Shazo and Garp's sparring and conversation

A few minutes after Garp left Shazo, Haki Inazuma that tore through the sky and Flying Slash split the sea erupted from the reef area.

The two top forces clashed fiercely, and the confrontation was more intense than ever before, leaving all the marines dumbfounded.

The strong winds from the aftermath of the battle caused at least a hundred Bad Luck to fall from the heights, not only getting bruised and battered but also losing their high-ground foothold.

"My goodness, Vice Admiral Garp is so powerful! He truly deserves to be called the Superstar of our Navy."

"Hahaha, although Vice Admiral Garp is only Vice Admiral, his strength is highly recognized by the three Admiral and Fleet Admiral Sengoku."

"It's unbelievable that Brigadier General Shazo is so powerful; he actually managed to get Lieutenant General Garp to unleash so much of his strength."

"Even the Vice Admiral at headquarters aren't worth Vice Admiral Garp taking this seriously, are they?"

"You mean to say that Brigadier General Xia Zuo has the strength of a general?"

"Are you kidding me? Commodore is a rank unique to the Marine Branch. How can he be compared to an Admiral?"

The question drew the attention of everyone around, who then pointed to the sea. "Is that Headquarters Vice Admiral could do?"

At this moment, the collision between the Haki lightning and the Flying Slash intensified, and the resulting gusts of wind were so strong that it was impossible for people to open their eyes.

Several high-ranking officers on the Dog-Head Warship, who had mastered Observation Haki, also changed their expressions drastically, no longer able to sense the fierce battle raging on the distant reefs.

No one said that Shazo was inferior to the Headquarters Vice Admiral anymore.

Everyone watched the battle with bated breath. The powerful officers tried their best to feel the subtlety of the Haki and Sword Qi, while the weaker officers could only watch the excitement and then brag to their colleagues in other branches or fleets.

In reality, Shazo and Garp were not actually fighting. They were cooperating with each other, fully displaying their power to make their battle look fierce, but in fact, it had no lethality whatsoever.

This way, they can be kept out of everyone's sight, including those with Observation Haki, allowing the two to talk without worry.

The conversation was initiated by Shazo, who noticed Garp's grim expression and realized that he was in an unprecedentedly bad mood.

So Shazo took the initiative and asked, "Old man, have you confirmed the situation in Foosha Village?"

Garp sighed, "It took a whole day to ask everyone, and we confirmed that Red-Haired Shanks does indeed come to Foosha Village to stay every two months."

"When I asked around, no one seemed to think there was anything wrong with pirates being stationed in Foosha Village."

"I really don't know what magic Shanks has that makes everyone like him and willingly hide his whereabouts."

Shazo laughed, "Red-Haired Shanks, some people jokingly say he's a 'face man' who ate the Face Fruit, his affability is truly unbelievable."

Then he asked casually, "How is Luffy doing?"

Garp gets excited Luffy is mentioned.

His anger erupted like a volcano that had been accumulating immense pressure, affecting his Armament Haki and causing the black Haki Inazuma to be tinged with an undeniable red hue.

The oppressive aura emanating from Armament Haki increased tenfold or even a hundredfold due to Garp's rage, making the Marines of the 77th Branch in the distance feel as if a Taiseki was pressing on their hearts, making it hard for them to breathe.

A naval Lieutenant from headquarters clutched his chest, gasping for breath, "What... what's going on? I can't breathe."

Another naval Lieutenant guessed in surprise, "I've heard that Conqueror's Haki can make people breathless, or even cause them to faint from dizziness. Could this be Conqueror's Haki?"

A Marine Headquarters Rear Admiral shook his head and said, "No, this isn't Conqueror's Haki. Only Fleet Admiral Sengoku possesses Conqueror's Haki in the Navy."

"This is Vice Admiral Garp's Armament Haki. After countless hours of training, once Haki is pushed to its limit, it can be combined with one's own emotions to create a powerful force against the enemy."

"This is an advanced application method, on par with entanglement and Ryuo."

"Sigh, I haven't even mastered Armament Haki, let alone such an advanced technique."

Hearing the Rear Admiral's self-pity, countless Jun Jun at headquarters sighed.

The Jun Jun of the 77th Branch looked at the Rear Admiral with curiosity.

They found it very strange; how could Jun Jun who hadn't cultivated an imposing Haki become Rear Admiral in the headquarters?

