Chapter 1173: Life Span Combat Strategy
Chapter 1173: Life Span Combat Strategy
Blocked?
Kuro smirked but quickly reconsidered. If Luffy had truly defeated Kaido head-on, wasn’t deflecting a mere wisp-slash reasonable?
Luffy pulled one arm backward and declared, “Gomu Gomu—”
Kuro narrowed his eyes. Stretching again? With such an exaggerated motion, he’d simply slice that arm off.
“Jet!”
Whoosh!
Kuro’s eyes widened as Luffy vanished from his spot in a blur too fast for even him to track.
“Giant Serpent Cannon!”
The voice came from behind him. Instinctively, Kuro swung his blade to block. An explosive boom rang out, and he clicked his tongue in annoyance, glancing toward the source. Luffy stood there, his fist crashing against Kuro’s parried blade.
No stretching—just a straightforward punch. Yet that punch alone sent a numbness through Kuro’s arm.
Kuro lowered his arm, twisting his sword to deflect Luffy’s fist sideways, then drove his elbow upward to shove Luffy’s arm skyward. Simultaneously, his blade erupted in bloodlight, cleaving across Luffy’s chest.
Bang!
The strike sent Luffy plummeting earthward, spinning twice midair before landing in a crouch like a squirrel. He looked up, grinning at Kuro.
“That feeling…”
Kuro raised his hand, staring at his Yokai Blade, then glanced down. The cross-shaped wound on Luffy’s chest now bore an additional horizontal white mark.
Yes—white.
“Elasticity?” Kuro narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
Kuro was no fool. Unlike the ostentatious klutz Klah or the bumbling duo Kas and Wilbur, he possessed genuine cunning.
How else could he have built countless techniques based on the Shinmeiryu Style? While those techniques borrowed names from his past life’s homeland, their principles were impenetrable even with those templates. It was Kuro’s innate genius that made them possible.
He wielded no divine power beyond the Shinmeiryu Style’s cheat ability. Without a deep blue realm or rugged recklessness to rely on, he’d reached this height through sheer self-reliance.
From their first clash, he’d sensed something different about Luffy.
That punch hadn’t used rubber’s signature “compression” to extend reach—just a swift, ordinary strike. Yet the fist itself carried compression’s traits, delivering a blow far more refined than his usual charged compression. Every strike and kick now carried that same sophisticated quality.
And the earlier slash—
The blade had struck rubber, yet there was something new. Luffy’s body held a rebounding elasticity that partially nullified Kuro’s strike, sending it slightly back. Only the raw impact had forced Luffy downward.
Devil Fruit Awakening’s strength, Supreme King Haki, and a body clearly forged through Conqueror’s Haki Infusion into a combat-ready form.
No wonder he defeated Kaido, Kuro mused grimly.
This form was far more durable than Kaido’s. But that wasn’t the critical factor.
Kuro narrowed his eyes. His figure vanished from the air, a gust of pressure rippling outward, rustling Luffy’s already spiky hair.
Luffy instinctively raised his arms, crossing them to block.
Clang!
A blood-colored blade appeared, and Kuro materialized with it, driving a downward slash.
“I saw it!”
Luffy grinned. “Your speed!”
“Is that so impressive?”
Kuro narrowed his eyes, grip tightening. “You think you can fight me in that condition?”
Blue veins throbbed on Kuro’s arm as he pressed down, overpowering Luffy’s guard. He launched a kick infused with Unified Haki straight into Luffy’s chest, sending him reeling backward.
“How much longer can you live?”
The words froze Zoro mid-breath, his gaze snapping to Luffy, who stabilized his stance.
Live?
Luffy’s body now emitted steam with every movement, the mist intensifying with each action.
This wasn’t how it used to be. When he first activated Gear Fifth, the steam hadn’t been this violent.
Was this the toll of exhausting physical strength after defeating Kaido?
Zoro recalled Luffy’s Gear Second debut—the same steam, and the price of rapid lifespan depletion.
“Hey, Luffy,” Zoro muttered, “didn’t you say the side effects vanished after developing Gear Fourth?”
“Hah!”
Kuro scoffed. “What joke are you trying to make, Roronoa Zoro? I remember our first meeting at Enies Lobby. You looked fine, but you were already a walking corpse. Without those two years to recover, you’d be dead.”
“Combat’s visible and invisible wounds—do you think a few days’ rest heals them? If you rely on a Devil Fruit’s Life Return to sustain yourself, maybe it works. But without Devil Fruit power, can you truly support this body? Of course not. To gain strength rivaling ours at this age, you must pay a price.”
“In the Grand Line, countless prodigies exist. The true genius is Charlotte·Big Mom! Even she, in her youth, couldn’t rival the Four Emperors. Even the old man spent his teens mucking around in the East Blue as a pirate. What makes you think you can punch Kaido and kick Big Mom without consequence?”
He turned to Zoro. “Your Conqueror’s Haki only temporarily tames that sword. Once your strength fades, it will devour you. A blade without a soul is indiscriminate—it submits only to those who dominate it completely. The weak, no matter how briefly they hold it, will be consumed.”
“And your captain…”
Kuro glared at Luffy. “Those Gear transformations—pumping air into your rubber body to accelerate blood flow, artificially boosting endurance. Maybe it lets you master Six Styles, but it shortens your life. Devil Fruit users remain human, not their abilities.”
“That technique expanding your body’s size? Pumping gas into bone gaps to forcibly reshape your structure—only rubber’s elasticity could allow that. But the pain, the long-term skeletal damage, ages your body prematurely, shortening your lifespan.”
“Gear Fourth itself is worse. Not only localized expansion but compressing air into every organ, bone, and blood vessel. It grants immense power, but the side effects dwarf the others. Prolonged use means a swift death.”
"And Gear Fifth... (I have to admit) you’ve mastered Life Return beyond even the Navy and CP’s experts. You’re burning vitality to sustain combat, using yourself as fuel. The fire burns bright, but how long can its flame last?"
How old was Luffy?
Twenty-one at most. Without this life-consuming battle style, his current Conqueror’s Haki Infusion and near-Advanced Observation Haki might make him a Grand Line legend—but not a Four Emperor.
Yet by burning his life to maintain peak strength, his Devil Fruit Awakening’s durability could wear down anyone. Even Kuro couldn’t escape that toll.
But how many years of life remained for him?
Not many.
(End of Chapter)
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