spilling from their mouths, eyes rolling back—knocked unconscious before they could even cry out.
The entire island of Amazon Lily trembled beneath the weight of that will!
And at the epicenter of it all, Luffy was hit the hardest.
His charge ground to a halt.
That steam-covered fist—blazing fast just moments before—froze in place, hovering just half a meter from Lucian's chest.
It couldn't move any closer.
Luffy's face froze in disbelief.
It felt like he wasn't attacking a person, but colliding with a mountain descending from the heavens.
Crushing!
Suffocating!
Unstoppable!
That domineering will was like an invisible hand that clutched his body—and his soul—leaving him unable to move even a finger.
"W-What is this...?"
Luffy's teeth chattered. Beads of sweat the size of pearls rolled down his face. His treasured Gear Second felt utterly powerless—just a speck of dust in a violent storm.
From afar—
The two observers were completely stunned.
Boa Hancock's stunning face had gone pale as a sheet.
She trembled slightly and gasped in disbelief.
"T-This level of Conqueror's Haki..."
"It's practically on par with that old monster, Rayleigh!"
As someone who had once witnessed the Dark King use his Haki to suppress a battlefield, she knew better than anyone how difficult it was to reach this level—where one's will alone could affect the physical world.
It was proof of someone standing at the very peak of power!
And Marco's reaction was even more intense.
His pupils had shrunk to the size of pinheads.
A tidal wave of shock surged through his chest.
'This kid...'
Marco howled internally.
It had only been a few days.
From the moment they'd met until now, it hadn't even been half a month!
And he had already grown this powerful?
This level of Conqueror's Haki—it was already beyond what you'd expect from a division commander. It even... it even faintly resembled Pops when he was young!
Marco stared hard at Lucian's seemingly slim figure—yet in this moment, he stood tall and immovable, like a mountain.
And then, an absurd thought—one that startled even Marco himself—rose unbidden in his heart.
'Maybe... even I'm not his match anymore.'