At the National Football Stadium, which Luai and teammate Brian To'o will call home in 2028, Samoa survived an early scare to keep their unbeaten start to the tournament intact.
The local fans unfurled banners for the Chiefs-bound pair on Saturday, where Luai recorded four try assists and To'o crossed for a try.
At fulltime the pair were mobbed and handed bilum bags from local supporters as they gave away all their match jerseys and shorts to members of the crowd.
"Since the day that we touched down in PNG, the love, the respect, and hospitality that the country has shown us … it's one of those feelings that you can't describe," Samoa captain Junior Paulo said.
"You've got to be here to witness it firsthand.
"There's a bigger picture for us and seeing the scenes post game and what it means to the people.
"The bus ride here, seeing the kids' smiles on their faces, you just can't get that anywhere else besides here."
After thrashing France in their tournament opener, Samoa have wracked up two big wins and will face Tonga in Sydney next Sunday.
Both sides will look to guarantee their passage to the semi-finals as Group B/C winners.
But Samoa will head there having received a thorough test at the hands of the Kumuls in dizzying heat and humidity in Port Moresby.
For the first 40 minutes, PNG held their gloves up and at one stage led when halfback Bailey Biondi-Odo cancelled out Sua Fa'alogo's opener and Rhyse Martin - playing his final Test on home soil - kicked the conversion.
The excitement was palpable and one of the loudest cheers from the 15,088-strong crowd came when PNG five-eighth Gairo Voro hammered Luai.
"We knew it was going to be a bit of a kamikaze battle coming up against the Kumuls," Paulo said.
Samoa opened up a 14-6 gap at halftime with further tries to Stephen Crichton and Spencer Leniu.
PNG lost Jack de Belin midway through the first half with a rib injury in another blow for coach Jason Demetriou, who was forced to rule out two of his only players with NRL experience in Nene Macdonald (illness) and Luca Moretti (rib).
"I think it took its toll, the first half we were very physical, and we went after the contest, losing Jack was big as well," said Demetriou, who could only name 18 fit players in his 19-man squad.
"When we're under pressure like that we don't have that experience to try to fight it back and win it back but some boys have to learn that - that's the brutal truth."
The Kumuls, who face England in Wollongong on Friday in their final group game, were unable to call-up Cooper Bai, Xavier Coates and Lachlan Lam due to injury, and without so many of their top-line names Samoa racked up 50 second-half points.
As Samoa's players were handed presents from the crowd at fulltime Martin - PNG's record pointscorer - was chaired off in his final home game for the Kumuls.
"It meant a lot to me, for my team to do that for me," the forward, who will move into an off-field role with the Chiefs, said.
"I thank them for that, and I thank our coach and the PNG fans for making it so special for so long."
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