"He's a true monster. Garp-san, how did you raise him?" Kuzan said with genuine admiration.
He felt like he was facing an Emperor that the Navy couldn't handle.
The Undying Governor, Kaido of the Beasts!
"It's not over yet!"
Luffy grew, completely ignoring the injuries on his body.
The next moment, an even more terrifying sight appeared.
The tangible Conqueror's Haki was no longer just a torrent. Behind him, it vaguely condensed into a vague humanoid shadow.
Black-red lightning, like a spiderweb, twined around the shadow and Luffy's own body. His face and form became somewhat blurred in this violent energy.
"You're sucking me dry!"
"Stop sucking, stop sucking!"
"Bastard! I fxxx..."
Deep in his consciousness, Nika screamed in a voice that was both frantic and frightened.
She felt her power being drawn by Luffy in a way that was almost plundered.
She directly rolled her eyes.
But Luffy could no longer care about that.
He couldn't fall here. He couldn't be locked up in Impel Down.
His crewmates were alive or dead, unknown. How could he fall here!
Kuzan and Garp's faces showed unprecedented gravity.
Luffy's state at this moment was no longer fighting—it was playing for his life.
Burning everything he had!
The vast, unreasonably large Haki, the strange drum sound, and the phantom—they darkened the entire sky.
"Does it really have to come to this?"
Kuzan looked at Garp, his eyes asking a question.
If they continued to push, the result would likely not be an arrest, but one side completely falling.
Garp's fists were clenched tight, his knuckles white. His face was full of struggle and hesitation.
Forcing his grandson to the brink of death—this was the scene he least wanted to face.
But—
Just as the atmosphere was about to solidify—
Abruptly—
A tall figure, like a ghost, appeared without warning between Luffy and the two Navy powerhouses.
He wore a black clergyman's outfit, a bear-eared hat. His build was as sturdy as a mountain. His face showed no expression.
Bartholomew Kuma!
"Kuma?"
Kuzan and Garp were both momentarily stunned. Their actions instinctively paused.
Wasn't he supposed to be elsewhere, carrying out his mission or dealing with the other Supernovas?
Why had he suddenly appeared here?
"Report: Primary target, the Straw Hat crew – confirmed eliminated."
Kuma looked at Luffy and spoke slowly. "Secondary target, 'Big Eater' Jewelry Bonney – confirmed eliminated."
These words, like the final fuse, instantly ignited Luffy's last shred of rationality.
"What did you do to them?!"
Luffy's pupils suddenly widened. He let out a beast-like roar. "KUMA!"
The Haki phantom behind him churned violently. The black blade Magi in his hand hummed. He looked ready to slash at Kuma regardless of the consequences.
If that slash landed, its power would be unimaginable.
But after the roar, rationality briefly returned.
Several images and pieces of information flashed through Luffy's mind like lightning.
Bonney was Kuma's daughter.
On Thriller Bark, Kuma had made a deal with him—Ace's information in exchange for looking after Bonney!
Kuma cared so much about Bonney. How could he possibly eliminate her?
Moreover, Robin and Vivi had researched the Warlords of the Sea and mentioned Kuma's strange ability to send people flying.
In an instant, all the clues connect together!
Combined with the current situation—all his crewmates were simultaneously too far away, Bonney was also on the list, Kuma's ability...
This wasn't elimination.
It was rescue.
Kuma, using his unique ability, under the Navy's inescapable net, had sent all his crewmates—including Bonney—away from this deadly place!
So the next thing to do was...
Just as Luffy was figuring all this out, Kuma leaned down slightly and said in a voice only the two of them could hear:
"Trust me. Live on..."
"Hey, Kuma, what are you doing?!"
Not far away, Kuzan seemed to suddenly understand something. His expression changed drastically. A biting cold burst again from his body.
"Don't tell me..."
Before he could finish—
Kuma's huge meatball palm pressed down on Luffy with lightning speed.
