The scorching wind screamed past his ears, and everything in front of Harry blurred into streaks of lines. His body shattered the sound barrier, crossed hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye, and arrived beside Kizaru.
He looked down at the Admiral he had just sent flying and felt a surge of satisfaction.
He liked this feeling.
A long time ago, his mind had already broken free of mortal limitations and reached an unbelievable level. It could leave his body with ease, even freeze time itself.
And now his body had reached that same unbelievable realm. His flesh could break the sound barrier, and a single punch could shatter an entire city block.
Harry decided that Magnetic Field Rotation was going to be his favorite spell.
With Harry's current strength, landing a few clean hits on Kizaru would be enough to defeat even an Admiral. Kizaru was already injured.
Harry estimated that just a few more punches would finish the fight.
In the blink of an eye, Harry appeared in front of Kizaru again and drove a fist toward his head.
If that blow landed, even Kizaru would most likely be knocked unconscious.
Kizaru watched the punch coming down and did not try to evade it by turning into light.
He had tried that before. But instead of helping him, it had only made things worse.
Every single time he tried to elementalize, a strange vibration appeared in the surrounding space.
That vibration seemed able to interfere with his transformation. Every time, it forcibly dragged him back out of his light form and left him briefly locked in place, wide open for Harry's attacks.
If not for that, he would not have been beaten this badly this quickly.
And that vibration frequency was none other than the one Harry had reproduced by using energy to imitate the frequency Hydra had once used to disrupt his spellcasting.
To his surprise, that same vibration frequency worked in this world too. With this fixed-frequency energy vibration, dealing with enemies who needed to control energy had become even easier.
In the next instant, Harry's heavy punch came crashing down in a blaze of lightning.
It was like a nuclear bomb detonating on the ground. Buildings across a hundred-meter radius were instantly torn apart by the shockwave spilling from the attack.
Countless ruined structures and clouds of dust twisted together into a massive wall of debris, cutting off the battlefield from the sight of everyone outside.
The onlookers erupted.
The purple-haired Longarm Tribe man said in disbelief, "This is insane. Where did this monster come from? He's completely beating Kizaru down."
Another lion mink looked like his jaw was about to hit the ground. Eyes wide, he blurted out, "One of the world's top fighters, a Marine Admiral, is really going down like this? Who the hell is that guy? He feels even stronger than one of the Four Emperors!
Hey, old man, what do you think?"
When the lion mink addressed him, the wrinkles on the old man's face seemed to freeze in place. His whole face looked like a stern Greek statue.
After a moment, he answered, "No question about it, that young man has already reached the highest level in the world.
Strange. Why have we never heard of such an outstanding young fighter before?
Still, this is good. He doesn't belong to the World Government, he's a pirate. And in the coming decisive battle against the undead, he'll be able to play a huge role."
The lion mink nodded heavily. "Exactly. It's a good thing he's not with the Navy. If they got another Admiral-level fighter, the balance of the seas would collapse, and that would be another disaster.
Looks like the undead scourge is forcing all these hidden monsters out into the open. I just hope even more hidden powerhouses show up, because that would raise our chances of winning a lot.
By the way, old man, do you think the fight is over? My Observation Haki says Kizaru's presence has dropped a lot."
The old man stared deep into the dust-filled battlefield and smiled. "Your Observation Haki is still green. You might barely be able to sense a heavily injured Admiral, but if another Admiral-level fighter in peak condition shows up, his Observation Haki will completely suppress yours. At that point, you won't sense anything at all."
"So what are you saying?"
"A new Admiral-level fighter has arrived."
Inside the cloud of dust, a gust of force swept through and blew everything away.
The scene inside was revealed once more.
Kizaru, who had once looked tall and overwhelming, was now sprawled in a deep crater, gasping violently, his body covered in blood. He looked nothing like a lofty Admiral anymore.
By contrast, his opponent, the young man who had fought him, had only suffered slight damage to his collar. And even that damaged fabric was repairing itself under the effect of some mysterious power, as though time itself had reversed and the torn threads were reweaving themselves back together.
