Escape

As soon as Fujitora spoke, the scene fell into a deathly silence. In the end, Garp was the one who broke the awkward atmosphere.

"Kid, you're the Bloody Swordsman Ryan, right? So, how about joining the Marines?" Garp clenched his fists as he spoke to Ryan.

Seeing Garp's posture, as if he would beat Ryan up if he refused, Kid became angry.

"What the hell are you thinking, old man? Don't think that just because you pushed the Pirate King into desperate situations a few times, you can show off here. I'm telling you, this is the era of us young people now!"

Lory hurriedly covered Kid's mouth with her hand, afraid that he would say something else suicidal.

Ryan was rendered speechless, while Pofitas looked at Kid as though he were an idiot.

Hearing that, Garp immediately burst into laughter. "So the old man's being looked down on."

"What does 'show off' mean?" Aokiji asked with a puzzled expression.

Garp punched Aokiji.

"The old man's being looked down on, and you're still not going to teach that kid a lesson?" Garp pointed at Kid.

"Vice Admiral Garp, you really are..."

"Ice Time!" Aokiji unleashed a blast of freezing air that rapidly shot toward Kid.

Seeing this, Ryan wanted to go back and save Kid.

"Bloody Swordsman, don't even think about leaving." A figure appeared in front of Ryan, blocking his path back to Kid. It was Pofitas.

"Pofitas, you're courting death!" Seeing that Kid was about to be struck by Aokiji's Ice Time, Ryan was furious. Holding Mubanniu, he launched a full-force attack at Pofitas.

Pofitas struggled to defend himself, shocked to discover that Ryan had not used his full strength when fighting him earlier.

Aokiji's Ice Time finally reached Kid. It was too fast for him to dodge. Just as he was about to be hit, a familiar figure stood in front of him. It was Beli.

Beli, who stood before Kid, had already turned into a sculpture encased in ice.

"Beli!" Kid cried out. "Why did you save someone as useless as me? Don't you usually hate me the most?!"

Kid cried as he pounded on the frozen Beli.

Seeing Kid's actions, Lory hurriedly grabbed him. "Kid, calm down. If you shatter this ice sculpture, Beli might really die."

"Hurry and get hot water. If this goes on too long, Beli may really die," Robin proposed a solution.

"What? Beli isn't dead yet? Hot water, right? I'll go find some right now."

"I'm going too!" Killer, knowing that he could not do much here, wanted to help as well.

As Ryan fiercely battled Pofitas, he saw that Beli had turned into an ice sculpture. Ryan anxiously shouted at Robin, "Robin, get Beli somewhere safe! All of you, leave the battlefield!"

"Soft Spider Web."

Countless hands appeared beside Beli, forming a huge net that wrapped around him. Then hands emerged from the ground and carried Beli away.

The group retreated from the battlefield as well.

Seeing this, Ryan finally let out a sigh of relief. Beli was currently frozen solid. If he was accidentally struck by the shockwaves of battle, he might truly die.

Seeing the person closest to him in this world in danger while he himself was held back by an enemy, Ryan's aura became incomparably violent. Killing intent, sword intent, and Conqueror's Haki erupted all at once.

"Boom!"

Everyone present felt a suffocating pressure. Pofitas, who was fighting Ryan, even began to move sluggishly, like a small boat caught in a raging storm.

"What an astonishing presence," Fujitora said in surprise.

Garp laughed. "He's got some skill, all right."

Ryan seized this opportunity and delivered a fatal sword strike at Pofitas.

"One-Sword Immortal Kneels!"

The instant Pofitas saw that strike, his first thought was to run. Run now. He could not block that sword.

Unfortunately, Ryan's sword was too fast. Pofitas had only just turned around when Ryan's blade struck him. Pofitas was sent flying dozens of meters away.

"Ah!" Pofitas let out a miserable scream after being struck by Ryan's sword.

Pofitas's aura began to weaken, and the wound on his back was so deep that his internal organs could be seen. Blood poured out without stopping.

Pofitas felt that he was truly going to die this time. His injuries were even worse than those he had suffered while fighting Shanks two years ago.

Back then, Pofitas had been a great pirate who roamed freely across the Grand Line. A year ago, when he had intended to enter the New World, he encountered the Red Hair Pirates at sea. Shanks wounded him, and he escaped into the ocean with his last remaining strength.

However, no one else from his pirate crew survived. Fortunately, the king of the Goth Kingdom, who had just attended the Reverie, discovered him floating at sea and saved him.

