Chapter 236: Let It Resound

Chapter 236: Chapter 236: Let It Resound

...

"So..."

Luffy’s voice came from the ruins, clear and firm. He struggled to stand up, covered in dust, his face still bearing the miserable traces of having just been smashed into the ground...

But those eyes—those eyes were brighter than ever.

"You think I’m afraid of dying?!"

He stared at Kaido, speaking word by word, as if declaring some unshakable truth.

"I’m the man who’s going to become the Pirate King!"

"Zoro! Sanji! Nami! Usopp! Chopper!..."

He recited those names one by one. Every name that left his mouth was like igniting a flame.

"They’re all waiting for me to come back!"

"The people of Wano Country are waiting for me too...!"

...

White smoke rose from Luffy’s body.

This white smoke was different from Gear 4’s steam. It was something more primal, more instinctive—the burning of life force...

"So...!"

Luffy took a deep breath, his chest swelling high.

"You think I’m afraid of dying?!!"

"Thump!"

A drumbeat came from within his chest.

That rhythm grew faster, stronger, more joyful.

Luffy’s hair began to turn white.

Not the white of old age, but a purer, more sacred white.

His clothes also began to turn white. His red vest transformed into pure white, his blue shorts into pure white. Even that straw hat seemed to be enveloped in a faint white light.

"Let it resound!"

The corner of Luffy’s mouth curled high, revealing that signature smile.

"The rhythm of the heartbeat!"

"Thump thump thump!!"

Drumbeats poured down like a storm. That rhythm was so joyful it made people unable to help but want to sway along, to dance, to laugh.

Luffy once again entered Fifth Gear form.

Sun God · Nika had descended once more.

Kaido watched the youth who had turned white again. There was no anger in his dragon pupils, no killing intent, no violence that wished to tear him apart.

This time, there was only satisfaction.

It was the satisfaction of a hunter who had finally encountered prey worthy of a serious fight.

It was the satisfaction of a warrior who had finally found an opponent who could make him go all out.

It was the satisfaction of a powerhouse who was no longer lonely.

"Straw Hat brat..."

He propped himself up with his kanabo and slowly stood up. "You’re not bad."

These four words, spoken from his mouth, carried astonishing weight.

Because Kaido rarely praised anyone. He only killed. Those who could receive his praise on these seas could be counted on one hand!

But at this moment, he broke precedent and spoke these four words. The value of Straw Hat Luffy needed no further explanation...

Luffy looked at Kaido and grinned. He looked at the satisfaction in Kaido’s eyes, at that recognition, at that respect.

Then he also laughed. "You’re not bad either. As expected of a Yonko!"

Two people with completely different ideals.

One fought for power. One fought for his companions. One wanted to conquer Wano Country. One wanted to liberate Wano Country.

Although their paths were different, at this moment the two mutually acknowledged and appreciated each other!

"Just what I wanted!"

Kaido suddenly leaped up. His kanabo wrapped in Conqueror’s Haki, he fiercely smashed it toward Luffy’s head!

"Luffy, watch out...!"

Yamato’s cry of alarm came from afar, but Luffy did not dodge. He did not even turn his head, only glancing back once...

Then, with the back of his own head, he received the strike.

"Bang!!!"

The sound of the impact was dull and massive, like a blunt weapon striking rubber. However, there was no exploding brain matter, no splattering blood.

The only thing on site was deformation.

Luffy’s rubber head was smashed severely out of shape by that strike. His entire head caved in deeply.

The spikes on the kanabo deeply embedded into the back of his head, pushing up strange protruding shapes on his scalp.

Like a hedgehog!

A white, comical hedgehog that made people unable to help but want to laugh.

"Uwah!"

Luffy let out a strange cry. His entire body was sent staggering forward several steps by that strike.

Then he started running.

"Waaahhh! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"

He clutched his head and sprinted wildly across the ruins, like a bullied child.

Kaido was stunned for a moment, then he also gave chase, continuing his pursuit while riding the momentum!

"Don’t run!"

He swung his kanabo, chasing madly after Luffy. The two of them—one running, one chasing—began an absurd pursuit battle atop the dome.

"Bang!"

Kaido smashed down with his club.

Luffy barely dodged. That strike smashed into the ground, shattering the rocks.

"Bang!"

Another strike.

Luffy rolled to dodge!

"Bang bang bang!"

Kaido’s offensive was relentless. Every strike was powerful and heavy. Every strike was potentially fatal.

Luffy could not dodge in time and was finally struck by one blow.

That kanabo wrapped in Conqueror’s Haki solidly smashed into him, blasting his entire body away.

But at the instant he was struck, Luffy’s hands suddenly pressed downward.

The ground below transformed into a rubber trampoline the moment he touched it. A massive rubber trampoline unfolded on the ground. Luffy’s body smashed into it, deeply caving in, and then...

"Bang!"

Luffy was bounced upward.

That tremendous impact force was completely absorbed by the rubber trampoline, then converted into upward elastic force.

Luffy’s body shot into the air like a cannonball, spinning wildly in midair.

"Wooooh!"

Luffy shouted, spinning, releasing the remaining power in his body.

Then his entire person, like a flattened can, crashed into a distant mountainside.

Smoke and dust billowed. Yamato’s heart leaped into her throat. Momonosuke also stared tightly in that direction.

The children outside the light screen also held their breath upon seeing this scene. Although Luffy had become very powerful, they still felt that Kaido was a bit stronger...

The smoke dispersed. At this moment, from within the mountainside, a hand reached out.

He was lying on the mountain, his entire body seemingly embedded in the mountainside, but he was laughing.

"Hehehe..."

That laughter came from the mountainside, carrying an infuriating vitality.

Then he moved!

Luffy pressed both hands against the mountainside. His entire body compressed like a spring—compressed, compressed again...

"Swish!"

He shot out.

Like a cannonball fired from a barrel, he charged straight toward Kaido!

Kaido’s pupils slightly contracted.

He had not expected that this brat Luffy would actually counterattack in this manner?!

"This is way too reckless!"

He roared and swung his club to meet the attack. But Luffy’s movements were too bizarre.

His body twisted into inconceivable angles in midair—sometimes left, sometimes right, sometimes upward, sometimes downward.

His attacks had no pattern whatsoever. Completely following his heart’s desire. Completely unrestrained and fantastical.

This was Nika.

This was that fruit which the World Government had hunted for eight hundred years.

This was a fighting style that even a Yonko found completely unprepared for.

The more Kaido fought, the more shocked he became.

Because he discovered that after Luffy turned into this white form, he could use both Armament Haki and Conqueror’s Haki at the same time.

And not simply wrapping them. He was making the two types of Haki fuse and enhance each other, completely as if producing some brand-new power.

This fighting style, Kaido had never seen before.

He had lived for decades, fought countless battles, killed countless enemies. He thought he had seen all the fighting techniques in this world.

But Nika’s style—he had never seen it.

"The guy who can defeat me..."

He roared, as if trying to dispel the trace of unease in his heart: "Does not exist in this world at all!!!"

He swung his club to meet the attack—only to be slapped in the face by Luffy...

"Bang!"

Kaido was truly hit in the face. And it was literal.

Luffy’s spinning body suddenly twisted in midair. A fist solidly smashed into Kaido’s face.

And that fist "penetrated" through Kaido’s head!

...