Red-Haired and Whitebeard's Contact

By Yaen's original estimate, even if Enel couldn't defeat the current Straw Hat Pirates, the power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit should have allowed him to escape with ease. He hadn't expected Enel, apparently out of pride or some kind of obsession, to fight the Straw Hat Pirates to the death in God's Country without retreating, ultimately losing and falling unconscious.

"Eh... wait..."

Yaen suddenly thought of a possibility. Could Enel have gone this far because of my encouragement... and then gone completely off the rails?

Yaen's expression stiffened slightly before he muttered, "It should just be Enel's pride that caused this. But Luffy's growth speed really is astonishing..."

He immediately shifted his attention back to Luffy.

Unlike the relatively vague newspaper report, which focused more on the outcome, Yaen had already received detailed intelligence about the entire battle.

Kong and Ying hadn't participated in the battle against Enel. After Luffy had been defeated by Enel twice, Sanji, Zoro, and Reiju joined forces to stall for time. Luffy then rose to his feet twice more under Chopper's emergency treatment, ultimately defeating Enel's Billion Volt Thunder God Form head-on with Gear Three.

Overall, Yaen was quite satisfied with Luffy's rate of growth. Although Luffy had relied more on the restraining effect of his Devil Fruit ability against Enel, he had also fully mastered coating himself in Armament Haki during this battle, and had developed his Devil Fruit ability to the level of Gear Three.

At the very least, this proved that even without Kong and Ying, the current Straw Hat Pirates weren't completely powerless against an enemy on the level of a Marine Admiral.

As for what came next, Kong would probably teach Luffy the unique Ryuo Haki of Wano Country and then guide him toward the waters of the New World