"Puhahaha, I get it now!"
As the dust gradually settled, Garp took a step forward, revealing his figure. The clothes on his chest had already been shattered, exposing a muscular torso that defied his age.
He casually tore off the tattered shirt, his bronze muscles rippling with strength, radiating a metallic sheen.
"Good lad!"
The Old Man touched his slightly sunken chest and burst into laughter, his white teeth gleaming in the sunlight. "That punch really packed a wallop!"
"Seems like your body is even tougher!"
Xiano sneered, "Crocodile died from this move of mine, but for you, it seems like it only caused a minor injury!"
"That's not it at all!"
Garp shouted in dissatisfaction, "You used the technique of Armament Haki Internal Destruction, didn't you? Impressive! My internal organs feel like they're about to shift!"
"I can't be the only one suffering this pain!"
Whoosh!
Before the words could fade, Garp's figure suddenly blurred.
Xiano's pupils contracted, a red glint flashing in his eyes. His Observation Haki screamed warnings, but he was still a step too slow—
"Seismic Smash!"
With Garp's fierce shout, one hand grabbed Xiano's right fist, which had been raised to block, and hurled him into the air. In a flash, Garp appeared above Xiano's body.
His other hand, wrapped in the dense Haki he had been accumulating, came down with full force, landing squarely on Xiano's abdomen!
Boom!!!
The power of this punch far exceeded the previous one!
Even though Xiano had immediately covered himself with Armament Haki for protection, he was still sent flying like a Cannonball!
He plowed a trench hundreds of meters long across the ice, unable to fully dissipate the force, and directly pierced through the ice layer, sinking into the sea.
One hundred meters, three hundred meters... five hundred meters!
By the time he reached over nine hundred meters, Xiano finally managed to slow his descent.
At nearly a thousand meters deep, sunlight could no longer penetrate. Looking around, the darkness was as thick as ink.
Xiano floated in the icy water, the only sound in his ears the roaring of his own blood.
He glanced down at his abdomen. The protective layer formed by Armament Haki had already dissipated, and his skin was stained with blood in several places.
Garp's mastery of Internal Destruction was far superior to his.
Although the skin on his abdomen was mostly intact, seemingly unharmed, his stomach and surrounding intestines felt as if they had been put through a meat grinder, twisted into a painful mess.
"That old geezer really likes to return the favor!"
He grinned, revealing blood-stained teeth. The pressure of the deep sea made his wounds ache slightly, but the rhythm of his heartbeat grew increasingly wild—
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Each beat caused the surrounding seawater to tremble, ripples spreading from his body, creating vacuum zones in the depths of the ocean!
"But this level..."
Xiano suddenly looked up, the muscles in his legs compressing like springs, tensing to their limit—
"Is still not enough!!!"
Boom!
The currents beneath his feet instantly collapsed, sending violent ripples in all directions. He shot upward like a reverse torpedo!
Three hundred meters, two hundred meters, one hundred meters—
Bang!!!
The moment the ice layer shattered, Xiano, accompanied by a towering water column, leaped into the air!
Sunlight pierced through the mist, illuminating his rugged figure. The rising steam distorted the air around him.
Garp couldn't help but look up, squinting his eyes, and his gaze locked with the black-haired boy's. Both of them grinned at each other.
"Hey, aren't you taking this a bit too seriously, old man?"
Xiano sneered, spitting out a mouthful of saliva mixed with ice shards. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, letting it fall to the ground. Though his words were casual, the fighting spirit in his eyes burned even brighter.
"This is exactly the attitude I should have when dealing with you now, you brat!"
Garp clenched his fists until they creaked, laughing heartily as he took a step forward. "Give it your all, kid! Let me see just how much you've improved!"
"Is that so?"
Xiano's lips curled into a grin as he met Garp's gaze. "That suits me just fine!"
Buzz—
In the next instant, both of them vanished from their spots!
"Finger Pistol·Ripple Barrage!"
Xiano's hands turned into blurs as dozens of Ripple Force-infused Armament Haki strikes poured out like a storm.
Garp didn't dodge or evade. His iron fists swung out in a flurry of punches, each one precisely intercepting Xiano's attacks. The collision of their forces created a continuous series of sonic booms.
"Useless, useless, useless!!!"
Garp laughed maniacally as he charged forward, pulling his right fist back to build momentum. "How about you try this instead!"
"Iron Fist!"
