Instant! The One-Punch Man of the Marines!

Instant! The One-Punch Man of the Marines!

"Someone like him is wasted in the Marines."

Watching Garp's outrageous maneuver, even Roger could not help but sigh. He walked to the stern, preparing to "stop" the incoming waves.

Then he clearly saw the towering wave freeze solid in an instant. A long icy slide suddenly appeared before the Roger Pirates.

"What is that?"

"Was that the ability of that kid who was following Garp?!"

The warship atop the wave sped down the long frozen slide, charging straight toward the Oro Jackson.

"Hey, hey, hey!"

"We're going to crash!"

"Get out of the way!"

Seeing this, the crew aboard Roger's ship immediately shouted. They spun the helm, intending to change course, but a wave of bitter cold surged toward the Oro Jackson. In the blink of an eye, the sea around the Oro Jackson was completely frozen. The Oro Jackson's movements were restricted; it could not move at all.

"W-We're frozen!"

"Captain Roger, the sea is frozen!"

Buggy looked down at the sea around the Oro Jackson and shouted, his voice filled with terror.

"Yeah! I know."

"Garp's come up with another new trick." Roger watched the rapidly approaching warship, calmly gripping his sword as he walked to the railing.

"Roger!"

"You're surrounded. Surrender!"

As the Dog-head Warship rapidly closed in, Garp's roar reached Roger's ears.

When the two ships were fifty meters apart and about to collide, Garp, standing at the bow of the Dog-head Warship, threw another punch. Terrifying Haki, wrapped in dense black lightning, blasted toward the Oro Jackson.

"Hah!"

"Looks like we can't avoid it."

"Yarudem~ Watch yourselves. Don't die!"

A trace of gravity appeared in Roger's eyes, but he still laughed as he called out to his crew. At the same time, he swung his sword. Powerful Conqueror's Haki gathered into a black blade of light and flew toward the warship.

"Bzzzz!!!"

Garp's and Roger's Haki clashed once again. This time, there was still no victor, but the aftershock of their collision swept over Garp's warship. Its sails billowed backward, and the ship that had been racing toward the Oro Jackson gradually came to a stop.

By the time Garp's warship stopped on the ice, only a few meters separated the Oro Jackson and the Dog-head Warship.

The pirates aboard Roger's ship and the Marines aboard Garp's ship could clearly see each other's faces across that short distance.

"Roger!"

Standing at the bow, Garp spotted Roger on the opposite ship. He grinned and roared, then leaped into the air, rushing alone toward the Oro Jackson.

"You damn Garp!"

"You're as lively as ever!"

Roger also shouted and jumped off the Oro Jackson, charging toward Garp.

Their figures met in midair.

Garp's fist shot straight for Roger's face, while Roger's long sword slashed directly at Garp.

A fist and a blade collided in the air. Terrifying Haki spread rapidly in every direction from the two of them. The frozen sea instantly cracked apart, while the white clouds in the sky were scattered by the soaring Haki.

"Clang!! Clang!! Clang!!"

Garp and Roger exchanged more than a dozen moves in an instant in midair. Whenever fist and blade collided, they produced deafening booms.

A moment later, the two landed on the ice. They looked at each other and smiled together.

Garp did not continue attacking. Instead, he directly asked Roger, "I heard you're going to find Linlin, Roger. What are you planning to do?!"

Roger apparently had no intention of hiding it. Faced with Garp's questioning as a Marine, he actually answered honestly, "Find the Road Poneglyph."

"That has nothing to do with you Marines, does it?!"

"There are so many pirates on the sea. Why do you bastards keep focusing on me?!"

Roger's tone was full of complaint. The way he spoke with Garp did not resemble enemies at all; it was more like he was speaking to an old friend. Relaxed, casual, without any pressure.

"What kind of stupid talk is that? The Marines pursuing pirates is only natural!"

"Besides, I have a feeling that a bastard like you is going to stir up something huge."

"I think it would be better to send you and your crew into Impel Down first."

Garp said this with a smile. He knew a little about the Poneglyphs Roger mentioned, though far less than Roger did. Garp only knew that the Poneglyphs marked the route to Final Island.

