While waiting for Garp, some Marines worked up the courage to talk to Ren.
They quickly realized he wasn't like the other Celestial Dragons who pointed at people with their noses in the air.
When it came to how he treated slaves—well, for those familiar with the Celestial Dragons, Ren was shockingly gentle.
"Lord Ren, why are you so obsessed with becoming stronger?" one Marine, whom Ren didn't recognize, asked.
"Because strength is the only thing that truly belongs to me," Ren replied.
"As for status and authority? That's only useful to those who prefer to sleep their lives away."
Ren clearly held contempt for the pampered Celestial Dragons.
They seemed to wield limitless power, but if the Five Elders ever decided they were no longer useful, they'd be discarded like rubble on the side of the road.
"I see..."
The other Marines fell silent after hearing Ren's answer.
This Celestial Dragon was unlike any they had ever known.
He challenged everything they thought they understood.
"What's your relationship with Doflamingo?" Tsuru asked suddenly.
"We share the same family name, but his parents gave up that identity," Ren answered honestly.
Thinking about Doflamingo's actions—so different from other pirates, so purposeful—and considering his former Celestial Dragon status, Tsuru realized he posed a far greater threat than most pirates.
She decided they needed to step up efforts to capture him.
Just then, a warship slowly pulled into the harbor.
A man stood on board, wearing a black suit under a white cloak of justice.
His short black hair and restrained aura radiated overwhelming power.
Ren could feel it instantly—this man was strong.
Strong enough to defeat him without even going all out.
In a flash, Ren disappeared from sight and reappeared on Garp's warship.
"Let's head to an uninhabited island nearby," he said. "Otherwise, Marineford might get destroyed."
"Hmph."
Garp wasn't pleased to be threatened, so his expression stayed stern.
Still, he ordered the ship to set sail toward a nearby deserted island.
He didn't mind dragging Ren away from headquarters.
That part, at least, suited him just fine.
The others quickly followed behind.
Sengoku still had confidence in Garp.
The old man might be reckless, but he wouldn't go so far as to kill a Celestial Dragon.
Near Marineford, there was a small island inhabited by powerful beasts.
It was often used to train Marines.
Now, two men stood face to face on that island.
"Garp, I brought you here like this because I want to test your strength," Ren said, clenching his fists.
"I mean no offense."
He was ready to try out the taijutsu techniques he had learned from the world of Naruto.
"Draw your sword." Garp knew that if he didn't accept this fight, the other guy would annoy him to death anyway.
"I want to test my taijutsu. Of course, I'm not asking you to be my sparring partner for nothing. I can teach this style to the Marines." Ren took a fighting stance.
Taijutsu in the Naruto world was very different from the martial arts in the world of pirates.
In the ninja world, attacks were fast and powerful but often came with weak defenses, so taijutsu emphasized precision and technique.
Pirates, on the other hand, focused on overwhelming speed and brute force.
Garp was the kind of monster who could block a Supreme Grade sword with his bare fists.
"Heh." Garp simply charged at Ren.
"So fast." Ren's pupils trembled.
His eyes couldn't keep up, and he had to rely entirely on Observation Haki to track Garp's movements.
Ren quickly sidestepped.
Boom.
The shockwave from Garp's punch shattered the trees behind Ren, leaving a trail of destruction.
There was no technique involved—just raw power and unbelievable speed.
Ren took a deep breath.
This fighting style was completely different from Rayleigh's.
If he kept using taijutsu, he'd get beaten badly.
Ren hesitated several times to draw his sword.
That hesitation cost him.
Garp punched him squarely, launching him across the island and smashing a mountain in the process.
Ren wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
As the saying goes—loud in impact, small in damage.
He stood up and tossed his Supreme Grade sword over to Gion.
"Kid, you—"
"I wanted to fight with my fists, but the sword on my back made me hesitate. That hesitation held me back."
With that, Ren charged forward.
No matter how Ren attacked, Garp blocked every move effortlessly.
Garp didn't counterattack.
Instead, he silently observed Ren's taijutsu.
Unlike Garp's own overwhelming power, Ren's technique focused on exploiting human weaknesses—striking where the body was most vulnerable.
"If we could teach this taijutsu across the Marines, our soldiers would have a serious advantage against pirates."
Garp began to reflect.
After all, not every Marine was like him—able to crush everything with sheer strength.
And not every pirate could defend against such a precise, technique-driven combat style.
Their strength gap was enormous.
But that didn't mean Garp was far stronger than Rayleigh.
The key issue was that Ren's taijutsu was only at Level 6—barely above average.
Challenging someone like Garp with that level was no different from throwing an egg at a stone.
But challenging a higher level brought huge improvement.
Garp seemed to want to give back, so he kept hitting Ren's weak spots.
Although it caused him pain, it helped Ren realize his own weaknesses.
In less than half a day, Ren's combat techniques improved by one level, which was truly frightening.
Bang.
Ren was hit and thrown again, crashing straight into the mountain.
"This is completely one-sided domination."
"Look closely at Ren's combat techniques," Sengoku naturally noticed something.
It was a style completely different from the Navy's—focused on technique.
Ren glanced at the coastline.
"Got hit pretty far, huh."
Feeling the injuries quickly healing, Ren knew it was thanks to the ability sharing with Naruto Ren.
Although the ability sharing didn't give him chakra or the Uzumaki bloodline, it strengthened his recovery ability.
Ren believed the more they shared with his other self, the stronger his body would become.
Since his wounds healed fast, he no longer worried.
At least before the next meeting, he wanted to become stronger, so he would be stronger during ability sharing.
This battle didn't last as long as the one with Rayleigh, which lasted a whole day and night.
By nightfall, the fight ended.
The whole island had sunk, and Ren suffered a crushing defeat.
Of course, Ren didn't come away empty-handed.
This battle directly boosted his hand to hand combat skills by two levels.
He had truly entered the ranks of the strong in hand to hand combat.
"Here's your sword."
Seeing Ren return to the ship, Gion handed him his sword and helped maintain it.
"Thank you."
"As a swordsman, you're disqualified. I will definitely defeat you," Gion said, his tone less passionate than before.
"Because I abandoned the sword for hand to hand combat?" Ren laughed.
"Hmph."
"I was never a pure swordsman. I just want to get stronger," Ren explained.
"I will defeat you."
After saying this, Gion left.
Ren didn't care.
Knowing the original story, he understood the terror of the Five Elders and Imu.
Only strength could give him a sense of security.
Otherwise, they were like the sword of Damocles hanging over his head, ready to take away his rights at any moment.
Maybe he was like that fool Charles, but he was unwilling to give up.
"Lord Ren, we have come to resign," the three Hancock sisters said as they approached him.
"Go ahead. I hope one day you can earn your freedom from me," Ren said with a warm smile like a spring breeze.
Having witnessed those two battles, the vastness of the world, and their own weaknesses, Hancock said nothing but made up her mind.
Next time they met, she would earn Ren's recognition. The three departed aboard a small navy ship.
"Is it really okay to let them go? They are too young," a mermaid said, worried.
As Ren's slaves, they usually stayed at his residence. Over time, they had developed a decent relationship, since wandering the Holy Land made it easy for other Celestial Dragons to capture them.
"We taught them navigation and all kinds of knowledge. Hancock has grown stronger. They will be fine," Ren said with confidence, watching them sail away.
**********
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