Postwar Recuperation

On the deck of the Ashen, the sea breeze carried a cold, salty tang, gradually dispersing the dark-red smoke that perpetually hung over Hachinosu.

After leaving the battlefield, the atmosphere aboard finally eased. Kuma's mountain-like body stood silently beside the mast, while Bonney frantically treated the horrific wound Shiryu had pierced through Garp with hemostatic bandages and special medicine.

"Cough, cough... I'm not dead yet, little girl. Go easier." Garp leaned against the Obsidian deck railing, coughing weakly. Yet a somewhat carefree smile still hung on his old face, wrinkled and stained with blood.

Rain's tattered black clothes fluttered in the wind. He did not tend to the blade wounds and internal injuries on his shoulder and chest. Instead, he unhurriedly took a cigar from his pocket and lit it, his dark-gray eyes coldly fixed on the Marine legend of the old era.

"Garp." Rain exhaled a plume of smoke, his voice giving away neither pleasure nor anger. "You nearly threw your life away on Hachinosu for some Marine Headquarters brat. In a one-for-one trade like that... do you think it was worth it?"

Hearing Rain's question, Garp's smile faded somewhat. He raised his head, and an unprecedented fervor and persistence shone in his cloudy yet resolute old eyes.

"Worth it. Of course it was worth it. That brat Koby... he's the future of the Marines! As long as those young sparks remain, Marine justice will never be extinguished!"

"Pah, him?"

Keen, the half-dragon sitting nearby and wiping his dragon scales with a towel, could not help rolling his eyes. Curling his lip, he sneered disdainfully, "Back on Hachinosu, if my boss hadn't forcibly stepped in—and if not for the Revolutionary Army and Admiral Aokiji each having their own agenda—that brat Koby and those Marine recruits would've been swallowed by