"Report! East coast—the Rocks Pirates have broken through the blockade and have forcefully landed on the shoreline…!"
"Reinforcements, now! We can't hold them—!"
The Den Den Mushi in the Marine's hand beside Saint Saturn crackled with chaotic noise. Before the report could even finish, Valthior saw a slash tear through the forest from the direction of the eastern coast.
Immediately after, a bold, domineering voice echoed faintly through the air—
"Rocks Pirates, follow me—charge!!!"
The moment he heard that voice, Saturn's expression sharpened. "Rocks!"
But before that could even settle, violent explosions erupted from the western coast as well.
Right on the heels of that—
the Roger Pirates had arrived at the battlefield!
However, at this moment, Roger was clearly less important in the eyes of the World Government than the Rocks Pirates. Saturn's attention remained fixed on the eastern Coast.
Large numbers of Celestial Dragons began fleeing toward this central area. On a nearby street, Valthior spotted Garling leading a group of Holy Knights, seemingly giving out orders.
"Maffy, a Marine just reported that my two sons were taken by someone. Go retrieve them for me."
"Somaz, go guard the treasure warehouse. Make sure to keep a close eye on my future wife."
"The rest of you—follow me to engage the Rocks Pirates!"
Soon, the Holy Knights split into three groups.
That old hag Maffy went to help Garling retrieve his sons—if nothing unexpected happened, it was Dragon, Garp's son, who had taken Shanks and Shamrock.
Somaz, meanwhile, came over toward Valthior and Saturn, muttering under his breath.
"That Garling… at a time like this, still thinking about women. No sense of romance at all… If it were me, I'd just kill her. After all, those pirates are coming to save her. Imagine how tragic it would be when they finally arrive, only to find the woman they risked everything for has already become a mangled corpse… Now that's art!"
To be fair, in the original storyline, he really did intend to do just that.
And as the young master of the Shepherd family, he didn't fear Garling at all. Killing a woman was nothing—he could just frame it as the pirates' doing afterward. Garling wouldn't fall out with him over something like that.
Still muttering, Somaz arrived at the group and gave a respectful greeting. "Lord Saturn."
But Saturn's attention remained entirely on the eastern coast, ignoring him completely. Somaz didn't mind, instead turning to Valthior.
"Valthior, just as I thought—you didn't join the competition."
"Well, it's meaningless, isn't it? I don't like doing things without meaning," Valthior said with a smile.
At that moment, a voice full of excitement came through the Marine communication Den Den Mushi—
"Vice Admiral Garp! Vice Admiral Garp has arrived!"
"Reinforcements are here!!!"
"Woooah! We're saved!!!"
Undoubtedly, Garp's prestige among the Marines was immense. The moment he appeared, their morale visibly surged!
"ROGER!!! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU HIDING, YOU BASTARD!?"
Garp's booming voice echoed across the entire island.
Unfortunately, he had landed on the eastern coast, while the Roger Pirates were on the western side. Though Garp wanted nothing more than to hunt Roger down, he ended up running into the Rocks Pirates first.
Ahead of him, Whitebeard, Charlotte Linlin, and Kaido were heading toward the central region together. Along the way, they casually cut down Maffy, who had nearly killed Dragon, before Garp caught up to them.
Garp wasted no time. With Armament Haki surging around his fist, he unleashed a devastating blow—a Galaxy Impact crashing forward with overwhelming force.
Whitebeard and Charlotte Linlin reacted instantly. Neither had any intention of clashing head-on with Garp; they turned and fled without hesitation.
Kaido, however, was a different story.
"Why are we running!?" he shouted, baffled, even as he chased after them. "Aren't we going to fight him!?"
"Oh, shut it, brat!" Charlotte Linlin snapped back. "You don't have the faintest idea how terrifying that lunatic is!"
Whitebeard, too, wore a look of utter disdain as he swung his arms and quickened his pace. "Not worth it. Let's move."
"Damn it, Whitebeard!" Kaido roared. "Didn't you say your back would never bear the mark of retreat!?"
Had those two veterans truly lost their nerve? Kaido couldn't understand it. He's just a Marine, he thought, a flicker of irritation rising within him. The three of us together—could we really not win?
Before the thought could settle, Charlotte Linlin moved.
Lightning and flame coiled around her hand, condensing into a seething mass of power. With a sharp turn, she hurled it back toward the pursuing Garp. "Heavenly Feuer Blitz!!!"
The blast swallowed Garp whole in an instant, erupting into a violent explosion that rippled outward, sending waves of heat and force crashing through the battlefield. Marines caught in its wake were flung hundreds of meters away, their formation shattered.
