Chapter 217: In the Storm
Mr. Momora, after hastily telling Louis everything, hung up the Den Den Mushi, leaving Louis alone in the empty room to fall into thought.
"Momora's tone and sentence structure... they feel a bit like Morgans, the president of the World Economic News Agency, whom I contacted not long ago."
A short while ago, Louis had used a contact method obtained from the underworld to get in touch with the president of the World Economic News Agency, Morgans. At the time, Louis had told him about the matter of him dropping Oven and Perospero at the G-1 branch and had expressed his hope that he would publish the news that the Marines might publicly execute the two.
At the time, Morgans had stated that this was a huge piece of news, and since the publication was just speculation, he had readily agreed. And at this moment, Louis felt that Momora's tone, sentence structure, and so on, had a high degree of similarity to Morgans's.
After a long while, Louis thoughtfully placed the Den Den Mushi back in its place and said to himself, "So, your identity in the sunlight is Morgans? Is this the 'important mission' that Captain Roger entrusted to you, as Shanks said?"
In the empty room, Louis's fingers tapped rhythmically on the desk as he fell into thought. For a moment, all the information related to Morgans played in his mind like a slideshow.
Half a month later.
A sudden storm swept across the entire sea area. A torrential downpour, terrifying even for the New World, descended.
In the dim world, giant drops of rain fell like meteorites, smashing into the surface of the sea and creating waves dozens of meters high. As far as the eye could see, countless such raindrops fell continuously, forming an extremely terrifying rain curtain that enveloped the world.
In the monstrous waves, a giant warship with a seagull sail and a dog's head figurehead rocked in the wind and rain. This was the iconic dog-headed warship of the Marine Hero, Garp. Countless powerful pirates had been pursued by this ship and transported to the great undersea prison in the first half of the Grand Line.
On the deck, a man in a gray suit and a top hat stood with a sword in one hand. He looked up at the sky, his eyes combined with his Observation Haki, predicting the trajectory of every giant "raindrop."
Inside the office in the cabin, several figures in Justice capes were gathered. Marine Hero Garp, and Admiral Candidates Fujitora and Ryokugyu, were sitting around a table, playing cards without the slightest sense of tension. All three of their faces were covered with paper strips. They frowned with incomparable solemnity, looking as if they were in the middle of a great, indecisive battle.
Beside the three of them, Admiral Aokiji and former Admiral Zephyr sat opposite each other. At this moment, the veins on Zephyr's forehead were bulging, and he looked exceptionally angry. Beside him, Aokiji, with his one remaining arm, had pushed his eye mask up to his forehead and was watching the three's entertainment with longing eyes.
After a moment, Zephyr slammed the table. "Are you three done yet?! The soldiers below are on constant alert, risking their lives, and you're here playing cards! Do you think this is a vacation?!"
To this, Garp pouted and said without turning his head, "Issho's Observation Haki can pull down meteorites from the sky. With him here, what's there to worry about?"
Opposite him, Fujitora, his face so covered with paper strips that it was almost invisible, heard him and shook his head. "It's not that exaggerated. There are many Observation Haki masters in the world. There are even those who are on par with, or even surpass, me."
To this, Ryokugyu, who was only wearing a Justice cape on his upper body, heard him and patted Fujitora's shoulder. "Don't be so modest! I haven't seen anyone with a stronger Observation Haki than you."
To this, Fujitora raised a finger and pointed at the paper strips all over his face, saying nothing.
On the other side, Aokiji, after hearing this, showed a reminiscent look. "That Archangel... his Observation Haki is also quite ridiculous— Not only is its range beyond imagination, but it can also accurately predict Borsalino's movement trajectory."
Garp heard him, raised an eyebrow, put down the cards in his hand, and said with a frown, "I discovered that back in the East Blue. At that time, his Observation Haki was only one step away from future sight."
Hearing this, Fujitora, while removing the paper strips from his face, asked without changing his expression, "That Archangel... is he really the strongest, as the rumors say?"
Hearing this, Aokiji stroked his chin with his one remaining arm. "With his defense and healing ability," he said in reminiscence, "it's not impossible to say he's the strongest. In any case, there's no one in the world who can defeat him in a one-on-one fight anymore. Kaido's title of 'strongest in a 1v1' has long since changed hands. It's just that this saying hasn't spread on the seas."
As one of the people who had fought fiercely with the Archangel, Aokiji felt that Louis's power had not surpassed that of Whitebeard, Roger, Rocks, Kaido, and the others to reach another level. But with his series of abilities, there was indeed no one who could defeat him. It was no exaggeration to say he was the strongest.
