Chapter 187: Nika Luffy/Joy Boy vs Arashi

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Luffy's heart pounded like war drums, embodying the freest fighting spirit in the world. 

At this moment, the will of a man from 800 years ago awakened inside him—Luffy was no longer just Luffy. He had become Joy Boy. 

Zzzt! 

Black and red lightning surged outward, flooding the sky. A wave of overwhelming Conqueror's Haki spread through the air, instantly clashing with the aura released by Arashi.

Boom! 

A heavy thunderclap echoed in the heavens as lightning snaked through the sky. 

Arashi narrowed his eyes, fixing his gaze on the figure before him, a trace of gravity settling in his heart. 

He couldn't grasp how powerful the will from 800 years ago truly was. But the burst of Conqueror's Haki from Luffy's body had propelled his strength to its absolute peak. 

"This is the freest kind of power!" 

"With it, I can do anything in this world!" Luffy grinned, confident and fierce, with a smile that said he'd never lose to anyone.

"Is that so?" Arashi chuckled softly. 

"Then let me see it for myself!" His right hand stretched out as thunder crackled, gathering into a long lightning spear nearly thirty meters in length, its surface marked with complex patterns. 

In a sudden motion, Arashi gripped the spear, eyes sharpening. "Longinus: Gae Bolg!" 

With a roar, he raised his right arm, his body bending into a bow-like posture in preparation for a throw. 

Then, like a taut spring released, his body snapped straight as he hurled the spear with explosive force.

Whoosh! 

The air warped with sparks and lightning as the spear tore through the sky, flying straight for Luffy's forehead with blinding speed.

"Hahahaha!" Luffy burst into laughter, his eyes flashing red. When the spear was just a meter away, he suddenly raised his hand and caught it. 

Buzz! 

Though it moved like lightning and carried the weight of Conqueror's Haki, Luffy gripped it tightly, stopping it dead in its tracks. 

"Here, take it back!" Laughing wildly, his waist twisted like a corkscrew and rebounded with immense strength. 

Like a spring, the force transferred layer by layer to his arm, and then, shockingly, he hurled the lightning spear back at Arashi.

Whoosh! The Lance of Longinus flew toward Arashi, leaving a brilliant trail of light. In an instant, it was right in front of him. 

But Arashi simply smiled, unmoving, letting the spear pierce straight through his forehead. 

Incredibly, the moment it struck, the lightning dissolved into arcs of energy, fusing seamlessly with his body. 

"A god who commands lightning?" Luffy paused, then let out another laugh. 

He bent his knees slightly, and the ground beneath him rippled like rubber, helping launch him forward. His legs spun like wheels as he dashed across the ground. 

Doom, Boom, Thump! 

His heart thundered as if it would burst from his chest. After a high leap, he soared over Arashi, hovering a hundred meters in the air before slamming his fist downward. 

His right arm swelled instantly, surging with black and red lightning and packed with Conqueror's Haki. Arashi raised his hand and spread his fingers. 

Zzzt! 

Lightning gathered into a towering column, rising dozens of meters into the sky. The massive punch collided head-on with the lightning pillar. 

Boom! 

The impact echoed powerfully across the sky. But in mere moments, the lightning column shattered under the overwhelming force of the fist, which crashed down like a falling mountain. 

"The natural counter to the Rumble-Rumble Fruit?" Arashi muttered. As he looked at the descending punch, the lightning around his body faded, and even the flowing ribbons behind him vanished.

The Sun God Nika not only possessed the powers of rubber but could also hold lightning. Thunder and electricity had no effect on him whatsoever. 

In a way, Luffy truly was Arashi's natural nemesis. No matter how high the voltage climbed, it couldn't hurt him. 

As a Mythical Zoan, Luffy's Fruit was truly an outlier among Devil Fruits. "Luffy's powers naturally counter the Rumble-Rumble Fruit!" 

"Wait... is he even still Luffy?" Rayleigh slowly pushed himself up, eyes serious as he watched their battle.

This transformation had exceeded anything he had imagined. With his current strength, Rayleigh knew he couldn't defeat Arashi. 

Age had caught up to him, and without any special bloodline, he could no longer endure prolonged high-frequency battles. 

Even with his mastery of Haki, defeat was inevitable. Still, he never expected the boy he had placed his hopes in would undergo such a bizarre transformation.

"He gave up using the Rumble-Rumble Fruit?" Rayleigh muttered. 

