"My diarrhea still hasn't cured after I drank that sleeping drug laced booze, you brats served me…"
"You better prepare yourselves… my fists have been aching to deliver some JUSTICE!"
"Kyahahaha…" A wild, unsettling laugh followed startling everyone.
"Hey, old man… I just broke free from those damned cuffs. I can fix that nasty diarrhea of yours… just let us go, like last time."
Leo's pleading voice crossed across the port as he took a few steps back, fear evident on his face, as if he'd just come face-to-face with his worst nightmare.
For the first time, Nami, Nojiko, and the rest of the crew stared at him in shock. The domineering lion they knew now looked like a cornered pup.
"Did I hear that right, Garp…? You let them go last time?"
Not far away, someone spoke through a white Den Den Mushi carried by a marine, relaying both audio and visuals straight to Sengoku in Marine Headquarter.
Sengoku didn't trust Garp to carry out his duty faithfully this time, so he chose to oversee the situation himself.
"Sorry, kid… can't do that. Orders from above." Garp stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. "Though… you've got my best wishes. Try your luck escaping."
"Grandpa! How dare you beat my crew?!" Luffy shouted, stepping forward.
"What was that, brat?" Garp grinned.
"I mean… if you let us go, I'll forget about it!" Luffy added.
"Try your worst." The next second Garp vanished from where he stood.
He reappeared in front of Luffy and slammed his fist into poor boy's head, sending him flying into a nearby building.
"Ouch…" Nami winced as Luffy's body crashed through town like a ragdoll.
"Is… he really beating his grandson like that?" Nojiko muttered, too stunned.
"Look… even Leo's shaking in fear." Nami observed.
Leo's hands were pressed against the ground, trembling, as Garp appeared right beside him punching Luffy.
The next second, a pillar of earth erupted beneath Garp's feet, launching him skyward. It kept rising—ten meters, twenty, thirty until Garp punched downward.
The entire column of earth shattered like house of cards.
Garp landed with a thunderous impact, carving a crater into the storm-ravaged ground only to be struck the very next instant and hurled straight into the town gate.
Two massive stone giants rose around Leo, each nearly Fifteen feet tall. Leo's body strained under the weight of controlling them, veins pulsing out as his devil fruit powers were pushed to its limits.
A simple hit like that wouldn't work on Garp, Leo understood that much. This was the man who had treated cannon fire like breakfast the last time they had fought.
Still, he unleashed a barrage of earth spikes toward the surrounding marines, trying to free the captured crew but every spike was cut down mid-air by Bogard's blade.
"Damn you, Bogard…"
Leo's focus snapped back to Garp just in time to see him catch a stretching arm mid-flight.
"That's new…," Garp muttered, spitting out dust from his mouth before yanking Luffy in and slamming him with a brutal shoulder lariat.
Luffy hit the ground hard, writhing in pain.
Garp leapt again this time landing atop one of the stone giants, crushing it into rubble.
"I'm not done with you, old man!" Leo shouted.
The shattered remains of stone golem surged upward, wrapping around Garp's body. The ground beneath his feet softened, then swallowed him whole, dragging him deeper and deeper, beyond Leo's control range… nearly sixty meters underground.
Leo didn't relax immediately.
Instead, he sent his remaining golem charging toward the marines standing in sidelines while pillars of earth in shape of hand lifted his friends—Zoro, Sanji and the others and carried them toward the nearby Going Merry.
As he had expected, Garp wasn't playing around this time.
The ground beneath their feet began to tremble violently, something monstrous was moving towards the surface.
Deep underground, Garp carved his way upward by punching through earth.
The tremors grew more severe with each passing second, at this rate, the old monster wouldn't just resurface, he'd uproot the entire town.
"Damn Old man… Luffy, handle the swordsman. I'll keep the old man busy. The rest of you, get ready to sail. I don't know if we can outrun that monster at sea… but it's our best shot."
Leo's jaw tightened. Even if he fled underground, the old monster would sniff him out.
His ability could alter the human body on touch but Garp's Haki was overwhelming. If he'd known power like that existed in this world, he might've chosen a different ability.
Nearby, Luffy clashed with Bogard, holding him at a standstill, while Zoro and Sanji forced themselves back into motion, helping Nami and Nojiko prepare to sail successfully boarding the ship.
Then with a final, violent punch, Garp burst out back to the surface.
"Damn it old man… Eat this."
The ground around Leo twisted and swallowed him whole before reshaping into a towering golem of Forty feet tall. It loomed over the port, sending tremors through the earth as marines stumbled back in fear seeing him walk.
Garp narrowed his eyes.
Both of them were aware that another golem wouldn't be enough to contend with Garp. The brat was clearly planning something but what he didn't realize was that Leo was only stalling for time.
Garp vanished and in the next instant, the lower half of the golem was obliterated, but Leo had already anticipated it.
A massive stone fist came crashing down, hitting Garp and sending him skidding across the shattered ground.
"Kid… things have changed,"
Next he seized the incoming golem's arm and tore it apart with raw force.
"You're all coming with me to Marine Headquarters. Don't even think about resisting."
Yet even as he spoke, the golem's body began to rebuild, earth flowing endlessly from below, reshaping his broken limbs in seconds.
A heavy kick slammed into Garp next but instead of sending him back, the golem's leg shattered on impact.
Then came a storm of effortless blows.
Invisible punches hammered the golem from front, Its massive body cracked and collapsed.
For a moment, it seemed over, but then from the falling debris, Leo stepped into view.
Garp's gaze narrowed seeing the boy in unrecognized form.
"What do you think, old man…? Neat, isn't it?" Leo now stood nearly eight feet tall.
His body had changed, muscles expanded, veins bulged, his skin flushed in light red as if pushed far beyond its natural limits.
"The moment you caught me last time…" he exhaled.
"I started thinking of ways to beat you. It's still not enough but if I am going to get caught anyway, I'll at least get the satisfaction of landing a punch on that annoying face of yours." He clenched his fists, feeling the overwhelming strength he had never felt before.
"My ability still can't bypass your Haki… so I chose another way, to change the one thing I understand best… my own body."