Slowly, Bardock lowered his right hand.
Below him, a colossal, palm-shaped crater was permanently branded into the bedrock of the mountain. At the absolute epicenter of the destruction, Vice Admiral Garp stood buried up to his knees in the shattered earth. His arms were raised in a cross-guard above his head, still maintaining the posture he had used to physically catch and deflect the brunt of the kinetic force.
"As expected of the Marine Hero," Bardock chuckled, his voice echoing from the massive golden monkey. He was genuinely impressed. "Taking a direct hit from a technique like that... and the only real damage is your suit getting ruined?"
Bardock knew for a fact that if their positions were reversed and he had taken the full brunt of that palm strike head-on, he absolutely would have suffered internal bleeding and fractured bones. Yet Garp looked completely unfazed. Was his body literally made of indestructible steel?
"Tch." Garp violently spat a glob of blood and dirt onto the ruined ground. "You sneaky little brat! You were hiding that technique this entire time! So that's the true power of your Mythical Zoan... the ability to grow to massive proportions? I almost took a serious loss there."
"Unfortunately, it wasn't enough," Bardock sighed, shaking his massive golden head. "I thought the sheer surprise factor might give me a decisive advantage. Shall we continue? Your two grandsons have arrived, by the way."
Garp remained completely silent, staring fiercely at Bardock. He had already sensed Ace and Luffy sprinting recklessly into the danger zone with his Observation Haki. The immediate presence of the two boys was the sole reason he hadn't immediately retaliated with another Galaxy Impact after taking the palm strike.
"GRANDPA! Are you okay?!"
Ace and Luffy blindly charged through the shattered trees and debris, completely ignoring the terrifying, building-sized golden monkey hovering directly above them. They frantically ran to Garp, checking to see if he was injured.
Bardock rubbed his nose, highly amused. 'These kids are either insanely brave or just incredibly dense.' With his current size and power, he could literally blow them out of the atmosphere with a single sneeze, yet they didn't even spare him a second glance.
Realizing that continuing the high-level battle with two fragile children present was impossible—Garp absolutely wouldn't risk their lives, and Bardock had no desire to kill them—Bardock gracefully shrunk back down to his normal human size, though he maintained his dense, golden-furred Monkey King transformation for the stat boost.
Initially, Garp felt a brief, heartwarming surge of grandfatherly affection seeing how worried the boys were about his safety. However, that affection lasted for exactly three seconds before it was completely overridden by furious anxiety.
WHACK! WHACK!
Garp ruthlessly delivered a heavy 'Fist of Love' directly to the top of both boys' heads.
"YOU TWO ABSOLUTE IDIOTS!" Garp roared, his shark-teeth bared. "Do you have any idea what level of combat was happening here?! Is this a place you can just casually stroll into?! If you sense two monsters fighting, you run in the opposite direction, you morons!"
"OWWWW!" Luffy screamed, a massive, comical lump instantly sprouting from the top of his rubber head. He curled into a ball on the ground, holding his head. "I'M NEVER WORRYING ABOUT YOU AGAIN!"
"DAMMIT, OLD MAN! THAT HURT!" Ace hissed, clutching his own throbbing lump.
"Bwahahaha!" Garp ignored their complaints, casually scooping a boy under each arm. He looked back at Bardock, his expression hardening. "Brat. We're calling a ceasefire for today. But mark my words, the next time we cross paths on the sea, it won't be this simple."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You say that with such confidence, as if you actually won the fight," Bardock scoffed, crossing his arms. He then flashed a highly provocative grin. "You know... I'm sure 'Big News' Morgans would be incredibly interested to learn that the legendary Marine Hero's grandsons are desperately planning to become the Pirate King. It would make a fantastic headline."
Garp's eye twitched violently.
"So here's the deal," Bardock continued smoothly. "I absolutely do not want to see a single Marine warship trailing my crew for the remainder of our time in the East Blue. In exchange, I'll keep my mouth shut, and I'll leave this sea as soon as possible."
