Chapter 104
*BOOOOOM*
As Garp's another fist was narrowly dodged by Rowan, who slightly twisted his body and used bounce to skid off of Garp's attack, Garp's grin widened.
'This brat...' Garp thought as he repeatedly threw punch after punch towards Rowan, '...is improving in midst of the fight!!'
In comparison to their clash few minutes ago, Rowan's movements became gentle. It left a bad taste in Garp's mouth, for even when he manages to 'successfully' hit Rowan, the latter would powerlessly bounce backward, with somehow, a minimal amount of injury accumulated.
*Boom*
A small noise of bounce was heard from Rowan's right palm, gently pushing him sideways and allowing him to dodge another one of Garp's sky-shaking punches.
*BOOOOOOOM*
'I think I understand more now.' While dodging Garp's attack by the pure combination of his fruit ability and future prediction granted by Observation Haki, Rowan thought calmly, 'There is no need to be brutal with the use of Armament Haki. Emission... with the flow of Haki, one does not have to strike hard. A subtle touch will be enough to result in the internal destruction of my target, and when combined with my consecutive bounces-'
Bouncing himself off the air with incredible control, Rowan, by using Sonic Step, vanished from his spot before appearing Garp's back.
'Like Gentle Fist in Naruto.' Rowan was about to tap his finger on Garp's left, but was forced to bounce himself off of Garp's right fist,
*BOOOOOOOM*
As he watched Rowan blast back, Garp clenched his fists and sharpened his eyes as he grinned, "Let's see if you can handle this one."
'Looks like this old man is finally going all out.' Rowan thought in a cold sweat, with his Observation Haki alarming him for an inconceivable danger ahead of him.
"What makes you think that I didn't have advanced mastery over Observation Haki?" Upon noticing how Garp's eyes flashed in red, indicating the use of Observation Haki, Rowan's found himself surprised, "I simply didn't use it, since the fight will be a lot more boring with it."
'Not good!!'
*BOOOM*
At the next moment, Rowan found Garp directly in front of him, with his fist encased in a red-black-coloured electricity that crackled around his right fist. A dangerous and soul-crushing force emanated out of it.
"Roger Fist!!!"
'S***, Roger, as in the Pirate King?!!' Unlike the previous attacks done by Garp, Rowan found himself unable to identify a precise timing to 'bounce' Garp's attack. Also, when he shifted his body, Garp would knowingly shift his punch to the direction he was retreating to—it seemed that the advantage that Rowan held against Garp previously, was just a fluke.
"Twenty-Five Layers, Impact Shield!!" Rowan attempted to defend against Garp's strike to his best, but it proved to be futile this time.
As Garp's absurdly strong attack blasted towards Rowan, Rowan felt an indescribable force overwhelming his entire body.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
As the whole sky shook furiously, Rowan was blasted off into oblivion, soaring up to the sky at a blinding speed.
*PUFF*
*PUFF*
The clouds that lied on Rowan's trajectory path disintegrated as he blasted through them. When looked closely, one would see that a large purple-coloured bruise that extended all the way from his chest down to his stomach, indicating an internal injury, with him severely bleeding from his mouth.
Rowan found his whole body shaking uncontrollably, as he finally came to stop at 10 thousand feet above the island—the same altitude as Skypiea.
"*Cough* *Cough*" Coughing out great amount of blood from his mouth, Rowan bounced on top of the air as he lifted up his shaking arm and wiped the blood trailing down from his mouth.
"S-so..." Rowan muttered to himself with great difficulty, as he frowned from the burning pain from his abdomen, "This is the M-Marine Hero... *Cough*"
One punch was enough to induce him a great amount of pain; Rowan could no longer attempt to stall.
*Boom*
At the next moment, Garp made his appearance in front of Rowan, as he used Geppo all the way to the altitude Rowan was located in.
"Heh, still a rookie in the end." Garp commented as he picked his ear, "Roger would've countered that just fine."
Rowan gritted his teeth to maintain the emission and hardening intact on his body. Once those protections were gone, it was an instant game over.
"Bwahaha, it looks like this fight is coming to an end already." Garp grinned as he readied himself for another punch with his left hand this time, "Did you know that I am actually a leftie—eh?!"