"That's right. Against the Rubber Fruit, lightning is useless." He watched Arashi disperse the lightning across his body and even drop his awakened state. 

"But without his awakened boost, what can he rely on to fight now?" 

This strange version of Luffy had clearly mastered all three types of Haki and could even use Conqueror's coating. 

Combined with the sudden power spike from the Rubber Fruit, his true strength had likely reached the world's top tier.

"He's already surpassed me," Rayleigh whispered with a sigh. If he were younger, perhaps he could still match Luffy. 

But now, in old age, he had to accept reality. In this world, how many people in their twilight years could still maintain peak strength? "Whitebeard, for one." 

"And Garp… probably counts too." As the battle between the two continued, Rayleigh found himself thinking about aging. But he didn't feel regretful about losing to Arashi.

After all, time spares no one. It's the way of the world. That's why the younger generation must inherit the will of the old. 

Suddenly, Rayleigh's pupils shrank as he stared at the battlefield. "What's that?!" 

Arashi, who had dismissed his awakening, was suddenly alert. A sound like crashing waves echoed faintly through the air. 

Behind his neck, a black ribbon reappeared, and his skin rapidly darkened and toughened. His three-meter frame expanded in an instant—within seconds, he had become a nine-meter-tall giant.

Dark lines emerged across his face, his forehead bulging, and his limbs thickening. Every muscle was defined and angular. 

The skin on his back stretched as a pair of jet-black wings unfurled. Black, liquid-like flames swirled around him, giving off an aura of mystery. 

"Since lightning doesn't work…" Arashi looked up with a wide grin. 

"Then I'll try a different power!" The Mythical Zoan—Kunpeng-type—awakens! This was a brand-new form for Arashi, a power he had never revealed before.

This transformation focused more on raw physical strength, power, and speed. "A second awakened Devil Fruit ability?" 

Rayleigh drew a sharp breath, shock plain in his eyes. In that instant, his understanding of Arashi was completely rewritten. 

Mastering all three types of Haki to the peak, possessing two Devil Fruits, and awakening both—this couldn't be described as just monstrous. 

No, he was a monster among monsters! Rayleigh couldn't even imagine who could defeat someone like this in a one-on-one battle.

As that awe set in, Arashi clenched his fist. Black and red lightning burst from it, streaking across the sky. He punched upward. 

Boom! 

Their fists met, sending ripples radiating outward. The ground beneath Arashi cracked apart, the air twisted and darkened, and an eerie howling echoed around them. 

The Straw Hats, lying scattered across the battlefield, were blown away by the shockwave. Rayleigh raised an arm to shield himself from the wind, squinting at the two combatants.

He clearly saw their fists had not physically touched—they were clashing through the sheer force of Conqueror's Haki. 

"Both are using Conqueror's Coating at the highest level!" 

"Arashi is still somewhat within reason…" 

"But Luffy… what's going on with him?" Rayleigh still couldn't grasp Luffy's current state.

Just then, black and red lightning exploded around the battlefield, spreading even further. 

Luffy let out a fierce shout and withdrew his fist. Arashi looked up—and saw the sky behind Luffy had changed. 

It was now black and red, with a deep chasm stretching across the clouds, splitting the heavens. 

The rift was caused by the clash of Conqueror's Haki, a phenomenon that had become legendary. "You really are one hell of a troublesome guy!" Arashi muttered.

Luffy spoke in a low voice. "Show me the full extent of your power."

"You won't have much time left," Arashi replied with a calm smile. Upon hearing this, a somber glint flashed in Luffy's eyes. 

He knew it wouldn't last—his awakening couldn't be sustained for long. After all, he had already died. 

What stood here now was merely the lingering will of who he once was, miraculously revived. By all logic, this shouldn't have been possible.

The next moment, Luffy's body slowly descended. As his eyes widened, dazzling bolts of lightning burst from his body. 

Then, he suddenly thrust both hands into the ground and forcefully heaved upward. 

RUMBLE!

The ground beneath him turned to rubber, lifted high, and rolled toward Arashi like a crashing wave. 

"That won't work on me, Joy Boy," Arashi said with a faint smile, then threw a punch forward. 

Boom! 

The overwhelming force of his strike shattered the mass of earth above him. In the gaping rift left behind, Luffy laughed heartily, swinging his fists and charging in again. 

