"Galaxy Impact!"
The iron fist, raging with Haki, slammed into the air. A massive radial pillar of light erupted with a roar, the surging shockwave descending from above, transforming into the most violent wind.
"As expected, I need this move to deal with you!"
Sakura spun Kumotsuna. The giant sword in her hand shrank to the size of an ordinary blade. Haki of both colors wrapped around the blade, which she fiercely swung forward.
"Divine Departure—!"
A pitch-black wave transformed into a massive torrent sweeping heaven and earth. A biting sword light tore through the radial shockwave, blanketing towards Garp.
"Brat, doing unnecessary things!"
Although the old mouth, which even a crematorium couldn't burn clean, was still complaining, by now Garp was laughing so hard tears almost uncontrollably fell.
His gaze swept over the fleet that had been freed by the shattering ice.
The soldiers initially knocked unconscious by Conqueror's Haki were gradually waking up. More importantly, he saw officers pulling Zephyr and Tsuru from the sea and climbing onto the warships.
Taking a deep breath, Garp roared loudly: "Listen up! As the highest-ranking commander of this fleet, I order a full retreat!"
The aged and hoarse voice echoed across the entire sea area. The surviving Marines understood what this elderly man in his sixties was preparing to do for them.
"Vice Admiral Garp!" xn
Many Marine soldiers couldn't help but wail. Some impulsive officers even prepared to rush out and save him, but were held back by their comrades.
"Don't make me repeat myself. Set sail!"
Garp swung a punch at them. A vast and mighty shockwave spread far and wide, pushing those warships out to sea. Finally, under the control of the soldiers obeying orders, they turned around and sailed away from the waters of Marian Island.
"Your worries are cut off? Can we start now?" Sakura, hands behind her back, looking every bit the young girl, tilted her head at Garp.
Regarding the Marines' retreat, she neither blocked it nor ordered the forces on the island to pursue.
"Ho? Not stopping this old man's orders? Not afraid of letting a tiger return to the mountain?" Garp's smile turned dangerous. His spirit trembled, stirring up gusts that made his coat constantly flutter.
"Letting a tiger return to the mountain? It's just two defeated opponents who've lost consciousness, plus a bunch of ordinary soldiers."
Sakura raised Kumotsuna, holding it horizontally before her. "Besides, my goal in going to sea is to clash with the strong ones of this sea. Attacking the weak would only make me weaker!"
"The strong draw their blades against the stronger, huh..." Garp mused. "A truly terrifying brat!"
Then, he stomped the air, launching himself like a projectile, charging straight at Sakura.
During his flight, Garp punched several chunks of floating ice. His scorching Armament Haki struck the ice, shattering it.
The fragments shot out like shotgun pellets, flying at speeds invisible to the naked eye, hurtling towards the girl.
What's more, after contacting Garp's fist, the ice fragments themselves were also wrapped in Armament Haki.
"Oh, Haki can be used like this?" Sakura's eyes lit up.
She raised her empty palm. Under the flow of Armament Haki, an invisible armor gathered before her.
The flying fragments collided with the Haki armor, immediately emitting a series of crisp clinks.
"You little brat! Be defeated here today! Thunder Ram!"
Having already reached Sakura, Garp raised his fist. A wisp of crimson lightning rose along the trajectory of his punch.
"Old man! I'll cut down your legend right here!"
Sakura reveled in the intense clash of wills. Kumotsuna in her hand emitted the heat cycle bred by her Devil Fruit ability. The gas within the iron cloud was heated, causing collisional ionization, producing a massive amount of electric current.
"Meioken: Wild Spirit!"
Instead of swinging the wave out as a flying slash, she wrapped it around the blade, colliding with Garp's incoming fist.
Boom—!
Another distant clash using Conqueror's Haki enveloped all things under the will of the two sovereigns, making them tremble.
The world's color faded. Continuously erupting savage hurricanes swept the surrounding sea, causing waves to spread in rings from under the feet of the two.
Amidst this pallor, the girl was surprised to find that the Devil Fruit power contained within her blade was gradually retreating.
The electric current produced by her Devil Fruit's operation was actually being erased by Garp's Haki.
"Haki can reach this level? How much more will you make me rejoice? Hahaha!" Sakura's emerald eyes widened. Unable to contain herself, she laughed out loud.