There was only a soft poof, like popping a bubble.
Luffy, along with the terrifying Haki phantom behind him, instantly vanished without a trace.
The fierce battle that had lasted so long—
In this sudden and almost absurd scene—
Abruptly ended.
On the battlefield, only the shattered ground, the spreading cold air, the scattered ice crystals, and a dead silence remained.
"So,"
Kizaru pushed up his tilted sunglasses and looked at Bartholomew Kuma, standing silently like an iron tower. "Your mission was to send them all flying and then end everything?"
Kuma slowly turned to face Kizaru and Kuzan. His huge body stood tall. He repeated his cold words:
"Just carrying out the mission."
"Carrying out the mission?"
Kizaru's lenses reflected white light, making his eyes unreadable, but his voice turned cold. "Are you ready to explain this to our superiors, Kuma? This is quite a serious problem."
Kuma remained silent.
"Garp-san, where are you going?"
Kuzan noticed that
after Luffy disappeared, Garp had just taken a deep look at Kuma, then unhesitatingly turned and walked away from the battlefield.
"This old man's mission was just to capture Straw Hat."
Garp did not look back. He just waved his hand. His back looked somewhat bent and weary. "Now that he's been eliminated, isn't this old man's mission complete?"
Kuzan opened his mouth, wanting to say something.
If Luffy had really been eliminated, would Garp-san be acting like he was relieved and eager to leave?
With his temper, he would have torn Kuma apart.
But Kuma's sudden backstab, though it had disrupted all the plans and made the capture of Straw Hat a failure, from another perspective, had it not helped them?
Especially helped Garp out of a difficult situation.
If they had continued fighting, forcing Garp to do something with his own hands...
Kuzan didn't dare imagine the consequences.
Especially with that great war about to happen.
This was for the best. At least they wouldn't have to see Luffy in the coming war.
That kid, with his strength and background, was now a big problem.
"Sigh. So troublesome,"
Kuzan scratched his curly hair, bent down to pick up his discarded coat, brushed off the dust, and also followed Garp. "It's just that this report will be hard to write. Kizaru-san, can you handle the aftermath here?"
Kuzan and Garp had both been called in halfway. Kizaru was the primary executor of the mission.
"Hey, hey, hey,"
Kizaru's face looked gloomy. Watching the two about to slip away, he couldn't help but complain, "There's still a legendary pirate here, 'Dark King' Rayleigh! Are you really going to leave everything to me alone? That's so irresponsible!"
"Hehehaha."
Rayleigh, seeing this, laughed heartily. He sheathed his long sword into a scabbard he had picked up from somewhere. "That's enough. Hasn't your Navy achieved its strategic objective? Just let this retired old soldier spend his final years in peace."
Kizaru looked at Rayleigh, who had sheathed his sword, expressionless.
Then he looked at Kuma, silent as a mountain.
Then he looked at the departing backs of Garp and Kuzan, who showed no sign of lingering.
Finally, he let out a deep sigh. His face was filled with the look of someone who had given up on life.
"Where has it been achieved? You really don't care about us old folks."
Kizaru muttered quietly. "When I go back, I'm going to be chewed out by our superiors."
Now that things had come to this, what else could he say?
He glanced at Bartholomew Kuma, still expressless, and finally just shook his head.
Thus, on the Sabaody Archipelago, this shocking chaos that had involved three Admiral-level combatants, many Supernovas, and a legendary pirate, drew to a close with the news that the Straw Hat crew had been eliminated.
...
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
Located on the top floor of the tallest central building.
This was the Fleet Admiral's office.
Standing at the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, one could easily take in the military buildings below. The busy naval port had already begun mobilizing troops in large numbers.
Sengoku's face was dark. He had just hurried back from the Holy Land Mary Geise, Pangaea Castle.
He found it unbearable to face the Five Elders there.
