Luffy Versus Luffy

Only three Straw Hats remain standing before Oars and Moria. Nami sees the ruined battlefield and cries, "It's impossible!! There's no way we can beat him!!" then realizes, "There's only the three of us against that monster...!!" Usopp has no tricks left either: "I agree!! We don't have any more tricks up our sleeves!!" Moria laughs from inside Oars and orders, "Go ahead and crush them, Oz!!" Oars advances, and the crew shouts, "Dwaaa, here he comes!!!" Usopp, staring at the unconscious bodies of his friends, refuses to accept that this is the end. Zoro, Nami, and Brook lie beaten nearby, and Usopp steps toward Zoro with a plan. "Usopp!!" someone calls. Usopp answers, "I'll create an opening...!!" even as Zoro grunts, "Hm?" and another voice asks, "Huh? What!?"

Usopp creates the opening by baiting Oars with a fake giant hammer gag. Oars notices the trick and says, "Ooh!! I see!! Roger that!!" while Usopp yells, "Gaga!!" Zoro uses the moment to move. He begins, "Santou-Ryuu..." and closes in on Oars's damaged right arm, the target Chopper identified. Oars realizes too late with a confused "Huh!?" as Zoro unleashes "Yasha-Garasu"!!! The slash carves across the stitched arm in crossing cuts, striking exactly at the old frostbite-damaged area. Zoro does not try to defeat the entire monster at once; he follows Chopper's diagnosis and attacks the weakness again, turning the medical insight into sword pressure.

Zoro's strike bites into Oars's right arm, and the giant roars, "Uoo!!!" Nami sees the effect and asks, "Wah!! He did it!! Did it work!?" Zoro keeps his focus, telling them, "Again and again with the right arm!!" Oars turns furious and growls, "You bastard!!!" Zoro answers with icy certainty, "I keep on telling you, it won't work." He launches another attack, "Tora Gari" - Tiger Hunt - and the blade sweeps into the injured arm again. The entire plan is repetition: no grand finishing blow, only concentrated damage to the same weak joint until Oars can no longer use that arm properly.

Zoro's follow-up strike leaves deep slashes across Oars's right arm, and the giant lashes out in pain and anger. The blow hurls Zoro through the rubble, and Nami screams, "Zoroo!!!" Even after being cut, Oars is still strong enough to punish anyone who gets close. Usopp shouts from the ground, "Hey!! Over here, Oz!!!" trying to pull the giant's attention away from Zoro. Oars turns toward him with a heavy "!!" and the battlefield becomes a desperate exchange of distractions. Zoro has proven the weak point can be damaged, but the cost is immediate: every attack on Oars requires someone else to risk being crushed.

Usopp's final chance seems to work. Something flies into Oars's mouth, and the giant pauses, saying, "...?" then, "Something went in my mouth..." Usopp collapses nearby, panting, while Nami asks, "What was that just now...? Usopp...!?" Usopp and the others realize what happened and whisper, "W... we did it!!" Then the hope bursts out of him: "W... we got him to eat the salt!!!" He laughs in triumph because salt is the zombies' weakness. Nami, still not fully understanding, asks, "Salt? What about salt!?" and Usopp explains, "Oh, you didn't know... Salt is the zombies' weakness!!" Oars's mouth hangs open as the crew believes Luffy's shadow is finally about to come out.

The apparent victory collapses instantly. The salt ball is caught not by Oars's throat, but by Moria's shadow. Usopp cries, "Get purified, you monster zombie!!!" and Oars groans, "Oooh," but the black doppelman rises with the sack labeled "SALT" held safely away. Usopp stares in disbelief: "...!! What!?" Nami realizes, "Why? That's Moria's shadow." Moria laughs, "Kishishishi!! I was protecting his body from inside, you moron." Then he strikes back. The shadow hurls Usopp away and Moria snarls, "You dropped this, long-nose!!!" Usopp is blasted with a "Bluheh!!!" while Nami screams, "Usopp!!!" The last of Brook's hard-won salt is no longer a weapon; it is bait in Moria's hand.

The crew understands the loss at once. Usopp lies battered, saying only "Bleh!!" while Sanji and the others cry, "Uwah!! The salt!!! The last of the salt that Brook collected!!!" Another voice curses, "Dammit!! Dammit!! That bastard!!" and someone says Moria is "mocking us...!!!" Moria confirms it with a cruel laugh: "Kishishishi-shishi!! You looked so happy for a second there. What a fool...!! Did you think I wouldn't be prepared, knowing that zombies have that weakness?" As Usopp struggles in rage with a desperate "Damn!!!" Moria makes Oars lift his foot and gives the next command: "Stamp"!!! The giant's foot rises over Usopp, promising to crush the last tactician standing.

