"Galaxy Impact!"
"Ikoku Sovereignty!"
Two roars rang out simultaneously. The iron-black fist wrapped in Armament Haki collided with the greatsword formed from clouds. Black lightning, centered on the point of their distant clash, ran rampant and erupted.
Merciless Haki vented the will of two kings. The sea trembled, whipping up violent waves. The dark clouds in the sky were torn apart by the savage clash of wills, swept clean away.
Revealing the bright moon, illuminating the figures of Sakura and Garp, both wearing heroic smiles.
"Didn't... touch?" Tsuru's expression became serious.
As a long-established veteran powerhouse and the head of the Marine's Great Staff Officer, she naturally recognized the power the two confronting each other were using… a force only the peak powerhouses of the sea could master.
"Damn, has she grown this strong already?" Zephyr's gaze also swept over the many Marine soldiers behind him who had lost consciousness from the lingering force of the Conqueror's Haki clash. A wave of sorrow filled his heart.
She was just a young woman in her twenties, yet she already possessed this level of power. Considering that ordinary powerhouses began to decline in their sixties, Sakura would maintain absolute dominance over the sea for at least another thirty years.
And judging from the growth curve of past pirates, she hadn't even reached the peak of individual strength, which usually came in one's forties!
"All ships, heed my order! Those still conscious, bring the warships towards the island and prepare for landing operations!" Zephyr roared, leaping from his own warship.
The crusher on his right arm, condensed with the Marine HQ's latest technology, spun up. The internal compressor sucked in the surrounding air, ejecting violently through vents on his back, propelling Zephyr's fist as he viciously slammed it into the thorn wall Sakura had deployed.
Boom!
A violent explosion sounded. A huge gap was torn in the massive thorn wall encircling the entire island's coast. The Marine warships seized the opportunity, swarming towards the breach, invading the island's interior.
"As expected, it's impossible to stop the true powerhouses, huh?" Seeing the Marines beginning to invade the island with their troops, Sakura sighed lightly.
"You have time to worry about others? Once they're caught, you're next!"
Garp's aged but unyielding voice exploded in the void. The air was pierced in an instant. Sakura's field of vision was filled with nothing but that fist.
"Hahaha, old man, don't underestimate my companions!"
Sakura showed no fear. White flames burned on her body. Haki mingled as she met Garp's iron fist.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The expansion and clash of fist against fist stirred up shockwaves. The Sakura of today was no longer the weak pirate who had to run for her life under Garp's iron fist, but an Emperor who could confront him head-on.
The savage power of the two monsters thundered. The sky flowed with the silvery sheen of intertwined Haki, accompanied by deep rumblings like muffled thunder. Pure will, like a waterfall, ran rampant, rushing, devouring everything.
As destruction and storms spread, the entire sky seemed to become a forbidden zone. Weaker soldiers, whether Marines or Wing tribe warriors, didn't even have the qualification to look directly at them.
"Ginny, Bonney, hide here!" In the hospital of the Upperworld, Kuma comforted his wife and daughter, then threw off the covers and stood up. "I have to go help them!"
Kuma understood that the war unfolding on this island was sparked because of his family. His kind-hearted nature would never allow him to cower behind others and feel at ease foisting trouble onto his friends!
"Kumachi... be careful!" Ginny bit her lip. "If necessary, have Sakura turn us over!"
"Dad, fight hard! Send all the bad guys flying!" Little Bonney also sensibly hugged Kuma.
Kuma embraced them both. "I will definitely protect you!"
Having said that, he slapped his own body with his paw-padded hand. In an instant, his figure disappeared.
The next instant, the tall Buccaneer warrior appeared on the battlefield. His raised right hand gathered a huge, dazzling air bomb.
"I will absolutely… never let you harm my beloved!!!"
A massive Ursus Shock, accompanied by a father's roar, descended from the sky. A savage and surging shockwave abruptly erupted as the bear paw collided with the earth.
