Kaido stood in the middle of the ruins, with the Hassaikai on his shoulder, looking at the trembling Straw Hat Boy with his head down, his disappointment growing heavier and heavier.
That's it?
Roy raved about this kid like crazy, calling Sun God Nika.
What Joy Boy, he got a few whacks and this is what happened.
He couldn't even speak.
Kaido shook his head, the smell of alcohol emanating from his nostrils.
"It's pointless."
He Luffy towards Luffy, each step making a dull thud on the gravel.
"I thought you could hold on a little longer, but it seems I was wrong."
Luffy kept his head down, the brim of his Straw Hat hat obscuring his face.
His body was trembling, his fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
Kaido walked up to him, looking down at the brat who wasn't even as tall as his waist.
"If you can't speak, then never speak."
The Hassaikai are raised high.
The black and red Inazuma coiled around the spiked club pulsed wildly, drawing a ferocious arc across the night sky.
Kaido didn't hold back with this strike.
He didn't want to play anymore.
Since this kid is already useless, let's just send him on his way.
The Hassaikai, imbued with destructive power, crashed down.
Just as the spiked club was about to strike Luffy's head, Luffy.
He didn't look up, but his right arm lashed out like a whip.
The arm underwent a dramatic change the moment it was swung out— Armament Haki erupted from its pores, turning the entire forearm a deep, dark black, even more so than the night itself.
Immediately afterwards, black and red Inazuma exploded from the fist.
It wasn't the faint, scattered arcs of electricity from before, but a real, well-formed, Conqueror's Haki Inazuma that spread in all directions like tree roots.
Inazuma and Armament Haki intertwined, forming an energy layer on the fist that kept expanding and contracting.
Kaido's pupils suddenly contracted.
He tried to pull back and defend, but it was too late.
Luffy's fist slammed solidly into his abdomen.
The power of that punch was completely different from before.
It wasn't the penetration of Ryuo, nor the hardening of Armament Haki, but the true Conqueror's Haki Coating—
He compressed his Conqueror's Haki to its maximum, then wrapped it around his fist, releasing it all at the moment of attack.
Kaido felt his dragon scales being dented by the impact, and then the domineering energy penetrated through the scales and skin, exploding inside his muscles.
Black and red Inazuma shot out from behind him, exploding into a dark red spark in the night sky.
Kaido was blasted away.
His massive body, nearly seven meters tall, rolled across the ruins, smashing through several boulders before finally crashing heavily into a broken stone pillar.
The stone pillar snapped in half, and rubble collapsed down, burying Kaido beneath it.
The entire roof of the Skull Hall fell into a deathly silence in that instant.
Everyone stared blankly at Luffy.
Zoro stood up, leaning on his sword, his golden eyes filled with disbelief.
Sanji dropped the cigarette he was holding onto the ground, and his mouth opened so wide it could fit an egg.
Kid's metal arm stopped halfway through its formation, his face showing an expression as if he had seen a ghost.
Apoo's right arm was ruined, but he forgot about the pain at that moment, staring wide-eyed at the black and red Inazuma still dancing on Luffy's fist.
"... Conqueror's Haki Coating?!"
Hawkins' hand, which was about to flip the cards, froze in mid-air, and for the first time, a look of discomposure appeared on his poker face.
"When did he learn that?!"
Nine Red Scabbards Kin'emon who remained conscious, knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his wrinkled face, but he wasn't crying; he was laughing.
The kind of smile that appears only after witnessing a miracle.
" Luffy... you did it..."
At that moment, in a secret chamber deep within Onigashima, Roy opened his eyes.
His Telekinesis covered the entire Skull Palace, and nothing that happened on the battlefield escaped his perception.
Luffy's punch just now—it wasn't a coincidence, nor was it a fluke; it was a true manifestation of Conqueror's Haki Coating.
Although it was still very rough, and the way it was condensed was still clumsy, it was indeed Conqueror's Coating.
In just a few days, he went from knowing absolutely nothing to having a basic grasp of the subject; this speed of progress cannot be explained by talent alone.
Roy put down his coffee cup and shook his head.
He recalled the countless battles he had fought in order to master Conqueror's Haki Coating.
It took a lot of practice to hone this skill.
And what about this kid?
He learned after getting hit a few times.
"That's really... unreasonable."
Roy muttered a curse under his breath, but a smile crept onto his lips.
He closed his eyes again, his Telekinesis continuing to cover the battlefield.
Luffy's Awakening is still one step away from completion; he has only mastered the Conqueror's Coating and Awakening Nika.
But at least, he has taken the most crucial step.
Amidst the ruins, Luffy looked down at his fist.
The black and red Inazuma were still slowly dancing on the surface of the fist, making a faint crackling sound.
He could feel that power—completely different from Ryuo's; it didn't seep in from the outside, but erupted from within.
When he was struck by Kaido's spiked club, that domineering force entered his body in that way.
Now he finally understands.
Conqueror's Haki Coating involves compressing Conqueror's Haki to its maximum intensity and then wrapping it around the fist.
Release all of this power at the moment of attack.
It's very simple.
But it's also very difficult.
If he hadn't been hit by Kaido so many times, he would never have been able to master the secret of this power.
Luffy looked up at the pile of rubble that buried Kaido.
Kaido stood up from the pile of rubble, his body still steaming.
He glanced down at his abdomen.
There was a deep fist mark on the dragon scale there, the edges of the scales were broken, and a few traces of blood seeped out.
Kaido reached out and touched the fist print, his fingertips smearing with dark red blood.
He held his finger up to his eyes, then burst into laughter.
"Ooh lol lol lol--!!!"
Kaido's Conqueror's Haki erupted once more, and black and red Inazuma spread wildly outwards from him.
The rubble was shaken and bounced up from the ground, and a suffocating sense of oppression filled the air.
He finished laughing, lowered his head, and stared at Luffy with his vertical pupils burning with fighting spirit.
" Straw Hat Boy —you really didn't disappoint me!!!"
Luffy grinned.
His fist clenched again, and the Conqueror's Haki Inazuma coiled around him once more, even more steadily than before.
Luffy clenched his fist and turned to look at his wounded companions behind him.
Zoro could barely stand by supporting himself on his sword, and blood dripped from his hand down the hilt of the blade.
Sanji's right leg was still trembling slightly; the numbness from being struck by Lightning hadn't completely subsided.
Although Kid's metal arm had reformed, his breathing was heavy and labored, like a broken bellows, and his magnetic force had been pushed to its limit.
Luo leaned against the broken stone pillar, his face deathly pale. The continuous use of the Op-Op Fruit had nearly exhausted his strength.
The Nine Red Scabbards fared even worse; less than half of them could still stand, and all of them were injured.
Luffy looked at them and suddenly spoke.
" Torao."
"You still have the energy, right?"