East Blue, Serchio Island:
The New World was in chaos, with many large Pirate Crew eyeing the territory left behind by World.
But only John was completely indifferent to this; his vision leaped beyond the New World, seeing the global situation.
"Yohohoho, the World Government and Celestial Dragons' base was utterly destroyed by World. Now the whole World is in chaos, and the World Government and Marine's energy is completely dispersed. It's a great time to snatch treasures."
"Before, I could only skim around the edges of the Calm Belt. Now is a great opportunity for massive looting!"
"Those short-sighted guys only stare at that small piece of land in the New World, but they give up the vast Four Seas and numerous treasures. What a pity!"
John took the opposite approach to those large Pirate Crew in the New World.
He, John, wasn't interested in territory. Even if they snatched the territory left by World, without management skills, how much treasure could they get each year just by collecting protection fees?
It was not as much as they could get from a single raid in the Four Seas. So, John took advantage of the World Government being preoccupied and the large Pirate Crew in the New World focusing on territorial disputes, secretly taking his Pirate Crew to the weakest East Blue to plunder.
Although the East Blue is called the weakest Sea, the term "weakest" here refers to the weakest average combat power of Pirates.
The weakness of Pirate forces means that the probability of major kingdoms being attacked by Pirates is very small, which also means that business here is prosperous, kingdoms are wealthy, and the average level of personal wealth is high.
Therefore, John set his sights on the East Blue.
"Captain John, we're almost at our destination!"
Eddison Quintana said excitedly.
This time, John chose Serchio Island, which was near the Calm Belt in the East Blue but also very wealthy, as his first target.
"Yohohoho, little ones, get ready for me! After landing, immediately snatch all the treasures on the island for me!"
John looked at the island within reach, as if he could already smell the treasure, and shouted excitedly.
"Oh, I want treasure!!"
"Treasure, treasure is all mine, no one can snatch it from me!"
"Long live the Captain, following the Captain, there will definitely be no shortage of treasure!"
"..."
Hearing John's words, the Pirates on each ship were extremely excited. Weren't they following John for treasure?
But among these cheering Pirates, there were many old Pirates, those who had been on John's ship for many years, and their eyes held a trace of undetectable anger.
Especially Eddison Quintana and Gastro Tucker, whom John regarded as his right-hand men, they had a very high degree of obsession with treasure.
But John not only didn't distribute the treasure to them, he even snatched away a portion of the treasure they had obtained themselves.
He claimed it was to help them keep it, but this made their hearts increasingly dissatisfied and angry towards John. If their strength hadn't been insufficient, they would have wanted to kill John and snatch all their own treasure and John's treasure!
John naturally didn't know about the thoughts of these subordinates, or rather, even if he knew, he didn't care.
What he cared about most was treasure. He didn't care if his subordinates would betray him because he was confident that he could suppress these subordinates. As long as he was still there, these subordinates wouldn't dare to rebel. This approach was almost identical to Rocks's back then.
"Run, run quickly, the Pirates are here!"
"Damn it, how could the New World's great Pirate John appear here!"
"Woohoo, Mama, I'm scared!"
"..."
As the many Pirates of the John Pirate Crew rushed out of this prosperous island, there were screams all over the island, and everyone began to flee in panic.
But most of these people couldn't escape at all. In front of the many Pirates of the John Pirate Crew, these people were too weak. With the port controlled, these people couldn't leave the island at all!
"John, go to hell for me!"
Not long after John landed on the island, Garp, who was hidden on the island, rushed over like a madman. Black lightning burst out wantonly, and Haoshoku Haki spread out, stunning most of the Pirates of the John Pirate Crew.
"Garp, how are you here!"
John was surprised when he saw Garp appear, but after the surprise came terror.
Since Garp was here, it meant that the Marine and World Government had grasped his whereabouts, and his whereabouts were now exposed!
This was the Four Seas. Once his whereabouts were exposed, the danger level was imaginable!
"Run!"
John didn't dare to stay here for a moment longer. He immediately transformed into his Devil form, spread his wings, and flew towards his pirate ship.
As John, who had eaten the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Devil form, he possessed the ability to fly, and his speed was not slow.
However, just as John took off, a golden Buddha descended from the sky.
"Great Buddha Divine Palm!"
