BOOM!!!
The ocean shattered.
As the two supreme, Haki-infused fists collided mid-air from a thousand meters apart, the atmospheric pressure violently snapped. The seawater below them was instantly split in two, a massive, dry trench stretching to the horizon as far as the eye could see.
The displaced ocean volume surged upward, creating a colossal, roaring tsunami that threatened to crash down on both sides.
"Get back!!" Tom roared to his shipwrights, looking up at the falling mountain of water.
Before the wave could obliterate the shipyard, Dragon stepped forward. His eyes glowed with determination.
He activated his Devil Fruit, unleashing a localized hurricane. The howling gale formed an invisible wall, catching the millions of tons of seawater and violently blowing it back out to the open ocean.
Water 7 and the unfinished Adam Wood flagship barely escaped the catastrophe.
On the other side of the trench, Garp's dog-headed warship wasn't as lucky. It was caught in the backwash and violently shoved several kilometers away. The Marines aboard suffered no casualties, but they were effectively removed from the immediate battlefield.
High above, Garp kicked the air, using Geppo (Moonwalk) to remain suspended.
A hundred meters away, York followed suit, effortlessly kicking the air to hover at eye level with the Marine Hero.
York had only understood the theory of the Marine Rokushiki before God Valley. But during that chaotic battle, he had watched the Admirals and Vice Admirals use it continuously. With his current monstrous physical toughness and strength, replicating the technique was child's play.
Garp lowered his glowing, Haki-coated fist. He looked at the young pirate, a wide, signature 'D' grin stretching across his face.
"Bwahahaha! Kid! When did you secretly learn my moves?!"
"Are your moves a secret?" York retorted with a sneer.
It was true. Garp's punching techniques were entirely unpretentious. There was no complex martial arts philosophy behind them. As long as a person possessed world-shattering physical strength and mastered Advanced Conqueror's Coating, imitating Garp was easy. Surviving the punch was the hard part.
"Bwahahaha! You have a point!" Garp laughed loudly, though his eyes remained sharp. "But you're still a bit lacking, you brat!!"
RUMBLE!
Black and red lightning began to condense around Garp's fist once again.
Seeing this, York didn't back down. His own Haoshoku Haki flared, wrapping around his arms. But he didn't attack. Instead, he grinned.
"Are you sure you want to go all out here, Garp?"
York gestured to the sprawling metropolis below them.
"If we fight to the death... I won't care about the lives of the people in Water 7. This entire island will sink."
Garp's smile vanished. His thick eyebrows knitted together. York had ruthlessly exploited his greatest weakness.
Garp had actually held back a fraction of his strength in that first clash. If he hadn't, the collateral damage would have erased the shipyard immediately.
It had only been a year since God Valley. On that island, Garp had been forced to protect the vile Celestial Dragons and witnessed their true, sickening nature. Because of that nightmare, he had re-evaluated his inner justice. He was no longer the blindly loyal dog of the World Government.
Looking past the glowing pirate to the thousands of innocent civilians living normal lives in the City of Water, Garp sighed.
The terrifying Haki wrapped around his fist slowly dissipated.
"Hmph! Don't get too smug, you stinky brat!" Garp snorted coldly.
Without another word of hostility, Garp used Geppo to descend toward the shipyard.
York chuckled. Sensing the killing intent fade, he followed the old Marine down, landing lightly near the massive wooden keel. As his boots touched the ground, York retracted his AoE Holy Light, allowing Tom and the unconscious shipyard workers to slowly wake up.
"Dad."
Dragon walked silently to York's side. He stood tall, looking at Garp, the fresh, red imprint of a Marine boot still visible across his face.
Garp glared at his son, his nostrils flaring.
"Look at you!" Garp barked. "You actually dared to throw your life away and become pirate scum!!"
Dragon's eyes sharpened. The lingering, childhood fear of his father melted away, replaced by the unyielding resolve of a revolutionary.
"Dad, I didn't throw my life away. I chose this path after seeing the truth at God Valley!"
Garp flinched. The words struck a nerve he couldn't refute. Instead, he pointed a thick, accusing finger at York.