Before the punch even landed, the terrifying pressure from Garp's fist distorted the muscles on Xiano's face. Xiano quickly retreated using Moon Walk, while simultaneously raising his right leg, Armament Haki spreading like a tide—
"Tempest Kick·Ripple Meteor!"
Boom!!!
The leg blade and iron fist collided with a deafening crash, a clash of equally powerful Armament Haki!
Black lightning crackled and exploded around them.
The ice beneath their feet instantly evaporated, revealing the violently churning seawater below. Garp's punch faltered slightly, and Xiano seized the split-second opening, thrusting his left hand like a blade straight at Garp's throat!
Thud!
His fingertips pierced into Garp's neck, but as soon as they reached the throat bone, they could go no further. Xiano's wrist had been caught in a vice-like grip. Garp leaned forward, his grinning face now inches away:
"Got you again, brat!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Xiano was swung and slammed into the ice repeatedly, each impact causing earthquake-like tremors.
However, before the cycle could repeat more than a few times, the boy suddenly curled his body and flipped, wrapping his legs around Garp's arm. With a powerful twist of his core—
Crack!
In a sickening sound of bone cracking, Garp's right arm bent unnaturally and hung limp.
"Prepared for this, huh?"
Garp winced in pain but quickly realized what had happened, his eyes lighting up with understanding. "So it was a trap, huh? You let me catch you on purpose?"
"Obviously!"
Xiano sneered as he broke free from Garp's grip, delivering a sharp elbow strike straight to Garp's forehead. "Do you think I'd fall for the same trick twice?"
Thud!
Xiano's elbow strike, infused with Ripple Force, landed squarely on Garp's face. Blood gushed from the old man's nose, but Garp only laughed even harder—
"You're one terrifying brat, no wonder you've got those five old geezers so restless, puhahaha! How about this move?!"
Garp suddenly lowered his head, slamming his forehead like a battering ram toward Xiano!
Perfect timing!
Xiano didn't dodge or evade. Instead, he met Garp's forehead with his own.
Boom!
The dull thud of skulls colliding made one's teeth ache. Xiano's vision went black, and a sharp pain shot through his broken nose. Garp had a similar reaction, and both of them leaned back simultaneously, only to charge forward again in the next second with unspoken tacit understanding——
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The afterimages of their fists and feet clashing were as dense as a torrential downpour. The black flashes from their Armament Haki collisions had already darkened the sky.
The vast icy plain created by Nojiko had mostly vanished, and the sea at the center had been torn apart by the aftershocks of their battle, forming a whirlpool hundreds of meters in diameter!
"This is exhilarating, truly exhilarating!!!"
Garp became more and more invigorated as the fight went on, his face flushed with excitement. "It's been years, years since I've had someone who could make me unleash all my strength!"
In recent years, the opponents he had faced either relied on some flashy Devil Fruit abilities or just swung their swords around.
Boring, utterly boring!
Only this kind of pure, raw strength collision, fist to flesh, is the ultimate romance that a man of the sea should pursue!!!
"Hey! Bogart, move the warship further away!"
Garp suddenly took a moment to turn his head and shout at the warship.
"Yes, Vice Admiral Garp!"
The sailors on the warship had been tossed back and forth by the shockwaves countless times, and many of them were already dizzy and vomiting on the deck.
Upon hearing this, they were overwhelmed with relief, tears streaming down their faces. Without waiting for Bogart's orders, they hurriedly turned the dog-headed warship around and headed for a safer distance.
"Nami, you too!"
Xiano, having anticipated this, also turned his head and shouted a reminder.
Once both ships had retreated to a safe distance.
The two men, now only a few meters apart, exchanged a knowing glance.
Garp twisted his neck, and his joints cracked like popping beans:
"Kid, are you ready? If you don't use your strongest attack for this final move, you won't be able to withstand it."
"Bring it on!"
With a thought, Xiano's body almost instantly reverted from the "Paper Drawing Martial Body" form to its original appearance——
A towering figure of 4.2 meters, weighing over 800 kilograms, with smooth muscle lines that combined both strength and beauty!
Thud!
Xiano took a step forward, and the already cracked ice layer trembled and groaned under his weight.
"Oh? Ohhhh!!"
Garp's eyes sparkled, and he even drooled a little. "What a magnificent body! So this is your true form! I was wondering why you seemed shorter this time. Now I get it!"
"Wondering about what?"
Xiano looked down at Garp, puzzled.
