Under Shiki's control, the storm of rocks moved as though it had a life of its own, launching one violent assault after another at Garp.
Though Garp's iron fists were indestructible, even he felt unprecedented pressure under such dense attacks.
His fists were powerful, yes—but the sheer number of rocks made it impossible to destroy them all.
The Armament Haki coating his body was constantly scraped by the high-speed stones flying in from every angle. Even he felt a trace of pain.
Behind Sengoku, the golden image of the great Buddha began to take shape once more. Buddha-light spread outward, illuminating the entire battlefield. Sengoku thrust both fists forward, unleashing wave after wave of golden shockwaves straight into the core of the rock storm—toward the golden-haired figure hidden beneath all those rocks.
"Great Buddha!"
Sengoku's voice was like a temple bell at dawn and dusk, shaking every corner of the battlefield.
He gathered power into both hands once again. This time, the Buddha-light no longer spread freely across Marineford. Instead, Sengoku compressed it in his palms into an unbearably brilliant sphere of light.
"Shockwave!!"
Boom!
The golden blast tore through Shiki's wall of rocks and collided head-on with his power, causing a massive explosion.
The incoming stones were temporarily driven back, and powdered dust filled the air across the entire battlefield.
Smoke spread everywhere.
But when it cleared, Shiki still stood in the sky completely unharmed.
His fur-lined coat whipped in the wind behind him. His mane of golden hair danced wildly. Wiping away the blood at the corner of his mouth, Shiki spread both arms and looked at Sengoku.
"Sengoku, give it up. Bring Roger out here for me."
"I'm standing with the entire landmass of Marineford behind me!"
The ground began cracking again, splitting into countless fissures. Massive boulders rose into the air like enormous spears under Shiki's control.
Sengoku's expression turned grave as he stared at the stone spear hanging above the sky, at least fifty meters long.
This man had truly gone insane.
He was actually willing to go all out and wage war at Marineford itself!
"Hey, Sengoku!"
"I can still pull out ten of these!"
Raising Kogarashi, Shiki pointed the blade straight at the sun overhead and let out a terrifying roar.
His stamina began draining at a frightening pace as he pushed his Devil Fruit power to the absolute limit.
The smaller rocks hanging in the sky began falling to the ground. The storm of stone vanished.
But this was only the overture to the real storm.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Now the entire land of Marineford trembled under this man's control!
Each booming sound marked the emergence of another giant spear of stone, until nine immense pillars surrounded their king like soldiers guarding him.
"Madman!"
Looking at the ten massive stone pillars circling above, Sengoku cursed openly.
This man had lost his mind completely. At this point, he wasn't even leaving himself enough stamina to escape.
"Sengoku, Roger must die by my hand!"
"Bring that man out here and let me kill him myself!"
Looking down at the golden Buddha beneath him, Shiki roared in fury.
Even if Roger died, he had to die by Shiki's hand!
"Shiki, I'll tell you one last time."
"No one is allowed to interfere with this execution!"
The golden wrathful Buddha roared toward the heavens. Sengoku the Buddha was not the kind of man who could be intimidated by a spectacle like this!
"Lion's Majesty: Stone Prison Cataclysm!"
With a downward slash of his blade, the ten stone spears received their command and shot toward Sengoku from every direction at once.
Garp, you old bastard, you'd better come through for me!
Seeing the spears closing in from all directions, leaving not the slightest gap to evade through, the giant golden face twisted into a bitter smile. Sengoku brought his palms together and clapped hard.
Then a ripple flashed outward.
A golden sphere instantly formed around him, enclosing him completely and sealing him inside.
The giant stone spears slamming down from above were blocked outside the barrier.
Boom!
The spears smashed into the golden sphere. The brittle stone immediately cracked and broke apart layer by layer, shattered into fragments by the barrier's force.
But…
Each spear was fifty meters long!
The golden light grew dimmer and dimmer. Under Shiki's power, the spears' force only became more violent.
Sengoku was clearly on the verge of reaching his limit!
"Sengoku, give me a straight answ—"
"You blond bastard! Did you forget about me?!"
"W-what?!"
