In the shadows,
when Luffy arrived at Loguetown,
and immediately told his companions that he wanted to go see the place where Roger had been publicly executed back then—
that towering execution platform—
the Dragon who had been hiding all this time, wanting to secretly help Luffy, quietly activated his Devil Fruit ability.
So that the sky above Loguetown—
a fierce gale suddenly whipped up out of nowhere,
clearly intending to guide Luffy along the way!!!
"Huh?"
"So back then…"
"Was it Dad helping in secret? How come I didn't feel anything at all?!"
In reality,
Luffy himself,
after seeing this scene,
had a blank, confused look under his straw hat, with hardly any emotional reaction.
Even now,
even though the ranking video had already exposed it—
that one of his "background supports" was his father, the revolutionary Dragon, helping behind the scenes—
Luffy, slow on the uptake as always,
when he thought back to what happened back then, still realized it only after the fact and concluded—
it was all just his luck.
"Idiot…"
"Luffy… you still don't get it?"
Watching Luffy space out,
Nami was both annoyed and amused as she said, "This is only the beginning! It also includes what happened later… everything we ran into in Loguetown after that—everything behind it!"
"All of it is inseparable from your father—the revolutionary Dragon—pushing things along from behind the scenes and helping us!!!"
Honestly,
as a companion, Nami couldn't help feeling a bit jealous of Luffy.
Other pirates—
if they had just walked out of the Four Seas—this universally recognized, no-difficulty newbie village—there was definitely no big shot backing them up!
But Luffy was different.
His starting point was Revolutionary Dragon!
The world's most heinous criminal!
Not to mention,
Dragon personally took action in secret.
Using his Devil Fruit ability, he personally stepped in to clear away anything that might block Luffy on the road—
cleaning it all up!!!
This almost nanny-like,
covert escort-and-protection behavior—
to say you weren't envious would be a lie!
It was absolutely one of the strongest backgrounds there is!
And Luffy—
just from this one exposed clip alone—
had completely cemented the title of "Background King"!!!
———
At the same time,
under the Straw Hat Pirates' excited, expectant gazes,
the ranking video
continued playing.
The plot that happened in Loguetown
kept being revealed—
and then,
after a round of chaos and running around,
Luffy finally arrived at that plaza.
And he even mischievously climbed up onto that towering execution platform!
However…
right at that moment,
an unexpected twist occurred—
the Buggy Pirates appeared!!!
And taking advantage of their numbers,
they surrounded Luffy and boxed him in,
completely trapping him—
and what's more…
Buggy cruelly planned to
imitate Roger's execution from back then!
Right there in public, he was going to chop off Luffy's head…
on the execution platform!!!
Down below,
even though the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates were also present,
because Buggy's crew blocked them,
they could only watch helplessly—
they didn't have time to rescue Luffy at all!
To save their captain!!!
"Yare yare…"
"This Straw Hat Luffy… is he really one of the protagonists?"
"Feels like his head is about to hit the ground in the next second!!!"
Inside Hueco Mundo,
Gin Ichimaru narrowed his eyes,
and in that Kyoto-like drawl, said with a doubtful tone.
At present,
because there was a huge information gap,
Gin had no idea what the so-called Revolutionary Army—
that special organization—meant in the pirate world!
Sure,
Dragon's presence was overwhelming.
One look and you could tell he was definitely a powerhouse!
But—
as for his son,
up to now, Luffy's expressions
looked to Gin like those of a naïve boy with no real strength—
at most, he just had a strong background and some luck.
So,
Gin couldn't help suspecting
that Luffy as a character—and his importance in the plot—
probably wasn't on the same level as Ichigo Kurosaki.
Earlier, it was just the Bleach world's audience guessing wrong!!!
However…
from atop the throne,
Aizen's voice came in to remind him:
"Gin… you've gone down the wrong path."
"Clearly, as things stand, the biggest trait on this Straw Hat Luffy…"
"Is not strength, but luck—more accurately speaking, his background!!!"
"So… there's no need to care about his performance at all."
"Just pay attention to how Straw Hat Luffy is about to be saved."
"That is the real biggest highlight of this scene!!!"
After all, this was the Bleach world—
a man who combined intelligence and strength, and possessed the greatest charisma.
Aizen saw the key point at a glance!
He directly pointed out the biggest highlight of this round of ranking!
As for whether
Luffy was a protagonist—
Aizen felt that wasn't important.
Right now, what he cared about was simply the king-tier title!
And the further they went,
as more powerful backgrounds were exposed,
the Bleach world's audience would surely be able to improve their understanding of the pirate world
through recognizing different strong figures!!!
———
And next,
under Aizen's watchful gaze,
on the screen—
just as Buggy's chopping blade
swung downward,
and the edge was less than half a meter from Luffy's head, about to strike at any moment—
suddenly,
the video image dimmed.
And above Loguetown,
an enormous mass of black clouds gathered in an instant.
Not long after,
a blinding bolt of lightning roared down—
as if guided by some kind of power—
and struck precisely,
right on top of the execution platform!
And when the lightning exploded,
it just happened to separate Luffy and Buggy!
That caused—
amid the chaos—
the entire execution platform to collapse!
"BOOOOM—!!!"
Smoke, dust, and shockwaves spread in all directions.
In the explosive firelight,
Luffy—who had eaten the "Nika Fruit"—
used the stretching elasticity of "rubber."
In the end,
he escaped by the skin of his teeth,
safely avoiding the danger of "being beheaded" this time!
As for Buggy—
he was the one who got truly unlucky.
Because he couldn't dodge in time,
he was struck by the lightning.
In the end,
his clown-like body was scorched pitch-black—
charred on the outside, tender on the inside—
looking utterly miserable!
That tragic outcome
instantly highlighted, on the spot—
just how important it is for a rookie pirate to have a powerful background!!!
Clearly,
the scene that had just played
was the best possible example!!!
(End of Chapter)
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