*BOOM*
Rowan, with robust bounce forces, began to run away from Garp with all his might, earning a dumbfounded expression from the latter. Subsequently, Garp's face turned into that of a snarl, as he propelled himself towards Rowan with robust strength, chasing him with ferociousness.
"Stop there, you annoying rascal!! Why run away and ruin the fun?!!!" Garp shouted in mild irritation as he gritted his teeth and flew towards Rowan with clenched hands. "We got to finish our fight first!!"
Ignoring Garp, Rowan raised his fist up while running, and generated loud booming noises of bounce forces that were heard all across the whole island.
*BOOM* *BO-BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOOM*
Garp didn't care for Rowan's antics, and quickly chased down the latter tenaciously, although if you look closely into his eyes, they held an excited gleam.
Immediately after, Garp predicted Rowan's movement and blasted another punch.
*BOOOOOOOOOOM*
Rowan was slammed from his back, and was sent flying forward powerlessly.
_________________
"Ice Block,"
Amidst the dust clouds, a loud voice belonging to Kuzan resounded, causing Carmen to click her tongue, while Robin cautiously watched the scene as if she expected such an outcome.
"Partisan!!!"
Many numbers of ice spears began to fly towards Prominence, ready to stab through.
Simultaneously, countless arrows made out of concentrated flame began to form around Carmen.
"Flame Ediction: Overblaze."
As Carmen clenched her fist, the flaming arrows shot out one by one, crashing against Kuzan's ice spears.
Throwing numerous coins up in the air, Dan, at a blinding speed, flickered each and every one of them,
"100 Million Volts: Railgun Barrage."
As Carmen and Dan, through their collaboration, began to gain some ground against Kuzan's attack,
*CLANG*
Cavendish quickly jumped up to parry Kuzan's ice sword in his hand, for Kuzan managed to travel a long distance in an instant moment.
"Who are you guys?" Kuzan said in a cold tone, as he stared at the crew with full seriousness, "How is it possible for the pirates of this strength to emerge outside of the New World?"
As the battle continued to go on, Kuzan slowly became aware of just how dangerous the Grimheart pirates are, and will be in the future. The prowess of the Grimheart pirates didn't lack short against even the ones in the New World.
Kuzan may be overthinking, but the Grimheart pirates that stood in front of him—are the pirates with the potential to reach the level of Yonko's crew in his eyes.
"Gahaha! So you finally recognize this charming prince-"
Caught off guard by Kuzan's words, Cavendish lost seriousness and began to introduce himself—only for him to get smacked on the back by Dan.
"It's not the time for that, Mr. I'm-so-handsome." Dan spoke with his head crackling in electricity, 'Aokiji's use of metal is quite simple. He lowers the temperature around him to an extreme degree initially, in order to allow him to form ice of greater durability; the lower temperature means a more regular and ordered molecular composition.'
Not waiting for the crew any longer, Kuzan dashed towards the crew with the intention to end the battle.
"Ice," Kuzan extended his hand as he approached them at a blinding speed, "Time!!"
The surrounding air became chill, as Kuzan attempted to touch all crew members with his hand and freeze them into ice statues.
Although Carmen, Dan, and Cavendish managed to evade Kuzan's strike, their eyes widened upon realizing that Robin was vulnerable.
"Guess I'll start with you, NIco Robin." Kuzan's eyes narrowed as Robin stared back at him with horror in her eyes.
The time seemed to slow down as Kuzan's ice-transformed hand moved closer and closer to Robin, who seemed to be frozen in helplessness. At the next moment,
*ZOOM*
Kuzan found himself swiping through the empty air.
"*Huff* You got... *Huff* lots to improve, Robin." Carina, who made a sudden appearance, smiled at Robin with her body full of blood all over.
Robin, after having woken herself up from a trance, gazed at Carina with widened eyes, "Carina."
Carmen, Dan, and Cavendish sighed in relief, although their eyes expressed concern for Carina, whose state didn't look well.
*BOOM* *BO-BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOOM*
Suddenly, the loud noises of Rowan's signal were heard by all members of the crew, causing them to perk up with a grin.
