The Spoils Left Behind!

The Spoils Left Behind!

The encounter between the Marines and the Roger Pirates began suddenly and ended just as quickly. After the Roger Pirates departed, Garp, Aokiji, and the others began clearing the battlefield, carrying the injured Marines back onto the ship one by one.

Tsugikuni Yoriichi joined in as well, helping carry the crewmen back to the warship.

While helping clean up the battlefield, Yoriichi discovered something surprising. Despite suffering such a crushing defeat, not a single member of Garp's crew had died. The worst off was Bogard, who had been beaten black and blue by Oden and wrapped head to toe in bandages, but he was still alive.

The Roger Pirates had actually held back against these Marines!

Not long after they returned to the ship, the Marines who had been knocked unconscious by Roger's Conqueror's Haki in the cabins and engine room gradually woke up. When they saw their comrades returning to the warship covered in injuries, they were all shocked.

Without waiting for Garp's orders, several captains began organizing those who could still move freely and settling the wounded. After silently watching from the deck for a while, Garp relaxed somewhat. He paced over to the railing, leaned against it, and gazed toward the direction in which the Roger Pirates had departed, his thoughts unsettled.

"Roger's goal is to collect Poneglyphs?"

"That's no small matter!"

Garp sighed inwardly as his thoughts raced.

At this moment, Garp recalled his earlier conversation with Roger. He had keenly sensed that Roger seemed to have something he wanted to say, but Oden's sudden attack had interrupted him.

Thinking back on it now, Roger had clearly intended to tell him something.

Ever since the battle at God Valley several years ago, the relationship between Garp and Roger had become somewhat complicated. On the surface, Garp still led his men in pursuit of Roger as he always had, but how much effort Garp had truly put into it was probably known only to Garp himself.

More often than not, Garp merely used the pursuit of Roger as an excuse to roam the seas while clearing out pirates along the way. This time, he had led a force directly after Roger only because the Roger Pirates had attempted to contact Charlotte Linlin. That had touched a nerve with Garp.

But after this encounter with the Roger Pirates, Garp had a feeling that things were about to become even more complicated. Roger's collection of Poneglyphs would certainly attract the attention of the World Government.

"Roger, what kind of storm are you trying to stir up?"

Just as Garp stood staring absentmindedly at the sea, he heard Aokiji and Yoriichi talking on the deck.

"Oh! Is this a sword belonging to one of the Roger Pirates?"

"It looks pretty good!"

"This sword seems to be of excellent quality!"

On the deck, Aokiji held Ama no Habakiri in his hand. Looking at the chilling gleam on its blade, he sighed softly. He did not know much about swords and failed to recognize Ama no Habakiri.

"Yes, the craftsmanship is exceptionally fine. And this one in my hand is strange—it seems to be absorbing my Haki!"

Standing beside Aokiji, Tsugikuni Yoriichi gripped Enma's hilt and curiously examined the long sword in his hand.

His Armament Haki was being drawn out by Enma and unconsciously coating the blade. Yoriichi could clearly feel his Haki draining away, and he could not help marveling at it.

These two swords had previously been Oden's weapons. After Garp disarmed him, they had been thrown onto the ship. Yet for some reason, the Roger Pirates had not taken them back when they left!

Hearing the voices, Garp turned around. Seeing the two swords in Yoriichi's and Aokiji's hands, his brows rose in surprise. Then, when he saw Tsugikuni Yoriichi fiddling with Enma, his eyes widened and he immediately shouted, "Hey! Yoriichi, put that down right now."

"That's a Demon Blade! Don't touch it!"

Aokiji might not recognize its value, but Garp certainly did. He had long known about the samurai aboard Roger's ship. Kozuki Oden's swords were both among the 21 Great Grade Blades, genuine famous swords.

Among them, the Enma in Yoriichi's hand was a Demon Blade. While in Oden's possession, it had already begun transforming into a black blade. Given enough time, its quality would rise to an even greater level. A weak person simply could not wield Enma; instead, Enma would drain their Haki until they collapsed from exhaustion or even died.

As had been mentioned before, Haki was a power hidden within the human body. Those with talent could awaken it, while those without talent could not, though they still possessed that same power within them.

If that power was drained excessively, they would die!

In a flash, Garp appeared beside Tsugikuni Yoriichi. Looking at him with concern, he reached out to snatch the Demon Blade Enma from Yoriichi's hand. But Yoriichi instinctively dodged. Hearing Garp's words, he was not surprised at all. Instead, he muttered with great interest, "A Demon Blade? It sounds pretty impressive!"

"Let's give it a try!"

As he spoke, Yoriichi strode to the side of the ship, gripped Enma, and swung it fiercely through the air toward the sea ahead. Powerful Haki shot out in an instant, forming a Flying Slash roughly one or two meters long.

Unlike the Flying Slashes Tsugikuni Yoriichi had produced before, this was a pure Haki slash. Its range was much smaller, but its power was in no way comparable to those air blades.

"Splash!!!!"

The slash plunged into the distant sea, instantly splitting the surface apart. The blade mark stretched for dozens of meters before the seawater finally flowed back several seconds later and swallowed the trace.

Garp, who had already reached Yoriichi's side, had his hand around Yoriichi's wrist. Seeing this, his body suddenly stiffened. He slowly released his grip, craned his neck forward, and stared in astonishment at the sea, which had already returned to calm. He murmured, "A Flying Slash... a true Flying Slash!"

Coming back to his senses, Garp turned to Yoriichi and asked sharply, "You brat, have you mastered the technique of flowing Haki?!"

Garp's voice was full of disbelief and surprise. He had never taught Tsugikuni Yoriichi such a technique, and he had never used anything similar during their training.

Garp had intended to teach Yoriichi such things only after he had made further progress with the range of his Haki coating.

The technique of making Haki flow was difficult to learn. That mysterious and elusive "feeling" was the hardest thing to grasp. Most people would likely waste more than a decade on it without making any progress.

The world of the Pirate King also valued talent!

But Garp had never expected Tsugikuni Yoriichi to have already mastered it—to have mastered it for no apparent reason!

"A Demon Blade... It doesn't seem all that special." Yoriichi glanced down at Enma in his hand and muttered strangely. Hearing Garp's question, he turned and replied, "If that's what Vice Admiral Garp means by the technique of flowing Haki, then I think so."

"I saw someone use it while beating Bogard before, so I gave it a try. Yeah, it's quite useful. It greatly increases the power of Haki."

"And it can strike from a distance, too."

As Yoriichi spoke, he casually set Enma aside, drew his own sword from his waist, and gathered Haki onto the blade.

Garp narrowed his eyes slightly and sensed it with Observation Haki before nodding. A moment later, he seemed to suddenly think of something. Looking at Yoriichi in confusion, he asked, "You saw it? You learned it by seeing it?"

"Yes, by seeing it."

"And I noticed that Roger seems to have a very serious illness. It looks like he doesn't have much time left."

As Yoriichi spoke, he raised his head and looked at Garp.

Just as he had expected, Garp's attention was immediately drawn to the news of Roger's illness. Garp wore a stunned expression, frozen in place upon hearing it.

"Impossible... How could someone like him get..."

""

At that point, Garp suddenly fell silent.

During the battle just now, Garp had actually noticed it. Compared to before, Roger had weakened. He was still powerful, but Garp and Roger had fought each other countless times. He knew Roger's strength well—or rather, no one understood Roger's strength better than he did.

Although Garp did not know exactly how Yoriichi had seen through Roger's illness, he knew that Yoriichi was not lying.

"I see!"

Garp's voice became low and grave.

(End of Chapter)