"Your height, of course! When you were fourteen or fifteen, you were already 1.9 meters tall. How come you seemed shorter this time? So that's what was going on!"
Garp laughed heartily:
"It's Life Return, right? To maintain that form all the time, wow, kid, your control over your body has reached an incredible level!"
"Thanks for the compliment."
Xiano grinned. "But since you're asking for my strongest move, you better be ready too, old man!"
"Puhahaha, what a bold declaration, kid!"
Garp threw his head back and laughed. "But I like it!"
Snap! In the next instant, his right fist pulled back to its limit, the muscles in his arm swelling as veins bulged violently.
With this motion, a faint crackling sound seemed to echo.
Then, thick black and red lightning suddenly began to spread outward from between his fingers and knuckles, crackling and sizzling—
So he's using that technique after all…
Conqueror's Haki infusion!
Xiano licked the corner of his lips, his eyes growing increasingly frenzied and savage.
This was his first time facing the power of Conqueror's Haki infusion, but it didn't matter!
To him now, nothing could deliver a blow like Thunder Bagua that would knock him out in one hit!
"Fist of Impact!!!"
Garp's roar thundered like a storm, and the fist that had gathered all his strength was finally unleashed in this moment!
Crack!!!
In an instant, black and red lightning coiled around his fist, distorting the space it passed through into spiderweb-like cracks. The terrifying shockwave exploded outward in all directions!
The ice layer evaporated into a kilometer-long trench before it could even make contact, and the boiling seawater was forcibly split in two by the sheer pressure, revealing a vacuum channel that reached straight to the seabed!
"Bring it on!"
Xiano's eyes burned crimson, the muscles in his arms bulging like coiled springs. He clasped his hands together into a hammer, Armament Haki and Ripple Force surging around them like erupting magma.
"Elbaf's Spear—"
His 4.2-meter-tall body bent backward like a fully drawn giant bow, the vertebrae in his spine cracking audibly. His fists, like black war hammers, dragged behind them a trail of Haki resembling the tail of a meteor, charging head-on against Garp's fist!
"Might Nation: Modified!"
This strike was a new technique he had just developed during his grueling training with the Poneglyph!
It perfectly fused Ripple Force with the unique power-generating techniques of the giants.
Compared to the original Might Nation, its destructive power was on a whole new level!
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The seabed beneath their feet, separated by two to three kilometers, began to collapse layer by layer under the terrifying pressure. Garp and Xiano's gazes locked, the distance between them shrinking rapidly.
The intertwined lightning of Conqueror's Haki and Armament Haki reflected a beastly ferocity in their pupils, their grins widening to the point of distorting their faces into something almost monstrous.
And in that instant, their fists finally collided with earth-shattering force!
Boom!!!
The moment their fists met, the concept of time itself seemed to vanish.
The black and red lightning and Ripple Force intertwined into a towering black pillar that shot straight into the sky, tearing through the clouds like a ferocious black dragon, leaving behind massive ring-shaped voids.
Centered on the point of impact, the ice field spanning over a hundred thousand square meters completely shattered under the immense force!
Countless massive water columns erupted into the sky, pouring down like a torrential rain. When they collided with the shattered ice, they created an endless fog that obscured all vision.
"Whoa—!"
Even though they had retreated several kilometers away, the crews of the Warship and the Sunset were still thrown into disarray by the shockwave. The decks shook violently, and the masts groaned under the strain.
"T-This is just too insane, isn't it?!"
Nami clung tightly to Agin, barely preventing herself from being blown away by the fierce wind. Her face was pale as she exclaimed, "To be able to fight like that with my brother, is that old man even human?!"
"Hey, you've got it backwards!" Smoker couldn't help but turn his head and retort, "You should be asking if Xiano is even human! To think he could fight Mr. Garp to this extent with just pure physical skills!"
That was Mr. Garp, after all—a man who had dominated the seas for decades and once chased the Pirate King Roger all over the place!
Although this was just a sparring match and Garp clearly wasn't going all out, it was still terrifying that Xiano could hold his own like this!
And when you consider that the Captain is only eighteen years old…
It's even more horrifying!
"Is this… the level of combat at the pinnacle of the world…?" In the corner, Robin stared blankly at the black-and-red light pillar that pierced the heavens, murmuring to herself.
In her arms, Nuomici trembled in fear, shrinking into the deepest part of her embrace, too scared to come out.
Finally, Nuomici peeked out, only to see Agin casting a disdainful glance her way.
