Kzzzt! Kzzzt!
In an instant, Ryuuto's entire body began to flicker with arcs of lightning.
"Has the captain cooked up something new again?" Crocus, now awake, watched Ryuuto with keen curiosity.
"Crocus, how did the captain's presence suddenly get so much stronger?" Nami leaned her head close to Crocus and whispered.
"I was about to ask the same thing," Vivi added timidly from the side.
"That Ryuuto kid is always full of strange abilities." Crocus threw up his hands, admitting he was just as clueless as they were.
"Let me test out this lightning style!" Ryuuto shouted, clenching his right fist. A brilliant flash of lightning erupted from his hand.
"Chidori Sharp Spear!"
With a furious roar, the wild electricity in Ryuuto's hand instantly condensed into a bright beam of lightning. Arcs of electricity danced erratically around its exterior, crackling as if they were tearing through the air itself. Under Ryuuto's control, the beam shot toward Garp at extreme speed.
The spear of lightning produced a series of sonic booms as it traveled, leaving the faint smell of ozone in its wake. In a flash, it was right in front of Garp.
Seeing this, Garp's eyes narrowed as he coated his right hand in Armament Haki.
"I call this fist... Justice!" Garp leaped forward, his massive black fist hurtling straight toward the incoming Chidori Sharp Spear.
BANG!
A tremendous explosion of sound erupted at the point of impact. The clash between the iron-black fist and the lightning beam produced a deafening shriek of white light and black sparks. The surging lightning and dark Haki seemed on the verge of shattering the very space between them.
"Interesting!" Garp chuckled, then bellowed, "Let me show you the true power of Haki!"
Instantly, an even more domineering wave of black energy surged from Garp's right fist. Streaks of black lightning shot out, forming a vast, dark domain in front of him. Under the overwhelming pressure of this Haki, the Chidori Sharp Spear, which had just been holding its own, shattered instantly.
CRACK!
The beam of lightning disintegrated, scattering into countless fragments of electricity.
But Garp wasn't finished. His figure flickered, and in the next moment, he appeared directly in front of Ryuuto.
"Not good!" Ryuuto's heart tightened at the sight of Garp suddenly before him. The lightning surrounding his body erupted violently as he roared, "Chidori Nagashi!"
A torrent of lightning burst forth from Ryuuto's body, radiating out in all directions to form a massive electrical domain with him at its center.
"Is this all you've got, kid?"
But as soon as the words left his mouth, Garp's own body erupted with countless streaks of black lightning, using his Haki to repel all of the incoming electricity. His fist finally smashed down on Ryuuto's head.
Ryuuto quickly reinforced the point of contact with his own Haki.
BAM!
The immense force was too much for him to completely block. But this time, Ryuuto had another option.
"Three Thousand Lightning Movement!"
With a great shout, the lightning under Ryuuto's feet began to flow, and a dazzling silver light flared in his eyes.
KZZZZZT!
A piercing sonic boom suddenly tore through the air. This wasn't the sound of thunder; it was the sound of space itself being ripped apart. Ryuuto's figure seemed to flicker in place, but instead of vanishing, it left behind a distinct afterimage formed entirely of lightning.
The real Ryuuto had already become a blurred streak of thunder.
Zzzzt!
Ryuuto's true form reappeared with every flicker of lightning, each jump accompanied by a short, violent sonic boom. The air was forcefully displaced, creating visible ripples of white shockwaves that spread out in all directions. This was the sound of lightning tearing through space, a sign that Ryuuto was achieving momentary spatial jumps with the Three Thousand Lightning Movement.
Meanwhile, Garp's iron fist was colliding with the lightning clone Ryuuto had left behind. This was the Three Thousand Lightning Phantom Body, an afterimage that retained a fraction of Ryuuto's power. But it was clearly no match for a full-power Garp.
BOOM!
With a final, deafening explosion, the phantom body was shattered by the black fist, dissolving into scattering motes of light.
"What kind of technique is that? He can leap that far in an instant and leave a clone behind?" Garp retracted his fist, his eyes fixed on Ryuuto, who had already reappeared on the rooftop.
Standing next to Ryuuto, Nami had been terrified, thinking for a moment that her captain was about to fall to Garp's punch. But in a flash, he was right beside her. As expected of the captain, to be able to hold his own against a Vice Admiral. She looked at Ryuuto with pure adoration, her mind racing.
Vivi's mind was a complete blank, an expression of utter shock on her face as she stared at the suddenly reappeared Ryuuto.
Crocus watched Ryuuto with great interest. The captain's bag of tricks is truly endless. I was about to step in myself. Looks like these old bones won't be getting any exercise today.
Cobra and his men stared at Ryuuto as if he were a monster. They had clearly underestimated his strength.
"What happened? Didn't Vice Admiral Garp just smash that pirate to bits?"
"How did he suddenly show up on the roof?"
The soldiers' confused chatter filled the air. Many of them had been injured by the stray electricity from Chidori Sharp Spear and Chidori Nagashi.
"How did Ryuuto get so strong?!" Smoker sat amidst the rubble, staring blankly at the scene. He couldn't even take a single casual punch from Vice Admiral Garp, yet Ryuuto had managed to escape that seemingly invincible fist completely unscathed. In Loguetown, Ryuuto hadn't even awakened his Haki, relying solely on his masterful wind abilities to defeat him. This time, Smoker had been defeated by a simple clash of Haki.
Smoker slammed his fist into the ground.
"I have to get stronger!" A burning desire for power now consumed him.
Tashigi had also regained consciousness. Witnessing the pinnacle of combat between Ryuuto and Vice Admiral Garp filled her with an endless sense of frustration. "They're too strong! I'm so useless! How could I not even take a single hit from him?" A feeling of failure washed over her.
As for the cool and elegant Captain Hina, she was still unconscious. She had collapsed near Ryuuto, and no soldier had dared to approach. Now that Ryuuto was back on the palace roof, Jango immediately scrambled up, cradling Hina in his arms and trying desperately to shake her awake.
"Vice Admiral Garp, are you sure you want to continue this?" Ryuuto demanded, lightning crackling in his hands as he stared down the legendary Marine.
"I'm not letting you get away that easily!" Garp's brow furrowed. He clenched his right fist, and the "Justice" coat on his back billowed as if caught in a gale.