Meanwhile, on a warship seventy nautical miles away from the battlefield.
Admiral Sengoku was staring intently at the nautical chart, his face ashen.
"Where the hell is Garp?!"
The communications officer was sweating profusely, his voice trembling. "R-report, Admiral Sengoku! We just lost the signal from Vice Admiral Garp's warship!"
"Sunk?!" Sengoku exclaimed in shock.
"N-no..." The communications officer swallowed hard, looking as if he'd seen a ghost. "It's because he was moving too fast and left our accompanying surveillance range! Based on the last coordinates transmitted... he... he..."
"What about him?! Spit it out!"
"He's probably already reached the edge of the Golden Lion's encirclement!"
"What?!"
The teacup in Sengoku's hand shattered with a crack. His entire body instantly transformed into the golden form of a great Buddha, and his furious roar echoed through the skies:
"Damn you, Garp!!! I told you to stand by on the periphery! Who told you to go challenge an entire fleet alone?!!"
"It's over... it's all over... The plan was to wait for them to weaken each other..."
Sengoku clutched his forehead in agony.
...
Edd War, the eye of the storm.
Dark clouds pressed down like a siege, the sky seeming to have torn open. Purple lightning bolts crazily weaved through the clouds, each thunderclap illuminating the despair-inducing disparity in forces on the sea below.
A full sixty heavy warships flying the flag of the Flying Pirates were spread out in a fan formation, their countless cannons locked tightly on the lone ship at the center—the Oro Jackson.
The wind howled, and towering waves surged.
Yet, at the epicenter where the two supreme Conqueror's Haki clashed, the sea surface was eerily smooth as a mirror.
It was because the very atmosphere was compressed and immobilized by these two overwhelming wills!
"Gyahahahahaha! Roger!"
A man clad in a kimono, wearing geta sandals, with wild golden hair like a lion's mane, floated in mid-air.
A cigar dangled from his mouth, his arms were crossed, and the two famed swords at his waist, "Cherry Ten" and "Withered Tree," gleamed with a bloodthirsty cold light under the flashes of lightning.
The Flying Admiral, Shiki the Golden Lion!
Currently the most powerful overlord ruling these seas!
He looked down arrogantly at Roger below. "Stop this pointless resistance! Your adventure ends here!"
"Just nod, become my right-hand man! With the location of the Ancient Weapon I know, combined with your ability to hear the Voice of All Things... we would be invincible!"
Shiki spread his arms wide. "If we join forces, the world is within our grasp! Do you really want to die here?"
On the deck of the Oro Jackson.
Crew members like Gaban, Shanks, and Buggy had already gripped their weapons tightly, their expressions grave to the extreme.
Only the man at the bow remained, grinning widely to reveal his trademark white teeth, his two wild, bushy mustache ends trembling with his laughter.
"Gurarararara! Shiki! I've told you many times already!"
Gol D. Roger pressed his straw hat firmly against the howling wind with one hand while slowly drawing the Supreme Grade Sword—Ace—from his waist with the other.
Shiiing—!
The blade left its sheath, unleashing a surge of Haki that pierced the heavens!
A crimson-black shockwave erupted from him, tearing a gaping hole through the thick clouds overhead.
"I have no interest in ruling the world! What's the point of being a pirate if you can't live as you please?!"
Roger's gaze sharpened like an eagle's, his sword pointing directly at the Golden Lion in the sky: "You want my freedom? Then come and take it, Shiki!!"
"You incurable fool!"
The Golden Lion's expression darkened. "If that's how it is, then sink to the deepest depths of this ocean—along with your ship!"
He raised his right hand high, and gunners aboard over sixty warships behind him simultaneously pulled their firing cords.
"Full fleet—FIRE!!!"
Muzzles of thousands of cannons blazed at once.
Rayleigh adjusted his glasses, unsheathing his sword with a wry smile. "This is a real mess, Captain…"
But.
Just as the first cannonball was about to be fired—
BOOM—!!!
A roar, filled with mechanical ferocity, suddenly exploded from the rear flank of the battlefield, drowning out even the thunder!
"What's th—Holy crap?!" Buggy's hand trembled as he held the telescope, his eyes nearly popping out.
Everyone, including the Golden Lion and Roger, instinctively turned to look.
"That is…"
Rayleigh pushed his glasses up, staring in astonishment at the rear.
Several nautical miles away, atop a colossal wave, a bizarrely styled Marine Warship was charging forward at a speed that defied all logic!
Twin streams of blue exhaust flared from its stern, the entire bow lifted high as it surfed waves dozens of meters tall.
Even more terrifying—standing on the iconic dog-head figurehead, cloaked in a Justice Coat, was a man whose face radiated pure exhilaration.
"That's…" The Golden Lion's pupils contracted sharply.
Before he could react, the warship rode a massive wave, launching a hundred meters into the air and crashing violently into the heart of the Golden Lion's fleet!
At the peak of its arc—
The man moved.
Garp shattered the dog-head figurehead beneath his feet, transforming into a black lightning bolt that shot skyward, soaring over dozens of the Golden Lion's warships.
"PUHAHAHAHAHA! You think you can have a party this wild without me?!!"
With a laugh that shook the heavens, the dog-head figurehead disintegrated under Garp's feet.
He became a blur of darkness, stomping through the air in a series of sonic booms, defying all laws of physics as he charged straight toward the Golden Lion mid-air!
His right fist pulled back to its limit, dense Armament Haki coating it like obsidian.
"Roger is my prey! Who gave you small fry permission to touch him?!"
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!!"
Still airborne, Garp threw a punch at the flying warship blocking his path—the very one preparing to fire at Roger.
BOOM—!!!
No fancy techniques. Only pure, unadulterated force.
One punch.
The hundred-meter-long heavy three-masted sailing ship shattered like a toy block struck head-on by a giant's hammer, splintering from the center outward!
Wooden shards flew everywhere as the keel snapped. The massive vessel disintegrated mid-air, transforming into a shower of fireballs and debris that crashed violently into the sea, sending towering waves surging!
"Garp?!!"
Golden Lion and Roger shouted the name almost simultaneously, yet their tones carried entirely different emotions.
Roger was overjoyed: "Hahahaha! Garp! You bastard, your timing is perfect!"
Golden Lion, however, was furious: "Mad dog! This is the New World! You dare come here to die with just one ship?!"
"What's wrong with one ship?"
Garp landed lightly on a floating plank of wood, picking his nose as he looked disdainfully at the vast fleet filling the sky.
"To deal with trash like you, my two iron fists are more than enough!!"
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