Chapter 20 Heading to the Grand Line
The rain was pouring down, and the huge raindrops made a loud bang on the deck.
The turbulent waves shook the ship, and on the small Merry, the five young men with great ambitions became unusually confused.
"Rubber rubber—ah! Is it useless?"
Luffy held down the straw hat on his head with one hand to prevent it from being blown away by the wind, and waved his other hand back and forth continuously, experiencing the feeling of a normal punch that he had not experienced for a long time.
After losing his devil fruit ability, his body is no longer able to stretch at will.
Seeing him lose his ability, Zoro and Sanji's expressions became extremely serious.
Nami raised her hands and wiped the rain off her face.
Usopp squatted on the deck with his head in his hands, his eyes full of confusion and fear.
Along the way, they experienced many battles. The last one who gave him such a strong sense of fear was Hawkeye Mihawk - the other party seriously injured Zoro with just a small knife.
Now, not long after they met Hawkeye, they encountered another terrifying monster that was so powerful that they were unable to resist.
He had to start thinking, was it really right to go out to sea? Was the world outside so terrifying?
"Damn it..." Usopp gritted his teeth unwillingly, and trembled with fear.
"Are we...are we still going to the Grand Line? The opponents in the East China Sea alone are already so terrifying. There must be even more monsters on the Grand Line, right?"
"Woo..." After hearing his words, Nami, who was as strong and courageous as him, finally lost the last bit of strength to stand.
She whimpered and squatted on the ground with a look of worry and fear on her face.
"That man has already destroyed several islands in the East China Sea. What if he attacks our hometown? None of us can defeat him..."
"We have to fight even if we can't win!" Luffy said without hesitation.
"If he wants to hurt my family and friends, I will never let him go!"
"But we can't beat him at all!" Usopp retorted desperately.
"It's not like you haven't experienced the battle just now. Your fists and Zoro's sword couldn't even touch him! What can we use to fight him, not to mention your devil fruit..."
His voice stopped abruptly.
Because Luffy rarely showed a serious and earnest expression.
"Even without the power of a devil fruit, I will become the Pirate King!"
Luffy's dark eyes burned with a determined and scorching flame, "Even if it means losing my life, I will do it!"
Usopp looked at him, his voice suddenly lost, not knowing what to say.
Zoro laughed. "Encountering a powerful enemy, fighting, getting injured, and even sacrificing my life—I've already prepared for these possibilities before I even set sail!"
"You'll never find ALL BLUE if you're afraid of death." Sanji said with a smile, holding a cigarette that was still flickering in the rain.
"Usopp, why are you going out to sea?"
Usopp was stunned for a moment, then stood up suddenly, pulling the corners of his mouth stiffly, trying to show a cool smile.
"Me, me, me, of course I want to be a brave sea warrior!"
"I'm drawing a world map." Nami also stood up, took a deep breath, and her expression became firm.
"But even if it's not for the map, if that man's goal is truly to occupy the East China Sea, I will absolutely stop him, even if it costs me my life!"
Hearing Nami's words, the four of them nodded firmly, even Usopp did not hesitate.
They all have homes in the East China Sea. Whether it is an island or a mobile restaurant, the relatives and friends there are the most important existence for them.
If anyone dares to attack them, the five of them will definitely risk their lives without hesitation!
But at this moment, a discordant voice rang out.
"Stop him? How can you stop him? You can't even touch his body!"
Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and Nami immediately looked at Usopp.
However, Usopp was also confused and quickly shook his head to indicate that he did not say this.
That's strange. There were only five of them on the Merry. How could it be possible...
"Before that man completely takes over the East China Sea, I urge you to head to the Grand Line immediately. That's the only way to escape!"
Following the sound, the five people looked behind Usopp with strange eyes.
A man with a red nose glared at them unhappily, his arms folded across his chest.
“Eh—Bucky?!!”
Nami and Usopp panicked immediately and hid behind Luffy like lightning.
Nami popped her head out from behind Luffy and demanded, "Why are you on our ship?!"
"You just realized it?!" Bucky was furious.
But when he saw Luffy, Zoro and Sanji getting ready to fight, he immediately backed down.
If he still had the power of the devil fruit, he would naturally not be afraid of them, but he doesn't have it now.
The flesh and blood body cannot withstand the damage of being punched, stabbed or kicked.
"Wait, wait! I'm a victim too!" Bucky admitted defeat and shouted.
"Do you think I want to stay here? It was that man who threw me onto your ship!"
"We should just throw him overboard."
Zoro said coldly: "It seems that his fruit power has also been taken away."
Bucky quickly waved his hands and tried to explain himself with a specious excuse.
"You can't do this. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. We were all the ones whose abilities were taken away by that man. So we are friends now!"
