Chapter 33: You Can Use Conqueror's Haki Like That?!
Amidst the wreckage, Aramaki struggled to pull himself upright.
At the site of his shattered shoulder, countless new branches were sprouting rapidly, weaving together in a desperate attempt to reconstruct his limb.
He stared at the old man slowly descending from the sky—standing upon the sea surface without so much as a wrinkle on his clothes—and for the first time, an emotion known as "fear" flickered in his eyes.
Garp shook out his hand, then grinned, revealing a row of gleaming white teeth.
"Brat, warm-up is over."
As the words fell, Garp stomped on the ocean surface.
BOOM!
A massive depression blasted open in the water beneath his foot. His body shot forward like a cannonball.
He wasn't using Moonwalk.
He was relying solely on pure, unadulterated physical strength to move across the water at speeds that violated the laws of physics.
"Bastard!"
Aramaki's pupils constricted violently.
He roared, swinging his remaining left arm forward with everything he had.
"Forest of Hell!"
Rumble!
The wreckage of the mobile forest beneath his feet erupted into chaos once more.
Dozens of pitch-black wooden stakes, thicker than the masts of a battleship, burst through the ocean surface. Like awakening prehistoric beasts, they whipped toward the charging figure with a piercing shriek.
But Garp was a black lightning bolt.
He weaved through the gargantuan wooden spikes, twisting and turning with impossible agility.
Every dodge was calculated to the millimeter. The howling wind generated by the giant logs couldn't even flutter the fabric of his cheap floral shirt.
"Too slow."
Garp's voice appeared beside Aramaki's ear like a ghost.
Every plant fiber in Aramaki's body pulled taut in an instant.
He didn't even have time to turn his head.
A fist, wrapped in unmatched power, slammed heavily into the center of his back.
BANG!
A terrifying shockwave exploded in a fan shape, with Aramaki's body at the epicenter.
The deck of the Marine flagship behind him peeled backward in the face of this pure violence, like a biscuit crushed by a sledgehammer.
The reinforced steel plating, along with the turrets and structures mounted on it, were forcibly ripped away. Half the ship was simply erased.
Countless shards of steel and wood rained down on the surrounding sea like a violent storm.
"Guah!"
A mouthful of blood mixed with green plant sap sprayed wildly from Aramaki's mouth.
His body flew backward again, spinning like a baseball struck by a home-run swing.
While still in mid-air, his plant-based body began a rapid self-repair process. Countless plant fibers acted like living threads, frantically weaving and stitching together his chest, which had been nearly punched clean through.
"Cough, cough..."
Aramaki smashed heavily onto the deck of another warship, caving the steel in upon impact.
He struggled to stand, his expression grave.
"What terrifying power... I almost died just now."
He looked at the old man who was still hovering above the water, his breathing perfectly steady. The contempt and arrogance Aramaki had felt earlier had been completely replaced by pure shock.
He had thought Garp was just an old soldier living off a past legend.
Now he realized the legend was real.
In fact, the legend had vastly underestimated just how terrifying this man actually was.
"I can't hold back anymore!"
Aramaki's eyes turned manic and resolute.
He slammed both hands onto the deck beneath his feet, pouring every ounce of his power into the wood.
"Forbidden Technique: Genesis of the Forest Realm!"
RUMBLE!
The entire sea began to boil.
Centering on the warship he stood upon, an indescribable surge of life energy exploded outward in all directions.
The ocean churned violently, as if some colossal ancient entity was waking up from the deep.
The next instant.
Countless towering trees, large enough to rival mountain ranges, burst from the sea!
They grew with horrifying speed. In the blink of an eye, they blotted out the sky and swallowed the sunlight.
Between the canopies, thick vines wove together frantically, forming an airtight net.
It was a true maritime prison made of living vegetation, completely sealing Garp within.
Every giant tree, every vine, radiated an ominous aura. Like starving beasts, they began to frantically siphon the life force of everything inside the cage.
