Garp exuded an endless tyrannical aura, colliding with the Thousand-Armed Martial God's attack.
A sonic boom, and rings of white shockwaves exploded in the air.
The giant sword's slashes were sent flying by his iron fists.
Then, a thousand fists, wreathed in Armament and Conqueror's Haki, smashed down like the heavens falling.
Garp resisted with all his might, but his body was still blasted down toward the ground.
Kizaru saw that Vice Admiral Garp was gradually failing to hold on. He turned into golden light and appeared a thousand meters in the sky.
He aimed a kick at the spot between the Martial God Giant's eyebrows.
Inside the transparent energy armor, Luo Chen's gaze swept over.
Ripples, like water, appeared in his black left eye.
A layer of distorted space covered Kizaru's entire body.
His expression changed. He used his Logia transformation to disperse into countless golden photons, fleeing into the distance.
A portion of the golden photons was caught by the twisting spatial vortex, almost failing to escape.
Kizaru's figure solidified high in the distance, a layer of fine sweat on his face.
He wiped away the sweat, looking grimly at Luo Chen.
'Distorting spatial power... What kind of ability is this now?'
'In that instant, if those photons had really been sucked into the vortex, my body would be missing a part.'
'It would be a permanent disability.'
Below, Garp had already been smashed to the ground by the thousand fists.
The ground where he stood was covered in cracks.
Suddenly, the earth shattered, sending soil and rock flying.
Garp's body was pounded into a large crater by the thousand fists, disappearing from sight.
The Martial God's barrage of giant fists wasn't over; it was still pounding the crater.
The entire island of Marineford trembled violently. The ground caved in, forming gullies, and cracks spread deep into the island.
A moment later, the Martial God Giant's thousand fists finally stopped, retracting into the air like the fanned-out tail feathers of a peacock.
The Marines all stared nervously into the depths of the crater.
After a short while, the sound of falling rubble was heard.
Garp slowly climbed out of the pit.
His face and clothes were covered in dust, and blood dripped from his fists, but his breathing was relatively stable.
Sengoku and all the Marines breathed a sigh of relief.
'It seems Luo Chen's attack still hasn't surpassed Garp's limit.'
'Although he has minor injuries, it doesn't impede his ability to fight.'
Aokiji walked to Garp's side, and Kizaru also returned from the sky.
The three of them once again faced Luo Chen.
"Kuzan, are your injuries okay?" Garp asked with concern.
Aokiji shook his head. "I can hold on for a while longer."
He had taken advantage of Garp distracting Luo Chen to rest for a moment, and he felt slightly recovered.
Garp nodded. "We've gathered enough intel. Be careful, and we'll have a chance to take Luo Chen down."
After the exchange just now, Garp had confirmed Luo Chen's strength.
'In terms of attack power alone, he's about the same as me, Aokiji, and Kizaru.'
'His ability to heavily wound Aokiji earlier was mainly due to his many hidden, unknown abilities.'
Kizaru reminded them, "Luo Chen seems to be able to use his eyes to launch a space-distorting attack. Be careful during the fight."
Garp looked up at the giant Thousand-Armed Martial God and said:
"After this war, we absolutely must find out what Devil Fruit Luo Chen actually has."
When strength reached their top-tier level, information was a crucial factor in battle.
...
In the distance, the Going Merry had been moved next to the Whitebeard Pirates' Moby Dick.
These two ships were the only ones in the bay that had not been fused by Bullet.
Boa Hancock watched Garp, Aokiji, and Kizaru regroup, her beautiful face grim.
'Facing three of the world's top-tier powerhouses.'
'Luo Chen had to expose one mysterious ability after another just to heavily wound Aokiji.'
'Kizaru's injuries don't hinder his fighting, and Garp is only lightly injured.'
'Wanting to defeat all three of them seems... unlikely.'
"This is not an easy fight," Robin sighed softly.
She hadn't expected Luo Chen's strength to have grown to the point where he could take on Marine Admirals.
'Aokiji was almost killed.'
'But almost isn't dead.'
The physique of a Marine Admiral was monstrous. Even with heavy injuries, they could still fight after a short rest.