Like an eternally erupting volcano, it blew away all the Marine officers standing in its path of expansion.
"Not good! Quickly, gather behind me!"
Zephyr shouted. He raised his Seastone arm towards the shockwave and punched.
The Marine officers with the strength to react gathered behind Zephyr. As for the soldiers who had barely managed to withstand the Conqueror's Haki, they could only be helplessly swept into the sea, leaving the stage in disgrace.
"Bartholomew Kuma! Destroying the government's cutting-edge technology island, intending to destroy humanity's future, your crime is unforgivable! Today, this old man will arrest you in the name of justice!" Zephyr also roared.
His crusher arm, loaded with Seastone, fiercely shattered the shockwave from the ability, swimming against the current as it shot towards the yet-unhealed Kuma.
"Political persecution is political persecution. Don't gild yourself with justice." A youthful and clear voice rang out. Twin swords blackened by Armament Haki, the swordswoman thrust into the center of the battlefield.
Chakra boiling, lightning wrapped around her blades as she slashed towards Zephyr's Seastone mechanical arm.
Clang!
A crisp explosion resounded through the sky.
Centered on Kuina, a deep, bottomless chasm stretched away.
All the factories and bases along its path were split in two. Even the gap in the distant thorn wall was widened again. Residual electric arcs coiled on the wound in the thorn wall, preventing its regeneration.
"Ah, no..." The unfortunate swordswoman was lost in a daze.
"Blade of the Departed: Shimotsuki Kuina!" Zephyr sensed the sharp Haki within her blade and unconsciously uttered her title.
"What a bad child. After spending so long with Higanbana, you're indeed different from when you were in Shimotsuki Village in the East Blue, aren't you?" A calm voice sounded. Tsuru, who had used her fruit ability to wash away her presence, spoke up.
"You!" The moment Kuina's Observation Haki sensed the other's attacking intent, Tsuru's hand was already on her back.
Caught off guard, the girl had no time to withdraw the Haki she was using against Zephyr to defend against Tsuru's attack.
"Then, become a good child!" Tsuru infused her Woshu Woshu no Mi ability. Kuina's body began to thin inch by inch.
"Hey, hey, sneaking up on a youngster like that isn't exactly exemplary behavior for seniors, is it?" A Fish-Man's hoarse voice sounded from the ubiquitous sea clouds surrounding the island.
A rainbow light of Observation Haki simultaneously flashed in Zephyr's and Tsuru's eyes. They wanted to withdraw, but it was too late.
"Fish-Man Karate: Sea Heart: Sea Cloud Over-the-Shoulder Throw!"
Fisher Tiger's roar rang out. All the sea clouds permeating the Underworld island gathered together, forming a solid ocean current that crashed towards the trio of Tsuru, Zephyr, and Kuina.
The many Fish-Men living within the sea-like clouds revealed ferocious smiles.
Then, following their leader's attack, they plunged into the sea, beginning to attack the hulls of the surrounding warships.
"You damn old bastards, using such despicable methods!" Kuina, recovered from her flattened state, roared angrily. The lightning on her body used the water molecules scattered in the air to weave a net of lightning.
Fisher Tiger had already arrived, vortexes shooting from his hands, coordinating with Kuina to unleash a combined technique.
[Combined Ninjutsu-Taijutsu: Stormburst Torrent!]
Watching the spiraling, expanding electrified water flow, Zephyr and Tsuru's expressions hardened. They each began to retreat, dodging the attack.
In the sky, Sakura withdrew the dispersed threads of her Observation Haki and smiled at Garp before her. "Well, my companions are quite capable, aren't they?"
"Hmph! Then I will just have to throw you into Impel Down. The effect will be the same!" Garp clenched his fist again. Crimson Haki lightning shook the heavens.
Sakura raised Kumotsuna, bracing to receive the impact. "Is that so? Walking under the weight of this justice of yours, Garp-san, what percentage of your full strength can you exert?"
"None of your business, you little brat!"