"Oh!" Upon hearing the signal, Alfred and Farul immediately made back onto the Prominence, with Alfred's black suit slightly ripped and disheveled all over, "It's time already?"
"Ah... all of you, except Grimheart, are here." Kuzan stated as he looked around with his feet on top of Prominence yet again, "Perfect."
Holding his hands out to his sides, Kuzan's face turned into that of absolute seriousness.
"Ice,"
As Kuzan was about to unleash his attacks, all members of the Grimheart pirates, except for Rowan who wasn't there, had their joy end instantly upon realizing the circumstance that they were in.
"Carmen!" Carina turned to Carmen urgently, but the latter shook her head.
"No! Sudden expansion from the heat, within the cold atmosphere like this, will destroy Prominence without a doubt!"
Dan gritted his teeth, before shifting his eyes to Carina, "Carina."
Biting her lips in frustration, Carina took off her pouches from her legs and immediately flashed right in front of Kuzan,
"Time Capsu-"
*ZOOM*
With a purple flash, Kuzan disappeared from his spot, before part of the Marine Base G-8 ahead of them froze into ice. However,
"Carina!!!" Cavendish cried upon sighting that Carina too have frozen into an ice statue, as she had to touch Kuzan to teleport him away.
Carmen immediately stepped forward,
"Leave her to Robin and me." Carefully lifting Carina up, Carmen briefly gazed at Robin and entered the down floor of Prominence.
Robin nodded before following Carmen.
"Damn it! Guys, hold on tight!!" Dan cried as he laid his hand on top of the metal pole, before fuelling the mechanism with energy.
*BOOOOM*
With all the jet dials activating simultaneously, Prominence crashed into few marine ships ahead of them, before blasting off of their spot.
"Beautiful Sword: Ouragon Rosé!"
As the immense number of cannonballs were all shot towards Prominence from many marine ships, Cavendish immediately stepped up and slashed his sword at a blinding speed, cutting all of them before they had a chance to impact the ship.
"As if I'll let you escape!!!" Breaking the ice-transformed walls of the G-8 urgently, Kuzan dashed to Prominence at an incredible speed.
Watching that Prominence began its flight,
"Sonic Step... *Huff* Two-fold."
Rowan blasted himself in the direction that Prominence was going towards, and instantly landed aboard the ship.
*BOOOOOOM* The booming noise from his technique was only heard after a short delay.
"*Huff* Is everyone... back on the ship?" Rowan immediately asked Dan, who inspected Rowan's critical condition with disbelief.
"Cap... tain..." Dan whispered with widened eyes, but nonetheless, nodded back seriously.
With the golden emission around his body dying down and the black-coloured hardening fading, Rowan tiredly turned back and sighted Garp and Kuzan, who were ferociously chasing after them.
While in midair, the moisture around Kuzan began to freeze into ice, "Ice Block: Avalanche!!!"
"Tsk tsk, don't think you can get away like this, you brat!!" Garp shouted with crazed eyes, as he blasted his fist forward, "Newgate Fist!!!!!!!"
"Newgate, huh." Rowan's said in a reserved tone, "*Cough* The White... beard."
Before him and his crew, an incredible scene unfolded, where a huge wave of ice began to descend upon them, and a huge shock wave ascended from underneath.
Seeing this, Rowan's expression turned grim as his body became encased in golden emission and black hardening once more. He was mustering every last of the strength that remained in him.
He initially believed that whether this battle will end in their loss or not, they will be able to escape with ease, with all combinations of escaping mechanisms they had at their disposal. However, as he witnessed the sky-shaking attacks, which will shred the whole Prominence in one go, he realized that that won't be the case.
'Man versus disaster.'
Funnily enough, in midst of the crisis with him severely injured, that was the first thought that entered Rowan's mind.
It was strange. In the past, he would've felt fear and regret in messing up and bringing up trouble, especially since the attack in front of him was the very technique that Garp used against the man known as 'The Strongest Man In The World.' The fact that Rowan was facing against the combination of such a technique with another from one of the three Admirals-
'This is what I meant when I say strong.' Rowan thought with determination, as the air around him began to lighten up and calm down unnaturally, 'Not to cower. Not to be afraid. To stand for myself and those around me.'
