The battle grew increasingly fierce.
Whitebeard truly lived up to his title as the "Strongest Man in the World." He had practically suppressed the entire Navy by himself.
Under Whitebeard's leadership, his many sons were even more unstoppable.
Meanwhile, more and more prisoners who had escaped from Impel Down voluntarily joined the battle.
They were not Whitebeard's followers. Quite a few of them even bore grudges against the Whitebeard Pirates.
But at this moment, those prisoners desperate to escape with their lives and the Whitebeard Pirates shared the same goal and the same enemy, so naturally they stood on the same side.
With the addition of these prisoners, the Navy's numerical advantage gradually began to even out, and the war entered a stalemate.
Of course, none of this had anything to do with Garen.
He was merely enthusiastically picking up light orbs amid the storm of battle.
Yet this Shichibukai's blatant slacking not only failed to provoke the Navy officers' displeasure, but instead drew their heavy-hearted concern:
He had accompanied an admiral deep into enemy territory to suppress the riot, desperately holding back the Whitebeard Pirates and the Impel Down prisoners' escape.
And in the end...
He had been reduced to this!
Not to mention the Shichibukai, there were few Navy officers as dedicated as Garen.
Seeing Garen's current state, several Navy officers were inspired by his selfless and fearless spirit and unleashed one hundred and twenty percent of their strength in battle.
When Ace and the others saw Garen's strange behavior, they were even more moved:
He would rather pretend to be insane than attack friends like them. Garen truly was a loyal man worth befriending!
Naturally, Garen knew nothing of everyone's thoughts.
He busily picked up spell fragments from the ground and finally found a passable Devil Fruit