"Something is off."
In the Marine barracks on Osgu Island, Sengoku suddenly sat up from his bed.
"Garp, did you not notice that when we came back just now there were fewer soldiers on patrol? Before, I could always spot a few CP agents hiding in the shadows. Now they are all gone."
"Eh, really?"
Garp yawned on the bed and dug at his ear.
"They probably just went to grab some late night snacks."
"Garp, do not forget we are on active duty. The White Wolf Pirates' subordinate crews could attack at any time. And there is Roger's crew too. The Roger Pirates covered the retreat of the Rocks Pirates last time, remember?"
"Roger! Where is Roger?"
Still half groggy a second ago, Garp suddenly bounced off the bed when he heard the name.
Crash!
The bed under him gave way with a loud bang.
"Ah, my bed! Damn you, Roger, you owe me again!"
Garp roared.
"All right, all right, stop yelling and come with me. I really feel like something is wrong."
"Fine, fine."
Most of the time Sengoku was the more reliable of the two. They had gone from fresh recruits to commissioned officers together, and Garp knew that when Sengoku said something was off, it usually was.
So Garp shook his head hard, then snapped back into his usual overflowing energy.
"Fully, completely, recovered!"
He struck a weightlifting pose, showing off his bulging biceps, and grinned.
During the day, both of them received pointers from Kong, but because they never knew when the enemy might hit, those training sessions never drained them completely. The idea was to let them recover quickly.
Now Garp had already mastered internal destruction with Armament Haki.
Sengoku was a bit behind.
But he was not a pure hand to hand fighter. He was a Devil Fruit user.
Even though the future of this world had changed, in the end Sengoku still obtained the Devil Fruit that seemed destined for him.
The Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Beast, Great Buddha form.
So both Garp and Sengoku already had strength approaching that of top class pirates. If their promotions were not already ridiculously fast, they would probably have been Vice Admirals by now, maybe even listed as Admiral candidates.
Five years to go from Marine recruit to this level.
In all of Marine history, that was unheard of.
It also showed just how determined the Marines and the World Government were to fight the White Wolf Pirates.
These two were the Marines' star officers.
Their existence embodied the will of the Marines and the World Government.
If you had enough talent, you would not only get elite instructors, but also priority access to Marine resources.
The previous Fleet Admiral Xiangshan and former Chief of Staff Portman might have retired from their posts, but that did not mean they had left the Marines.
They now served as Marine instructors.
Two former Admiral level powerhouses teaching personally. Anyone with even a spark of talent could gain something from that.
Faced with a threat like Magnus, the World Government's massive war machine had finally begun to move in earnest.
The results would be limited in the short term.
But given a little time, countless new Marine stars would rise.
Yet in this world where strength ruled, even among geniuses there were differences.
No matter how wide the Marines cast their net, they could never match Magnus, who actively sought out talent.
And Garp and Sengoku still had not fully grown.
Compared to true top tier monsters, they were still some way off.
"Someone's coming."
Rocks and Baloric noticed the moment Garp and Sengoku approached.
"Take care of them."
Their goal was to send the scientists of Osgu Island away safely. As for the civilians who were effectively being held as hostages, Rocks had hesitated.
In the end he dumped more work on Shiki.
If this had been right after he first went to sea, Rocks would not have cared about the ordinary islanders. But after spending so long on Magnus's ship, his habits had slowly started to resemble Magnus's.
Of course, he would never admit that.
He explained it to himself like this:
"If we do not agree to take the civilians too, that old man Arteston will not cooperate and gather the scientists for us."
So they had spent several days lurking on Osgu Island.
Only now, tonight, had everything lined up.
All the scientists were gathered. Everything was ready. All they needed was the spark. Even if they were discovered now, it would not be a disaster.
"Move."
At Rocks's word, Shiki's mouth curled into a grin.
"Float, all of you."
He swept his hand, and two gigantic slabs of earth tore free from Osgu Island. On one sat the scientists, all knocked out with Haki. On the other were the ordinary residents of Mechanism Island.
The two chunks of land, one big and one small, rumbled as they rose. The deafening noise instantly drew the attention of countless Marines and CP agents.
"What is happening?"
"The ground, the ground is rising!"
"The scientists are all up there, and the residents of Mechanism Island too!"
"Damn it, it is an enemy attack!"
"…"
Even the densest Marine officer or CP commander could see that this was a carefully prepared assault.
And who else could the enemy be?
Garp and Sengoku were closest to the rising land masses. Both of them instantly spotted their targets on the floating slab.
"Roger!"
"The Rocks Pirates!"
"…"
Garp needed no second thought once he saw the figure in the straw hat. He shot forward.
Shave.
In a blink, the distance between Garp and the slab vanished.
Moonwalk.
He kicked off the air again and again, using it as footholds. In less than a second, he crossed hundreds of meters and appeared right in front of the straw hat wearer.
"Haha, Roger, you are not getting away this time!"
"Garp?!"
Roger's face changed when the figure burst out of the darkness.
"Good, I was just going to look for you anyway!"
Ignoring Rayleigh's desperate attempt to stop him, Roger drew the blade at his hip and swept it forward to meet Garp's iron fist.
The clash of Haki made the floating slab shudder violently.
"How did the Marines get here so fast?"
Shiki's expression twitched when he saw Garp and Sengoku.
"I am saying this now. Until these slabs are completely airborne, any enemies that come up here are your problem."
He was not just making things float a little. He was severing the chunks from the island itself. That took focus. He did not have the spare concentration to fend off attackers.
