67. Sparring Against Luffy

"It's so delicious."

"Uwahh, I'm full."

Kuroneko and Luffy were satisfied with the dishes that Izumi served. Izumi felt a certain satisfaction seeing them like the dishes he cooked.

Kuroneko turned to Izumi and asked.

"Miyamura, with your cooking techniques, wouldn't you be more suited to attend Tootsuki Academy?"

"Nah, I don't really like competing in cooking." Izumi replied while shaking his head.

They rest for a moment while waiting for their stomachs to digest the food. Izumi cleaned the food utensils himself before Kuroneko finally offered to help while saying.

"Miyamura, you shouldn't have to carry a lot of stuff like these! Look, this is troublesome, isn't it?"

"Haha, thanks for your concern. But you don't have to worry!"

With Kuroneko's help, he got his job done faster. Then they continued their journey.

— — — —

When they were still halfway from their destination, Izumi saw Luffy who didn't seem to be developing in his strength, so he suggested.

"Luffy, how about we spar after this?"

"Why?"

"I just wanted to try to fight you. Without using my Devil Fruit power."

"Hmm, sure. But why don't you want to use your Devil Fruit power?"

"Training Haki."

Luffy was more or less the adaptive type in actual combat, somehow his ability is just like Saiyans, who could learn most of the techniques or movements from combat. He could even become stronger after that. Though his increasing power was not potent as a Saiyan. So it's better to fight Luffy one on one than to tell him about the theory.

Izumi had no intention of using his Devil Fruit power to fight against Luffy. After all, Izumi also wanted to try to start using Busoshoku Haki. Although he didn't know how to use it yet.

Luffy's body is resistant to blunt attacks, so if Izumi can't activate Busoshoku Haki, he will lose to Luffy.

Their fight began. Luffy was a good distance away from Izumi and the two glanced at each other to keep looking for an opening.

Izumi dashed forward, his steps made the dust scattered around behind him. Luffy, who saw Izumi dashing toward him, immediately took a stance. Luffy clenched his fists, ready to do something.

"Gomu Gomu no Gatling!"

Dozens of shadows of his hands moved at a quick pace toward Izumi. Izumi was able to see his hand movements and took steps to avoid Luffy's barrage of punches. Izumi tried to get close to Luffy, however, with the endless barrage of punches, he couldn't get any closer.

Izumi tried to do something. He smirked and suddenly caught both of Luffy's fists.

To his surprise, Luffy wrapped his arm around Izumi's arm.

"Crap!"

Luffy brought his feet together with their respective bottoms touching each other and kicked Izumi with both of them simultaneously using his toes.

"Gomu Gomu no Yari!"

Izumi couldn't dodge. And unknowingly, he activated the intangible element of his Devil Fruit so that Luffy's attacks only passed through his body.

"Izumi, you cheated! You said you wouldn't use your Devil Fruit power!"

"Ahahaha. Sorry. I unconsciously use it. Let's try again! I'll make sure I don't use my Devil Fruit power." Then, he added inwardly. "You have to be prepared to face a Logia-type Devil Fruit user like me in the future! So, occasionally using my Devil Fruit power can also be training for you."

He looked at Luffy and started to think of a way to defeat him using Busoshoku Haki. If he wasn't mistaken, using Busoshoku Haki could be done if he channeled his spiritual power into the flesh and skin on his body to harden.

While Izumi was thinking about how to use Busoshoku Haki, he saw Luffy already swinging his legs right in front of his face.

Izumi was too late to avoid it, so he took a stance in a defensive position ready to receive Luffy's kick. Luffy's kick made Izumi be dragged backward, plus both of his hands were numb from resisting the kick.

"Damn, is his body really rubber? How can he be this damn hard?" Izumi grumbled for a moment, then he jumped backward in somersaults.

Luffy chased after him, but Izumi who noticed Luffy immediately responded by pretending to fall backward, thus making Luffy reflexively not release the punch with all his might.

Instantly, Izumi grabbed Luffy's hand and slammed him to the ground.

*Bang*

Izumi moved in a flash and appeared before Luffy, he fired a barrage of punches onto Luffy's rib, stomach, neck, and head repeatedly, like he was exercising on a punching bag rather than hitting a person.

Luffy's body twitched, then both of his hands swing in clockwise and counterclockwise directions at the same time. His sudden movement made Izumi stop his attack to jump back. But when Izumi was still in the air…

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"

Luffy's punch landed exactly on Izumi's navel. Izumi was thrown and rolled onto the ground. Blood came out of his mouth, and instantly felt the pain from Luffy's punch just now.

Izumi looked at Luffy, who seemed to be fine after taking dozens of punches from him. It's quite annoying to fight against a rubber body with just a blunt attack.

"Still failed, huh? Even though I mastered the basics of Kenbunshoku Haki in a short time. But it seems I'm having a hard time with the other two Haki."

