Chapter 471: Inferno at the Castle: Battle Against Oars

“Bastard!”

“How dare you… how dare you…”

Sanji, regaining his composure after the humiliation, could feel the flames of anger burning through his entire body. Using Moonwalk, he shot up in a blur and landed right in front of Oars’s massive face.

“Flaming Mountain Barbecue!”

His legs unleashed a barrage of rapid-fire kicks, each one as swift as an afterimage. In moments, hundreds of blows struck Oars, driving the giant back until he stumbled and crashed onto the roof of the castle.

Boom, boom, boom!

A quarter of the castle warped under Oars’s massive weight, burying countless zombies inside before they could escape.

“Run for it!”

“Hurry, move! Move!”

“If we don’t scram now, everyone’s going to get buried down here!”

“You’ve got a point!”

Word spread like wildfire—one to ten, ten to a hundred. All the zombies working inside the castle scrambled to find any exit they could and dashed outside.

Perona, who was controlling her ghosts outside, noticed the chaos instantly. She quickly recalled every ghost back to her real body. She had to flee, since her main body couldn’t move at all while manipulating ghosts.

If she ended up getting trapped under the rubble before she was done playing, she’d be dead before she knew it.

Boom!

But Oars’s retaliation was just as fast. Before Sanji could even move out of the way, a colossal fist came crashing down from above, pounding him into the ground like a nail.

“Tch!”

“Damn, that fist is tough.”

Hauling himself out of the crater, Sanji felt his bones creak and groan. This was the first time since unlocking his ‘Iron Body’ that he’d actually pushed his skeleton past its limit.

In truth, he was Judge’s most perfect creation.

Charlotte Linlin wasn’t born with skin of steel—it was something engineered by the World Government through secret means. Judge had managed to acquire the same method and wasn’t above experimenting on every child he had.

The first three kids didn’t count as successes—they became nothing more than cold, obedient machines. Only Sanji retained true human emotion.

“Flaming Mountain Roast!”

Facing Oars’s hulking size and brute strength, Sanji could only target the joints—those were the weak points he could exploit.

“Heheheh!”

“Straw Hat, looks like your crew’s about to bite off more than they can chew.”

“Then I’ll just have to send you flying!”

“Huff!”

“Gear Third—Giant Pistol!”

Luffy bit his thumb and blew into it hard, causing his right arm to balloon to dozens of meters long within seconds.

“With just that? You really think you can send me flying?”

Moria raised his massive blade and swung it down at Luffy’s fist.

The air erupted with sparks as their attacks clashed, forcing both of them to leap back.

“Gum-Gum—Battle Axe!”

Boom!

But Moria wasn’t foolish enough to take every attack head-on. Luffy’s sluggish strikes couldn’t keep up with Moria’s quick movements, so his blows kept missing.

“Shadow Lance!”

With his left hand, Moria conjured a spear out of solid shadow and hurled it at Luffy with deadly force.

“Gum-Gum—Gatling!”

Luffy’s fists blurred into a flurry, trying to shatter the incoming Shadow Lance. But since the spear was made of shadow, Haki barely made a difference—and Moria’s real target wasn’t Luffy himself, but his shadow.

Clang!

“What’s the matter, can’t move?”

As the Shadow Lance pinned Luffy by his shadow, he suddenly found his body freezing up. No matter how hard he tried, his mind couldn’t will his arms or legs to move. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the spear stuck in his shadow and realized that was the cause.

“Once my Shadow Lance hits, as long as your shadow is pinned you’re stuck there—unless you’re stronger than me, don’t even bother trying to break free.”

By now, Moria’s strength was solidly at admiral level. Luffy just wasn’t powerful enough on his own to break free.

Shing!

A crisp sound rang out as a blade was drawn, and a flash of sword light slashed through the Shadow Lance, then wheeled toward Moria’s body.

It was Zoro, along with Brook and Franky, joining the fray.

“Tch, so that didn’t work?”

Zoro had heard what Moria said and wanted to test it for himself. But even his Haki-coated slash couldn’t sever the Shadow Lance.

“So now there’s even more of you? They’re your friends too, right?”

“Your name’s Luffy, right? So what made you set out to sea?”

Moria’s own sources had filled him in on Luffy’s crew. He was genuinely curious—Luffy never killed or plundered, only drew headlines for attacking Enies Lobby.

But for a pirate, isn’t that par for the course?

Marines and pirates are born enemies—Marines hunt pirates, pirates fight back. That’s just how it is.

Moria had Luffy’s entire file from Karl. His grandfather was a Navy Vice Admiral, so Luffy had all the chances in the world to rise through the ranks—why go pirate and throw it all away?

“I’m Luffy, and I’m the man who’ll be King of the Pirates!”

Boom!

Moria lunged forward and punched Luffy in the head, sending him flying. He then cupped his hand to his ear and sneered.

“King of what, exactly?”

Moria wasn’t just mocking him—the reality was, Luffy’s crew had no chance against any Yonko in the New World. How could he dream of becoming Pirate King?

Right now, every Yonko crew had at least two admiral-class powerhouses—not to mention a dozen vice admirals and hundreds of rear admirals beneath them.

If all four Yonko crews ever united, even the Navy and World Government would feel a chill down their spines. Where did Luffy find the courage?

Shaking off the hit, Luffy regained control of his body, wiped blood from his mouth, and stared up defiantly, fire blazing in his eyes.

“I will be Pirate King. No doubt about it.”

He crouched low, then launched himself like a missile at Moria, snapping his right arm back before whipping it forward with crushing force.

“Gum-Gum—Rocket!”

“Kid, you really don’t know just how high the sky goes.”

Clang, clang, clang!

Every punch Luffy threw at Moria was blocked by that giant blade.

Luffy’s frantic assault started draining his stamina fast. Noticing things weren’t looking good, he broke away and kicked straight into Gear Fourth: Bouncing Man.

“Gum-Gum Python!”

Moria knew that once Luffy was in Gear Fourth, things might get complicated.

Truth was, Ye Fan didn’t want Luffy to unlock Gear Fifth just yet—since that form shortened his life, he wanted to save Luffy’s first Gear Fifth for the Summit War.

So Moria let the savage Gum-Gum Python land square in his stomach. His insides churned and he was blasted straight back, smashing hard into the castle behind him.

Boom!

Meanwhile, inside the castle, Usopp had just found Perona lounging in bed and was aiming with his sniper rifle. Suddenly, the whole place shook with the massive impact.

“What the heck? What’s going on out there?”

He grumbled but pressed his eye back to the scope—only to break out in a cold sweat the next moment.

“Where’d she go?!”

The bed was empty. Perona, who’d been resting there a second ago, had vanished without a trace.