Note: If you want the continuity of this story consider to join Pãtreon/Flokixy to access advance Chapters and To Support The Daily Update
Shanks: "What I'm more curious about is, under these circumstances, how exactly did Luffy break free?"
Buggy: "Speaking of which, you might not believe it, but back then..."
Before Buggy could finish speaking, the chat room suddenly buzzed with gasps~~~
[CRACK!! ——]
[Under the clear, cloudless sky, a bolt of lightning suddenly struck from nowhere, directly hitting Buggy on the head!!!]
[Thump— With a muffled sound, smoke trailing from his scorched body—]
[Buggy, emitting green smoke, collapsed to the ground.]
[Luffy picked up the straw hat that had fallen to the ground and put it on his head: "Yahahaha!! Still alive, that was really close~~"]
WTF!!! ——
All the viewers dropped their jaws and molars in shock.
Rocks D. Xebec: "How is this possible!!? Lightning actually helped him???"
Shiki: "Although I saw it with my own eyes, how can anyone believe something so absurd!!!"
Thinking back to the Battle of Edd War, when the Flying Pirates and the Roger Pirates were engaged in an all-out battle~~~
The Flying Pirates had already beaten the Roger Pirates into disarray, on the verge of completely winning the war...
Result... a storm suddenly hit!!! Directly wiping out the Flying Pirates!!!
Only Shiki barely survived, but because a ship's rudder got lodged in his head, his strength plummeted!!
That storm back then was already absurd enough, but compared to the lightning strike just now, the storm at Edd War was nothing...
It was almost the exact instant the blade touched Luffy's neck, the lightning struck...
This was practically like heaven itself was helping him!
Gol D. Roger: "He survived like that??? Yohoho~? Why didn't lightning strike when I was being executed back then??"
Marshall D. Teach: "Zehahaha!!! Looks like Old Heaven didn't want Straw Hat kid's dream to end!!! No wonder back when I was preparing to hunt him down, he was already within sight, but he escaped through that absurd method~~"
Sengoku: "What??? What happened???"
Marshall D. Teach: "It should be shown later, just watch yourself! I can't be bothered to tell you!"
Buggy: "I only heard about this scene from my subordinates later. Now, seeing it with my own eyes, I can truly feel how outrageous this is!!"
Kong: "Something's not quite right....."
Sengoku: "Fleet Admiral Kong, what did you notice???"
Kong: "Not sure, let's keep watching."
[After Luffy was rescued, Smoker led the Marines into the square and began arresting pirates!]
[As a Logia Smoke-Smoke Fruit user, Smoker is ridiculously strong!!!]
[With one move, rustle rustle, he controlled almost all the pirates.~]
[The Straw Hat crew was equally powerless against him~~~]
[Luffy tried to struggle, but Smoker, using a technique descending from the heavens, slammed Luffy's head heavily onto the ground!]
["Your good luck ends here! Straw Hat!!"]
[Smoker pinned Luffy to the ground, reaching behind him to grab his Sea Prism Stone Jitte~]
[But just as he exerted force to pull out the Sea Prism Stone Jitte, a hand suddenly appeared, gripping this weapon.]
["That might not be necessary....."]
[A low voice sounded from behind Smoker's head.]
[Smoker turned his head and instantly saw a tall figure looming over him~]
Doberman: "Monkey D. Dragon!!"
Kizaru: "To actually appear so openly in a place under Marine jurisdiction, truly audacious~"
Monkey D. Luffy: "It really is Dad..... I didn't see him back then, only heard about it later."
Sengoku: "Dragon, did you cause that lightning strike just now???"
Monkey D. Dragon: "The storm was my doing, but the lightning... I'd also like to know when I ate the Rumble-Rumble Fruit??"⁷
Shiki: "Hahaha!! Sengoku, are you stupid? Don't you know what fruit Dragon has?"
Sengoku: "Get lost, Shiki. Did Gramps ask you?"
Kong: "That lightning strike earlier... was it truly Heaven's Will...?"
["Storm!!!"]
[Monkey D. Dragon released the power of his Devil Fruit, instantly forming a super storm!!!]
[Fierce winds howled across the entire square of Loguetown, sweeping everything away~]
[The smoke Smoker released was instantly blown clean away!]
[The pirates were also swept whoosh whoosh towards the port~]
[The Straw Hat crew seized the chance and slipped away!]
[Leaving Loguetown, the Going Merry headed straight towards Reverse Mountain...]
[But the originally stormy weather suddenly stopped!!]
["Crap!! We've entered the Calm Belt!!"]
