At that moment, facing the twin blades thrusting toward him amid thunder and raging flames, even though Luffy's Observation Haki had already shown him the future where his chest was pierced through, elasticity had made him—and elasticity had doomed him.
Fourth Gear's tremendous elasticity gave him immense power and speed, but it also greatly increased the time it took to transition between moves. If he wanted to pull back early, he had to fight against that tremendous spring force himself.
So although he had seen it, it did him no good. The arms he had flung out would not come back, and though he wanted to retreat, those flying arms dragged at him and kept him from doing so.
In the end, Luffy could think of only one solution—inflate himself!
So he opened his mouth wide and gulped down air. In an instant, his body, already swollen much larger from Fourth Gear, expanded wildly again, turning in the shortest span of time into a round black balloon.
And at that moment, the blades of thunder and fire finally reached him.
Hiss—
Thunder inherently carried properties like paralysis and extreme heat, but Thunder God abandoned paralysis outright, choosing instead to push the high-temperature property to its limit. Rubber might not conduct electricity, but it feared high heat, because high heat could melt rubber.
Although Armament Haki covered his body's surface for protection, when the red-hot thunder blades struck Luffy's belly, a plume of white smoke rose, and his rubber stomach began melting at a visible speed.
Clang!
The two thunder blades sank in to the hilt, and Luffy screamed in pain. Everyone in the Straw Hat crew was frantic, but the rhythm of the battle had shifted too quickly on this side, and they had no time to intervene.
But in