As all eyes were on the collapsing Naval Headquarters, Garp's angry iron fist hurtled toward Adrian.
"As expected of Garp the Fist, even a blow like that can't stop you," Adrian said, a flash of surprise in his eyes. But that was all. He knew Garp was a hardened monster. Even if he wasn't a fan of Garp, he had to admit the old man was incredibly strong.
However, Adrian had taken all of this into account before he attacked. Just as Garp's Haki-wrapped fist was about to land on his face, Adrian's lips curved into a strange smirk. He hooked a finger, and a huge shadow streaked across the square, stopping directly in front of him. It was the golden coffin that had been parked beneath the execution platform. The one minute of invincibility had passed, and Garp's punch easily shattered the heavy lid.
But when the familiar corpse inside was revealed, Garp's powerful blow, which could crush a mountain, stopped dead. Inside the coffin was the corpse of his grandson, Ace.
"What? Don't want to hit me, Vice Admiral Garp?" Adrian's voice came from behind the golden coffin, a chillingly evil tone to it.
Immediately afterward, two arms made of quicksand and Armament Haki rose from the ground, gripping Garp's legs.
"Hmph, you think this little trick can stop me?" Garp scoffed, and with a slight shift of his feet, the two sand arms shattered.
But the next second, his face changed. Adrian's cold, playful voice came from behind him. "Vice Admiral Garp, you must be very sad that Fire Fist Ace died?"
Garp's furious punch was already on its way. It was so fast that even with Observation Haki fully activated, Adrian couldn't completely react.
But Adrian had one more trick.
"Don't you want to see him 'live' again?" he said.
Garp's fierce attack froze mid-swing, his pupils shrinking as if he'd heard a myth come to life. That brief moment of hesitation, less than a second, was all Adrian needed. It gave him the chance to escape and complete his plan.
"The opportunity is here!" Adrian's eyes lit up. He plunged his left hand into the ground and pulled out a pair of special glass scissors. With his right hand, he swiftly moved under Garp and tore his shadow from the ground.
Crack!
Garp's shadow was severed directly from his body.
"You… you bastard!" Garp's face contorted with rage. His iron fist no longer hesitated, smashing the figure behind him. But all that shattered was a double made of sand. Adrian's real body had already returned to the golden coffin. The entire process took less than two seconds.
"You are... looking for death!" Garp's roar echoed across Marineford, the terrifying aura around him darkening the sky. Garp was truly angry. In his seventy-six years of life, he had never wanted to kill someone as much as he wanted to kill Adrian. His raging Armament Haki pulsed around him like a raging fire.
"Hey, hey, Vice Admiral Garp, don't be so angry!" Adrian didn't seem to care. He held Garp's severed shadow up with a smile. "I didn't lie to you. I can indeed resurrect him. You always wanted to save Ace, didn't you? Well, I'll satisfy you now!"
With that, Adrian stuffed Garp's shadow into Ace's body.
Time seemed to stand still. Garp's momentum faltered, and he held his breath unconsciously. He didn't know what this bastard was doing with his shadow, but he desperately wanted his grandson to come back to life.
However, the "life" Adrian spoke of was vastly different from what Garp imagined.
"Uh… ah ah…" A low, raspy sound, like sandpaper on stone, came from Ace's throat. A moment later, a Haki-covered right hand slammed against the coffin wall.
"Ace… you…" Garp's voice caught in his throat, his face trembling with excitement. Tears of disbelief welled in his eyes. Ace, his grandson, was truly "alive." But the gaping blood hole in his chest served as a constant reminder that Ace was dead.
"Da da…"
"Da da…"
"Ace" staggered out of the coffin like a drunk, staring blankly at the sky as if adapting to a new world.
"Ace, you're all right… Bang!" Before Garp could finish his sentence, a fist smashed into his face. Caught off guard, his powerful body was sent flying into the ruins of the Naval Headquarters.
Boom!
The ground trembled. A cloud of smoke and dust billowed up from the ruins.
"God, everyone, look over there..."
"That person… is it… Fire Fist Ace?!"
"Is it true? Fire Fist Ace is alive?!"
"What happened? How can the dead be resurrected?!"
"Is it just my imagination, or does he seem much stronger? He just knocked Vice Admiral Garp away with one punch!"
The surrounding Marines and Vice Admirals were stunned. Fire Fist Ace, who had just been killed by Akainu, is "alive" again, and had knocked Garp down. The scene had become a terrifying nightmare. No one would believe it if they hadn't seen it with their own eyes.
"That Adrian guy… I'm afraid he used Gecko Moria's ability!" Vice Admiral Momonga said in a trembling voice. Only the "Shadow-Shadow Fruit" could explain this bizarre scene.
He was right. When Adrian had beheaded Gecko Moria, he'd used a common plundering and only acquired "Shadow Cut"—an ability to cut out shadows and place them in a designated corpse, creating a zombie soldier who would obey his every command. These zombie soldiers would also inherit the shadow owner's "personality" and "combat ability." The stronger the shadow owner, the stronger the zombie soldier.
This was why Adrian had never moved the golden coffin with Ace's body. With Garp's shadow and Ace's corpse, he could create a completely loyal zombie soldier with the strength of an elite Vice Admiral, or even a high-level general. This zombie would be able to completely restrain Garp, a powerful threat he no longer had to worry about.
"Ace, my original goal was Whitebeard, but considering your relationship with Garp, you'll have to do," Adrian said with a hint of regret. He could tell from the punch that Ace couldn't fully channel Garp's terrifying power. He'd inherited at most eighty percent of his strength.
The most suitable vessel would have been Whitebeard's body, which could have fully displayed Garp's strength. But to limit Garp, Adrian had chosen Ace. Garp cared most about family bonds, and Adrian would use that against him.
"Ad… rian…!" A roar, as thunderous as a demon god's, came from the ruins. Garp, his face contorted with rage, his aura at its peak, slowly emerged. He didn't even bother to dust himself off. He just walked straight toward Adrian, each step making the ground tremble.
"Lord Adrian…" Even the proud Empress Hancock was overwhelmed by Garp's aura. She quickly moved to Adrian's side, arms spread, standing in front of him.
"It's alright, Hancock. His nemesis is in our hands now," Adrian said, embracing her. He then gave Ace a command.
"Ace... Forget it, I'll give you a new name. I'll call you 'Death Song'!"
"Death Song, listen to me. From now on, Vice Admiral Garp is your exclusive enemy. As long as he appears, you will ignore all other enemies and only deal with him!"
"'Death Song'… is that my new name?" The zombie Ace had now fully adapted to its surroundings. A look of twisted joy appeared on its face. It knelt on one knee before Adrian. "Thank you for the name, my Lord. Death Song likes this new name very much."
When Garp saw this, his expression became horribly distorted with rage. He stood up straight and roared, "You bastard, look what you've turned Ace… into!"