But what shocked the crowd even more was the broad, powerful figure who had somehow appeared on the battlefield and was now standing protectively in front of Admiral Kizaru.
It was none other than Garp, the Hero of the Marines.
Garp stood before Kizaru like a mountain, his wide coat snapping violently in the invisible pressure waves, a few strands of white hair whipping wildly above his head as he stared dead at the young man in front of him.
He had not expected Sengoku's concern to be right. Kizaru, an Admiral with the Glint-Glint Fruit and unmatched speed, had actually been defeated. Worse, he had not even been able to escape.
Then, just when everyone thought Garp was about to make a move against Harry, he suddenly burst out laughing.
"Well done, kid! Anybody who can beat that slippery bastard Kizaru into this shape has got some real fire in him!"
He strode toward the young man without the slightest concern for the fact that the other party was a pirate, then slammed a heavily calloused hand onto his shoulder as though greeting an old friend.
"That ruthless edge of yours reminds me of how I used to charge around the seas in my younger days! If you'd joined the Navy back then, you definitely could've become a new Admiral!"
Then Garp threw his head back and laughed loudly, completely ignoring Kizaru's helpless expression behind him and the ugly looks on the faces of the Celestial Dragons farther away.
The fighting here came to a temporary stop, and Luffy came charging up, shouting at Garp, "Damn it, Gramps, let go of Harry! He's my future crewmate!"
That was right. After seeing Harry's overwhelming strength and all his incredible abilities, Luffy's eyes had practically lit up.
If someone that fun joined his crew, then the rest of the journey would definitely be amazing.
Luffy's idea was great.
Reality was cruel.
First, Harry was the busy Sorcerer Supreme. He had to protect Earth from invasion by the Dimensional Demon Gods, and he was also a reformer preparing to overhaul the wizarding world. He had no time to go play at adventure with Luffy.
Second, those words successfully enraged Garp.
Garp instantly appeared in front of Luffy, punched him in the head, and roared, "You little brat! The world's practically ending and you still want to be a pirate? Looks like I need to knock some sense into you!"
The Haki-coated fist landed squarely on Luffy's head, and he immediately dropped to the ground, dizzy and unable to move.
At Luffy's current level, he naturally wasn't Garp's opponent. He couldn't even resist.
Garp's appearance did not escalate the conflict between Harry and the Navy. If anything, it smoothed things over considerably.
Without question, that was the best possible outcome for the Marines right now.
With the undead scourge looming ahead, the Navy simply could not afford to turn an Admiral-level fighter into an enemy.
But clearly, some people could not accept how things were unfolding.
When the Celestial Dragons saw Garp arrive, only to joke around with the criminals who had offended them instead of arresting them, Saint Rosward immediately exploded.
"Garp! What do you think you're doing? You call yourself a Hero of the Marines, and yet you're laughing and chatting with the vermin who insulted the Celestial Dragons!
Arrest this trash at once and use the cruelest punishments possible to teach them what happens when you offend the World Nobles!
Don't forget, your duty is to preserve the dignity of the Celestial Dragons, not to play brothers with these lower life-forms!"
Saint Shalria, Rosward's daughter, was trembling with rage too. Pointing at Garp, she screamed, "You've disgraced the Navy!
Garp, if you don't send these people to Impel Down today, we'll report you to the Five Elders and strip you of everything you have!
They're just pirates, yet they dared act this brazenly in front of Celestial Dragons. They have to pay in blood!"
Clearly, these parasites of the pirate world still had not understood the situation.
Or maybe years of being flattered and obeyed had turned these swine-like Celestial Dragons into people completely incapable of judging even the most basic reality.
Harry glanced toward the Celestial Dragons a hundred meters away, then gave Garp a slight look.
Garp immediately understood what Harry meant. He turned away, led the Straw Hats off with him, and shouted loudly, "You damn Straw Hats! I'm taking you to the Marine base to await judgment!"
And once Garp and the Straw Hats had moved off, Harry slowly began walking toward the Celestial Dragons, while the wand in his hand transformed back into a disintegration sword.
As Harry drew closer and closer, the pig-like Celestial Dragons finally sensed that something was wrong. They began to panic and shouted toward Garp, who had not yet gone very far.
