"I am you!"
"A you... younger and freer than you!"
Garp's wild laughter echoed madly through the sky, every word carrying a madness that Marine Garp couldn't comprehend, yet found incredibly familiar!
Young?
Free?
For the first time, Marine Garp's ashen face showed a ferocious smile.
He looked at the person opposite him, who was identical to him, yet filled with a terrifyingly vibrant vitality.
"Puhahahahaha!"
He actually laughed too!
"I didn't expect it..."
"This old man would actually have a day where someone calls him old!"
He grinned, his smile pure, a warrior's fanaticism.
Pirate Garp's laughter was wilder, more unbridled than his!
"To use that brat White Night's words... does this count as... beating up an old person?"
"But..."
"It should be fine if I beat myself up, right! BWAHAHAHA!"
"Old?"
Marine Garp responded with a wild laugh, the unmatched arrogance of a marine hero making him unwilling to concede even an inch of being behind!
"This old man never admits to such boring things!"
"BWAHAHAHA! As expected of me!"
Pirate Garp nodded approvingly, his eyes full of self-recognition.
Immediately after, the smile on his face instantly vanished, replaced by an extremely overbearing dominance!
"But..."
"Get down there!"
Before he finished speaking!
Crackling—!
Blinding blue-violet electric arcs, like billions of wildly dancing electric snakes, suddenly erupted from Pirate Garp's body!
His hair stood on end!
The muscles all over his body were instantly covered by a layer of constantly flickering, destructive lightning armor!
Lightning Release Chakra Mode!
Activate!
"Wha...?!"
Marine Garp's pupils instantly contracted into the most dangerous needlepoints!
He felt it!
A new power, which he completely couldn't comprehend, yet was incredibly formidable, surged madly from the opponent's fist!
That power was like a mountain flood, like a tsunami, like the sky collapsing!
Crack—!
Marine Garp only felt the bones in his arm groaning under the unbearable pressure!
That power crushed his defense like a hot knife through butter!
The next second.
He was sent flying like a cannonball launched by a giant trebuchet, at a faster speed and in a more disheveled state than he arrived, trailing a long plume of dust, hurtling towards the Marineford plaza below!
Boom!!!
Like a meteor falling from the sky, a figure slammed heavily into the very center of Marineford plaza!
The earth cracked, and dust soared into the sky!
The entire chaotic battlefield paused momentarily due to this world-shattering blow.
Countless people were thrown by the violent shockwave, then scrambled to get up from the ground.
A young Marine soldier coughed out the sand from his mouth, he looked at the giant crater, then looked up at the sky, his face instantly filled with fervent admiration!
"Look! Did you see it!"
"Vice Admiral Garp won!"
"That imposter was punched down from the sky by Vice Admiral Garp!!"
"Oh oh oh oh! Justice of the Marine must prevail!"
The surrounding Marine soldiers were instantly ignited, their morale greatly boosted, as if the disadvantaged side in the recent punch-off wasn't their own.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the bay, on the Whitebeard Pirates' ship.
A Captain wiped the blood from his face, gave the Marine direction the middle finger, and mocked wildly.
"You blind dogs!"
"Look closely! The one who was knocked down is that old man from your Marineford!"
He pointed his giant axe towards the cleared blue sky.
"The one still floating in the sky!"
"Is Mr. Garp who is going to bring Captain Ace home! Gurararara!"
For a time, the entire battlefield fell into a bizarre argument.
The Marine said their Garp won.
The Pirates said their Garp won.
Both sides cheered for "their" Garp, and the scene became extremely chaotic.
However.
In the eyes of true powerhouses, there was no dispute whatsoever.
Only a silent shock that froze the soul!
Whether it was Sengoku on the execution platform, or the three Admirals, or Whitebeard on the Moby Dick, or in the ranks of the Seven Warlords of the Sea... all the top experts stared intently at the sky.
Staring at the figure bathed in blue-violet lightning!
He was like a thunder god descended to the mortal realm, surrounded by wildly dancing electric snakes, each flicker causing the space to crackle under the strain.
That originally overbearing aura underwent a qualitative change at this moment!
Becoming deeper!
More ancient!
And even more... terrifying!
On the execution platform.
Buddha Sengoku's wise face was now blank.
"What kind of lightning is that?"
He muttered, his voice dry.
That wasn't a Devil Fruit!
It was a new power system he had never seen before, completely alien to this world!
A system that could make a monster of Garp's caliber unleash even greater power in an instant!
"Gurarararara..."
The strongest man in the world, Whitebeard Newgate, let out a low laugh of unknown meaning.
He knew Garp's strength better than anyone.
But, this Garp before him had exceeded his scope of understanding!
"Garp..."
"You old bastard... what kind of devil did you make a deal with?"
In the seats of the three Admirals.
Akainu Sakazuki's face was so gloomy it could drip water, and the magma on his arm was boiling madly.
"Unforgivable..."
He gritted his teeth, his voice chillingly cold.
"This power that doesn't belong to justice...!"
"Oh yo yo yo... This is truly, completely beyond expectations..."
Kizaru adjusted his sunglasses, his usually lewd face, for the first time, was filled with solemnity.
"This aura... it's not just Haki anymore, is it? What exactly... is this thing..."
Aokiji Kuzan covered his face with his hand, his shoulders trembling slightly.
It was the first time he'd seen it, but why did it feel vaguely familiar?
Donquixote Doflamingo's pathological wild laugh froze on his face.
He was sweating on his forehead, feeling the situation spiral out of control for the first time.
"Fufufufu... You're kidding, right... This script has completely gone off the rails!"
Just then.
Sengoku on the execution platform and Whitebeard on the Moby Dick, two men who stood at the pinnacle of their era, as if by telepathy, suddenly looked up at each other!
They saw the same emotion, named "dismay," in each other's eyes!
This aura... this absolute dominance and destructive desire that reigned over the world, viewing all things as mere straw dogs!
They had both felt it before!
Decades ago!
On that island named "God Valley"!
On the man who sought to overturn the world, hailed as the "King of the World"!
A name sealed for decades, representing taboo and fear, simultaneously surfaced from the hearts of the two legends!
Rocks!
Rocks D. Xebec!
The aura emanating from this Pirate Garp, bathed in lightning, that oppressive feeling that made the world tremble... was identical to that of the legendary Captain of the Rocks Pirates, who dominated an entire era!