"YOU IDIOTS!!"
Garp was so furious he cursed loudly, struggling against the dozen Marines clinging to his limbs.
But despite his roaring, his subordinates held him firmly in place. "Vice Admiral! It's too late! It's already in the clouds!"
Of course, the Marines' desperate restraint might have also been related to the fact that York had remained standing in the shipyard. The Captain of the Crimson Harvest Pirates hadn't boarded the flying flagship.
York watched Garp with a calm smile, his hands in his pockets, quietly waiting until Kaido and the massive galleon completely disappeared into the stratosphere.
At this point, the Marines finally let go. Garp brushed the dust off his coat and marched up to York, his face dark.
"Brat! I let your ship go to save this island. But don't even think about escaping from me now!"
"I'm not running," York replied casually. "In fact, I'm willing to fight you."
York turned his head. Ivankov was jogging over from the scrapyard, carrying a full-length mirror. He set it down on the cobblestones. Stussy stepped forward, gently tapped the glass, and walked directly through the rippling surface into the Mirror World. Ivankov quickly followed suit.
Before York could move, Garp stepped forward, his Haki-coated fist raised.
CRASH!
Garp punched the full-length mirror, shattering it into a thousand glittering pieces.
"I said, don't even think about escaping!" Garp growled.
York looked at the shattered glass and sighed, completely speechless. "I just told you I wasn't running. If I wanted to run, would I have stood here this whole time?"
York gestured to the surrounding city. "It's not convenient to fight in Water 7. You don't want to harm the residents, and I don't want to destroy the infrastructure. So, my proposal was simple: the Mirror World."
"It's an independent dimension. If we fight in there, we can go all out without hurting a single civilian outside. Of course, if you're afraid of being ambushed by my crew and don't dare to enter, that's fine too."
York offered a confident, challenging smile. "But since you broke the door, I'm the only one left out here. And trust me, I can always find a way to slip through your grasp."
York waited for the hot-headed Marine Hero to take the bait. Garp did indeed look tempted, his fists clenching and unclenching.
However, as the minutes ticked by, Garp remained standing there in absolute silence. He didn't attack. He didn't shout.
York's confident smile slowly faded. His eyes narrowed. His Observation Haki expanded outward, sweeping past the docks and out toward the open ocean.
"Well, well, Garp," York chuckled darkly. "You're actually playing tactical tricks on me."
"Bwahahaha! You finally noticed!"
Garp, breaking his brooding silence, threw his head back and laughed, revealing his standard 'D' grin. "You're too dangerous, kid! Although I don't particularly like Sengoku's scheming, I have to admit... this is the best chance we'll ever get to capture you!"
As Garp's laughter echoed, massive silhouettes breached the horizon.
York looked out at the sea. Cutting through the waves were two colossal Marine battleships, leading a formidable Buster Call-class fleet. Even from a distance, York could clearly make out the kanji painted on the sails of the two lead ships.
One belonged to Admiral Sengoku.
The other belonged to Great Staff Officer Tsuru.
"Admiral Sengoku and Vice Admiral Tsuru both came personally?" York raised an eyebrow. "Adding you to the mix, that's practically the Three Giants of the Marines gathered in one place."
York was slightly surprised, but there was absolutely no panic on his face. After the initial annoyance of falling for Garp's stalling tactic, York's confident smile returned.
This time, it was Garp who was unnerved.
"Kid," Garp asked in a deep, warning tone. "Aren't you scared at all?"
"Scared? What's there to be scared of?" York chuckled, walking over to a nearby stone and sitting down cross-legged. "I survived the monsters of God Valley. Why would I fear a mere Marine encirclement?"
York rested his chin on his hand. "Besides, you think you've outsmarted me. But how can you be so sure I didn't let myself be surrounded?"
Garp's pupils contracted. "You brat... are you trying to bluff me?!"
"You can judge that for yourself," York said calmly. "I'll give you time. Make whatever preparations you want. In fact, I highly recommend you have Sengoku and Tsuru evacuate all the residents of Water 7 immediately. That way, I'll have no reservations when I slaughter you all."
Garp's brow furrowed heavily. York's unwavering demeanor was genuinely intimidating. But no matter how much Garp analyzed the situation, he couldn't fathom where the pirate's confidence came from. Without his crew, facing three top-tier Marine legends, York should be dead to rights.
"Hmph! Brat! You better not regret this arrogance!" Garp warned.
"The ones who are going to regret this are you," York replied softly.
York's gaze swept over the Marine veterans standing behind Garp. These men had just helped him build a ship. They had shared drinks and laughter the night before. They were good men with true justice in their hearts.
A fleeting look of genuine pity crossed York's eyes. It was a tragedy to kill them. But the path of his revolution required blood. If he hesitated now out of sentimentality, he would never become the King of the World.
Seeing that flash of pity, Garp's confusion only deepened. Where is this kid's confidence coming from? Devil Fruit Awakening? Even an Awakened Fruit user can't defeat three Admiral-level fighters!
Garp was right about one thing. York's confidence did stem from Devil Fruit Awakening. But his Awakening was fundamentally different from anything the Marines had ever encountered.
To understand why, one had to rewind to a month before the Crimson Harvest Pirates descended to Water 7.
At the very top of Giant Jack, after finishing his daily, bone-crushing Haki training with Kaido, York had found a secluded cloud-island to meditate.
Meditation was his way of consolidating his physical gains and relaxing his mind. It was the exact same mental state he had used in the past when he imposed his will on reality to forge the power of the Happy-Happy Fruit.
During this deep trance, York's consciousness suddenly detached from his body.
He fell into an unfamiliar, metaphysical realm.
It was a world made entirely of swirling, blinding light. Yet, simultaneously, the space felt completely empty. A void of pure illumination.
But he wasn't alone.
Standing in the absolute center of this realm of light was a figure.
The entity looked exactly like York. It shared his face, his height, and his build.
But everything else was a manifestation of absolute duality.
The figure's hair was split perfectly down the middle: half pure black, half pure white. On the black-haired side of his head, the entity's eye possessed a black sclera with a glowing white iris. On the white-haired side, the eye had a white sclera with a pitch-black iris.
The entity wore a set of ancient, flowing Hanfu robes. The garments mirrored the hair: the black-haired side wore pure white silk embroidered with a black sun, while the white-haired side wore pitch-black silk embroidered with a white sun.
It was the living, breathing incarnation of his Devil Fruit's spirit. The ultimate, terrifying duality of the Happy-Happy Fruit's power—capable of bestowing absolute bliss or corrupting the mind through overstimulation.
York stared at the entity for a long moment. Then, a knowing smirk crossed his lips. He remembered the anime and manga from his previous life perfectly.
York slowly walked up to his Yin-Yang doppelganger, putting his hands in his pockets.
"So, this is Devil Fruit Awakening?" York laughed lightly. "What's next? Are we going to have a dramatic debate about the 'King and the Mount'?"
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