197 Chapter 186

[Mariejois]

'For how long has it been?'

Upon fending off the endless assaults one after the other, Ace found his vision turning hazy in exhaustion.

The jaw-opening beams of laser shot out of the pacifistas' mouths, one after the other.

The sky was black, full of the winged creatures that attacked the Revolutionary Army and their allies with hostility.

The gigantic warship, Pluton, continued its domineering advance upon the rebellion with its ferocious drill spinning non-stop.

The capable enemies—the Marine Officers, the World Government agents, and the Warlords—prevented the Revolutionary Army from reaching the Pangaea Castle.

"*Huff*... F***… *Huff*… off…" Ace, though unable to conceal his fatigue, snarled as he faced Tensei, who was seen with many notable wounds. Yet, the latter didn't exhibit any pain.

"My point still stands, Iron Fist." Tensei raised up his hand and adjusted his glasses, which had one of its lenses shattered, "You can't pass, and you never will."

Tensei's Marine justice coat was nowhere to be seen, and his clothes were tattered—indicating that an intense battle was ongoing.

Behind Ace, Sabo was holding his side, in order to prevent any further blood from spilling out.

'Hold on for a little longer, Ace.' Sabo shifted his eyes to Dragon knowingly, 'Supreme Commander Dragon always has a plan.'

At the distant site,

Garp and Mihawk's fight was endless. All the way from the day up to now, their incredible battle didn't seem to have lost its pace.

*BOOMBOOMBOOM*

Garp was seen with many gashes over his body. In an attempt to reach the Pangaea Castle, Garp disregarded the damages that will accumulate from Mihawk's attacks, and continued his attempt to advance forward.

"How stubborn." Mihawk commented with calm eyes, as he blocked another punch from Garp with his sword, Yoru,

*BOOOOOOOM*

"Monkey D. Garp... it's only the present that you think of, and not the upcoming consequences that follow after." Mihawk then swung his Yoru horizontally,

causing the air itself to be sliced momentarily. The vacuum was generated from the sheer strength of Mihawk's slash, and the air was sucked into the area of impact in a bizarre fashion.

*BOOOOOM*

However, Garp countered such a slash with his fist. When it came to Armament Haki, there was no one whose mastery surpassed Garp's, after all.

'To think Dracule Mihawk was this strong...'

"The tribe of D... I despise you. There exists nothing but remorse when I gaze into your kind." Mihawk's eyes gleamed in hatred as he adjusted his hat, before vanishing from his spot,

*BOOOOOM*

to stop Garp's propulsion to the Pangaea Castle.

"Hawk Eye!!!!!" Garp shouted with anger as he stood up from the ruins, "Just how annoying can you get?!!"

By now, Garp's attempt was prevented for the hundredth time.

"Damn it... Luffy!" Garp cursed, but began his run toward the Pangaea Castle again with no hesitation.

At some distance away, Issho was standing calmly. After everyone from the sea joined the war, Issho was using his fruit ability continuously to drop the sky creatures, controlled by Uranus, to the ground.

*BOOM*

Even now, another sky creature with long beaks and huge pair of wings crashed onto the ground, with a boulder having slammed onto it from the sky.

"...It sure is taxing, especially when the hoards of those sky creatures are non-ending." Issho muttered to himself, but slashed his sword rapidly, causing the sky creature below the boulder to be cut into pieces instantly,

"But aren't you underestimating the name value of the former Marine Admiral?"

Subsequently, the sand swirled around the Revolutionary Army, before clustering into a huge hand that pushed against the Pluton, whose drill in the middle was rotating frighteningly.

"*Huff*... *Huff*..." Vivi was notably tired. She was huffing non-stop, her arms were trembling from the stress, and she was swaying from side to side. For hours, she has been protecting everyone from the continuous attacks from the Pluton, which allowed the allied force to combat the Marine and World Government agents without worries.

But now, she seemed to be reaching her limit.

"Brilliant... Punk!!" Nearby, Jozu slammed his diamond-turned body onto the exposed abdomen of one Vice Admiral, causing the latter to cough blood while crashing onto the ground.

Marco, who was in his phoenix form, opened his wings wide open within the dark, before generating a huge mass of yellow-blue-coloured flame,

"Phoenix Pyreapple!" Upon twisting his body rapidly, the flames latched themselves on the allies, before healing them.

It was all thanks to Marco that they were able to last this long.

"Ywou… dwon't iwgnore mwe!!!" Weevil shouted slowly as he jumped up to the sky, to where Marco was flying, while holding his naginata above his head.

"...Haa..."

Nearby, Zoro pulled out his embedded sword from the ground with shaky arms, before biting its hilt with his teeth.

