Gear Third

The Buster Call begins in full. From the warships, the order is given: "TRIGGERING THE BUSTER CALL!!!" The target is stated with brutal official clarity: "TARGETING THE PIRATE STRAWHAT LUFFY AND HIS GANG, APPROXIMATE COUNT: 60." The order adds one exception: "HOWEVER, UNDER THE PRIVATE AGREEMENT WITH ADMIRAL AOKIJI, THE CRIMINAL NICO ROBIN, WHO IS ON THE BRIDGE OF HESITATION, WILL BE EXCLUDED FROM THE TARGETS!!" Everything else is expendable: "OTHER DETAILS ARE UNIMPORTANT!! DESTROY THE ENTIRE JUDICIAL ISLAND, ENIES LOBBY!!!" Cannon fire rains over the island, smashing buildings and sending everyone into panic. On the ground, people cry, "TH-THEY'VE COME!!!" "THE BOMBARDMENT HAS BEGUN!!" and "UWAA-AAH!!!" The forces below already know the only answer: "WE KNOW THAT!!! TRY TO ESCAPE!!"

The Marines and allies scatter under the bombardment. Someone shouts, "ALL SHIPS, TAKE POSITIONS!!" while panic spreads across the bridge: "THOSE WARSHIPS WILL BYPASS THIS BRIDGE!!" and "THERE, LOOK, GUYS!! DON'T RUN!!" The reason is soon announced: "THE BRIDGE THE CRIMINAL NICO ROBIN IS ON WILL BE TEMPORARILY EXCLUDED FROM THE TARGETS!!" Spandam's pride turns that exception into self-praise. "WAHAHA, IT'S ALL BECAUSE I'M HERE!! RIGHT, MY DAD SAID SO, TOO!!" he laughs, and another voice admits, "IT'S ALL BECAUSE I'M THE CHIEF OF CP9!!" The others can only stare at the devastation. "... WHAT A HORRIBLE SCENE," someone says. Robin trembles and whispers, "I CAN'T STOP TREMBLING...!!" while Franky, wounded but still standing beside her, mutters through his breath, "HRM? HEY... YOU...!!"

Sogeking tumbles through smoke and rubble, yelling, "HURRY, GUYS!!!" and "MOVE IT!!!" The others grab him and drag him along, but he protests in heroic outrage: "DON'T SQUAWK LIKE YOU'RE ALL GREAT AND WHATNOT!!" He boasts even as he is carried, "I'VE GOT INJURIES ALL OVER MY BODY. ALL MY RIBS ARE BROKEN!!" and insists, "ALL SIX OF THEM." Sanji dryly answers that it is fine: "IT'S OKAY. YOU HAVE MORE THAN THAT... YOU'RE GIVING US TOO MUCH TROUBLE." Sogeking keeps shouting about his new weapon, "... BY THE WAY, GUYS! DO YOU WANT TO KNOW THE SECRET OF MY NEW WEAPON, KABUTO!?" and "LET ME EXPLAIN!! THE WEAPON 'KABUTO' THAT SOGEKING HAS IS...!!" Sanji cuts through the noise: "JUST SHUT UP, BASTARD, OR I'LL MAKE YOU RUN!!" Behind them, Zoro is still wounded and Sanji has to push the whole group forward while the tower area collapses.

The scene shifts to the underground passage below the sea. A small map shows Nami, Chopper, Kokoro, Gonbe, and Chimney on one side, while Zoro, Sogeking, and Sanji are on the other, all trying to reach one another through the shortcut. Suddenly water floods the corridor. Nami cries, "WHY WATER!!? WHA!!? WHY!!? THERE IS NO ESCAPE HATCH OR ANYTHING!!" Chopper panics, "WATER~~~!!?" and Kokoro, still carrying the others forward, yells, "WHAD IN DAH NAME O' BEER IS THIZZ?" The surge barrels through the passage with everyone running from it, and someone screams, "HEEEELP!!!" The flooding is not random. It is the result of Lucci's attack from the previous chapter, and the escape route is turning into a trap.

Inside the Bridge of Hesitation prop interior, the water keeps rising. The map identifies the arena as "Luffy vs Rob Lucci," and Lucci looks down at the flood he has caused. He tells Luffy, "WHETHER OR NOT THERE IS ANYONE IN THE PASSAGE, THE PATH TO THIS PLACE HAS BEEN CUT OFF..." Then he makes the threat plain: "IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME UNTIL THIS ROOM IS COMPLETELY FILLED WITH WATER." Luffy screams back, "BASTARD!!!" because he now understands that his friends may be trapped below. Lucci has turned the building itself into a weapon, using seawater to shut off escape and punish anyone trying to reach the bridge.

Luffy looks up as the ceiling and circular upper structure crack under the force of the battle and the bombardment. A Den Den Mushi connection clicks and coos, and Lucci points out that the room is still above sea level: "THIS PLACE IS LOCATED ABOVE SEA LEVEL, SO THE WATER WON'T REACH HERE." He also makes Luffy listen to what is happening outside: "YOU CAN HEAR THE SOUND OF THE WARSHIPS' BOMBARDMENT, CAN'T YOU?" Luffy stands across from him, battered and breathing hard, thinking of the others. The questions hang over him: "WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PIRATES...?" and "WHAT HAPPENED TO NICO ROBIN...?" Lucci uses every sound from outside as pressure, trying to make Luffy feel the battlefield collapsing beyond his reach.

