Lucas: I Have No Dream, but I Can Protect Others' Dreams

The site where the town had been razed to the ground was pockmarked with craters, as if it had endured several rounds of saturated bombardment from a Buster Call fleet.

If not for the layers of ice Kuzan had continuously created to absorb most of the aftershock, the island would likely have been punched through, with seawater surging up from underground and turning this battlefield into a marshy lake.

A slender Ice Saber condensed in Kuzan's hand. Haki flowed along the blade as he gripped the hilt, swung it, and slashed at Lucas.

The ice blade split the air and slowly cut into the crimson Haki armor covering Lucas's body. The edge crept closer and closer to his neck, neither collapsing on contact nor carving through with unstoppable force.

The two fell into a contest of strength. Without a doubt, at this moment, their Haki was evenly matched.

"Soru."

Electric currents stimulated his muscle cells. Lucas vanished from where he stood and appeared behind Kuzan. The blood sword wrapped in crimson Haki drew a dark-red arc through the air as it slashed toward Kuzan's back.

A red glint flashed in Kuzan's pupils. His Observation Haki foresaw the direction and intensity of the danger in the fractions of a second before the sword arrived, and his body began to turn before his mind had even made a judgment.

Borrowing the centrifugal force of his waist, abdomen, and legs, he flung all his weight into the blade. The ice saber traced a chilling semicircle through the air and collided head-on with the blood sword.

The Haki of nearly identical strength annihilated each other at the point of impact.

The blood sword and ice saber were destroyed simultaneously the instant they met—a red-and-white firework exploding in midair.

With his cells activated, Lucas's neural transmission speed was faster. He extended his left hand, his five fingers like iron pincers, and clamped down on Kuzan's shoulder.

The ground suddenly collapsed. A deep crater several meters wide exploded beneath his feet, and amid the flying dirt and rubble, he shot upward with Kuzan to an altitude of more than a hundred meters.

Gripping Kuzan's shoulder, he hurled him down at the devastated ground below.

"[Kaichu Rakka]!"

Kuzan's body smashed toward the ground like a cannonball. The air beneath him compressed into a ring of white shockwaves, and his descent was so fast that his entire body blurred.

Rumble!

Like a meteor striking the earth, a small mushroom cloud rose from the impact point. The shockwave flattened every remaining standing ruin within several hundred meters. Thick, savage cracks spread outward from the point of impact, while dirt and rubble were hurled dozens of meters into the sky as if propelled by a volcanic eruption, then fell like torrential rain under gravity's pull.

The ground caved in, forming a sinkhole dozens of meters deep. The bottom was covered by a thick layer of ice, and white chill rose from its cracks, condensing into Kuzan's figure.

Standing at the bottom of the pit, he raised the back of his hand to wipe the corner of his mouth. Then he used Geppo, white bursts of air exploding beneath his feet as he shot out of the crater.

"Ah la la, that's quite a convincing imitation."

"There isn't much to this move. I learned it after watching it once."

Lucas was telling the truth. Kaichu Rakka, put simply, was grabbing someone in midair and smashing them into the ground.

The principle was so simple that any creature with hands and feet could understand it. The only difference was how much power the user could bring out.

"If that person heard you say that, he'd definitely beat you up."

Kuzan neither agreed nor disagreed. Honestly, he also felt this move did not involve much skill.

But he would never dare say that so casually. He had already been beaten enough for running his mouth as a rookie. Being beaten for saying the wrong thing when he was nearly thirty—what would that look like?

"Even if he were standing right in front of me, I'd still say it."

Lucas rolled his shoulders, his joints cracking sharply.

"This fight has gone on long enough. It's time to end it."

A pool of blood suddenly appeared on the ground before him. A high-pressure pillar of blood shot out from it, wrapped in Armament Haki and streaking toward Kuzan like a laser.

"[Ketsudanpa]"

The air was blasted into a cone-shaped white sonic boom.

Fast—far too fast.

Even though he had seen the future, there was no time to dodge.

In his haste, Kuzan could only defend where he stood. A hard wall of ice rose from the ground, several meters thick, with invisible Armament Haki flowing across its surface.

The instant the blood stream pierced the ice wall, a fist-sized hole exploded through its center, and cracks spread in every direction.

At the same moment the ice wall shattered, Kuzan appeared in the air dozens of meters away.

"[Higanbana]"

Lucas spread his fingers wide and clenched his hand in the empty air toward Kuzan.

Kuzan felt as though the blood inside his body had suddenly developed a will of its own, madly battering against his blood vessel walls as it tried to burst through his skin. Bloody spikes protruded from beneath his skin, their tips already piercing capillaries and raising countless tiny red dots across the surface.

A vast surge of Armament Haki erupted within his body. Excessive Haki flooded through Kuzan's entire body, forcing the blood spikes back inside. The boiling blood was violently suppressed, and that uncontrollable pulling sensation vanished in an instant.

It was precisely this instant of explosive Haki output that created a brief opening. Lucas had been waiting for this very moment.

Electromagnetic Force surged in his palm, and an incomparably thick crimson beam blasted out with a thunderous roar.

"[100,000,000 Volts: Electromagnetic Cannon]"

The terrifying blast of energy whipped up a towering storm. Wherever the beam imbued with projected Armament Haki passed, the ground looked as though a member of the Giant Tribe had brutally scooped away a chunk with an invisible giant ladle, leaving behind a perfect semicircular trench. The ice along its path evaporated into white mist.

Kuzan, struck directly by the Electromagnetic Cannon, saw the Haki armor on his body rapidly melt away.

The instant it completely vanished, the cannon's remaining energy slammed into him. Kuzan's body turned into a charred humanoid billowing black smoke as he fell toward the ground.

