Whitebeard’s brows knit together slightly.
He had not expected Garp to rush back so quickly.
He instinctively glanced in the direction of the battleship—those guys were taking too long.
Whoosh!
Without time to think, Whitebeard yanked his naginata from the sand, kicking up a spray of dust.
Armament Haki flowed like water over the blade before he slashed upward from below.
CLANG!
A piercing impact detonated.
Powerful air currents burst from where the blade met the fist, blasting the beach sand into the air like a localized storm and forming a circular curtain of dust.
“Garp, I’ll leave Newgate to you for now!
I’m going to deal with those thieves!” Tossing out those words, Sengoku leaped into the air, kicking off the atmosphere with rapid steps that burst white shockwaves behind him as he sped toward the battleship.
Whitebeard’s heart sank.
He instinctively moved to pull back his blade to intercept Sengoku and buy more time for Ron’s group, but in the next second, Garp’s offensive rushed in like a tidal wave—fist after heavy fist, dense and suffocating, leaving him no room to catch his breath.
“Newgate!” Garp shouted in high spirits.
“You better worry about yourself first!”
Whitebeard gritted his teeth, parrying the blows without a word as sparks from the clashes between steel and fists burst repeatedly across the sand.
If things truly reached a worst-case scenario, Whitebeard would not hesitate to trade mutual destruction.
As long as Ron could utilize his ability to walk on water at the critical moment, they would still win.
Inside the World Government battleship.
Sengoku’s figure hurried through the corridors.
Finally, he stopped outside the cargo hold storing the Heavenly Tribute.
More than half of the treasure chests inside had been cleared out.
The neatly stacked tribute now lay scattered across the floor, looking as wrecked as a ransacked marketplace.
Sengoku’s gaze turned ice-cold, his fists clenching tightly.
Step, step, step, step!
Hurried footsteps suddenly echoed from the end of the hallway.
Sengoku instinctively looked over.
Soon, three figures charged out from the corner, reflecting in his eyes.
“Uh…
looks like we took a wrong turn.” The moment Stussy saw Sengoku, her pupils shrank violently.
Before she could even finish her sentence, she spun around and sprinted the other way.
“Hey, hey, hey!
I told you not to get greedy!
Kaido, Ron, hold him off!”
Before her voice could settle, with a sharp whoosh, Kaido surged past Stussy, cursing as he ran: “You’re the one who did it!
You forced me and Ron to help you carry it!”
“Bastard!” Stussy gritted her teeth in a dead sprint; after all, whoever ran the slowest would end up on the front line.
“You think I don’t know what you two were planning?
Weren’t you just gambling on whether there were Devil Fruits inside?!”
Having his motives called out, Kaido ran even faster.
Sengoku’s gaze bypassed them, landing squarely on Ron.
Ron hadn’t run.
He simply stood there with one hand in his pocket, the other hanging loosely at his side, a faint, noncommittal smile resting on his face.
Suppressing the fury boiling within him, Sengoku slowly untied the “Justice” coat from his shoulders and tossed it aside.
He fixed Ron with a cold stare: “You seem excessively confident in your own strength, Ron.”
Ron offered an easy smile, meeting his gaze without flinching.
“You’re quite confident yourself, Sengoku.
I can see it in your eyes—you think you can take me down with absolute certainty.”
Whether his current self could match Sengoku in a straight fight was something Ron wasn’t entirely sure of.
However, when it came to making an escape, he had already verified it: he could get away with one hundred percent certainty.
“Hehehe.” Sengoku gave a few cold chuckles, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.
“Such bold words, so why aren’t you making a move?
Why hold back?
Are you afraid, or just putting on a brave front?”
“Why aren’t you making a move?” Ron tilted his head, his tone carrying a touch of playfulness.
“You clearly can’t wait to tear me to pieces, so what are you afraid of?”
Sengoku frowned.
Just as he was about to speak, Ron gave him no chance to argue, continuing his verbal assault: “Oh, I get it.”
