Nagato in One Piece - Chapter 9

“Please tell me everything you know about the Light of Shandora, the Golden Bell,” Nagato said calmly to the Shandians, his words sending a chill through everyone present.

“Hey! Are you planning to take that too?” Sanji, who had been listening quietly, lit another cigarette and exhaled a smoke ring, glaring at Nagato.

“The City of Gold is crucial to my plans,” Nagato replied, turning around. “Yes, I need to take all the gold.”

“Ugh…” Nagato’s direct answer left the Straw Hats speechless for a moment before their shock turned to righteous anger.

“So you’re a bad guy too!” Chopper was the first to speak, pointing a hoof at Nagato before quickly hiding behind Sanji.

Robin remained silent. She had met Nagato first but hadn’t interacted much. His sudden appearance, mysterious strength, and strange behavior made him hard to figure out.

Sanji continued to smoke quietly, taking a deep drag, a clear sign of tension. At this moment, Nami, who loved gold the most, tried to mediate, waving her hands. “Hey, you’ve already got so much gold. That should be enough, right? The Golden Bell belongs to Shandora, and it’s been lost for so long. Why make things difficult? Let’s not get everyone so tense…”

“If I could avoid doing this, I would,” Nagato said, shaking his head regretfully. “But right now, I need all the money I can get. I’m sorry.”

“Stand down, Nami.”

Nami wanted to continue persuading him, but Luffy had spoken.

No matter how much she usually teased or hit Luffy, when the captain gave an order, she had to obey.

Worriedly glancing at everyone, Nami slowly retreated.

Luffy’s serious gaze locked onto Nagato from under his straw hat. “I’ve decided, I don’t like you.”

Nagato’s expression remained unchanged as if waiting for Luffy to explain.

“So…” Luffy spread his legs, pressed his left hand to the ground, and held his hat with his right. “I’m gonna knock you out!”

With that, he charged at Nagato!

While the Shandians were still overwhelmed with guilt over Noland, the resentment and hostility Nagato had accumulated with the Straw Hats, coupled with this latest provocation, finally caused Luffy to explode!

“If anyone should fight me, it should be the owner of the Golden Bell,” Nagato said, dodging Luffy’s punches and kicks. “What’s your problem?”

“That bell symbolizes the friendship between Uncle Chestnut’s ancestor and Shandora! I won’t let you ruin it!” Luffy shouted, stretching his arms back. “Gomu Gomu no…”

“Gatling Gun!”

In an instant, dozens of punches rained down on Nagato like machine gun fire, each punch’s wind stinging anyone nearby.

However, to Nami’s sinking heart, Nagato didn’t even use his mysterious abilities from his fight with Enel. He merely dodged Luffy’s attacks with his body, effortlessly avoiding Luffy’s most powerful move, indicating he still had plenty of energy left.

This kind of attack was, of course, useless. Even though people in the pirate world were stronger in body and martial arts than ninjas, Luffy was still too weak. Nagato evaluated Luffy’s strength, concluding that he was at most on par with an elite ninja specializing in taijutsu, posing no threat to Nagato.

“Shoulder Meat!”

Seeing the situation turn dire, Sanji couldn’t remain idle, despite knowing it might anger Luffy. He joined the fight to support Luffy.

“What!”

But Sanji’s strength was comparable to, if not weaker than, Luffy’s. It made no difference to Nagato whether he faced one, two, or ten of them. He sidestepped Sanji’s attack, grabbed his right leg, and smashed him into the ground!

“Sanji!” Luffy, seeing Sanji hurt, forgot to be angry and shouted, stretching his leg to sweep at Nagato.

Nagato, unfazed, moved at a speed too fast to follow, ducking low like a lizard, avoiding Luffy’s sweep while using a mild gravitational pull to redirect Usopp’s attack towards Luffy’s leg.

Bang!

“It’s burning!” The explosive star hit Luffy, burning his leg.

“Ah!” Usopp panicked, thinking he had missed. “I’m sorry, Luffy, I missed!”

“Leg Meat! Waist Meat!”

Meanwhile, Sanji sprang up, rapidly kicking at Nagato’s knees and waist.

Nagato might have underestimated their resilience and recovery ability, far exceeding an elite ninja’s.

However, the huge difference in strength meant Sanji’s quick recovery was ineffective. Even with Nagato’s temporary response, he blocked Sanji’s kicks with his hands, turning the attacks into mere echoes in the air.

“Since you’ve chosen to fight me, stay down.” Nagato lunged at Sanji, raising his right hand, and in the blink of an eye, Sanji was slammed into the ground, his limbs raised, body embedded deeply.

“Gomu Gomu no… Rocket!”

On the other side, Luffy, his anger flaring, launched his special attack at Nagato!

Bang! Bang!

But after two heavy thuds, Nagato easily caught Luffy’s fists with both hands, barely budging.

“How…” Nami, watching, felt her legs give way, sitting down, whispering, “He’s… on a different level…”

Luffy, struggling to pull his hands back, found them tightly gripped. “Gomu Gomu no… Pistol!”

Nagato, unfazed, grabbed Luffy’s wrists, pulling him closer, and delivered a series of rapid punches to his chest and abdomen.

Bang bang bang bang bang bang, bang bang, bang! Nine rapid punches landed, but Nagato felt something was off. Unlike Sanji, Luffy didn’t bleed but only retched, spitting out some stomach acid.

“Gomu Gomu no… Headbutt!”

Sure enough, despite being bent backward like a shrimp, Luffy’s head stretched back and sprang forward, aiming at Nagato’s head.

“I forgot, the rubber fruit grants immunity to most blunt force.” Nagato realized.

Even powerful punches couldn’t seriously harm Luffy. Only Haki could counteract his rubber body.

However, despite this slight advantage, the gap in strength meant Luffy’s attacks were ineffective. Without even using the Rinnegan, Nagato dodged Luffy’s straightforward attack with sheer speed and precision, unleashing a sharp gust from his mouth.

“Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!”

“Ahhh—”

Fueled by Nagato’s immense chakra, the wind release formed a high-pressure wind pillar, tearing Luffy’s chest and pushing him back, smashing through multiple buildings.

Once the fight started, the promise not to damage Shandora was off the table.

In less than two minutes, the main fighters of the Straw Hat Pirates were down.

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