"Hmph! Don't underestimate me, you little brat!"
Garp's assembly-line motion of hurling cannonballs suddenly ceased with a thunderous roar, and at the same moment, his massive figure vanished from his original position.
"Vice Admiral Garp!" The sailors behind him shouted in alarm as they watched their legendary commander's rapidly disappearing form.
"They're both flying! Are they really going to fight an aerial battle?" The spectators at Baratie gasped in shock, their eyes widening with disbelief at the impossible scene unfolding before them.
Jerry could be seen soaring through the air amid the exploding artillery fire, while Garp stood motionless and upright—balanced perfectly on a cannonball he had launched with tremendous force, riding it directly toward his opponent like some kind of human missile.
BOOM!
Garp kicked the cannonball beneath his feet, triggering a massive explosion that propelled him forward with even greater speed.
In the blink of an eye, his imposing figure materialized directly in front of Jerry, who had been weaving through the shell barrage and turning to face this new threat.
"Little punk! I don't know where you learned Moonwalk, but I won't lose to you in aerial combat!"
Obviously, the Marine Six Styles held no secrets for a Marine hero of Garp's caliber. He stepped confidently through the air, executed a graceful turn to build momentum, then accelerated again while throwing a devastating punch.
"TASTE MY FIST!"
Feeling the tremendous wind pressure generated by the incoming attack, Jerry grinned with anticipation, raised his right fist without any hesitation, and naturally chose to meet the legendary Marine's assault head-on.
"MAELSTORM ABYSS BREAKER!"
The first exchange between these two powerhouses was like the collision of unstoppable force and immovable object—direct, brutal, and decisive.
Their fists crashed together with the impact of falling meteors, and the water swirling around Jerry's knuckles scattered in all directions along with the devastating shockwave that radiated outward from the point of contact.
"Tsk... I figured as much," Jerry muttered to himself with a slight grimace.
He had long anticipated that in a one-on-one battle of this magnitude, his large-scale water manipulation would have minimal effectiveness.
With his fellow crewmates positioned on the sea behind him and innocent civilians watching from Baratie nearby, Jerry naturally couldn't employ his most destructive oceanic techniques.
After all, he understood that relying solely on Haki and abilities other than pure physical combat wouldn't be sufficient to defeat Garp—he might not even be able to inflict meaningful damage on the aging but still formidable Marine hero.
Both Jerry and Garp were knocked backward by the tremendous impact, but they immediately adjusted their postures and rushed toward each other once again.
"Bwahahaha! Not bad, you little brat! That's the spirit—come at me again!" Laughing boisterously, Garp's fist came crashing down like a collapsing mountain.
"Bring it on! Let me show you what this fisherman can really do!" Jerry remained perfectly composed. As he advanced through the air, he suddenly drew his fishing rod from behind his back and thrust it forward with explosive force.
"WATER BLADE: SKY-RENDER!"
The two combatants' weapons clashed with the power of wind and thunder, and the tremendous shockwaves stirred up the ocean surface far below, creating massive turbulent waves.
After quickly dispersing the kinetic energy from their collision, both fighters twisted their bodies and delivered lightning-fast follow-up strikes with their left fists almost simultaneously.
CRASH!
Both were sent flying backward again, but they immediately regrouped and launched themselves at each other once more.
Garp grew increasingly excited as the battle intensified, laughing uproariously while engaging Jerry in fierce, unrelenting combat.
Correspondingly, Jerry could barely contain his own exhilaration as he threw himself wholeheartedly into the fight.
After spending so much time at sea, he finally felt with absolute certainty that he possessed the strength to confront a legendary powerhouse of this caliber in direct combat.
The sounds of fist meeting fist and fist striking fishing rod rang out in rapid succession. Their attacks flowed continuously with breathtaking speed and precision.
From the perspective of the distant observers, only two blurred figures could be seen darting around through the sky, constantly changing positions and occasionally vanishing entirely for brief moments.
The offensive and defensive exchanges between both fighters flowed like water, with each combatant utilizing their body and weapons to their absolute limits.
Every single one of Garp's techniques appeared deceptively simple, yet each strike contained tremendous destructive potential. He moved with constant, fluid motion while his attacks remained ferocious and seemingly unstoppable.
Compared to the tall and powerfully built Garp, Jerry—despite being significantly shorter in stature—projected an equally imposing presence.
