Summit War 8

Garp remained silent for a long time.

The sea breeze blew through his short, graying hair, through his dusty Justice Coat, and through his right fist, which was still trembling slightly.

Then he closed his eyes.

When she opened her eyes again, the struggle in them was gone.

It's not that I've let go of it, it's that I've hidden it where no one can see it.

"As a Marine, for justice— Whitebeard!"

"Gururu la la la la! Come on, Garp! Let me personally experience how much of the Iron Fist of yesteryear is still left!"

The Conqueror's Haki exploded simultaneously on the blade and the fist, and purple-black Inazuma leaped wildly in the collision of the two wills, the surrounding air compressed and emitted a piercing buzz.

The two simultaneously gathered their strength, and the remaining stone slabs beneath their feet were lifted up by the force of their energy, tumbling and flying outwards.

All eyes were focused on the two figures about to collide again, and no one noticed the rapidly growing black dot on the horizon.

"Ace!!!"

A warship descended from the sky.

This is not a metaphor; it was a real Marine warship that crashed down from mid-air, its hull slamming heavily onto the ice, listing at a 45-degree angle, and its mast snapping off at the base.

Dozens of figures jumped off the ship, landing on the ice, in the square, and even directly on the top of the naval gun emplacements.

The boy in the straw Straw Hat at the front, gripping the gunwale with both hands and leaning his whole body out, shouted that name at the top of his lungs towards the Execution Platform.

Garp's fist abruptly stopped in mid-air.

He froze on the spot as if struck by lightning, his Conqueror's Haki still crackling on his fists, but his pupils had shrunk to pinpoints.

"Luffy... Luffy?!"

The warship that fell from the sky crashed onto the ice, its keel groaning under the strain, sending ice shards flying.

As the prisoners of Impel Down leaped from the tilting deck and landed on the ice of Marineford, several were still reeling from the absurd flight.

One second they were waiting to die in Impel Down's prison, and the next second a boy in a straw Straw Hat pulled them into the air and crashed them into the very center of the world's most dangerous battlefield.

Crocodile was the first to establish a foothold.

The Sand-Sand Fruit's power allowed him to turn into a cloud of yellow sand before landing. When he reformed into human form on the ice, he still had that signature, disdainful smirk on his lips.

His gaze swept across the chaotic battlefield, past Whitebeard who was confronting Garp, and locked onto the towering figure with his back to him.

He had waited far too long for this opportunity.

In his cell in Impel Down, every sleepless night, he would replay this image in his mind—piercing Whitebeard's nape with a Golden Hook, letting the whole world see that the so-called "World's Strongest" was nothing more than an old codger who couldn't even defend against a sneak attack from behind.

The sand churned silently beneath his feet, the Golden Hook spun halfway around his wrist, and then he transformed into a sandstorm, hurtling straight toward the Whitebeard's back.

But he had only gone halfway when a rubber arm swung from the side and slapped him squarely in the face.

The force of that slap was astonishing; Crocodile was sent spinning halfway through the air before crashing into a nearby, frozen turret, scattering ice shards and wood chips everywhere.

He covered his nose and crawled out of the ice, his eyes so dark they could drip water. "Straw Hat Boy —you're asking for it!"

Luffy stood on the ice, his rubber arm still slowly retracting, his other hand gripping his Straw Hat tightly.

He didn't turn around, nor did he waste words with Crocodile. He simply roared at the direction of Whitebeard with all his might, "Ace is my brother! Anyone who dares to touch him, I'll beat them to a pulp! You're no exception—you bastard Crocodile!"

Whitebeard did not look back.

Crocodile's Golden Hook was less than five meters from the back of his neck, Murakumogiri had already spun half a circle in his palm, the white light of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit gathering on the blade.

But Luffy's attack was faster than his sword.

He slowly loosened his fingers from the hilt of the knife, a slight smile playing on his lips.

The melee in the square continued, but Sengoku could no longer wait.

Garp's intervention stabilized the situation, but he knew very well that Whitebeard was not the biggest variable today.

The one who hasn't shown up yet is the real one.

Uchiha Natsu.

Kizaru's Observation Haki filled the entire plaza, Akainu's magma was still churning underground, and Aokiji's frost covered the bay. The Three Admirals were on high alert, while that brat hadn't even appeared yet.

We can't wait any longer.

If this drags on any longer, the initiative in this war will be completely out of the navy's hands.

He rose from the commander-in-chief's seat, the sea breeze blowing across the hem of his Fleet Admiral's coat, across his knuckles gripping the railing, and carrying with it every word he uttered throughout the square.

"The man on the Execution Platform — Portgas D. Ace —his true identity is revealed today." His voice boomed over the cannon fire, over the carnage, over every signal of the Den Den Mushi live broadcast, exploding simultaneously in every island, every ship, and every tavern across the entire ocean.

"He is the biological son of Gol D. Roger, the One Piece."

The entire square fell silent in that instant.

Then, it exploded like a rolling thunderclap.

Before Sengoku could finish speaking, he took a deep breath and shifted his gaze from the kneeling black-haired youth on the Execution Platform to the Straw Hat boy who was climbing up from the ice at the edge of the square.

A complex emotion flashed in those shrewd eyes—not anger, not hostility, but a weariness that seemed to ask, "Why today of all days?"

He spoke slowly, his voice still steady, yet more like a boulder thrown into a lake than any of his previous words.

Monkey D. Luffy. The mastermind Impel Down prison break, a rising star of the Worst Generation.

His other identity—"Sengoku paused for a moment, a moment so brief that the marines in the square hadn't even had time to swallow the mouthful of bloody saliva in their mouths.

"He is the biological son of Monkey D. Dragon, the leader of the Revolutionary Army."

If Ace's revelation of his past was a thunderbolt striking Marineford, then Luffy's identity was the second thunderbolt that followed, leaving no one even a chance to catch their breath.

The square was in complete uproar.

Monkey D. Dragon, the world's most notorious criminal, leader of the Revolutionary Army, the man who is shaking the foundations of the World Government worldwide.

His son is a pirate.

He is the grandson of the Navy Garp the Hero and the son of the One Piece.

Another grandson was the son of the Revolutionary Army leader.

How exactly did Garp manage to hold up that bowl of rice while the three of them were having their New Year's Eve dinner together?

No one dared to say it aloud, but the unspoken message could be read in the bewildered glances of countless marines.