...…
Outside the light screen, Elbaph.
The kingdom of the giant race had fallen into a strange silence at this moment.
Jarul's tall body trembled slightly.
His eyes were fixed on the youth in the light screen who was bouncing under the moonlight, staring at that figure playing like a child.
In a daze, that figure overlapped with an ancient legend.
"Elder Jarul..."
The guard beside him spoke with a trembling voice, as if something had seized his throat.
He opened his mouth, several times wanting to say that name, but ultimately did not dare.
Jarul did not answer. He simply watched, watching the youth bouncing on the ruins, watching him bounce up and fall like rubber.
Watching that unrestrained smile of his.
Then, Jarul spoke: "A pure white warrior..."
His voice was aged and hoarse, as if coming from the depths of time a hundred years ago.
"Carrying the rhythm of joyful drumbeats..."
The guard's pupils suddenly contracted. That name—they had heard it since childhood, yet had never truly seen it...
That name which seemed engraved in Elbaph's very genes!
"Sun God!?"
His voice was almost a scream.
"How is this possible?!"
The other giants also erupted.
"How can the Sun God be a human?!"
"And a pirate at that?!"
"So young as well?!"
"This is wrong! This is completely wrong!!"
Voices of doubt surged like a tide, drowning all of Elbaph.
The young giant children hid behind their parents, poking out half their heads, staring in terror at the bouncing figure in the light screen.
They were too sensitive to the word "Sun God." It was a sacred yet terrifying existence in the adults' mouths—the contradictory god of legend who brought both laughter and destruction.
But now, that god was a pirate?
A little brat?
...
"Elder Jarul!"
The guard tried to calm himself, but his trembling voice betrayed his inner turmoil: "How can our Sun God be a pirate?! What exactly is going on?!"
Jarul was silent for a long time—so long that the surrounding discussions gradually subsided.
So long that everyone's gazes converged on him.
Then, this elder who had lived for a hundred years slowly spoke: "Some things cannot be judged by surface appearances alone."
His gaze remained fixed on the light screen, on that youth.
"I do not know why this brat is the Sun God. That question, perhaps even he himself cannot answer."
Jarul paused, then looked at the light screen with a serious expression: "But I know one thing... This youth is a good person."
The surrounding giants were stunned.
A good person?
The giants looked at the elder in confusion. They did not retort, simply listening quietly as Jarul expressed his views...
"What has he been fighting for since the very beginning?"
Jarul continued, as if asking everyone, yet also asking himself: "It was for a country that is not his homeland, for the people of that country to have enough to eat, to no longer suffer, to live freely."
He turned around, looking at the doubting giants: "In this regard, he is countless times stronger than that World Government which spouts benevolence and righteousness from its mouth while committing every filthy deed behind the scenes..."
Jarul's voice turned cold: "Countless times stronger."
After a moment of silence, someone gently nodded.
Then another, and another.
Those voices of doubt gradually disappeared.
"Although I still cannot understand the matter of the Sun God..."
A young giant scratched his head: "But that kid's character is truly impeccable."
"Risking his life for people he has never met..."
Another giant muttered: "This is not something a bad person could do."
"Perhaps..."
Someone said cautiously: "The Sun God chose him for a reason?"
No one could answer this question, but on one point, everyone agreed—this youth was worth their anticipation.
"If he really is the Sun God..."
A child poked his head out from behind his parents, eyes sparkling with curiosity: "Then will he come to Elbaph?"
This question stunned everyone.
That's right.
He was a pirate.
Pirates sailed all over the seas.
If one day he came to Elbaph, they would be able to see the legendary Sun God with their own eyes.
This thought changed the expressions in many giants' eyes.
From doubt, to anticipation.
Not only Elbaph.
All over the world, everyone watching the light screen at this moment held their breath.
They did not know what "Sun God" meant.
They only knew that the youth's current appearance was different from any battle form they had seen before.
Not the inflation of Fourth Gear.
Not the sharpness of the snake-man.
Not any familiar appearance.
It was simply... simply...
"Is he playing?" Someone said in disbelief.
"On the battlefield? While fighting Kaido? Playing?"
No one could answer.
Because that truly was playing. Luffy was bouncing on the ruins, like a child playing on a trampoline.
He was laughing very happily—happily as if this was not a battle of life and death, but a grand game.
But his laughter... within that laughter, there was something.
Something warm that made people unable to help but want to laugh along.
At this moment, the scene on the light screen suddenly switched.
No longer the battlefield of Onigashima.
Among the Powers
The Five Elders, these five men who represented the world's highest authority, were now sitting together in a circle.