"Garp! What are you doing? Get back here and protect us!"
But Garp kept walking, getting farther and farther away, as though he had heard nothing at all.
Which was impossible.
With Garp's Observation Haki, he would have noticed even the slightest movement from thousands of meters away.
That meant he was deliberately pretending not to hear their cries for help.
Once they realized that, the Celestial Dragons finally panicked.
They stumbled backward in terror, trying to get farther from Harry, all while screaming at Garp's retreating back, "You bastard! Get back here now, or the Five Elders won't forgive you!"
Among the Celestial Dragons, the fattest-looking and obviously dumbest one, Saint Charloss, could not understand why his father and sister were panicking so much.
The man in front of them was strong, sure, but how could he possibly dare attack a Celestial Dragon?
So ignorance made him fearless. On the surface, he seemed calmer than both his father and his sister.
He slowly walked forward until he stood ten meters from Harry, then met his gaze with the same arrogance as before.
"You filthy lower creature, kneel. I might spare your life."
Charloss's father and sister had wanted to stop that idiot pig from making things worse. They wanted him to stop provoking this damned pirate.
If that pirate really dared attack them, then afterward he would definitely be executed by the World Government, but they would be dead too.
Trading their lives for a filthy commoner's was not worth it.
But to their surprise, after Charloss barked at him, that damned pirate really did stop walking.
Could it be that he had never really intended to attack, and all that threatening movement before had just been a bluff?
Yes, that had to be it.
Who would actually dare attack a Celestial Dragon?
At that thought, the Celestial Dragons gradually relaxed again. In fact, they started feeling irritated over how frightened they had just been, and they began mentally planning how to deal with this pirate who had dared insult Celestial Dragons once the matter was over.
At the same time, the other onlookers around them also noticed that Harry had stopped.
The purple-haired Longarm Tribe man sighed helplessly. "So in the end, he still doesn't dare do it? Makes sense. How many people would knowingly do something that means certain death?"
The lion mink looked disappointed and said to the old man beside him, "This got boring. Let's go, we still need to finish coating ships. The next big battle is going to need a lot of coated vessels."
But the old man did not move at all. There was no disappointment on his face. Instead, he smiled and kept his eyes locked on the young man named Harry without blinking.
"Don't be so hasty, my friend. This farce is nowhere near over."
The instant the old man finished speaking, everyone suddenly saw it.
The man who had seemed to stop because of fear raised his hand again, with the wand in it lifted high into the air.
The green light on the wand grew visibly brighter, until after only a few seconds it had become a gigantic disintegration sword dozens of meters high.
At that point, everyone understood.
This man had never abandoned the idea of attacking. The only reason he had paused was because he had found the clown show in front of him amusing enough to watch for a few seconds.
The crowd erupted in cheers.
The three Celestial Dragons who were about to die, however, were in no mood for anything now.
Saint Charloss was so terrified by Harry's attack stance that he collapsed onto the rubble-strewn ground. His fat body shook uncontrollably under the killing intent bearing down on him, and he used every ounce of strength he had to crawl backward.
"N-no, don't kill me! I'm a World Noble! If you kill me, the whole world will hunt you down!"
Compared to Charloss, his father at least retained a little more of a Celestial Dragon's bearing. Saint Rosward immediately tried to tempt Harry with wealth.
"Mysterious powerhouse, don't be rash. If you let us go, I'll give you anything you want!
Beli, slaves, Devil Fruits, I have three thousand tons of gold in my private treasury. Spare my life, and it's all yours!"
If this had been Nami, with how much she loved money, she would have agreed to Rosward's offer without hesitation.
But for Harry, money had long since become nothing more than a cold string of numbers.
What was money to him? He had never lacked it.
So before Saint Shalria could even say her piece, Harry brought the dazzling disintegration sword crashing down.
A hundred-meter-high flying slash surged forward like a tidal wave and swallowed everything ahead of it. The three Celestial Dragons were instantly torn apart by the disintegration sword energy and died on the spot.
After doing all that, Harry ignored the shocked cries around him and headed in the direction Garp had left.
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