To this, Garp nodded in full agreement. "That guy... a few years ago, there was still a possibility of targeting and defeating him. But now, it's impossible."
Fujitora heard him, and a hint of curiosity appeared on his deeply scarred face. He subconsciously asked, "Vice Admiral Garp, could you tell me the specific method?"
"Before his Haki was strong enough, we could have used the abilities of a Paramecia user to defeat him." Before Garp could speak, Aokiji had already explained. "It's just a pity that when he reappeared, not even we could restrain him." As he spoke, Aokiji showed the two of them his severed arm. "You have to burst forth with Haki the instant you're hit by that guy. If you can't, you'll end up like me."
Ryokugyu heard him, his face full of surprise. "Can't it be reversed with Haki?" Haki was a powerful tool for the strong to restrain strange abilities. Any strange ability could be reversed with Haki. This was an ironclad rule of the sea. But now, he was hearing a different example from Aokiji's mouth.
Aokiji shook his head and said in a deep voice, "Borsalino and I discussed it. The Archangel's attack strips the life force from a person's body. Once you're hit, your life force is lost like bleeding. Haki can't reverse something that's already lost," Aokiji muttered, clutching his severed arm.
The group heard this and fell into thought. After a long while, Fujitora turned his head to Garp and asked again, "Vice Admiral Garp, I have read parts of the report on the one called the 'Tearer of Meat.' I would like to know what happened back then, in the operation where the Marines cooperated with the World Government against the Lunarian race."
Garp heard him and fell silent instantly. After a long while, he let out a long sigh. "There is no one left in the Marines who experienced that incident. According to the world's report at the time, only one woman and some children escaped. That 'Tearer of Meat'... is probably one of those children."
Fujitora's expression did not change noticeably. And Ryokugyu had an indifferent look on his face.
Suddenly, Fujitora slowly gripped the Supreme Grade sword in his hand, Gambler's Fury, and said in a deep voice, "There is a fleet ahead—"
Hearing this, a subtle change came over the others' auras. Everyone instantly adjusted their state and prepared for battle. Zephyr, who had not spoken a word, stood up, directly opened the door, and disappeared down the corridor.
Half an hour later, Garp, Zephyr, and the others were standing on the deck, silently observing the fleet that had appeared on the horizon with binoculars.
"Arara—what a massive fleet!" On the deck, Aokiji subconsciously muttered to himself.
Nearby, Fujitora lowered his head slightly, his hands tightly gripping his cane-sword. He said something shocking in a deep voice. "If I were to bring the entire fleet into my attack range... could Big Mom even save half her people—"
To this, Garp reached out and picked his nose, replying casually, "Let's wait a bit. At least we have to get those soldiers back before we make a move."
Ryokugyu heard him and gradually realized something was wrong. "Wait," he said subconsciously, "isn't the priority those two Celestial Dragons?"
"You mean those things? I accidentally forgot about them!" Garp replied matter-of-factly.
"How could you forget them!!"
Zephyr ignored the group. Instead, he took out a Den Den Mushi and issued a series of orders to the other warships below.
Aokiji casually took off the eye mask on his forehead, let out a lazy yawn, and said unhurriedly, "Don't underestimate Big Mom! She's an out-and-out monster! Not to mention, don't forget whose territory this is—"
At the same time, in the vast pirate fleet, on the deck of the Queen Mama Chanter.
Big Mom strode out of the cabin, her face grim as she stared at the lone warship in the distance.
"Is that just that mad dog Garp's one warship in front? That guy Sengoku is really putting on a show!"
The group heard her but did not reply. Instead, they raised their binoculars and continuously observed their surroundings, searching for any trace of other warships.
Then, Big Mom looked thoughtfully in another direction and asked, "Is there still no movement from that guy Louis?"
Nearby, Katakuri's gaze was firmly locked on the distant dog-headed warship. "Currently, there's no discovery, Mama," he replied in a deep voice.
Suddenly, a head with a strange skin color poked out from the sea near the Queen Mama Chanter and shouted, "Mama! I found something interesting at the bottom of the sea! There are a lot of coated warships hidden down there!"
"Coated? Under the sea?" Big Mom was taken aback, and then a cold smile appeared on her face. "Ma~ma~mamama. That guy Sengoku... he actually came up with such a move? Let's destroy their coatings later!" Big Mom gave a bloodthirsty order with a ferocious smile.
"Yes, Mama!!"
As time passed, the distance between the dog-headed warship and the Queen Mama Chanter gradually closed. Both sides could see blurry figures through their binoculars.
Seeing this, Big Mom instantly transformed Napoleon into a blade, shouldered it, and took to the air on her thundercloud Zeus.
"Garp! Bring out my sons!"
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