Chapter 157: Double Standards

"After tallying everything up... Barrett has killed far too many people."

Arthur stood atop a hill of ruined rubble, looking down at the fierce battle below.

Under Fleet Admiral Kong’s overwhelming mastery of hand-to-hand combat, Barrett was gradually being pushed onto the defensive.

He had no choice but to activate the Gasha-Gasha Fruit and fight back with its fusion ability.

The battle had already lasted for about an hour, yet neither Arthur nor Cooper had been discovered.

Dusk faded, and night descended.

After bombarding the island throughout the entire afternoon, the Buster Call fleet finally ceased its shelling.

The warships landed along every shoreline surrounding the island, sealing off every harbor to prevent Barrett’s escape.

Garp and Sengoku strode majestically toward the center of the battlefield.

They silently watched the life-and-death struggle between Barrett and Fleet Admiral Kong.

"...!"

Their arrival startled Barrett.

Any remaining hope of escape vanished.

"Do you have any idea how much preparation we made just to capture one man?" Kong seized the moment Barrett was distracted and drove a crushing punch into his face.

Barrett was blasted backward, his vision spinning as he skidded across the shattered ground.

"Garp! Sengoku! If you couldn’t even catch Roger, what makes you think you can catch me?" Barrett wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and sneered.

Sengoku was about to speak about justice, but Garp stepped forward first.

"Roger is already dead, Barrett. Why are you slaughtering innocent people all over the world?"

"Hah!"

Barrett grinned contemptuously, his smile as savage as a demon’s.

"The sea is a battlefield! The weak deserve to die! That’s the only rule of survival I’ve learned since I was a child!"

"Roger is gone, and today you government lapdogs are going to die with him!"

The surrounding Marines frowned solemnly as an enormous amount of Haki gathered around Barrett’s fist. He charged straight toward the exhausted Kong.

Without the slightest fear, Kong answered with a punch of his own.

"My strongest attack!"

Barrett roared as Armament Haki surged around his fist, condensing into its peak before colliding head-on with Kong’s punch.

"You’re nothing but a monster who knows only slaughter and brings misery wherever you go, Barrett!"

"And who created that monster?! Wasn’t it your Marines and your World Government?!"

With an enraged roar, Barrett forced out every ounce of strength left in his body and actually drove Kong back with a single punch.

Boom!

He immediately slammed his arm into the ground.

The earth split apart beneath his overwhelming power.

"Fusion!"

Barrett roared.

A torrent of purple metallic material erupted from his body and spread across the battlefield.

"I know how to surpass Roger now!"

As he rapidly fused with everything around him, Barrett stared at Kong, Garp, and Sengoku.

"If I defeat everyone Roger couldn’t defeat... if I kill them all... then I’ll become the strongest in the world!"

The Gasha-Gasha Fruit merged him with everything on the island.

Moments later, a gigantic mechanical giant over a hundred meters tall rose from the shores of Clare Island.

Once the fusion was complete, the violently shaking island gradually fell silent.

Standing inside the colossal iron machine he’d created, Barrett looked down at the man Roger had acknowledged as his rival.

"Garp! Aren’t those iron fists of yours supposed to terrify the seas? Then try taking this!"

The machine’s right arm instantly expanded several times over.

It was completely coated in dark Armament Haki before crashing down toward Garp with overwhelming force.

"Heh."

Garp chuckled after being openly challenged.

His fists were already covered in jet-black Armament Haki, immense Haki pouring from his body.

Black lightning crackled around him.

"Garp!"

Feeling the pressure, Sengoku quickly retreated to avoid Barrett’s attack.

"What a joke."

Watching Barrett’s enormous body from afar, Arthur narrowed his eyes.

"That might work against ordinary powerhouses, but against monsters like them? All you’ve done is make yourself a bigger target."

"Cooper!"

"He’s just a musclehead who only knows how to fight. Never uses his brain."

Garp showed no mercy.

His punch landed squarely against the descending mechanical arm.

BOOM!!

The gigantic arm exploded apart from a single blow.

Barrett’s colossal fused body immediately lost its balance.

His eyes widened in disbelief.

That had been his strongest attack.

How had it been destroyed so effortlessly?

But it wasn’t over.

His pupils shrank as he locked onto Garp’s Haki-clad figure charging straight toward him.

"I won’t show mercy to a pirate who murders without hesitation!"

Garp shot through the air at astonishing speed, appearing before the giant’s head in an instant.

"Galaxy Impact!"

A heaven-shaking punch smashed through the machine’s iron shell and its Armament Haki.

The explosive force engulfed Barrett inside.

With a scream, Barrett was punched clean out of the hundred-meter-tall machine and slammed deep into the island below.

Without its core, the fused construct instantly began falling apart.

Countless fragments rained from the sky.

Garp landed among them with his arms folded across his chest, Haki still pouring from his body like an unstoppable monster.

Boom!

Dust billowed everywhere, obscuring the battlefield.

