The Ancient Weapon Uranus; Bearing the Burden of the Sea

He still remembered the envy in Whitebeard's eyes when he had spoken of it. Even now, that look remained vivid in his memory.

"Of everyone on the seas, I know only two who've pushed Armament Haki into the Divine Realm! Garp is one of them!"

Ace looked at the old man sitting in one of the Three Admirals' seats, his feelings suddenly tangled.

He had always chased strength. He had left the East Blue, obtained the Flame-Flame Fruit, met Rayleigh, learned Haki, encountered the man called the strongest in legend—Whitebeard, wielder of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit—and become his son.

Yet in the end, Dongze had told him that the world's strongest had been beside him all along.

Iron Fist Garp! A man even the Sword Emperor praised! A monster who had trained Armament Haki to the Divine Realm.

As if he had read Ace's mind, Dongze continued, "Don't dwell on it! Haki may be easier to start learning, but you can't reach the Divine Realm through hard training alone!"

"There's no shortage of people on the seas who work hard and never give up. So why has there only been one Garp all these years?"

"Frankly, reaching the Divine Realm with Haki also takes talent and luck!"

"If you were still holed up in the East Blue, you might not even have a tenth of your current strength!"

"There's only one Garp in the world! Even if you'd followed him all this time, you wouldn't have become a second Garp!"

Whitebeard's face darkened when he saw Garp shatter his attack.

"Gurarara! Garp, if you want Marineford to sink to the bottom of the sea today, keep getting in my way!"

With that, Whitebeard threw two punches in quick succession.

The sound of space tearing rang out twice more.

Crack!

Crack!