Raiver Sky's eyes narrowed. Dodging was impossible now, so his only option was—
Voidification!
Raiver Sky merged into the void, his body becoming semi-transparent and ethereal.
Zephyr's iron fist passed through Raiver's voidified body as if striking empty air.
Witnessing this, Zephyr's pupils contracted in shock.
"Elemental Transformation?!"
No, this wasn't Elemental Transformation. Even if it were, his Haki-infused iron fist should have been able to injure the opponent.
...
While Raiver Sky kept Zephyr occupied, Golden Lion Shiki swiftly charged toward the treasure-laden ship.
"Gehahaha... The Celestial Tribute belongs to me now!" Shiki laughed maniacally, casually swinging Withered Tree and Cherry Ten as golden slashes poured down like torrential rain.
The marines on deck could only curse while scrambling to dodge in disarray. Any cannons attempting to counterattack missed completely under Shiki's Observation Haki prediction.
Greed and fanaticism shone in Shiki's eyes.
The moment he touched the ship's hull, the entire treasure vessel would break free from gravity's constraints and ascend ten thousand meters into the sky.
By then, no matter what tricks or strategies the marines possessed, they could only stare helplessly at the sky!
Ten meters, five meters, three meters...
The distance closed rapidly.
Just as his fingertips were about to make contact with the ship's hull—
From within the ship's cabin, in the darkness.
A fist moved.
No wind-up, no warning, not even a hint of killing intent leaked out.
The fist emerged plainly from the shadows.
But the Armament Haki covering its surface was so pitch-black it seemed to devour all light.
Shiki's Observation Haki only issued frantic warnings in the final tenth of a second!
Danger! Danger! Danger!
He wanted to retreat, but his forward momentum was too strong.
He wanted to block, but both arms remained extended forward.
"BAM!!!"
The fist connected solidly with the left side of Shiki's face.
"Cough—SPLUT!!!"
Shiki was sent flying backward like a cannonball—not in a straight line, but tumbling and spinning as he carved a hundred-meter-long trench across the sea surface.
He barely stabilized himself moments before hitting the water, his Float-Float Fruit ability forcibly keeping him aloft.
But the left side of his face had swollen into a purplish-black mess, his cheekbone visibly sunken, blood mixed with shattered teeth spilling from the corner of his mouth.
"Cough... Which bastard...?!"
Rage exploded in Shiki's chest, nearly burning his reason to ashes.
But when he clearly saw the figure stepping leisurely out from the treasure ship's cabin door—
Shiki's pupils abruptly shrank to pinpoints.
"G...Garp?!"
"Why is this mad dog here?!"
According to intelligence gathered by the Rocks Pirates, the navy's only publicly deployed top combatants for this Celestial Tribute escort fleet were supposed to be just two: Sengoku the Buddha and Black Arm Zephyr!
Iron Fist Garp should have been with the other Celestial Tribute escort team!
"Yo, Shiki, long time no see."
Garp hopped onto the ship's railing while picking his nose, grinning to reveal a row of white teeth.
"You want the Celestial Tribute? Keep dreaming—"
Garp's smile vanished instantly, his eyes sharp as blades:
"Today, none of you Rocks Pirates are getting away!"
Shiki's face darkened.
They'd fallen into a trap.
They had fallen for the trap completely.
The Navy had laid a double trap from the very beginning—no, a triple trap!
On the surface, Sengoku and Zephyr led the main fleet in a frontal assault, drawing the full attention of the Rocks Pirates.
Secretly, Garp, the god of slaughter, lay hidden within the treasure ship, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
Meanwhile, Raiver Sky, locked in fierce combat with Zephyr, suddenly sensed danger through his Space Perception!
The threat didn't come from Zephyr in front of him, but from the shadow of a heavily damaged escort warship thirty meters behind and to his side.
A figure shot out like a ghost from a shattered porthole.
