The cold fury within Aokiji finally reached its cataclysmic peak.
The humiliation of being used as a training dummy, the searing pain in his side, and now the phantom ache flaring back to life in his stomach, the sight of Kizaru being brutalized, it all coalesced into a single, frigid resolve.
Kindness? Mercy? Such concepts had no place on this battlefield. This was extermination.
"Enough," he growled, the word itself seeming to freeze the very sound waves. The air around him didn't just grow cold, it became alive with a malevolent, crystalline sentience.
The frost crawling up the mangroves began to pulse with a dark blue energy, and the ground beneath his feet started to transmute not just into ice, but into something harder, darker.
He was drawing upon the deepest well of his power, preparing to unleash his Awakening, to remake this entire section of Sabaody into a personalized, absolute zero hellscape.
Ragnar, seeing the shift, felt a surge of satisfaction. The experiment was a resounding success. He had pushed the Admiral to his absolute limit, refined his Observation Kill, and reaffirmed his dominance.
But he was not a fool. An Admiral's Awakening was an unknown variable, a cataclysm he had no desire to be at the epicenter of for a prolonged engagement. It was time to go.
He wouldn't waste time with a drawn-out retreat.
A flash of light, pure and blinding, erupted at Ragnar's feet. It wasn't Kizaru's golden glow, but something sharper, whiter, the raw manifestation of speed itself. In the span of a neuron's firing, he crossed the distance between them.
To Aokiji, to the horrified Marine soldiers watching from the ships, it was less movement and more a violation of physics. One moment Ragnar was yards away, the next he was directly in front of the Admiral, his fist already in motion.
Aokiji's eyes widened in sheer, undiluted horror. He saw the fist coming, saw the faint, terrifying black aura of Internal Destruction wreathing it, and aimed directly for his heart. There was no time to dodge, no time to defend. This was the end.
But then, Ragnar's own superior senses screamed a warning. Something was coming. Something massive, impossibly fast, and carrying the weight of a mountain.
He had a fraction of a fraction of a second to choose: kill Aokiji and take the certain, devastating counterblow, or survive.
Instinct, honed by many battles, chose survival.
His punch, mid-thrust, altered its trajectory by a hair's breadth. Instead of the heart, it slammed into Aokiji's stomach, the exact same spot he had grievously wounded during their first encounter on that random island.
THUUUMP!
The sound was a sickening, wet crunch of re-shattered tissue and bone. The force of Internal Destruction didn't just impact, it bypassed Aokiji's hardened Armament Haki and exploded within his abdomen.
Aokiji's eyes bulged, a strangled gasp ripped from his throat as he was lifted off his feet. The nascent Awakening around him shattered like glass.
He crumpled to the frozen ground, clutching his stomach as blood, shockingly red against the white ice, frothed from his lips.
Ragnar didn't wait to see the result. The moment his fist connected, the light at his feet flared again. He was a streak of white light returning to its point of origin, rematerializing exactly where he had started the attack.
And where he had been standing a moment before, the air 'shattered'.
An old man landed with a force that cracked the very bedrock of Sabaody, sending a radial shockwave through the grove.
He was massive, with a dog-themed sleeping cap askew on his head and a simple marine justice coat draped over his broad shoulders.
His fists were clenched, and one of them was embedded in the crater his landing had created. Monkey D. Garp, the Hero of the Marines, had arrived.
Ragnar, completely unruffled, brushed a speck of imaginary dust from his sleeve. "Monkey D. Garp," he greeted, his voice dripping with faux politeness.
"An honor to meet the World Government's and Marines' most professional criminal trainer. Your student is quite… resilient."
It was a jab, referencing the infamous lineage of pirates he had sired and mentored. Garp, however, just threw his head back and let out a booming, "BWAHAHAHA!"
"You brat!" Garp roared, a wide, fierce grin splitting his face. He seemed utterly unbothered by the insult.
"You've done quite a number on these two Admirals! Got them all tied up in knots! So, are you ready to taste this old man's Fist of Love?!"
Ragnar held up his hands in a placating gesture, a cheeky smile on his own face. "Hahaha! My fragile body can't possibly handle your legendary punches, Mr. Garp. I'm afraid I'd be turned to paste."
