Chapter 103

*Splash*

Rowan grimaced upon noticing that Garp emerged from the water, yet again.

However, Garp's facial expression seemed to have become serious, as his right hand now contained a light-purple coloured bruise.

"The combination of all my techniques and that's all he got." Rowan said to himself, "Just how durable is he?"

Garp too inspected his right hand, "I haven't received any injury for years. But, a mere rookie... hmm, how dangerous."

Nonetheless, Garp returned his gaze at Rowan and grinned from ear to ear, "Guess I'll get a little serious here."

Rowan, with his blindfold still on, took a deep breath, erasing any thoughts of uncertainty in his mind. With Prominence, their crew was able to escape at any time; all he had to do was to stall until Carina managed to steal their objective.

"If that wasn't enough," Rowan said to himself with determination, "I'll just have to go beyond."

Rowan's whole body began to turn to metallic-black colour from head to toe, and simultaneously, the flame-like golden-coloured energy known as the emission of Armament Haki, enveloped his whole body.

From the absurd strength released by Rowan, his medium-length black-coloured hair began to float up.

'One hour.' Rowan thought to himself, 'That's how much I will be able to last, according to my instinct.'

"Ah, full-body emission, I see." Garp noted with a grin, before his body similarly became fully enveloped in reddish energy, "Bwahaha, it's only fair that I do the same!"

Rowan lowered his posture, getting himself ready for another clash against Garp.

'My Bounce plus Haki was sufficient enough to affect Garp, although not significant. The only way to maintain the stalemate, would be to-' Rowan tilted his head as Garp, who blasted himself towards Rowan, threw a sky-quaking punch towards his face, narrowly dodging the attack,

*BOOOOOOOM*

'-rely on my mastery over Observation Haki. Learn from the mistakes. Don't confront him head-on.'

*BOOOM*

With an incredible burst of speed, Rowan slammed his fist onto the side of Garp's extended arm, and retracted it right before Garp's elbow attempted to smash his arm.

"Bounce Art," Rowan began to vanish from side to side, before suddenly appearing behind Garp, "Third Stance Hwechook."

*BOOOOM* *BOOOOM* *BOOOOM*

Garp's head violently shook upon receiving the crushing blows from Rowan, but the latter swiftly turned back with the grin still intact on his face, before cocking his fist back.

'Tch, here it comes again, a punch with incredible range.' From what Rowan could judge based on his last encounter, Garp was capable of extending his emission to an overwhelming range, and at point-blank range, dodging was impossible. 'I can't afford to clash back like last time. If so...'

"Bwahaha, Rayleigh Fist!!!!"

As Garp blasted his fist towards Rowan, Rowan felt an incredible amount of pressure approaching him. However, he didn't attempt to dodge or counter. On contrary, he relaxed his body,

'Bounce Bounce fruit isn't an offensive fruit. It's time to utilize what it's the best at: defence.' Rowan clenched his teeth as Garp's fist was smashed onto him, "Bounce Impact!"

*BOOOOOOM*

With a very precise timing, a huge burst of bounce was blasted off of Rowan's whole body, before he was sent blasting by Garp's attack.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

By consecutively bouncing himself in midair, Rowan stopped himself from propulsion, and to Garp's surprise, Rowan didn't sustain much damage from his attack, apart from the light bruise that Rowan attained at his toned stomach, which was exposed due to his top having gotten ripped.

"Ho." Garp exclaimed in surprise as he opened and closed his hand repeatedly, "Did I miss you? Weird, I didn't get that sensation of punching."

The insight behind Rowan's technique was simple. With the combination of his advanced Observation Haki and incredible reflex, he, at the perfect timing, 'bounced' himself off of Garp's fist, and hence, avoided the severe damage.

However, that didn't mean Garp's fist was weak or whatsoever; Rowan still received an injury from the small portion of Garp's attack, even with his whole body being within the effect of Armament Haki hardening and emission.

Rowan was running on a thin line.

__________________

*Clang*

Carina, while sweating profusely, blocked Jonathan's sword as she flashed from room to room. It was very arduous for her, as not only did she have to focus her attention on Jonathan's exquisite swordplay, but also search for a potential Log or Eternal Pose that their crew was in need of.

