Two years earlier, the Navy had dispatched Garp, Kizaru, Kuzan, Momonga, and countless other officers to mount a supposed campaign against Grimm.
Their numbers were dozens of times greater than what Garp and Zephyr had brought today — yet even then, they had failed to achieve anything meaningful.
If anyone truly believed that force had been sent with the sole purpose of "crushing" him, not even the Navy's own ranks would have bought it.
Garp swallowed back the irritation from Grimm's taunts. Damn it, I really want to knock that grin off his face…
For some reason, the mere sight of the young man got under his skin. "Ahahaha! It's simple — my fists have just been itching for a good fight!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Garp blurred into motion, appearing directly in front of Grimm with his iron fist already swinging.
BOOM!
In an instant, Grimm summoned Truthkeeper in his left hand to block the blow. The shockwave unleashed a powerful gust of wind that swept across the sea.
"Hey, Garp — where are you aiming? Right at my gut? Don't you know you're supposed to punch someone in the face?" Grimm retorted, then swung his one‑handed hammer in his right hand straight toward Garp's jaw.
Punch him in the face?
Garp's eye twitched. What is it with this kid today? He's more infuriating than ever!
He immediately threw his other fist forward to meet the hammer, while pushing harder against the shield. The sheer force lifted Grimm clean off his feet and hurled him high into the air.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
Using Sky Walk, Garp leaped dozens of meters upward as if walking on solid ground. The Marines below stared in awe.
To master the Six Powers to such a degree… he truly deserved the title of Navy Hero!
CRASH!
While they were still distracted, a cannonball came flying toward the deck. Zephyr's sharp eyes narrowed; he vanished and reappeared directly in its path, punching it hard enough to send it careening dozens of meters to the right, where it exploded with a massive splash.
"Fools! Have you not even finished basic training?!" Zephyr roared.
Only then did the rest of the Marines snap back to their senses and re‑engage Grimm's crew.
Suddenly, Zephyr's expression hardened again. "Shift your course to the right — now!" he shouted toward one of the warships.
Commanding that vessel was one of his former students, and now a Vice Admiral at Headquarters — Dalmatian.
He sensed the danger using Observation Haki, but reacted just a fraction too late. By the time he realized what was happening, his entire ship was being lifted out of the water by some unseen force.
"Whaaaat?!"
"What in the world?!"
As the vessel tilted sharply, Dalmatian and his men stumbled and slid across the deck. From Zephyr's ship, everyone watched in stunned disbelief.
"It's… it's enormous!"
"That must be the Ghost Galleon — Mannoroth, the guardian of the Holy Light Pirates! How terrifying!"
Even hardened veterans swallowed hard as they watched a warship capable of carrying over a thousand sailors being raised effortlessly into the air.
"Dammit!"
Dalmatian steadied himself and prepared to leap into the fray using Sky Walk.
"Idiot! A Devil Fruit user should never fight recklessly over open water — and this foe is no ordinary enemy!" Zephyr snapped.
As a user of the Dog‑Dog Fruit, Dalmatian would be at a severe disadvantage against Mannoroth out on the waves.
Before anyone else could move, Zephyr erupted in a burst of red light and shot forward, closing the distance in the blink of an eye.
"Huh?"
Mannoroth, still holding the warship aloft, barely had time to react before Zephyr's fist slammed into his skeletal face.
The impact sent the giant crashing down into the sea, while the warship plummeted from fifty meters above.
It hit the water hard but stayed afloat, sparing the lives of the thousand‑plus crew aboard.
THUD!
Zephyr landed firmly on the bow of the ship, his right arm glowing faintly with red energy.
"My apologies, Instructor Zephyr!" Dalmatian hurried over.
Zephyr, however, immediately raised a spray bottle containing the sedative and pressed it several times against his mouth, muttering, "Dammit… I couldn't stop myself from using this power…"
He had unleashed the strength of his Demon Hand the moment his men were in danger — there had been no other way to intervene in time.
After a few more sprays, the pulsing red veins in his arm settled down. Up in the sky, Grimm glanced down at him and smirked.
"Not bad, Zephyr — you've managed to hold back that bloodthirsty urge inside you. Though there's really no need to try so hard. Wouldn't it be more fun to let yourself turn into a monster?"
"Tell me how to reverse this curse!" Garp demanded, throwing another punch.
"I only know how to lay curses," Grimm replied casually. "To lift one, you'd need a Druid — and it just so happens I don't have any of those working for me!"
He was making it up as he went along. Technically, mages can dispel curses too, he thought, but Jaina's temper is so short she probably dropped that "useless" spell long ago.
He continued his taunt: "If Zephyr does turn into a monster, then what will the great Navy Hero do? Will you be the one to put him down?"
"Quit trying to turn us against each other, you little rascal!"
Garp vanished once more, reappearing behind Grimm in an instant — using the technique Shave, one of the Six Powers, even while airborne.
CLANG!
Grimm summoned Ashbringer and blocked the kick with a resounding crash.
"I will handle Mannoroth," Zephyr called out from below.
Mannoroth rose again from the depths of the sea, the left side of his skull visibly cracked from the blow he had just taken.
As the battle between these world‑class fighters raged on at Artemis, fleets from all the crews under Grimm's command were gathering and advancing toward the island.
The only problem? None of the Four Knights were present.
It hardly seemed like a coincidence.
And because Garp and Zephyr had arrived so suddenly, the rest of the world had received no advance warning.
Otherwise, other powers would surely have sent observers to watch and see if they could profit from the chaos.
Even Big Mom's top commanders would not have suddenly launched their attack on Dressrosa for no reason.
"Rumors that a Road Poneglyph is hidden on Dressrosa… that's clearly another lie planted by the Navy!" Grimm sighed after receiving word from Jaina.
Though at least the Three Sweet Commanders had already left the island.
Meanwhile, back at Amazon Lily, Lalia — who had remained behind with the reserve forces — received a secret report from an agent embedded within Zephyr's fleet: the fighting had begun, but Garp and Zephyr would not be able to hold out for long.
They had brought only a small force. The Navy knew full well that sending a larger fleet would have drawn the attention of the other three Emperors, making their mission far more difficult to complete.
And no one could guarantee that the Four Knights would not suddenly return and catch them off guard — the Navy was aware that one of Grimm's subordinates possessed the ability to travel through space.
So Lalia and her team had to act fast.
Upon receiving the news, she quickly gathered her "subordinates" — six in total.
They were the remnants of her former crew, but their true identities were spies from Cipher Pol, answering directly to the World Government.
Their real mission all along had been to infiltrate the Kuja Pirates and seize Shirahoshi — the girl suspected of being Poseidon, one of the three Ancient Weapons.
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