Chapter 997: One Punch Man

Chapter 997: Chapter 997: One Punch Man

"G-Golden Ring Aeridar...?!"

Luffy’s eyes instantly went wide. Horror struck him as he took a sharp step back, his heart plunging straight to rock bottom.

He had never expected this man to show up in person, let alone so rapidly and completely unannounced.

"What are you doing here?" Betilla looked at Aeridar in sheer astonishment, scanning him up and down. "Why didn’t you send Enel instead? Are you absolutely sure that old hag Big Mom won’t notice you leaving the frontlines?"

Betilla had been under the impression that Enel would be the one arriving as reinforcement, especially at a critical juncture like this.

She never anticipated that her own captain would dare to abandon the main battlefield while locked in a direct showdown with a Yonko. Was he incredibly reckless, or did he simply not view a Yonko as a threat at all?

"Just playing it safe. Besides, it won’t take me very long," Aeridar replied dismissively, flashing a bright, sunny smile at Luffy.

"Damn it!" Luffy gritted his teeth, glaring at Aeridar, his rage boiling over at how thoroughly he was being underestimated.

Yet he refrained from acting on impulse. From their previous clashes, he knew all too well that the man standing before him was a monster among monsters. More importantly, he needed to alert his crewmates and tell them to run as far away as possible!

"Let’s hurry this up. Every minute of my time right now is incredibly precious," Aeridar said with a cruel grin. He casually tilted his neck, letting out a sharp CRACK. Then, glancing at Betilla, he waved his hand to dismiss her. "Go hunt down the others first. Let’s make this quick."

Seeing Aeridar step in to claim her opponent, Betilla pouted in immediate protest. "Captain! I already said I was going to take the Straw Hat boy’s head myself!"

At that moment, Luffy could no longer hold back. He let out a furious roar: "Aeridar! Don’t you dare look down on me!"

BOOM!

Luffy slammed his feet into the ground and launched himself forward, leaving behind a shattered crater of tiled floor. Moving at a speed nearly invisible to the naked eye, he materialized right in front of Aeridar in a fraction of a second.

"Gomu Gomu no... Leo Rocket!!!"

Accompanying Luffy’s enraged shout, his heavily bulked arms extended at blistering speed, driving his fists straight toward Aeridar’s face.

"Beat it!" Aeridar’s gaze turned icy cold as he spat out the words.

BANG—

RUMBLE!

In the next heartbeat, a terrifying impact erupted from Aeridar’s body like an absolute repulsive force. A violent gale surged forward, blasting everything in its path outward. The bluestone tiles on the floor were completely ripped up as the ground itself was violently plowed a foot deep. Even the walls dozens of meters away shattered into debris, exposing the corridor behind them.

Luffy stood absolutely no chance against such a cataclysmic shockwave. Plunged into the blast, he was sent flying dozens of meters back, bouncing and skidding a massive distance across the ground after he hit the floor.

A thick screen of earthen dust billowed into the air, settling over the corridor like a dense fog.

"Idiot. To think he dared to run wild in our base with such pathetic skills. He really doesn’t know his place!" Betilla tossed her head back proudly, a hint of disdain flashing through her beautiful eyes.

Having spent so many years with the Chris Pirates, she had witnessed exactly how they survived in the New World where powerhouses stood as thick as clouds. She knew exactly how the man before her had attained his current peak, and she understood better than anyone the terrifying depth of power sealed within his body.

The Worst Generation? The Eleven Supernovas?

In front of a true monster, they weren’t even worth mentioning!

Clatter, clatter...

Suddenly, the sound of shifting rubble echoed from behind. Aeridar turned his head to see Gin stepping out from a breach in the wall, fresh blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

"Captain, you actually came yourself!" Gin couldn’t hide the surprise on his face when he saw Aeridar standing there.

Whish—

Right then, a violent gust of wind howled through the corridor, blowing away the thick dust as a dark blur surged outward.

Luffy was using his body’s elasticity to fly through the air, hurtling toward Aeridar once again. His high-speed approach brought a fierce, cutting wind that instantly dispersed the remaining haze.

Luffy’s objective was now crystal clear: he had to stall this man at all costs. The more noise he made, the better. He had to ensure Law and his crewmates realized as early as possible that a monster had arrived on the scene!

"Captain, watch out!" Gin blurted out, recognizing the familiar assault.

Aeridar, however, had anticipated it long ago.

Reading Luffy’s intentions like an open book, Aeridar let out a mocking sneer. "You don’t honestly think you can stall me, do you?"

"Iron Fist!"

Aeridar’s eyes flashed with lethal intent. Stepping forward, he instantly closed the gap between them. His fist struck out like lightning, carrying a terrifying, hurricane-like tempest as it buried itself deep into Luffy’s abdomen.

Kwaaghk!

Amidst the howling gale, Luffy didn’t even have time to register the hit before hacking up a massive cloud of blood. His entire body turned into a black streak, launching backward with a sharp SWOOSH. He tore down the hundred-meter-long corridor in an instant, hitting a solid, half-meter-thick concrete wall with a thunderous CRASH that shattered the masonry as if it were soft tofu.

The momentum didn’t stop there; he continued to plow through countless reinforced walls amid a succession of deafening cave-ins until he vanished entirely from Aeridar and Betilla’s sight.

"O-One hit..."

"As expected of Captain Aeridar... He ended it in a single blow!" ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"Of course! That’s Captain Aeridar’s fist for you!"

"That Straw Hat kid is nothing compared to him!"

Seeing this sequence, the guards stationed at the gateway broke out into cold sweats, their faces etched with awe and reverence.

"No matter how many times I see the Captain’s power, it never ceases to amaze me," Gin murmured in awe.

He knew his own strength was quite respectable, and during his clash with the Straw Hat kid, he had clearly felt the young captain’s formidable power. Yet, even against someone that strong, it only took a single punch from his captain to settle it. The gap between them was simply astronomical!

Meanwhile, inside an intersecting corridor within the Weapons Testing Grounds.

"Lu... Lu... Luffy—!!!"

"Luffy!!!"

Chopper and Brook stood frozen, staring at the wall before them in utter disbelief. A massive, cratered indentation nearly three meters wide and webbed with fractures marred the concrete, and Luffy was embedded right in the center of it.

Neither of them could comprehend how this man, eyes rolled back, blood spilling from his lips, and completely stripped of consciousness, could possibly be their captain.

What on earth had happened? Weren’t they just supposed to be running a sabotage mission? Who could have beaten Luffy into such a horrific state?

Just as Chopper and Brook snapped out of their shock and rushed forward to pull Luffy down from the crater, the sound of approaching footsteps behind them caught their attention.

"Who’s there?!"

They spun around in unison, dropping into defensive stances.

"A raccoon dog and a skeleton. Looks like I’ve bagged two more."

Aeridar walked through the jagged breach in the far wall, a calm smile on his face as he materialized before Chopper and Brook.

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