A thousand meters beneath the sea, a grievous wound torn across his chest by Rocks, Garp endured the saltwater's sting and clawed upward toward the surface.
Mid-stroke, he froze.
His head cocked, listening to something only he could sense.
What… happened? Why do I feel Tsuru's crushing sorrow?
For no reason he could name…
…a thousand meters down, leagues from the warship where Tsuru stood…
…Garp felt her anguish as though it were his own.
A tide of grief flooded his heart; his eyes stung with borrowed tears.
The strangeness of it left him bewildered—and afraid.
He had no idea what horror had befallen her.
Then his ears twitched; pupils dilated, sea-blue turning black.
He heard Tsuru's voice.
Heard her sorrow, her panic, her rage.
"Garp!! Where are you?!"
"Fleet-Admiral Gustav… has fallen!"
"Whitebeard is unleashing his power—our fleet is being wiped out!"
"Rocks has stormed the island—Zephyr and Columbus are down, and Sengoku… even Sengoku is dying!"
"Please! Save them!"
A thousand meters under, yet her cry reached him—and Garp exploded.
"The Old Admiral is dead…"
"The fleet annihilated…"
"Zephyr broken…"
"Sengoku at death's door!!!"
Crimson eyes blazed; black-crimson lightning erupted, hurling the sea aside and spawning abyssal whirlpools.
"Unforgivable!!"
"Rocks!!!"
An inhuman roar tore from his throat.
In the next instant a volcanic force detonated, blasting the kilometer-deep ocean open.
Garp shot upward like a torpedo, like a rocket, ripping a white contrail through the black.
A massive Sea King, hundreds of meters long, lunged to swallow him—
—and was pulp as Garp punched clean through its skull.
Blood geysered; the surface erupted in a tower of water.
Garp burst skyward, a meteor arcing toward Puttelocrone Island.
Mid-air, blood-red eyes locked on the unmistakable figure at the shore—Whitebeard.
He saw capsized warships, felt extinguished lives.
Saw Whitebeard seize the air, ready to pull it down.
And behind him, the still form of Fleet-Admiral Gustav, lifeless.
Rage filled Garp's world.
"Whitebeard!!!" he bellowed.
Black-crimson lightning surged with his voice, racing across the beach.
"Garp?!"
Sensing that tsunami of killing intent, Whitebeard abandoned his second strike and swung at the incoming meteor.
"Quake Break!!"
His fist shattered the air, black lightning crackling.
Raging Haki and tremor power smashed toward Garp.
"Fist Bone: Haki Entanglement—Galaxy Impact!!"
Two fists, four meters apart, collided like meteors.
In that instant—
black-red lightning screamed from the impact.
Space itself dented, rippling outward in sickening waves.
CRACK!
The Haki clash birthed a hurricane that scattered waves, pulverized beach and bedrock—
no,
even the sky—
a ten-thousand-meter rift splitting the heavens.
Above, clouds rolled aside to reveal a yawning, bottomless void.
The spectacle stunned the entire battlefield of Puttelocrone into silence.
Every head turned skyward, eyes wide.
Even Rocks paused, blade poised over Sengoku,
and smiled a thin, amused smile.
As expected, that stubborn fool has lost his temper.
But Newgate isn't so easy to deal with.
He turned his head toward that direction, as if speaking to Garp several kilometers away.
Garp, you'd better hurry, or your sworn brother is going to die…
Before Rocks, Sengoku in his golden Buddha form was locked in combat with Golden Lion.
At this moment, several ghastly wounds, deep enough to show bone, had appeared on Sengoku's body!
They were inflicted by the combined strike of Rocks and Golden Lion.
In such a short time, he had already suffered massive injuries.
It showed how terrifying it was when a top-tier emperor like Rocks fought side by side with Golden Lion.
Had he not possessed the top Mythical Zoan Buddha Devil Fruit Power and been fighting desperately at all costs, Sengoku would already be down.
Elsewhere.
It was as if Garp had heard Rocks' voice; after a momentary stalemate with Whitebeard across the distance, his thrown fist erupted with an even fiercer, wilder aura. Braving the shockwave head-on, he closed in on Whitebeard and punched straight at his face.
Fist Bone Meteor!
Whitebeard stayed calm, jerking his naginata up, stepping back, and slashing horizontally.
Clang!!
The naginata was sent flying by Garp's right fist.
His left fist followed in the blink of an eye, hammering toward Whitebeard's heart.
The flung naginata spun behind Whitebeard, passed to his left hand; with a flick of his wrist, a white spherical shockwave coated the blade as he slashed at Garp again.
Garp didn't even look, thrusting his right fist out once more.
Black-red Haki flared like crimson lightning across the sky, bursting from his fist to shatter the void and blast the incoming shockwave apart.
His left fist, aimed at Whitebeard's heart, was blocked by Whitebeard's bent right arm.
Yet Garp paid no heed, eyes bloodshot, wild as a ravening tiger, simply punching—punching—punching again!
One punch!
Ten punches!
A hundred punches!
Boom-boom-boom-boom—!!
Fists wreathed in black-red lightning shot forth like countless meteors, trailing long black-red tails, covering every inch of space before Whitebeard!
Fist Bone Meteor Swarm!!
Whitebeard clenched his teeth, shockwaves and Haki wrapped around his right fist, trading blow after blow with Garp.
The naginata in his left hand could find no opening and dealt little damage.
At such close quarters,
A polearm like the naginata clearly couldn't function effectively.
Besides, Garp excelled at close-quarters brawling.
Under this rapid exchange of fists, Whitebeard gained no advantage at all, forced back step after step.
The ground beneath him cracked into a series of craters.
Finally, he simply tossed the naginata aside and swung both fists straight at Garp.
Several kilometers away, Rocks seemed to see this scene and shook his head.
It's over—Newgate's going to suffer. Trading punches with that maniac Garp is never a good idea.
Before his words had even faded,
Garp on the other side exploded.
Infinite Fist Bone!!
Countless black-red comets blasted through the void, thundering down to collide with Whitebeard's fists—
But faster!
Fiercer!
Heavier!
At this instant, Garp was the sovereign of fists!
Anything blocking him now—be it mountain or island—would be ground to dust beneath his savage barrage!
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!!
Under that tempest of punches, Whitebeard managed to parry only the first few dozen; after that, his guard was broken, and Garp's terrifying fists slammed into his body.
His towering frame staggered backward.
Clear fist prints appeared across his torso.
With a final boom, he was hurled over a hundred meters, feet plowing two deep furrows through the earth before he stopped.
Whitebeard coughed up a mouthful of blood, raised his head to see Garp—still charging as if he knew no fatigue—and kicked the naginata he had dropped back into the air. Grasping it in both hands, he raised it high.
Bzzzzzz—!!
A vast white shockwave gathered along the blade.
Roaring black-red lightning burst from his body, wrapping the shockwave and tearing the air as he slashed downward.
Sky Split!!