Ron drew out his words with a mocking lilt.
“As the running dog of the Celestial Dragons, your masters’ belongings were cut in half, and you’re terrified you won’t even be able to protect the rest.”
“You…” Sengoku drew in a sharp breath.
He admitted Ron had hit the nail on the head, but this kid’s tongue was so sharp it made him want to punch him straight into the bulkhead so hard he could never be scraped back out.
“In that case, let me help eliminate your worries,” Ron said in a breezy tone.
In an instant, Ron entered Nine-Tails Mode.
Golden chakra surged from his body, forming a semi-transparent cloak that clung tightly across his frame.
His hair lengthened and stood on end, shifting from black into a brilliant gold like burning flame.
Black magatama markings surfaced across his shoulders, chest, and back, while flame-like chakra flickered around his body.
Ron felt the power rushing through his veins, immense enough to overflow.
Whoosh!
A golden arm formed of pure chakra swung out instantly, smashing into the cabin wall.
The thick iron plating tore open like thin paper, ripping a massive hole into the corridor beyond.
“Hm?”
No seawater flooded in.
Ron paused slightly, poking his head through the opening to look outside—it was still just another hallway.
This isn’t the outer hull yet?
Realizing Ron’s intentions, Sengoku’s brows knitted tightly.
At this moment, he genuinely believed Ron was a lunatic.
If he truly punched through the outer hull and seawater flooded the ship, Ron himself would be the first to suffer.
Unfortunately…
Sengoku had no idea that Ron didn’t fear seawater in the slightest.
He wasn’t a Devil Fruit user to begin with.
“Madman,” Sengoku muttered in a low voice.
Still, he made no move to stop him.
Defending the Heavenly Tribute passively would only worsen his own situation; he needed to find an advantageous opening.
And what Ron was doing right now was precisely that opening in his eyes.
BOOM!
Ron swung his arm once more.
This time, the massive golden fist completely shattered the outer hull of the battleship.
Seawater rushed in through the breach like a beast breaking free from its cage, instantly swallowing him whole.
“Heh.” Sengoku sneered.
Watching the seawater submerge Ron, he leaped upward with explosive force.
“Enjoy playing with that by yourself, Ron!”
BOOM!!!!
Sengoku crashed through layer after layer of the decks, finally bursting through the roof of the top deck.
At the same time, his body erupted in brilliant golden light as the colossal golden Buddha rose into the sky.
Sengoku extended his senses to track the surroundings.
The moment that brat leaped out of the water, he would smash him down with a palm strike without hesitation, burying him deep beneath the seabed to keep company with the stolen Heavenly Tribute.
Yet several seconds ticked past without the slightest sound or sign of Ron’s figure.
Right at that moment, the corner of Sengoku’s eye caught a sight that made his blood boil.
From the side of the main warship, an auxiliary vessel was slowly sailing out.
Sengoku’s eye twitched.
Stealing the Heavenly Tribute wasn’t enough—they were stealing the auxiliary boat too?
Did they think this place was their own home?
Taking whatever caught their eye on the way out?
“Bastards!!!” Sengoku’s voice roared from the golden Buddha’s mouth.
“Since you’ve taken the goods, how about I send you off with a parting gift?”
Sengoku raised his massive golden palm, the air humming with pressure.
Just then, a light, casual voice drifted into his ear.
“Hmm…
getting bigger?
What a coincidence, I can do that too.”
Sengoku snapped his gaze toward the source of the voice, only to see Ron standing atop the surface of the sea, his form undergoing a radical shift.
The golden chakra cloak expanded violently from Ron’s body, breaking free of his humanoid shape.
His head lengthened, the visage of a fox taking shape within the golden glow.
Behind him, one, two, three…
nine massive golden tails erupted all at once.
Ron’s form continued to swell.
In the blink of an eye, a nine-tailed fox monster even larger than the World Government battleship materialized right before Sengoku’s eyes.