She didn't care at all that her ability was being shattered, her Haki dispersed.
She was forcibly struck in the abdomen by Garp's fist. The innate Steel Skin was penetrated by Haki capable of internal destruction. Her entire body flew backwards towards the island behind her, crashing through a thorn wall and embedding into the earth.
"Hiss, that really hurts!" Amidst the dust, the girl pushed aside the broken thorns and stood up.
One hand clutched her smooth abdomen. Yin Seal's Chakra seeped in, trying to repair the damaged cells.
However, this time, the ever-victorious Creation Rebirth technique… failed!
A will transcending all things lingered within the wound's cells, repelling all physical properties and supernatural energy from repairing this injury.
To put it simply: true damage that couldn't be healed!
"Tch, tough-skinned brat." Garp gasped a few times, wiping the sweat from his brow.
The attack, which had consumed immense physical strength and Haki, still couldn't defeat her in one blow. Dragging this out further might disadvantage him.
'Was I ultimately... old?'
Garp looked up at the distant sunset. Somehow, he recalled the image of Rocks's defeat at God Valley.
"Hey, Garp old man! Where are you looking?!"
Sakura charged forward again. This time, she wielded the giant sword, Haki encircling her body.
"Ikoku Sovereignty!"
Abandoning abilities and all flashy powers, Sakura returned to pure Haki. The giant sword swung.
"Tenacious girl!" Garp roared. "Infinitum Explosion!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!...
The atmosphere began to boil again. The constant clash of fist and giant sword formed a stalemate.
The wounds on Sakura's body grew more numerous. Almost every time Garp landed a punch, another irreparable wound appeared.
Garp's condition was equally bad. Prolonged defense inevitably fails. No matter how exquisite his Haki, it was eventually breached by Sakura's attacks. His arms, legs, waist, and abdomen were all cut with many wounds.
Coupled with the need to maintain suppression of Sakura's ability, his Haki drained like a flood.
Within the island, the Higanbana Pirates' members, giants, and Wing tribe, whose battles had ended, along with Kizaru and Enel still tangled in the sky, all stopped their actions. Their attention was completely drawn by the frenzied clash of wills outside the island.
"Able to fight to this extent with that monster Garp... how terrifying~"
Kicking Enel away with a light-speed kick and landing on the thorn wall, Kizaru narrowed his eyes. He raised a finger towards Sakura, a light flickering at its tip.
"Don't move, Kizaru!" The surrounding darkness surged. The Night Sparrow guarded by shadow thorns finally descended behind him. A spear woven from darkness pointed directly at Kizaru's head.
"Oh~, the Night Sparrow, Leviathan!" Kizaru feigned amazement, raising his hands as if surrendering.
The other Higanbana Pirates' members also slowly surrounded him, finally causing Kizaru to abandon any intention of intervening. He helplessly sat down cross-legged to watch the battle.
"Haah, haah, haah!" Garp, at the center of the battlefield, gasped like a bellows. His condition was now miserable: tattered clothes, covered in wounds, blood flowing from his mouth.
Sakura, standing opposite him, was no better. Although she seemed wrapped in crimson lightning, that was merely the residue of Garp's Haki on her body.
The two raised their heads and looked into each other's eyes. They knew very well that the next strike would be their last.
Garp, already nearing his limit, struck first. "Galaxy Divide!"
Betting almost everything on this one blow, Garp's Haki faintly gathered into the form of a roaring mastiff.
"Hero's Spear: Fire!"
Her heart pumped. Haki poured. Amidst the dark lightning wrapping around the giant sword Sakura raised, a faint wisp of crimson lightning was mingled.
Their figures turned into beams of light, colliding at the very center of the sea!
Light! Dazzling light nearly illuminated the entire sky.
A super-large shockwave, on the kilometer scale, shot straight up from below to the heavens! It pierced the clouds, shattering the sky.
Shriek!
Amidst the tremendous roar, a crisp sound of tearing cloth reached everyone's ears.
The dust stirred up by the impact gradually dissipated. The situation at the center of the battlefield became clear.
The longsword made of iron cloud pierced through the white-haired elder's abdomen, causing him to spurt a mouthful of blood. Losing strength, he fell to the ground.
At that moment, everyone realized one thing.
—The hero had been defeated!