Every time he faced those five highest authorities in the world, he felt like he was cooperating with a wolf. Especially when it involved the Celestial Dragons and certain deeper taboos.
His mind kept replaying the brief but infuriating meeting with the Five Elders.
At first, when the three Celestial Dragons were taken hostage for a so-called trade, there had been no room for discussion at all.
They had almost ordered the Navy to agree to Straw Hat's absurd trade—to exchange Fire Fist Ace for those three useless beings.
"The lives of the Celestial Dragons are above all else."
"The Navy's dignity is worthless before the absolute authority of the World Government."
And then?
Not long after those words, the Five Elders' orders did a complete 180-degree turn. They bypassed him, the Fleet Admiral, and issued commands directly to the Admirals.
"Plan change."
"Authorize the use of extreme measures."
"Ensure the complete elimination of Straw Hat Luffy and his accomplices, as well as all unstable factors within the target area."
Sengoku did not think it was because he had been waiting outside the door.
One moment they agreed to a trade, the next they mercilessly ordered extermination.
The lives of the Celestial Dragons?
Faced with certain deeper objectives, they too seemed to become chips that could be discarded at any time.
What weighed even more heavily on his heart was that the Five Elders' order had directly mobilized Kuzan, who had been patrolling the seas near the Sabaody Archipelago, and Garp, who had been making final preparations for the war in the New World.
To have Garp personally capture, and possibly even eliminate, his own grandson Monkey D. Luffy?
What were the Five Elders thinking?
Didn't they know about the complicated relationship between Garp, Ace, and Luffy?
Sengoku himself was one of the very few insiders.
When he had first seen that top secret family relationship report linking Garp, Ace, and Luffy, he had been so shocked he nearly crushed the teacup in his hand.
To have a grandfather go after his own grandson, at this critical juncture when Ace was about to be publicly executed and an all-out war with Whitebeard was about to erupt—
Weren't they afraid that Garp would lose his temper at the critical moment, do something unpredictable, and completely disrupt the Navy's entire deployment?
Just thinking about the mess Garp and Straw Hat had caused on the Sabaody Archipelago made Sengoku's temples throb. His head hurt as if it would split open.
But the worst-case scenario seemed to have still occurred.
According to the sporadic battle report he had just received, Garp had not only gone, but seemed to have fought extremely fiercely.
BAM!
The office door was pushed open. A figure with a hint of laziness and helplessness walked in. It was Admiral Borsalino, Kizaru, who had been ordered to report.
"Oh~ Sengoku-san, you're back already."
Kizaru pushed up his brown sunglasses.
"What's the situation, Borsalino?" Sengoku asked in a low voice.
Kizaru sat down on the sofa in front of the desk without being asked, crossed his legs, pursed his lips, and said, "The Sabaody Archipelago side is... temporarily cleaned up, I suppose. A large number of pirates and underground organizations were uprooted. It's one of the largest cleanup operations in recent years."
Sengoku said, "That's not important."
The chaos on the Sabaody Archipelago was certainly known to the Navy.
The only reason it wasn't cleaned up was because of the huge market where demand met supply.
Kizaru paused, his tone turning somewhat subtle. "Most of those Supernovas with bounties over 100 million, after joining forces to destroy three of our precious Pacifistas, broke through the encirclement and disappeared without a trace."
They were such troublesome young people. Terrifying~
Sengoku's brow furrowed even more tightly.
Three Pacifistas!
Those were expensive weapons, each costing as much as a large warship. To have so many destroyed in their first actual combat—the Science Division would be jumping up and down.
But what he was more concerned about now was another question.
"And the Straw Hat crew?" Sengoku stared at Kizaru.
This was the top priority!
The target that the Five Elders themselves had ordered, mobilizing three Admiral-level combatants and even sacrificing three Celestial Dragons, to eliminate them completely!
Kizaru, feeling Sengoku's almost-devouring gaze, was somewhat uncomfortable.
Kuzan and Garp were really bastards.