There lay the Great Treasure, enough to tempt nearly every pirate who sailed out to sea. All of them wanted to reach Final Island.

However, the World Government had concealed the secrets of the Poneglyphs. Garp only knew about them by chance.

But Garp sensed that Roger's goal could not simply be the Great Treasure.

He had fought Roger many times, and he considered himself to understand Roger. This guy was not the sort to pursue treasure alone.

Though the Roger Pirates were a pirate crew, they were a strange one. Ever since setting out from East Blue, they had never robbed civilians.

In fact, someone aboard Roger's ship had once done such a thing, only to be personally killed by Roger.

When faced with pursuit by the Marines, Roger and his men usually avoided fighting whenever possible. Their conflicts with the Marines were not actually that severe.

They had fought plenty of vicious battles against other pirates, but those had nothing to do with the Marines.

Still, the Roger Pirates were no saints. They had once attacked the royal family of a World Government member nation, which made Roger and his men serious criminals.

At the same time, the World Government had discovered Roger's efforts to collect Poneglyphs. Combined with the formidable strength of the Roger Pirates, this had driven their bounties extraordinarily high.

The reason Garp had always wanted to capture Roger was simple. The Roger Pirates were powerful, yet what they did did not match the level of strength they possessed.

Garp knew that Roger had a far grander goal.

Though he did not know exactly what that goal was, a pirate's grand goal could not possibly be "world peace," could it?!

It was because Garp sensed Roger would cause a major incident that he pursued him so relentlessly.

"Impel Down?!"

"I don't like that place. I'd rather not go."

"Garp, I—"

The words reached Roger's lips, but he suddenly stopped and shouted, "Stop, Oden!"

It turned out that during their conversation, Kozuki Oden had already stepped down from the Oro Jackson. Sensing Garp's tremendous strength, Oden could not resist attacking him.

"Oden Two-Sword Style—Peach Blossom White Waterfall!!!"

Kozuki Oden's figure became a streak of black light. With a sharp shing, he shot into the sky, the muscles in his arms suddenly bulging.

Ama no Habakiri and Enma crossed into an X in his hands as they slashed rapidly toward Garp. Conqueror's Haki coiled around the two blades as they howled toward Garp.

Oden did not hear Roger at all. Right now, his mind was filled with nothing but fighting an expert like Garp!

Kozuki Oden had been poached by Roger from Whitebeard. He had once been the commander of the Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division. On Whitebeard's ship, where everyone was treated as family, Oden had been able to address Whitebeard as a brother.

At this point, Oden had never had a direct encounter with Garp. Thrilled at the sight of a worthy opponent, he could not hear anything anyone said.

"Hehehehe!!"

"This guy is a samurai from Wano Country?!"

"He really is quite something!"

Garp recognized Oden's identity the instant he saw him. Though he had never met Oden in person, he had seen Oden's wanted poster and recognized him immediately.

Just as Oden's attack approached, Garp suddenly stretched out his right hand. He actually grabbed the exact center of Ama no Habakiri and Enma's crossed blades, forcibly stopping Oden's attack.

Their Haki collided, and terrifying aftershocks spread at high speed in every direction.

"Samurai, can't you see I'm talking to Roger?!"

Garp gripped the blades of the two swords in his right hand. Looking at the stunned Kozuki Oden before him, he grinned. His left hand suddenly clenched into a fist, dense black lightning gathering around it as he punched straight at Kozuki Oden's face.

"BOOM!!!!"

Like thunder exploding, a massive boom rang in everyone's ears.

The next second, Kozuki Oden flew away like a cannonball and smashed into the hull of the Oro Jackson, blasting a huge hole through it. Yet his body did not stop after hitting the ship. He punched straight through it and crashed heavily into the ice.

Even the thick ice became a massive hole at that moment. Oden's figure disappeared into it, sinking into the sea.

"Hehe, these two weapons aren't bad."

"I'll take them as compensation for your offense."

"You're headed for Impel Down anyway. You won't be able to bring them in."

Still gripping Oden's two swords in his right hand, Garp said with a grin.

With only one strike, Kozuki Oden was sent flying by Garp! Even his swords became Garp's spoils of war.

(End of Chapter)