Teach: Cursing His Grandson While Beating Up His Father?

With a single blow, the entire Marine base was reduced to ruins.

At that moment, a hand suddenly thrust out from beneath a pile of rubble. It then frantically pushed aside the surrounding stones before Bane crawled out, his head covered in blood and his body riddled with injuries.

"Cough, cough." Bane coughed twice and spat out some more dirty blood.

As the user of the Dark-Dark Fruit, Bane was a Logia, yet he could not turn into an element. Still, in that situation just now, Garp's overwhelmingly powerful Haki had filled the area in every direction. Even elementalization would have been useless.

What was worse was that, due to the Dark-Dark Fruit's side effect, Bane endured double the pain. At that moment, he felt as though there was not a single part of his body that did not hurt.

However, in exchange for being unable to elementalize, he had an advantage that other Logia users did not possess: his injuries would slowly be absorbed by the Dark-Dark Fruit.

For instance, the smaller wounds on his body were currently giving off black smoke, and that smoke was repairing his injuries.

At the same time, as an E-rank ability user, Bane's natural healing ability was already far stronger than an ordinary person's. Especially after his physical condition had improved across the board over this period, he might have looked utterly miserable now, but with just a little time, he would fully recover.

Less than two minutes after he emerged from the rubble, movement came from another pile of ruins twenty or thirty meters away. Smoker then crawled out as well, looking grimy and disheveled. A few minor wounds on his body were bleeding, but they were only superficial injuries and nothing serious.

"That old man!" Looking at the Marine base that had become a field of ruins, Smoker felt like crying but had no tears to shed.

Bane understood completely and said, "Mr. Garp clearly had the initiative and the advantage with that attack. And since he already knew Teach was strong, he naturally couldn't hold back. He had to go all out. Otherwise, if it turned into some drawn-out battle, the damage and consequences would be ten times worse than this."

That was right. When Bane had first been swept up in Garp's fierce attack, he had been blaming Garp.

But by the time he crawled out of the rubble, he understood why Garp had done it.

The reason was exactly what he had just told Smoker. Garp had not been acting recklessly; from the moment he attacked, he had already made up his mind!

Meanwhile, at the center of the ruins, Garp stood in his Marine justice coat and grayish-white suit, his body burly and imposing, his face dark and grim.

Shaking out his coat, Garp fixed his gaze on a patch of rubble. According to his Observation Haki, Ace and the man called Teach were beneath it.

Sure enough, in the next second, flames erupted from the ruins, and Ace walked out from within them.

Compared with Smoker and Bane, Ace was in much worse shape. His aura was somewhat weakened, the ribs around his chest were slightly caved in and likely broken, bloody foam sprayed from his nostrils with every breath, and blood trickled from the corners of his mouth.

Clearly, the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates had suffered serious injuries after taking one of Garp's major attacks head-on.

Not long after Ace got to his feet, Teach also crawled out of the ruins in a sorry state. Yet although he had suffered some injuries and his breathing was unsteady, he was in far better condition than Ace.

Seeing this, a trace of gravity appeared in Garp's eyes. Sure enough, that brat Bane had not lied. This Teach was a formidable opponent!

At the last moment of that punch, Teach had used Haki to block much of its force. His reaction speed was faster than Ace's, and his Haki was stronger as well!

Yet Garp had never heard of someone like this before. Teach even had a bounty of zero in the Whitebeard Pirates. A person like that either hated drawing attention to himself, or... he was deeply scheming.

Garp believed Teach was the latter.

Clenching his fist, Garp once more gathered terrifying Haki around it before saying in a deep voice, "Back then, I failed to properly teach you to become a Marine. Thinking about it now, I was far too lenient with you. Ace, your ridiculous pirate journey ends here!"

Looking at the wild Haki in Garp's hand, Ace took a deep breath. "Grandpa, I never said I wanted to become a Marine. Stop forcing your own ideas onto other people!"

"I already know how stubborn you are, so I will no longer try to persuade you with words, Ace!" A fierce glint flashed in Garp's eyes as he exerted force beneath his feet again. The already shattered ground exploded beneath his step, sending dirt and rocks flying.

Like a humanoid tyrannosaurus, Garp charged straight toward Ace and Teach.

In that instant, flames ignited around Ace. His Observation Haki swiftly locked onto Garp's presence, but he could barely keep up because Garp was not coming in a straight line. Instead, he darted back and forth along an irregular path as he rapidly closed in on them.

Whether with his eyes or his Observation Haki, Ace was having trouble tracking Garp's movements.

In the blink of an eye, Garp suddenly appeared between Teach and Ace.

At that moment, Ace raised his hand into a guarding stance, hoping to reduce the power of Garp's Iron Fist as much as possible. But after taking up the posture, he discovered that Garp's target was actually Teach!?

Teach was stunned as well. What the hell? You old bastard, you're cursing your own grandson for being disobedient, so why are you beating me!?

However, Teach reacted incredibly quickly. With a flick of his sleeve, a claw gauntlet instantly attached itself to the back of his hand. Powerful Armament Haki reinforced his weapon as he raised it to block.

With a bang, Teach blocked Garp's punch. Ace, standing beside them, seemed surprised as well. Was Teach really this strong? He could block the old man's Iron Fist head-on?

"Old man, I fucking—" Teach wanted to curse Garp, but Garp's combat experience was exceptionally rich. More importantly, he had not underestimated Teach in the slightest and had treated him as a powerful enemy from beginning to end.

So even though Teach thought he had been cautious enough, he had still been somewhat careless. But that was a flaw in his character: rashness and arrogance.

He had assumed that if Garp could not take him down in one blow, he would turn to Ace. He had not expected Garp to have his sights set on him alone.

"Got you!" At the same moment Teach blocked Garp's punch, Garp had already switched moves. His fist instantly became a claw, tightly gripping Teach's wrist.

Surging, immense strength erupted from Garp's hand. Teach was unable to resist for a moment and was forcibly yanked off the ground.

"Ocean Floor Drop!!!" Garp swung Teach around and roared before hurling him directly toward Ace.

Ace reacted extremely quickly this time. Flames instantly surged skyward as he elementalized into them and flew into the air, avoiding Garp's attack. But while he escaped, Teach was out of luck. He slammed headfirst into the ground, which instantly shattered. The massive impact crushed the island's surface into a deep abyss, and Teach undoubtedly plunged into it.

"Flame Ring: Fire Pillar!" Seizing the opportunity, Ace unleashed surging flames from both arms, instantly forming a blazing pillar that shot into the sky before striking toward Garp.

Just then, a burst of Darkness Element erupted.

"Black Annihilation: Raging Tide!"

Soaring darkness rushed directly at the flames, devouring and extinguishing them wherever it passed.

Ace was startled, but before he could show that surprise, a powerful pulling force suddenly seized him and dragged him through the air toward the source of the darkness.