"As for the Straw Hat crew, according to Bartholomew Kuma's final mission report, the crew members, as well as the Supernova 'Big Eater' Jewelry Bonney, have all been confirmed eliminated."
Kizaru scratched his chin. "As for Straw Hat himself, he was also eliminated before our eyes."
"Eliminated?"
Sengoku's pupils shrink. His voice suddenly rose. "Did you confirm it with your own eyes? Where are the bodies?"
"That 'elimination' might not be what Sengoku-san imagines."
Kizaru still explained Kuma's ability.
Sengoku nearly choked.
With such a massive deployment of power, this was the result?
How was he supposed to explain this to the Five Elders?
Kizaru spread his hands, looking like "I can't do anything about it either."
"The specific circumstances can probably only be asked of Kuma himself."
"Where is Kuma?!"
"Even if you asked him now, you probably wouldn't get an answer. Before we came back, Kuma had already gone to Dr. Vegapunk's laboratory for the final modification experiment, according to his agreement with the World Government. Apparently, he has already completely lost his self-awareness and become a human weapon that completely obeys the World Government."
"Bartholomew Kuma,"
Sengoku gritted his teeth, uttering this name, his fists clenched until they cracked. "This old man knew it! Those Warlords of the Sea—not a single one of them is truly reliable!"
He needed to consider some people's proposals.
Was there any point in the Warlords continuing to exist?
"Borsalino, you worked with Kuma in the Science Division. You should know his background and abilities better than we do! What exactly happened in that situation?"
Faced with Sengoku's repeated questioning, Kizaru pushed up his glasses. The lenses reflected white light, making his eyes unreadable. "Kuma's ability is indeed very special, Sengoku-san. His Nikyu Nikyu no Mi can repel anything—including people.
As for how he defines 'elimination,' perhaps only he himself knows."
SLAM!
Sengoku slammed the table. The heavy solid wood desk shuddered.
"Three top combatants—even more power than a Buster Call! And it was all messed up by a single Warlord! Where were Kuzan and Garp? What were they doing?!"
Kizaru sighed. "The situation was indeed very complicated, Sengoku-san.
Besides Straw Hat himself being incredibly strong, 'Dark King' Silvers Rayleigh also suddenly intervened and clung to me.
That old man, though aged, is still terrifyingly strong. I couldn't get away for quite a while."
He paused, then continued, "As for Garp-san and Kuzan, I can confirm that Garp-san did not hold back at all. His fight with Straw Hat practically leveled that entire area."
But Straw Hat—how to put it?
Even Kizaru couldn't help but marvel.
Luffy's growth rate was too terrifying.
And that strange Devil Fruit awakening form, and the unreasonably large amount of Haki.
Both his Kenbunshoku Haki and Busoshoku Haki had been trained to an extremely high level.
"I have to admit, the World Government's final decision might have been correct. If he were given a few more years, the pattern of this sea might have been turned upside down by him alone."
"This is not the time to discuss whether the World Government's decision was correct, Borsalino!"
"True. But Garp-san..."
Sengoku cut him off in a low voice. "Garp is a Marine. From the moment he put on that coat of justice, he should have been clear about his duties."
Kizaru shrugged noncommittally.
Sengoku asked, "And about Straw Hat's ability—you said his Gomu Gomu no Mi has awakened? What exactly is the situation?"
Devil Fruit awakening was an ability possessed by only a few on the sea.
It had to be said, each one was a big problem.
"It's a very troublesome form. I've never seen anything like it before."
Kizaru recalled Luffy's form—the white hair, the flame clouds around him, the way he ignored physical laws in combat, and the constant drumbeat of liberation.
"To think the Gomu Gomu no Mi could be developed into that kind of form and ability. Truly terrifying~"
He touched his chest, where he still seemed to feel the lingering pain from being hit by Luffy's Haki-infused fist. "That kid landed a solid punch on me. It still hurts a bit."
***
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