"Three Swords Style,"

Zoro, though seemed tired, swung his swords at Basil Hawkins rapidly, whose body has enlarged into a straw-doll-like appearance.

"Demon Slash!"

The three swords slashed the straw man, Hawkins, simultaneously. In such a short span of time, Zoro made incredible growth under Garp's guide, to an extent where Hawkins wasn't able to dodge.

However, a doll then popped out of Hawkins's arm and fell down to the ground,

"Life minus one."

and instead of Hawkins, it was Zoro who received the critical wounds over his exposed top.

"Urgh...!!" Zoro gritted his teeth with his eyes bloodshot, as he struggled not to fall down. His body was in a mess, drenched in his own blood.

"You don't seem to understand." Hawkins said stoically, "With my ability, I am able to sacrifice another's life in place of mine. And just now, I've used yours."

'So what is it that makes my death nigh-impossible to prevent?'

"…Oh, I understand very well." Zoro grinned as he disregarded the bleeding gashes on his body.

*BOOOM*

At the same time, Sanji was sent flying to the air with a visible injury on his stomach—for he was blasted by Bege's cannonball.

"Quite fast. But, your kicks aren't strong enough to crumble my wall down." Bege, whose whole body was enlarged into a huge castle-like feature, said before taking a puff out of his cigar. Although he was internally surprised by the seemingly endless stamina of Sanji, he didn't express it outward, "A cook belongs in a kitchen, not on a battlefield!"

However, Sanji retained his calm in this situation.

'Strange. Why does my body not hurt?' He could feel it. For some reason, his body has become incredibly resilient... just like the accursed family of Germa 66 who disowned him.

'...Damn it! It's not the time to think about that! If this power can help me to save Luffy... I'll embrace it for now!'

While flying up in the air, his body began to rotate at a rapid speed.

Bege watched Sanji without caution, for it was proven that none of the blonde's attacks were able to harm him. Besides,

'That blonde isn't who I should be worried about. If anything, it's that Diamond Jozu nearby.'

Just as Bege thought,

"Raw ingredient doesn't seem to be in a good condition, but... I'm not in a position to complain." Sanji stated with his right leg blazing up into a brilliant red. Subsequently, his body began to descend to Bege,

"And a battlefield? To me, this is the kitchen."

From Bege's shoulders, the cannons slowly revealed themselves, ready to fire at Sanji.

"Big Cannon—!"

However, the cannonballs missed Sanji, who was dropping too fast.

"Diable Jambe!!"

Bege then found Sanji's kick slamming into his castle-like body.

"Kurgh...!" Bege's eyes widened as his body began to shrink uncontrollably. "What—"

In an instant, his vulnerable body was roasted to an incredible degree.

*BOOOOOOM*

Simultaneously,

"Nine Sword Style…"

Hawkins found his eyes widened upon sighting Zoro, who seemed to have grown two additional bodies around himself.

'Am I hallucinating?'

Zoro's will surfaced from the depth of his soul. Unknown to himself, his swords began to flicker in black, indicating that he was unconsciously morphing his will into Armament Haki: Hardening.

Then, before Hawkins had the time to react, Zoro suddenly appeared behind him.

"—Asura!!"

Hawkins's whole body shredded apart, as if grinded by a grinder. His whole body exploded into the blood as he lifelessly flew up.

'How come... my fruit ability... didn't—' That was Hawkins's last thought prior to his departure from life.

On the blade of one of Zoro's three swords and on the sole of Sanji's right leg, the seastones gleamed.

Hawkins and Bege were seen flying up in the air, as their bodies splattered blood everywhere.

*Tap*

Sanji landed next to Zoro and lit up his cigarette.

"Seastone... tch. This is the only time I'm using this." Zoro said as he stared at Bege and Hawkins, who crashed in the middle of the marine soldiers.

"N-no way! Two Warlords are down—" One Marine cried in terror, but was immediately silenced by Kong, who was holding onto a pistol.

"Fight like the soldiers that you are. Any act of lowering an ally's moral will be considered as an act of treason." Kong said gruffly, before clicking his tongue,

'Capone "Gang" Bege and "Magician" Basil Hawkins... useless just like the scums that they are.'

"Barrier Crash!!" Bartolomeo, with desperate eyes, sent the huge wall of barrier toward the Pangaea Castle. However,

*BOOM*

it was easily blocked by Kong, who held his Haki-imbued right hand out.

"Weak." Kong said with annoyance.

"CAPTAIN LUFFY!!!!!" But the crazed Bartolomeo didn't seem to hear Kong's statement. Screaming madly, he continued to send the waves of barrier walls, which Kong blocked without moving a single step.