Lucas, in his seven-meter-tall Hybrid Form, flapped his bat wings and descended. Grabbing Kuzan by the back of his collar, he flew before Robin and casually tossed him onto the ground.

"Your nightmare is right here. Now, destroy it with your own hands."

As he spoke, he canceled his transformation and tugged at the only pair of shorts that had not burst apart. Clothes exploding during Zoan transformations was perfectly normal. After fighting for three days and three nights, having even a pair of pants left meant they were good quality.

Robin crossed her hands before her chest. Two fair, slender arms sprouted from Kuzan's shoulders, wrapping around his head from either side. Her wrists twisted with force.

"Thank you."

Leaving those words behind, she turned and walked away, fleeing into the distance as if escaping.

Lucas's current appearance was far too stimulating. Even the usually composed Robin did not want to stay here for another second.

Baccarat glanced a few more times, gave her man a flirtatious look, then turned and followed Robin away.

Once their figures had completely disappeared beyond the end of the ice field, Lucas lowered his head and kicked the still-smoking "corpse" at his feet.

"Stop playing dead. They've already left."

Kuzan opened his eyes, sat up from the ground, rubbed his tightly curled hair standing on end, and exhaled a puff of black smoke.

"Kid, you really didn't hold back."

The Haki armor had served as a buffer. By the time the Electromagnetic Cannon actually hit him, it did not have much power left, so he was not seriously hurt.

With his mastery of Haki, even if he temporarily erupted with excessive Haki to remove the interference from the Devil Fruit ability, he would not truly run out of steam.

Anyone who collapsed in the middle of a fight because they ran out of Haki did not deserve to become a future Marine Admiral.

"How else could I make her truly believe that you lost to me?"

Lucas sat directly on the ground without a shred of grace. If he had continued fighting, he could indeed have used the Mythical Zoan physique's extraordinary endurance to wage a battle of attrition, slowly wearing down Kuzan's Armament Haki reserves and truly defeating—or even killing—him.

But what would be the point? He had no grudge against Kuzan.

Not only did he have no grudge against him, but in a sense, Kuzan was even his benefactor.

Without this extreme sparring session that had lasted three days and three nights, he had no idea when his Haki would have reached the threshold of the "senior officer" level.

Yes, Kuzan's current strength was only at the senior officer level.

For someone who could not ride the Sun God's halo, they would only reach their peak around the age of thirty-five. If nothing unexpected happened, Kuzan would need at least another six years before he truly entered the level of a Marine Admiral.

Lucas had never seen an Admiral in their true prime, but he had seen Kaido. Through his Observation Haki, twenty-nine-year-old Kuzan's aura was an entire tier weaker than thirty-nine-year-old Kaido's.

The tier below the Yonko level was that of senior officers.

As for whether Kuzan had reached the level of the strongest senior officers—the second-in-command of a Yonko crew—Lucas did not know.

After all, he had never seen a true second-in-command at their peak. King, Katakuri, and Marco were all only in their twenties now. Like Kuzan, they were still on the road to growth.

"Kid."

Kuzan looked toward the gradually darkening clouds at the horizon and suddenly asked,

"Why do you desire strength so badly? Why do you want to become stronger?"

Lucas fell silent.

It was not that he did not want to answer. He truly did not know how to answer. More precisely, he had not found the answer yet.

In the past, he had focused single-mindedly on growing stronger only because strength was the guarantee for everything. Without strength, he could not even manage basic survival in this world.

What would he do after becoming stronger? He did not know. Before, he had sought strength in order to avenge everyone at the orphanage.

The revenge had been taken. What then?

At this stage, settling the score with Golden Lion was one goal. But what would happen after that revenge was done?

Become the Pirate King? Conquer the world?

He had no interest in it. At least, not now.

He thought for a long time. Silence spread between him and Kuzan, thinned by the cold wind sweeping across the ice field.

On the distant horizon, the last trace of the setting sun was sinking into the ink-black sea. The sky faded from orange to deep purple, then from deep purple to black.

Only then did Lucas finally answer:

"So I can live freely. So I can protect my family and protect their dreams."

After turning it over in his mind countless times, this was the answer he had finally settled on.

In a world of extraordinary powers, wasn't the pursuit of strength all about living with freedom and settling grudges without restraint? Wasn't it about having the confidence to protect whoever one wanted to protect?

His experiences at the orphanage had made him value family especially deeply. He himself had no grand ideal that absolutely had to be realized, but he was willing to protect those around him and help them walk the paths they wished to take.

The instant his thoughts became clear, an invisible aura broke through some kind of shackle and quietly spread from within him.

Like a gentle breeze, it swept up dust and broken ice from the ground.

The elevation of his spirit, will, and resolve allowed his Conqueror's Haki to take a steady step toward the next realm of "physical destruction."

One day, the breeze would become a storm that overturned the world.

"Ah la la, that's not a bad dream."

Kuzan stood up, dusted himself off, and gave Lucas a long look.

"Nico Robin is in your hands."

With that, he turned and walked toward the setting sun.

His tall figure gradually blended into the golden-red afterglow. He walked farther and farther away until he finally disappeared beyond the horizon.

TO BE CONTINUED

(PS: The spirit required to awaken Conqueror's Haki also comes in different grades.

The highest grade is freedom. Luffy, Garp, Roger, Shanks, and even Joy Boy all belong to this type.

Though the protagonist protecting others' dreams may carry a bit of a family-man vibe, freedom is still the core.

And there's nothing wrong with being a family man. Aren't Whitebeard and Gaban family men too? The Roger Pirates and Straw Hat Pirates also treat their companions as family.

Compared to freedom, ambitions like conquering the world are actually inferior.

No matter how much Oda loses it, he can't possibly alter Luffy's character at the ending. Whoever the final boss is, Luffy will definitely win through the core ideal of freedom, not tyrannical rule.)