55: Chapter 55 Uncle will take you to a new world to wreak havoc!

Karl gave them absolutely no chance to recover!

His fists instantly transformed into countless afterimages that were impossible for the naked eye to track. The intense friction caused the air to ignite, turning into a dense, overwhelming barrage of violent fireballs as gorgeous and terrifying as a peacock spreading its tail!

"Boom, boom, boom, boom!!!"

The sky-filling Morning Peacock fireballs, with an absolutely destructive violence, instantly tore through the Haki defense that Luffy hadn't even had time to replenish, and then swallowed him and Ace, who had rushed up to rescue him, whole!

"Puh-wah—!!!"

"Urgh-ah—!!!"

Two extremely shrill screams rang out within the sea of fire.

The strength in Luffy and Ace's bodies was instantly wiped out, and they were sent crashing into a large mountain hundreds of meters away like two meteorites!

"Boom!"

The mountain collapsed, and countless rocks completely buried them.

Karl slowly descended from mid-air and, with a thought, deactivated the Eight Inner Gates state.

The terrifying aura that had been oppressing the entire island instantly dissipated, and sunlight streamed through the holes in the clouds, shining down upon the ravaged earth.

Karl didn't speak; he simply walked with extreme calmness to the pile of rubble.

"Clatter..."

From within the pile of rubble, a very weak movement could be heard.

Luffy and Ace lay at the bottom of the crater, covered in blood with their clothes in tatters, sprawled out on their backs.

They didn't even have the strength to lift a finger, their chests heaving violently.

Nine minutes and thirty seconds!

In the end, they still couldn't hold out for those last thirty seconds.

"We lost... ah..."

Luffy stared at the blue sky above with eyes swollen like walnuts, his voice extremely hoarse.

Ace also gave a wry smile, his eyes filled with a deep sense of powerlessness.

Uncle is truly a mountain too high, too difficult to overcome.

Just as they thought Karl would pull out his belt again to subject them to a round of extremely cruel mockery...

"Slap! Slap!"

Two sets of neatly folded new clothes, smelling faintly of soap, were accurately tossed onto their faces.

Luffy and Ace were stunned.

They struggled to move the clothes off their faces and looked at Karl, who was standing at the edge of the crater.

Karl stood with his hands in the pockets of his floral shirt, backlit by the sun. His face, usually filled with cunning and coldness, now wore an extremely gentle, perhaps even "kind," smile.

"If you aren't dead yet, hurry up and put on your clothes. Don't embarrass yourselves by lying there naked."

Karl turned around, his back to them, and said in an extremely calm voice:

"This graduation exam..."

"You two have barely passed."

P... passed?!

Upon hearing those three words, Luffy and Ace were stunned for a full three seconds.

Immediately after.

"Hahahaha! Hahahaha!"

The two boys lying at the bottom of the crater, unable to even move, suddenly burst into reckless, uproarious laughter!

They laughed until their lungs felt torn, laughed until tears streamed down their faces!

It had been a year! A whole year!

On this hellish island, they had experienced countless brushes with death and countless beatings from the belt.

Today, they had finally gained the recognition of this uncle, who was like a demon god!

They could finally set sail!

Listening to the unbridled laughter of his two nephews behind him, Karl couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle.

He took a deep breath of the salty sea air, his deep eyes slowly casting toward the end of the ocean.

There lay the New World, with its raging waves and dancing demons.

"Once you've laughed enough, get up and pack your things."

"For the past six months, I've been so busy educating you that I've neglected those ignorant fools out there."

"Prepare to set sail!"

"Uncle is taking you to the New World..."

"To wreck the place!!!"

"Woo—!"

A loud, rugged whistle blast completely tore through the dead silence of the Calm Belt.

Karl's warship, like a steel beast breaking free from its shackles, rode the waves and sailed out of the waters of Rusukaina Island with an incredibly arrogant demeanor.

Sunlight poured onto the wide deck.

Luffy and Ace had washed away the blood and mud, and had changed into the brand-new shirts and shorts that Karl had tossed to them.

The two stood side by side at the ship's rail, letting the slightly salty sea breeze blow against their faces.

After six months of hell-level death training, there was no longer a trace of the childishness and impatience that had once been on the brothers.

Just then.

"Splash!"

On the calm sea ahead, a monstrous wave suddenly surged up without warning!

A deep-sea killer whale, three times the size of a warship and with a mouth full of fangs like steel blades, suddenly burst out of the water!

Its bloodthirsty eyes, like red lanterns, fixed tightly on the people on the deck. It opened its bloody maw, large enough to swallow the entire ship, and bit down fiercely!

"Look out! It's an ultra-large Sea King!"

Smoker, who was squatting in the corner smoking a cigar, was startled. Instinctively, he drew the jitte from his back and prepared to rush up to block it.

Luffy, standing at the ship's rail, didn't even turn his head.

He just turned his face slightly with extreme impatience, his deep and sharp eyes glancing coldly at the killer whale in mid-air.

"Be quiet. Don't disturb Uncle's sleep."

"Hum—!"

Accompanying Luffy's understated words, a terrifying, tangible wave of Conqueror's Haki instantly surged out from his body!

Within this Haki, there was also a faint trace of extremely violent dark red electricity!

"Click!"

The arrogant ultra-large deep-sea killer whale froze mid-air the moment it came into contact with this Haki.

Its originally ferocious eyes were instantly filled with extreme terror; it rolled its eyes back and spat out a large mouthful of white foam.

"Thump!!!"

This terrifying behemoth, capable of overturning a small fleet, didn't even let out a scream before it fell straight into the sea like a giant rock, flipping its belly up and passing out!

The deck instantly fell into a deathly silence.

The cigar in Smoker's mouth fell to the ground with a "clatter," and he stood there as if struck by lightning, staring blankly at Luffy's back.

Just a single glance?!

Without even moving a hand, he instantly killed an ultra-large Sea King?!

"Monsters... what kind of monsters have these two kids been trained into by Mr. Karl over the past six months!"

Smoker swallowed hard, his scalp tingling.