Garp Leading Troops

Buggy's astonishing transformation surprised almost everyone on the ship, including Roger. It was simply unbelievable that his strength could improve so rapidly in just over ten days!

On this day, the sea was calm and the Ailanford was anchored near a small island.

The pirates on the ship replenished their supplies with food, fresh water, repair materials, and various daily necessities.

Buggy stayed in the room to rest. Although the battle had increased his strength, it had also left many distinct scars on his body, especially the 30-centimeter-long, deep wound on his right arm that was almost deep enough to expose the white arm bone. It was still slowly growing granulation tissue and had not yet scabbed over.

This happened during the battle five days ago. The opponent was an extremely powerful pirate crew officer who wielded a large scythe imbued with Armament Haki. His attacks were incredibly fierce. If Rayleigh hadn't intervened at the last moment, he probably wouldn't have lost his arm, but his head.

At that moment, the hairs on his body stood on end, and he could clearly feel the chilling sensation of death.

This confused him again. If everything that had happened so far was reality, then everything now was a dream...

But the feeling of death doesn't lie; his intuition told him that if he were killed then, he would truly die, in every sense of the word.

"Buggy."

Shanks burst through the door, carrying a stack of newspapers and bounty posters. "See that? The pirate we defeated the other day had a bounty of fifty million! We owe it all to you!"

Buggy glanced at the bounty poster, casually took the newspaper Shanks had specially brought him, and calmly said, "Oh, nothing special..."

"This is so strange, it's really so strange!"

Shanks said excitedly, yet with a hint of doubt, "How did you become so powerful? Even your personality has changed; you don't seem like yourself at all!"

"If I am not me, then who am I?"

Feeling the rocking of the waves after the ship weighed anchor, Buggy changed the subject and asked, "Have we set sail yet?"

"This is just an ordinary small town. Since Captain Roger doesn't plan to stay here for too long, the food and other supplies have already been replenished. As for helping to move supplies, Captain Roger specifically said not to disturb your rest because of your injuries."

"So that's how it is."

Buggy replied casually, flipping through the newspaper. What he wanted to do now was to gain a better understanding of the times and the changing global situation.

After flipping through two or three pages of the newspaper, I finally obtained some useful information—an analysis of the power structure in the New World.

There are two of the most powerful pirates in the New World today. One is Golden Lion Shiki, who controls a lot of territory in the New World, and the other is Whitebeard Guynuo Edward. In terms of both bounties and actual power, these two have almost reached the pinnacle of pirate power, and they are also old acquaintances of Roger.

Besides these two kings of the sea, there are various pirate crews, large and small, roaming the New World, vying for limited territory.

The Navy was commanded by Kong, and at that time, the Navy had considerable influence in the New World. The Navy's withdrawal from the New World was due to Roger's initiation of the Great Pirate Era, which led to a large influx of pirates and conflicts among the major powers. Fearing severe losses, the Navy had no choice but to strategically abandon large swathes of territory in the New World and instead focus on controlling the Grand Line, its first half, and the four seas.

However, this situation remained unchanged for the next twenty years.

Just as he closed the newspaper, Buggy activated his Observation Haki and heard hurried footsteps on the deck.

"Something seems to have happened outside, let's go check it out!"

Buggy got off the bed and quickly walked out of the room with Shanks. They hadn't taken two steps down the corridor when they were violently shaken from side to side again, almost making them lose their balance. A dozen or so pirates also hurriedly walked out.

Soon after, Buggy left the cabin and went up to the deck.

Looking ahead, three Marine warship were seen sailing in the sea and firing their cannons in their direction. On the middle warship stood a man with his arms crossed, laughing heartily. Behind him, a naval cape emblazoned with the word "Justice" fluttered in the wind. It was none other than the young Marine Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp, with his full head of black hair.

With his qualifications, he could have been promoted to Admiral long ago, but he always refused with the illegitimate reason that "the higher the position, the more responsibilities." And besides him... standing on the deck were three future top combatants of the Navy: Akainu, Aokiji, and Kizaru!!

At this time, the three men were still Rear Admiral and were assigned to Garp's team, under his command.