Garp gritted his teeth, the veins popping on his forehead. "Hmph. Just get lost already."
Bardock shrugged nonchalantly, un-transformed back into his normal human form, and began casually strolling down the mountain toward the village.
Garp followed slowly behind him, carrying the two grumbling boys. He immediately resumed his usual, aggressive lecturing. "Listen to me, you two! From now on, you're going to train harder! You are going to become powerful, righteous Marines!"
"NO WAY!" Luffy instantly yelled back, completely unfazed by the recent head trauma. "I'm the man who's going to become the Pirate King! I already promised Shanks!"
"SHUT UP, LUFFY!" Ace glared fiercely at his younger brother. "The one who is going to become the Pirate King is ME! Even you can't beat me!"
"IT'S ME!" "NO, ME!" "ME!"
As the two boys began childishly screaming back and forth, Garp's blood pressure instantly skyrocketed again.
WHACK! WHACK!
Two more 'Fists of Love' landed precisely on their skulls, resulting in two fresh, throbbing lumps. Both boys instantly united in their hatred, loudly cursing at the old man as they were carried down the mountain.
By the time the chaotic, bickering group finally reached the dirt road outside the village, the intense duel between Daz Bonez and Bogard was still raging fiercely.
However, it was glaringly obvious how the battle was trending. Daz Bonez's fearsome reputation as the absolute 'Bane of Swordsmen' was not an exaggeration. Even though Bogard was a remarkably powerful master swordsman with lethal technique, his inability to consistently pierce Daz Bonez's Haki-reinforced steel skin placed him at a massive tactical disadvantage. He was visibly exhausted, sweating profusely and clearly fighting entirely on the defensive.
If the battle continued without outside interference, Bogard would inevitably lose the war of attrition.
Hearing the approaching footsteps, the two combatants simultaneously disengaged, leaping backward. They both knew that their individual duel was irrelevant; the only thing that mattered was the outcome of the battle between their respective Captains.
"That's enough, Bonez," Bardock called out calmly. "We're leaving."
"Boss," Daz Bonez immediately sheathed his blade-arms, looking closely at Bardock for any signs of injury. "Did you defeat the Marine Hero?"
If Bardock had lost, they would currently be running for their lives. The fact that he was casually walking alongside Garp was a massive testament to his strength.
"The battle was temporarily interrupted due to unforeseen circumstances," Bardock replied smoothly. "However... it is merely a matter of time before I defeat him."
With that bold claim hanging in the air, Bardock smoothly summoned the Nimbus Cloud.
Ever since they had acquired the flying galleon, the White Dragon, Bardock rarely used the Nimbus Cloud for simple transportation. Instead, he primarily utilized its density-manipulation feature as an adjustable, extreme gravity training weight.
Truthfully, Bardock's terrifyingly rapid growth in strength was entirely dependent on a highly specific synergy: the monstrous baseline physical stats provided by his Mythical Zoan Fruit, the extreme gravity training of the Nimbus Cloud, and the infinite, instant healing provided by Mansherry's Dandelion. Missing even one of those components would have drastically slowed his progress.
The Marines surrounding Bogard immediately began asking Garp what happened in the forest, deeply worried that their invincible Vice Admiral had actually lost a fight in the East Blue. Garp gruffly reassured them that they had merely agreed to a ceasefire to avoid destroying the village.
As Bardock and his crew smoothly stepped onto the golden cloud and began floating into the sky, Ace and Luffy stared at the magical object with wide, star-struck eyes. They desperately wanted to know what it felt like to ride a flying cloud, but their pride (and fear of Garp) kept them grounded.