"Even if God Valley opened your eyes, why the hell did you join this bastard's crew?! His evil deeds are no less than those of the Celestial Dragons! You saw what he did in the Sorbet Kingdom! He massacred thousands of nobles!"
Garp thought bringing up the Sorbet massacre would shame his son. To his surprise, Dragon firmly shook his head.
"It's different, Father," Dragon said, his tone shifting to formal respect, but absolute defiance.
"York only kills those who deserve to die. The atrocities those nobles committed against their own starving people... killing them once was letting them off easy!"
Dragon stepped forward, his fists clenched.
"You should know this better than anyone, Father! Look at our own home! Look at the Goa Kingdom! Look at the Gray Terminal!"
Dragon's voice cracked with suppressed rage. "If it weren't for those 'noble' parasites monopolizing every resource and treating human beings like trash, a place like the Gray Terminal wouldn't even exist!"
Garp was rendered speechless.
He had lost two moral arguments in a row. Realizing the massive gap in their ideological stances, Garp simply abandoned reason. He resorted to his ultimate, undeniable privilege as a parent.
He raised a fist the size of a sandbag and slammed it down onto Dragon's head.
WHAM!
"FIST OF LOVE!!"
Dragon was driven face-first into the dirt.
"You brat! I'm your dad!" Garp yelled, picking his nose to hide his conflicted emotions. "What kind of son talks back to his dad with such logic?!"
Dragon lay in the dirt, his head throbbing. But instead of feeling wronged, he started to laugh.
He understood his father perfectly. Garp hitting him with the Fist of Love instead of a pair of Seastone cuffs meant his stance was silently acknowledged. Garp couldn't verbally agree with a pirate due to his Marine coat, but this beating meant Garp wouldn't hunt him to the ends of the earth.
Dragon gladly accepted the punch.
York found a large stone nearby and sat down, silently watching the father-and-son duo 'have a heart-to-heart'.
Once Garp had vented his frustration on Dragon's skull, he turned his heavy gaze back to York.
"Brat. What is your actual ambition?"
"World Peace," York said simply.
"Bullshit!" Garp spat.
"Heh heh. It really is World Peace," York sneered, resting his elbows on his knees. "You just can't stomach the method. True peace can only be achieved through overwhelming force."
"Those naive idiots who constantly shout that 'mutual understanding' will bring peace? If they don't have the fists to back it up, the world will just grind them into dust."
Garp's eyes narrowed. He felt York was alluding to someone specific, but he didn't care to guess who.
"And to achieve this 'peace' of yours," Garp crossed his arms, "what exactly do you plan to do?"
"Kill the old nobility. Overthrow the World Government. Exterminate the Celestial Dragons," York listed casually, as if discussing the weather. "And then, I will sit on the Empty Throne and become the King of the World."
York didn't hide his intentions. There was no need. What he planned to do would be obvious to the entire planet soon enough.
"That is pure evil," Garp retorted mercilessly. "A naturally corrupt brat like you... this old man should arrest you and throw you into the darkest cell of Impel Down right now!"
"But you can't," York grinned, flashing his teeth.
"Not unless you're willing to let the lives of every man, woman, and child in Water 7 be buried alongside me."
Garp's massive fists instantly clenched. The wood beneath his boots cracked. Then, slowly, his hands relaxed.
"Ah..." Garp sighed heavily. "You brat. You're quite cunning."
"No, I'm not cunning," York said, his voice dropping to a cold whisper. He twisted the knife in Garp's heart. "I'm simply taking advantage of your kindness."
York stood up, dusting off his coat.
"Let me be honest with you, Garp. If it were Sengoku who had sailed here today, I wouldn't have even bothered talking. I would have turned and run immediately, and I would have decisively abandoned this half-built ship."
Two streams of hot, white steam puffed from Garp's nostrils.
"Are you implying Sengoku doesn't care about the lives of the common people?!" Garp roared. "He's not that kind of monster!"
York met Garp's furious gaze with a mocking, pitying sneer.
"Are you really sure about that, Garp?"
Garp opened his mouth to shout, but the words died in his throat. He fell silent, the shadow of 'Absolute Justice' looming heavily over his conscience.
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