Three days had passed since obtaining the fruit, and days spent sailing at sea were always long.
Twilight Allen had been living a disciplined life lately, completing his physical training and sword practice every day.
However, he now added multiple times gravity to his daily routine, an inspiration he drew from the gravity chambers in the Dragon Ball world.
When training, he would also bring Marco along, applying eight times gravity to himself and two times gravity to Marco for some basic exercises.
Thanks to his efforts over the last few days, the gravity Twilight Allen applied to himself had reached eight times his own weight, allowing him to control his flight into the high sky.
As for his techniques, he had developed the Gravity Ring; objects and attacks approaching him would be repelled by reverse gravity.
He also applied gravity in the same direction to his sword energy, exponentially increasing the power of his slashes.
He had even learned to attach gravity to his Conqueror’s Haki, making it a perfect grunt-eraser.
As for other techniques, since time was short, he planned to develop them after completing this mission and returning to Hachinosu.
“Boss, according to the nautical chart, we’ll reach the Collins Marine Branch in one day,” the navigator reported to Whitebeard while holding the chart.
Upon hearing this, Whitebeard chuckled.
“Are we finally arriving?” “Yeah, life at sea has been a bit too boring lately.
I miss the bars and casinos of Hachinosu,” Ochoku nodded and replied, a sentiment shared by most of the crew.
“Gurarara!
Then let’s finish off the Marines quickly and go home early.” Whitebeard was extremely confident.
He didn’t believe a small Marine branch could pose any threat to him and his crew, and his men all thought the same.
Little did they know, a premeditated encirclement was waiting for them.
On the other side, at the Marine New World Collins Branch.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Garp had just arrived today.
The branch commander had already received orders from Kong to welcome them and transfer command to Sengoku.
“Vice Admiral Sengoku, Vice Admiral Garp.” A commander stepped forward, standing straight, and saluted Sengoku.
Seeing this person, Garp familiarly walked up and patted his shoulder.
“Oh, it’s Rear Admiral Oliver!
Do you have any senbei?
The ones I brought are all finished.” Sengoku glanced at Garp, then turned his attention back to the officer.
“Rear Admiral Oliver.” Rear Admiral Oliver was almost shaken to pieces by Garp’s rough patting, but upon hearing Sengoku speak, he hurriedly greeted him.
“Vice Admiral Sengoku, I’ve already received the Commander-in-Chief’s orders.
From now on, the command of this branch is transferred to you.” Sengoku nodded and asked, “What’s the personnel situation of the branch?” “Reporting to the Vice Admiral, the branch currently has 3,000 soldiers, 20 commanders of various levels, and 6 officers at the rank of Captain and above, including myself.
We also have 4 warships and 100 artillery pieces of various types.
All personnel are fully equipped with guns and weapons.” After Rear Admiral Oliver finished introducing the situation, he hesitated before asking, “Vice Admiral Sengoku, do we need to request a transfer of manpower from other branches?” Clearly, Rear Admiral Oliver was wary of Whitebeard’s reputation.
Upon hearing this, Sengoku shook his head.
“No need.
Whitebeard’s power can’t be resisted by sheer numbers alone.
Too many people will only tie our hands during battle.” Immediately, Sengoku took Garp to inspect the terrain of the branch.
“According to our intelligence analysis, Whitebeard departed from Hachinosu and is now half a day’s voyage away from reaching us.
If we include their rest time, they’ll arrive by tomorrow morning at the latest.” “We must prepare in advance.
Garp and I will hide first, and then we’ll appear to intercept them after Whitebeard and his crew have landed.
That way, Whitebeard won’t find out about the ambush and retreat.” “Before that, Rear Admiral Oliver, you will command the soldiers to engage in conventional combat.
When the time comes, Garp will hold off Whitebeard while everyone else goes all out to eliminate the crew members.
After that, we’ll encircle Whitebeard.
That is all.” After observing the terrain, Sengoku finalized the deployment.
“Understood!” Rear Admiral Oliver showed a look of realization.
He was completely convinced by the plan; as expected of the man known as the Strategist.
Immediately, he ran off to begin preparations for battle.
Garp patted Sengoku’s shoulder, laughing heartily.
“Hahaha!
Not bad, Sengoku!” Sengoku looked at the unreliable Garp with a grave expression.
“Garp, the key to this operation depends entirely on you.
You must stop Whitebeard.
If you can’t hold him back, our ordinary soldiers will bear his wrath, especially given his personality and how many of his crew we plan to take down.” “Moreover, if we can take down Whitebeard in this battle, our voice before the World Government will carry more weight, and our proposal for Marine expansion will be more likely to be accepted.” Upon hearing this, Garp put away his smile.
“Understood, Sengoku.
Leave it to me.” Only then did Sengoku smile.
He understood that although his old partner was usually relaxed, he was incredibly dependable once he got serious.
A day passed in the blink of an eye.
On Whitebeard’s ship, the crew members gradually became excited because they could already see the silhouette of Collins on the horizon.
“Gurarara!
My boys, we’re about to reach our destination.
Let’s make this quick!” Whitebeard raised his Murakumogiri and started the pre-battle mobilization.
The crew members all excitedly shouted in response, “Oh!
Let’s wipe out the Marines!” Everyone was incredibly confident, a trait forged through one victory after another.
Only Twilight Allen stood aside, frowning.
He smelled something unusual, but he didn’t want to dampen the crew’s morale.
So, after everyone around Whitebeard left to prepare their weapons, he came to Whitebeard’s side alone.
“Brother Newgate, don’t you think it’s a bit strange?
We’ve been heading straight toward this Marine branch the entire way, but we haven’t been disturbed at all, and we haven’t spotted a single patrol warship,” Twilight Allen said.
Upon hearing this, Whitebeard frowned slightly.
“What do you think is the reason?” He wanted to hear Twilight Allen’s thoughts.
Twilight Allen thought for a moment and replied, “There’s only one possibility.
They knew we were coming in advance, so they prepared an ambush on the island, waiting for us to attack.” Whitebeard was silent for a moment, then showed a confident smile.
“Gurarara!
No matter.
I’ll smash any ambush with my fists, especially now that I have the Murakumogiri.” Twilight Allen said nothing more after hearing this.
He understood Whitebeard’s thinking.
The mission this time was to wipe out the Marine branch.
If they turned around and returned without doing anything, Whitebeard wouldn’t be able to lead the crew or hold his head up in front of his subordinates.
Twilight Allen knew that in the future, even an elderly Whitebeard wouldn’t turn his back on an enemy, let alone now when he was only 35 and in his absolute prime.
“Fine, I’ll go crazy with you then.” Twilight Allen figured that as long as Sengoku, Garp, and Zephyr weren’t all there together, his current strength would allow him to protect himself, even if they couldn’t win.
It had to be said that Twilight Allen’s intuition was quite accurate.
He had guessed two-thirds of the situation correctly, and those were the two hardest thirds to deal with.
An hour later, the port of the Collins Branch clearly entered their view.
They could already see the warships docked at the harbor, as well as the artillery and Marine soldiers lined up along the coast.