Arashi blinked in surprise before grinning wide, battle spirit blazing in his eyes as he soared into the sky.

"Come! Let's fight face-to-face!" Black and red lightning crackled, illuminating the heavens as the two clashed. 

Their bodies drew closer at blinding speed, eyes locking, threads of light stretching between their gazes.

They both grinned with excitement. "Eight hundred years later, and someone like you appears in this world!" 

Luffy laughed, swinging his fists at lightning speed, forming a wall of punches covering hundreds of meters.

"Your legend has never faded. I awakened you on purpose," Arashi roared with laughter, his fists striking back. Show me the strength of the Warrior of Liberation!" 

At that moment, their fists turned into blurs, colliding with a deafening series of explosion

The relentless roars echoed over the Sabaody Archipelago, summoning storms and torrents of lightning from the skies. 

The thunderous shockwaves turned every head on the island toward the battlefield, their faces filled with disbelief.

"What's happening over there?" a Marine officer murmured in awe. Behind him, other Marines gawked, jaws hanging open. 

The skies above the clash turned black and crimson, split by thunderclouds laced with endless lightning.

"What a terrifying presence… I can barely breathe!"

"Are those two titans clashing?" "That's Conqueror's Haki! Such terrifying Conqueror's Haki!" People across the archipelago stared wide-eyed at the spectacle. 

On the battlefield, Bartholomew Kuma gazed upward, eyes shaking as he watched the two figures trading blows in midair.

Such immense power—he had never seen anything like it. Then, his expression hardened as he looked toward the Straw Hats, who had just regained consciousness from the earlier shockwave.

"If we're going to save them, now is our chance," he thought. With a final glance at the skyborne duel, Kuma took a step forward—and, in a flash, appeared before Usopp.

Still dazed, Usopp looked up blankly. "If you could travel… where would you go?" Kuma asked softly.

"Huh?" Usopp mumbled in confusion. WHAM! With a mighty slap, Usopp vanished. Kuma stepped again. 

Boom! 

Sanji disappeared. One by one, Kuma moved, his palms striking each of them—Franky, Brook, Chopper, Nami, and Robin—all vanished, wrapped in bubbles soaring into the distance.

"With your current strength, you wouldn't survive even a fraction of that man's power," Kuma said silently, watching the bubbles disappear into the sky.

"Leaving is the best option." The next instant, his figure vanished once more. Almost immediately, Rayleigh appeared before him, his eyes sharp and freezing cold.

"What did you do to them?" Rayleigh demanded. Kuma bent slightly, drawing closer, then replied in a low voice,

"Rest assured, they're unharmed. We share the same goal."

"For now, we should focus on saving the Straw Hat boy." Rayleigh blinked, surprised, then turned his gaze skyward alongside Kuma, both faces now solemn as they watched the battle above.

The fight had reached a fever pitch. Arashi and Luffy exchanged punch after punch, neither dodging, just pure, brutal blows. 

Their Conqueror's Haki clashed violently, shaking the air around them.

"So strong!!" Luffy shouted. The pressure from Arashi's blows felt boundless like the ocean itself crashing down on him.

And beyond that, he sensed something deeper—an even more terrifying power hidden behind Arashi's presence.

BAM BAM BAM BAM! Their punches continued to crash together without a clear winner. Yet through it all, both of their faces wore wide grins, their eyes sparkling.

"This feels amazing!"

"It's been so long since I could punch like this without holding back!" Arashi laughed.

"Joy Boy… you truly live up to the legend!"

Luffy roared with laughter, "This is incredible!"

"Hahahahaha! It's just a shame this battle won't last!"

"I've already vanished from history, after all!" His voice was bright but mature, different from the youthful Luffy of the past.

They exchanged another five hundred punches before both leaped back. 

Luffy burst into laughter as his body began to inflate, growing rapidly into a colossal giant over a hundred meters tall.

"Fighting freely like this… what a wild way to battle!" Arashi said with a smile.

"Take this!" Luffy shouted, bringing his massive foot down.

At this moment, his body and strength rivaled that of the Giant Tribe. Arashi vanished in a blink, dodging the strike. 

BOOM! 

The ground shook violently, rebounding like rubber beneath the blow.

"Hahahaha! You're fast!" Luffy laughed, launching a barrage of punches at Arashi.

To the giant Luffy, the nine-meter-tall Arashi looked no bigger than a mosquito. Their fight now resembled a cannon trying to swat a fly.