Oars brings his foot down with terrifying force. Nami screams, "Usopp!!!" as the stomp smashes into the rubble near him and Usopp cries out, "Ah!!" The impact throws debris everywhere. Moria orders, "Keep on stomping!!!" and then, "Crush him into dust!!" while he laughs, "Kishishi-shishi!!" Nami tries to stop it, shouting, "Stop!!! Stop it!!!" but Oars continues to hammer the ground with Usopp trapped below. The scene strips the fight down to helplessness: the salt is gone, Zoro is down, and the last standing crewmate can only watch as Moria deliberately tries to grind Usopp into the ruins.

As Oars keeps crushing the ground, Moria notices another survivor and orders, "That woman, too!!!" Nami freezes with a sharp "!!!" while Oars's foot rises again. Moria checks the battlefield and says, "It looks like those guys on the ground are still breathing!! I don't want to be able to tell they're human when you're done!!!" He commands Oars to crush them all: "Crush them, crush them!!! Crush them all!!! Kishishishishi!!" Then an unfamiliar voice cuts through the carnage: "Hey!!! Giant guy!!!" Oars turns, and the newcomer asks, "What are you trying to step on?" His calm challenge stops the massacre for one instant.

Oars looks down and finds not another helpless victim, but a changed Luffy standing beneath him. The stranger says, "There's nobody under your feet!!!" Oars asks, "Who're you?" The crew recognizes him at once, even through the altered body and dark aura. They shout, "Monkey!!! D.!!!" and "Luffy!!!" Sanji, barely conscious, says, "Huh...!? Lu..." Usopp lies saved in the rubble and says, "We're saved..." while Luffy answers simply, "I don't know who you are, but that was close..." The figure before them is huge-armed, grim, and carrying a sword: Luffy has returned as Nightmare Luffy, powered by the shadows of the forest pirates.

Moria and Oars try to understand the transformed Luffy. Oars asks, "Wh... where!!?" while Moria stares and says, "You do resemble Luffy, but... Is that really you!?" Luffy answers, "It's really me!!" and the crew confirms, "Yeah, the way he talks...!!" Moria wonders, "Did he have the power to transform, too!? Or could it be... Just what happened!?" Oars does not care. "Hmph!! I don't care!! Destroy him!!" Moria orders. The giant lunges into "Gomu Gomu--" and prepares a "Rifle"!!! The Rolling Pirates watching from the side warn Luffy: they are sure he knows his own shadow is inside that zombie, and because Oars's body can stretch like rubber, he can use Luffy's own attacks too. Luffy stands still as the massive fist comes straight at him.

Oars's "Rifle" slams toward Luffy, the fist spinning and stretching with enough force to make everyone freeze. Chopper, Moria, Nami, and Usopp all watch in shock as the punch fills the battlefield. Luffy does not dodge. He reaches out and stops the giant fist with one hand. The impact cracks the air and kicks up rubble, but Luffy holds his ground. The stunned crew sees him standing there against Oars's arm, unmoved. Then Luffy tightens his expression and declares, "I'm the only Luffy there is!!!" The line turns the title into the central conflict: the shadow in Oars may imitate his techniques, but it is not Luffy.

Luffy answers Oars with overwhelming power. A dark shape streaks across the sky, and the people below look up in confusion. Someone asks, "Hey, something's flying this way." Another wonders, "What the heck is that?" Maybe a rain cloud, maybe a huge bird, they guess. Then the falling shape resolves into Oars himself, launched through the air by Nightmare Luffy's blow. The crowd screams, "Ehhhhh!?" and then, "It's Oz!!!" Oars crashes headfirst into the ground, his enormous body folding into the ruins with a massive impact. The same giant who had been flattening the Straw Hats moments ago is now being hurled around by Luffy like a defeated opponent.

Oars's huge body slams down again, shaking Thriller Bark and throwing waves through the forest of victims and zombies. He screams, "Gugaaa aahhh!!!" as the impact drives him into the ground. Moria tumbles and tries to understand what is happening, while Luffy lands heavily with a short "Goh!!" and stands near the fallen giant. Around them, voices cry, "What's going on!?" and "Uwaaaah!!!" Oars groans, "Oooaa agh..." then "Ooohh...!!" and finally "Nuuu!!!" as he tries to lift himself. Nami and Usopp stare in disbelief while Luffy and the shadowy aura of Nightmare Luffy dominate the battlefield. The impossible has happened: Oars, the monster that reduced the crew to three survivors, is down.

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