Before them lay a wanted poster.
Straw Hat Luffy's wanted poster.
"Throughout history..."
Warcury Saint spoke, his voice low and suppressed, as if squeezed out from between his teeth: "There has never been any such thing as a Rubber Fruit."
This sentence was like a bomb, exploding outside the light screen.
Everyone was stunned.
What did he mean by "there has never been a Rubber Fruit"?
Wasn't the fruit Luffy ate the Rubber Fruit? Hadn't he been fighting with rubber abilities all along?
"This fruit..."
Warcury Saint continued, his face as black as the bottom of a pot: "In every era, the World Government has been trying to recover it."
Nusjuro Saint shook his head and picked up the thread.
"Eight hundred years..."
His voice carried a trace of exhaustion, a trace of helplessness, and a trace of "fear": "Eight hundred years, and it has never been successfully recovered."
The crowd outside the light screen had already been stunned speechless.
Eight hundred years?
The World Government had been hunting one single fruit for eight hundred years?
"This fruit..."
Nusjuro Saint raised an eyebrow, looking seriously at the wanted poster: "It is as if it has been deliberately evading us."
Mars Saint raised his head, looking at the other four: "It is not impossible. Among Zoan fruits, there are indeed some that host a will."
"Moreover..."
His voice grew even lower: "That fruit also possesses the name of 'God.'"
Name of God!?
These three words exploded in everyone's hearts like thunder.
God?
That fruit was related to God? What fruit? Whose fruit?!
The crowd outside the light screen all swallowed hard in unison. No one dared to breathe.
The many powerhouses of God Valley were equally dumbfounded. Roger's hand tightened on his sword hilt. Whitebeard's hand holding his drink stopped in midair.
Garp's mouth had been hanging open the whole time, his face full of shock.
Sengoku's glasses nearly slipped off.
Zephyr's breathing grew heavy.
Big Mom's laughter had vanished.
Golden Lion's eyes narrowed into slits.
Rocks...
For the first time, true, unconcealable shock appeared in Rocks' eyes.
Yet the Five Elders wanted to stop it. They had tried with all their might to stop the light screen from continuing.
But they could not. They could do nothing.
They could only watch helplessly, listen, and let that forbidden name spread throughout the entire world.
"The true name of the Rubber Fruit is..."
Within the light screen, the Five Elders' voices continued: "Zoan-type · Human-Human Fruit · Mythical Zoan · Nika Form."
Nika!
"Its body possesses the properties of rubber, capable of fighting as it pleases, and is a liberation warrior who brings smiles to people!"
"Also known as..."
He paused, looking seriously at the others beside him: "Sun God · Nika."
Sun God—the name from the mouths of Elbaph's giants, that legendary god who brought laughter...
That existence which the World Government had hunted for eight hundred years!
"The one who awakens it..."
Peter Saint took over: "It will sublimate the martial power and freedom of the rubber body. It is the most inconceivable power in the world."
As soon as the words fell...
"Aaaah!!!"
The entire world seemed to be trembling. Although it was not a real earthquake, it stirred up monstrous waves in everyone's hearts!
Everyone was breathing heavily. Everyone was digesting this earth-shattering secret.
Elbaph.
Those giants who had just been questioning now all fell silent.
They watched the youth in the light screen who was still bouncing.
Watched that "Sun God" who was laughing like a child, and could no longer say a single word.
The scene on the light screen switched back to Onigashima.
Luffy seemed to have finally adapted to this new body. He stopped bouncing and stood in the center of the ruins.
Moonlight poured down on him, enveloping his entire figure in a silver-white glow.
Then...
"BOOM!!!"
A torrential wave of Conqueror's Haki erupted from within him like a tsunami.
This was like the horn of liberation.
This Haki spread outward like ripples, covering the entire Onigashima, covering every inch of land, every corner.
Inside the banquet hall.
Those Beast Pirates' underlings who were still putting up a stubborn resistance all had their eyes roll back and fainted on the spot.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud...
They fell in waves, like dominoes.
The samurai, on the other hand, looked at each other in surprise, discovering that they were completely unharmed.
That Haki had swept past them like a gentle wind, not injuring them in the slightest.
"This is..."
Hyogoro's eyes widened: "It only targets enemies...?"
Above the dome.
Kaido suddenly raised his head. That Haki was too strong—strong enough that even he could not ignore it.
He looked toward the ruins above, as if there was something up there.
Something that was waiting for him.
The next second, a giant arm fell from above the dome.
That arm stretched like rubber, falling straight toward Kaido. Before he could react, it grabbed his body in one go.
...