"Eighteen minutes remaining until Buster Call." The warning echoed through the Den Den Mushi Franky had rigged into a makeshift countdown.
Luffy skidded backward from Kael's latest blast, his arms steaming from Gear Fourth.
"Zoro! Hit him again! He's still floating!"
"No need to tell me!" Zoro snarled, blades swirling. "Three Sword Style: Black Rope Dragon Twister!"
Kael's form blurred, dodging the attack in unnatural jerks. His voice was no longer fully his own—metallic and layered with the Hellix Core's presence.
"You are anomalies. You will be corrected."
But something flickered behind his eyes.
As Kael raised a hand to bend the space between them, Luffy growled, clenching his fists tightly. Steam billowed from his body.
"Gear... Fourth!" he roared.
The air popped and warped as his body inflated with compressed power. His form surged—muscular, springy, coated in Haki.
From a distance, the crew glanced toward the battlefield.
"Is that... Luffy?" Nami gasped.
"He's changed again," Robin murmured, eyes wide.
"That's our captain," Franky grinned. "Super strong."
"He looks like a balloon," Usopp muttered. "A terrifying, muscle-bouncing balloon."
"Yohohoho! He's so bouncy!" Brook laughed.
"Whatever he's doing," Sanji said, "he better hit harder."
The crew regrouped in the town plaza—scorched, cracked, and twisted by reality-bending forces.
Franky slammed a panel shut and growled. "The Core fought back. Full override failed. It's evolving."
"So we're back to square one?" Usopp asked, gulping.
"No," Robin said. "There may be another way."
She unrolled a worn piece of parchment. "At the northern pillar, I found this. A failsafe. A 'Heart Node'—a final core buried beneath the city. If we can overload it, it may sever the Core's link to Kael."
"And if it doesn't?" Chopper asked.
"Then it ends all of us."
As the Core's energy spread, the town fractured further. Streets twisted into staircases. The sky shimmered and inverted.
"We're running out of time," Nami said, calculating. "Franky, what do we need to do?"
Franky wiped sweat from his brow. "There's one tower above the Heart Node—its power relay. If we hit it with everything we've got, I can reroute energy through it to initiate a shutdown."
"All of us?" Brook asked.
"Everyone except Luffy and Zoro. You two keep Kael busy. The rest, come with me."
"So we're all together on this?" Chopper asked.
"We've got no choice," Robin said. "This is our last shot."
Luffy and Zoro – Central Battlefield
Kael descended slowly, surrounded by floating rubble. His body shifted between Kael's face and a blank, silver mask. Energy pulsed from his core.
Zoro pointed a blade. "We're ending this. Now."
"Kael!" Luffy shouted. "I don't care what that thing says—you're still in there!"
Kael hesitated.
"Don't forget me, Kael." Noel's voice. A flicker.
Zoro charged.
Kael countered with a blade grown from his arm.
Steel clashed. Sparks flew.
Luffy rocketed in. "Gomu Gomu no Kong Rifle!"
Kael's chest dented but reformed immediately.
The sky rippled.
Straw Hats – Heart Tower
The team arrived at a tower glowing with unstable light.
Franky gestured at the surrounding nodes. "We have to disable the shield before I can hack into the main system. Nami, Sanji, you handle the upper vents! Robin, Chopper—support me on glyphs. Usopp, Brook—create a perimeter!"
"Let's go," Sanji said, kicking off the ground. "Nami, stay close."
"I can handle myself," Nami retorted, summoning a storm cloud.
Robin's hands bloomed over the glyphs, tracing lines. "These markings aren't just code—they're ancient scripts. Chopper, pass me the frequency resonator."
Chopper fumbled but handed it over. "Got it!"
Usopp fired stun rounds at robotic drones. "We've got company!"
"Leave it to me! Yohohoho!" Brook leapt in, cutting through with a flash of ice.
Franky roared, opening his arm panel. "Shield almost down! One last push!"
Sanji ignited a flaming kick and launched it into a junction. Nami summoned a bolt of lightning at the same moment.
The barrier exploded.
"Core exposed!" Franky shouted. "Everyone, fire together!"
The Straw Hats unleashed their attacks—lightning, fire, ice, slingshot, and raw force.
The tower cracked, energy pouring from it in a brilliant spiral.
Franky – Heart Node Control Room
"Tower down! Routing energy!"
Circuits sparked. "Come on, baby, come on..."
Core feedback pulsed through the console.
Kael screamed in the distance.
Franky gritted his teeth. "Override. NOW!"
Kael froze mid-air.
A pulse rocked through him.
Zoro slashed.
Luffy punched.
Kael fell, hard.
Smoke curled from his body.
But then the Core roared.
Reality convulsed.
And Kael... rose again.
Only now, something else stood in his place.