"Hmph, leave them to us."
The moment the operation began, Rocks had known they would end up in a big fight with the World Government's dogs.
"You two clearly have what it takes to be conquerors, yet you wag your tails for the World Government."
Rocks snorted as he looked at Garp and Sengoku.
"Then die with them."
With Garp already charging ahead and realizing that the enemy main force was probably on the slab, Sengoku had no choice but to go up too. Rocks himself was up there, after all.
"Great Buddha."
Sengoku's body erupted in golden light, his glow banishing the darkness and turning night into day.
The next instant, a towering golden Buddha appeared in front of the floating land.
He grabbed the slab in both hands.
"I will not let you get away."
Sengoku's sharp eyes saw everything at a glance. This was not just the Rocks Pirates or the Roger Pirates. The Golden Lion Pirates might be here as well.
Even if Shiki's name was nowhere near as famous as Rocks's, the power to make anything float made Sengoku extremely wary.
He knew how important the scientists were to the Government. If the Rocks Pirates ever managed to carry them off, their mission would be a failure.
But Sengoku was overestimating himself and underestimating their enemies.
He might have wrapped his hands around the slab, but there was no way his weight alone could counteract Shiki's power.
And then there was the slash.
A blade of Haki wrapped in Conqueror's Haki sliced toward him, so fast it screamed. Rocks had no intention of holding back against someone as weak as Sengoku.
Sengoku was not even an Admiral candidate yet. Even with his Devil Fruit transformation bolstering his defenses, he had no way to withstand a full powered strike from a top tier monster like Rocks.
I will die.
Sengoku could practically see the star of his own death overhead.
If Rocks did not pull his blow, this one strike could kill him.
A low shout cut across the night, and a figure Sengoku trusted more than almost anyone appeared in front of him. The man had not even taken the time to put on his Admiral coat. Dressed in plain clothes, he stepped into Sengoku's place and met the blow head on.
"Rocks, you are a top fighter in this sea, yet you go all out on a youngster like him. Do you feel no shame?"
Kong growled as he blocked Rocks's strike with his fists. The skin across his knuckles split open, the wound so deep the bone showed.
He had expected that.
One on one, he knew he was not Rocks's match.
"Hah? Youngster?"
Rocks laughed like he had just heard the greatest joke in the world.
"He is young, but I am not? How many years older than him do you think I am?"
That stopped Kong.
When Rocks had first appeared at Magnus's side, he had only been in his early twenties. Nearly ten years had passed since then, and he had grown into a terrifying monster.
But his real age was still under thirty.
He could absolutely call himself young.
Rocks's answer made his own crew go quiet.
Then the muttering started.
"So the captain is actually still young?"
"I thought he was at least forty."
"Sometimes I feel like he is older than Captain Magnus."
"…"
Rocks's face froze.
"You brats think I cannot hear you?"
He snapped, "Quit talking and start taking those Marines down."
Osgu Island was less than ten kilometers across. The Marines and CP agents stationed here were elites among elites.
So the moment the earth began to rise, Marines and agents sprinted toward the disturbance.
For ordinary people, a hundred meter sprint would exhaust them.
For these elites, sprinting at that speed was no different from walking.
In a few short minutes, every elite on the island would converge on them.
And that was not even what worried Rocks most.
"Bold indeed."
A monstrous figure crawled up from the depths like some demon straight from hell. A massive spider radiating ominous malice appeared before Rocks and his people.
"Tch, you again, you undying fossil."
Last time, by relying on his immortal body, Jaygarcia Saturn had stalled Rocks for a full day.
This time, there was no need to stall.
"Shiki, how long?"
"As soon as you clear out these Marines, I can send it up."
"And if I do not clear them out?"
"Five minutes."
"You trying to get me killed, just say it."
Rocks cursed.
He could feel more powerful presences approaching. Besides Kong and Jaygarcia Saturn, there were two more top tier fighters closing in.
No. Not two. Four.
Other than Kong and Saturn, there were four more top fighters on this island.
"Abort. We are aborting, now."
Rocks did not hesitate.
"Forget the scientists. If we get pinned here, we are all dead."
He did not think Magnus had failed to hold the World Government's heavy hitters. It was more likely that there were more top tiers on their side than Magnus had anticipated, and Magnus simply had not had time to react to the change.
"Old man, so you miscalculated too."
If there had only been four top fighters, he could have grabbed Shiki, Baloric, and a few elite crew members and gone all in.
Six, though, was beyond his league.
"That many enemies, only the old man could handle them."
The thought had barely formed when Rocks fell silent.
He struggled with two on his own.
Magnus, though, if left unshackled, could dance around even that many.
The gap between him and Magnus was still huge.
And then.
"Rocks, wait."
Baloric suddenly felt something. The next moment, Rocks sensed it too.
"Newgate?"
Rocks's eyes went wide. Then he burst into loud, wild laughter.
"Gyahahaha. Guys, counterattack."
"Our reinforcements are here."
"Gurararara. The captain was right. This is one hell of a party."
Even from far away, everyone felt like they could hear that laugh.
Not far from Osgu Island, a man stood on the deck of his ship, a long naginata in his hands.
"Let me liven things up then."
Milky white light gathered around his fist. The man slammed that fist into thin air.
Boom.
The deafening crash shook the world itself.
Hundreds of meters, thousands of meters, tens of thousands of meters.
With each rumbling shockwave, mountains and seas alike seemed to topple.
For the first time, Newgate the Whitebeard showed the full extent of his power to the world.
(End of Chapter)
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