Whitebeard’s brow furrowed slightly, not expecting Garp to return so quickly.
He instinctively glanced toward the warship—those guys were moving too slowly.
“Swish!”
Without time to think further, Whitebeard abruptly pulled the naginata embedded in the sand.
The blade swept up a cloud of dust as Armament Haki flowed like water along its edge.
Then, with a motion from low to high, he swung.
“Boom!”
A sharp impact exploded, powerful air currents bursting from the clash of blade and fist.
The shockwave sent sand on the beach swirling into the air like a gale, forming a ring-shaped curtain of dust.
“Garp, I’ll leave Newgate to you for now.
I’ll go deal with those thieves first!” Sengoku tossed out these words, his figure suddenly leaping into the air.
He kicked off repeatedly mid-flight, each step bursting with white shockwaves against the air, propelling him swiftly toward the warship.
Whitebeard’s heart sank.
Instinctively, he wanted to pull back his blade and intercept Sengoku, buying more time for Ron and the others.
But the next moment, Garp’s onslaught followed like a relentless tide—fist after fist, leaving no room to breathe.
“Newgate!” Garp shouted excitedly, “You’d better worry about yourself first!”
Whitebeard gritted his teeth, silently swinging his blade to parry.
Sparks from the collisions of blade and fist burst continuously across the sand.
If it truly came to a desperate situation, Whitebeard wouldn’t hesitate to inflict heavy losses even at great cost to himself.
As long as Ron could use his ability to walk on the sea at the critical moment, they would win.
Inside the World Government warship.
Sengoku hurriedly moved through the corridor.
Finally, he stopped outside the cargo hold storing the Heavenly Tribute.
Inside, more than half of the treasure chests had been taken.
The once neatly stacked Heavenly Tribute was now scattered across the floor, as chaotic as a looted marketplace.
Sengoku’s gaze turned icy cold, his fists clenched tightly.
“Thump, thump, thump, thump!!”
Suddenly, hurried footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor.
Sengoku instinctively looked over.
Soon, three figures rushed out from around the corner, reflected in his eyes.
“Uh…
looks like we took a wrong turn.” The moment Stussy saw Sengoku, her pupils contracted sharply.
Without even finishing her sentence, she turned and ran back.
“Hey, hey, hey!
I told you not to be greedy!
Kaido, Ron, you hold him off!”
Before her words fully faded, “Swish!”—Kaido’s figure had already overtaken the fleeing Stussy.
As he ran, he cursed, “It was you!
You dragged me and Ron into helping you carry this stuff!”
“Bastard!” Stussy gritted her teeth, sprinting desperately—after all, whoever ran slowest would be on the front line.
“You think I don’t know what you’re really after?
You’re just betting on whether there’s a Devil Fruit in there, aren’t you?”
Kaido, his thoughts exposed, ran even faster.
Sengoku’s gaze passed over them and landed on Ron.
He wasn’t running.
He just stood there, one hand in his pocket, the other hanging casually at his side, a faint, ambiguous smile playing on his lips.
Suppressing the rage in his heart, Sengoku slowly pulled the “Justice” cloak from his shoulders and tossed it aside.
His eyes coldly fixed on Ron.
“You seem to have an excessive amount of confidence in your own strength, Ron.”
Ron smiled faintly, meeting his gaze without flinching.
“You’re quite confident yourself, Sengoku.
I can see it in your eyes.
You think you can capture me with one hundred percent certainty.”
As for whether his current self could match Sengoku, Ron actually had no clear idea.
But as for running away, he had already confirmed it—he could absolutely escape.
“Heh heh heh.” Sengoku let out a cold laugh, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.
“You talk a good game.
Why don’t you act on it?
Why aren’t you moving?
Are you afraid?
Or are you just putting on a brave face?”
“Why aren’t you moving?” Ron tilted his head, a hint of playfulness in his tone.
“You clearly want to tear me to pieces a thousand times over.
What are you afraid of?”
Sengoku’s brow furrowed.
