"Enemy attack!!!"
It wasn't an alarm but the cannon operator Pitam's shout echoing across the ship.
Sakura Haruno broke free from Shanks' arm around her shoulder and looked up at the sky.
A black meteor, trailing a venomous blaze, streaked through the air, homing in on the Oro Jackson with pinpoint precision.
"Trouble! Incoming cannon fire!"
Sakura grabbed a piece of broken wooden sword from the deck. With a surge of immense strength, her fingertips unleashed a piercing wail.
—Like the beat of a heavenly drum!
A thin brown thread shot from her hand, the wooden shard hurtling straight toward the black meteor.
But…
It hit, yet it didn't.
In Sakura's green eyes, she saw the cannonball crush the wooden shard into dust.
Hold on, what kind of cannonball doesn't explode after an impact like that? Are you firing cannonballs or lead shot?!
Wait! That thing must be infused with Haki. Only Haki could cause a scene like this!
Sakura pressed a hand to her forehead, letting go of the remaining wooden fragments.
A cannonball carrying Haki? Someone must've thrown it by hand.
And there was only one person bold enough to attack the Roger Pirates on the open sea with a missile-like throw like that.
The Navy Hero—Monkey D. Garp!
"Hmph!"
Roger's figure suddenly appeared in front of Sakura and the others, his legendary sword Ace slashing upward.
The sword's cry tore through the sky, unleashing a hundreds-of-meters-long arc of sword energy that shattered the incoming barrage of cannonballs.
"Hey, you kids, get back! That guy's not someone you should be facing," Roger said.
As his voice rang out, another voice, amplified by an electric megaphone, reached Sakura's ears.
"Moshi moshi! This is Garp, this is Garp."
"Roger, surrender now! Today, I'm sending you to Impel Down!"
The broadcast, laced with three parts absurdity and seven parts fiery passion, boomed across the sea.
A man in a white Justice cloak, his temples slightly grayed, stepped to the bow of the dog-shaped warship and stomped hard.
The next moment, the impact forced the ship's bow into the sea.
The legendary hero, his right arm crackling with dark lightning, loomed high in the sky.
"Hahaha, Garp, you're not catching me that easily!"
"My dream's still out there, you know!"
Roger laughed as he leaped from the ship, charging toward the falling meteor in the sky.
"Fist Bone: Impact—!" "God's Evasion—!"
A ferocious aura shook the entire sea.
Fist met sword in a clash of titans, their Conqueror's Haki transforming into raw willpower, roaring wildly between the untouched fist and blade.
The shockwave from the clash of these two legends swelled and spread, enveloping everything.
The sea churned under the sword light and fist wind, kicking up towering waves.
Blinding white light glared down fiercely, making it impossible to look directly at their figures.
"They're not even touching?" Buggy muttered, barely lifting his head while clutching his hat.
"Idiot, you've got time to gawk at the show?" Sakura snapped.
Grabbing Buggy and Shanks, she didn't hesitate, dragging them toward the ship's cabin.
But she hadn't expected the intense spiraling currents to cause the two ships to collide sideways.
"No good, we're out of time!"
A predatory sensation gripped Sakura's heart. She only had time to hurl Buggy and Shanks backward.
Immediately, harsh frost spread across the deck, freezing her feet in place.
"Sakura!"
Buggy and Shanks cried out in unison, their voices filled with despair.
"There are kids here? That's a real headache," a tall man in a black coat said, exhaling frosty mist from his cigarette.
Scratching his cheek, the man seemed conflicted.
They were pirates, sure, but they were just kids.
Killing them didn't align with his sense of justice, but letting them go might violate Navy regulations.
"What a hassle. Garp never taught me how to handle this," he muttered.
"So, how about you surrender? You can say it was Navy officer Kuzan who arrested you."
At that moment, the young Navy captain Kuzan flashed what he thought was a friendly smile at the girl before him.
But the frost creeping across his face, combined with the menacing look from his shades and shadowed features, stripped the smile of any warmth.
"No way!"