On this huge golden hand, terrifying white impact power was condensed. Combined with his overwhelming Haoshoku Haki, he slammed his palm down.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku's sudden sneak attack left John with no time to react. His body instinctively wanted to dodge Fleet Admiral Sengoku's palm, but his back was struck by Fleet Admiral Sengoku's long-planned full-power palm.
"Crack!!"
The powerful Buddha palm instantly broke John's Devil wings. John, like a plane with broken wings, fell rapidly from the air.
"Hahahaha, John, today is your death day!"
Garp laughed loudly when he saw John falling like a meteor. Busoshoku Haki and Haoshoku Haki combined on his fist, emitting a dazzling light like a red star.
"Bone Fist · Meteor!"
Garp's figure instantly disappeared from the spot and appeared directly below where John was falling. His entire body was like a meteor rising from the ground, and he punched towards John.
John was spitting blood from Fleet Admiral Sengoku's palm, his internal organs damaged. Seeing Garp charging up again, he subconsciously used Devil fire to set up a flame barrier in front of him, and also blocked with his hands covered in Busoshoku Haki.
"Crack!!!"
However, facing Garp's fist, John's Devil fire was useless and was extinguished by Garp's punch. Even John himself was hit in the chest by Garp through his arms.
He went from falling to shooting straight up into the sky.
"Great Buddha Divine Palm!!"
And Fleet Admiral Sengoku had been in the air from the beginning, preventing John from escaping from the air. Seeing John flying up again, he raised his hand, and the Buddha palm, combining two-color Haki and impact power, struck John again.
Under the joint efforts of Garp and Fleet Admiral Sengoku, John was beaten back and forth like a ball by the two, completely unable to fight back.
If he hadn't had the tenacious vitality of a Mythical Zoan, he would have been defeated by Garp and Fleet Admiral Sengoku's joint attack long ago and wouldn't have been able to last long at all.
"The strongest Marine Garp and Fleet Admiral Sengoku are here, let's run!"
"Isn't the Captain definitely dead? Can the Captain's treasure be taken?"
Eddison Quintana and Gastro Tucker, upon seeing John surrounded by Garp and Fleet Admiral Sengoku, immediately shouted and led many of the John Pirate Crew members to flee.
They were the most prestigious and strongest people under John. With their call, most of the Pirates followed them and ran.
"John, you're finally going to die. All your treasure is mine!"
As Eddison Quintana fled, he looked back at the direction of John and Garp's battle, a sinister smile of a successful plot appearing on his face.
Since his treasure was snatched by John, he had been waiting for this day for who knows how long!!!
Now, he had finally waited for it!
"Damn it, who leaked my whereabouts, and those damn bastards didn't even come to save me!"
John was extremely angry now. He hadn't told any other great Pirates about his whereabouts, so someone on his ship must have betrayed him.
Coupled with the fact that neither of the two Executive Officers he regarded as his right-hand men came to save him, he already knew that those subordinates had betrayed him!
"Hahahaha, Pirates are Pirates. Rocks was betrayed by his subordinates back then and finally died under my fist!"
"Now you, John, are also betrayed by your subordinates and will still die under my fist!"
Garp laughed loudly and swung his fist wildly at John.
Although Fleet Admiral Sengoku didn't speak, the power in his hands kept increasing.
The World Government had suffered heavy losses from World, Nox, and Golden Lion before, but the World Government was not confident in dealing with Nox and Golden Lion.
So they set their sights on other great Pirates in the New World, and John became the unlucky one, or rather, the easiest one to deal with.
But the World Government no longer had spare personnel available, so they had Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Garp ambush John, making sure to keep John.
"I'm not reconciled!!!"
John desperately wanted to escape, but his Devil wings were broken by Fleet Admiral Sengoku's sneak attack at the beginning, and later Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Garp focused on John's wings. Now that John had no flying ability, he couldn't escape the encirclement of Garp and Fleet Admiral Sengoku.
Finally, he was punched by Garp until he completely lost consciousness and lay on the ground.
"Since he's not dead, let's lock him up in the Impel Down."
Seeing Garp still wanting to deliver another punch, Fleet Admiral Sengoku stopped him.
John's Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Devil form Devil Fruit was very rare, and he didn't want this Devil Fruit to be reborn on the Sea and fall into the hands of Pirates again.
"Alright then, let's take him back."
Garp took out Sea Stone handcuffs from somewhere and put them on John.