*BOOMBOOMBOOM*

"...Two Warlords out of commission… useless as expected." Sakazuki, who was standing in front of Dragon, stated stoically, "However, they aren't as despicable as someone like you, who claims your immoral rebellion to be a revolution. You filths who defile the meaning of 'justice,' did you think that your pesky attempt to invade Mariejois will work?"

Dragon didn't respond. His eyes were locked onto the Pangaea Castle, as he sent the sharp streams of wind over and over, only to see that they were blocked by Sakazuki's blasts of magma.

"Answer me, Dragon!!!" Sakazuki roared, but Dragon simply frowned in displeasure,

'…Just a little longer.'

because he was busy thinking.

There certainly existed a way out of this situation, and the hardship of this calibre was something that Dragon expected beforehand.

'It should be about now.'

Initially, the invasion of the Mariejois wasn't to be initiated this early. Such decision was based on one unexpected gain that they had prior to their arrival here.

<Monkey D. Dragon... if there was one thing that I never expected, it was that you were Garp's son out of all possibilities. How was that idiot able to hide this from us?!>

It was something that he didn't tell anyone, in case a spy existed in their ranks—which turned out to be Lindbergh.

<Hm... that's your plan, I see. It feels awful that I am listening to the words of the supposed 'World's Worst Criminal,' but, oh well.>

From down the Red Line, on the side of the Paradise, Law was sitting on the submarine of his crew with his eyes shadowed by his hat.

While the war was ongoing, the Heart pirates travelled underwater and crossed the Red Line as fast as they could. Reason? To aid in two people's infiltration.

'I've sent them just as you said, Monkey D. Dragon.' Law thought with his arms crossed, 'And now, there exists one variable in the game: Imu.'

*BOOOOOOOOOOOM*

The war in the Mariejois stopped momentarily. Without a doubt, the extreme noise came from Pangaea Castle, the place that the World Government believed to have secured without a doubt.

A huge explosion! One section of the Pangaea Castle was blown up all of a sudden, and...

"""LUFFY!!!!"""

The frail body of one man in seastone cuffs, Monkey D. Luffy, flew out of the Castle!

Dragon, with narrowed eyes, used his ability to immediately propel himself high up in the air.

"As if!" Sakazuki immediately chased after Dragon with his huge fist of magma ready to pierce through the latter,

"Great—"

but he then found his body becoming heavier all of a sudden. He couldn't reach Dragon, but fall back all of a sudden. Upon turning his attention downward, Sakazuki realized,

"Issho...!!!"

It was Issho, who intensified the magnitude of gravity of Sakazuki.

"What a loyal dog that you are, Fleet Admiral Sakazuki."

All members of the Revolutionary Army grinned as they saw Dragon finally catching Luffy.

"It's been... more than 17 years, Luffy. A late and weird reunion, but..." Dragon whispered gently, "I'm glad that you are alive, my son."

Dragon landed back to the ground and was about to hand Luffy to the capable hands—

*PUK*

—but froze upon a tragic sight that suddenly entered the scene.

"...Huh?"

Garp was dumbfounded. Slowly lowering his eyes, he found a sharp spike of seastone that appeared out of nowhere, impaling him through the heart.

"How ignorant that you are." Mihawk—no, the man whom everyone believed to be Mihawk, said coldly, "You believed me to be the 'Hawk Eye' all along, haven't you?"

From where the Pangaea Castle lied, the dust finally cleared, revealing Sengoku and Tsuru. They were facing off against... Dracule Mihawk.

Dragon finally realized, 'The man whom father was fighting against... wasn't Mihawk all along.'

"G-Garp?"

Garp's miserable sight was the first thing that Sengoku noticed, but he had to return his attention to Mihawk quickly, as the latter continued to push his sword onto Sengoku's open palm.

Ace screamed in disbelief, "Gramps!!!"

Dragon's eyes wavered as his grip on unconscious Luffy tightened.

Then, under everyone's eyes, the man in Mihawk's appearance began to melt. No, to be more precise, the outlook turned into a colourless water and evaporated into thin air.

Now stood—one enigmatic man with a slim and attractive appearance. He had a long and straight black-coloured hair. His appearance was quite similar to Dracule Mihawk, though seemed younger with no trace of mustache or beard. Along with the cold expression, his blood-red-coloured eyes with the thin circles that surrounded the pupils, peered into the shocked Garp.

"You got to be kidding me, r-right...?" Ace muttered hollowly, unable to believe what was going on in the front.

Dragon growled in rage, "Imu...!!!"

Imu. In the middle of the battlefield, the supposed 'god' of the world finally made an appearance.