Thus, the disheartened Pofitas stayed in the Goth Kingdom for a year, until Ryan arrived. Perhaps if Ryan had not killed the king, Pofitas would have remained in the Goth Kingdom for the rest of his life.

Unable to move, Pofitas lay on the ground and quietly watched Ryan approach him.

Pofitas slowly closed his eyes. He no longer wanted to resist. Perhaps his ambitions had died a year ago.

"Do you have any last words?" Ryan asked as he looked at Pofitas, who had closed his eyes and waited for death.

Pofitas remained silent with his eyes closed, quietly awaiting death.

Ryan sighed softly. He and Pofitas had not actually had any direct conflict, and it was clear that Pofitas was not a bad person. How bad could someone who knew how to repay kindness be?

Just as Ryan was about to end Pofitas's life with one strike, a sky full of yellow sand swept in. Someone appeared on the battlefield and directly took away the dying Pofitas.

"Crocodile!" Ryan had just wanted to give chase when he discovered that his body had been frozen.

A moment later, the ice encasing Ryan shattered with a crack. Looking at the vanished Crocodile, Ryan knew that with Aokiji blocking him, he would not be able to catch up.

"Aokiji, how have I provoked you again?" Ryan demanded as he looked at Aokiji, whose entire body radiated cold air.

"Rong is my friend."

Ryan: "..."

"Looks like there's no room for discussion. We can only fight!" Ryan sighed. "Fine, here's another one seeking revenge!"

Although he did not want to fight Aokiji and Garp, Ryan did not regret anything he had done. Even if he had to do it again, he would still kill those two without hesitation.

"Unless you join the Marines, the old man can make the decision to let you go." Just as Ryan was about to make a move, Garp's voice rang out.

"That's impossible, Garp. I'm used to being free. I don't like being led around by others," Ryan refused without hesitation.

Looking at Garp, Ryan hesitated for a moment before asking, "By the way, is Ace doing well?"

"He's doing fine. Wait! How do you know Ace?" Garp's smile immediately vanished, and his aura surged. Armament Haki instantly coated both his fists.

As expected of Hero Garp. When he got serious, he was truly formidable, Ryan thought as he looked at the solemn Garp.

"Because Ace is my younger brother." Ryan smiled at Garp.

"That's not right. Roger only had one son. You're lying to me. You're asking for a beating." With that, Garp threw a full-force punch at Ryan. He wanted to eliminate this threat to his grandson right here.

Ryan also wanted to see just how great the gap between himself and Garp was, so he raised his sword to block the attack head-on.

Ryan was sent flying backward along with his sword by Garp's punch, and even the hand holding his sword trembled slightly.

He's fucking strong. Ryan cursed inwardly as he looked at Garp, who had not taken even half a step back.

Garp also cursed inwardly, That kid blocked the old man's full-force punch so easily. What a freak!

"Who told you I'm Roger's son?! I'm his cousin! Cousin, do you understand?!"

"Is that so? Then what's your name?"

"Portgas D. Ryan."

"So that's how it is. Hahaha!" Garp laughed loudly.

At that moment, Aokiji could no longer hold back. "Vice Admiral Garp! I just heard something about the Pirate King's son."

Looking at Aokiji's dark expression, Garp picked his nose. "Did you? Did I say that? You heard wrong."

"Forget it. He's only a descendant of the Pirate King. I'll pretend I didn't hear anything." Seeing Garp's perfunctory attitude, Aokiji replied just as casually.

Fujitora also promised, "I did not hear anything either."

Ryan looked at Fujitora, who had an extremely strong desire to survive, and suddenly wanted to laugh. He seemed to have discovered Fujitora's unknown side.

"Ryan, I'm back."

Looking in the direction of the voice, Ryan saw Beli holding two axes as he led everyone rapidly toward him.

"Beli, you're all right! That's great!" Ryan rushed over and hugged Beli tightly.

Ryan asked everyone, "How did he recover so quickly?"

"The hot water had just arrived when he broke out of the ice himself," Kid explained from the side. However, Ryan noticed that Kid's head seemed a little bigger than before, so he looked suspiciously at Beli.

Beli admitted it outright. "That's right, I hit him. This kid doesn't know his own limits."

Kid, who would normally have retorted, unexpectedly fell silent this time.

Ryan looked at the silent Kid with great comfort in his heart, as though a child in the family had finally grown up.

Little did he know that Kid was currently holding back his frustration.

Beli and the others' return caused both sides to enter a standoff once more.

Fujitora said, "Then I'll leave?"