They were only promoted to Vice Admiral after Roger was arrested and the World Government reshuffled the entire Navy.

Garp looked at the Ailanford, "Haha, Sakazuki, Kuzan, Borsalino, do you see that? That's Gol D. Roger's ship. The opponents I brought you out to train with today are them. If you can do it, take them down and make a name for yourselves!"

"Gol D. Roger... that infamous pirate, but we probably can't take them down yet, right?" Aokiji took off his sunglasses and looked up at the Ailanford.

Akainu snorted coldly, "Hmph, there are no pirates the Navy can't take down. All evil will be eradicated, and their crimes deserve to be punished with death on the spot!"

"Ouch~" Kizaru was as nonchalant as ever. "What a formidable opponent. Mr. Garp, you really overestimate us."

"Haha, the three of you are all 'monsters' of the new generation. You could even escape unscathed from Roger's company. Don't be intimidated by his reputation!" Garp laughed exaggeratedly, trying to boost morale. "But when it comes to training, self-preservation is the priority!"

The deck of the Ailanford was immediately filled with noise. "It's that Garp again!"

"Just seeing that guy gives me a headache!"

"Why does he always like to cause us trouble!"

Rayleigh looked up at Roger, his gaze questioning, "Roger...?"

"Run! Of course we'll run! We're pirates, we have to run when we see the Marines!"

Despite being a great pirate, Roger said these words without showing any shame on his face; on the contrary, he appeared slightly smug.

The crew members were used to his speech. Under his command, the Ailanford sailed far away from the standard warships that were attacking from three sides, heading towards the gap.

"We can't let them get away, Kuzan, it's your turn to make your move!" Garp said.

"Mr. Garp, is this considered training...?" Aokiji scratched his head lazily. "The distance is a bit far, but there's no other way..."

He leaped down and landed on the sea surface. Before he even touched it, a large layer of ice had already spread out beneath his feet, resisting the erosion of the seawater.

Aokiji bent down and held his hand about ten centimeters above the sea surface. Suddenly, a piercingly cold frost, over twenty centimeters wide, spread from his palm and shot out like Inazuma, skimming the seawater. As it approached the hull of the Ailanford, it expanded hundreds of times, instantly freezing the entire sea surface surrounding the Ailanford!

"Hey, Captain Roger, that guy has some strange abilities, he's Devil Fruit User!"

"What kind of ability is this? Our ship is immobilized!"

The Ailanford immediately filled with another chaotic murmur of surprise. Roger quickly said to Rayleigh, "Rayleigh, cut through the ice."

The Marine warship, having been delayed by the delay of the Ailanford, closed the distance somewhat. On deck, Garp, seeing Rayleigh about to act, laughed heartily, "Sakazuki, don't let them succeed so easily! Give them some trouble!"

"Then leave it to me!"

Akainu, always with a gloomy expression, transformed his hands into scorching magma and swung them towards the sky, shouting, "Meteor Volcano!"

Countless enormous lava fists erupted from Akainu's arms, flying into the sky before plummeting rapidly towards the Ailanford, attempting to engulf it in a sea of lava.

"This is truly incredible..."

Gaban drew his longsword from his waist, leaped into the air, and flashes of silver light appeared in the air, weaving an impenetrable net of swords that sliced the lava crashing down on the Ailanford into countless tiny fragments that scattered in all directions.

"The ice has been cleared, let's continue our escape!"

Rayleigh acted swiftly, completing the task of clearing the ice layer in almost the blink of an eye.

"Oh dear~~ This won't do..."

Kizaru, who had teleported from the warship to the side of the Ailanford, stretched out his finger with a lewd expression, conjuring a laser beam, and was about to blast it towards the ship.

In that instant, Roger's eyes flashed sharply. He gripped the ship's railing with his arm and used the momentum to lunge outwards, raising his leg to kick Kizaru in the head. Kizaru's strength was far less than it would be twenty years later. Faced with Roger's full-force attack, before the laser beam could even be fired, he was kicked away and shot straight towards the Marine warship like a cannonball.

Garp caught Kizaru's body with a swift movement, saying, "Be careful, Borsalino!"

