"Where's Mr. Garp? Why didn't he come up with you?"
Aokiji started questioning Werther before he could catch his breath.
Werther did not answer. He was still breathing hard, drawing as much oxygen into his body as he could.
After a while, Werther had fully recovered.
"He didn't come up with me. How would I know where he is? Why don't you go down and look for yourself? I'll tie a rope around your leg so you don't drown, landlubber."
Aokiji bristled. Few people dared speak to him like that.
But the man before him had earned the right. Aokiji could only put up with it. His injuries had not fully healed, and with Garp out of sight, he might not be Werther's match.
As they spoke, bubbles appeared on the surface again. Then Garp emerged from the water.
"You nearly electrocuted me, brat! Were you trying to kill me?"
Garp roared at Werther the moment he surfaced, clearly furious. No wonder: Werther had shocked him four times underwater. Four whole times, and he had had no way to dodge.
And Werther's Lightning was not a Devil Fruit power, so it had all but ignored Garp's Haki.
"If I hadn't used Lightning, do you think you would've reached the bottom?"
Garp had no answer. Werther was right.
"As things stand, we can't stay underwater for long. Not yet, anyway. I'll have to find another way. See you two later."
With that, Werther turned to leave, intending to head back to town first.
"Wait."
Garp, who had just climbed out of the pool, called after him.
"You used Lightning to drive that power away. Can you wake those girls with it too?"
The girls meant for the blood sacrifice had collapsed again. The wounds on their wrists had been frozen shut.