Luffy nearly crawled to Garp's side.
Looking at Garp's face, now hidden beneath shadow and blood, his lips trembled uncontrollably.
"Grandpa…"
Not far away, the restrained Bogard roared with bloodshot eyes,
"Vice Admiral Garp!!!"
Lindbergh looked around at the devastated battlefield and the countless Revolutionary Army members lying motionless in pools of blood. A heavy expression appeared on his face.
Originally, he had planned to use the East Blue as a temporary hidden base for development and recovery.
Instead, things had spiraled into complete disaster.
Kildeo walked over with a grave expression.
"Lindbergh, we can't stay here any longer. Vice Admiral Garp's status within the Marines is too important. Once Marine Headquarters learns about his death, they'll send more than one Admiral to the East Blue. With our current strength, we won't survive that."
Lindbergh naturally understood the seriousness of the situation.
From the very beginning, he had never wanted to fight Garp.
No matter the outcome, there was nothing for the Revolutionary Army to gain.
And now reality had proven him right.
So many of them against a single old Marine, yet even after winning, their losses were devastating enough that they had to flee immediately afterward.
What kind of victory was this?
The more Lindbergh thought about it, the more suffocating the feeling became.
Ahead of them, Luffy remained kneeling beside Garp in silence.
Nami hurried over and gently wrapped her arms around him.
Only then did Luffy slowly regain a trace of awareness.
"Nami... how are Chopper and the others?"
Nami softly replied,
"Don't worry. They're not in danger. They're only injured and unconscious."
Luffy gave a slight nod, but sadness quickly overwhelmed his face again.
"But Grandpa... he..."
Before he could finish speaking, tears uncontrollably filled his eyes once more.
Seeing him like this, Nami felt a complicated mix of pain and relief.
At least this Luffy still felt sorrow.
To her, the version of Luffy who laughed endlessly as Joy Boy felt terrifying and unfamiliar. Even seeing that bright smile on his face made her feel uncomfortable deep down.
At that moment, Lindbergh walked over and repeated Kildeo's warning.
They had to retreat immediately.
However, Luffy remained silent as he slowly stood up and looked at Garp one last time.
Seeing this, Lindbergh sighed quietly.
"This is your grandfather's hometown. Leave him here. The villagers will take care of his body. We don't have time to stay, Luffy."
Nami gently tugged on Luffy's sleeve.
Luffy finally turned around numbly and staggered away toward the Revolutionary Army.
As he approached the retreating group, Bogard suddenly struggled violently against his restraints and shouted furiously,
"You bastard! How could Vice Admiral Garp have a grandson like you!? Even now, you still can't wake up!?"
Luffy stared at him blankly without responding.
Just then, Lindbergh appeared beside Bogard and struck the back of his neck with a precise chop, knocking him unconscious instantly.
Afterward, Lindbergh reorganized the remaining forces and ordered a full withdrawal from Foosha Village.
Some time after the Revolutionary Army departed, the villagers of Foosha Village arrived to investigate the disturbance.
Leading them was Village Chief Slap.
The moment they saw the destroyed mountainside, the shattered earth, and the corpses scattered everywhere, everyone's faces turned pale with fear.
Then someone suddenly pointed ahead with trembling hands.
"Look over there... isn't that Vice Admiral Garp!?"
Hearing this, Slap hurried over with several villagers following closely behind.
The closer he got, the heavier the unease in his chest became.
With shaking hands, he slowly checked Garp's breathing.
A moment later, his legs gave out completely, and he collapsed onto the ground.
Several younger villagers instinctively stepped forward to move Garp, but Slap immediately shouted at them.
"Don't touch him! Hurry and contact the Marines immediately!"
At that moment, everyone finally realized what had happened.
Some villagers directly fell to their knees, crying uncontrollably.
"Garp-san!!!"
The remaining villagers quickly split up.
Some rushed toward the nearby Marine branch to report the news, while others sprinted back to Foosha Village to call everyone over.
Before long, the entire village had gathered at the scene.
When they saw Garp lying there covered in blood, the elderly, the women, and even the children burst into tears.
Although Garp was a legendary Marine from Headquarters, he had never acted superior toward them.
For decades, Foosha Village had remained safe under his protection, even during the chaotic era of pirates.
Even after Garp was imprisoned because of Dragon, the villagers still respected him deeply and never forgot his kindness.
Makino stood among the crowd with trembling shoulders.
She tightly covered her mouth as tears streamed endlessly down her face.
She simply couldn't accept it.
Just earlier, that old man had still been drinking happily inside her bar.
Now the Hero of the Marines, the pride of Foosha Village, had become a lifeless corpse before her eyes.
Not long afterward, a large group of Marines arrived after receiving the report.
Leading them was a Marine Branch Colonel from a nearby base.
However, when the Marines saw Garp's body, their reactions were no different from the villagers'.
Shock.
Disbelief.
Fear.
None of them wanted to accept the death of the legendary Hero of the Marines.
In the end, the Colonel forced himself to remain composed.
He immediately ordered soldiers to photograph the battlefield and document everything around Garp's body.
Then he personally stepped forward and carefully laid Garp flat on the ground.
Four Marine medics carried over a stretcher and gently lifted Garp onto it before slowly covering him with a white cloth.
The surrounding Marines simultaneously raised their hands in salute.
Seeing this scene, the men who had desperately held back their tears finally broke down completely.
Their cries echoed across the ruined mountain like grieving children.
...
Marineford, Marine Academy.
Sengoku had just finished teaching a class on naval warfare strategy.
After the students dispersed, he slowly walked out of the classroom alone.
Now serving as the Dean of Academic Affairs at the Marine Academy, Sengoku looked completely different from his days as Fleet Admiral.
His hair had turned entirely white.
He wore a light blue short sleeved shirt, while a Marine coat hung loosely over his shoulders. Large shorts and slippers completed his casual appearance, making him look more like a retired old man than one of the strongest Marines in history.
Standing outside the classroom, Sengoku suddenly frowned slightly.
For some reason, an inexplicable feeling of unease settled over his chest.
After a moment, he shook his head and muttered to himself,
"Tch... looks like I really am getting old. Since there's still time, I'll go bother Zephyr for a while."
With that, he headed toward the principal's office.
When Sengoku arrived, he pushed open the door without knocking and walked in naturally.
Zephyr was still handling paperwork.
The moment he saw Sengoku enter, he reached into his drawer with practiced familiarity, pulled out two bags of senbei, and tossed them over.
Sengoku immediately caught them with a grin before sitting down heavily on the sofa.
"Hahaha! It really has to be you, Zephyr. Unlike that bastard Garp, he always steals my senbei! Still, your senbei always feels like it's missing something."
Zephyr smiled helplessly.
"They all come from the logistics department. How could the taste be any different? You're just missing Garp."
===
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