I Am Honkai

What is an ideal? It is the imagined goal derived from rational thinking, a vision of perfection, and hope for the future. It is the aspiration to achieve the pinnacle of perfection in some pursuit.

"Becoming the Pirate King?"

Over her journey, after becoming the commanding officer of the "Sisters of Battle" division, Alyssa had heard many of her subordinates speak about their ideals.

Some wished to serve the Empire with glory, others sought self-improvement through combat, some hoped for a comfortable retirement, and still others dreamed of a future where the "cursed children" in their hometowns were no longer discriminated against.

All of these were positive and uplifting. But this? This was a first for her. A desire to become the king of thieves?

Alyssa had seen plenty, but this was a whole new level of absurdity. A thief king? Really?

Was this "getting down to earth" or "getting down to the underworld"?

Repeating the words of the person who had said them, Sanguinius also seemed momentarily stunned. "So, he wants to be a thief? And not just any thief—he wants to be the king of thieves?"

"How interesting... Is this a unique cultural product of this world's societal order? A dream of becoming a thief—a pirate, a pirate king."

Though he didn't fully understand how this world defined pirates, Sanguinius couldn't help but feel a pang of disgust.

In the Empire's legal system, anything involving the word "thief"—be it a burglar, pirate, mountain bandit, or pickpocket—started with branding and hard labor as a minimum punishment, with no upper limit to the severity of sentencing.

Want to go to jail? Forget it—no such leniency exists. The Empire doesn't support freeloaders.

Well... the only person the Empire officially supports as a "freeloader" is me, Selene!

Staring at the simple-minded boy who had just sent one of her "Sisters of Battle" flying, Alyssa was full of questions.

"This short guy—is he sure he's a thief? He doesn't look or act the part."

The boy in question, who had stretched his arms moments earlier, now landed on the dock. He was short, carrying a massive pack that was larger than he was, and wore a fake, comical mustache.

Under his straw hat, tufts of black hair peeked out. He sported a red vest, blue half-length denim shorts, a yellow sash at his waist, and simple straw sandals. Across his chest was a large, X-shaped burn scar.

With his wide-open mouth, straight white teeth, and an endlessly optimistic smile, he exuded an air of cheerful simplicity.

"Hey, Luffy! Long time no see!"

On the Thousand Sunny's deck, a man wearing a gaudy Hawaiian shirt, with his chest bare and only a pair of shorts on, stopped his bizarre dance and raised a boxy mechanical arm to wave.

"Yo, Franky! I didn't expect you to be the first one here! Thanks for taking care of the Sunny! Hahaha… I'm so happy—we can finally set sail again! Are the others here yet?"

Removing the comical mustache from his face and setting down the massive pack, Luffy energetically waved his arms, his face lit with uncontainable joy.

"Not yet, Luffy. You're the second to arrive."

"Are they stupid? Aren't pirates supposed to be brutish, sneaky, and ugly? This shorty doesn't match anything Sebas told me about the Caribbean pirates," Alyssa muttered, crossing her arms as she exchanged a glance with Sanguinius.

"Lady Alyssa, don't be deceived by appearances. Few things in the world are as they seem. Anyone seeking to be a thief will find no acceptance in the Empire," Sanguinius declared coldly, then raised his hand to issue an order.

"Blood Angels, capture this thief. Dead or alive—it doesn't matter! As for that ship and the cyborg, capture them intact if possible."

Such arrogance. Sanguinius didn't care what special cultural meaning the word "pirate" might hold in this world.

Now that the Imperial Expeditionary Army had arrived, this world was destined to fall under the Empire's rule. All existing systems would be dismantled, and every resource would serve the Empire.

Expecting to live as a thief under the Empire's governance, contributing nothing and surviving by looting? Laughable.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Sensing danger with his Observation Haki, Luffy grabbed his pack and leaped into the air just as the ground beneath him was effortlessly shredded and shattered by gunfire.

Imperial standard bolters fired explosive shells with a caliber of no less than 0.75 inches. The roar of these weapons was leagues apart from the crack of flintlock pistols.