With the three top-tier fighters gathered and Luo Chen's trump cards mostly exposed, this battle would be very difficult.
Usopp, Carina, Chopper, and the others stayed on the ship, their faces full of worry.
They weren't just worried about Luo Chen, but also about Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji, who were still fighting on the battlefield.
The three of them, along with Whitebeard's commanders, Ivankov, and Jinbe, were still fighting, trying to rescue Ace.
Whitebeard rose to his full height and, ignoring Marco's attempts to stop him, charged onto the battlefield.
"My sons, launch an all-out attack!"
"Don't let the Marines look down on the Whitebeard Pirates!"
"The Admirals and Garp all went to deal with Luo Chen. Did they forget that I am Whitebeard?!"
Whitebeard's powerful voice echoed across the battlefield.
A commotion erupted on the Marine side.
'It's true. Two Admirals and Vice Admiral Garp are dealing with Luo Chen.'
'Who can stop Whitebeard?'
'Where did Admiral Akainu go?'
"Meteor Volcano!"
An angry roar came from the rear of the battlefield.
The sky suddenly turned crimson.
One after another, giant magma fists, like a meteor shower, fell from the sky, covering the tens of thousands of pirates around the Moby Dick.
The Marine soldiers were overjoyed.
"Admiral Akainu is back!"
"Victory in this war will belong to the Marines!" Akainu said coldly. "Anyone who dares to cower or evade battle will face only death."
He was carrying two charred corpses in his hand.
A Marine recognized them and gasped in a low voice: "It's Coby and Helmeppo."
Yes, the pink hair and the terrified, charred face... you could still make out Coby's features.
The blond man next to him was Helmeppo.
Both of them were Marines that Vice Admiral Garp had brought back from the East Blue.
He believed they had considerable potential, so he had them trained at Headquarters.
And now, they had been killed by Admiral Akainu.
'It sounds like those two became deserters and were then discovered by Admiral Akainu.'
Akainu threw the two corpses to the ground and said in a deep voice, "Leave Whitebeard to me. Dare to desert, and your fate will be the same as theirs."
The Marines all shivered but had no objections.
'Deserters... they do deserve to be killed!'
'What's more, this is wartime.'
'If wartime deserters aren't killed, it has a huge impact on the army's discipline and morale. In severe cases, it can even lead to a total collapse and rout.'
...
On the distant battlefield, Garp heard the commotion from behind. He turned his head and saw the corpses of Coby and Helmeppo.
His concentration clearly wavered, and his movements slowed for an instant.
Luo Chen, controlling the Thousand-Armed Susanoo, sent him flying with one slash, smashing him into the ground in the distance.
"Garp, do you still have the luxury of worrying about others?"
A thousand meters in the sky, Luo Chen smiled.
'The deaths of Coby and Helmeppo might be a butterfly effect that I caused.'
'But unlike those innocent Cocoyasi villagers...'
'Those two were deserters. Being severely punished, or even executed, is what they deserved.'
'Fleeing during wartime... you can't blame anyone for getting killed.'
'On this point, he felt Akainu did the right thing by killing them.'
Whitebeard's voice came from the distance: "Luo Chen, brat! I can't help you for now. I need to take care of this red dog first."
"If you can't hold on, just run over here."
Luo Chen laughed when he heard this. "No need. It's only three people."
"What arrogance!" On the execution platform, Sengoku raged.
This was also what many of the Marines were thinking.
'Only three people?'
'Does Luo Chen think he's facing three ordinary Marines?'
'He's just too arrogant!'
In contrast, Aokiji and Kizaru, who had fought Luo Chen the most, had no smiles on their faces.
A bad feeling surfaced in both their hearts.
'Because Luo Chen still has that terrifying clone ability.'
'Clones themselves aren't scary.'
'But clones with strength close to the original body... that is scary.'
Garp returned from the distance, his face filled with irritation and anger, glancing repeatedly at Sakazuki.
Kizaru advised, "Mr. Garp, let's focus on Luo Chen first. I have a really bad feeling."
A thousand meters up, five black dots were rapidly descending from the sky, gradually coming into focus.
Aokiji, looking up, let out a deep breath of white, cold air.
'To be honest... he was starting to feel a chill all over his body.'
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