"Garp, you bastard! You actually sn—"
Shiki tried to evade, but his severe exhaustion had slowed his body too much.
This is bad!
Seizing the perfect moment, a large hand wrapped in black cherry-blossom-like Haki grabbed the arm holding Kogarashi. A fierce grin spread across Garp's face!
"You blond bastard, this ends now!"
"Fist of Love: Seabed Drop!!!"
"Garp—AAAAAH!!!"
With Shiki firmly controlled, Garp used all his strength to hurl him violently toward the ground.
Golden hair streamed through the air. His body dropped like a meteor toward the earth.
The power of the Float-Float Fruit could no longer help him.
His stamina was utterly drained, leaving him unable to counter even the slightest bit of the force Garp had thrown into him.
A crimson meteor tore across the sky.
Boom!
The sheer impact of Shiki's fall made all of Marineford tremble!
The ground split open beneath him, leaving behind a vast crater as dust exploded upward in every direction.
解除? translate: Sengoku released his power, shattered a giant rock that had fallen toward his head after losing Shiki's control with a single palm, then walked to the edge of the crater and looked down at the golden-haired man sprawled within it.
"Shiki! Surrender!"
"We should let Tsuru wash this blond bastard before we throw him in."
Garp's voice came from the other side. Somehow, he had found a bag of rice crackers and was already munching on them while staring at Shiki lying there in the crater, gasping for breath.
"Garp, get me a pair of Seastone cuffs."
"…"
"What, you can dig rice crackers out of the rubble, but you can't grab a pair of Seastone cuffs while you're at it?!"
"Don't sweat the small stuff."
Crunching through the hard crackers and swallowing them in huge gulps, Garp fixed Shiki with a stern gaze.
"You're not getting away. I'm watching you!"
Hearing that, Golden Lion froze for a moment.
Then—
"Hahahahahahaha!"
"From you? The man who spent his entire life failing to catch Roger and only got him in the end because he turned himself in?!"
"Garp, don't make me laugh!"
The lion's bright, unrestrained laughter filled the sky above the crater. Garp's old face turned red with anger, Armament Haki gathering on his fists once more.
"I'm going to beat you to death today, you bastard!"
"Garp, calm down. He's a prisoner now, and you know that…"
Held back by Sengoku, Garp angrily shoved an entire bag of rice crackers into his mouth, turned away, and refused to look at the lion below any longer.
"Admit it, Garp. Sengoku. You don't dare kill me!"
"You're afraid! Afraid another me will appear on the sea if I die! Afraid my Devil Fruit will reincarnate and be eaten by someone else!"
"You have no confidence in controlling anything beyond your own hands. Marines… you're nothing but cowards hiding behind hypocritical justice!"
"Who dares kill me?!"
Shiki's voice was utterly wild, as arrogant as ever, as though he weren't the defeated man lying at someone else's mercy.
"Once you're in Impel Down, you'll settle down."
Sengoku paid no heed to Shiki's words, looking at him as though he were a clown.
He turned to go find some rope to tie Shiki up. As a Devil Fruit user himself, he could not touch Seastone cuffs.
And with the rice-cracker monster beside him being utterly unreliable, what if he was careless and got reverse-killed by Shiki instead?
"Impel Down? Hmph!"
At those words, Shiki let out a cold snort, his face dripping with contempt and mockery.
That expression made Sengoku's heart skip hard.
"Garp, grab him!"
"Too late!"
"Venom Snake!"
Drawing on the last sliver of stamina he had managed to recover, Golden Lion struck the ground with one hand. Instantly, the stone beneath him shot upward into the air, carrying him skyward.
"Stop eating those damned crackers!"
Looking at the so-called Hero of the Marines, who had somehow produced another bag of crackers from who-knew-where, Sengoku's face darkened.
"Relax. How long can his stamina hold out? Let the Marines search around Marineford later. He'll probably collapse in some corner."
That's exactly what you said when you were chasing Roger, damn it!
Watching Garp casually continue eating his crackers, Sengoku's mouth twitched slightly. In the end, all he could do was sigh.
But what else could he do now?
"I hope so."
…
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