BOOM!
The blood-colored Conqueror's Haki tore through the air like a doomsday wave, shredding the sky itself as it surged outward.
Everyone on the vast platform felt as if an invisible mountain had crashed down upon their chests. Breathing became difficult. Their thoughts blurred in the ringing of their skulls.
Even Boa Hancock—proud empress of Amazon Lily, bearer of the Love-Love Fruit, and one of the Shichibukai—was no exception.
For as long as she could remember, Boa Hancock had commanded attention. Whether it was her devil fruit's alluring power or her natural beauty, no man, no soldier, no noble had ever dared raise a hand against her. Even the highest echelons of the Navy would falter before her presence.
Yet here… here was a man who had not only looked her in the eye but unleashed a Conqueror's Haki strong enough to ignore everything she was.
"You insolent fool!" Hancock's voice cracked like a whip, her expression frosted with fury. "I am one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea! You dare raise your hand against me? Your Conqueror's Haki is nothing! Mine is—stronger!"
With a snap of her wrist, golden-hued Haki surged from her, spiraling like a hurricane as it crashed into Luoyu's crimson tide.
CRACK!
The sky flashed.
Lightning danced in the air as the two opposing wills collided, screaming across the battlefield in a maelstrom of divine pressure.
Then—
BOOM!
A deafening detonation. Arcs of black lightning ripped through the clouds. Wind howled. The earth groaned.
"Luoyu, have you lost your mind?!" CP0 screamed, barely managing to support the groaning, dazed Celestial Dragon Charlos. "You're releasing Conqueror's Haki here—do you not see Lord Charlos-sama standing right there?!"
But before CP0 could finish, another voice howled in panic.
"Get out of there! That guy's Haki is… different!!" Spandam, who had wisely put several hundred meters between himself and the platform, shrieked like a dying pig.
"Different?"
Hancock's eyes widened.
Too late.
Her golden Haki, mighty and blinding, had barely brushed Luoyu's red tide when it shattered like fragile glass.
It wasn't even a battle—it was a devouring.
Luoyu's crimson aura ripped her will apart in an instant, tearing through the air like a physical blade.
As the ground cracked and rose in jagged pillars, Hancock was hurled backward off her ship, screaming as she slammed into the sea below.
Even CP0, face twisted in disbelief, barely managed to throw himself in front of Charlos to shield him.
"Full-body Armament Haki!!"
But even his hardened defense was like tissue paper against a steel avalanche.
BOOM!!
Hancock and CP0 were sent flying like cannonballs, one into the dark waters, the other straight into the towering Gate of Justice behind them—along with the wailing Charlos, who bounced off the gate like a ragdoll in his bubble helmet.
The world stopped spinning.
It was supposed to be impossible.
A Warlord and a CP0 operative… flattened by a single outburst?
Only a few members of Hancock's crew were left standing. Most lay crumpled on the deck, unconscious from the shockwave.
"Big Sister! Watch out for the sea!" cried Marigold, struggling to balance herself on the trembling deck.
Sandersonia launched herself after Hancock without hesitation—but she, too, forgot the most basic rule of Devil Fruit users.
The sea is death.
They were all fruit users—none of them could swim. They plummeted toward the water, helpless.
And worse…
SPLASH!
From beneath the ocean's surface, a monstrous black shadow surged upward.
A Sea King.
Snapping its colossal jaws open, it lunged toward the falling women.
The impact of Luoyu's earlier Haki had drawn it near—injured, angered, and now eager to devour.
Terror seized every onlooker's heart.
Even Koby's face turned pale. "Admiral…!"
Luoyu's brows furrowed slightly. He hadn't expected this many twists in a single minute.
He glanced down at his pocket watch.
Twenty seconds to clock-out.
He sighed.
"…Tch. Unlucky beast. You just had to pick now of all times."
He shook his head, sounding genuinely regretful.
"If I don't deal with this, Old Man Sengoku's going to nag my ear off again…"
And then—
WHOOSH!
Luoyu vanished.
One moment, he stood on the shattered platform.
The next, he was already standing above the Sea King, suspended in midair like a specter.
The sea raged beneath him. The Sea King roared and twisted, sensing death.
Luoyu raised a single hand.
Hummmm—
The air trembled.
Winds howled. The ocean buckled.
And then, with a flick—
SLASH!
A crimson flash tore across the sky.
The Sea King screamed in agony.
Long, deep gashes bloomed across its body—splitting its enormous frame into dozens of chunks that rained into the sea like stones from heaven.
SPLASH!
Blood dyed the water red. Waves rolled. The scent of salt was replaced with iron.
And just like that—
Silence.
The Warlord, her sisters, and even the few still-conscious warriors of Amazon Lily landed atop the floating Sea King corpses, gasping, soaked, but alive.
They turned their heads slowly—upward.
There stood Luoyu, glancing once more at his pocket watch with a blank expression.
He landed softly on a broken piece of platform, not even sparing a look for the bloodied sea.
Around him, everyone stood frozen—too stunned to speak.
They hadn't even seen how he struck.
One hand. One motion.
A beast the size of a fortress—reduced to meat.
"…This can't be real…" muttered Tashigi, her voice barely above a whisper.
"…I didn't even see his blade…" Smoker's eyes narrowed in disbelief.
Koby trembled. "He didn't… even draw a weapon…"
And then, slicing through the stunned silence like thunder, came a howl—
"L-LUOYU YOU DARE—!"
CP0's shriek returned.
The battle… was not over yet.