"Refreshing. Whahaha. Finally someone who can take my iron fist. That punch felt great." Garp roared with laughter, not the least bit angry about being knocked back.
"Garp, work with me. We take the kid first. He's got a Celestial Dragon and our core officers in tow."
Sengoku's face was grave, the situation written in every line of it.
"Heh. Zephyr getting caught is pretty embarrassing... but without him, the Marines will be in chaos." Garp thought for a beat, then dropped a bomb. "Hey, brat, how about you hand Zephyr over and keep Sakazuki and Borsalino for a while. Those two punks are way too arrogant. Knock some edges off them. As for the Celestial Dragon, do what you want."
Rakuya stared, speechless.
Celestial Dragons, terrors whispered by Marines and pirates alike, reduced to livestock in Garp's mouth. The man truly played by his own rules.
"Ahem. Garp, I won't hand Zephyr over. If you want them released, prepare a ransom of fifty billion Berries."
"Fifty billion Berries?" Garp's jaw dropped. He spread his fingers wide. "How many senbei would that buy?"
Rakuya's mind went blank again.
Roger almost coughed blood. Same old rival, same unpredictable swing.
Sengoku's face went from black to green. Steam practically puffed from his crown.
"Garp!"
He clenched his fist, livid.
"Hey, hey, Sengoku, why the look?" Garp widened his eyes right back.
The Roger Pirates could only give wry smiles.
"The priority now is getting Zephyr and the others out. We take the kid together."
"Together? Since when did the Marines bully the few with the many?"
"Shut it. One more wisecrack and I'm reporting every word you just said to Fleet Admiral Kong." Sengoku pulled the trump card.
Garp's gaze slid aside. He whistled. "Go tattle. I didn't say anything. They didn't hear anything. You'll need proof."
"You..." Sengoku nearly fainted from rage, fingers trembling. "Scoundrel. You're a scoundrel."
"Enough. For the sake of my magnanimity, we bag the kid first." Garp's grin faded to a solemn look. He called to Rakuya, laughing again, "Brat, since you won't hand Zephyr over, I'll take him back myself."
He turned to the Marines, brimming with confidence. "Everyone below vice admiral, back off fifty meters. My Fist Bone Meteor doesn't have eyes."
"Move. Vice Admiral Garp is getting serious."
"Clear out. Clear out."
"We'll only get in his way here."
The Marines scattered like a receding tide, giving Garp a wide berth before that iron fist started flying.
"Brat, take my punch."
"Moonwalk."
Garp stamped the air and vaulted higher.
"Shave."
He flickered through the sky, vanishing and reappearing in blinks. Without Observation Haki, Rakuya couldn't track him directly. He could only read the air's tremors. No matter how fast, motion rippled the air. And Garp was moving fast enough to churn a storm.
"Repulsion. God's Eye."
Rakuya pressed his palm outward. The space around him shivered. Air particles flowed in rhythmic waves like water.
Wrapped in that medium, Garp's dash was a stone into a river. The ripples drew his path. Rakuya traced him cleanly.
"Found you."
"Repulsion. God's Spike."
He locked on. At Rakuya's fingertip, a translucent conical spike formed, its needle tip glinting with killing cold.
"Armament Hardening. Iron Fist."
Garp flashed to Rakuya's flank, a jet-black fist crashing down with thunderous might.
Crack.
Zzzzt.
The sky shook. Wind screamed. Garp's colossal punch slammed into the God's Spike. Repulsion geysered from the cone, stopping the fist dead.
Feeling his fist stall, even begin to give ground, Garp's face tightened.
"AAAH!"
Veins stood out across his head. Sweat sheets ripped away by shockwaves, he poured a fresh surge of power into that arm and drove it all into the cone.
Rakuya's lazy look sharpened. The God's Spike was feeding back a frightening force.
Boom.
The ground around Rakuya collapsed in a ring. Cracks spidered outward.
"God's Spike, second."
Another needle grew at his fingertip, swelling in an instant until it matched the first.
"Damn it."
Garp's fist couldn't hold both cones' pressure.
Crack.
A fine sound cut the air. Countless Marines' pupils shrank.
Hairline fractures veined Garp's Armament-coated knuckles. The repulsion compressed within the cones howled through those flaws and slammed home.
Bang.
The backlash hurled Garp away. Repulsion tore through him, shredding his vice admiral coat.
"Shave."
He blinked down to the ground, seized that wild repulsion and forced it into his fist, then drove it into the earth.
Rumble.
The island shook. The report thundered across Sabaody's Area 1 like a bomb.
The impact carved a crater nearly thirty meters wide.
Garp stood at its center, face drawn.
The soil trembled. Dust plumed. Marines stumbled and flailed in the heaving ground.
Raw repulsion rampaged, terrifying to behold.
Garp's expression only grew uglier. His muscles screamed across his whole frame.
That punch of his had been just a punch. And the crater's culprit was nothing more than the leftover repulsion he had forced back out of his own body.
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