His techniques were elegantly simple yet highly sophisticated, his attacks continuous yet brilliantly varied, and his ghostly movements kept his opponent constantly off-balance, making him nearly impossible to predict or defend against.
Whether through mutual understanding or pure coincidence, as time progressed, the location of their aerial duel had gradually moved farther away from both ships.
At that crucial moment, Garp's advancing figure suddenly twisted and unexpectedly materialized directly above Jerry's position.
The Marine hero rotated his entire torso, channeling power throughout his body before clenching both fists and swinging his arms—now darkened with advanced Armament Haki—in a devastating downward strike.
"METEOR IMPACT!"
The sheer power behind this attack seemed to distort the very fabric of space around them.
Jerry's eyes narrowed as he experienced one of the few genuine moments of crisis since their battle had begun.
Without any hesitation whatsoever, he gripped his Supreme Grade fishing rod tightly in his right hand while employing Conqueror's Haki coating for the first time during this intense battle.
Crackling energy resembling black lightning climbed up the length of his straightened fishing rod like an electric serpent.
He planted his feet firmly in the air, his body transitioning from bent to perfectly straight as he concentrated every ounce of his strength into a single point and transferred it through the weapon in his hands, thrusting it directly skyward.
"MAELSTROM PIERCER: HEAVEN'S PILLAR!"
The two attacks met like colliding meteors streaking across the night sky. A deafening explosion erupted as invisible shockwaves flew through the air with almost physical substance.
At that moment, the entire world seemed to tremble as powerful winds swept across the battlefield and storm clouds began rolling overhead.
The seawater beneath their feet first appeared to be compressed by some invisible force, forming a massive spherical depression, before quickly rebounding and triggering violent waves that surged outward in all directions.
With a sharp whistling sound cutting through the air, Jerry found himself falling involuntarily toward the ocean below.
However, after skillfully dispersing the residual force from their collision, he managed to land steadily on the water's surface, rising and falling with the rolling, fluctuating waves.
Garp, meanwhile, had been launched high into the sky by Jerry's powerful thrust.
But within moments, he was once again stepping through the air using advanced Moonwalk techniques.
Garp flexed his knuckles several times and grinned with obvious satisfaction. "Not bad at all, kid! Bwahahaha!"
"Vice Admiral Garp, if you've got something to say, please keep talking! I'm more than happy to listen while we fight!" Jerry laughed in response while secretly shaking his right hand—the one gripping his fishing rod—to quickly relieve the numbness, as if he had just stabbed a steel plate.
"Come on then! It's nowhere near time to rest yet!" With that declaration, Garp plummeted downward with tremendous momentum.
Seeing this aggressive approach, Jerry shifted his stance, and the seawater beneath him exploded like a detonating torpedo, sending countless droplets cascading in all directions.
The next instant, Jerry and Garp's figures collided in mid-air, continuing their unfinished battle with renewed intensity.
"Mr. Jerry's power is getting more and more spectacular," Brook observed with genuine admiration as he watched the fight intently from their ship's deck.
Skull nodded emphatically in agreement. "Absolutely right. Even at this distance, we can still feel the wind pressure and the waves they're generating."
"Is this truly the power of a Marine hero? It's genuinely incredible..."
Cavendish watched the two constantly battling figures with solemn respect, his heart surging with excitement while simultaneously feeling secretly relieved.
He had recently developed a new finishing technique and had been eager to find an opportunity to surprise Jerry with it, but after witnessing the scene unfolding before him, he decided it would be wiser to wait for a more appropriate moment to test his skills.
"Go Jerry! You can do it, Brother Jerry!" Carrot transformed into an enthusiastic cheerleader, shouting encouragement despite the helpless expressions from Deuce, Bonney, and Carina.
Before she could finish her cheering, Jerry made a careless move and was knocked into the sea by one of Garp's punches.
Although he immediately retaliated by landing a solid hit with his fishing rod that made the Marine hero grimace with pain, the sight still terrified Carrot. She quickly stuck out her tongue and covered her mouth, worried that her shouting might be distracting Jerry during crucial moments.
However, the subsequent development of their battle made the previous exchange seem perfectly normal.
Both appeared to reach some kind of unspoken agreement, simultaneously abandoning most of their defensive maneuvers and switching to pure offense. They began trading blows directly—you punch me, I punch you back—in an increasingly brutal display of raw power and endurance.
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