Crack-crack-crack-crack—BOOM!!
The naginata fell; the air shattered like glass.
A surging shock-wave, vast as a tide, swallowed the charging Garp and blasted him away.
Flung like a baseball meeting a bat, he shot backward, ripped through the air, and crashed to earth a thousand meters away.
In the broken crater blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Yet his aura blazed higher, fierce as oil poured on fire, stronger with every heartbeat.
Garp flipped to his feet and vaulted from the pit, racing toward the island to save Sengoku, Zephyr, and the others.
Suddenly he froze; not far off Columbus lay unconscious, one arm severed by Rocks, blood-loss claiming him.
Garp hurried over and knelt, shaking the fallen jailer.
"Columbus! Wake up! I need you—now!"
After a rough shake Columbus' eyes fluttered open. Seeing Garp, he forced a bitter smile: "Vice Admiral Garp… sorry, I—" "No time for that! Shadows—every shadow you brought, stuff them into me! Can you do it?" Garp barked.
"All of them?" Columbus gasped. "I only have a thousand—one hundred from Level Six, nine hundred from Level Five. Even Haines could barely hold ten plus ninety. Your body and mind will shatter!"
Minutes earlier every shadow had fled Haines' body.
That was why his strength had collapsed, letting Linlin and Carlo crush him.
"No choice! Do it—direct order!" Garp roared.
In truth he had no authority over the Impel Down warden.
Columbus' rank equalled a Headquarters Vice Admiral,
yet in standing he outranked most and sat just below an Admiral.
But Columbus did not argue.
Gritting his teeth, he summoned the Kage Kage power; a black case appeared in his lone hand.
The lid popped; countless black shadows poured out.
With his remaining arm Columbus seized a huge mass and thrust it into Garp's chest.
"Vice Admiral Garp—hold your mind! You've got three minutes at most!" he shouted.
Torrents of shadow surged inside; Garp's frame convulsed.
His mouth gaped, thick veins bulging across his skin.
Muscles writhed like pythons coiling round his body.
With every shadow he ballooned, taller, broader, gigantic.
Elbows and shoulders swelled outward, gnarled like ancient roots, armor-like.
His skin turned bluish-black; blood-red chaos filled his eyes.
Long black hair snaked down to his heels, writhing like vipers.
When the last shadow vanished
the two-meter-eight Garp was gone.
In his place stood an eight-meter titan, muscles corded, skin dark, eyes ringed black.
From the giant's face Columbus could still faintly recognize the man.
But the aura was utterly changed.
Where once it had been upright, blazing, forward-pressing,
now it was savage, berserk, a demon bent on annihilation.
Before this being Columbus—who had faced Admirals, Fleet Admiral, even the Gorosei—felt raw terror,
like a helpless mortal before a monstrous Sea King.
"Vice Admiral Garp… is that still you?"
He used the honorific without thinking.
"Aye," Garp rumbled like thunder.
Slowly he twisted his monstrous neck toward the island.
"Three minutes? Enough."
He stepped.
WHUMP!!
Wind exploded; a pit ten meters across and bottomless yawned where he had stood.
Garp was gone.
An instant later
a kilometer away Whitebeard's breath caught; red flickered in his eyes as he spun, slashing the air.
From nothing a colossal dark fist appeared, driving straight for his skull.
The naginata met the fist yet failed even to scratch the black-crimson Haki; the blow smashed blade and man backward.
Before his disbelieving eyes the enormous knuckles slammed into his chest.
BOOM!!
A quarter of Puttelocrone island disintegrated beneath him.
Man and blade vanished underground, leaving only a trail of blood sprayed sky-high.
Before the blood could fall—
WHUMP!
Several kilometers away
Carlo and Linlin, chasing Haines, froze, hearts racing, and scanned the horizon.
"What's—" Linlin began.
BANG!
A dark fist buried itself in her gut, folding her eight-meter body like a shrimp; bile and blood burst from her mouth, eyes bulging, feet lifting.
Before she could fly
Carlo saw an identical fist before him.
Two right fists,
appearing together,
punched each in the belly.
With Clarity of eight-star Observation Haki Carlo caught a glimpse of Garp's face—
no longer grinning but grim, merciless.
BOOM!
Ribs snapped; blood gushed; together they shot kilometers away
and smashed squarely into Silver Axe, who was battling the wounded Zephyr.
Crack—Silver Axe screamed, arm exploding to mince-meat.
Gan Sui fared worse:
Linlin's hurtling mass obliterated him, shredding him beyond death.
Zephyr and the others still stood stunned
as a gale tore past, whipping sand toward the sky—and toward Golden Lion.
Rocks, blade poised to behead Sengoku, roared: "Shiki—move!"
"What?"
Floating above, harrying Sengoku, Golden Lion blinked.
He looked up
and froze.
The sky darkened.
A titanic shadow eclipsed sun and clouds, appearing behind him like a teleporting demon.
Terror clutched his heart; cold sweat burst from his brow.
Neck stiff, he turned
and saw the familiar face.
"G-G-Garp??"
BOOM!!
The giant fist punched the air itself; Shiki's skin rippled like cloth.
Like a falling star it smashed down and hammered him into the earth.
WHOOSH!
CRASH!!
From a hundred meters up Golden Lion vanished into a bottomless man-shaped hole at Sengoku's feet.