Locking in Victory

"I'll be the first to measure your strength, kid." Garp laughed loudly and swung his fist at Richard.

No matter what secrets this guy was hiding, they could slowly question him after catching him.

Richard dealt with him calmly. He rather liked opponents who used the Steel Fist Style.

As water rippled around him, Richard reached out and deflected Garp's incoming fist.

Their arms did not make direct contact, with a layer of water flowing between them. Through that water, Richard easily dissipated Garp's force.

Garp had extensive combat experience. He twisted with the momentum, turned, and launched a spinning back kick.

Richard remained unhurried, like an old man in a park.

He waved his hand again and blocked it.

He was not fighting Garp for any other reason; he simply wanted to gain insight into Water's Round Softness.

So he did not seek a quick victory. As long as Garp was willing, he could keep fighting him indefinitely.

Water's Round Softness was a divine defensive technique of material defense. The reason Water Element deities in the Coiling Dragon World excelled at defense was largely thanks to this Profound Mystery.

But Water's Round Softness was by no means limited to defense alone.

Had no one ever heard that softness could overcome hardness? Its offensive methods were simply different, emphasizing the use of a small force to move a great one and borrowing an opponent's strength against them.

Richard felt that the principles of Tai Chi explained this perfectly.

A battle unlike anything the One Piece world had ever seen began.

Garp swore that this was the most disgusting opponent he had ever fought. He would rather go back and fight Rocks for three hundred rounds than fight this kid again.

This kid truly was a Sui Sui no Mi user. Even his fighting style resembled water. No matter how heavy Garp's attacks were, they were always gently defused, and sometimes the force was even reflected back at him.

Yet this kid never took the initiative to attack. He simply waited to borrow Garp's strength.

After one battle, Garp was already panting, while this guy had not even broken a sweat.

Today had really opened his eyes. There was actually such a bizarre martial arts style in the world.

He could not even stop fighting if he wanted to. Whenever he tried to call it off, this guy would come right back and punch him twice.

Tell him, wasn't that just infuriating?

And so, Richard dragged Garp into a friendly spar.

The more they fought, the more he felt it, until that spark of inspiration surfaced in his mind.

Not long afterward, Xia Mi returned alone. She was so clean that she did not look like she had gone through an intense battle at all. Akainu was nowhere to be seen.

The Marines felt that the situation was turning bad.

Could Sakazuki have lost?

How was that possible? He was a Marine Admiral, one of the world's strongest combatants.

Besides, how long had it been? Had it even been five minutes? What could anyone do in that time? It was not even enough for a warm-up.

But there really was no movement in the distance anymore.

Could Sakazuki have encountered some emergency and left in a hurry?

The three of them could only comfort themselves with that thought. But they knew perfectly well that it was nothing but self-deception.

Even if Sakazuki had to leave, he would never do so without saying anything. More importantly, the battle was not even over. There was no way he would run off halfway through a fight. Even if Marine Headquarters had been destroyed, he would finish this battle before going back.

No matter what, Xia Mi's return brought immense psychological pressure to the Marines present.

The situation really was looking grim.

Fortunately, Xia Mi had no intention of interfering in the battle.

She merely looked at her brother, whose bruised and swollen face made him seem as if he had gained an entire size, and felt speechless.

She even reached out and poked him with interest.

The pain made Fenrir bare his teeth.

After that, she ignored him and sat on a stone chair in a daze.

After all, for a tough-skinned Dragon King, such injuries did not even count as flesh wounds.

A few more hours passed before the Marine warships finally arrived.

Xia Mi could not be bothered to move again.

"Erii, go deal with them," she said.

"Okay, okay." Everyone else was busy, and Erii felt that she should find something to do as well.

Erii came to the sea and used Words of Power: Judgment. One sword strike per ship, and she sank every warship.

Without using Spirit Speech, she really would have found it difficult to do that. At her current level, she did not have many methods for dealing with such large targets.

"Bastard!" More than ten field-grade and company-grade officers proficient in the Six Styles' Geppo leaped into the air, crossed the coastline, and charged toward Erii.

They swore to capture Erii, the person who had inflicted such grievous losses upon them.

Erii had not expected so many people to be capable of short-distance flight.

Her plan to finish quickly and call it a day fell through.

Erii had no choice but to work harder. These people all seemed quite strong, and relying only on close combat might lead to an upset.

So, while her opponents were still in the air, Erii used magic modified by Xia Mi.

The Dragon World did not have magical elements, but with spiritual power and elemental authority, Xia Mi had modified several spells that could imitate certain Spirit Speech effects.

Erii had learned most of them. As someone with the White King Bloodline, Erii was born with powerful spiritual power and authority over the elements. Learning those spells was not effortless, but neither was it particularly difficult.

And fortunately, the Pirate World also had the concept of elements. Though it differed from the Dragon World, the spells could still be used.

For example, the Fireball Technique Erii was casting now.

With a thought, she connected her mind to the concept of the fire element, and dozens of densely packed fireballs flew toward the Marines in the air.

This felt even easier than it had in the Dragon World. Even the power had increased slightly.

The Law of Water was undoubtedly the most active law in the Pirate World, but the corresponding Law of Fire Element was also quite active.

There were simply too many powerful people in this world who could create flame-related abilities.

She set aside her doubts and controlled the flight paths of the dozens of large fireballs.

The weaker Marine officers immediately found themselves overwhelmed. Before long, more than half of them had been struck by the large fireballs and fell into the sea.

Although the remaining few blocked the fireballs through various means, Erii had already prepared her next spell.

A violent gale swept through, blowing the remaining people in every direction. Then Erii sent them flying with her next Water Element spell—Water Cannon.

Feeling that she had finished her work, Erii skipped back happily. Now she could slack off with a clear conscience.

The two vice admirals, who had spared a fraction of their attention for the developments over there, truly felt like they were about to collapse.

They had thought the arrival of the Headquarters fleet would lessen the pressure they faced. They had not expected the fleet to be wiped out just like that.

It was still unknown how many people aboard had survived. Those had all been Marine Headquarters elites. This was absolutely a devastating loss.

Even the officers sent as reinforcements had been effortlessly dealt with by that little girl.

They had not expected this small team of six to consist entirely of experts. Even the weakest among them could fight them to a draw.

Then what had they come here for? To deliver themselves on a platter?

Even Garp could not help but sigh. What an absurd team. They were even stronger than a Four Emperors crew.

Where in the world had such a group suddenly come from?

The powerful people in this world were known quantities. Though the seas were vast and boundless, was it not too abnormal for so many young experts to appear all at once? After returning, he had to make Sengoku investigate this thoroughly.

However, the truth was far crueler than he imagined.

Richard had no intention of letting them return. He would keep them locked up for now, at least until they had dealt with the Celestial Dragons.

That way, they would not have to deal with these Marines while fighting the World Government's elites.