Garp watched Bardock ascend. He wasn't particularly surprised; he had already known from the intelligence reports that the pirate possessed flight capabilities. However, seeing it in person made him realize how insanely difficult it would be to ever actually capture this crew. 'His mobility is just as annoying as Shiki the Golden Lion,' Garp grumbled internally. 'Ah well, Sengoku is the Fleet Admiral now, so it's his headache to deal with.' Garp shamelessly picked his nose, completely absolving himself of any responsibility.
As they ascended high above the village, Enel crossed his arms and looked at Bardock. "Captain. Since you managed to negotiate a clean exit... what should I do with the massive thunderstorm I gathered?"
Prior to the battle, to ensure they had a devastating trump card to cover their escape, Bardock had secretly instructed Enel to use the White Dragon's altitude to quietly accumulate a massive electrical storm in the thick cloud cover above the island. Now, they were sitting on a literal weapon of mass destruction with no target.
"Actually," Bardock smirked, looking down at the sparkling ocean bay directly bordering the village. "There is one highly specific target down there that absolutely deserves a little shock therapy."
Bardock had made a rapid decision: he was going to go extreme fishing.
More specifically, he was going to electrocute the infamous Lord of the Coast. While using an apocalyptic lightning strike on a mere Sea King was definitely overkill, that specific beast had eaten the Mountain Bandit King, bitten off Shanks' arm, and very nearly killed a young Luffy. It absolutely deserved to be vaporized. Furthermore, unleashing a massive, devastating attack right before they left served as a stark, terrifying warning to the Navy: Do not follow us.
"Hey! Old Man Garp!" Bardock shouted down from the sky, projecting his voice loudly so the entire port could hear. "I'm treating everyone to grilled fish today!"
Bardock turned to Enel. "Do it."
"Yahahahaha! Leave it to me!" Enel cackled, raising his hands toward the dark, churning storm clouds above them. "MAMARAGAN!" (Heavy Rain/Ten Thousand Thunders)
Enel purposefully didn't use his ultimate Raigo (Advent of Thunder) sphere, as that attack would have literally vaporized the entire island's coastline and completely destroyed the local ecosystem. Mamaragan was perfect for a highly localized, devastating strike.
Instantly, thousands of blindingly bright, apocalyptic lightning bolts rained down from the sky, aggressively bombarding the ocean waters just outside the village port.
The poor, unsuspecting fish in the bay didn't stand a chance. However, they were cooked instantly, so it was a relatively painless death.
After a few seconds of continuous, deafening bombardment, Enel ceased the attack.
The entire surface of the bay was completely covered in thousands of perfectly grilled, floating fish. And right in the center of the bay, floating belly-up and completely charred black, was the massive, terrifying Lord of the Coast.
Using his Devil Fruit powers, Bardock casually lifted the massive, cooked Sea King out of the water and precisely tossed it onto the beach, directly in front of a completely stunned Luffy.
"Luffy!" Bardock called out from the cloud. "Consider that a free favor! You owe me one!"
Luffy stared wide-eyed at the charred corpse of the Lord of the Coast. He instantly recognized the beast as the exact same monster that had violently ripped off Shanks' arm. Originally, Luffy had sworn a solemn oath that he would become strong enough to punch that specific monster in the face when he finally set sail. Now, his sworn enemy had been turned into a giant fish stick. He felt a bizarre mix of profound relief and deep, agonizing emptiness at being robbed of his revenge.
"Old Man Garp!" Bardock shouted again. "Those thousands of grilled fish are my official compensation for destroying the forest on the mountain! I did the cooking; it's up to you Marines to do the cleaning and fishing! Farewell!"
Without waiting for Garp to yell back, Bardock mentally commanded the Nimbus Cloud to accelerate rapidly into the sky, vanishing into the thick cloud cover to rendezvous with the White Dragon.
"THAT ARROGANT BASTARD!" Garp roared furiously at the sky, violently shaking his fist. He then sighed heavily, turned to Bogard, and aggressively pointed at the floating seafood buffet. "Well?! What are you waiting for?! Tell the men to grab some nets and start fishing! We're eating well tonight!"
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