"Whoa! That was close."

Mid-air, Luffy threw his pack toward Franky on the Thousand Sunny. "Hey, Franky, this is a gift from Hancock for everyone!"

Landing in a crouch, Luffy grinned at the red-armored warriors surrounding him from all sides.

"I don't know who you are, but the Sunny isn't yours to take. I still have to wait here for my crew, and I won't let you disturb that."

"I'm going to be the Pirate King!"

"Second Gear!"

With the sound of pressurized steam, Luffy's skin turned crimson, and vapor rose from his body as if he had taken a performance-enhancing drug.

A sudden gust of wind stirred as a Blood Angel warrior lunged forward, wielding a power hammer crackling with Honkai Energy disintegration fields.

Whoosh!

The hammer swung down, but Luffy bent backward sharply, using his ridiculously undersized height to his advantage and dodging the strike. His legs stretched and lashed out with a powerful kick aimed at the warrior's hand.

"Gomu Gomu no Jet Bullet!"

Boom!

The ground cracked, and a shockwave rippled outward as the Blood Angel stumbled back three paces.

Luffy, meanwhile, was sent flying from the recoil, somersaulting twice in mid-air before landing tens of steps away.

Staring at the surrounding Astartes warriors, Luffy muttered to himself, "Wow, your armor is amazing! I couldn't even budge it. Are you guys with the Navy?"

The Blood Angels remained silent. To them, this was just enemy drivel. As long as no one insulted their Empress Selene, they wouldn't be provoked.

Bang!

"Gomu Gomu no Jet Whip!"

Clang!

"Gomu Gomu no Jet Mace!"

As the Astartes warriors closed in, Luffy's steam-cloaked figure zipped and twisted, dodging chainswords, power swords, and lightning claws with as much agility as he could muster.

Though he managed to send several Astartes flying, they quickly regained their footing, shook off the impacts, and resumed their assault.

Luffy's rubber body provided him with exceptional immunity to blunt force trauma. He could shrug off bullets from flintlocks and cannonballs without Haki.

But against cutting weapons like Mihawk's greatsword or the chainswords wielded by the Astartes, his defenses faltered. His attacks lacked the lethality of those same cutting weapons.

Even a standard Astartes soldier, clad in composite Orichalcum power armor and underlaid with Tyrant cellular electronic muscle fibers, was almost impervious to Luffy's attacks below Gear Third.

As the fight dragged on, Luffy realized this. Though naive, he wasn't stupid.

If he continued to be surrounded without escalating to Gear Third or higher, he would likely be unable to overcome these armored soldiers.

Boom!

With a sudden explosion of a bolter shell, Luffy's body was violently thrown backward.

Shhh!

"Can't defend against bullets?" Supporting himself with his hands on the ground, Luffy swiftly retreated, adjusting his straw hat as he glanced at the small wound on his abdomen, from which blood dripped.

The bolter shell—far larger than a lead shot from a flintlock—had hit his rubberized body. While the initial impact was powerful, it was still within his tolerance. However, the secondary explosion that followed was entirely unexpected.

Unlike the blunt, penetrating damage caused by spherical lead bullets, the bolter shell's conical tip detonated on impact, delivering devastating damage that Luffy's unarmored body could not fully withstand.

Lowering the brim of his hat, Luffy's face grew serious. "Your weapons... they're really dangerous. Looks like I need to get serious."

A dark sheen of black Armament Haki covered his steam-emitting arm. Then, clenching his thumb, he bit down hard and exhaled deeply.

"Gear Third!"

Vwoom—!

As he began inflating his arm, it grew monstrously large before everyone's eyes.

"Gomu Gomu no Elephant Gun!"

Once the enormous fist was fully coated in the blackened Haki, Luffy leaped into the air, drawing his arm back before launching it forward with tremendous force.

The sheer size of the fist far surpassed the frame of any Astartes warrior.

"Scatter! Create distance immediately!"

