The Garp Sengoku was counting on—
Wasn't coming.
What was Garp doing?
He was kneeling on one knee, one hand clutching his aching chest, the other braced against the ground.
Breathing heavily.
Blood hanging from the corner of his mouth.
He looked every bit the gravely wounded veteran.
See? I, Garp, have bled and suffered for the Marines!
Leno wasn't about to waste such a golden opportunity.
Without hesitation, he seized it.
He crept closer—quietly, but with loud intent.
Observation-killing activated. Not master-level, but good enough.
His right fist condensed the power of the Munch-Munch Fruit—
And smashed ruthlessly toward Garp's kidney.
In his heart, he roared:
"Thanks for the treat!"
A sneak attack wasn't something you shouted about.
But—
Just as the punch was about to land—
A large hand wrapped in Conqueror's Haki coating caught his wrist.
Garp slowly raised his head.
Turned.
There was no weakness in his eyes.
Only cold killing intent.
"Brat. I trained you myself."
A sneer tugged at his lips.
"You think I wouldn't know what you're planning?"
His grip tightened.
Leno's wrist bones creaked.
"Now… it's time you felt a teacher's love."
Teacher?
There wasn't a trace of warmth in Garp's face.
He imagined Leno's expression twisting in panic—
And the thought thrilled him.
Unfortunately for him—
He wouldn't get to see that.
Leno didn't panic.
Instead, a mocking smile curved his lips.
"Old man… do you really think I don't understand you?"
Garp's pupils shrank.
"You think that punch just now was my trump card?" Leno's voice dripped with amusement.
His eyes sharpened.
"No… this is."
The moment the words fell—
The Chop-Chop Fruit surged wildly through his body.
The wrist Garp held dissolved into molecular fragments—
Reforming instantly in front of him into a fist the size of a sandbag.
"Annihilation of All Things!"
Villains die from talking too much.
Leno understood that perfectly.
Words were merely the prelude to the strike.
Garp had no time to fully fortify his defense.
"Damn—!"
He barely managed to spread Armament Haki outward from his core.
Even before the blow landed—
Sweat drenched him.
Every hair on his body stood on end.
That alone said enough about the power behind it.
Sssshhh—!
Garp's Marine uniform disintegrated into microscopic particles.
Thankfully, Leno wasn't wasting energy—
Garp's pants remained intact.
The pants survived.
The man inside did not.
The punch landed—
But Garp wasn't sent flying.
Instead—
His darkened skin split with countless fine cracks.
Like porcelain on the verge of shattering.
Blood seeped from every fissure.
He looked like a walking corpse carved in red lines.
Had he not resisted with Haki earlier—
He might have shattered outright.
And as Leno continued channeling the Chop-Chop power—
The cracks spread, deepening, expanding—
Seeking to disassemble him from the inside out.
"Ughhh!!"
Garp groaned, veins bulging on his forehead.
The sneak attack made all the difference.
The splitting force had already invaded his body.
Even a legend couldn't shrug that off easily.
Inside him—
His Haki raged desperately, suppressing the fragmentation spreading through his organs.
A war was being fought within his own flesh.
By then, Leno had already withdrawn to a safe distance.
He had no interest in eating a dying counterstrike from a top-tier fighter.
A wise man does not stand beneath a crumbling wall.
Only an idiot does.
Under Garp's desperate resistance—
The spread of the cracks slowed.
But organs were fragile—even in this world.
The internal conflict drained him visibly.
His aura withered.
He was in real pain.
Leno watched coldly.
Now—
Garp finally looked like a lonely old man.
Not the laughing Marine hero.
For a fleeting moment—
Leno felt something complicated stir inside.
He used to be a good disciple once.
The sentiment passed as quickly as it came.
Satisfaction replaced it.
Revenge felt good.
The man who once played the role of a caring mentor.
The man who let him take the fall for Koby.
Now reduced to this broken state.
The reversal of power was intoxicating.
"I'm the cannon standing here now," Leno said lightly. "Where's that future you pinned your hopes on?"
Garp coughed up another mouthful of blood.
"You…!"
A strike to the heart.
Where was the future?
In the hospital.
At this moment, Garp had only one thought—
Why hadn't he eliminated Leno when he had the chance?
Releasing a tiger back into the mountains—
Always led to disaster.
And yet—
He still blamed Leno.
If this brat had shown such monstrous talent earlier—
Would he have needed to pin his hopes on Koby?
If Leno had revealed this strength—
He would still be Garp's proud disciple.
Things would never have reached this point.
If Leno knew that was what Garp was thinking—
He'd slap him across the face a few times just on principle.
All of this unfolded in mere seconds.
Before most could even react—
Garp had already been gravely wounded.
Sengoku, locked in battle with Whitebeard, caught sight of it.
His heart trembled.
So it wasn't that Garp wouldn't help—
He couldn't.
Completely different from what Sengoku had imagined.
His face darkened to the point of dripping.
"Damn you, Leno!"
But Whitebeard pinned him in place.
He couldn't move.
If Sengoku's expression was ugly—
Aokiji's was worse.
Garp had mentored him too.
"You ungrateful brat! You've got a death wish!!"
"You dare lay such a vicious hand on Vice Admiral Garp?!"
Without hesitation—
Frost exploded around him.
He transformed into ice and surged toward Leno at high speed.
"Ice Time Capsule!"
A wave of absolute-zero cold blasted forward.
"Freeze your ass—break!"
Leno cursed coldly.
"Why don't you mention what Garp did to me? Hypocrite!"
The freezing wave hadn't even reached him—
Before it was split apart midair by the Chop-Chop power.
And Aokiji—
Sliding like skates across the ground—
Closed the distance instantly.
Before fully arriving—
He was already throwing a punch.
"Ice Gauntlet!"
Ice fruit power fused with the iron-fist style Garp had taught him—
Driving straight for Leno's face.
"Annihilation of All Things!"
One move, used well, was enough.
Leno didn't dodge.
Didn't retreat.
He punched back.
Fruit power plus iron fist?
He could do that too.
The two disciples' attacks collided—
Neither yielding.
Elsewhere—
Blackbeard had watched the entire ambush on Garp.
A spark lit in his eyes.
What a fine reference model.
A sneak attack?
That was his specialty.
Maybe he could use one to seize the Devil Fruit power he desired most.
If Leno could do it—
Why couldn't he?
Sneak attacks didn't require teaching.
He was self-taught.
Without hesitation—
He leapt down from the execution platform.
And the moment he left—
A figure appeared silently beside Ace.
Vice Admiral Tsuru.
The Marine staff officer had been invisible until now.
She glanced at the chaotic battlefield below—
Then at Ace, bound in Seastone.
Her expression remained calm.
She was small, elderly—
Yet no one dared overlook her.
Doflamingo, for one, would strongly agree.
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