She no longer hid deeper into the bushes, but instead proactively rushed out from her hiding spot, running wildly toward the cliff direction!
“Still want to run?” Garp followed like a shadow, his large hand grabbing over again.
This time he deliberately slowed down by half a point, seemingly wanting to see what tricks Luna could still pull off.
Luna rushed to the edge of the cliff and leaped down without any hesitation!
“Jump into the sea?” Garp was stunned, then sneered, “Silly girl, you’re a Devil Fruit user!” He followed and leaped off the cliff, moving even faster, arriving later yet taking the lead, his large hand grabbing toward the back of Luna’s neck—intending to haul her back before she hit the water.
But just at the moment Garp’s hand was about to touch Luna, Luna, who was in mid-air, suddenly twisted her body to face Garp, a smile mixing pain, madness, and the success of a scheme blooming on her face.
Her feet, at some unknown point, had already deeply embedded into the crevices of the rock wall on the side of the cliff!
Her rubber legs stretched to the limit, like two giant springs nailed onto the rock wall!
And her hands proactively welcomed Garp’s incoming arm—not blocking, but entwining!
“Rubber…
Shackles!”
Her arms entwined around Garp’s wrist and forearm like spirit snakes, layer upon layer, locking them tightly!
At the same time, her legs embedded in the rock wall suddenly contracted and released!
Not pulling herself back to the cliff wall, but pulling Garp toward the rock wall—more accurately, pulling him toward the direction of that recessed cave on the rock wall!
Garp was caught off guard.
He didn’t expect Luna to still have the strength to counterattack, nor did he expect her to use such a nearly suicidal method.
His body was pulled crooked by that immense elasticity, crashing toward the cave direction!
Meanwhile, leveraging the reaction force, Luna catapulted out in the opposite direction—toward the sea!
“Brat!
You!” Garp was both shocked and angry.
Armament Haki instantly covered his arm, about to shatter the rubber bonds.
But Luna’s goal had already been achieved.
The moment she catapulted herself out, she proactively untied the rubber entanglement, flying toward the sea surface like a kite with a broken string, while shouting with her last ounce of strength:
“Grandpa—!
Farewell—!
In one month after I find some beautiful female crew members, I’ll come back to Windmill Village to see you—!”
The voice drifted away in the sea breeze.
Garp punched the edge of the cave, sending gravel flying.
He steadied his posture and looked toward the sea—Luna’s small body had already smashed into the sea with a “thud,” splashing a bunch of water, and was then quickly swallowed by the waves, disappearing from sight.
“…” Garp stood at the edge of the cliff cave, looking at the surging seawater below, his expression as dark as the bottom of a pot.
He didn’t expect, truly didn’t expect, that this brat actually ran away using this method!
Jump into the sea?
For a Devil Fruit user, that’s suicide, but looking at that posture just now, she seemed to…
“Vice Admiral Garp!” Several navy soldiers poked their heads out from the cliff and shouted anxiously, “Do you need us to search the sea?”
Garp stared at the sea surface for a few seconds.
Suddenly, the corners of his mouth twitched, and then…
burst into earth-shaking laughter!
“Hahahahahaha!
Good!
Good little Luna!
You’ve got guts!
You’ve got brains!
You actually used the sea to shake off Grandpa!” He laughed until tears were almost coming out, “Would rather jump into the sea than leave with me?
Fine!
You’re awesome!”
Having laughed enough, he wiped the corners of his eyes, and his gaze looking toward the sea became complicated, with helplessness and annoyance, but deep down, hidden was a trace of imperceptible…
pride?
“Search my ass!” Garp waved his hand at the soldiers, “A Devil Fruit user jumping into the sea, by now they’ve either drowned or been washed away to who knows what corner.
The undercurrents in this nearby sea are complex; we can’t find her.”
“Then…”
“Return to the warship!
Come back in one month.” Garp turned around and strode toward the upper cliff, his back still straight, but his tone had a bit of a gnashing-teeth flavor, “Stinking girl, don’t let Grandpa catch you on the sea!
Otherwise…
I’ll definitely make you taste the full version of the ‘Fist of Love’!”
While cursing in his mouth, he was clear in his heart: that tiny figure wearing a straw hat had already broken free from her shackles in a way he hadn’t expected, truly stepping into that vast and dangerous sea.
At this moment, behind a hidden reef several hundred meters away from the cliff, Luna crawled out of the seawater, drenched, lying on the rock and coughing violently, spitting out several mouthfuls of salty seawater.
Her complexion was as pale as paper, her whole body soaked, her straw hat held tightly in her arms.
Her backpack on her back, thanks to proper waterproof treatment, wasn’t soaked much.
[ Underwater Adaptation LV301 (55/100) ]—the brief struggle in the seawater just now made this skill’s experience skyrocket.
[ Hold Breath LV134 (88/100) ]—almost really suffocated to death.
[ Willpower Resistance LV81 (70/100) ]
[ Obtained New Skill: Escapology LV7 (40/100) ]
The system prompts flashed continuously, recording her thrilling escape just now.
Luna panted, glanced back in the direction of the cliff, and could faintly hear Garp’s full-voiced scolding and the whistle of the warship setting sail.
She twitched the corners of her mouth, revealing an exhausted yet carefree smile.
“Finally…
escaped.”
Although the ship was destroyed, although she was injured, and although she almost drowned, but…
she was free.
She wasn’t dragged off to Colbo Mountain, and didn’t miss future possibilities.
Luna struggled to sit up and checked her backpack.
The valuables were all there, the straw hat was intact, but her own condition was terrible.
She found a dry rock to sit down, rummaged out the medicine and dry rations prepared by Makino from her backpack, simply treated the bruises on her arms, took a few bites of bread, and drank some water.
The sunlight gradually rose, and the sea surface shimmered.
In the distance, the dog-head warship had already turned around, sailing toward the open sea, gradually disappearing from view.
Luna looked at the empty coastline, where her “departure” had once been docked, now leaving only scattered floating planks.
She was silent for a moment, then took a deep breath and stood up.
The ship was gone, she could find another.
She was injured, it would heal.
But as long as she was still on the vast sea, as long as she still had this straw hat, and as long as the system was still running, her path was not cut off.
“I have to leave here first,” Luna looked around.
This coastline was too open; even though Garp had left, there was no guarantee that the navy wouldn’t leave behind informants.
She needed to find a more covert foothold to treat her injuries and then…
replan.
Her gaze cast further away, heading north along the coastline.
There were a few small fishing villages and a remote reef bay there.
Perhaps she could rest temporarily there and by the way…
“borrow” a ship.
Luna put the straw hat back on her head, pressed down the brim to hide her pale complexion and the exhaustion in her eyes.
She put on her backpack, took steps, and walked along the coastline toward the unknown ahead.
The waves still tirelessly beat against the shore, as if seeing her off, and as if foreshadowing the beginning of a brand-new adventure.
And Luna’s path as a pirate, after experiencing Grandpa’s “iron fist greeting” and the dramatic opening of escaping by jumping into the sea, finally…
truly opened its curtain.