"This is terrible..." Kizaru steadied himself and spoke calmly.

At that moment, as the Marine warship approached, less than fifty meters from the Ailanford, Garp used Geppo to step out and landed alone on the deck of the Ailanford. Unfazed, he unleashed an Armament Haki at Roger, laughing loudly, "Roger, what's wrong with bullying a junior!"

Roger drew his sword to block Garp's terrifying attack and replied, "They're not exactly juniors, are they? The Marines you brought are all powerful monsters of the new generation..."

Garp unleashed another iron fist at Roger, shouting, "Those brats are no match for you!"

The two men's battle immediately sent out waves of air, even causing the sails of the ship to billow violently.

Three Marine warship quickly approached, and countless naval reinforcements arrived. Rayleigh and the others, fearing that the battle would be too intense and cause too much damage to the Ailanford, instead charged towards the three naval ships and changed the battlefield.

In an instant, the battlefield erupted on all sides. Before top-tier fighters like Gaban and Rayleigh could even make a move, Akainu, Aokiji, and Kizaru were held back by a few pirates from Roger's ship who were slightly stronger and knew both types of Haki.

A Marine warship's bow struck the side of the USS Ailanford, allowing Buggy, who was coming to meet the attack, to leap onto the warship.

A large number of marines immediately surrounded him. Buggy's strength had greatly increased, and he was extremely fast. He moved through the crowd, and ordinary marines could not keep up with his speed at all. In the blink of an eye, they fell one after another on the deck. Unlike the one-hit-kill method used in fighting pirates, Buggy did not kill them. Instead, he cut wounds on their bodies, causing them to bleed profusely.

These wounded soldiers, alive but incapacitated, would become a burden to the navy. Their bodies lying on the deck would obstruct the battlefield, which is also a tactic of attacking with fewer troops.

During the battle, Buggy felt the power within him gradually sublimating, as if a qualitative change had occurred, like water vapor condensing into droplets, a state that was incomparable to what it was before.

Suddenly, when he attacked again, his palm was already covered with bursting Armament Haki. With a single hand chop, he knocked out the oncoming Marine.

As if unleashing a devastating attack, they slaughtered through the crowd like mowing grass.

"We can't let you keep running wild like this..."

Kizaru had just defeated the pirate who had been harassing him and was about to deliver a fatal blow when he turned around and spotted Buggy, who had been ignored and was now wreaking havoc in the crowd. A look of surprise flashed in his eyes, and he instantly used the Yata Mirror to teleport over and deliver a fierce kick.

At this moment, Kizaru's power was far from reaching the savage and terrifying level he would have over twenty years later, so his kick was detected by Buggy's Observation Haki.

Although he managed to catch Kizaru's light-speed kick, Buggy still couldn't dodge it and crashed into the cabin wall with a loud bang.

Kizaru wasn't going all out, and the area where Buggy was kicked was immediately covered by Armament Haki erupting like a volcano within him. Although he felt a sharp pain from the kick, as expected, he wasn't seriously injured.

He emerged from the dusty hatch, looking at Kizaru with obvious excitement. "Kizaru from over twenty years ago, let's have a good match..."

"Kizaru... are you talking about me?"

Kizaru frowned slightly at first, then relaxed. "Oh, thank you so much for giving me such an interesting nickname. Well then... I'll repay you properly."

As soon as he finished speaking, he charged forward again. Buggy showed no weakness and instead advanced, meeting Kizaru's attacks head-on. With each blow he received, he felt his blood surging and his hands and feet going numb. But he became more courageous with each setback, advancing bravely and gradually beginning to block and counterattack Kizaru's attacks.

On the contrary, Kizaru didn't take Buggy too seriously at first, only using four or five tenths of his strength. But as the battle progressed, he found that four or five tenths of his strength was not enough to suppress his opponent, so he unconsciously increased his strength. If this battlefield hadn't been Marine warship, he probably would have used his laser beam long ago!

Fortunately, Buggy didn't encounter Akainu or Aokiji, but rather the easygoing Kizaru; otherwise, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to steadily improve his strength.

The battle between the two seemed to be escalating. In a sense...