Three days had passed since obtaining the fruit; days spent sailing at sea were always long.
Twilight Allen had been living a disciplined life these days, completing physical training and sword practice every day.
However, Twilight Allen now added multiple times Gravity to his daily training, an inspiration he drew from the Gravity chambers in the Dragon Ball world.
When training himself, he would also bring Marco along, applying eight times Gravity to himself and two times Gravity to Marco for some basic training.
That’s right, after a 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 techniques, Twilight Allen 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, thereby exponentially increasing the power of his slashes, and Twilight Allen had even learned to attach Gravity to his Conqueror’s Haki, which could be called a grunt-eraser.
As for other techniques, due to the short time, Twilight Allen planned to develop them after completing this mission and returning to Hachinosu.
…
“Boss, according to the nautical chart, we will 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; I miss the bars and casinos of Hachinosu,” Duke nodded and replied, which was also agreed upon by most of the others.
“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 the members 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.
Sengoku and Garp had just arrived today; the branch commander had already received orders from Kong to come and 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 finished.” Sengoku glanced at Garp, “Rear Admiral Oliver.” Rear Admiral Oliver was almost shaken to pieces by Garp’s patting, but upon hearing Sengoku speak, he hurriedly greeted him.
“Vice Admiral Sengoku, I have already received the Admiral’s orders.
From now on, the command of the branch will be transferred to you.” Sengoku nodded and asked, “What is the personnel situation of the branch?” “Reporting to the Vice Admiral, the branch currently has 3,000 soldiers, 20 commanders of various levels, 6 officers at the rank of Captain and above, including myself, 4 warships, 100 artillery pieces of various types, and all personnel are equipped with guns and weapons.” After Rear Admiral Oliver finished introducing the situation to Sengoku, he asked, “Vice Admiral Sengoku, do you need to request to transfer some 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 cannot be resisted by numbers; too many people will only tie our hands during battle.” Immediately, Sengoku took Garp to inspect the terrain of the branch.
“According to intelligence analysis, Whitebeard departed from Hachinosu and is now half a day’s voyage away from reaching here.
If we include their rest time, they will arrive by tomorrow morning at the latest.” “We must prepare in advance.
Garp and I will hide first, and then appear to intercept after Whitebeard and his crew have landed, so that Whitebeard doesn’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, and then we will encircle Whitebeard.
That is all.” After observing the terrain, Sengoku made the deployment.
“Understood.” Rear Admiral Oliver showed a look of realization and was very convinced by Sengoku’s deployment; as expected of the man known as the Strategist.
Immediately, Rear Admiral Oliver ran off to begin preparations for battle.
Garp patted Sengoku’s shoulder, “Hahaha, not bad, Sengoku.” Sengoku looked at the unreliable Garp with a grave expression, “Garp, the key to this operation depends on you.
You must stop Whitebeard.
If you can’t stop him, given his personality, since we killed so many of his crew, it will be our soldiers who bear his wrath.” “Moreover, if we can take down Whitebeard in this battle, our voice before the World Government will be greater, and the proposal for expansion will be more likely to be accepted.” Upon hearing this, Garp also put away his smile, “Understood, Sengoku, leave it to me.” Only then did Sengoku smile.
He understood that although his old partner was usually unreliable, he was very dependable once he got serious.
Garp, Garp, are you reliable?
— 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 are about to reach our destination, let’s make it quick.” Whitebeard raised his Murakumogiri and started the pre-battle mobilization.
The crew members all excitedly replied, “Oh!
Wipe out the Marines.” Everyone was quite confident, a trait forged in one victory after another.
Only Twilight Allen stood aside, frowning.
He smelled something unusual, but he was afraid of dampening 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 towards the Marine branch the whole way, but we haven’t been disturbed at all, and we haven’t seen a single warship,” Twilight Allen said to Whitebeard.
Upon hearing this, Whitebeard frowned, “What do you think is the reason?” Whitebeard wanted to hear Twilight Allen’s thoughts.
Twilight Allen thought for a moment and replied, “There is only one possibility: they knew we were coming in advance, so they prepared an ambush on the island, waiting for us to attack.” After listening, Whitebeard was silent for a moment, then showed a confident smile, “Gurarara, no matter; I will smash any ambush with my fists, especially now that I have obtained 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 he turned around and returned without doing anything, he wouldn’t be able to continue as the boss and wouldn’t be able to hold his head up in front of his subordinates.
One must know that in the original Marineford War, the elderly Whitebeard knew he would die if he stayed, yet he would never turn his back on the enemy.
If he was like that when old, let alone now when Whitebeard is only 35 and in his prime.
“Fine, I’ll go crazy with you.” Twilight Allen felt that as long as Sengoku, Garp, and Zephyr weren’t all there together, then with his current strength, even if he couldn’t win, he could at least protect himself.
It must be said that Twilight Allen’s intuition was quite accurate; he guessed two-thirds of it right, and those were the two hardest thirds.
One hour later, the port of the Collins Branch clearly entered the view of Twilight Allen and the others; they could already see the warships docked at the port, as well as the artillery and Marine soldiers along the coast.
It might not seem tempting right nobut who knows what the future holds?
“And If you’re enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!”