Chapter 5 - Prologue of a New Era
BOOM!
Rubble exploded outward.
From the ruins, a hideous figure—half of his body composed of roiling, molten magma—stood up once more.
Akainu Sakazuki.
His magma body was even more massive than before, radiating a scorching heat that twisted the very air around him. He concentrated all his power into his right arm, expanding it until it resembled a small, falling meteor.
"Great Eruption!"
With a roar of fury, he launched the colossal magma fist straight at Garp.
This strike was a vow: he would vaporize Garp, along with the shattered remains of the execution platform, into nothingness.
Garp turned.
Facing the searing heat hot enough to melt an island, he swung his own fist in return.
"Galaxy Impact!"
There was no earth-shattering noise.
At the instant the fist collided with the magma, all sound seemed to be vacuumed out of the world.
In the next heartbeat, violent steam and shockwaves detonated outward from the center of the clash! A thick, white fog blotted out the sun, instantly swallowing the entire high platform.
Everyone's vision was completely cut off by the superheated steam.
"Garp-san!"
"Admiral Sakazuki!"
The Marines shouted in panic, but they could see nothing.
Inside the dense fog.
Garp grabbed Aokiji, who was standing beside him, by the collar. With a surge of strength in his arm, he threw the Admiral backward, toward the safety of the Marine formation.
"Don't make me kill you."
The cold words were whispered solely into Aokiji's ear.
Having done this, Garp's figure flashed and vanished into the mist.
Like a cannonball, he shot out from the high platform. Before the masses could even react, he landed with pinpoint precision amidst the chaos of the plaza.
He scooped up the straw-hatted boy who had collapsed from sheer exhaustion. It was his other grandson, Luffy.
"G... Grandpa (Jiji)?" Luffy's consciousness was already fading.
Garp didn't speak; he simply tucked Luffy under his arm.
Muscles bulged in his legs, shattering the ground beneath his feet inch by inch as he prepared to leap toward the retreating Moby Dick in the distance.
"Cover Garp-san!"
The members of the Whitebeard Pirates understood immediately. instantly turning every cannon on their ships to suppress the Marine positions with insane firepower.
Cannonballs fell like rain, creating an opening for Garp.
Just as he was about to leap—
A ship flying the flag of the Kuja Pirates forcibly cut into the waters between the Navy fleet and the Moby Dick with utterly barbaric momentum.
At the bow stood the world's most beautiful woman, the Pirate Empress, Boa Hancock.
Facing Garp on the ruins of the execution platform, she shouted with all her might.
"Grandfather! Please, come this way!"
Her voice was crisp, yet it exploded across Marineford like a terrifying thunderclap.
For a split second, the entire battlefield froze.
"G... Grandfather?"
A Marine Rear Admiral's jaw nearly hit the ground.
"Did I hear that right? The Shichibukai Hancock is calling Garp... Grandpa?" A nearby pirate rubbed his ears vigorously.
"Is she crazy? That man was just declared a traitor with a three-billion berry bounty!"
"What is wrong with this world? The Hero of the Marines rebels, and now even a Warlord..."
"Boa Hancock! Do you intend to betray the Government as well?!"
In the distance, the furious roar of Sengoku, in his Golden Buddha form, rang out, filled with disbelief.
"That girl..."
Even Garp was momentarily stunned by the sudden address.
The Kuja pirate ship sped away, successfully returning to the Amazon Lily, the Island of Women.
When Garp walked off the ship, carrying the unconscious Luffy and stepping onto the soil of the Daughter's Empire, the entire country instantly fell into a panic.
Countless Kuja warriors, armed with longbows and swords, surged from all directions, surrounding the harbor so tightly not even water could trickle through. They looked as if they were facing a great enemy.
"Halt!"
"Men are strictly forbidden from setting foot on our soil!"
The Empress's two younger sisters, Sandersonia and Marigold, blocked the path in front of Hancock.
Sandersonia questioned her sharply, "Sister! Why did you bring men to the island? This will bring disaster to our country!"
Hancock merely glanced at them coldly, then walked to Garp's side and announced:
"Luffy is my future husband. Therefore, his grandfather is my grandfather. My decision allows no doubt."
That single sentence made the entire Amazon Lily explode into chaos.
"What?!"
"Lady Hancock wants to marry that straw-hat boy?"
"You must be joking! How can our Empress marry a man!"
"And she brought his grandfather—that world enemy, Garp—back with her too?"
"Madness! The Navy will flatten Amazon Lily now!"
"Sister! You are being too willful! You're going to destroy the whole country!" Marigold couldn't help but shout.
Just as the Kuja tribe fell into unprecedented confusion and panic, a powerful presence quietly emerged from the depths of the island.
That aura was as steady as a mountain, instantly suppressing the clamor of the crowd.
An old man with silver hair and glasses, hand resting on the hilt of his sword, appeared before Garp.
The Dark King, Silvers Rayleigh.
He looked at Garp, his voice incredibly grave.
"Monkey D. Garp... what are you doing here?"
The surrounding Kuja warriors, seeing Rayleigh appear, grew even more nervous, gripping their weapons tighter.
Garp, however, ignored the atmosphere of swords drawn and bows bent.
He gently placed the unconscious Luffy on the ground.
Then, under Rayleigh's stunned gaze, he stepped forward. He reached out and patted Rayleigh heavily on the shoulder.
"I'm leaving the hard work to you, Rayleigh."
"This brat... I'm entrusting him to you."
Rayleigh was completely dumbfounded.
He had imagined countless possibilities. A fight, a standoff, a negotiation.
The only thing he hadn't expected was this—words spoken like an old friend passing on a torch.
Because at this very moment, inside Garp's mind, that familiar electronic voice rang out again.
And this time, three new holographic options floated before his eyes.
[Option 1: The Justice of Asylum]
Personally take action to purge all unstable factors on the island and ensure Luffy's safety.
Reward: Conqueror's Haki intensity increased by 50%.
[Option 2: The Justice of the Strong]
Fight Rayleigh and use absolute strength to convince him to teach Luffy.
Reward: Armament Haki breaks through the bottleneck; power increased by 50%.
[Option 3: The Justice of Patience]
Entrust Luffy to Rayleigh, take no action for two years, and conceal yourself.
Reward: After two years, proficiency in all three types of Haki doubles, and acquire the ability "Perfect Presence Concealment."
(To be Continued)