The Resolve After Battle… and the Instant Banquet!
The smoke slowly cleared.
The clearing in the middle of the forest had turned into a complete mess—a massive crater, scorched and cracked like a spiderweb. Giant trees lay broken and smoking, and the air was thick with the smell of charred wood.
Everyone's gaze was locked on the deep, humanoid-shaped pit at the center.
Blue flames flickered faintly around Marco's body, and an amused look tugged at the corners of his mouth.
But Hancock's body trembled slightly. The color had completely drained from her breathtakingly beautiful face.
Silence.
A heavy, suffocating silence.
"Luffy..."
Hancock's crimson lips parted, her voice trembling uncontrollably.
The next second—
Whoosh!
A graceful figure moved faster than the eye could follow, vanishing from her spot in an instant!
Marco's vision blurred, and by the time he blinked, the Pirate Empress was already at the edge of the crater.
She didn't look down to check the situation inside. Instead, she suddenly turned around. Her eyes—usually full of arrogance and disdain—were now ablaze with rage as she glared at Lucian Thorn.
The intensity of her anger was so great it radiated off her like a tangible wave of Conqueror's Haki.
"You bastard!!!"
Hancock's voice was ice-cold, each word forced through clenched teeth.
"If anything happens to Luffy..."
"I swear, I won't forgive you!!!"
As a former Warlord and the Empress of Amazon Lily, she had never lost her composure like this.
It was a chaotic swirl of emotions—pain, rage, fear—all clashing within her.
Marco tensed, about to intervene, but Lucian stopped him with a single calm look.
Lucian simply stared at her, his expression unreadable.
He didn't explain.
He didn't need to.
Just as Hancock's fury was about to erupt—
Cough... cough cough...
A harsh cough echoed up from the bottom of the crater, followed by the sound of loose rocks shifting.
Hancock froze.
Her burning eyes snapped toward the crater.
Marco perked up and turned as well.
At the bottom, a figure soaked in blood was struggling to prop himself up with both arms, inch by inch.
Luffy.
He hadn't passed out!
"Luffy!" Hancock cried out and instinctively moved to jump in.
"Don't."
Lucian's voice rang out, flat but absolute.
Hancock froze in mid-motion, glaring at him in confusion.
"Let him get up on his own," Lucian said calmly.
"You—!"
She started to protest, but then saw Luffy really was getting up—slowly, shakily, but by his own strength.
He looked utterly wrecked.
Cuts and bruises covered every inch of his body. Blood stained the corner of his mouth. His clothes were tattered beyond repair.
The side effects of Gear Second left his skin an unhealthy flush, and he looked like someone pulled out of a steaming pot, with heat visibly rising from his body.
He stood there, swaying on his feet, barely staying upright.
But he didn't fall.
He simply lifted his head to look at Lucian.
And in his dark eyes, there was no longer confusion or despair.
There was no frustration from defeat.
Only an unprecedented clarity.
A brightness that burned with unwavering resolve—he had found his direction.
He looked at Lucian, opened his mouth, and rasped:
"…So strong…"
Two simple words, but they summed up the vast, insurmountable chasm he had just experienced.
That kind of strength, that kind of speed, that kind of Haki…
It was a whole other world.
He paused, then spoke again, as if to himself—but also to everyone present:
"I understand now."
"I'm still… way too weak!"
He said it with certainty.
There was no shame in his voice—only the calm acceptance of reality.
Admitting your weakness isn't disgraceful.
What's dangerous is not seeing the gap.
The defeat at Sabaody Archipelago had taught him that he couldn't protect his crew.
And this fight with Lucian made him realize just how vast the gulf was between him and the true peak.
That wasn't something willpower or anger could overcome.
"I have to…"
Luffy took a deep breath, like he wanted to inhale the whole forest, then shouted from the depths of his soul:
"GET STRONGER!!!"
His voice echoed across the shattered forest, filled with nothing but the purest, fiercest resolve of youth!
Looking at the battered boy now burning with determination, Lucian finally smiled.
He nodded.
"Kid, your potential is limitless."
"I've got my eye on you."
Luffy grinned, lips still bleeding, and nodded back with force.
"Yeah! I'll work hard!"
For a moment, the atmosphere turned solemn and powerful.
One was a future Pirate King reborn through battle, having found his path.
The other was a mysterious powerhouse who had crushed him and pointed the way forward.
Marco nodded quietly in admiration.
Hancock's eyes sparkled like stars as her heart melted watching Luffy declare his resolve.
However…
Just as this passionate, hot-blooded, shounen-main-character moment reached its peak—
"GURURURURUUUU~~~~"
A loud, completely out-of-place growl erupted from Luffy's stomach.
The scene froze.
Marco's admiration froze.
Hancock's love… stalled.
Luffy's previously unshakable expression collapsed visibly. His face twisted with agony like a ghost reincarnated by hunger.
He clutched his rumbling belly, deflating like a punctured balloon.
One second he was an awakened king.
The next, a dried-up salted fish on the roadside.
The tonal shift took less than a second.
He looked up, eyes almost teary, and unleashed a cry that shook the heavens:
"AHHHHHHHH——!!!"
"It's over!!"
"I'm starving!!!"
"Let's have a feast already!!!"
"..."
"..."
The air froze once again.
Marco's eyelid twitched violently.
He swore he had never seen anything this absurd in his life.
But thinking about it, this kind of thing was exactly what you'd expect from Luffy and Ace.
They were just built like that—reckless and unreasonable.
The red-hot passion from moments ago was now drowned in cold water, not even a hair left behind.
Only Lucian stared at the living meme in front of him and finally burst into hearty laughter.
'This kid…'
'He's definitely interesting.'