Rayleigh was mid-sprint when his body suddenly felt light. He floated up as if a weight had been cut from him.
Roger blinked, then burst out laughing. "What a marvelous ability."
"Hey, Garp. One last thing. No payoff, go arrest your own damn mother."
"No payoff, go arrest your own damn mother." Garp repeated it through gritted teeth, face twisting. Today was easily the most humiliating day of his life.
"Move."
Rakuya beckoned from midair. Roger and Rayleigh rose into the sky and met him overhead.
"Thanks. Without you, this would have been a nightmare to break," Roger said with an open, friendly grin.
"Much obliged. Drinks are on me in the New World," Rayleigh added, warm as ever.
"Fist Bone Meteor."
Garp's face went iron black. Armament Haki coated his hand, corded muscle surging as he hurled a cannonball straight at Rakuya.
"Brat, I am not letting you stroll off that easy."
The shell sliced up through the air, screaming with friction.
Rakuya only watched. He did not even raise a hand.
Roger did. One clean cut split the incoming shell. It exploded midair, a flower of fire blooming around them.
"Hold tight. Kicking it up a notch."
Rakuya was done humoring Garp. He reached out, amplified repulsion, and the three of them streaked toward Grove 58 like falling stars.
Friction painted their shields red and heat wrapped Roger and Rayleigh like a furnace, but neither said a word.
Down at Grove 1, Garp glared after the three rising specks, veins standing out on his forehead. "All units regroup at Grove 58 and block the Roger Pirates. I refuse to believe Roger will abandon his crew."
"Yes sir."
Marines pounded toward Grove 58. Garp snapped up a Den-Den Mushi and called Vice Admiral Tsuru. Within minutes, Marine warships were massing off the shore. One spark and the whole archipelago would blow.
Meanwhile, Rakuya's trio crossed most of Sabaody in under a minute and came up over the shipyards of Grove 58.
"Captain, look. A whole army of Marines below," Rayleigh said, eyes sharp.
Warships clustered just offshore in a white forest of masts and coats.
"Damn it. Still late," Roger muttered, taking in the ant-swarm of bodies.
Rakuya saw it too and did not care. It was only Marines.
In a blink they were above the Oro Jackson.
"Put us down, my friend."
Seeing his crew locked with Marine vice admirals, Roger's eyes went bloodshot.
"Right."
At about fifty meters up, Rakuya cut the repulsion around them. Gravity caught Roger and Rayleigh and dropped them like spears.
"Crew. Your captain is here. Hold the line."
"Circular Great Slash."
Roger's rage came down in a half-moon of blue light that howled from his western blade like a dragon. It tore toward the Marines on the pier.
"What?"
"From the sky?"
"Damn it, Roger is dropping in. Brace."
The Marines slugging it out with the Roger Pirates froze at the roar overhead. One look at that ship-killing crescent and they scattered like birds.
The cut hit with a booming crack. Marines went tumbling. The weaker ones simply blacked out where they stood.
"Roger, get your people aboard."
Rakuya hovered above it all like a judge and called down.
"Who?"
"Who is that?"
Heads tilted back in unison. A lone figure floated high over the grove, calm eyes looking down.
"Someone flying?"
"Float-Float Fruit, like the Golden Lion?"
"Idiot, the Golden Lion does not look like that."
"Then who is he?"
"Rakuya. That is Rakuya."
"The one who beat a Celestial Dragon bloody?"
Every face turned, stunned.
"Kid, where are Sengoku and Garp?" Vice Admiral Tsuru, Chief of Staff, stayed cool and level. A strategist does not panic.
"Sengoku is in my custody. Garp is about ready to pop a vein. The Celestial Dragon is unconscious and locked in my little black room."
"You dared seize a Marine admiral. Do you not fear death?" Tsuru's gaze went hard.
"What is there to fear?" Rakuya smiled. "You could have my head on a block and still not cut it off."
"Fire."
Tsuru's order snapped out. Rifles came up in a white wave and cracked toward the sky.
Rakuya did not spare them a glance. He gestured to Roger to move.
Roger did not waste breath. He flashed forward, booted a vice admiral off the rail, and bellowed, "Roger Pirates, all hands aboard. Now."
"Aye, Captain."
"Captain is here. Keep your spirits up."
"Captain, finally."
Tears burned in more than a few eyes. They had been waiting and worrying with every heartbeat, trapped in a ring of Marines with no way out. Roger's arrival hit them like a shot of life.
The deck boiled with energy.
"Captain, give the word."
"Even if I die, I will pave a road of blood for the captain."
"When have the Roger Pirates ever feared anyone?"
Their voices rose and rolled, a tide of iron will. Even the Marines felt a shiver of real fear.
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