[Nami, as the navigator, saw the situation outside, and her face instantly turned green!]
["Calm Belt? What's that?"]
["Look quickly! It's stormy over there, but calm and tranquil here, truly a strange sight!!!"]
[Hearing the others still chatting relaxedly, Nami became furious: "All of you shut up! Quickly grab the oars!! Row the ship into the storm!!!"]
[Luffy asked confusedly: "Why are you so tense? This is a sailing ship, why do we need to row???"]
[Usopp scratched his head: "The nice calm weather is good for sailing, why go into the storm?"]
[Zoro looked worriedly at Nami: "Oh no, our navigator might have a fever~~~"]
["Idiots!!! Hurry up and do as I say!!!"]
[Nami was about to die from anger caused by these people, instantly turning into her Fishman Karate expression pack...]
[However, the next moment~~~]
[Rumble rumble!!!]
[The ship's hull suddenly shook violently!!!]
[The Going Merry's entire view was instantly lifted off the ground, soaring straight into the clouds.....!!!]
[The Straw Hat crew tumbled around on deck~~~]
[By the time the ship stabilized, the surrounding scene left the entire Straw Hat crew dumbfounded!!!!]
["A.... A...." mountain-like giant sea creature was emerging from the sea....]
[Just revealing a head, or emerging halfway, they were already as tall and unreachable as skyscrapers...]
Gasp!! ——
At this scene, the chat room instantly filled with the sound of sharp intakes of breath...
Eustass Kid: "These are... Sea Kings....."
Capone Bege: "Such huge beasts, even using cannons would probably take quite a few days to kill them, right?"
Shiki: "How come these are all giant Sea Kings? Can't even see a small one....."
Silvers Rayleigh: "This is unbelievable!! I've sailed the Calm Belt more than once or twice, but at most, I only encountered one or two Sea Kings at a time?? How could there suddenly be so many Sea Kings??? One, two, three, four... there must be over a dozen!!! Did the Straw Hat Pirates fall into a Sea King nest???"
Dracule Mihawk: "Not only that; below the sea surface not far away, there are clearly giant shadows moving, obviously Sea Kings lurking~~~"
Shanks: "Calm Belt Sea Kings have territories; those un-surfaced Sea Kings are clearly warned by the ones in the picture, so they haven't surfaced....."
Streusen: "How could this happen?? Since Calm Belt Sea Kings have defined territories, why would so many appear together???"
Charlotte Linlin: "Is it possible... these Sea Kings were originally having a banquet, and were disturbed by Straw Hat kid and his crew???"¹³
Trafalgar Law: "Oi...!! Do you think Sea Kings are like us humans??? Having banquets for no reason, drinking wine???"
Tsuru: "This is indeed not right!!! Where would Sea Kings gather so densely???"
Akainu: "Their ship was lifted into the air by the nose of one Sea King, completely exposed to the view of the other Sea Kings!!!"
Kizaru: "In this situation, even the strongest Marine warship could only end up sunk with all hands lost, right?"
Fujitora: "Correct. Marine warships without Sea Prism Stone protection would absolutely never easily enter the Calm Belt!! Even with Sea Prism Stone protection, if luck is bad, encountering one or two Sea Kings poses an extremely high risk of destruction!!"¹⁴
Marco: "The Straw Hat crew is still alive now, so... how exactly did they escape from so many Sea Kings unscathed...???"
["ACHOO!! ——"]
[This Sea King that had lifted the Going Merry into the air suddenly sneezed...]
[The Going Merry instantly fell from the sky~~~]
[The moment it crashed onto the sea surface, everyone could see that the Going Merry showed no signs of damage, bouncing elastically off the sea surface!]
[Under the watchful gaze of a group of Sea Kings, the Going Merry fled desperately into the storm]
Nani???
Everyone watching was completely dumbfounded!!!
They left just like that...???
Stroheim:¹⁶ "Yohohoho? That ship..., just left the Calm Belt like that under the gaze of numerous Sea Kings???"
Squard: "This is simply ridiculous!! Are those Sea Kings mirages...???"
Kuzan: "Can mirages lift ships into mid-air?"
Shiki: "This is truly unbelievable!!! What the hell is wrong with these Sea Kings??? Why did they collectively become so gentle???"
Tashigi: "Could it be that those Sea Kings didn't see their ship?"
Rocks D. Xebec: "Dream on! Sea Kings have excellent eyesight! In this situation, even if it was just a mouse on the ship, they could detect it!"
Usopp: "So our escape from those Sea Kings back then was such a bizarre event...?"
