"Hurry, leave! A tsunami that can destroy everything is coming!"
"Head for the deep sea—the tsunami won't reach there."
Sensing the message from the Sea Kings, Roger opened his eyes, his expression filled with shock.
It was also at the moment Roger and Golden Lion halted their clash—
Meanwhile, hundreds of nautical miles away on the sea.
Three massive warships were stationed there.
The most prominent one in the middle was a warship with a dog-head ram.
Garp, Raleigh, and Kuzan all sat in the office listening to the spy Den Den Mushi in their hands.
"Bwahahaha! Well said, Roger. Truly worthy of being my lifelong rival—facing such overwhelming odds without a trace of fear."
Garp made no attempt to conceal his admiration for Roger.
Upon hearing Roger's bold declaration to the Golden Lion, he couldn't help but applaud and speak up.
Kuzan, who had always been intensely curious about Roger, was similarly influenced by Garp after hearing Roger's words to Golden Lion Shiki.
"Arara, he's absolutely right. I never expected a pirate to possess such awareness."
Raleigh, standing nearby, showed no reaction whatsoever.
To be frank, in Raleigh's eyes, Roger was nothing but a rule-breaker.
During his time as a pirate, Roger had once slaughtered an entire kingdom's soldiers simply because its citizens mocked his crew.
As the Pirate King, it was he who shouted "One Piece" before his execution—deliberately misleading the world and tempting people to set sail in pursuit of the Pirate King's legendary treasure.
Thus began the chaotic Great Pirate Era.
From every perspective, Raleigh disliked Roger.
If everyone acted without regard for rules, this world would be beyond redemption.
Currently, it seemed there was still hope for saving this world.
However, this hope lay not with the Marines, nor with the Revolutionary Army.
It could only be found in the "Marine Justice" Raleigh had secretly established.
"Raleigh, when are we going to intervene in their battle?" Garp suddenly turned and inquired.
He desperately wanted to charge in immediately, as it would give him the chance to fight alongside Roger for the second time.
Their opponents were no weaklings—the Flying Pirates, reputed to command ten thousand pirates, and the legendary great pirate Golden Lion Shiki.
If he could join Roger in defeating such formidable foes again, Garp felt it would bring him immense satisfaction.
After all, his original purpose in capturing Roger was simply to have a fight with him.
Under normal circumstances, if he were here alone, Garp wouldn't have hesitated—he would have charged straight into battle against the Golden Lion's Flying Pirates.
But the current situation was different.
Raleigh was also a Vice Admiral, so Garp had to respect his opinion.
Raleigh leisurely brewed a cup of tea, carefully placing the tea leaves inside.
Then he picked up a historical book about the Grand Line and began reading, saying:
"No need to rush, Vice Admiral Garp. Battles between top-tier fighters like them can last for days and nights as a basic minimum."
"We have plenty of time to wait for our opportunity."
Garp felt extremely frustrated.
He wasn't concerned about waiting for opportunities—what he wanted was to participate in the battle.
Being unable to fight either the Golden Lion or Roger made him unusually irritable.
"Raleigh, I believe with our current strength, we could capture both Roger's pirate crew and the Golden Lion's Flying Pirates in one sweep. So there's no need to wait until they've determined a winner before we move in."
Raleigh took a gentle sip of tea and glanced at Garp.
Being thoroughly familiar with the original events, he naturally understood what Garp was thinking.
The old man simply wanted to fight.
But for now, the battlefield between the Golden Lion and Roger wasn't suitable for intervention. That sky-obscuring tsunami could arrive at any moment.
One must remember that the Golden Lion was an Ability User who possessed the Float-Float Fruit power.
Even with his ability to fly, he appeared utterly helpless before that massive tsunami. In the end, he only narrowly survived with a ship's rudder embedded in his head.
"Vice Admiral Garp, let's wait a little longer."
The scene returns to where Golden Lion Shiki and Roger were engaged in battle.
In that brief window, Roger verified the truth of the Sea Kings' information from the surrounding environment.
Amid the fierce battle with the enemy, everyone had neglected to perceive their surroundings.
Without further thought, Roger gripped Ace once more, enveloping it in Conqueror's Haki as his low voice resonated above the deck.
"Divine Departure!"
"Stop, Roger!!!"
Golden Lion's furious roar accompanied his rapid descent toward Roger below, utilizing the power of his Float-Float Fruit.
Conqueror's Haki brimming with rage descended from the sky, sweeping toward Roger.