"You guys, go without me." Turning around, Rowan said with a smile.
Dan shook his head frantically, "Captain, what are you talking about?!! We just have to continue to blast off from here!!"
Rowan chuckled weakly, "No, I've miscalculated. I guess we shouldn't... *Cough* *Cough* ...have engaged them in the first place.
Go. I'll buy you some time."
Slowly, Rowan stepped out of the Prominence, which continued to fly away, and faced two attacks in the middle of the air.
""CAPTAIN!!!!!!!""Dan and Cavendish screamed, unable to believe the scene that's being unfolded in front of them.
"Captain Rowan…" Alfred muttered with a shaky voice, while holding onto Farul, who was trying to jump towards Rowan.
But in the end, there was nothing that they could do, than to helplessly watch as Rowan became smaller and smaller in their eyes, as Prominence continued to drift away.
"Huuuu... *Cough* ...Marine Hero and Admiral in front of me. The chance of Prominence being able to escape from these wide-scaled attacks: zero." Rowan stated to himself before his expression turned to that of the resolution, "But that doesn't mean that I will allow them to reach my crew."
The surrounding around Rowan quietened down in silence as he readied himself for the final clash.
"Garp-san." Kuzan's eyes narrowed.
"Yes, this isn't the Conqueror's Haki. Yet," Garp replied as he placed his finger under his nose and rubbed it, "the amount of will he's displaying right now—how interesting."
In their eyes, Rowan looked to have been filled with an immense amount of spiritual energy within him. It was very dense and concentrated, to an extent where their Observation Haki judged Rowan as something akin to a 'spiritual bomb.'
"Fifty Layers, Hundred Hit, Entropy," Rowan blasted his fist forward with the maximum that he was capable of if he were not to think of the consequences that will follow,
"Terraforming."
The indomitable force blasted out of Rowan's fist, clashing against the combined attack of Kuzan and Garp. The initial pitch of the booming sounds generated by Rowan's technique was so high, that no sound, except the noises from the collision between two sides, was heard.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
At the initial clash, Rowan's punch seemed to be falling short, with him being pushed backward by two attacks he was facing against. However,
'As if... as if I'll let you take any more from me!!!'
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
The consecutive bounce with identical strength as the previous blasted forth. Afterward, as if the engine has begun its work, Rowan's punch started to drill its way through two techniques, constantly blasting over and over.
Under the amazed eyes of Garp and Kuzan,
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
Rowan managed to nullify their attacks in the end, with the avalanche powerlessly falling down to the sea.
At the same time, Rowan, whose right arm was now broken and the Armament Haki gone, has gone unconscious as he began to fall from the sky.
"He..." Kuzan seemed to be at the loss of words, before speaking tiredly, "...I'm actually glad that we managed to catch him here."
Garp, on the other hand, laughed boisterously, "Bwahaha, that was much more fun than what I've expected!!"
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Surprise!! It's time to put some jokes that have been pestering me for days. Please do skip, for these may be quite cringe.
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"So this dude is Gold Roger." Rowan said as he pointed at the picture of the Pirate King.
"No. Gol D. Roger." Carina shook her head.
"Ugh, that just sounds so bad." Rowan frowned, "It's like, Edward Newgate's name being Edwar D. Newgay."
Carina's eyes widened and her mouth gaped open in surprise, before bursting out in laughter, "Hahaha!!!"
"I mean, think about it." Rowan said while placing his hand under his chin, "His title is Whitebeard, but where is his beard?!! All I see is a crescent-shaped mustache! He should be Whitemustache, no?"
"But you know..." Carina spoke up slowly, "Your name is Uchiha... oops, Youchiha Bob."
Rowan shrugged, "Still not as bad as Monkey D. Dragon. A name like that can't exist, right?"
"Oh, it definitely can." Carina chuckled, "I mean, I've heard of one marine officer named Strawberry."
However, Rowan didn't seem to hear Carina's words, and instead, was trying to hold his laughter from having realized something,
"Pff… Monkey D. Goku…"