Vinsmoke Sanji: "Didn't think much of it back then, only now after hearing everyone talk, I realize that being able to enter the Grand Line alive was already a miracle!!!"
Nami: "..., Were we really that lucky?"
Mary Geoise~~~
Pangea Castle, Room of Authority..
Imu stared at the scene on the screen, their face incomparably grim!!
They spoke in a deep voice: "If before I couldn't be completely certain, then after seeing this scene just now, I think... you should all see it now!"
"No need to think about it!!! This Monkey D. Luffy must be Joy Boy"
...Joy Boy!!! And..., his Fruit ability has already awakened, perfectly matching the legendary intelligence!!!"
Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro¹ touched the hilt of the sword hanging at his waist, his eyes fixed deadly on the image of Luffy~~~
Saint Shepherd Ju Peter spoke up: "We can't wait any longer!!! This Luffy must be eliminated!!!"
"However..., this Straw Hat kid's grandfather is the Marine Hero Garp. If we kill him, I wonder if it will shake the Marines' faith in the World Government~~~"
Suddenly thinking of this point, Saint Topman Warcury reminded them.
However, Saint Marcus Mars snorted coldly: "Can't worry about that much!!! Even if his grandfather is Kong of the Steel Bone, he must still be eliminated!!!"
Although the World Government has deep foundations, the "power" of Joy Boy absolutely cannot be measured by conventional strength~~~
As Imu's most loyal protectors, they absolutely cannot allow this possibility to continue...!!!
Marine Headquarters, Marineford~~~
Roger watched this scene and suddenly burst out laughing!!
"What's the happy occasion???" Whitebeard turned his head, looking at Roger~~
Marco and Kozuki Oden beside him also looked curiously at Roger.
"I get it!!! I finally understand!!!"
"Hahaha!!! Little Shanks' judgment was indeed accurate! He really found him!"
Roger's face was full of joy, clearly having thought of something delightful~~~
This scene made those around him even more puzzled~~~
"Oi oi oi! Roger, what on earth are you talking about?"
Seeing Roger laughing non-stop out of the blue, Whitebeard was genuinely worried he had suddenly gone crazy...
Roger chuckled and said: "Oi!! Whitebeard, remember after I returned from Laugh Tale, I told you that this era is waiting for someone?"
Hearing these words, Whitebeard was slightly stunned!!!
His gaze swept over the screen in the sky, then looked back at Roger: "Could it be that the person you spoke of is Straw Hat Luffy??"
"Hahaha!!! It's him! It must be him!!"
Roger was grinning so wide he couldn't close his mouth~~
"Why him?" Whitebeard showed a curious expression.
"There's a piece of information that the World Government has sealed extremely tightly. It's about the Devil Fruit Luffy ate. Its original name isn't actually the Gum-Gum Fruit, but the Zoan-type: Mythical Model, Nika!!"
Roger's voice wasn't loud, just enough for the four of them to hear~~~
"'The Warrior of Liberation' symbolizing freedom?" Kozuki Oden's eyes lit up; he had heard this legend.
"That's right!! According to the contents of the Poneglyphs, when the user of this Devil Fruit awakens its power, they gain a new identity... Joy Boy!"
"But in fact, ever since the previous user of the Nika Fruit died, this Devil Fruit hasn't been eaten by anyone in 800 years, let alone awakened!" Roger continued.
Marco suddenly showed a shocked expression: "Wait wait! The reward Straw Hat Luffy received earlier was Devil Fruit Awakening!!!"
"Yes!" Roger nodded.
"So..., Luffy is the Joy Boy of this era!!"
"The Poneglyphs mention that the promise Joy Boy made to the Mermaid Princess 800 years ago could not be fulfilled, and will be completed by the next Joy Boy!"
"And now..., Joy Boy has appeared!!!"
"Everyone thinks these Sea Kings surfaced from the water because the Straw Hat Pirates' ship disturbed them, but in fact, they actually wanted to come and meet the King of this era!!!!"
Previously, Shanks had said he found a more suitable candidate. At that time, Roger said he trusted Shanks' judgment.
That was merely out of trust for Shanks...
But now...
He was absolutely certain!!!
Luffy... is the King this era has been waiting for!!!
After hearing Roger's explanation, Whitebeard, Oden, and Marco were all completely stunned!!
That's right~~~
For so many giant Sea Kings to gather peacefully together, if not for the reason of wanting to meet the "King," what other possibility could there be???
Hiss...!!!
After confirming this incredibly crucial piece of information, even a powerhouse of Whitebeard's caliber couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath...
After all this fuss, turns out this era is named Luffy~~