purupuru puru
"Hello? This is Sengoku. Oh, Borsalino, what is it?"
"Why are you calling me all of a sudden? What happened?"
"What? Say that again?"
"Is this for real? What exactly is going on?"
"Punk Hazard waters? Got it! I understand, I'll send Garp over immediately!"
Click.
Sengoku hung up the phone, stunned.
That one call just now shocked him more than anything else in years.
The great Buddha himself was momentarily dazed.
Once he snapped out of it, an overwhelming aura surged from his body, along with a hearty, uncontrollable laugh.
"Hahahahaha!"
"Hahahahahahaha!"
"Hey! Garp! Get yourself over to Punk Hazard and back up Hammer and Borsalino!"
"Don't ask questions, you'll see for yourself when you get there! Now move it!"
The wave of Conqueror's Haki carried his laughter and rippled through Marineford.
Countless Marines paused their work, trembling, faces full of shock as they stared toward the main headquarters building.
The top brass felt that surge of Conqueror's Haki too; they instantly knew Sengoku was behind it.
Everyone rushed straight to Sengoku's office.
"Hey, Sengoku! Are you out of your mind? What's with you blasting out Conqueror's Haki in HQ?"
"If you don't give me a good reason, I'll beat your face into a pig's head!"
Kong's office was the closest; he kicked the door clean off its hinges and stormed in, cursing.
"Fleet Admiral Kong, Hammer, and Borsalino just caught the Golden Lion in the waters of Punk Hazard!"
"Don't give me that nonsense, first explain the Conqueror's Haki, wait, what did you just say?!"
"They caught the Golden Lion! Hammer and Borsalino caught the Golden Lion!"
"WHAT?!"
Kong froze in shock.
Just outside the door, Vice Admiral Tsuru had overheard as well; she, too, stood there wide-eyed, speechless.
The two veterans couldn't believe their ears.
"Is this for real, Sengoku? You'd better not be joking about this!"
Kong still doubted it, after all, this was the Golden Lion.
Unlike other pirates, Shiki's greatest threat lay in his Devil Fruit.
The Paramecia-type Float-Float Fruit gave him the ability to fly, earning him the name "Flying Pirate."
It was exactly because he could fly that the Navy had always struggled to pin him down, always on the defensive.
"It's absolutely true!"
"The Golden Lion ambushed Hammer in the New World. Hammer led Momonga, Yamakaji, Lance, and Shirley in a counterattack and put out a distress call to Punk Hazard. After Borsalino arrived, they took the Golden Lion down."
"He's currently pinned aboard the Warhammer. I've already ordered Garp to back them up, there's no mistake!"
Sengoku's tone was unshakably firm.
This was the kind of shock that would shake the Marine's high command for a century.
A bunch of Marine upstarts had managed to subdue a pirate who'd run rampant on the seas, and not just any pirate, but a legendary nightmare to deal with.
"Well done!"
"Hammer really is the Marines' lucky star!"
"Every time he sails out, something big happens!"
"Hahahaha!"
After the shock came pure delight, Kong laughed even harder than Sengoku.
Behind them, Tsuru laughed too; the three were overjoyed.
"Hey, Hammer, I've already informed Sengoku-san. We'll just wait here, right?"
Borsalino ended the call and looked at the hammer-shaped Hammer beside him.
"Yeah, got it. We'll wait right here for Vice Admiral Garp. Until he gets here, I'll stay on top of Shiki."
Both Hammer and Borsalino knew exactly how important Punk Hazard was; if Shiki ever realized it was the Marines' research base and managed to break free, the damage would be catastrophic.
So neither suggested heading there directly; they'd stay at sea and wait for Garp.
Not far away floated a half-sunken island and piles of rubble, the remains of the floating islands that had crashed down when Shiki's power vanished.
You had to admit, Shiki's preparations were thorough: floating islands, debris, tons of weapons.
But in the end, he still fell for Hammer's trick.
"You! Damn it! What the hell is this freakish power?!"
"How can I not break free with my Haki and my strength?!"
Pinned under Hammer, the Shiki was still struggling in vain.
His total inability to move made his rage boil over.
He, the mighty Golden Lion, crushed under a single hammer; if his old rivals ever heard about this, he'd never live it down.
"Hmph, save it, Shiki. Don't flatter yourself, even if it were Roger or Whitebeard under me, they wouldn't be able to budge either."
"Every Devil Fruit has its unique power; there's no way around it."
What Hammer said was perfectly true.
Devil Fruits were simply unreasonable.
Forget his Hammer-Hammer Fruit, look at the Hobby-Hobby Fruit that'd appear in the future.
Once you're hit, there's no undoing it.
"Tsk tsk tsk, Hammer-kun, your power after awakening is downright unfair."
"And Momonga, the way he fought just now was no weaker than either of us, maybe even stronger in some ways."
Borsalino munched on fruit as he shared his thoughts.
Hammer didn't deny it.
After all, once he transformed into the Oath Hammer, the Hammer-Hammer Fruit's power got a massive boost, and when Momonga wielded that boosted version, of course, his strength spiked too.
"Not entirely, though. Look, see that ship's rudder stuck in his head?"
"Monkey Bro, let's be real, even if you stuck that thing on old man Sengoku's head, how much of his strength would he have left?"
"A wound stabbed straight into the brain like that cripples anyone's final combat power."
"Am I wrong, Shiki?"
Shiki went silent. Hammer wasn't wrong at all.
Ever since that ship's rudder jammed into his skull, he had to admit he'd lost some of his edge.
Now even these kids could bring him down, maybe not in a direct clash, but a win's a win. It was humiliating.
"Hmph! Damn brats, if you hadn't ambushed me, you think I'd lose to you?!"
Shiki still wouldn't admit defeat; his pride wouldn't let him.
"Tch, ambush or not, you're pinned under me now and can't do squat. That's the fact."
"Face reality, when Garp gets here, I'm telling him to throw you into the sea and sink you. Just so you won't crawl back out to mess with me again."
Shiki: "…"
Everyone: "…"
When in doubt, sink 'em, classic Hammer.