Garp was horrified! A monstrous physique!

"What about Armament Haki?"

Facing that black iron fist radiating suffocating pressure, the madness in Yas's eyes did not diminish in the slightest. Instead, it burned even fiercer!

"Anyone who refuses to submit to me just hasn't been hit hard enough! Old man! Show me whatever tricks you've got!"

Yas let out a roar like an Ancient Thunder Beast. Rather than retreating, he advanced! His legs shattered the rock beneath him in the deep crater. He became a dazzling streak of blue lightning and charged straight at Garp's Armament Haki-coated iron fist, powerful enough to destroy heaven and earth!

Madness! Absolute madness!

That was the only thought left in every Marine soldier's mind. Even an Admiral would have to avoid a direct clash with Vice Admiral Garp when he used Armament Haki. Yet this recruit not only refused to dodge, but actually wanted to meet him head-on? This was no longer bravery. This was pure suicide!

"That's the spirit!"

Garp shouted. His ink-black right fist tore through the air. Trailing a string of dazzling sparks from the intense friction, it mercilessly blasted toward Yas's head!

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

No dodging. No blocking. In that devastated crater, the two launched into the most primitive, most brutal exchange of blows!

Every time Garp's Armament Haki-coated iron fist struck Yas's Raijin Armor, a deafening boom rang out like a great bell. Terrifying sound waves spread outward in successive rings, upheaving layer after layer of the already ruined plaza's rock as though countless shells had bombarded it.

And Yas put his violent creed of trading injury for injury into full practice!

You won't defend? Neither will I!

You hit my chest, I'll smash my fist into your face! You hammer my shoulder, I'll drive my knee into your stomach!

This was a beast's fighting style that abandoned every Six Powers technique and every art of combat, relying purely on physical toughness to fight to the bitter end!

[Ding! Sustained a high-intensity Armament Haki strike. Template fusion +0.5%]

[Ding! Raijin Armor continues to sustain damage. Template fusion +1%]

[Ding! Physical vitality stimulated to an extreme degree. Template fusion +1.5%]

The system's cold notifications flooded Yas's mind. Every time Garp's iron fist landed, Yas felt searing pain in his chest. Under that savage physical assault, his Raijin Armor twisted violently, flickering as though it would shatter completely in the next second.

But Yas's body was like peerless cold iron tempered by countless hammer blows in a furnace! Under those devastating strikes, not only did he remain standing, but the chakra inside him circulated faster and faster. As his muscle fibers tore and reformed, they unleashed even more terrifying power!

In just half a minute, the two had already exchanged over a hundred punches!

Boom!

Another clash without the slightest finesse!

A heavy uppercut from Garp caught Yas on the chin. He flew backward like a cannonball from its barrel, plowing a trench a hundred meters long through the ground.

But before the dust could settle, that figure wreathed in blue lightning sprang up again like a phantom. With even more savage killing intent than before, he lunged at Garp once more!

At that moment, Garp stood where he was, his heart surging with shock!

Wisps of white smoke were actually rising from the Advanced Armament Haki coating Garp's iron fists. It was the result of the heat and high-voltage electricity of Yas's Lightning Release Armor forcibly eating away at it.

What kind of bizarre body is this?! Garp stared fixedly at the charging Yas as the horrified thought flashed through his mind.

Garp knew exactly how much force he had put into that last flurry of blows. Even with only sixty percent of his strength combined with Armament Haki Hardening, it was enough to pummel a massive Ancient Zoan user to pieces!

Yet this boy before him...

He had no Haki defense. No awakened Devil Fruit's regenerative power. Just what was he using to withstand it?

Garp had seen his own fists cave in Yas's breastbone several times. Yet with a flash of that thin layer of blue lightning, some savage muscular force had actually pushed the sunken bones back into place! Not only had his skin remained unbroken, he had not even spat out a mouthful of blood!

This defied all reason! Such sheer physical toughness was even more absurd than Kaido, the so-called undying monster aboard Rocks's ship!

On the raised platform.

Sengoku's frog-shaped glasses had slipped to the tip of his nose, but he had not noticed at all. His wise eyes were now wide open, and even his lips were trembling slightly.

"Zephyr! Did you see that? He-he's absorbing the force of Garp's attacks! He's evolving in battle!" Sengoku drew in a sharp breath.

"That's pure physical strength combined with that unknown lightning ability." Zephyr's eyes shone, and his hands trembled slightly with excitement. "Garp's pressure is forcing this boy to unleash all the potential within him! He's a truly priceless treasure!"

At the edge of the plaza, the veterans who had been clamoring wildly just moments ago had all collapsed to the ground. Pale-faced, they watched those two figures exchange blows in the crater like gods battling.

No one dared mock Yas anymore.

In this Great Pirate Era, reverence for the strong was the only law of survival. And Yas was using Garp's iron fists to forge his own throne among the strong!

At the center of the battlefield.

Yas put distance between himself and Garp again. He panted heavily, his lungs wheezing like bellows. The light of his Raijin Armor had dimmed considerably. Clearly, sustaining damage of such intensity had drained an enormous amount of his stamina.

"Whew. Old man! Is that all you've got?" Yas wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, but his gaze was as cruel as a starving wolf's.

Garp shook his numb right arm and drew a deep breath. Rather than weakening, the Armament Haki on his body spread toward both arms, growing deeper and denser.

"Boy! Your physique really has surprised me. Given another ten years, you'd definitely have a place on these seas." Garp's voice became low and solemn. "But now the game ends. I'll put eighty percent of my strength into the next punch and shatter that turtle shell you're so proud of!"

Just as Garp prepared to launch his finishing blow!

A system notification that sounded like heavenly music thundered through Yas's mind!

[Ding! Extreme pressure sustained. Physical potential unleashed!]

[Congratulations, host! Third Raikage Template fusion has successfully surpassed 5%!]

[Core skill unlocked: Hell Stab: Four-Finger Nukite!]

Boom!

An unprecedented surge of Lightning Release Chakra, as terrifyingly vast as a river bursting its banks, poured wildly from every cell in Yas's body!

The previously dim Raijin Armor instantly doubled in size! Its dazzling blue radiance lit up all of gloomy Marineford as brightly as day!

"Ends?"

Yas stopped retreating. He slowly raised his right hand. Index finger, middle finger, ring finger, little finger. His four fingers pressed tightly together, pointing straight at Garp ahead.

Like rivers flowing into the sea, all his Lightning Release Chakra surged toward those four fingertips, gathering and compressing!

Bzzzz!

The highly compressed lightning formed a seemingly solid Blue Chakra Blade at his fingertips. The surrounding air was instantly sliced apart by that extremely concentrated energy, giving off a hair-raising shriek.

"The warm-up really should end, Vice Admiral Garp." The madness deep in Yas's eyes turned entirely into tangible killing intent.

"Take this. Four-Finger Nukite!"