Chapter 10 - Landfall on Mary Geoise! This is My Justice!
The docks of the Sabaody Archipelago were as boisterous as ever.
Rayleigh looked at Garp—his former rival, now an enigma.
"I think it's time I went to the Holy Land, Mary Geoise, to collect some interest."
Garp shoved his hands back into the pockets of his beach shorts.
He turned and walked toward the bondola lift connecting to the Red Line. In the sunlight, his receding back looked ordinary, relaxed, and utterly unconcerned.
Rayleigh didn't move.
He simply watched that figure until it vanished into the crowd.
The Holy Land, Mary Geoise.
** The Land of Gods.**
The center of supreme power in the World Government.
An old man wearing a flowery shirt, beach shorts, and sunglasses was strolling leisurely along the walkway, hands behind his back, looking like a tourist visiting for the first time.
He walked right past an elite member of CP9.
The agent's attention was fully focused on screening for suspicious individuals, yet his gaze didn't linger on Garp for even a fraction of a second.
He passed a squad of fully armed guards.
The guards continued their patrol as if they didn't even see him.
[Ability: Perfect Presence Concealment.]
In everyone's perception, he did not exist.
He was just an ordinary, perhaps slightly senile old man unworthy of attention.
Garp's footsteps stopped.
Not far ahead, a small commotion was breaking out.
Saint Charlos, a World Noble, was extending a fat, greasy finger toward a nurse kneeling on the ground. His face was a mask of greed and entitlement.
"I want her-eh. She will be my new collection piece-eh."
The nurse's body trembled, her face filled with despair.
The surrounding guards lowered their heads, daring not to make a move.
Garp watched this scene.
Behind his sunglasses, his expression remained completely blank.
He had seen scenes like this too many times.
Every time before, he had been wearing the heavy coat with the word "JUSTICE" emblazoned on the back.
Every time before, he had been forced to turn his head away, clench his fists, and bury that fury deep in the bottom of his heart.
But today?
He wasn't wearing that coat.
And he didn't turn his head.
Garp stepped forward. His pace was leisurely as he walked straight through the line of guards attempting to block him.
The guards reached out, but they grabbed only empty air, as if he were a phantom.
Under the stunned gazes of everyone present, the old man walked right up to Saint Charlos.
He reached out and placed a hand on top of Charlos's bubble helmet.
And then, he pushed down. Hard.
CRUNCH!
A dull, sickening sound echoed.
The hard white pavement was smashed into a deep crater by Charlos's head.
The glass bubble shattered instantly.
The bloated body twitched twice, then went still.
Time stopped in that moment.
Everyone froze in place, their minds blanking out completely.
Seconds later, terrified screams tore through the deathly silence.
"He... what did he do?"
"That was Saint Charlos! He just buried a Celestial Dragon's head in the ground!"
"Madness! This man is a complete lunatic!"
"Quick! Call the Admirals! Call the Holy Knights!"
"It's over... we're all going to be killed! A God has been attacked!"
Garp retracted his hand, dusting it off as if he had just touched some filth.
He glanced at the fat pig embedded in the earth, life or death unknown, and spoke.
"I've held back against you pieces of trash for a lifetime."
His voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly across the entire plaza.
That sentence was the spark that detonated the bomb of fear in the crowd.
And in that moment, Garp stopped hiding.
BOOM!
A terrifying pressure, impossible to describe with words, detonated from his body!
Conqueror's Haki.
ZZZRT! CRACKLE!
Thick streaks of black lightning tore through the air!
Centering on his feet, the solid ground shattered inch by inch, spiderweb-like cracks spreading madly in all directions.
The air became as viscous as mercury. The entirety of Mary Geoise seemed to groan under the unbearable weight of his presence.
On the plaza, aside from a few strong individuals, everyone—guards and slaves alike—foamed at the mouth, their eyes rolling back as they collapsed unconscious.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Dozens of figures instantly flashed into existence around Garp, encircling him layer by layer.
They wore white suits, their auras cold and powerful.
CP0 (Cipher Pol Aigis Zero).
The top intelligence agency of the World Government. The strongest shield of the Celestial Dragons.
The leader, wearing a grotesque mask, spoke with a voice that sounded like grinding metal.
"Monkey D. Garp! You possess unparalleled audacity!"
"You dare to attack a God within the Holy Land?"
"God?"
Garp laughed. It was a laugh filled with bone-deep contempt.
"Today, I'm going to teach you lot what real Justice looks like."
The instant the words fell.
His figure vanished from where he stood.
The CP0 leader's pupils constricted violently. He only had time to cross his arms over his chest and activate his strongest defensive technique.
"Iron Body (Tekkai)!!"
The next instant.
A fist was imprinted on his chest.
There was no sound of impact.
The defense that the CP0 agent took such pride in—a defense rumored to withstand cannon fire—was pierced as easily as wet paper.
The fist punched clean through his back, blasting out a mist of blood.
"You..."
He couldn't even finish a single word before he collapsed.
"Shave (Soru)!"
Another CP0 agent turned into a blur, his blade thrusting straight for Garp's heart from behind.
But his blade stabbed only air.
A hand, coming from an angle he couldn't comprehend, gently rested on the back of his neck.
SNAP.
The crisp sound of a cervical fracture rang out.
The agent's body went limp and fell.
"Moonwalk (Geppo)!"
Several CP0 agents leaped into the air simultaneously, launching attacks from all directions.
Garp simply looked up, his knees bending slightly.
BOOM!
The ground beneath his feet exploded.
He transformed into a black line that the naked eye couldn't track, shooting into the sky.
His speed was ten times faster than their Moonwalk!
In mid-air, only a series of dull thuds and the sound of shattering bones could be heard.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
The CP0 members fell like shot birds.
One by one, they smashed into the ground, creating crater after crater.
The entire process took only a few breaths.
The CP0 unit, hailed as the "Strongest Shield," was now lying on the ground, transformed into true "trash."
The Room of Authority, Pangaea Castle.
The massive surveillance Den Den Mushi faithfully displayed everything happening on the plaza to the five elderly men.
For the first time, the calm assurance of absolute control vanished from their faces.
It was replaced by undisguised pallor and horror.
"How can he be here?!"
"Impossible! The defenses of Mary Geoise are perfect!"
"How did he get in?!"
"This power... this power is several times stronger than it was at Marineford two years ago!"
"What has he been doing for two years?! What kind of monster has he become!"
"His presence completely disappeared! Our Haki sensing network didn't pick up a trace of him!"
Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro, the bald Elder, gripped the hilt of his Shodai Kitetsu. The veins on his hand bulged, trembling uncontrollably.
Shepherd Ju Peter, the blonde Elder, felt the muscles in his face twitch violently. It was a look of extreme anger mixed with a deeper, primal fear.
On the plaza.
Garp finished off the last man.
He stood in the center of the pile of "trash" and slowly raised his head.
His gaze seemed to pierce through the barriers of space, looking directly into the lens of the surveillance Den Den Mushi hidden deep within the Room of Authority.
He stared right into the five pale faces behind the screen.
Garp raised his right hand and extended his index finger.
He pointed lightly at the five old men watching from the shadows.
A cruel grin stretched across his face.
"Your turn is coming soon."
(To be Continued)