Sakura twisted hard, her immense strength shattering the ice encasing her shoes.
Freed, she leaped high, her pink fist slamming fiercely into Kuzan's stomach.
The massive force pierced through, but Sakura only felt her fist break through a layer of frost, her momentum carrying her right through Kuzan's midsection.
She knew she couldn't harm a Logia user without Armament Haki, but this was her best move.
Taking advantage of Kuzan's reforming body, Sakura turned to the ship's most reliable ally—Buggy!
Darting past the Navy officer, she reached the red-nosed boy and grabbed his wrist.
"Buggy, it's all up to you to beat this guy!"
The Roger Pirates and the Navy were locked in heated combat, with every other crew member busy with their own opponents.
It seemed this "admiral-in-training" was a test left for the three kids.
Sakura tightened her grip, and Buggy's wrist caved in with a yelp.
"Ow, ow, ow, Sakura, you—"
His words were cut off by the rushing whirl of air.
Then, he felt the small hands gripping him let go, his body spinning wildly through the air before plunging into the vortex.
"Sak—glub, glub, glub!"
Hearing her friend's miserable cries from the current, Shanks pulled his straw hat low and stepped behind Sakura.
"Sakura, will this work?"
"Don't worry!"
Sakura gave him a thumbs-up, then powered up her legs and threw another punch at Kuzan.
"Trying to get your friend away? Where's he gonna go without a ship?" Kuzan said, his brow furrowing slightly.
Though the girl couldn't hit his true body, every punch that shattered his form forced him to take time to reform.
It was clearly a stalling tactic, and she seemed to know he was hesitant to go all-out against kids.
—Despicable pirates!
Purple Haki swirled around Kuzan's arms, the dangerous aura making the tall man even more threatening.
"Keep getting in my way, and I won't hold back," he warned.
Kuzan was focused on ending the fight with Sakura quickly, completely missing the hand gripping the Oro Jackson's railing behind him.
"Sakura Haruno, you jerk!!!"
Hearing the roar of the luckiest guy alive, Buggy, Sakura grinned.
"Heh, Navy guy, we're about to win."
"Try it if you can!"
Frosty mist surged from Kuzan's hands, forming a gleaming white spear, its sharp tip glinting ominously.
"Please, Buggy!"
Sakura slammed her fist into the deck, the massive force tilting the Oro Jackson.
Buggy, who had just climbed aboard, was launched into the air by the jolt, landing right in Sakura's hands.
"Huh, this is your plan to win?" Kuzan asked.
He slapped the ground, spreading cold air that formed slick ice across the deck.
He'd hoped to throw Sakura off balance, but she dodged with a high jump.
As her shadow loomed over him, Kuzan felt a twinge of unease.
—She's closing the distance. I should do something.
—But what could a little girl like her do? She doesn't even have a way to hit a Logia.
"Ninja Art: Buggy Seal Technique!"
In midair, Sakura steadied Buggy's head with both hands, her legs clamping tightly around his stomach.
Pfft!!!
Suddenly, a torrent of seawater sprayed from Buggy's mouth, drenching Kuzan from head to toe.
"Wait, that's… seawater!"
Kuzan's eyes trembled behind his shades. He hadn't expected the red-nosed kid to hold that much seawater in his stomach.
He leaned back, trying to create distance.
Seawater on land wouldn't nullify his powers completely, but it would disable his core defense—elementalization!
White frost erupted across Kuzan's body, rapidly freezing the seawater to regain his elemental form.
But he was just a fraction of a second too slow. The shadow of the girl's fist was already upon him.
Kuzan looked up.
All light in his vision vanished.
All that remained was a fist wreathed in blazing flames.
Death!
Sakura's fist, like a blazing meteor, pierced the night.
Boom—!
The massive force slammed into Kuzan's towering frame, the impact rippling across his face like waves, spreading outward.
In the final moment before darkness swallowed Kuzan's consciousness, one last thought flickered through his mind: Young people have no respect for martial virtue. How could she hit me in the face?
And with that, the Navy's rising star plunged into the sea, his fate unknown!