Chapter 20: Gomu Gomu no Thruster!!

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【Yoo-hoo~~~】

[On the shimmering sea, a few seagulls skimmed low across the water's surface.]

[Under the bright sunlight, Luffy lay sprawled in the small boat’s cabin.]

[A straw hat covered his face—the farewell gift Shanks had given him on the day the Red-Haired Pirates left Windmill Village.]

[Though Luffy and Shanks hadn’t spent much time together, Shanks’ influence on Luffy was undeniable.]

[Back then, when Luffy held prejudices against pirates, Shanks’ casual remark—"Pirates live life as they please!"—completely changed his perspective.]

[Yes!]

[Pirate or Marine—it didn’t matter. One’s identity didn’t define good or evil.]

[The key was to live with no regrets, doing what felt right in your heart.]

[Just as Luffy relaxed under the warm sun and gentle sea breeze, the calm waters suddenly churned into a massive whirlpool!!!]

Tony Tony Chopper: "Whoa! Red-Luffy ran into a whirlpool too!"

Sanji Vinsmoke: "Is Luffy really this unlucky? He set sail three years earlier, yet he still couldn’t escape a whirlpool?"

Usopp: "This whirlpool is so cruel—it must’ve been lying in wait for Luffy!"

Franky: "Haha! So our Luffy got ambushed by this whirlpool three years early?"

Monkey D. Luffy: "Wow! That whirlpool is several times bigger than the one I encountered!"

Nico Robin: "This doesn’t look good… Unlike White-Luffy, who had a wooden barrel to rely on, Red-Luffy’s boat only has water pouches—no containers to help him survive."

Robin’s words immediately drew everyone’s attention.

Sure enough...

While Red-Luffy’s boat was larger than White-Luffy’s, there were no barrels or sturdy objects aboard that could save him from the vortex. Instead, all he had were collapsible water bags—useless against such a force of nature.

Capone Bege: "...Could Straw Hat Luffy over there actually die like this...?"

Trafalgar Law: "Not likely. Even weakling White-Straw Hat survived his first encounter with the sea. Red-Straw Hat’s strength far surpasses that—he won’t go down so easily."

Shiki: "Jahahaha!!! Youngsters, you truly know nothing about the horrors of the sea! On these waters, survival often has little to do with power."

[During the Battle of Water 7, if not for an unexpected storm, Roger’s Pirate Crew might have been wiped out entirely! The same storm allowed them to narrowly escape while decimating the Sky Ocean Pirates—and even Shiki nearly perished!]

Dracule Mihawk: "Indeed. If Luffy weren’t a Devil Fruit user, he’d stand a better chance. But as it stands, his odds of surviving something like this are slim."

Shanks: "No, Luffy isn’t going to die so easily."

Others might doubt, but Shanks understood something crucial—Luffy might very well be the destined individual Roger had waited for!!!

Earlier, the viewing system had rewarded Luffy with the awakening of the Gum-Gum Fruit!

And Shanks knew exactly what that meant.

A destined person... wouldn’t perish so casually. If he did, he wouldn’t be worthy of fulfilling destiny.

[The whirlpool roared like a monstrous beast beneath the waves, its gaping maw swallowing everything within range into the abyss!]

[Luffy stirred awake at the commotion. Standing up, he gazed at the scene before him with mild surprise.]

[Scratching his head, he muttered:] "The sea sure is unpredictable. One moment it’s calm, and the next, you get a whirlpool like this..."

[The small boat spiraled toward the center of the vortex, caught in the violent currents.]

["Looks like sailing freely on the seas requires having a navigator onboard."]

[Luffy rubbed his chin thoughtfully, seriously pondering the issue.]

Nami: "A navigator, huh? Hmmmm, sounds like my cue~"

Roronoa Zoro: "Hey, hey, hey! At a time like this, how can he still be thinking about stuff like that?! Is Red-Luffy just as scatterbrained as ours?"

Sanji Vinsmoke: "Of course! They’re the same guy—equally scatterbrained!"

Monkey D. Luffy: "Wait… are you guys talking trash about me?"

Trafalgar Law: "...Indeed, Captain Straw Hat is definitely a bit scatterbrained..."

Urouge: "What? Is he really going to get swallowed whole by the whirlpool?"

Basil Hawkins: "Odd… I randomly divined Red-Luffy’s fate, and his survival rate is 100%..."

[The whirlpool raged on, waves crashing violently!]

[It seemed inevitable that Luffy’s tiny boat would be completely consumed by the vortex.]

["Good thing I ate the Gum-Gum Fruit back then. Otherwise, I’d be completely out of options right now..."]

[Muttering softly, Luffy’s arms and legs suddenly stretched out like four thick ropes, firmly anchoring the boat in place!]

[Then, he opened his mouth wide and sucked in deeply!!!]

[The air above the sea surface rushed toward him as though drawn through a vent, pouring into Luffy’s gaping maw...]

[In an instant, his belly inflated dozens of times its original size—and it kept expanding rapidly, growing longer and larger with absurd exaggeration!!!]

[Luffy now resembled an enormous balloon being blown up—not round, but shaped more like a sausage used for modeling...]

[From above, looking down at the ocean, Luffy appeared connected to the boat via a massive airbag hundreds of times bigger than the vessel itself...]

["Gomu Gomu no Thruster!!—"]

[With a thunderous roar, the "giant sausage" began spewing air furiously!!!]

[A torrent of air blasted out of Luffy’s mouth, causing his upper and lower lips to flap wildly like flags in a hurricane!!!]

[The tremendous thrust propelled the boat forward with incredible speed!]

[Against the raging current, the boat surged ahead, quickly escaping the grasp of the whirlpool...]

!!!

When this scene unfolded, the entire chatroom fell silent.

Everyone’s jaws dropped open in shock!

Their minds froze, utterly overwhelmed by the image of that massive, two-hundred-meter-long "sausage."

Chapter end