Even the air became thick and heavy.
"What? My body..."
"I feel sick... it feels like my strength is being sucked away..."
"Hurry! Get the ships out of here! Get out of the forest's range!"
terrified cries erupted from the soldiers on the surrounding Marine fleet.
They were merely on the periphery of the forest, yet they could already feel the terrifying drain on their life force.
One could only imagine the pressure Garp was under at the dead center.
"Garp!"
Aramaki's voice echoed from the heart of the forest, laced with a sickly fanaticism and confidence.
"In this world that belongs to me, your strength, your life... it will all become nourishment for my growth!"
"This is the power of Nature! This is my Justice!"
Inside the cage.
Garp slowly closed his eyes.
He stood perfectly still.
It looked as if he had truly been affected by the life-force drain and had given up resistance.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
[Trait: Lazy Justice — Activated.]
"Useless."
Garp's voice rang out, flat and unimpressed.
The next moment.
He snapped his eyes open.
BOOM!
A wave of Conqueror's Haki—more pure and terrifying than anything he had released before—exploded from his body like an invisible storm!
Black lightning no longer just coiled around him. It transformed into tangible, violent thunder dragons, sweeping madly in all directions.
This storm of will didn't physically destroy a single tree.
Instead, it washed silently, unreasonably, over every corner of the forest.
In the center of the forest.
The fanaticism on Aramaki's face froze.
His eyes bulged, and his expression twisted into horror far greater than when his chest had been punched through.
"What? My... my Devil Fruit ability..."
He watched in terror as the towering trees, which should have been under his absolute will, began to wither uncontrollably.
"How is this possible?! The plants are dying!"
The emerald green leaves turned yellow and crumbled to dust before the naked eye. The tough trunks developed dry cracks, as if all their moisture had been instantly evaporated.
"My connection... it's been cut!"
He felt the connection between himself and the forest—a bond as close as his own blood—being forcibly severed by a power that was utterly incomprehensible and unreasonably tyrannical.
"Conqueror's Haki... since when can it interfere with Devil Fruits?!"
His worldview was completely shattered in that instant.
Wasn't Conqueror's Haki just for clearing out fodder or for clashes of will between top-tiers?
Why?!
Why could this man's Conqueror's Haki directly suppress the ability itself?!
"What... what exactly am I facing?"
Aramaki's mental defenses collapsed completely.
In that moment of distraction.
A figure appeared silently in front of him.
It was Garp.
"Kid."
Garp raised his hand, straightening his fingers into a knife-hand.
Conqueror's Coating!
Pitch-black Armament Haki and the violent red-black arcs of Conqueror's Haki wrapped around his hand simultaneously.
He simply, gently, chopped the side of his hand into Aramaki's neck.
There was no loud bang. No shockwave.
Aramaki's eyes rolled back. His body went rigid, and then he slumped, completely unconscious.
The massive, withering forest instantly lost the last of its vitality.
Like a mirage, it turned into drifting dust and vanished into the air.
Sunlight once again flooded the sea.
Just before he lost consciousness completely, Aramaki heard a calm voice speaking by his ear.
"I'm keeping you alive to maintain the balance of power and to keep those lawless pirates in check."
"But, you go back and tell Sakazuki this."
"If he dares to touch my family again... he can try me."
Garp held the unconscious Admiral by the collar with one hand, dangling him like a limp chicken.
He took a step, landing back on the deck of the flagship he had half-destroyed earlier.
Casually, he tossed the new Marine Admiral like a piece of trash in front of the soldiers, who looked like they had seen a ghost.
Having done all this, he turned his back on them.
Under the terrified gazes of the entire fleet, he tapped his feet lightly against the air.
Using Moonwalk, step by step, he leisurely walked up into the sky.
Finally, his figure disappeared at the end of the sea and sky.
Leaving behind only a dead-silent fleet and a mess they had no idea how to clean up.
(To be Continued)