"Where did the pirates like you come from?" Jonathan said with underlying amazement as his sword continued to move at a rapid speed, "The pirates are getting stronger and stronger as days go by, and look at the new recruits of our own, who are taking relatively long to groom. Quite comparable."

*Clang* *Clang*

'Log Pose, Eternal Pose, anything, anything that can guide us past this island!' For Carina, it was more of her resolve. Logically speaking, it was irrational, since with Prominence's capability, they could escape whenever they wanted. However, who was she?

Although self-proclaimed, the greatest thief of the whole world! To her, failure in this task would greatly hamper the pride in her skill, and with Rowan and her other crewmates placing their trust in her, she couldn't afford to give up.

'Where, where is it?!'

*Clang* *Clang* *Clang*

Another knife that Carina was holding onto, shattered from Jonathan's continuous pursuit. Flashing away and narrowly dodging Jonathan's sword, Carina flipped out another knife onto her hand.

'Found it!!' During their clash, Carina's eyes finally noticed the indication for the navigation room; her eyes lit up in joy, although she was seen with few bleeding cuts on her body.

*ZOOM*

With a purple flash, she directly bypassed the door and teleported into the room. Subsequently, Jonathan quickly opened the door and chased after Carina.

"Ah... try not to break them, okay?" Jonathan stated calmly, "These tools cost a lot."

"I-" Carina was about to return Jonathan's words with her own, but was forced to bend nimbly and dodge another one of Jonathan's slash, "Hey, give me a time to speak for myself!"

Without replying Jonathan swiftly dashed to Carina, "Gentle Blade: Round Table."

*Swoosh*

Jonathan swiftly slashed his sword in an arc, and the sharp wave of energy began to fly off towards Carina. Amazingly, his technique didn't touch any equipment that lied within the room.

"Hehe, let's make your nightmare come true." Twisting her body and flipping herself up, Carina made a mischievous smile.

*ZOOM*

With a purple flash, Carina appeared at the nearby table, and upon touching the said table with her palm,

Jonathan suddenly found all sorts of equipment falling onto him.

"Haa, this is getting on my nerves." Jonathan shook his head in slight tiredness, before his body blurred due to his incredibly fast movement, as he grabbed onto those objects and placed them back to where they belonged to.

Meanwhile,

'Got it.' Carina grinned as she snatched one Eternal Pose in midair, before quickly placing it into her pouch. "Now, before I leave,"

Carina turned her eyes to Jonathan, who stared back at her with serious eyes, before taking out the rest of her knives, eight of them, apart from one that she already was holding onto.

Grabbing one knife with her mouth, and four knives in each hand, Carina now held onto nine knives in total.

'Flash Style...' Carina readied her attack in silence, since she couldn't speak with a knife in her mouth.

Observing how Carina's demeanour changed, Jonathan raised his guard with his sword pointing at Carina.

'Starry Night.'

At the next moment, the purple flashes filled the whole surroundings of Jonathan. To his surprise, Carina's speed was so fast, to an extent where the countless number of knives seemed to be approaching him at the same time.

'Dodging all of them may be impossible. If so,' Jonathan's eyes flashed, 'Offence is the best defence.'

*CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*

The loud metallic noises shrieked in the whole room, as Carina and Jonathan clashed against one another at an inconceivable speed. The blood was occasionally splattered onto the wall as their blade-play continued non-stop, and by the time their attacks died down, both were seen to be bleeding all over.

"*Cough* Decarine was it? To think you can go on par with me, at such a young age..." Jonathan remarked as he wiped the blood that trailed down from his mouth.

"Decarine? Never heard of her. I'm Carina." Carina, while huffing in exhaustion and the blood on her head trailing down to her right eye, grinned wickedly, "And aside from that, I'm the Vice Captain of the Grimheart pirates after all. If I can't even do this, I am letting Rowan's name be tarnished."

