Pirate: I, Ace, am the King of Eclipse!

"Karma and Retribution: The Great Buddha Asura!"

Urouge waited until Garp made his move before launching his attack. Having witnessed his comrades being injured one after another, his already over five-meter-tall body swelled up again, his muscles bulging exponentially. He locked his heart meridian, deliberately dispelling the Armament Haki defense on his chest, allowing the aftershocks of the punches that had swept in earlier to cut open the wounds on his body.

Urouge chose to deliberately take the brunt of the punches in order to accumulate more transformable damage for his Karma Fruit. He didn't use Armament Haki to protect his chest, letting the aftershocks cut his body, and then incorporating all the pain from old and new injuries into this swing of the club. When the hexagonal iron club fell, the force had already exceeded the upper limit he could reach in his normal state.

"Transform the pain...into the power of salvation!"

Urouge transformed into a raging Buddha, wielding a hexagonal iron cudgel. The fruit converted the absorbed damage into double the power, and a devastating blow, powerful enough to destroy a city, crashed down on Garp's head.

"Turning damage into power? Too bad, your base strength isn't enough, you big guy!"

Garp did not step back, but simply raised his left hand, which was not covered by Haki.

clang!

The hexagonal iron rod stopped in his palm. The force, enough to shatter a mountain, failed to create a crack beneath Garp's feet; it was all absorbed by his body.

After Garp caught the iron rod, Urouge continued to exert downward force, his arm muscles tense, his massive body almost pressing down on the rod. But Garp's left arm didn't sink, and his body didn't sway. After the Devil Fruit's amplified power reached his palm, it could no longer be pushed forward.

"How is this possible?!" Urki's expression changed drastically.

"It's my turn."

Karp gripped his left hand. The hard hexagonal iron rod shattered with a crack, and he leaned forward, his forehead slamming into Urki's chin.

"Wow!"

Urki was sent flying backward, his massive body crashing through a small mountain.

"Yellow Springs: Song of the Fallen - Snowfall!"

In less than a fraction of a second, a figure, difficult to detect with Observation Haki, had already pressed against Garp's back.

A ghostly blue flame of the underworld burned in Brook's empty eye sockets. Seizing the moment Garp made his move, he swung the Soul-Slaying Sword, inlaid with cold steel. The blade made no sound, carrying a chilling aura capable of freezing souls, as it pierced towards Garp's back.

Brook chose the opening immediately after Garp's attack. The skeleton's body was already light, and the power of the Underworld further suppressed his aura, while the Cold Shell on the Soul-Slaying Sword concentrated its chill at the tip. Speed, concealment of presence, and the soul-freezing effect were all concentrated in that single strike aimed at the back of the heart.

"A Netherworld Swordsman? His speed is indeed impressive!"

Garp didn't even turn his head, and his Armament Haki burst forth from his back.

An invisible wall of energy formed by the outward-projecting defense prevented the Soul-Slaying Sword from advancing further after it pierced through it. The freezing energy, powerful enough to freeze the soul of a mutated giant bear, was shattered by Garp's vigorous blood energy the moment it touched him.

This time, Garp didn't even touch the sword's edge with his body or fingers. His emanating Haki remained outside his body, intercepting the Soul-Slaying Sword first. Brook exerted force forward with both hands, but there was always a distance between the sword tip and Garp's back, and the cold air couldn't penetrate that barrier.

"If your domineering aura isn't strong enough, you can't cut through my defenses, my skeleton!"

Garp turned and unleashed a sweeping kick. Brook tried to retreat, yelling, "Yohohoho...this is really going to kill me!"

However, the speed difference between the two was too great, and the shadow of the leg had already landed on him. Brook's light skeletal body flew out and instantly shattered into a pile of bones.

"Eye of the Gods - Cannon Mode!"

From a high vantage point a kilometer away, Karina steadied her sniper rifle. Her purple eyes still held the fear of Garp, but her hands gripping the gun remained firm. The global radar provided information, and she had already aimed at the spot where Garp had landed after kicking Brook away.

Karina had only one chance to fire. The full-map radar had recorded Garp's previous movements; instead of aiming at his current position, she locked onto where his body would be after the kick. As she pulled the trigger, Garp landed precisely in her predicted firing line.

call out!

The high-explosive laser shot across a kilometer and hit Karp directly in the face.