The Rear Admiral keenly sensed the watchful eyes of the branch navy.

If it were any other branch, he would definitely be angry and feel offended.

But this is the 77th Marine Division, the territory of Rear Admiral Shazo. The officers are his subordinates, and the Rear Admiral of the headquarters has a special status and knows Shazo's intelligence very well, so he naturally doesn't feel angry.

Instead, he turned his head, smiled at the officers who were watching him, and then raised his right hand.

The next moment, the Rear Admiral's right hand became hairy, with stripes covering the yellow fur.

It turns out that this Rear Admiral is a Tiger Man who ate the Zoan Devil Fruit, the Cat-Cat Fruit, Tiger Form. Among Zoan Devil Fruit, it is a top-tier fruit, second only to Ancient Zoan and Mythical Zoan.

If he practices the Six Powers, Tiger Man would indeed be qualified to become Rear Admiral.

The Jun Jun in the branch Politeness lowered their heads and stopped looking at the rear Rear Admiral.

Garp unleashed three consecutive punches, venting his rage on Shazo until Shazo was about to vomit blood, before he finally managed to calm down.

Shazo wasn't one to back down easily. He gritted his teeth, raised his hand, and attacked Garp with a powerful move that combined Haki with freezing air.

[Nanto · Ice Luan Baili]

As the developer of this move, Shazo only needed to throw a punch, without using his ten fingers to control the freezing air, and frost feathers would be generated from the wind of his punch.

Frosty feathers spread out, naturally forming a pair of enormous blue-white wings.

The domineering Haki and freezing energy contained in the fist further combined and condensed, forming a huge blue phoenix after a few seconds of brewing.

As soon as the curved bird's head appeared, the Frost Phoenix let out a clear and melodious cry that resounded across the sea, causing a great tremor in people's Mind Stone.

With three cries, the Frost Phoenix flapped its wings and flew swiftly towards Garp, whose eyes were filled with surprise and amazement.

Amidst the light, crisp sound of ice cracking, Vice Admiral Garp, counterattacking with Armament Haki, shattered the Frost Phoenix, but he was also frozen in blue frost.

Although it only took a dozen seconds for Garp to shatter the Mystic Ice and break free, he was still freezing, with long icicles hanging from his nose.

"Clatter clatter— Shazo brat—Clatter clatter—You, your freezing power—Clatter clatter—is getting stronger and stronger, even this old man can't break free immediately."

As Garp spoke, his teeth stopped chattering. "This time, I admit defeat."

Shazo said with dissatisfaction, "What do you mean you lost?"

"I have shattered your Armament Haki in a fair and square manner, and defeated you head-on!"

Garp gritted his teeth and refused to admit it. "Nonsense! I was just careless! I didn't flash!"

"Young man, don't be so aggressive!"

"I advise you to try rat tail juice!"

Shazo watched as Vice Admiral Garp, whose face was still ashen from the cold, and whose eyebrows, beard, and hair were covered in frost, though he was no longer trembling. Garp was trying to pull the icicles off his nose while pretending to lecture Xia Zuo.

His distant memories were stirred up, and an uncontrollable burst of laughter erupted from him, causing him to burst into laughter and fall to the ground.

Looking at Shazo rolling around on the rocks, Vice Admiral Garp felt completely bewildered.

However, in the Pirate World, everyone who is powerful has a personality, which they express through strange habits or quirks.

Therefore, Garp simply took it as Shazo's quirk and ignored him, focusing instead on clearing the frost off his body and encouraging his heart to beat faster to improve blood circulation and get rid of the effects of the freezing.

Garp wasn't exaggerating; he was genuinely careless and truly didn't have a flash.

At Marine Headquarters, Garp often sparred with his little admirer Marineford, Aokiji Kuzan. He was very familiar with the power of ice and had his own unique set of techniques for dealing with freezing.

However, after sparring with Shazo so many times, he always felt that the greatest threat came from Swordsmanship and Sword Qi, and he unconsciously ignored the freezing effect.

If he had known that Shazo's freezing power was so strong, he would have been prepared and taken timely action to avoid being frozen.

By the time Shazo had finished laughing, Garp had completely warmed up.

They exchanged a glance and then launched another attack.

This time there was no threat whatsoever; it was purely a grand performance, recreating a Secret Chamber on the battlefield.

