At this moment, the expressions on both Sengoku’s and Garp’s faces turned completely rigid.
Sengoku fell into deep conflict.
To dodge, or not to dodge?
If he dodged, all the desperate effort he had put into blocking the first round of attacks would go completely down the drain.
The remaining Heavenly Tribute would be reduced to ash under the second bombardment, without even scraps left behind.
If he didn’t dodge…
with this many Tailed Beast Balls, forget the Heavenly Tribute—even he and Garp might end up buried here.
“Hahahahaha!!”
Suddenly.
Sengoku burst into loud laughter without any warning.
Yet there was no joy in that laughter, only an indescribable bitterness and resignation.
After a few seconds, it was replaced by a deep, heavy sigh.
“Forget it…”
“Huh?” Garp turned his head to look at Sengoku.
What happened to this guy?
Did he take too hard of a hit?
Sengoku, don’t be like this, you’re scaring me!!!
Of course, there was another person whose emotions were running just as wild.
That was Whitebeard, who was currently standing on the only remaining reef along the coast.
Right now, he was looking up at Ron out on the water, the muscles on his face twitching slightly as the corners of his mouth pulled down into a deep frown.
‘Ron, you bastard…
I’m still standing right here, you know?
Do you really not give a damn at all?’
SWOOSH!
SWOOSH!
SWOOSH!
The moment the piercing shrieks tore through the air, Whitebeard knew that this bastard Ron truly didn’t care about his life in the slightest.
As the seven Tailed Beast Balls fired simultaneously, Whitebeard immediately followed suit, leaping into the air toward the sea and bounding toward the nine-tailed fox.
“Damn it, Ron, catch me!” Whitebeard roared.
Ron paused for a moment.
He had been gathering energy to prepare a third round, but hearing that shout, his movements halted.
One of the chakra arms extended rapidly.
The golden hand shot out like a giant serpent, accurately catching Whitebeard by the waist in mid-air before snapping back and pulling him to his side.
BOOOM—!!!!
At the same time, violent explosions rocked the island in rapid succession.
The seven Tailed Beast Balls slammed down almost at the exact same instant, flames erupting skyward and dyeing the entire sky a dark red.
Mushroom cloud after mushroom cloud bloomed, shockwaves sweeping everything away with shattered rock and scorched earth.
The aftermath roared out across the sea, kicking up a massive wall of water that crashed down toward the nine-tailed fox.
“Why did you come over?” Ron asked in surprise.
The muscles on Whitebeard’s face twitched.
Listen to that—is that something a human would ask?
If I didn’t come over, was I supposed to just wait to get blown to pieces?
“What do you think?” Whitebeard shot back, annoyed.
“Hahahaha!!” Ron chuckled lightly.
“My bad.
I just wanted to test out the power—I had no intention of stealing your opponent.”
“Huh?
You idiot, what kind of nonsense are you saying?” Whitebeard barked in pure fury.
“I think you were trying to kill me along with them!”
Ron paused, then quickly defended himself: “Not at all…
I just thought it wouldn’t affect you.”
After all, the person in front of him was the man known in the future as the “Strongest Man in the World.” Just a few Tailed Beast Balls…
he should be able to take them, right?
“What do you mean it wouldn’t affect me?!” Whitebeard’s voice cracked with rage, his finger poking toward the fox’s face.
“I’m made of flesh and blood too!
I can die just like anyone else!
You complete idiot!”
At this moment, Whitebeard understood completely: this bastard Ron looked harmless and approachable with that easy smile on his face, but in reality, he was far more dangerous than anyone else on the Rocks Pirates.
The hostility of other crew members was at least out in the open.
Ron, on the other hand, operated on a single principle: “No matter who you are, just die along with the enemy.”
“Hahahaha!” Ron couldn’t help laughing at Whitebeard’s flustered, furious state.
“Can you stop laughing?
That smile gives me chills, you bastard.”
Pausing, Whitebeard added, “Besides, Stussy and Kaido, those two bastards, already ran for it.
If we don’t catch up right now, we’ll have to find our own way out later.”
Ron instinctively looked back.
At the far edge of his vision, a tiny auxiliary boat was sailing at top speed, on the verge of turning into an unrecognizable black dot.
“Holy shit?”
A curse slipped right out of Ron’s mouth.
I treated you like a brother, and you played mind games with me?
“You seem pretty surprised?” Whitebeard remarked flatly.
“Uh…” Ron hesitated for a few seconds before letting out a soft laugh.
“Not really.”
Indeed, not really.
Given how the Rocks Pirates operated, it wasn’t like Ron didn’t know their style.
Quite the contrary: if someone actually waited for your return regardless of the danger, you shouldn’t be touched thinking they turned over a new leaf—you should be on guard, wondering if that bastard had been possessed by someone else.
“Do you still want to test your strength?” Whitebeard asked again, his eyes scanning the island.
Ron shook his head gently.
He had already finished his testing.
With his current strength, the Tailed Beast Ball was more than enough to deal effective damage to Garp and Sengoku.
Continuing to drag things out here made little sense.
After all, neither Sengoku nor Garp was a pushover; if they truly fought to the bitter end, his side wouldn’t necessarily come away with much of an advantage.
“Then let’s go,” Whitebeard said slowly.
“Any later, and we won’t even know which direction to chase them.”
“Yeah.”
Ron answered, digging his feet in as he sprinted across the sea at full speed.
A short while later.
Across the battered, cratered battlefield, smoke and dust lingered in the air, refusing to settle.
The scents of burnt earth and gunpowder blended together, thick enough to make anyone cough.
Sengoku, his clothes torn to shreds with not a single clean spot left, sat atop a large, blackened rock.
Scrapes and wounds were scattered all over his body.
His eyes were dim and lifeless.
Saying nothing, he simply sat motionless, staring out at the gradually calming sea in the distance.
Beside him stood Garp, his clothes just as tattered, resting his hands on his hips as he gazed out across the water.
His mental state, however, was clearly in far better shape than Sengoku’s.
“Sengoku, why the long face?” Garp said with a grin.
“It’s not like we’ve never lost before.
If you’re worried about taking the blame, just pin it all on me.”
Speaking up to this point, Garp’s expression suddenly grew serious, his gaze darkening slightly.
“Still…
that bastard named Ron, we really underestimated him.”
Indeed, facing a lineup of Whitebeard, Kaido, Stussy, and Ochoku, the Marines certainly would have suffered, but they could have handled it.
Yet no one could have anticipated the sudden emergence of a glitch like Ron—a man who had zero fear of seawater and could treat the ocean’s surface like solid ground.
Because of this single person, the entire tide of battle had been completely rewritten.
Sengoku still did not speak.
He merely raised his head slowly to look at Garp, his lips parting slightly before closing once more.
Starting today, the name “Ron” would have a heavy red circle drawn around it on the Marine Headquarters’ top-priority list.