You can read ahead up to 15 chapters on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395
Upon hearing Trens' words, everyone aboard the ship initially thought it was impossible. Then, they turned their gazes toward the front.
"Boom!"
At that moment, a cannonball exploded, sending up a great splash of seawater as [The Logan] trembled violently.
"Hold tight! Prepare for battle!"
One of the trainee crew shouted, scrambling around the deck.
Meanwhile, Rojen and the others stepped toward the bow. There, a Marine battleship was charging forward against the wind, cutting through the waves like a true monarch of the sea. At its bow stood a tall figure wearing a dog hat, both hands clutching another pair of black cannonballs.
In the next moment, he hurled them forcefully.
"Whizz! Whizz!"
This time, it was two cannonballs, tearing through the air straight toward them, still no sound of a cannon firing.
"It's real! He really threw those cannonballs by hand!" Jason shouted in shock.
He himself possessed immense strength, but even he couldn't manage something like that. Cannonballs, being extremely explosive, require perfect control. A slight miscalculation in grip strength could cause them to detonate. Just holding one is risky, let alone throwing them with force.
"How the hell did he manage that?!"
In the blink of an eye, the cannonballs were already above [The Logan].
Rojen's eyes narrowed. His legs bent slightly before he sprang into the air. At his waist, Rainbow Abyss flashed out of its sheath.
"Draw Blade!"
"Shing!"
With a sweep of his sword, the cannonballs were cleaved cleanly in two, slicing through the air in diverging arcs and landing in the waters on either side of the ship.
"BOOM! BOOM!"
Explosions erupted, spraying up massive jets of water.
"Hahaha! As expected, you've got some strength!" From the approaching battleship came a booming, hearty voice.
The moment he heard that voice, Rojen's expression grew solemn.
"Garp!" He uttered the name with extreme gravity.
At the forefront of the Marine ship stood a tall man wearing a dog hat with a powerful and burly frame. His face radiated boldness and carefree spirit; it was none other than Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp.
Rojen had never imagined he'd run into this man here, of all places. What weighed even more heavily on his mind was the clear fact, Garp had come specifically for him.
"Don't think about running, kid! You won't escape!" The voice called out again as the battleship closed in rapidly.
"Captain, we should prepare for battle!" Crocodile spoke up, and the crocodile tattoo on his shoulder had already begun to shift into sand.
"Don't act rashly. Let's see what they want first." Rojen said calmly, his voice firm.
That one sentence made the others, who had already been prepared to fight, pause in confusion. After all, their opponent was the Marines. Surely their intent was obvious? But they trusted Rojen's command and refrained from acting.
Soon, the Marine battleship had closed to within a single meter of [The Logan].
At this close distance, Rojen could clearly see that this Garp looked much younger than the one in the anime, a middle-aged man with a full head of black hair, exuding a steady and overbearing presence. Just standing there, he radiated a suffocating pressure.
He was like a towering mountain rising into the heavens, heavy, imposing, yet sharp-edged.
"Kid, I've been looking for you for a long time. And now, I finally found you!" Garp leapt from the Marine battleship, landing directly on [The Logan], causing the trainee crew to instantly draw their blades.
At the same time, several officers from the Marine ship also jumped over, surrounding Rojen and the others with tense expressions.
"Vice Admiral, sir, these people are world-class criminals! Their crimes are unforgivable!" A young officer behind Garp spoke with intense nervousness.
Just the thought of facing the man who had defeated Kizaru, one of the most terrifying Admirals, was enough to make them tremble uncontrollably.
This was no ordinary criminal; this was a terrifying powerhouse of monstrous strength!
"Sheathe your weapons." Rojen's face turned cold as he barked at the trainee crew behind him, seeing them draw their blades.
The crew shrank back and nervously slid their swords back into their sheaths. After all, they were facing a Vice Admiral, definitely not someone pirates could afford to provoke.
"Hahaha, you've got guts, kid. I like it!" Garp burst out laughing.
"Vice Admiral Garp, chasing me all the way here, to what do I owe the honor?" Rojen asked coolly.
"Why?" A hint of surprise crossed Garp's face before he answered with a slight frown: "Naturally, I'm here to arrest you!"
That one sentence immediately made both the Marines behind Garp and Rojen's side lift their weapons again.
In an instant, tense pressure filled the entire ship.
"Is that so?" Rojen shrugged, his voice sharp. "That might be difficult."
"Who knows?" Garp replied casually, but his expression suddenly turned grim. "Should I say you're bold, or just reckless?"
"Huh?" Rojen raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"You infiltrated a Marine encirclement and rescued the wife of the Pirate King Roger… Tsk, tsk, quite the feat. Then you got involved with the Celestial Dragons and even went to war with their troops. You've done some truly outrageous things in such a short amount of time!" His tone shifted from admiration to something much heavier.
"You act up just like him." As he spoke, Garp stared at Rojen with a complicated expression on his face.
"Makes me hesitate... whether I should arrest you or let you go."
Rojen froze slightly, and upon seeing Garp's conflicted face, he seemed to understand.
Garp and Roger had always shared a relationship of rivals and kindred spirits, like enemies and friends at the same time. Just like Luffy and Smoker in the original story, theirs was a bond that defied logic.
You could say that beyond their affiliations, they were practically friends.
So now, when facing Roger's younger brother, Garp naturally couldn't help but feel emotionally torn.
"I'm fine with either." Rojen replied with a smile.
"If I don't arrest you, the higher-ups in the New World won't sit still. If I do arrest you… it's not like you've committed any real crimes. In fact, you helped me solve a major headache." Garp rubbed his temples, looking troubled.
"Vice Admiral, sir, this man is a world-class criminal! He's dangerous!" The officers behind Garp turned pale and tried to stop him in a panic.
"Whatever happens, we absolutely can't let this man go down the wrong path, that would be terrifying!"
"Alright, I've decided!" Suddenly, Garp's eyes lit up, and he clenched his fist.
In that split second, a siren blared in Rojen's mind. His pupils abruptly turned blood-red, the three-tomoe Sharingan spinning rapidly.
In the blink of an eye, a fist appeared right in front of him, heading straight for his face.
"Shunpo!" With a burst of air, Rojen's body instantly vanished. Garp's fist landed exactly where Rojen had just been, without even stirring the wind, eerily silent.
"You bastard!" Seeing Garp suddenly make a move, Jason, Crocodile, and Trens instantly lost it.
Jason charged forward and threw a punch.
Garp, smiling, responded with a punch of his own. And then, in the very next moment, the collision of fists produced a scene that shocked Rojen's entire crew.
(End Of This Chapter)