"Let's dance," Luffy said before his already bulked-up body, started steaming, his skin taking a red tint. Using a combination of gear one and second, both his speed and strength increased to the maximum level.
The tall bounty hunter grinned as he charged at Luffy with his green flaming sword. His devil fruit powers and armament haki coated his sword, making it look akin to a green light-saber version of katana.
Luffy also pushed forward with his nameless Naginata, coating it with haki and both blades clashed with each other. The clash was so strong that the wind pressure cleared several meters of the forest around them. "Rahahaha… you are pretty well for a brat. Just don't die too quickly…"
With that Aramaki attacked with his sword, slashes that were too fast to see with ordinary eyes. Luffy met each slash with his own blade. Each clash creating sonic booms as their black blades meet with each other.
Even though Luffy wasn't getting harmed, each strike rattled Luffy's bones, and that was saying something for a man that was made of rubber. Heck, his arms were in a state of constant tekkie and yet the man's strength was too much for him to handle, even with armament haki.
Not to mention Luffy had to be cautious about the green flames… with Luffy's observation green flames weren't Aramaki's powers. No, it was the green liquid that was on Gin… but was able to somehow put it on flame and attack with it.
Luffy wanted to avoid the green substances at all cost, not knowing what effects they might have. But with how the grass and ground around them were sizzling. It became clear that it was some kind of acid or hot liquid. But how that was able to create flames was another factor that he didn't know.
"You have an odd power." Luffy said as he clashed another time with the bounty hunter. Both their blades meet each other. "And I have a question…"
"And that is?" The man mused pushing harder against Luffy as they struggled with their blades in strength.
"What's your devil fruit power, anyway?" Luffy asked as he struggled for strength against Aramaki. Even with this much strength, Luffy was barely able to hold him off. Just how strong was the guy?
To top it all off, Luffy knew for a fact that he wasn't fully going all out.
"Now, wouldn't you like to know?" Aramaki snorted pushing down on Luffy. His green flames almost licked Luffy's face.
But two can play this game, with a breath air, Luffy concentrated and the muscles in his arms bulged a bit giving him the strength boost needed to push Aramaki off of him. Luffy used the chance to kick the man in his face.
Aramaki was thrown away for several meters going through trees, and Luffy was already ready for his next attack. Equipping Horn's edge and the nameless naginata at the same time he slashed in a cross way. "Two-blade style: Falling Star!"
From Luffy's blades a pure dark slash embedded with haki, shot towards Aramaki. The slash went with an unimaginable speed and attacked Aramaki.
The man laughed at the face of danger and cut of Luffy's attack in half with one swing. But Luffy expected that, suddenly appearing behind him, his chains wrapping around Aramaki with armament haki.
Even the tall man was surprised.
Luffy then lifted his leg, his feet coiling inside itself like a spring with armament hardening on it. "Take a trip dipshit…" and he released all the build-up tension on his leg, giving a devastating kick to the back of the man's head, as the man went off from the chins, spinning like a top.
The man crashed onto a nearby rock formation, before getting up and dusting his clothes. Almost as if nothing happened. Luffy clicked his tongue.
The kick was hard and yet Luffy knew that it didn't do any significant damage. Aramaki was able to use his own armament haki to protect him.
Aramaki was strong, but way stronger than currently, Luffy was capable of fighting right now. And yet he felt no fear, in fact, it excited him. There was a thrill to it that Luffy couldn't describe.
"Now, wasn't that surprising… you also have a devil fruit." Aramaki said fixing his glass on his face. The man looked completely unharmed even though Luffy put almost his full strength into it.
Even if Luffy went all out there was no guarantee that he could harm Aramaki. That's why he was stalling for time.
There had to be some reason why the canon Aramaki joined the marines, and even though things in this world was different. Aramaki didn't want to get on the marine's bad side. So he was betting on that.
So Luffy was waiting for the marines to come and for Sparky to come back after dealing with the crew. Then Luffy would be able to face him off for real. He still had seastones in case he got a chance to cuff him up.
But now that he was fighting Aramaki, he had other ideas. Even with Sparky if the man fought seriously, there was minimal chance of him winning, without getting severely injured.
"That was quite the spin… now let's get serious," Aramaki said before blazing near Luffy with slashing him in the chest with his katana. Luffy at the last moment used Kami-e with observation haki to avoid the attack, and headbutted the man at the same time.
While Luffy's Armament Haki was strong, he didn't want to waste it. And while Aramaki was fast and strong, he was nowhere in the level of Garp.
So he could react just fine with his observation haki alone. Damaging the bounty hunter, on the other hand, was another deal.
Luffy avoided the strikes from Aramaki with little difficulty. He was trying to memorize and get accustomed to the man's attack patterns. He was also observing the effect of Aramaki on the environment.