Lucci tells Luffy, "YOU MUST BE WORRIED TO DEATH ABOUT THEM." He offers the bait directly: "IF YOU WANT TO SAVE THEM, GO AHEAD AND DO SO..." But Luffy refuses to turn away. "... I WILL NOT TAKE MY EYES OFF OF YOU," he says. Then he explains the decision with full certainty: "NO MATTER WHAT THEY ARE GOING THROUGH NOW, THEY WILL SURELY SURVIVE!!! BUT IF I LET YOU GET AWAY HERE... YOU WILL GO KILL MY NAKAMA...!!! I WILL NOT TAKE MY EYES OFF OF YOU!!!" Lucci only laughs, "FUFU...!" while, outside, Sanji snaps at Sogeking, "THE BOMBARDMENT HAS ALREADY BEGUN. BY THE WAY, GUYS... YOU, SHUT UP!!" Sogeking answers with a desperate "NO~~~!!" Luffy's faith in his crew becomes the reason he stays with the most dangerous enemy.

Lucci acknowledges Luffy's words with cold amusement. "YOU'RE REALLY CUT OUT TO BE THE BOSS. I WANT A CERTAIN IDIOT TO HEAR THAT." Then he asks the real question: "BUT WILL YOUR ABILITIES MEET THAT RESOLUTION?" Lucci attacks, warning that the same thing would happen "IF YOU DIED, TOO!!" He drives in with "SHIGAN!!!" and follows with "RANKYAKU," cutting and striking as Luffy struggles to stay on his feet. Luffy is hit hard enough to cry out, "UGH!!" but the challenge is clear: his resolve is unquestionable, yet Lucci is testing whether his body can actually carry it.

Lucci's leopard tail lashes out with "HYOUBI!!!" and sweeps across the ruined floor. Luffy is knocked and battered through the exchange, but he keeps closing the distance. Lucci asks him directly, "CAN YOU DEFEAT ME?" The question lands between them like a verdict. Luffy's answer is not a speech yet; it is the way he gets back in range after every hit. He is bruised, breathing hard, and still standing in front of the enemy who could kill his friends if he escapes.

Luffy finally says the rule that has been driving him: "IF I CANNOT DEFEAT YOU, I WON'T BE ABLE TO PROTECT ANYBODY!!" He launches himself forward with a spinning arm, calling, "GOMU GOMU" as the rubber coils stretch toward Lucci. The attack becomes "RIFLE!!!" but Lucci hardens his body with "TEKKAI" and takes the blow without falling. The failed impact shows Luffy that normal force is not enough. If he wants to stop Lucci before the flood and Buster Call consume everyone, he needs something beyond the attacks he has already shown.

Lucci counters immediately with "UTSUGI!!!" and turns Luffy's own force back against him. He explains the technique: "IT'S A COUNTER-ATTACK USING 'TEKKAI.' IF IT WERE AN ORDINARY PERSON'S FIST, IT COULD BREAK INTO PIECES." Then he admits Luffy is tougher than expected: "I THOUGHT I MET SOMEONE WITH GUTS, BUT I GUESS I WAS WRONG... AFTER ALL, THE EFFECTS OF THE EARLIER DOPING ARE NOW GONE." Lucci continues with a ranged strike, "FLYING 'SHIGAN' 'BACHI'!!!" Luffy pants under the damage, and Lucci's words make clear that Gear Second's boost has faded. The fight is entering the moment where Luffy must reveal another answer or lose.

Lucci keeps driving Luffy backward. A heavy strike sends him flying with "UGH!!" and another shot tears through the space around him. Lucci calls "RANKYAKU," and Luffy barely reacts in time, shouting "SHIT!!" before the slash rips past. He is knocked again with "UWAH!!" and skids through the ruined room. The page is a chain of impacts, but the important story beat is that Lucci now has momentum: Luffy is injured, Gear Second's speed has faded, and the room is still becoming more dangerous by the minute.

Luffy is hit by a "STAMP!!!" and drops back, panting. Then he stands again and changes the battle. "HAA... HAA... IF YOU WANT TO HAVE A BATTLE OF FORTITUDES," he says, "LET ME SHOW YOU... MY OTHER TECHNIQUE!!!" Lucci pauses, alert. Luffy grips his thumb between his teeth and speaks the word that gives the chapter its title: "GEAR" and then "THIRD." The quiet before the technique is almost heavier than the fight itself, because Luffy is choosing a power Lucci has not seen and one that clearly costs him something to use.

Luffy bites into his thumb and forces air into his body. "HAAAAA..." he breathes, then releases the technique: "HONE FUU-SEN!!!" The note of the move becomes visible as his arm swells grotesquely, a "BONE BALLOON" filled by the air moving "FROM BONE TO BONE." Lucci stares and repeats the idea in disbelief: "BONE...!?" Luffy displays the result with wild confidence: "BEHOLD!! THIS LEFT ARM IS..." His body remains small beneath the absurdly massive limb, and the page makes the new technique feel both comical and terrifying.

The enlarged fist looms in front of Lucci. Luffy names it with pride: "THE ARM OF THE GIANTS!!!" Lucci tries to dismiss it, saying, "IF IT'S JUST ALL LOOKS, DON'T EVEN BOTHER...!!" and prepares "TEKKAI!" Luffy begins the attack again: "GOMU GOMU..." His giant arm draws back with the mass of a weapon far beyond his usual rubber punches. Lucci hardens himself, confident that a defensive technique that stopped Rifle can stop this too, but the scale of the fist suggests the battle has changed completely.

Luffy's new attack lands with monstrous force: "GIGANT PISTOL!!!" The swollen fist smashes Lucci through the wall and into the outer tower structure, blasting stone apart and throwing debris across the sea-facing side of the building. Lucci's shock is visible in the narrow panel as the impact carries him away. The blow is so large that it looks less like a punch and more like a siege weapon fired from Luffy's body. Gear Third has finally answered Lucci's question about whether Luffy's abilities can match his resolve.

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