"Long-range sniping? Your intuition is pretty accurate, little girl."

Garp turned his head away, the beam grazing his cheek and shooting into the ruins behind him. An explosion ripped the ground apart, and flames shot skyward.

Just as he turned his head to dodge and finished his previous move, Bucky's attack arrived.

"Die! Fragmented to pieces - Microscopic Hidden Flow!"

Bucky huddled in the crevice, his face covered in snot and tears. Sometime later, he had broken one of his hands into pieces no bigger than a fingernail, hiding them in the swirling dust near Garp's calves.

Bucky clearly didn't join the attack head-on. He continued to shrink his splitting hand, using the smoke and dust from the previous laser explosion to obscure Garp's vision. The hidden clasp of the Seastone folding blade wasn't exposed either; the blade only became visible from the severed finger when it was truly close to the trouser leg.

On one of the missing fingers, there was a concealed clasp made of sea stone with a folding blade.

Just as the snap button was about to tear the hem of his trousers, Garp sensed the presence of the Seastone.

"Red-nosed brat, your methods are certainly dirty!"

Garp's expression changed, his right leg trembled, and his Haki surged outward from his leg.

"Waaaaaah!"

The split hand was sent flying, and the Baji body hidden in the crack of the rocks in the distance also screamed in pain.

"The old man's weakness is here!"

A faint whooshing sound came from above. Leona, dragging her broken left arm, held Byakuya upside down in her right hand. She used the Float-Float Fruit to reduce her weight and cut in from an angle out of Garp's sight.

The previous eight players had launched a continuous attack, and Leona had observed every defensive move, movement, and counterattack Garp made with her Observation Haki. The constantly twisting and flickering death line finally stabilized for a moment after he dealt with Bucky's dunk. This was exactly the moment Leona had been waiting for; the weightlessness also meant that she didn't create any noticeable airflow when she approached from the air.

"Special Observation Color: Anatomy Deadline!"

After dealing with attacks from eight people in a row, a thin red line finally appeared on Garp's back.

"caught you!"

Bai Ye transformed into a silver-black blade of light, piercing towards his back.

Karp laughed, "Sharp intuition, and perfect timing. But little girl, have you forgotten what I just taught you?"

With only a fraction of a second remaining between the blade's tip and Garp's clothes, advanced Armament Haki surged forth from behind him once more.

clang!

Leona's blade struck as if it had pierced a tough yet resilient transparent wall. The blade could not advance, and the Armament Haki she had applied to White Night quickly dissipated in the recoil.

There was nothing visible in front of the blade's tip, yet Leona could clearly feel the resistance. She continued to channel her Armament Haki into the White Night, but not only did she fail to pierce the barrier, her Haki itself lost its cohesion before Garp's Ryuo. The death line that had just been seen was still there, but her blade could not reach it.

"If your domineering aura isn't strong enough, even if you see the weakness, you still can't cut through it!"

Garp turned around, his wrinkled and scarred face appearing before Leona. Raising his right fist, he said, "Remember this feeling!"

boom!

The fist stopped an inch in front of Leona's chest, without directly touching her. However, the highly compressed fist wind and flowing cherry blossoms crossed that distance, pierced through her body, and exploded inside her chest.

The punch deliberately stopped outside her body, allowing everyone to clearly see the application of advanced Armament Haki. The fist itself didn't touch Leona; what truly struck her was the Haki that was released and seeped into her body. The difference that Garp had previously pointed out in words was now fully demonstrated through this attack.

Leona felt as if her internal organs had been displaced by the shock, and blood gushed from her mouth. She was sent flying from the island like a cannonball, disappearing from the plaza in the blink of an eye.

"Leona!"

Sabo, Enel, and the others crawled out of the ruins, looking at their fallen comrades. Working together and using all their trump cards, Garp managed to thwart even the sneak attacks hidden within their main assault.

The combined attack of Thunder Dragon, Laser, Water Column, and Fire Stick failed, and Urouge's accumulated power was also caught with one hand. Brook, Carina, and Buggy searched for an opening, but ultimately failed to break through Garp's defense. Only when Leona saw the death line did the group briefly see a possibility of success, but that possibility was also blocked head-on by an even stronger Haki.

Before this mountain called "Naval Heroes," the power they possessed at this moment was still far from sufficient.

