A straw hat drifted slowly down through the air on the wind until a large hand caught it.
Holding the straw hat, Shanks walked step by step into the ruins of the collapsed castle and stopped beside Luffy, who lay on the ground with several huge boulders pinning down his limbs.
After such prolonged exertion, Luffy could no longer maintain his Nika form. His black hair had returned, and blood flowed from the enormous sword scar across his chest.
Now that the battle had paused, all the accumulated pain and exhaustion came crashing down on him. Luffy found even breathing incredibly difficult.
Just as Beckman had said, he no longer had the strength to fight Shanks again.
".What a shame. Looks like it's not time for me to take this straw hat back from you yet."
Shanks smiled softly, crouched down, and placed the straw hat over Luffy's forehead.
"I'll have to ask you to keep looking after it, Luffy."
".You're really strong, Shanks. I thought I could definitely beat you this time."
Luffy sighed regretfully. The hat slid off his face and fell to the ground as he stared blankly at the azure sky.
"Hahaha, well, don't be discouraged, Luffy."
Shanks chuckled and sat cross-legged on the spot, gazing at Luffy with satisfaction.
"You've already done incredibly well to get this far. If we fought again, I might not necessarily win for sure."
"Really?!"
"Yeah, really."
"Then let's fight again, Shanks!"
Luffy pulled his limbs out from beneath the rocks and sprang upright in an instant, fighting spirit blazing in his eyes once more.
"This time, I definitely won't lose again."
"Forget it."
Seeing how fired up he was, Shanks waved a hand with a look of disgust and refused.
"I'm tired, I'm tired. More than fighting, I just