Chapter 27: Big Mom? Garp: I'll Beat Her Up for You!
A peculiar scent hung over the Coral Plaza—a mixture of dust, sweat, and roast meat.
Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji lay sprawled out spread-eagled on the ground, which was now riddled with countless impact craters. They looked like three piles of mud.
The Armament Haki wrapped around their bodies had evolved from the flickering, intermittent state at the start into something solid and profound.
It looked like a layer of flowing obsidian.
"Get up."
Garp poured the last crumbs of his bag of rice crackers into his mouth and clapped his hands.
"Training is over for today."
The three remained motionless, lacking the strength to lift even a single finger.
"Grandpa... I'm hungry..." Luffy shouted weakly.
"Damn it... didn't even touch the hem of his clothes..." Zoro gritted his teeth, squeezing the words out.
"That... shitty old man... hits way too hard..." Sanji blew out a smoke ring, which drifted away crookedly.
Just then.
The sound of steady, heavy footsteps came from the other side of the plaza.
It was a tall, burly figure, his blue skin striking under the sunlight.
"Knight of the Sea," Jinbe.
He looked at the three figures on the plaza who had been beaten barely into human shape, then looked at Garp, who was leisurely picking his teeth nearby. A hint of a bitter smile appeared on his broad face.
"Jinbe!"
As if injected with a sudden burst of energy, Luffy sprang up from the ground and rushed in front of Jinbe in an instant.
He grabbed Jinbe's massive hand, his face filled with unconcealed ecstasy.
"You're finally here!"
Jinbe looked at Luffy, his fish-like eyes filled with relief and pride.
"Luffy-kun, it seems you have become much stronger during this time."
"Of course!"
Luffy puffed out his chest proudly. "Jinbe, join my crew! Become my partner!"
He issued the invitation once again, his voice echoing across the entire plaza.
The smile on Jinbe's face stiffened slightly.
He fell silent for a moment, then slowly shook his head.
"Luffy-kun, I am deeply grateful for your invitation."
"But right now, I cannot accept."
The smile on Luffy's face froze.
"Why? Didn't you promise me back on the island?"
Jinbe sighed. His weathered face was filled with helplessness and heaviness.
"Because I still owe a debt of gratitude to that woman, Big Mom."
"She and you are now like water and fire. If I were to join your crew now, it would only bring you endless trouble."
"Hah?"
A lazy voice, filled with disdain, came from the side.
Garp had walked up to the two of them without anyone noticing.
"So you're going to let yourself be led by the nose by an old hag for the rest of your life over some laughable favor?"
Jinbe turned around.
He performed a standard Fish-Man Karate bow of respect toward Garp.
"Mr. Garp, this is not being led by the nose."
"This is the code of honor—the Jingi—that I must uphold."
"Honor?"
Garp sounded like he had heard the biggest joke in the world.
He walked up to Jinbe. Despite his relaxed posture, he emanated a pressure as heavy as a mountain range.
"That woman treats you, and Fish-Man Island, like pawns she can discard at any time, and you're talking to me about honor?"
"Are you joking with me?"
Jinbe fell silent.
His fists, hidden within his wide sleeves, clenched unconsciously.
He couldn't refute it.
Because what Garp said was the truth.
But the values rooted deep in his heart for so many years, the persistence of a knight, made it impossible for him to change easily.
Seeing the disappointment written all over Luffy's face, Jinbe felt a pang of pain in his heart.
He suddenly raised his head.
Looking at Luffy, his fish eyes burned with a flame of determination unlike anything before.
"Luffy-kun, rest assured!"
"I am a man who personally promised to become a crewmate of the future Pirate King!"
"How could I be intimidated by a mere Emperor?"
His voice was loud and powerful, filled with unquestionable resolve.
"Wait for me!"
"Once I have settled everything, I will definitely return to your ship!"
These words were like a ray of light, instantly dispelling the gloom on Luffy's face.
He looked at Jinbe's determined eyes, grinned, and revealed a smile brighter than the sun.
"Yeah! I'll wait for you!"
Inside the Great Hall.
Nami and Usopp clutched their chests, letting out long sighs of relief.
"Scared me to death... I thought we were going to start a war with the Four Emperors again..."
"That was great, that was great. Boss Jinbe really is a reliable man!"
Just as the atmosphere began to relax.
Garp, standing to the side, added a comment in a ghostly tone.
"Indeed, just a mere Emperor."
With one sentence, the atmosphere that had just thawed dropped back to absolute zero.
Jinbe's body went stiff.
He slowly turned his head to look at Garp, his face full of disbelief.
Mere?
That is a being who rules the New World like an Emperor!
In his mouth, she is just "mere"?
Garp ignored Jinbe's expression, which looked as if he had seen a ghost.
He paused.
Then he grinned, revealing a row of eerie white teeth.
To Jinbe, that smile looked more dangerous than a deep-sea Sea King.
"If you can't handle it yourself."
"I can spare some time to go over and beat that old hag up for you."
"I'm going to the New World to look for my idiot son anyway."
"It's just on the way."
Silence.
Deathly silence.
Nami's mouth hung open. She felt as if an invisible hand had grabbed her heart, stopping it from beating.
Usopp rolled his eyes back, foam forming at his mouth, looking like he was about to go into shock.
Zoro and Sanji, who had just climbed up from the ground, instantly petrified upon hearing those words.
Go... beat her up?
On the way?
They looked at the old man who spoke as naturally as if he were saying, "Let's have roast meat for dinner," and their brains completely short-circuited.
And Jinbe, who faced these words directly, felt his entire worldview being shattered into dust by an unreasonable force in that very moment.
He looked at Garp's smiling face, his throat dry, unable to utter a single word.
The massive obstacle that he viewed as a heavenly chasm, one he would have to risk his life to cross...
In this man's mouth, was just a small trouble that could be solved "on the way"?
What kind of level... is this?
What kind of height?
Garp looked at Jinbe's dazed appearance and waved his hand impatiently.
"Alright, alright, stop standing there like a post."
"It's time for my dinner."
He turned around.
He grabbed Luffy by the back of the collar and dragged him toward Ryugu Palace.
"Let's go, brat! Tell Neptune to bring out that Sea King sake today!"
"Oh! Sake! Sake!"
Luffy instantly threw everything else to the back of his mind, happily letting himself be dragged away.
Leaving only Jinbe, standing frozen like a stone statue in his original spot.
An unprecedented chill rushed from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.
(To be Continued)