Boom.
A brilliant black-red slash wave collided with the shockwave, erupting in a deafening roar that shook heaven and earth.
The entire sky seemed to lose its color at this moment. The world fell silent.
The void trembled continuously. Black-red lightning rampaged all around, emanating a terrifying aura.
However, the two did not remain in a stalemate for long. After merely a second, the black-red slash wave disintegrated with a thunderous crash.
The overwhelmingly powerful shockwave continued its unstoppable advance towards the ship.
Boom.
The ship of the Red Hair Pirates was instantly shattered, reduced to countless splinters that fell from the high sky.
Along with it, the members of the Red Hair Pirates fell one by one from mid-air towards the sea surface.
Almost everyone had blood trickling from the corners of their mouths. Shanks looked at the black dot in the sky, his expression extremely grim.
He was still not strong enough.
Back when he was on Roger's crew, such experiences were not uncommon. But every time, Roger would block Garp's attacks. A situation where even their ship was destroyed would not occur.
From the current situation, he was still quite a distance away from his former captain, Roger.
Crackle.
Suddenly, thunder exploded. An incredibly thick, giant purple lightning bolt violently struck down from the sky, its target precisely Shanks and the others.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Several gunshots rang out. Benn Beckman rapidly pulled the trigger. Three bullets shot from the barrel one after another, forming a straight line.
All three bullets were coated with powerful Armament Haki. The three merged to form a black energy wave that slammed into the incoming giant lightning.
Boom.
A thunderous explosion echoed from the sky. A visible ring-shaped shockwave expanded outwards in all directions, like ripples spreading across water.
The two forces held each other at bay in mid-air, ultimately dissipating into nothingness. However, before they could catch their breath, continuous rumbling thunderclaps came from the sky above.
Simultaneously, a sense of pressure poured down from the heavens, causing everyone in mid-air to involuntarily change their expressions slightly. They instinctively looked up.
What met their eyes was a dazzling purple lightning radiance. From a distance, it looked like a purple sun.
"What... what is that."
Yasopp couldn't help but swallow, speaking instinctively.
Before anyone else could answer him, the purple 'sun' suddenly erupted.
The next moment, countless purple lightning bolts surged from it, forming a giant purple lightning pillar. With an aura intent on annihilating everything, it surged violently towards the group.
Everyone's eyes widened sharply. They felt an extremely dangerous aura from this lightning pillar.
Under their horrified gazes, the lightning pillar arrived in an instant, directly engulfing them.
The massive lightning pillar, its momentum undiminished, struck the sea surface like a laser beam, instantly blasting out a gigantic crater.
The violent purple lightning pushed aside the surrounding seawater, creating one massive wave after another.
After a while, the purple lightning pillar slowly dissipated. Seawater flowed back, churned, and formed a huge whirlpool at the location of the previous void. Like an abyss, it continuously swallowed the surrounding seawater.
Occasional flashes of purple lightning still crackled on the sea surface, emitting a heart-palpitating aura.
High in the sky, Garp stared with wide eyes, looking at the scene below with disbelief.
The next second, a flash of purple lightning flickered beside him, revealing Kyle's form.
Garp turned his head sharply, his gaze fixed intently on Kyle.
"When did your strength become this powerful?"
"Were you hiding your strength back at Marineford?"
Even now, a faint aura of destruction lingered in the surroundings.
Garp was certain that during their fight at Marineford, Kyle absolutely did not possess his current level of strength. One could even say the difference was vast.
One could almost say they were not on the same level.
Back then, Kyle's attacks could inflict extremely minor injuries on him.
But as he said, they were extremely minor, the kind that might heal in a couple of minutes. Moreover, he wasn't using Armament Haki at the time.
Now, even using Armament Haki, he wouldn't dare to directly withstand Kyle's purple lightning.
Its violent, destructive aura made him somewhat wary.
But... why was this brat so strong.
Garp's eyes kept scanning Kyle's body, looking left and right, utterly perplexed.
With the strength Kyle had displayed now, even some Vice Admirals might not be his match.
Was that reasonable?
Although there was still quite a distance from Admiral level, from his own level, it was astonishing enough.
The gap in combat power between Vice Admiral and Admiral was incredibly vast.
Ordinary branch Vice Admirals were pathetically weak. Reference the Vice Admiral who got beaten up by Bartolomeo in Dressrosa in the original story.
Top-tier Vice Admirals were countless levels stronger than ordinary Vice Admirals. And the gap between top-tier Vice Admirals and Admirals was also significant.
So, even though Vice Admiral and Admiral seem just one rank apart, the difference in strength could be worlds apart.
Regardless of whether Kyle was hiding his strength at Marineford or not, the fact was he now possessed this exaggerated power.
Garp, using Moon Walk, circled around Kyle continuously. His right hand stroked his chin, a look of confusion in his eyes. He kept muttering.
"Why. Why is a six-year-old brat so strong."
"It's not reasonable. Very unreasonable."
...
"Stop circling, old man. If you keep going I'll get dizzy."
Kyle glanced at Garp coolly. He had no intention of explaining his strength.
Explain what. How to explain.
Explain that he's using cheats. So his combat power is over the top.
Don't be ridiculous.
Turning his gaze to the still unsettled sea surface below, Kyle asked Garp.
"Old man. Go. Go down and fish out the people from the Red Hair Pirates."
"Huh."
Hearing this, Garp immediately stared at Kyle with a dumbfounded look. Pointing at himself with his finger, he widened his eyes and asked Kyle.
"You want me to go down and fish them out."
Kyle gave him a sidelong glance.
"If not you, then me. I'm a Devil Fruit user. Can I go fishing."
"As for the others on the warship, none of the Red Hair Pirates have eaten Devil Fruits. They still possess considerable fighting power in the sea."
"Having them fish out Shanks would be pure suicide."
"So, this glorious and arduous task naturally can only fall upon the renowned Vice Admiral Garp, you."
Garp.
What you say makes so much sense, I don't know how to refute it.
But somehow it feels like something's off.
In the end, Garp didn't say anything more. He descended directly from the sky, free-falling. His speed increased until he plunged headfirst into the sea.
The powerful impact caused the sea surface to erupt once more into dozens-of-meters-high giant waves.
Kyle floated in the air, watching this scene and nodding slightly.
Good. I'll award you an Elderly Pacemaker Medal.
Although the actual situation was that Kyle was not weakened by seawater, this characteristic couldn't be revealed for now, before his wings were fully grown.
Otherwise, he was certain the World Government would be very interested in him.
Currently, he didn't have the strength to challenge the World Government. So, some things were not yet suitable to expose.
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