Bang!
Luffy spread his legs, crouching low with one hand resting on his knee. His eyes were resolute as he drew back his other fist and slammed it toward the ground.
"Gear Second!!"
Thump—thump—!
At his low shout, Luffy's heart began pounding like an air pump. As his blood flow accelerated, his skin gradually grew hot and flushed red, and white steam rose from his body.
Seeing Luffy enter Gear Second while his powers were sealed, Lina looked at him in surprise.
"You can use Gear Second now?"
"Yeah. I just have to speed up my blood flow."
"Don't make it sound so easy."
Lina gave Luffy a speechless sidelong glance.
Of course he knew how Gear Second worked. It was like taking an insanely powerful stimulant. He could even make his heart pound faster that way.
But without a rubber body, his blood vessels and heart would burst under the pressure. Even with his physical strength, he had to focus and control it precisely to prevent that.
And accelerating his blood flow as much as possible to boost his physical abilities, while staying within what his body could handle, clearly wasn't suited to a fierce battle.
One moment of accidentally pushing too hard, and his heart or blood vessels could burst. For Lina, the risks outweighed the benefits.
But Luffy was different. Thanks to his experience mastering Gear Second, it had practically become instinctive for him. He could do it with ease in the middle of a fight.
"Here I come!"
Luffy fixed his gaze on Teach, leaned forward slightly, curled his toes against the ground, then drove off hard with both legs!
Boom!!
Luffy shot forward in an instant, as fast as if he had teleported. The ground erupted in a dense web of cracks that spread rapidly,