He was just about to speak when Ron didn’t give him a chance to argue, continuing his verbal assault.
“Oh.
I get it.”
Ron drew out his words.
“As the lapdog of the Celestial Dragons, you’re afraid you won’t be able to protect even the last remaining portion after half of your master’s goods were stolen.”
“You…” Sengoku drew in a sharp breath.
He admitted Ron was right, but this guy’s mouth was like it was coated in honey—the words he spoke were too sweet.
So sweet it made you want to punch him into the wall so hard he couldn’t be pried out.
“In that case, let me help you eliminate your worries.” Ron’s tone was light and casual.
Almost instantly, Ron entered “Nine-Tails Mode.”
Golden Chakra surged from within him, forming a translucent, skin-tight layer of clothing over his entire body.
His hair grew longer, stood on end, and transformed from black to a bright gold, like burning flames.
Black comma-shaped patterns appeared on his shoulders, chest, and back, while flame-like Chakra drifted around his body.
Ron felt the surging power within him, so abundant it felt like it was about to overflow.
“Swish!”
A golden arm formed of condensed Chakra instantly swung out, smashing into the ship’s bulkhead.
The iron wall was torn open like paper, leaving a large hole.
“Hmm?”
No seawater came rushing in.
Ron was slightly taken aback.
He leaned forward to look through the hole.
Outside was still a corridor.
“This isn’t the edge yet?”
Understanding Ron’s intention, Sengoku’s brow furrowed tightly.
At this moment, he genuinely felt Ron was a madman.
If he really breached the ship’s hull and seawater flooded in, the first one to suffer would be Ron himself.
Unfortunately…
Sengoku didn’t know that Ron wasn’t afraid of seawater at all.
He wasn’t a Devil Fruit user either.
“Madman.” Sengoku muttered under his breath, but he didn’t move to stop him.
Passively defending the “Heavenly Tribute” would only put him at an increasing disadvantage.
He needed to find a new, advantageous opportunity.
And what Ron was currently doing, in his eyes, was precisely an opportunity.
“Boom!”
Ron swung his arm again.
This time, the giant golden fist completely smashed through the warship’s outer hull.
Seawater gushed in from the breach like a beast breaking free from its cage, instantly swallowing him whole.
“Heh.” Sengoku sneered coldly, watching the seawater swallow Ron whole, then leaped upward abruptly.
“Have fun on your own, Ron!”
“Boom!!”
Sengoku pierced through layer after layer of decks, finally bursting out from the topmost deck.
At the same time, his body erupted with dazzling golden light, and a Giant Golden Buddha rose from the ground.
Then, Sengoku sensed the changes around him.
As soon as Ron jumped out of the seawater, he would not hesitate to strike with his palm, smashing him into the seabed to keep him company with the stolen Heavenly Tribute.
However, several seconds passed without any movement, and Ron’s figure remained unseen.
Just then, a scene caught the corner of Sengoku’s eye, igniting his fury.
From the side of the main warship, a secondary vessel slowly sailed out.
Sengoku’s eye twitched.
Stealing the Heavenly Tribute was one thing, but now the secondary ship too?
Did they think this was their own home?
Taking whatever they wanted as they pleased?
“Bastard!!!” Sengoku’s voice thundered from the Giant Buddha’s mouth.
“Since you’ve taken everything, how about I give you one more gift?”
Sengoku raised his giant golden palm, and the air began to hum.
Just then, a faint, drifting voice reached his ears.
“Hmm…
growing bigger?
What a coincidence, I can do that too.”
Sengoku’s gaze snapped toward the source of the voice, and he saw Ron standing on the sea surface, undergoing a transformation.
A golden Chakra cloak violently expanded from Ron’s body, rapidly shedding its human silhouette.
His head stretched and elongated, forming a fox’s head within the golden light.
Behind him, one, two, three…
nine enormous golden tails burst forth simultaneously.
Ron’s size continued to swell, and in the blink of an eye, a Nine-Tails fox demon, larger than the World Government’s warship, appeared before Sengoku.