The figure pressed her hands forward, and a transparent, water-like substance materialized in the air.
This watery substance rapidly spread, fanning out like a spiderweb, aiming straight for Raiver Sky's back!
Raiver Sky's eyes sharpened. Without turning, he pressed his left hand outward into the air—
"Void Barrier!"
In the next instant, a massive, semi-transparent spatial barrier appeared behind him, deflecting and shattering the oncoming watery substance!
Then, with a Space Leap, Raiver Sky instantly relocated to a safe position, adjusted his stance, and coldly glared at the one who had ambushed him.
It was a female naval officer whose demeanor was the epitome of calm and efficiency.
"So it seems you must be Vice Admiral Tsuru," Raiver Sky said, a complex, inscrutable smile curling at the corner of his lips. "What a clever scheme. Garp hid in the treasure ship to ambush and gravely injure Shiki. And you hid in the warship, planning to ambush me?!"
His gaze swept over Zephyr and Tsuru standing side by side, then settled on the figure wearing a dog-hat in the distance on the treasure ship, his smile deepening. "But—aren't the forces you've brought a bit too few?"
This remark made both Zephyr and Tsuru frown simultaneously.
"What do you mean?" Zephyr demanded sternly.
Raiver Sky didn't answer. Instead, he tilted his head and looked toward the direction of the Rocks Pirates' flagship.
At the bow of the deck, the figure cloaked in a black mantle remained standing with arms crossed.
"Hmph!"
Zephyr forcibly suppressed the unease in his heart, laughing in extreme anger. "Arrogant brat! Today marks the downfall of the Rocks Pirates! With Garp here, you stand no chance of victory!"
Garp was, after all, the strongest among the four of them!
"Tsuru, let's join forces and subdue him!"
Tsuru nodded lightly, her hands once again shimmering with transparent ripples.
This time, the moisture in the air gathered ten times faster!
It wasn't natural condensation; it was being forcibly "washed" out and reassembled under the control of her Devil Fruit Ability!
The humidity within a hundred-meter radius plummeted drastically as all moisture was frantically drawn toward her palms, coalescing into an increasingly massive, transparent water sphere.
Though the sphere appeared clear, it radiated a dangerous aura that set Raiver Sky's Observation Haki screaming with warnings.
It was said that the Wash-Wash Fruit could not only cleanse evil from a person but also strip them of their strength, rendering them unable to move freely.
Wash-Wash Fruit Secret Technique—
"Purification·Sea Burial!"
Tsuru's voice was as calm as an ancient well as she slowly pushed her hands forward.
The water sphere silently exploded, transforming into a sky-obscuring, transparent tidal wave that swallowed the entire space where Raiver Sky stood.
Almost at the same instant—
Zephyr moved.
"Black Arm·Meteor!"
He charged forward, the Armament Haki enveloping his right fist hardened to its extreme. A black and purple streak tore through the air, leaving a vacuum trail in its wake.
Raiver Sky hovered in mid-air, slowly raising his right hand with fingers slightly spread, and uttered softly:
"Shinra—Tensei!"
Hum—
An invisible repulsive force field expanded outward from him like a barrier in an instant.
The air was compressed into visible ring-shaped ripples, colliding with the transparent tidal wave.
Then, the massive wave shattered and exploded in all directions as if it had struck an absolute wall!
At the same time, Raiver Sky clenched his left hand into a fist.
Spiderweb-like white light patterns appeared on the surface of his fist. He calmly threw a punch toward the direction from which Zephyr was attacking.
Crack, crackle—
Space emitted a groan of unbearable strain.
Starting from his fist, cracks spread forward relentlessly.
Spiderweb-like white fissures expanded through the air, as if the world itself had become a shattered mirror.
"Air Quake·World Shatter!"
A shockwave erupted!
The shockwave collided with Zephyr's Black Wrist heavy punch—
BOOM!!!
A ring-shaped shockwave exploded outward...