Garp told Shazo that after confirming Red-Haired Shanks's timing, he contacted the Sengoku and, through the Fleet Admiral, investigated who had betrayed his intelligence.

Shazo was surprised by Garp and Sengoku's efficiency, and also curious about who had leaked Garp's whereabouts.

So he asked, "Do you know who it is?"

Garp nodded, but didn't say who it was.

Judging from Garp's barely concealed dejection, Shazo guessed that this person must be a naval comrade-in-arms from the same period as Garp, Sengoku, Zephyr, Tsuru, and other high-ranking naval officers.

This outcome is truly heartbreaking to even think about.

Shazo asked again, "Judging from your reaction, Luffy is severely affected by Red-Haired Shanks. Can you resolve this?"

Garp's mood darkened further, and he sighed, "I don't know either."

"Red-Haired Shanks lost an arm saving Luffy and even gave him Luffy D. Roger's straw Straw Hat. Now Luffy firmly believes that pirates are people who yearn for freedom, not wicked plunderers."

"Shazo Zuo, I can't stay in the East Blue watching Luffy forever. I... I really don't have the confidence to change his mind."

As he spoke, old man Garp raised his head and looked at Shazo: "I've heard you're quite skilled at raising children and training marines, so why don't you—"

Shazo immediately refused, "Don't even think about it!"

"Your family is the lawless Monkey Clan! From you to Dragon to Luffy, you're all self-righteous bastards!"

"If you old cod can't handle Dragon, how could I possibly handle Luffy?"

"If Luffy were so easy to handle, would Red-Haired Shanks have spent two years slowly guiding him?"

"Luffy, I'd rather kill him than try to change him."

Garp raised his Iron Fist and sighed, "Alas, it seems I'll have to try it myself."

"Just like you said, we'd rather kill Luffy than let him become a pirate!"

Shazo jumped up and down in anger. "You despicable old man, when did I say that? You're slandering me!"

Garp grinned, showing his big teeth, and laughed smugly, "Hahahaha, if I said it was you, will people believe me or you?"

Shazo gritted his teeth and admitted, "I admit it, you're the Superstar of the Navy, they definitely believe you, not me."

"But I fucking can beat you to a pulp."

Garp laughed loudly, "Beat me up?"

"You really think that by Sneak Attack an old man like me once, you can completely surpass me?"

"Kid, Shazo Zuo, let me tell you, this isn't your era yet!"

This time, both of their fists landed on each other's faces. Neither of them dodged or used any more lethal moves; they simply exchanged punches.

When not engaged in a life-or-death struggle, this is the safest and most valuable way to compete, testing the strength of both sides' Conqueror's Haki, physique, and resilience.

This contest was very real, and the damage was very heavy. Every punch landed with a visceral impact, creating a roar that shook the sea.

This didn't interrupt the conversation between the two top-tier Armament Haki practitioners.

Boom!!

"Old man, I know you can't keep Luffy with you. Only in this way can the Cipher Pol be suspicious and not immediately harm Luffy. But can't you just hand Luffy over to Dragon?"

Boom!!

"You idiot, Shazo, things aren't that simple. I can't possibly hand Luffy over to that brat Dragon."

Boom!!

"I understand. If Luffy goes with Dragon, he'll never have another chance."

"But that's not right. It was understandable that you had these concerns before, but now Red-Haired Shanks has spent two years seducing Luffy into making a choice. What are you still worried about?"

Boom!!

"Hmph, Shazo Zuo, don't make wild guesses. The old man's mind is very complicated; he didn't experience all these years for nothing."

"In short, if you don't want to accept Luffy, fine, but I still need you to keep the East Blue under control for a few more years to buy me more time."

Boom!!

While Garp was giving a long speech, Shazo punched him squarely in the stomach, sending Vice Admiral Garp flying into the air.

Then he smiled and made a promise, "Sure, but as you know, as long as I'm still in the navy, I can't decide where I am; that's up to Fleet Admiral Sengoku."

This time, after Vice Admiral Garp climbed out of the sea, he did not retaliate.

He rubbed his aching stomach and nodded, promising, "Then it's settled. I'll have Sengoku arrange for you to stay in the East Blue for a few more years."

Shazo stopped and agreed, "As long as I am in the East Blue, the East Blue will be peaceful."