"Roar!"
Amid the sound of a tiger's roar, a massive, lifelike ferocious tiger burst forth.
Garp's expression changed instantly.
The gigantic tiger-shaped blast of force slammed straight into him, and with its jaws opened wide, it swallowed Garp whole.
Then, like the detonation of a nuclear bomb, a colossal explosion erupted violently.
Everyone stopped in their tracks, staring at the massive blast in shock.
The fierce explosion affected all of them, but no one present was weak, and since none of them were at the center of the blast, they were not seriously affected.
"What terrifying power..." Borsalino said.
"Rosinante..." Sakazuki muttered darkly.
"Garp!" Sengoku's face darkened as well.
"The power is incredible, but an attack like this still won't be enough to bring down Vice Admiral Garp," Kuzan said calmly.
On the other side, Bins, Redfield, Sengoku, and the others who had been fighting also stopped, all staring in shock at the explosion.
"Did that bastard Garp really take it head-on?" Sengoku said in surprise.
"What a terrifying attack. It seems I still underestimated the little brother. He's much stronger than I imagined," Redfield said.
"That man is a monster. To be honest, his combat power had already surpassed yours ten years ago. Back then, in order to stop his growth, the World Government mobilized nearly all of its top forces just to exile his soul into another spacetime. But now, it looks like he obtained another kind of power there. Red... I'll have to finish you quickly. I need to go help them," Sengoku said darkly.
"You say that as if you're stronger than me, Sengoku. Don't forget, you were once defeated by me," Redfield replied coldly.
"That's true. Your strength was terrifying in the past. But after being imprisoned in Impel Down for decades, you're no longer my opponent," Sengoku said.
As he spoke, he launched an even fiercer assault on Redfield, forcing him steadily backward.
And just as Sengoku said, after being imprisoned for decades, Redfield had weakened significantly.
Because he was considered too dangerous, Impel Down had used all kinds of methods to restrict his movement.
For all those years in prison, Redfield had barely even been able to move.
Combined with the effects of aging, his strength had declined drastically.
Sengoku, on the other hand, had also aged, and his strength had declined over the past ten years as well.
But compared to Redfield, he was still in far better condition.
Meanwhile, the explosion caused by Daytime Tiger slowly began to fade.
When everyone looked again, they saw that a huge crater had formed at the site of the blast.
And in the center of that crater stood a single figure.
"Huff... huff..."
The man raised his head.
It was none other than the Hero of the Marines, Vice Admiral Garp.
At this moment, his breathing was somewhat labored.
"Ahahaha... for a second there, I thought I was dead," Garp said with a grin.
The Armament Haki covering his body slowly receded.
There didn't seem to be any obvious injuries on him at all.
Only his clothes were somewhat torn.
"As expected... just the Seventh Gate still isn't quite enough against that old monster," Rosinante said heavily when he saw that Garp appeared mostly unharmed.
"Garp, are you alright?!" Sengoku shouted.
"I'm fine, Sengoku. But that punch was no joke," Garp said, his face becoming incomparably serious.
When Sengoku saw that, his expression changed as well.
That level of seriousness from Garp was something he had only seen when facing Roger... or the overlords of the New World from before Roger's era.
Once Garp showed that kind of expression, it meant only one thing:
The opponent in front of him was a threat beyond imagination.
"Move. We already learned this ten years ago. If we don't fight with our lives on the line, taking him down is impossible," Sengoku said solemnly.
"That was exactly what I was thinking," Sakazuki said with a savage grin, already charging toward Rosinante first.
"Meteor Volcano!"
In an instant, Sakazuki appeared above Rosinante, both fists blazing like erupting volcanoes as he struck downward like lightning.
One magma fist after another rained down in dense clusters toward Rosinante.
"Daytime Tiger!"
Rosinante brought both hands together, unleashing force from between his palms.
A gigantic tiger-shaped shockwave roared into existence, opened its jaws wide, and lunged upward at the endless storm of Meteor Volcano.
In an instant, a massive mushroom cloud erupted in the sky.
"Well now... there's an opening," Kuzan said lazily.
In a flash, he appeared beside Rosinante and threw a punch at him just as Rosinante had finished using Daytime Tiger.
Rosinante raised an arm to block the blow.
But the moment he did, his arm was instantly frozen solid.
Rosinante was slightly startled.
Even with the protection of the blue steam aura released by the Seventh Gate, and with the Power of Annihilation constantly shielding him, Kuzan's freezing force had still broken through both layers of defense and frozen him.
After that brief shock, Rosinante immediately lashed out with a kick, sending Kuzan flying away.
But at the same time, his leg was frozen as well.
"Light Emperor!"
At some point, Borsalino had appeared in the sky on Rosinante's other side.
Above his head floated a massive sword of light, as large as the Ama no Murakumo Sword.
The instant Rosinante kicked Kuzan away, Borsalino flicked his hand, and that giant blade of light transformed into a streak of extreme radiance, shooting toward Rosinante.
Boom!
The blade of light instantly struck Rosinante's position.
Light exploded outward.
Everything was engulfed in a violent detonation.
Compared to the Light Emperor from ten years ago, this one was much smaller.
But its power was actually more than ten times greater.
Because within it was compressed an unimaginable amount of light energy.
"Is it over?" Borsalino said, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.
He seemed very satisfied with that strike.
But just then—
From within the explosion, a voice rang out:
"Eight Gates Release... Eighth Gate, open!"
...