"Ah, I see!" Luffy knocked his right fist on the palm of his left hand, with an expression of sudden enlightenment on his face.
He was immediately punished by Nami's iron fist.
Nami yelled, "Idiot, this guy is not our friend!"
"Ms. Nami is right~" Sanji said in a lingering tone, but he quickly regained his calm and thoughtful look.
"I guess he just wants to use our ship to escape. At least that man's current target is not the Grand Line."
Guessed it exactly!
Bucky was sweating profusely inside, but his face showed a pitiful look of being hurt.
"I'm really thinking about you, stupid—cough, do you know why you can't touch that man's body?"
He immediately swallowed back his curse words under the flash of Zoro's sword.
Luffy tilted his head and asked, "Why?"
Buggy: "He's a Devil Fruit user, and from what I can tell, a rather rare natural-type one."
Among the five people, only Zoro, a former pirate hunter who had traveled on the sea, had heard a little about it, while the other four had confused expressions on their faces.
Buggy couldn't help but feel a little proud, but before he could get too carried away for a moment, he was threatened by Zoro's knife and quickly spoke.
"Devil Fruits are divided into three categories - Animal, Parahuman, and Natural. Natural is the rarest of them all. Those who eat a Natural fruit will also possess a magical ability, which is elementalization."
"Elementalization?" Nami didn't quite understand.
"To put it simply, if the natural fruit you eat is flame, then your body can also turn into flames - can you touch the flames?"
Everyone was confused by Buggy's explanation. They probably could only fully understand this peculiar elementalization if someone actually demonstrated it in front of them.
Sanji looked at Buggy suspiciously, always feeling that he was unreliable.
"How do you know this?"
"Hehe, I was once a well-known figure in the Grand Line—"
Just as Buggy was about to brag a bit, he noticed the five people's increasingly suspicious looks and immediately changed his tone with a twitch of his mouth: "Well, that—the trainee crew member of the famous pirate group—is that okay?"
The five of them still had skeptical expressions on their faces.
Buggy finally got angry and yelled at Luffy.
"It's fine if they don't believe me, but why are you so skeptical even though you know that Shanks and I know each other? Didn't I tell you that I was a trainee pirate with him?"
"Ah, is that so?" Luffy said confidently.
"Maybe it's because I don't think you're worthy of being brothers with a man like Shanks."
"I don't want to be brothers with him either!" Bucky said angrily, forcibly bringing the subject back.
"In short—the only way to deal with a natural ability user is to learn Haki!"
"What is domineering?" This time all five of them were confused.
Buggy: ...
Bucky: "Don't you guys make any preparations before going out to sea?!"
"Hahaha." Luffy laughed heartily, as if the previous setbacks never existed.
And seeing his smile, even the worst situation seemed less hopeless.
Buggy slapped his face in despair, and continued to explain the definition of domineering with impatience.
Hold on, you must hold on, Bucky!
Whether you can leave the terrifying East China Sea and head for the Grand Line depends on whether you can fool these stupid little devils.
What devil fruit ability users, what domineering power can solve, it's all nonsense.
He can pull out devil fruits from the human body and eat so many devil fruits in one breath without dying. That guy is definitely not a human being, but a monster in human skin!
In this situation, staying in the East China Sea is tantamount to seeking death.
It would be safer to find another way and stay on the Grand Route where there are so many powerful people.
At least there's something tall to hold up the sky when it falls.
The Navy Headquarters and the World Government are both in the Grand Line. No matter how critical the situation is, it is not his turn as a small character to face the monster head-on.
Facts have proven that Uncle Baki has always had an aversion to people with red hair since he was a child.
The devil fruit was swallowed by the red-haired Shanks due to his interference, and was taken away by another red-haired man.
Damn it—once he reaches the Grand Line, he must stay as far away from those red-haired people as possible!
"Do you understand? Only when you reach the Grand Line will you have the opportunity to learn Haki! Only then will you be able to truly touch the enemy's body!"
Buggy became more and more passionate as he spoke, "If you don't go to the Grand Line, you will be trapped and die in the East China Sea, let alone save your family and friends!"
After saying this, he glared seriously at the five people who were frowning in thought.
In fact, after the brief encounter in Rogue Town, the five of them certainly knew that with their current strength, even if they stood in front of their opponents, they could only delay them for one or two seconds at most.
Just like Buggy said, only by going to the Grand Line and learning Haki can they truly stand a chance against their opponents.
Zoro, Sanji, Nami, and Usopp all looked at Luffy, waiting for him to make a decision.
Luffy lowered his straw hat, his eyes determined as he looked up.
"Let's go to the Grand Line!"
Yes——the deception was a great success!
Bucky cheered in his heart, but his expression was still sad and relieved.
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