Just as Whitebeard finished speaking, with a sharp whoosh, the golden Buddha landed beside Garp.
He stared down at the twisted, deformed warship wreckage before him, his expression stiffening slightly.
After a moment, his brow slowly relaxed.
No matter how it looked, the remaining Heavenly Tribute had been saved—even if the method used to save it was rather humiliating.
“Sengoku.” Garp turned around to face the churning sea.
“Let’s switch.
You take Newgate; I’ll deal with that bastard named Ron.”
Sengoku cast his gaze toward Ron, and suddenly, his expression changed drastically.
Sharp enough to notice Sengoku’s sudden shift, Garp instinctively followed his partner’s eyes out across the water.
Out at sea, the nine-tailed fox opened its jaws wide.
A massive, dark red sphere of energy was condensing and swelling within its maw, emitting a low, ominous hum.
Extending from both sides of its massive body, several arms made of chakra each held a molten fireball gathering in the palm.
“Damn it.” Sengoku gritted his teeth, his voice thick with suppressed fury.
“Without even realizing it…
we walked right into a trap.
That bastard Ron caught us by our weakness.”
To be precise, he had caught Sengoku by his weakness.
Sengoku was the only one who placed immense weight on the mission of escorting the Heavenly Tribute.
If the tribute were lost under his watch, the World Government’s retribution, the threat to his rank, and seeing his entire career ruined—these were consequences Sengoku could clearly foresee, but was entirely unwilling to bear.
And Garp?
If it was lost, it was lost.
They could punish him however they pleased.
Even if they demoted him to an ordinary Marine seaman, it wouldn’t cause a single ripple in his heart.
That was precisely where the problem lay.
If Sengoku dodged, the remaining Heavenly Tribute behind him would be reduced to ash.
If he didn’t dodge, he would have to take the entirety of Ron’s attack head-on.
This was an open trap.
A straightforward, shameless, open move with zero tricks.
Sengoku had to make a choice.
“That bastard,” Sengoku squeezed the words through clenched teeth.
“Sengoku…” Garp glanced at Sengoku’s rigid profile, hesitating for a moment, before suddenly letting out an easy laugh.
“You always call me reckless, but aren’t you doing the exact same thing?”
“Incoming!” Sengoku roared suddenly.
BOOM—
In an instant, the fully charged Tailed Beast Ball and molten fireballs fired simultaneously.
The sea was torn completely in two.
An immense chasm extended from the feet of the nine-tailed fox all the way to the sandy shore.
The water was forced to billow outward on both sides, exposing the sand and reefs below.
Walls of white water rose high, parting like two massive gates swung wide.
“HAAAH!!!”
Sengoku thrust his giant palms forward.
From within the golden Buddha’s hands, shockwaves detonated with piercing screeches.
They slammed into the incoming Tailed Beast Ball and molten fireballs at blinding speed.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion echoed through the surroundings.
Terrifying shockwaves surged outward in all directions like a tsunami.
At the epicenter of the blast, fire and smoke intertwined into a massive sphere, swallowing every trace of light.
“Garp!” Sengoku’s voice cut through the roaring blast.
The shockwave from his palms had not completely neutralized Ron’s attack.
It had only slowed the Tailed Beast Ball and destroyed a portion of the accompanying molten fireballs.
The dark red energy sphere continued to push forward slowly, radiating a suffocating pressure that made the heart tremble.
“Leave it to me!”
Garp answered the call, his figure leaping high into the air amid the lingering glare of the explosion.
Haki instantly coated both of his fists before he threw them forward.
“Fist Bone Meteor!”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!!
Mid-air, Garp’s fists blurred into pure afterimages.
Every single punch unleashed a ferocious shockwave, pouring down toward the Tailed Beast Ball like a meteor shower.
The moment the shockwaves collided with the Tailed Beast Ball, blinding white light and deafening booms erupted.
BOOM—
BOOM—
Impact after impact detonated, the resulting shockwaves rippling out in waves.
Every last molten fireball was shattered.
Yet the Tailed Beast Ball was still grinding forward.
Sengoku did not stand by.
The golden Buddha expanded once more, his form rising higher as he thrust both palms forward, planting himself directly in the path of the Tailed Beast Ball.
BANG!!
The Buddha’s palms slammed against the dark red sphere of energy.
His massive body was forced backward step by step under the momentum, his feet plowing two deep trenches into the ground.
“RAAAAH!!!!”
Sengoku’s roar shook the air.
His fingers dug deep into the energy sphere, his Haki spreading across it at extreme speed.
Then, with a savage burst of strength, he wrenched the trajectory of the Tailed Beast Ball to the side.
SWOOSH—
Having its path deflected, the Tailed Beast Ball could no longer be contained, howling toward the mountain range on the opposite side of the island.
A moment later.
BOOOM—!!!!
A massive explosion erupted, shaking the entire island violently.
In the distance, a towering mushroom cloud rose into the sky.
The shockwave swept loose rock and dirt across all directions, blanketing the entire island in a thick haze of dust.
Sengoku panted heavily, his face unreadable.
Garp, mimicking Sengoku’s usual nagging tone, scolded him: “Hey, you’re being too reckless, Sengoku.
If that thing had exploded right next to you, you definitely wouldn’t have walked away clean.”
“You idiot…
the battle isn’t over yet!” Sengoku badly wanted to snap back, but now clearly wasn’t the time.
Right at that moment, a light, teasing voice drifted over from the sea.
“What are you two muttering about?
I’m ready for round two.
What about you guys?”
Sengoku waved his sleeve, kicking up a gale that blew away the smoke and dust lingering around them.
Out on the sea, the nine-tailed fox had its jaws wide open, a Tailed Beast Ball even larger than the previous one already fully formed.
The good news was that this time, its chakra arms were not holding molten fireballs.
The bad news was that every single palm was holding a fully formed Tailed Beast Ball.