Chapter 45: Awakening! Conqueror's Haki is Not Just for Cleaning Up Trash!
Dressrosa, The Port.
In the wake of Garp's departure toward the Royal Palace, the port was left in a state of eerie silence and total ruin.
Garp slowly retracted his hand chop. He didn't even glance at the ruins of the clock tower where an Admiral lay buried.
He shoved his hands back into his pockets.
"Your Justice is too weak."
He turned around.
Ignoring the petrified Marines behind him, ignoring the stunned News Coos in the sky.
Step by step.
He walked leisurely toward the towering King's Plateau.
Leaving behind only a wrecked port and a silhouette that made the entire world tremble.
The ramp leading to the Royal Palace was long and wide.
Garp's pace was neither fast nor slow, like he was taking a stroll in his own backyard.
"Stop him!"
"For the Young Master!"
From the shadows of the buildings lining the road, several figures rushed out.
They were the lower-level officers of the Donquixote Family—death-sworn soldiers utterly captivated by Doflamingo's charisma and power.
A man holding a long whip danced forward, the wind howling around his weapon as he aimed to coil it around Garp's neck.
Garp didn't even look. He simply raised his hand and grabbed casually at the air.
That special whip, imbued with Armament Haki, was caught in his hand as easily as a fragile straw rope.
Garp flicked his wrist.
An irresistible, immense force transmitted along the length of the whip.
The officer, along with his whip, was flung into the air. He traced a parabola across the sky before smashing heavily into a distant building, life or death unknown.
"Die! Old geezer!"
Another officer—massive and muscular, wielding a giant axe—descended from the sky, cleaving down toward the top of Garp's head.
Garp didn't stop walking.
Just as the giant axe was about to land, he raised his other hand.
Fingers straightened like a knife, he poked upward.
CLANG!
The giant axe, capable of splitting iron armor, collided with Garp's finger.
The blade shattered inch by inch.
Garp's finger remained unscathed.
He flicked his finger.
The shattered handle of the axe shot backward like a cannonball!
It pierced precisely through the officer's chest.
"Monster! He's a monster!"
"Impossible! Our attacks are completely ineffective!"
"He didn't even use Haki!"
"Run! We exist in completely different dimensions!"
"Mommy! I want to go home!"
The pirates hiding in the dark, who had planned to wait for an opportunity to strike, erupted into screams more miserable than any before.
Watching this scene—which looked nothing short of a miracle—their will to fight was completely crushed by this unreasonable strength.
They scrambled away, crawling and rolling, abandoning their armor and weapons, hating their parents for not birthing them with two extra legs.
As Garp walked past, what he left behind was a trail of incapacitated Donquixote Family members and countless broken souls.
King's Plateau, Inside the Palace.
In front of the massive surveillance Den Den Mushi screen, the muscles on Doflamingo's face twitched violently.
He watched the old man strolling leisurely on the screen.
He watched the officers he had placed high hopes on being swatted away like flies.
Crush!
The telephone receiver in his hand was crushed into fragments.
"Joker! That old man... he's coming up!"
"What do we do! Lord Pica and the others are pinned down by Fujitora; they can't move at all!"
"We can't stop him! We can't stop him at all!"
Supreme Officer Trebol's slimy body shook like a mound of jelly.
Doflamingo didn't answer.
He stood up abruptly and walked to the massive floor-to-ceiling window.
Looking down at the figure approaching like the Grim Reaper, a trace of bone-chilling madness flashed through his eyes.
"Fufufufufufu!"
He suddenly erupted into sharp, ear-piercing laughter.
"Since you want to die so badly, I will prepare the most magnificent stage for you!"
Doflamingo spread his arms wide.
"Come! Dance! My children!"
BOOM!
Countless threads, almost invisible to the naked eye, shot out from his body like a bursting dam.
They connected to the palace, to the plateau beneath his feet, to every rock, every inch of soil.
The entire King's Plateau groaned under the burden at that moment.
It came alive.
It turned into Doflamingo's marionette.
Garp stepped onto the final flight of stairs leading to the Royal Palace.
The massive palace doors, made of gold and weighing ten thousand tons, slowly opened silently before him.
Like the mouth of a giant beast ready to devour a human.
Garp walked in.
Empty. Dead silence.
Inside the massive throne room, only the sound of his own footsteps echoed.
At the far end of the throne room, on the throne symbolizing the highest power in Dressrosa—
Doflamingo sat with his legs crossed.
He held a swaying glass of red wine in his hand, that signature evil and arrogant smile hanging on his face.
Around him—
In every corner of the great hall, standing or sitting, were identical copies of Doflamingo.
Dozens of String Clones.
Each one was lifelike, wearing the same smile, staring at Garp as he walked in.
"Welcome, Mr. Garp."
Doflamingo on the throne raised his glass in a toast.
"You should be celebrating that your grandson isn't by your side right now."
Garp stopped walking.
He looked around and let out an undisguised sneer.
"You think you can stop this old man with just these puppets?"
"No."
The arc of Doflamingo's mouth widened.
"They aren't here to stop you."
"They are the audience... prepared for you."
He snapped his fingers.
Snap.
The next moment, a sudden mutation occurred!
The smooth, mirror-like marble floor beneath Garp's feet suddenly began to wriggle.
The walls of the great hall, the massive stone pillars supporting the dome—all of them decomposed in that instant.
They transformed into billions of pure white threads. Like giant pythons granted life, they coiled, wove, and writhed.
Within a few short seconds, the magnificent throne room turned into an airtight, pure white world composed of countless sharp threads.
"Fufufufufufu!"
Doflamingo's maniacal laughter echoed within the world made of string, carrying the pleasure of one who dominates everything.
"Awakening! This is the true power of the Ito Ito no Mi (String-String Fruit)!"
"In this domain where I rule supreme, that brute strength you are so proud of is useless!"
"Garp! You will become the first Legend to be torn to shreds by my strings!"
The sky-covering strings surged like a living tsunami!
From all directions, they strangled toward Garp in the center.
Every single thread was tougher than steel, sharper than a razor blade.
Garp looked at that pure white sea of death. There was no surprise on his face.
His body sank slightly.
A Conqueror's Haki—more terrifying and more dense than any he had released before—slowly woke up from within his body like a slumbering ancient beast.
Those frantically surging threads...
Several meters away from his body, they slammed into an invisible wall and came to a sudden halt.
They were trembling. They were afraid.
"Arrogant brat."
Garp's voice was plain.
But it was like an invisible heavy hammer, smashing ruthlessly onto Doflamingo's soul.
"Conqueror's Haki... isn't just used for clearing out Cannon fodder."
Doflamingo's hysterical laughter came to a screeching halt.
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