"Look! What's that in the sky?"
"It looks like a blood-red tiger!"
"How's that tiger up in the sky?"
"Watch out! Something else is falling from the sky! Everyone, move!"
"."
As Chen Qiang leaped into the air and rapidly descended toward the ground, the Marines and pirates below soon spotted him. They froze for a moment, then hurriedly scattered to avoid being crushed by the tiger.
"Boom!"
Chen Qiang's landing was slightly off. He didn't land directly on the Execution Platform, but crashed down in front of it, kicking up a huge cloud of dust that nearly swallowed the entire platform.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku, standing on the platform, finally had enough. He waved his hand and swept the dust away, revealing what lay beneath.
The ground had been smashed into a huge crater by that deafening impact. Inside it, a figure lay covered in blood, struggling to set his dislocated bones back in place before slowly staggering to his feet.
"The Undying, Chen Qiang!" The moment he saw Chen Qiang, Sengoku recognized him. For the past two months, he had repeatedly received reports about Chen Qiang from Impel Down.
If he hadn't been so busy arranging Ace's execution, they would have sent someone with special abilities like Chen Qiang to Vegapunk for experiments long ago.
Sengoku was quite familiar with Chen Qiang's file, so he recognized him immediately.
"Heh! I'm honored. I didn't expect Fleet Admiral Sengoku to know my name!" Hearing someone call out his name, Chen Qiang paused in surprise. Then he looked up toward the voice and saw Fleet Admiral Sengoku watching him with a grave expression. Chen Qiang smiled and called out to him.
"Who is that?"
"I've never seen him before."
"Why does Fleet Admiral Sengoku know him?"
"."
Hearing Chen Qiang and Sengoku talking, the nearby soldiers exchanged surprised looks. Chen Qiang had never appeared in public, but judging by the way Fleet Admiral Sengoku was looking at him—and the fact that he had fallen from such a height without being hurt—he was clearly a powerful man.
"Right! Since I've run into Fleet Admiral Sengoku, there's something I'd like to ask you!" Chen Qiang adjusted the misaligned bones in his hand, as if remembering something, then looked up at Sengoku again.
"What is it?"
Seeing how quickly Chen Qiang's injuries were healing, Sengoku furrowed his brow even more deeply.
"Why did the Marines arrest an ordinary good man like me and lock me up in Impel Down, where I was tortured? Is that what you call justice?"
Chen Qiang's smile didn't fade as he asked, but a powerful killing intent flared in his eyes, and flashes of red glimmered within them.
"A good man? Would a good man attack Impel Down from the sky and smash a hole in it?"
Sengoku didn't really want to answer Chen Qiang, but this was being broadcast live across the world. Since everyone watching could hear them, he figured it was best to explain, especially since the matter involved the justice the Marines upheld.
"Damn it! I told you it was an accident! Why won't anyone believe me?" Hearing Sengoku's answer, Chen Qiang's memories of being tortured in Impel Down resurfaced, and he flew into a rage.
"Tiger Rend!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Chen Qiang, already consumed by fury, slashed toward Sengoku. A gigantic blood-red tiger appeared in his hand, then charged at Sengoku with a roar.
"Thud!"
Before Chen Qiang's attack could reach Sengoku, Garp appeared behind him out of nowhere and punched him in the back of the head, slamming him face-first into the ground.
"Heh, Garp? Nothing but a coward!"
Chen Qiang rolled forward to dodge Garp's second strike, then spoke with open contempt.
Chen Qiang's words struck a nerve. Garp's already dark expression, weighed down by the knowledge that his grandson Ace was about to be executed, grew even darker.
"Enough!"
"Thud!"
Enraged by Chen Qiang, Garp stopped holding back. He flashed in front of him and punched him in the stomach, leaving a huge hole in it.
"Looks like I was right! The so-called Marine hero, Garp, really is a coward. He can only stand by and watch his own grandson die, unable to do a thing."