_________________

"The ability to utilize fruit's maximum potential... all depends on one's imagination." Dan muttered to himself as he faced off against Kuzan, with Carmen, Cavendish, and Robin next to him. "The most prominent example is our captain. Bounce Bounce fruit sounds underwhelming, but his usage made me think that that fruit may be invincible."

Under the curious watch of Kuzan, Dan flipped out a coin from his pocket, before gripping it between his fingers.

"Pokebuddy's left-hand rule. Electric current, and the set direction of magnetic force based on it..." Dan's eyes crackled in electricity as he glared at Kuzan, who looked down on them while keeping himself on the thin strand of ice that was connected to the frozen wave.

Cavendish stared at Dan weirdly, "What are you talking about?"

Ignoring Cavendish, Dan raised his hand up, with the coin in his hand pointing at Kuzan, "100 Million Volts: Railgun."

*PAZZZZ*

At the next moment, the short burst of lightning flowed in Dan's fingers, and-

*BOOOM*

The coin in Dan's hand, crackling in intense blue lightning and imbued by Armament Haki, blasted towards Kuzan at a blinding speed, whose eyes were widened upon realizing the danger behind Dan's technique.

"Ice Block: Shield!!" A dense ice shield immediately made its appearance in front of Kuzan, and subsequently,

*BOOOOOM*

Although Dan's attack died down from Kuzan's shield, it simultaneously shattered into pieces, causing Kuzan's eyes to narrow.

"Heh, surprised?" Under the watch of his three other crewmates, Dan spoke with a regained confidence in his tone, "I can do thousands more."

"Uh, yeah." Cavendish gulped, "You are so dead when Carina returns."

Dan turned to Cavendish and comically berated the latter, "It's not the time to be thinking about that, Mr. I'm-so-handsome!!!"

Carmen seemed to be deep in thought, before raising her head up and holding her left hand out against Kuzan,

Kuzan said with half-lidded eyes, "I'm not careless enough to let you have another chance at me."

Leaping from the strand of ice, Kuzan stretched his arms out, "Ice Ball!!"

The Grimheart pirates witnessed as a huge amount of ice began to descend towards them. Gritting her teeth, the air around Carmen began to heat up,

"Quality and practicality, if I were to give up on flashiness..." Carmen muttered before glaring at the mass of ice in front of them, "Flame Ediction: Concentrated Flame."

*BOOOOOOOOOM*

A huge amount of steam began to be generated from the collision between the mass of ice and the pillar of flame. Although flame generally holds its advantage over ice, Kuzan continued to expel a new batch of ice, maintaining the struggle with ease.

"Well done, Carmen." Dan stated with a grin, before raising his hand up, "80 Million Volts: Transmission."

*PAZZZZZ* A large stream of electricity quickly travelled along the pillar of flame and through the mass of ice, before directly transmitting into Kuzan.

"Ugh," Kuzan let out a grunt as he felt the numbness of the lightning, although he quickly enveloped his body with Armament Haki. However, this distraction allowed Carmen to overcome Kuzan's attack.

*BOOOOOOOM*

The pillar of flame soared throughout the sky, and Kuzan, with the use of Geppo, quickly moved out of the site, narrowly dodging the technique.

Simultaneously, Kuzan found Cavendish, whose eyes were glowing in hollow blue and his black sword enveloped in the hollow blue-coloured aura, "Noble Phantasm: Hakuba."

*CLANG* *CLANG*

Kuzan grimaced as he quickly enveloped himself with ice armour and hardened with Haki, before receiving the full impact of Cavendish's attack.

As Kuzan was dropping from the sky, Robin stood on Prominence with her arms crossed,

"Gran Fleur," the Countless number of arms began to grow from the side of Prominence, before combining themselves into one large fist, "Impact!!"

*BOOOOM*

At the next moment, Kuzan found himself blasted off by Robin's punch, before crashing into the Marine Base G-8.

As the dust enveloped the site of Kuzan's crash and covered any eyes from peering through, Cavendish spoke up after landing back onto Prominence,

"Did we get him?"

Dan's eyes sharpened as he gazed to the cloud of dust in cautiousness, "Now I'm certain that we didn't, just because you said that."