Ugh, how annoying!
I want to grow up quickly and be of help too!
Nuomici glared back fiercely, gritting her teeth. Her snow-white body suddenly began to glow faintly, as if some change was about to occur.
Unfortunately.
Everyone's attention was entirely focused on the earth-shattering battle in the distance, and no one noticed her.
…
The black-and-red Conqueror's Haki lightning finally dissipated, and the thick fog that had enveloped the sea gradually faded, revealing the devastated battlefield.
The endless ice field that had once stretched as far as the eye could see was now completely gone.
Garp lay on his back on a barely floating piece of broken ice, gasping for breath. His chest was covered in bloody scars, and his Justice cloak had been reduced to ashes, with only a few tattered strips hanging from his shoulders.
Blood gushed from his mouth as if he were suffering from dysentery.
Yet, his eyes, fixed on the sky, remained sharp and even carried a hint of exhilarated laughter.
On the other side, Xiano's injuries were far more severe.
Half of his body was submerged in the icy seawater, his right arm nearly useless. The bone at his elbow joint had pierced through the flesh, exposed and ghastly. Blood continuously seeped out, staining the surrounding water a dark red.
His left arm, though still somewhat functional, had twisted and deformed fingers, the joints mangled and bloody, clearly having endured unimaginable recoil during the clash.
Even more horrifying was his chest.
A gruesome gash ran from below his neck all the way down to his abdomen, revealing the muscle tissue beneath the skin. Through the wound, one could even glimpse the faintly beating heart, separated only by a thin membrane.
"Huff… huff…"
The young man's breathing was weak and erratic, each gasp accompanied by frothy blood spilling from his lips, a clear sign of severe internal injuries.
The sea wind howled, whipping up shards of ice.
Both men turned their heads, their gazes meeting across the shattered ice. Garp's lips curled into a wild grin.
"Puhahaha! So, brat… can you still stand?"
Xiano glanced at him.
With a snort, he didn't waste words. Using his legs like a carp leaping out of water, he pushed himself up and stood.
Though he swayed unsteadily, after a few seconds of staggering, he gradually steadied himself.
"Hey, don't act recklessly!" Garp exclaimed, both shocked and furious. "I was just teasing you! This is not the time to show off or act impulsively. Something serious could really happen... Huh?"
The Old Man suddenly widened his eyes.
Right before him.
Gurgle—
In the midst of a grotesque sound of flesh and blood squirming, the broken bones in Xiano's right arm automatically realigned themselves. Muscle fibers intertwined like living organisms, and the wound healed at a visible speed.
The hideous gash on his chest also began to close. The tissues beneath the skin rapidly regenerated, and even the wound that had nearly reached his heart scabbed over and fell off within mere seconds, revealing fresh, pink skin.
"This..."
Garp's pupils contracted sharply, and he abruptly sat up straight.
Having fought on the seas for decades, he had encountered countless bizarre individuals and witnessed numerous strange abilities. Yet, what he was seeing now still surpassed his understanding—
This wasn't a Devil Fruit ability.
Nor did it resemble the eerie, undying regenerative techniques that the God Knights or the Five Elders had somehow acquired.
Xiano's recovery was purely a terrifying level of physical self-healing!
"Puhahaha!"
After a brief moment of astonishment, Garp suddenly burst into laughter. "Interesting! This is too interesting! You brat, your Bloodline must be something extraordinary, huh?"
"What Bloodline? It's all thanks to my own hard work and sweat!"
Xiano flexed his newly healed right arm and grinned, "So, Old Man, still up for a fight?"
"Tsk, what a monster..."
Garp clicked his tongue, then suddenly scrambled to his feet, brushing off the ice shards from his backside, "No more, no more! If we keep going, this old man's bones are really going to fall apart!"
"Cut the act!"
Xiano scoffed. This old geezer had indeed gone all out with that last strike, and he had barely managed to block it.
But the old man still had plenty of stamina left. If they continued at the same intensity, he could keep fighting for days and nights without a problem.
Truth be told, it was Xiano who was putting on an act.
Although the Regeneration Art had been running at full capacity, making his wounds appear mostly healed and his breathing seem stable, the energy consumed by the Regeneration Art had drained what little strength he had left. Right now, he was just a hollow shell, strong on the outside but weak within.
If Nami were to punch him now, she'd probably...
Wait, no, it would definitely be Nami who'd end up with a broken bone. If it were Nojiko, there might be a chance she could knock him down w