"Phew... Warm-up over."

Garp stretched his neck and exhaled white breath. His gaze swept over everyone in turn, and then he said, "That brat Ace has a pretty good eye. Your Haki may be rough, but at least you have the guts to throw a punch at a strong person, so you can barely pass."

He walked toward the group of people who were vomiting blood.

"But now that I'm here, this battle can't end so casually. Get up, all of you! If you don't want to die, show some of your meager bravado and desperately try to block my punches!"

Chapter 133 The Burial of All Things, Escaping to Survive

Garp's voice echoed throughout the main island of Vermeer. As he approached, the people who had just risen from the ruins once again felt a deathly pressure.

"Cough cough... This old monster is completely unreasonable."

Sabo wiped the blood from his mouth and used his alloy staff to support himself. He glanced at Enel and Urouge, who were also badly injured, and immediately said in his mind, "We can't keep fighting like this. The old man's Haki is unfathomable. If we keep fighting, he'll really beat us to death. We have to retreat!"

"Hahaha! You actually want me, the god, to escape?!"

Enel gritted his teeth, lightning flashing in his eyes. He didn't want to accept the option of running away, but his almost broken body had already given the answer.

"Sabo, do you have any ideas?"

"Leona!" Sabo didn't answer him immediately, but instead called out to Leona, who had been blasted off the island by Garp, through his mental channel, "Can you still control your Devil Fruit power?"

"He won't die..."

Leona's reply was intermittent, punctuated by gasps for breath. She was currently several thousand meters above the main island. Garp's punch had injured her internal organs, but she relied on her willpower to maintain her Float-Float Fruit, keeping her body steady and preventing her from falling into the sea below.

Sabo immediately ordered, "Carina, Geno, take Brook and Buggy and retreat to the very edge of the island! Enel, Urouge, Shaq, use your strongest attacks to hold off the old man. Buy Leona ten seconds!"

"Roger that!"

No one questioned them; everyone immediately followed the instructions.

"Can we reorganize the attack?"

Garp looked at the four main fighters standing together, raised his right fist, and the black flowing cherry blossoms wrapped around him once again.

"Two Hundred Million Volts - Super Thunderclap!"

Enel squeezed out his remaining energy and converted it all into lightning. A jet-black ball of lightning condensed above Garp, dozens of times larger than the previous lightning dragon, and the energy, enough to flatten the island, was released from it and pressed down on the plaza.

A ball of lightning covered the plaza, with electricity continuously dripping from its surface. Enel wasn't conserving his strength for continued fighting, because if the plan failed, they would have no second chance to retreat. The massive lightning bolt descended slowly, yet its vast area enveloped Garp.

"Cause and Effect, Retribution, and the Great Buddha Vajra!"

Despite the excruciating pain from his shattered jaw, Urouge transformed once more into a muscular giant over five meters tall. Armament Haki enveloped his arms as he charged at Garp from the side, leaving himself no way out.

"Nine Thousand Tiles - Ocean Current Shoulder Throw!"

Shaq stirred the moisture in the air with his hands, creating a waterspout capable of whipping up a tsunami.

"Old man, take this! Emperor Yan - Dragon's Breath!"

Sabo transformed into a streak of blue flame, his powerful punch enveloped in high-level Flowing Sakura and flames. He poured all his understanding of Haki accumulated over the past six months into this single punch, aiming head-on at Garp's chest.

The four attacked desperately from different directions, and Garp's expression finally became more serious.

"Fist Bone - Meteor Shower!"

Boom boom boom boom boom!

Garp's fists transformed into a sky full of black shadows. Each punch unleashed a sonic boom, releasing destructive power from within.

Garp didn't try to break through in any particular direction. He stood amidst the four attacks, parrying them with even faster punches. Before the Super Thunder Strike could fully land, the force of the punch had already penetrated from below; Urouge's charge had just reached his side when he was struck on the shoulder; the waterspout was still gathering when the oncoming punch cut through the swirling water.

The colossal lightning bolt that crashed down from above was blasted apart head-on by a punch, the massive ball of lightning scattering into a shower of sparks. Urouge crashed in from the side, but Garp landed a precise punch to his shoulder, sending him flying again. The waterspout that Shaq had whipped up was shattered by the force of the punch as soon as it got close, turning into a mist that covered the square.