With Garp and Dragon off having their "father-son chat," the Marines were instantly in a bad spot.
Gion was embarrassed, and even Garp's loyal subordinate, Bogart, was internally facepalming.
'That Vice Admiral Garp is way too reckless! How are we supposed to clean up this mess?' Bogart thought, already trying to figure out how to spin this for the report to HQ.
He and Gion both knew Garp had a soft spot for his grandson, but those parting words were just infuriating.
'Gion can hold him off for five minutes; I'll be back in ten.'
He basically gave them a five-minute head start! And now, the enemy they were left facing was Ray.
Ray erupted with demonic energy, charging Gion at insane speed.
She barely managed to draw her sword and block, but the difference in their condition was huge.
Ray was mostly recovered; she was still heavily wounded.
After just a few clashes, she was exhausted and sent flying.
Meanwhile, Bogart was locked in a fierce fight with Buggy.
It was a stalemate for now.
Ray seized the moment Gion was knocked back, zipped over, grabbed the unconscious Luffy, and tossed him down to the Straw Hats on the beach.
Then, he flashed behind Gion, whacked her on the head with his sword hilt and tied her up with his energy whip.
Just like that, the Admiral Candidate was captured.
Gion, tied up, was cursing Garp internally.
'Five minutes?! It's only been ten seconds!'
But then, a weird thought crossed her mind.
'Tsk~ But being tied up by Ray... gives me this strange thrill. Hehe~'
So, she decided to play dead, pretending to be critically injured as Ray dragged her back to the beach and dumped her at the crew's feet.
Ray glanced back at the Straw Hats.
"Go!"
Everyone sprang into action.
They piled onto Chouchou's huge back, grabbed their two captives (Gion and Hina), and took off towards the distant Going Merry.
Buggy was still fighting Bogart.
Seeing the Straw Hats just leave, he cursed Ray's lack of loyalty.
'You couldn't even help me take this guy out first?!'
But time was short.
Buggy immediately unleashed his full power, aiming his Chop-chop ability at the dog-head warship.
To protect the soldiers on board, Bogart used Soru to dash forward and block the attack.
But Buggy was too fast; Bogart didn't have time to fully power up his Haki and ended up coughing up blood, collapsing onto the deck.
Seeing his chance, Buggy turned and flew back to the beach, grabbed Smoker and Tashigi from the pit, and led Gin and his crew towards their own ship, leaving the Mad Dog Pirates and their dogs standing there completely bewildered.
…
Meanwhile, on a small island two kilometers away...
Garp and Dragon stood facing each other.
Dragon just laughed.
"Dad," he said, "how are you going to explain this to Marine Headquarters?"
Garp's face turned cold.
"Explain?! I'll just take your head back as my explanation! Dammit, how did I end up with a rebellious son like you?! And my grandson is just as bad! Neither of you gives me any peace!"
Dragon actually looked a little embarrassed.
He knew his and Luffy's choices had made things incredibly difficult for his father.
If Garp wasn't such a legend, HQ would have dealt with him long ago.
Even now, he had the fame but none of the real power.
Dragon genuinely felt guilty.
"So, Dad," he asked quietly, "are we really going to fight?"
Garp just snorted. "Fight? Just get over here!"
Dragon's lips twitched, and sweat beaded on his forehead.
But, just like Luffy, he obediently walked over.
"Love-Fist!"
"Ouch~"
…
Five minutes later...
Both the Straw Hat and Buggy pirate crews were back on their ships, sailing full speed towards the entrance of the Grand Line.
Luffy had woken up.
Watching the Roger statue shrink in the distance, he gave a small bow, paying respects for his brother.
On the other ship, Buggy saw Luffy's gesture and smiled.
'Even if you're not the captain's son, I acknowledge you now. But the title of Pirate King? I'm gonna compete with you for that too! Good thing Ray has no interest in it, ka-hahaha!'
Ray's sharp ears caught Buggy's words, but he ignored them, his attention fixed on the small island, now 5 kilometers away.
He could sense that the father and son hadn't been serious earlier.
But now... their auras were suddenly intensifying.
Something big was coming.
Sure enough, within seconds, dark clouds gathered, winds howled, and heavy rain started pouring down in a 10-kilometer radius around Loguetown.
Ray knew this was Dragon's power.
Almost simultaneously, two terrifying kingly auras clashed over the island, red lightning flashing everywhere.
'Do they both have Conqueror's Haki? Or is that something else?' Ray watched coldly as all the natural energy in the area started converging on the island.
Ten seconds later, all hell broke loose.
…
Twenty seconds earlier, on the abandoned island...
"Brat!" Garp yelled, "If you can't take this punch, I'll really have to use your head for my report!"
Dragon, covered in bumps from the "Love-Fists," was fuming.
He couldn't really fight his dad, but he had to regain some respect.
He signaled to Garp that he could handle it.
Garp laughed, red lightning crackling around him.
Dragon did the same, unleashing his own Conqueror's haki.
Suddenly, Garp leaped hundreds of meters into the air, his right fist coated in black Haki.
"GALAXY IMPACT!"
Dragon, on the ground, unleashed all his power.
A massive vortex of wind formed above him, coalescing into a colossal wind dragon that shot up to meet Garp's fist.
The moment their attacks collided, a blinding sphere of light, like a second sun, appeared in the sky.
Then, the world seemed to shatter as the entire island broke apart.
From their ships, Ray and the others witnessed what looked like a massive nuclear explosion.
The terrifying shockwave, carrying hurricanes and tsunamis, rushed straight towards them.
Nami, sensing the wind direction, realized it was blowing them perfectly towards the entrance of the Grand Line.
"Set the sails to maximum!" she ordered.
They used the apocalyptic storm to ride the waves forward at incredible speed.
…
Luffy and the others watched, eyes wide with shock.
They'd seen Ray and Hawkeye's clash, but that was nothing compared to this.
This explosion felt like it affected everything for miles.
This apocalyptic scene left them utterly stunned.
They all sighed in relief, thankful Luffy's dad had shown up.
Hearing this, Luffy looked completely bewildered.
"Huh? My dad?"
(Dragon had appeared while Luffy was knocked out, so he had no idea.)
They quickly explained everything to him.
Another 5 minutes later, the Going Merry and Buggy's ship, riding the storm, were far from Loguetown.
Just when everyone thought they were home free...
A red light flashed across the sky.
Garp reappeared, using Geppo to hover in the air above them.
The old Vice Admiral looked down, his aura exploding outwards.
"Luffy! Ray! Buggy! You're too naive!" he boomed, laughing.
"Did you really think you could escape from me?! WAHAHAHA!"
With that, his right fist started gathering power again, clearly preparing to unleash another of those terrifying attacks.
Seeing this, Buggy, whose ship wasn't far from the Merry, shouted over to Ray.
"Ray! Are you ready?!"
Ray nodded, a grim look on his face.
"Yeah."