"Nice one!" Kaido shouted excitedly. "Now let's counteratt—"
Before he could finish, he turned back—
and saw Garp standing unharmed within the blazing explosion like a demon god, laughing arrogantly.
"This isn't even hot enough to cook a prime rib, Linlin!!"
"Damn it, I knew it!" Linlin cursed and immediately sped off after Whitebeard, who was already far ahead.
Kaido stood frozen for a heartbeat, disbelief flashing across his face.
Is that even human?
He knew better than anyone how terrifying Linlin's strength was—he had, after all, been on the receiving end of her "lessons" often enough. And yet Garp had taken that attack head-on… and walked away without a scratch.
The idea of counterattacking vanished from his mind as quickly as it had come. He swallowed the thought whole.
Perhaps… the veterans knew what they were doing.
Yes. That had to be it.
Running from Marines—that's only natural for a pirate, he reassured himself, already falling into stride. Nothing shameful about that at all.
"Wait for me, Big Sis! Whitebeard!" he shouted, scrambling after them.
...
At the same time, perhaps sensing that Garp was heavily engaging the Rocks Pirates—and that this might be an opportunity—Saint Saturn, who had been motionless until now, felt Imu's will calling to him.
Without a second thought, he vanished from the spot and appeared atop a mountain peak, overlooking the battlefield of God Valley from above.
The moment Saturn left, Somaz let out a breath of relief and rubbed his nose.
"Your old man's presence is terrifying. I don't even dare speak loudly when he's around…"
At that moment, Whitebeard's towering figure was the first to appear in view. He immediately spotted the central stage and was about to charge forward—
when from the opposite street, another figure burst out—
Gol D. Roger.
"Whitebeard!!!"
The instant Roger saw him, he didn't hesitate—he swung his blade.
Whitebeard responded in kind, raising Murakumogiri to meet the strike.
The two clashed instantly.
The shockwaves of their collision, combined with the surge of Haki, swept across the entire plaza, sending Marines and Celestial Dragons flying.
"Master!" Bartholomew Kuma stepped forward, planting a large shield he had somehow picked up into the ground, shielding Valthior from the raging blast.
In that brief moment—
Valthior noticed that Somaz had disappeared.
With both Saturn and Somaz gone, no one remained to obstruct him.
"Come on, Kuma!" Valthior called immediately.
...
Meanwhile, taking advantage of the chaos, Ivankov and Ginny—who had been lurking nearby—slipped into the treasure vault.
They had just pried open a chest containing Devil Fruits and were about to grab them—
when the door was kicked open with a bang!
"Stop!"
Valthior's shout rang out as he kicked the door open. At the same instant, the chain-axe coiled around his left arm shot forward like a striking serpent, wrapping around the chest before Ivankov and yanking it back into his grasp.
But almost simultaneously—
A devastating slash tore through the wall from the adjacent room.
Somaz's upper body came crashing through with it, driven by the force of the blow, smashing into the chamber in an explosion of stone and debris. Ivankov was sent sprawling, and Valthior, caught in the chaos, was struck head-on by Somaz's half-severed body and hurled backward.
"Master!" Kuma caught the Devil Fruit Valthior had dropped, calling out anxiously.
Before the dust had even settled, Valthior shouted:
"Eat it! Eat it, Kuma!"
Everything had happened too fast—Valthior hadn't even seen which Devil Fruit he had just grabbed.
But the one in Ivankov's hands should've been the Azure Dragon, right?
Either way—whether it was the Azure Dragon or the Paw-Paw Fruit—Kuma had to eat it first!
Already accustomed to obeying Valthior's orders, Kuma instinctively bit into the Devil Fruit. Before he could even swallow—
another massive figure smashed through the wall.
Charlotte Linlin.
She grabbed Ginny by the throat, snatched the Devil Fruit from her arms, then casually tossed the child aside.
After all, Charlotte Linlin never killed children.
"Mama mama! This Devil Fruit is mine now!"
But before she could celebrate for more than two seconds—
BANG!
A massive spiked club swung in from behind, smashing into the back of her head, slamming her face-first into the ground as the Devil Fruit flew from her grasp.
Immediately after, Kaido—not even bothering to pull back his club—leapt up and swallowed the fruit in one gulp.
At that very moment, Valthior activated his single-tomoe Sharingan.
Through the still-settling dust—
he saw clearly—
the Devil Fruit Kaido had just eaten…
was the Azure Dragon Fruit!
...
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