Izumi took several distances back from Luffy. He said.

"I'll be more serious, Luffy. Get ready!"

"Alright, come!"

A more intense fight might be the trigger to awaken Haki so Izumi proposes to fight more seriously.

Izumi took a deep breath and exhaled. He swiftly dashed straight forward. Luffy used his current signature, Gomu Gomu no Gatling, as dozens of punches were launched.

"Fuck it, I'll just try everything!" Izumi cursed inwardly. He felt a little annoyed after trying various ways to awaken Busoshoku Haki but always failed.

Izumi released his spiritual energy and spread it throughout the body. This time, Izumi was very focused, both on the fight, and channeled his spiritual power.

Luffy's punches were parried with both of Izumi's hands in quick succession. Even though Luffy's punches were so swift, Izumi was able to keep up with them and could counterattack.

Izumi, who was used to Luffy's movements, immediately took a step and grabbed his wrist so that his movements stopped. However, Luffy reacted by extending his fingers, twisting them around Izumi's arms as the headbutt was launched.

Even though Luffy's body is as flexible as rubber, his head is still so hard that Izumi feels dizzy from his headbutt.

"Gomu Gomu no Ono!!"

Luffy stretched one leg high into the air, then stomped on Izumi who was still dazed.

*Bang*

"Arrgghh." Izumi groaned in pain and spurted a mouthful of blood. Izumi slammed to the ground after his back was stomped by Luffy. The ground made a web-like crack afterward. But somehow, he raised his head along with a grin that he put on his face.

His body was trembling. However, he did not tremble with fear, instead, he trembled with joy and excitement.

Kuroneko, who saw Izumi from afar, also felt it.

"This guy… He turned into a battle maniac."

Meanwhile, Luffy tried to get close to Izumi. Suddenly, Izumi made an unexpected move where he swept the ground with his feet so that the dust scattered and made Luffy's vision disturbed.

Luffy launched his fists randomly. Which was parried by Izumi and he countered with an elbow. His strike landed on Luffy's rib which made him stagger backward.

Izumi jumped toward Luffy to perform a scissor kick. Too bad, Luffy could avoid it. However, Izumi's kick followed up with a back kick when he landed after performing a scissor kick.

Luffy, who got a kick in the back, turned around while twisting his arm around as he stretched it behind him to hit Izumi.

"Gomu Gomu no Rifle!!"

*Bang*

Luffy's punch shot to the ground and created a web-shaped crack once again.

"Dang it, that was dangerous." Izumi exclaimed.

Izumi could barely dodge it. He felt that Luffy's speed was increasing with time. As if the internal body cleanser Luffy had been drinking was starting to take effect on his body.

Luffy didn't stop, he knew Izumi could predict his moves using Haki. But Luffy realized that predicting was still not enough if Luffy's speed was much faster than Izumi's. Only, the current Izumi wasn't using his full strength. If Izumi used his Devil Fruit power, Luffy wouldn't know how to fight Izumi.

Luffy stretched his left arm far behind while running toward Izumi, then snapped it back to deliver a short-distance powerful blow.

Whether intentional or not, his spiritual energy wrapped around his arm, making his entire hand harden as he dealt a counterblow to Luffy.

*Bang*

Luffy was blown away until he crushed the trees behind him. Izumi also saw that Luffy seemed to be in pain at the part where Izumi hit him.

Izumi tried to catch his breath first before muttering.

"Huh? Haki?"

He didn't feel at all how he was activating Busoshoku Haki. However, there was no mistaking that his punch contained Busoshoku Haki. He once again tried to channel his spiritual energy, but still, he didn't feel any change with his hand which should have hardened after channeling his spiritual energy into his hand.

"Sigh, looks like I still need some time."

Meanwhile, while enduring the pain, Luffy turned to Izumi in surprise as he felt that his rubber body seemed to be inactive as soon as it came into contact with Izumi's previous blow. He immediately understood that it was one of the types of Haki that Izumi had mentioned before.

Luffy put on a serious face after the previous blow which kept him from overestimating his impervious rubber body with blunt strikes. He brought his fists forward repeatedly in a series of blurry and rapid punches creating the illusion that he had multiple arms. Izumi could sense which ones were Luffy's real hands. Then, he responded.

*Wham* *wham* *wham*

Both of their fists swiftly clashed at each other. But then, Izumi made a sudden move by sweeping both Luffy's legs to take him down.

Luffy jumped to dodge. While in the air, Luffy's defenses were wide open and Izumi took advantage of him and rushed forward to attack.

"Gomu Gomu no Stamp!!"

Suddenly, Luffy stretched his leg out and intended to hit Izumi with the bottom of his foot.

Izumi knitted his brows. With a slight move, Izumi avoided Luffy's attack. He immediately grabbed Luffy's stretched leg to slam him onto the ground. At the same time, Luffy wrapped his legs around Izumi's body and threw him to the other side.