The flames on Ace's fist flared, and the wind around Sabo grew more urgent!
However...
Just at this tense moment...
"Hmm?"
Luffy blinked his big eyes, looking past Rat and the charging Marines, towards the woods further behind them.
The next second...
Luffy's greasy little face instantly broke into an extremely brilliant smile!
He threw away the bone in his hand, raised both arms high, and with all his might, let out a cheer full of surprise.
"Grandpa—!!!"
This shout was clear and bright, filled with the pure joy of a child seeing a loved one.
Captain Rat even scoffed aloud.
He cast a disdainful glance at Luffy's excited face, his own face full of contempt and ridicule.
"Hahahahaha!"
He laughed wildly, doubling over with mirth.
"To save your life, you're even calling out 'Grandpa'?"
"What a pathetic brat! I despise you!"
Rat stretched out a finger, shaking it dismissively.
"I'm telling you! Today, never mind calling 'Grandpa'! Even if you called out your ancestors from their graves, it would be useless!"
"Go! Don't mind this idiot!"
He roared hysterically, his greed and madness fully exposed on his face.
However...
The scene he expected of Marines swarming forward did not appear.
The first few Marines in the charge seemed to be under a paralysis spell, stopping dead in their tracks.
Those behind them, not understanding why, nearly crashed into a pile.
The entire squad fell into a strange stasis.
"What are you doing?! Didn't you hear my orders?!"
Rat's smile froze on his face as he turned back in a furious reprimand.
"You're rebelling! You dare not listen to my orders?!"
Not a single person answered him.
A dozen or so Marines, one by one, turned pale, their foreheads covered in cold sweat.
Their eyes were filled with incomprehensible fear, staring straight behind Rat, their pupils contracting violently from shock.
"What are you looking at?!"
Rat's heart pounded at their ghost-seeing expressions; he mumbled impatiently and turned his head.
"What's behind..."
His words caught in his throat.
A figure as tall as a mountain had silently appeared there, he didn't know when.
A white 'Justice' coat, a dog-shaped hat, dark skin, and a perpetually displeased expression.
That face was a legend etched into the bones of every Marine.
marine hero, Iron Fist Garp!
Rat's brain crashed for three seconds.
Then, a surge of ecstasy filled his heart!
Vice Admiral Garp!
Vice Admiral Garp actually followed!
His heart, which had been hanging in fear, instantly dropped back into his stomach, replaced by ten, a hundred times more arrogance and confidence!
He spun back around abruptly, facing Ace and the two others again, his back straight, his chin so high it could poke the sky.
"Did you see that, you little brats!"
Rat pointed behind him, his voice sharp and triumphant.
"The marine hero! Vice Admiral Garp is personally here! The net has been cast!"
"Aren't you going to surrender obediently?!"
Ace and Sabo's expressions became incredibly strange.
Garp didn't even glance at Rat; he walked straight past the clown as if he hadn't seen him.
He walked to the edge of the giant charred pit, which was over thirty meters in diameter, looked down, and then looked up, surveying the surrounding charred trees that had fallen in all directions.
The pungent smell of burning still lingered in the air.
Garp picked his nose, and the displeased expression on his face slowly transformed into a huge grin that reached his ears.
"Wahahahahaha!"
His hearty laughter made the leaves in the forest rustle.
He turned his head, his gaze falling on Ace and Luffy, his eyes full of undisguised pride and approval.
"This forest, was this you two little rascals' doing?"
"Not bad!"
"Truly worthy of being my Grandson!"
Gran... Grandson?
The sinister smile on Rat's face instantly froze.
The color drained from his face at a visible speed, becoming whiter than a corpse.
His two comical mustaches trembled wildly due to the violent quivering of his lips.
He stiffly, inch by inch, turned his rusty neck.
He looked at Garp's proud face.
Then he looked at Ace, who had the same 'you're screwed' expression.
Finally, his gaze fell on the Straw Hat boy who was still grinning foolishly at Garp.
Vice Admiral Garp's... Grandson... The 'ruffian' he was ordered to capture... was the marine hero's Grandson?
"Boom—"
A bolt of lightning struck Rat's mind.
Everything before his eyes lost its color.
Rat's legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground.
His world went dark.
Thump!
A dull thud.
Captain Rat's knees buckled, and he fell straight onto the hot, scorched earth.
He wasn't collapsing.
He was performing a standard, prostrate bow, kneeling down.
He had just, pointed at the marine hero's Grandson, and called them little brats?
And ordered to 'kill them all'?
Otriluk III, you * * * *
Rat's body trembled like the last falling leaf in autumn, cold sweat instantly soaking through his cheap Marine uniform, sticking to his body.
Right! Rectify it!
There's still a chance!
Must rectify it!
Rat suddenly raised his head, and on his wretched face, he forced out a fawning smile uglier than crying.
He scrambled forward on his knees for a few steps, his posture so humble it was in the dust.
"Mis... misunderstanding! Vice Admiral Garp, sir! This is all a misunderstanding!"
His voice was so sharp it cracked, laced with a crying tone, full of infinite regret and flattery.
"I... when I first arrived here, I saw this earth-shattering destructive power! At that moment, I thought, what kind of extraordinary individuals could create such a miracle! This is definitely not some ruffian, this is a future legend!"
Rat's eloquence reached its peak at this moment; he pointed at Ace and Sabo, his eyes gleaming with fanaticism, as if the person who had just been shouting to kill them wasn't him at all.
"Indeed! Indeed!"
He slapped his thigh and shouted excitedly, "Besides you, besides the bloodline of marine hero Vice Admiral Garp, whose descendants in this world could possess such extraordinary talent!"
"These two young masters, at such a young age, have already displayed the demeanor of conquerors! I was just awestruck by their kingly aura! I wanted to test them! Yes! It was just a test!"
This utterly shameless flattery, twisting black into white, left the standing Marines dumbfounded, their worldview severely shaken.
"Pfft."
An undisguised scoff came.
Ace put away the flames on his fist; he looked at the grotesque figure in mid-air, his eyes filled with contempt and disgust that almost solidified.
"How... disgusting."
Sabo also turned his head away, tightening his grip on the pipe.
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