With his stomach punched through, Chen Qiang continued to sneer at Garp as he spoke.
"I said, enough!"
"Thud!"
Garp, now completely furious, punched Chen Qiang in the head, exploding it like a watermelon.
"Hmph!"
Garp gave Chen Qiang's headless body a cold look as it slowly fell to the ground. His face had turned utterly black. He let out a cold snort and left the battlefield, heading off to who knew where. He couldn't be sure that if he stayed, he wouldn't turn on the Marines, so it was better to leave.
"So I was right? Even after I pushed him that far, he still didn't do it. Looks like the way people talked about Garp in my previous life wasn't wrong. He's a fine Marine, but not a good grandfather."
As Garp turned to leave, Chen Qiang's smashed head had already healed. Watching Garp walk away, he sighed.
Chen Qiang had provoked Garp on purpose to see if he could get him to turn on the Marines and save his grandson Ace himself. If that worked, rescuing Ace would be much easier, and Chen Qiang and the others wouldn't have to do a thing.
But it looked like his plan had failed. Still, that wasn't so bad. Now that Garp was gone, the Marines had lost one of their top fighters, which gave Chen Qiang and the others a better chance of rescuing Ace!
"What? He's still alive!"
"That can't be right! I saw his head get blown apart just now! How did he get back up?"
"Is he a monster?"
"."
The Marines nearby hadn't yet recovered from learning that Ace was Garp's grandson when they saw Chen Qiang, who had just been blown apart by Garp, wobble back to his feet, shaking his blood-soaked head. One by one, they fearfully backed away.
"Heh! Your Fleet Admiral called me the Undying. If I died that easily, why would he call me that?" Chen Qiang, fully recovered once more, grinned at the Marines, his face smeared with blood.
"Chen Qiang, what exactly are you trying to do?"
Chen Qiang had quickly recovered once again, and Sengoku's brow furrowed even more deeply.
"Heh! What do you think? I'm here to save Ace! Don't play dumb!" Chen Qiang looked up at Sengoku again and answered with a grin.
"What's your relationship with Ace?"
"None at all. I just don't want to see him die, and I can't stand you Marines taking out your anger on the son because you couldn't beat his father!" Chen Qiang's smile never left his lips as he answered Sengoku.
"Ah! I aimed the wrong way!"
"I'm gonna fall to my death!"
"Hahaha! I'm Rubber Man! I can't die from a fall!"
"."
Just as Chen Qiang and Sengoku were talking, a tremendous crash suddenly rang out above them. A warship, along with several huge chunks of ice, fell from the sky, accompanied by the screams of Luffy and the others falling alongside it.
"Looks like there's no time to chat. I promised Luffy I'd rescue Ace!"
Seeing Luffy and the others falling, Chen Qiang straightened the chains Garp had just knocked loose, wrapping them around himself again, then rested his hand on his sword hilt.
"Tiger Slash Eight Directions!"
With a low shout, the blood covering Chen Qiang's body burst into flames. Behind him, it quickly formed the shape of a gigantic tiger, its lower half cut off. Without hesitation, he attacked Sengoku on the platform above.
"Buddha Shockwave!"
Seeing Chen Qiang attack him again, Sengoku finally made his move. He thrust out a palm, unleashing a tremendous blast of wind that knocked Chen Qiang to the ground once more.
"Damn! The gap between us is huge!"
Knocked to the ground by Sengoku's palm strike, Chen Qiang watched the gust pressing down on him and could only mutter helplessly.
Though Chen Qiang had been knocked down again, he didn't stop moving. Before he hit the ground, he had already hurled the long sword in his hand toward the platform.
A moment later, a tremendous tiger's roar rose from the sword he had just thrown. Then the blood-red tiger that Sengoku's palm strike had dispersed appeared again beneath the platform.
The tiger immediately began attacking the Execution Platform. In the space of a single breath, a tremendous crash rang out, and the entire platform collapsed.
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