One Blood Angel officer shouted the order as he raised his own arm, its oversized gauntlet glowing with thick, reinforced plating. Waves of violet-red Honkai Energy began to surge from his armor.

Crackle!

The disintegration field of the power gauntlet activated just as the crimson fist collided with the blackened giant fist.

BOOOOM—!

The resulting explosion was deafening. The ground beneath them shuddered violently, and a shockwave rippled outward, lifting a massive cloud of dust and debris. The terrain was reshaped as concentric waves of destruction radiated from the point of impact.

A towering plume of smoke rose, obliterating half the dock in an instant. The Thousand Sunny, moored at the shoreline, was sent skimming backward over a hundred paces by the towering waves that followed.

Thud!

The shockwave was so intense that it sent Alyssa jumping reflexively off the ground.

"Sanguinius, this Luffy character seems quite capable. His abilities are interesting too—it's like he's made of rubber. I wonder... is he an insulator?"

Turning to face him, Alyssa's eyes burned with battle lust. "Aren't you going to step in? Relying on the soldiers isn't going to cut it against... well, the so-called Pirate King, is it?"

Watching the fight through the clearing dust, Sanguinius nodded slightly. "His ability to gigantify his limbs and the effect of that black aura do significantly enhance his destructive power and strength."

As he spoke, the dust settled, revealing the Blood Angel officer being thrown backward. His body gouged a long trench into the ground before he was caught by his fellow warriors, who finally halted his momentum.

"Don't trouble yourself, Lady Alyssa. I'll handle him."

In the next instant—BOOM!!

With a slight flap of his pure white wings, a shockwave erupted, tearing the ground apart and leaving a jagged trench of rubble in his wake.

"Luffy, is it? You should know—being a thief is not a worthy path."

"What?" Luffy, whose enlarged arm was still deflating, froze for a moment as a gentle voice echoed near his ear.

Before he could react further, a golden gauntlet, nearly as large as his entire torso, crashed into him with incredible force.

WHAM!

The blow drove the air from Luffy's lungs. His body arched backward as he flew, propelled by Sanguinius's overwhelming strength.

Whoosh!

Under this immense force, Luffy's body tore through the air like a cannonball, splitting the sky with golden light and ripping apart the dense cloud layers above.

Zoom!

The golden streak shot across the sea, slamming into the trunk of an enormous Yarukiman Mangrove at Area 60. The collision reverberated with a sharp crack.

Crack!

BOOOOM!!!

The mangrove tree's central trunk gave way, tilting and collapsing with a deafening roar. Dust and debris filled the air as a towering mushroom cloud rose from the impact, shaking the entire area.

Crash!

Luffy finally came to rest, buried beneath the rubble of several destroyed buildings.

"Ugh... cough, cough..."

Emerging from the rubble, his battered body shed the remnants of his Armament Haki as he gasped for breath. His appearance was utterly pitiful—blood trickled from his mouth and nose, one of his front teeth was broken, and his nose appeared crooked from the impact.

"Little brat, I'll ask only once: surrender, and you may bask in the glory of the Empire."

Before Sanguinius could finish his offer, Luffy instinctively shouted at the mention of surrender.

"I refuse! I'm going to be the Pirate King! I'll never give up!"

"Stubborn fool!"

WHAM!

Sanguinius raised his knee and brought it down in a crushing stomp on Luffy's chest, pinning him deep into the ground.

BOOM!

The earth beneath them fractured and split apart.

In an instant, Sanguinius's stomp had driven Luffy several meters into the ground, compacting the soil and raising a thick cloud of dust that obscured the two figures.

Whoosh—!

Spreading his angelic white wings, Sanguinius created a powerful gust that cleared the dust, revealing Luffy embedded in the earth.

Gazing down at him, Sanguinius's eyes glowed ominously red. He lowered his blade, the Crimson Fang, which crackled with faint crimson arcs of a disintegration field.

Thud!

The blade's tip struck the ground, sending a web of cracks radiating outward.

"Let me ask you again—what kind of king did you say you want to become?"

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