Garp's grin didn't fade, but his eyes narrowed, the promise of violence shimmering in the air. He bent his knees, preparing to launch himself at Ragnar.
That was the signal.
Ragnar didn't even look at his crew. He simply made a subtle, chopping motion with his hand.
Back with the Vortex Pirates, the relentless assault on Kizaru ceased instantly. Zoro's green halo winked out. Bartolomeo's golden barriers dissolved.
Wyper's lightning form coalesced back into his solid body. Kuro, who had been a phantom menace, became fully visible.
They understood. It was time.
Simultaneously, beneath the feet of Ragnar and each of his crew members, Zoro, Kuro, Bartolomeo, Wyper, Nami, Robin, Nojiko, Isabella, and Bonney, who was pulled in by Isabella, a complex, eight-pointed magic circle of pure, brilliant light flared into existence.
The geometry was intricate, humming with immense power. Kuro, in a swift motion, grabbed Wyper, who was still technically a Shandian warrior and not yet bound to Ragnar's angelic system, pulling him into the circle's radius.
Garp, who had been about to launch his attack, froze, his jaw slightly agape. "Hey! Where do you think you're going, you brat?!"
But it was too late. The light from the circles intensified, swallowing the Vortex Pirates whole. There was no sound, no burst of energy, just a silent, instantaneous vanishing act.
One moment they were there, the next, the space they occupied was empty, save for the faint, fading afterimage of the celestial geometry on the ground.
Garp stood there, dumbfounded, his Fist of Love still cocked but with no one to receive it. He scratched his head under his cap. "He… he just ran away? So decisively?"
Nearby, Kizaru, bruised, battered, and bleeding, slowly pushed himself to his knees. As the Vortex Pirates vanished, he felt the oppressive, negating pressure on his Devil Fruit vanish with them.
The connection to his light flooded back, a familiar and comforting warmth. He let out a long, shaky sigh of relief, the tension draining from his shoulders.
The humiliation had been absolute, but at least it was over. He wouldn't have to be beaten any further by those "punks."
Aokiji remained on the ground, curled around his ruined stomach, coughing up flecks of blood onto the ice he had created.
The Cold Admiral had been bested, twice, by the same man, in the same way. The physical pain was excruciating, but the psychological blow was catastrophic.
….
Deep within the shadows of a densely packed mangrove cluster, far from the main confrontation, a group of observers watched the entire spectacle with a mixture of awe and terror.
Rayleigh and Shakky stood with calm, analytical expressions, though even the Dark King's eyes were wide with surprise at the sheer audacity and power on display.
The Straw Hats, Luffy, Coby, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, and Karina, were a different story. They had been stunned into silence by the epic fight, the coordination of the Vortex Pirates, and Ragnar's terrifying prowess.
But when Garp landed, all hell broke loose.
Luffy's eyes bugged out of his head, his straw hat tilting precariously. His face turned ashen.
"G-G-GRAMPS!" he squeaked, his voice an octave higher than usual. He immediately dove behind the largest tree root he could find, trembling like a leaf.
"He's here! He's gonna drag me back to Dadan! He's gonna make me do mountain training again! He's gonna use the Fist of Love!"
Usopp and Chopper instantly caught the panic. "Luffy's grandpa is THAT guy?!" Usopp shrieked, joining Luffy behind the root. "The one who throws cannonballs as training?! We're all gonna die!"
"GYAAAAAH! He's a monster!" Chopper wailed, transforming into his Walk Point form and trying to burrow into the ground.
Sanji, despite his own fear, lit a cigarette with a shaking hand. "What kind of family is this...?"
Karina just watched the chaos, a small, amused smile on her face, having heard stories of the legendary Garp.
Then, when Ragnar and his crew vanished into the light, the panic was replaced by stunned silence.
Rayleigh stepped forward, his brow furrowed in deep thought. He stared at the spot where the Vortex Pirates had disappeared, at the faint, lingering residual energy of the eight-pointed stars.
"That symbol..." he murmured, so low only Shakky could hear.
"I've seen something similar before. In God Valley. But Ragnar's... his were made of light. Pure, brilliant light. The one I saw all those years ago... it was the opposite. Pure darkness. A gloomier, more... hungry presence." The parallel sent a rare chill down the legendary pirate's spine.