Golden Lion's hatred-fueled slash was undoubtedly an attack capable of destroying heaven and earth.
Yet, Roger paid no mind to the strike from behind, instead staring expressionlessly at the pirate ship entangled with his vessel below.
A slash rivaling Golden Lion's emerged from Roger's hand, mercilessly severing the pirate ship beneath them.
Then, the Sword Beam and Conqueror's Haki simultaneously exploded at the ship's most vulnerable point.
The entire vessel instantly split in half before being crushed into fragments by the sea's pressure.
"Captain, watch out!"
"Roger, I'm coming!"
Two voices echoed simultaneously behind Roger.
They were Roger's right-hand men, Rayleigh and Scopper Gaban.
Both unleashed their ultimate techniques, barely managing to block Golden Lion's wrathful strike.
Everyone landed on the Oro Jackson while Golden Lion descended onto his flagship, eyes filled with hatred.
This exchange had left him outmaneuvered by Roger, costing him a ship.
Though Roger's attack primarily targeted the vessel rather than people, having been successfully ambushed under his watch enraged Golden Lion beyond measure.
"Roger! I originally intended to defeat you and grant you an honorable burial in these waters."
"But now I've changed my mind. I'll take you back to the Floating Island and let my subordinates gaze upon your corpse forever."
Golden Lion's words carried venomous malice that would make anyone's hair stand on end, yet they had no effect on Roger.
"Captain, what's he saying? Sounds like he wants to take you away," Gaban joked with Roger.
Roger laughed heartily:
"Golden Lion wants to enshrine me, offering daily worship and kowtows."
The crew burst into laughter, while only the throbbing veins on Golden Lion's forehead betrayed his fury.
After the laughter subsided, Roger turned with a serious expression.
"Everyone, I just heard the Sea Kings. A catastrophic tsunami will soon erupt here. This is no longer the time to fight Golden Lion, but whether we can escape the tsunami's range."
"But I believe in you, and in the Oro Jackson beneath our feet."
The crew hadn't noticed before, but after Roger's warning, everyone suddenly sensed the abnormality around them.
The storm clouds over the sea had grown denser than before the battle—they'd assumed it was battle-induced, but now realized otherwise.
From within the distant clouds, lightning resembling thunder dragons flickered intermittently.
Silvers Rayleigh closed his eyes, carefully perceiving the magnetic field changes, his expression growing increasingly grave.
"Roger's right. I sense magnetic chaos. An unparalleled tsunami may truly erupt here."
Buggy stared at everyone in terror, shouting:
"Captain, Rayleigh, you must be joking! I felt the probability of surviving a world-ending tsunami was even lower than the chances of staying alive after fighting Golden Lion!"
Buggy originally thought being surrounded and pursued by the Golden Lion Pirates was already hell mode, but now it seemed there was an even deeper level of torment.
The members of the Roger Pirates were all powerful individuals who didn't consume Devil Fruits.
Whether it was their mastery of the three types of Haki or their physical combat skills and stamina, they were astonishingly top-notch.
Even if they encountered a maritime disaster, their chances of survival were extremely high.
But Buggy was different.
As a Devil Fruit Ability User, he would become completely powerless if he fell into the water.
In this situation, it was a 100% death sentence for him.
Suddenly, he felt someone grab him by the neck.
Turning around, he saw it was Shanks.
With a serious expression, Shanks said, "Buggy, don't worry, I'm here with you. If what the captain says is true, I'll definitely swim out of this sea with you when the time comes."
Shanks' words warmed Buggy's heart, but he couldn't stand the blood on Shanks' clothes staining his own.
He pushed Shanks away and scrambled over to Rayleigh.
"Rayleigh-san, what should we do now?"
Rayleigh stared at the changing clouds in the sky before saying:
"First, furl the sails to prevent the strong winds from blowing us around."
As soon as Rayleigh finished speaking, violent winds swept recklessly across the sea from the distance.
Because the Oro Jackson had furled its sails quickly, its hull wasn't heavily impacted.
Meanwhile, Golden Lion's fleet had already been scattered and torn apart.
The tightly sealed blockade now had gaps everywhere—Roger and his crew could escape from any direction.
However, they didn't dare make any moves right now.
Because in the distance, a colossal wave almost as high as the sky was charging toward this area with furious momentum. T
he thunderclouds that had been gathering in the sky finally erupted, with lightning strikes as thick as stone pillars crashing down into the sea.