"In terms of strength, I don't lose to anyone," Arashi said calmly. He raised his right fist.

BANG!

Luffy's house-sized punch struck him, but he stopped dead—unable to move forward another inch. 

Luffy's eyes widened in shock. He hadn't expected Arashi's raw power to match his giant form.

After all, once the Nika Fruit is awakened, the user's gigantification becomes true—not just air-inflated mass but a transformation that multiplies strength beyond measure. And yet, this man was still holding his own.

Then Luffy's right arm trembled slightly, his eyes flickering with disbelief. Without him realizing, Arashi had slipped to his wrist, and with a powerful over-the-shoulder throw—

Somehow, impossibly—his colossal body was lifted off the ground, tossed into the air, and forced into motion by Arashi's sheer brute strength.

"How strong is his power?!"

In the blink of an eye, the world spun as Luffy slammed into the ground with a thunderous crash, shattering the terrain beneath him.

"Being big doesn't mean you're stronger," Arashi said with a grin. "But if you really want to compete in size…" His voice rang out with laughter. "Then I'll be bigger than you!"

With a sharp twist of his neck, Arashi looked to the sky. His head began to expand rapidly, and his black hair transformed into thick, rope-like strands, whipping through the air. 

His body swelled as well, and within seconds, he was over a hundred meters tall—but that was far from the limit.

He kept growing as if an endless wind were inflating him from within or as if an infinite mass of flesh were rapidly forming and packing into his body. 

One hundred meters. Two hundred. Three. Four. He only stopped after reaching five hundred meters in height.

This size surpassed even the normal Giant race. Just the sheer presence of such a colossal figure naturally struck fear into everyone who saw him. 

What was even more disturbing was that the human features on his face were now nearly gone.

In their place was a streamlined face, eyes set far apart, skin jet-black and smooth like that of a deep-sea fish.

"He's beastifying," Rayleigh muttered gravely, sweat dripping from his brow. "I still can't tell what kind of Fruit it is."

What shocked him even more than the size was the fact that, despite Arashi reaching this towering form, his beastification was still incomplete. 

All he'd gained was an extra pair of wings and a slight transformation of his face.

From afar, he looked like a gigantic god in a dark mask, with only cold, emotionless eyes peering out.

"This is just the smallest beast form I can take!" Arashi's voice boomed through the air, rippling across the battlefield.

Kuma's pupils shrank, his entire body trembling. Rayleigh gripped his blade tightly, eyes narrowing.

"You've got to be kidding… Five hundred meters is just your smallest form?!"

Then what would he look like fully beastified, revealing the true nature of his Zoan-type Fruit?

"What kind of Fruit did he even eat…?" Kuma murmured. It was the question burning in everyone's mind.

At that moment, the towering Arashi began to move. He stepped forward and raised one massive foot, bringing it down toward the fallen Luffy.

But Luffy's body twisted strangely, wrapping around Arashi's leg like a strand of rubber.

"Trying to mimic chewing gum now?" Arashi chuckled. He suddenly lifted his leg and slammed it downward.

"Dangerous!!" Luffy cried out. His eyes popped from their sockets, his coiled body rebounding away and bouncing across the ground.

Then suddenly, he stretched out his hand. "Hahaha!" he laughed wildly just as a bolt of lightning struck from above—only to be caught in his hand.

To everyone's shock, the lightning transformed in his grasp, reshaping into the form of a spear.

"As long as my imagination is strong enough, I can do anything!" Luffy shouted with a grin. "This is the power at the top!"

He hurled the lightning spear straight at Arashi.

Whoosh! In an instant, it flew directly toward him.

"The power of imagination?" Arashi mused as he watched it approach. "So long as one can imagine it, anything becomes possible…"

Clearly, the true strength of the Nika Fruit wasn't just in its name or outward appearance. Its core lies in the user's imagination.

If he imagined himself as a giant, he'd become one. If he imagined lightning as a weapon, he could grasp and wield it. If he imagined fire as leaves, he could control flames.

That was the true essence of the Nika Fruit.

"What a fascinating Fruit," Arashi laughed. "Truly interesting!"

With a loud laugh, Arashi opened his mouth. The lightning spear disappeared into it in a flash—swallowed whole without causing a single ripple.

"Then allow me to show you… the power of my Fruit," Arashi declared, voice heavy with excitement.

"The power… of devouring!"

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