"What do I take my friends for? Of course, they're my friends," replies Hao. "But I only accept friends who are strong. Weak friends have no right to follow me."
Hearing this made Luffy angry, so he rushes towards Hao to hit him. "I really hate the kind of person you are!" He stretches his arm backwards. "Gum Gum Pistol!"
"Wow! Look at his arm stretch!" says Chocolove.
"What did I tell you?" says Yoh.
Right before the fist contacts with Hao, a large red hand appears and blocks the punch. "I told you already: You are weak," says Hao. "Do you think using only your hands can truly hurt me?" Hao snaps his finger and a gigantic red creature appears behind him.
"What is that!" gasps Nami.
"A monster!" screams Usopp.
"MONSTER!" shrieks Chopper.
"So that's what a spirit looks like," says Sanji.
"Looks nothing special," comments Zoro.
"Interesting," says Ace.
"I never thought something like this can exist," says Robin.
"I'm not here to fight this monster!" shouts Luffy. "I'm here to fight you, Hao! Gum Gum Gattling Gun!" Luffy punches the Spirit of Fire fast and furiously, but the attacks didn't hurt it.
"It's useless," says Hao. "You cannot do anything to the almighty Spirit of Fire with your bare hands." The Spirit of Fire swings its hand at Luffy and knocks him away.
The shamans see this and step forward to help him, but Zoro stops them, saying, "When the captain fights, nobody interrupts him."
"But Luffy will surely lose to the Fire Spirit!" says Yoh. "He needs our help!"
"I understand you, but our captain won't like it. He likes to fight his opponent alone."
Luffy gets back up and throws another punch at the Fire Spirit, but it didn't do anything. The Fire Spirit grabs Luffy's extended arm burns it. "YAAAAAAAAAA!" Luffy uses his other hand to hit the Fire Spirit, making it let go of his hand. "YEOW! IT BURNS!"
"That's why he's called Spirit of Fire," says Hao. "But I see, he's too tough for you, right?"
"Nothing is too tough for me! I will defeat you like how I defeat my previous opponents!"
"I really pity you… If you really want to defeat me, then I guess I'll lower the challenge. Should I?" Hao reaches out his hand and the Fire Spirit starts to shrink, and it transforms into a red sword that fits in Hao's hand. "What do you think? Any easier?"
"Don't play with me! Gum Gum Pistol!" Luffy launches a punch at Hao, who simply steps aside to avoid it. Hao raises the sword and is about to bring it down on Luffy's arm, so Luffy quickly snaps back his arm just before it gets chopped off.
"Gum Gum Whip!" Luffy extends his leg and swings it at Hao from the side, but Hao jumps onto his legs, and then runs along the extended leg and kicks Luffy in the face.
Luffy falls back onto the ground but gets back up. "I will not lose!" He throws several punches at Hao, but none of them comes in contact with him.
"Is this all you can do?" Hao runs in front of Luffy and swings his sword at his head, but Luffy quickly pulls his head back to avoid the slash. Hao aims for the stomach next, but Luffy quickly jumps up.
"A person can't move while he's in midair, so you left yourself wide open." Hao is about to thrust his sword forward into Luffy, but the rubber man quickly reaches for the nearest palm tree and pulls himself towards it, barely escaping the fatal blow. "So you're pretty quick at thinking, aren't you?"
"I will surely defeat you this time!" says Luffy. He launches his fist again at Hao.
Hao lets out a sigh. "Is that the only thing you know?" He is about to step aside when the fist stops in front of him and, quick as a flash, Luffy pulls himself to where the fist is, catching Hao by total surprise.
"That's not all I can do!" says Luffy, and then he smashes his fist into Hao's right cheek HARD. Hao flies aside and drops onto the ground.
The shamans are shocked upon seeing this. "He scored a hit!" exclaims Horohoro. "That's unbelievable!"
"He sure is strong," says Anna in a surprised tone.
"Incredible!" exclaims Yoh.
"That's our captain," says Zoro.
Luffy looks at the knocked out Hao and says, "Get back up! I'm not done with you yet!"
Hao slowly gets back up and, wiping a small drop of blood from his lips, chuckles. "Hehehehe… You got guts to hit me directly. I warn you: You better not cross my path."
"So what if I cross your path? I don't care as long as I can defeat you!" Luffy launches his fist forward again, but Hao vanishes into thin air just before the fist hits. "Uh? Where'd he go?"
Suddenly, Hao reappears behind Luffy and cuts him across his right shoulder with the sword.
"ACK!"
"Luffy!" screams Yoh, and he runs into the battlefield with his oversouled sword. "Hao! You're going too far!"
"So what? He asked for it. And I'm so ashamed of having a little brother like you. What good is it to make friends with a normal human being like him?"
"I don't care what kind of person he is. Any kind of person is my friend!"
"Ha! You're making me laugh! You call this feeble thing a friend?"
Then Hao felt someone grabbing his leg. "Not all humans are weak like you think!" says Luffy angrily, who is grabbing Hao's leg. "Gum Gum Mallet!" He lifts Hao up into the air, twirls his own arms together, and then un-twirls it while slamming Hao back down onto the ground face first.
BANG!
Hao quickly escapes his grasp. "Argh! He caught me off guard!
Luffy launches a punch at Hao, but he dodges aside. When he dodged aside, Luffy pulls his extended arm to the side and wraps it around Hao. "WHAT!"
And then Luffy reels Hao back and gives him a HARD blow in the face. Hao flies into a tree and knocks it over. Before he can stand up, Luffy unleashes a barrage of quick fury punches at him, buffeting his body over and over. "GUM GUM GATTLING GUN!" Finally, he pulls back his arm and twists it, and then releases it at Hao. "GUM GUM RIFLE!"
KAPOW!
"UGH!"
Hao spins through the air and hits the wall of a mountain that covers almost the entire center of the island. And then he collapses onto the ground. Luffy pulls back his arm and puffs for some air after doing extreme action.
The shamans are astonished over his incredible strength. "What… What kind of a person is he…? He defeated Hao using only his fists!" says Lyserg.
"Is that the strength of a human!" asks Ren, astonished.
"That's the best fighting I've ever seen! It's even cooler than a movie!" exclaims Chocolove.
"My younger brother sure improved a lot," says Ace with interest.
Everyone watches Hao, who is lying on the ground. He starts moving, then slowly gets back up, and he gives Luffy an angry glare. "Look at his eyes…" points out Anna. "He seems to be really pissed off."
"I've never seen him with that kind of eyes!" says Ryu.
"He didn't have this kind of look at the time we had the final battle with him!" says Manta.
Luffy gets into fighting stance again as Hao slowly comes close to him, but then stops a few yards in front of him. He begins to speak, "You're getting up my nerves, you worthless human… I have never been this angry before!"
"You want some more?" Luffy says to him with his fists raised.
"I will make you suffer! I will torture you to the extreme! I will make you die a painful death!" A fiery aura bursts out from around Hao as the Spirit of Fire fades into existence behind him. "You are going to regret about this greatly!"
TO BE CONTINUED…
I'm not sure if normal people can see Spirit of Fire, but come to think of it, the Spirit of Fire never appeared to normal humans before, so we don't know.
And what do you think of the battle? Sorry, Hao lovers, but this had to be done.