On the Dog-Head warship.
"Vice Admiral Garp, don't act rashly! From what our observation saw, Smoker and the rest of his crew are still on that Navy ship — they aren't dead. They were likely captured by pirates. If you smash their vessel and it sinks, that will be disastrous."
Garp's aide exhaled with relief after seeing the cannonball he'd thrown earlier shatter in midair, and quickly spoke up.
"Relax. I throw pretty accurately. No need to worry," Garp chuckled.
He kept pulling cannonballs from racks and hurling them toward Adrian's fleet. They had already checked: aside from Smoker's ship, the other two vessels bore the mark of the Evil Dragon Pirates on their sails. No doubt they were enemies — legitimate targets. So Garp showed no mercy.
"Let this lot taste the bite of my cannonballs!" he laughed, and kept tossing deadly projectiles by hand. These were no ordinary throws — the force behind them rivaled fired cannon shots.
Beside him, the aide's forehead broke out in sweat. He glanced toward Smoker's ship again. This was tense — if Garp slipped and one of those fragments hit Smoker's vessel, causing casualties, it would be a catastrophe.
…
"They dare provoke us like this."
Uchiha Madara's eyes narrowed when he saw the barrage of cannonballs closing in.
"Boss, let me teach them a lesson," Madara said, stepping forward eagerly.
"Do it."
Adrian nodded.
Garp's barrage showed little interest in parley — he treated them as nothing more than common pirates. That was expected; Adrian hadn't yet stamped his name across the seas. To the world at large, chaos = pirates, and the people who burned and looted were pirates by default. A bandit crew like Adrian's being mistaken for pirates was unsurprising.
But Adrian didn't like being misunderstood either. Bandits and pirates weren't the same — he'd been assigned a Bandit System, not a Pirate System. Misunderstandings were tolerable, but he wasn't going to let it fester.
Granted permission, Madara's lips curled into a faint smile. He turned toward the incoming storm of cannon fire with contempt.
This kind of attack might inconvenience small fry, but at them? Madara found it beneath him.
His pupils rippled outward like concentric waves.
The Rinnegan.
This Madara — the one pulled into this world — was not the version from the earliest days of Konoha but the Madara who had returned in the Fourth Great Ninja War. He wasn't a Ten-Tails jinchūriki here, but the Rinnegan answered nonetheless.
"Shinra Tensei!" Madara raised his hand, and a violent repulsive force erupted in an instant.
BOOM—!!!
The shockwave slammed into the cannonballs mid-flight. The meeting of opposing forces tore the projectiles apart in midair; explosions and smoke blossomed between Garp and Adrian's fleet, briefly blotting sightlines. None of Garp's shots came within a hundred meters of Adrian's ships.
"Boss, let me go up too!" Grimmjow shouted, itching for a fight.
"—Grimmjow, no. This battle is meaningless and won't last long. You don't need to get involved."
Adrian shook his head. To him, a direct confrontation with Garp was unnecessary. Their objective was blackmail: use Smoker and Luffy as leverage to extort the Navy and maximize gains. If he ripped Garp out and killed him now, it would be a tragic waste of future potential — like pulling up a field's crops by the roots instead of letting them regrow and be harvested repeatedly. Better to conserve strength, grow stronger, and take Garp later if needed.
"Understood, Boss." Grimmjow's eager face dimmed with disappointment — a warrior's hunger denied.
"Grimmjow, bring out Straw Hat Luffy. If Garp keeps this up, he might not stop otherwise," Adrian said.
"Got it." Grimmjow went to the captive cabin and hauled the limp, seastone-bound Luffy onto deck, holding him up so everyone could see.
On the Dog-Head warship, Garp's features darkened at the sight.
…
Garp's aide muttered, "I didn't expect these 'pirates' could block my attack like that. They've got some real power — no wonder they captured that cigar-loving kid." He suggested parley: "Vice Admiral Garp, they have Smoker as a hostage. Maybe we should talk instead of escalating."
"No need. I'll handle them." Garp waved the suggestion away.
He hefted another cannonball and gathered Armament Haki around the iron. Then, with a grunt, he launched it.
The shell screamed through the air at twice the speed of the previous shots, coated in concentrated Busoshoku Haki that sharpened its impact.
On the Shark, Madara watched. "Has that shell been wrapped in some strange power?" he observed, unimpressed.
Madara's arrogance flared. He formed chakra into rib-like frames, extending into arms and then blades — a second-stage Susanoo. Four chakra swords materialized in its hands. He swung, slicing the incoming Haki-coated projectile.
Boom—!!!
The clash erupted into a storm. The shell exploded violently, and the blast rocked Adrian's ships.
"Almost spilled my drink," Adrian muttered. The vessel lurched, but he remained unfazed — his feet hovered on a layer of spirit particles that served as a platform. With Reiatsu at Cataclysm-tier, walking on spirit-conjured tiles was basic for him.
Madara blinked at Adrian's nonchalance, slightly embarrassed for having shown off. He leapt into the air and let his Susanoo spread further, forming a colossal figure that towered above the sea — a full manifestation of Susanoo, armor gleaming, reaching heights like a mountain. It required extraordinary chakra control, but Madara had the mastery.
He planted himself on the water and crossed his arms atop Susanoo's chest, looking down on Garp's warship with cold disdain.
"You Navy dogs dared disturb my Boss. Pay with your lives," Madara said, and Susanoo drew its chakra blades.
Garp's face lit up with excitement. "Good. I've been wanting to use these old bones!" he laughed. He surged forward and launched a visceral punch infused with Haki toward the chakra blade's path.
A cataclysmic impact split the ocean. The two forces crashed; the collision shattered Madara's chakra sword beam. Waves towered, tossing both sides' ships violently. The raw shock of their block sent seismic ripples across the sea.
Madara readied a second swing. "If you stopped the first, how about the second?"
"Bring it on. I'll block anything you throw." Garp roared.
But as Madara gathered to strike, a voice rang out from the Going Merry: Adrian.
Madara froze. A man that strong obeyed the Boss' command without hesitation. That told Garp something important: the true leader wasn't the one charging into the fray.
"Vice Admiral Garp, I've long heard of your name," Adrian said, standing on the Merry with a megaphone. He'd come prepared — buying a megaphone in Shells Town had been a small but useful expense.
"You a pirate captain?" Garp sneered.
"No. We aren't pirates. We're bandits. I'm the leader of this bandit crew — call me Adrian," he said with a smile. "That said, this fight is pointless. Hear my proposal: stop."
"Not a pirate? Bandit? Same difference," Garp scoffed. "Why would I listen to you?"
Adrian gave a small gesture. Grimmjow hoisted Luffy, making the prisoner visible. "Garp — you don't want anything to happen to your grandson, do you?"
At that, Garp's face darkened in an instant.
…
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