"Cough..."

Barrett struggled to his feet from the enormous crater.

His body was covered in wounds.

He had never imagined that a single punch could leave him so badly injured.

"...Garp..."

He muttered the name in utter disbelief—

Boom!

Another devastating shockwave blasted away the surrounding dust.

Garp, Kong, and Sengoku stood before him.

Under the bright moonlight, Barrett faced the three men alone.

Only then did he truly realize there was no escaping this hopeless situation.

"Ordinarily," Fleet Admiral Kong said coldly, "we’d simply eliminate you here and now."

"That’s right," Admiral Sengoku continued. "But the Devil Fruit inside you would simply fall into someone else’s hands and bring another catastrophe upon the seas."

"You’re the only stain on the Roger Pirates."

Garp looked directly into Barrett’s eyes.

"Spend the rest of your life in Impel Down."

Even in despair, Barrett continued resisting.

As long as he could still move, he would keep attacking.

But facing three men each stronger than himself...

He had absolutely no chance.

Punch after punch stripped away what little strength remained.

His resistance gradually faded as Garp, Kong, and Sengoku took turns beating him down.

The Marines arriving on the scene photographed everything.

The world would need an explanation.

Justice had to be seen.

"Evil can never triumph over justice!"

"The Marines may arrive late... but we’ll never ignore a monster like him!"

The center of the island had become a giant lotus-shaped crater.

It was now the battlefield of four monsters.

"Maybe the Roger Pirates took him in just to stop him from slaughtering innocent people across the seas."

"Whatever the reason, evil like that deserves no sympathy."

The Marines watched while discussing among themselves.

Soon afterward, Headquarters Vice Admirals Gion and Tokikake arrived.

"I wonder if there are any survivors left on this island."

Tokikake stepped into the crater and slammed a palm against the ground, using his Mythical Zoan ability to sense living beings.

The instant he did—

His face turned pale.

He whipped his head toward a tall slope of ruined debris.

"What is it, Tokikake? What are you freaking out about now?" Gion asked before looking in the same direction.

Arthur and Cooper were leisurely drinking wine and eating roasted meat while casually watching the spectacle.

Realizing he’d been noticed, Arthur turned toward Tokikake, smiled, and casually waved.

Through Tokikake’s Life Sense...

Apart from the four figures battling in the center...

Arthur’s life force shone with such terrifying purity that it made his heart tremble.

"It’s him... Why is he here...?"

Having not seen Arthur for so long, Gion stared blankly at him.

"Has... has nobody else noticed him?" Tokikake whispered in disbelief.

Both of them had once saved Arthur.

The moment their eyes met his...

They exchanged uneasy glances.

Whenever Arthur appeared...

Something that shook the entire world always followed.

"He isn’t..."

They spoke simultaneously.

"...planning to cause trouble again, is he?"

"Ah...!"

Before either of them could react, several Marines had already recognized Arthur.

"T-That’s the Solitary Dragon who kills without blinking...!"

"The Frost Sword Saint?!"

Panic immediately spread through the Marines.

Meanwhile, Barrett had already been completely defeated.

He lay on the ground, barely conscious, his unfocused eyes staring into the star-filled sky.

"Why... were we ever brought into this world...?"

"That doesn’t justify slaughtering innocent people!"

Kong answered with another brutal punch to Barrett’s face.

It nearly knocked him unconscious.

Capturing this one man alone had already cost the Marines an enormous amount of time and manpower.

He truly was beyond redemption.

"Enough talking. The soldiers seem to be in an uproar."

Sengoku glanced toward the commotion.

"Put Seastone cuffs on him first."

The instant they moved to arrest Barrett—

Kong, Garp, and Sengoku’s expressions changed simultaneously.

Their Observation Haki detected an overwhelmingly terrifying killing intent erupting from the high ground.

Arthur had been discovered.

In the next instant, he drew his sword.

"Waist Strike Style: Earth Breath!"

A dazzling slash flashed across the battlefield.

For a moment, it seemed as though the very earth—and even space itself—had been split apart.

In an instant, a brilliant slash of icy light tore across the center of the island.

For a fleeting moment, it looked as though space itself had been split apart.

BOOM!

The ground beneath Garp, Kong, and Sengoku shook violently as an enormous fissure burst open beneath their feet.

The shockwave forced all three away from Barrett.

By the time they regained their footing, Arthur had already drawn his blade, grabbed Cooper, and vanished from the towering slope outside the battlefield.

"A sword slash?!"

"Who could unleash something like that? Rayleigh?!"

"No... it’s him..."

Dust drifted around Barrett’s battered body.

Standing before him was Arthur alone, Cooper perched calmly on his shoulder, black blade in hand.

He silently looked down at Barrett, whose body was bruised, broken, and barely recognizable after the beating he had received.

"Arthur?!"

The instant Sengoku recognized him, killing intent erupted from his body as he stepped forward.

"So you actually dared to come here. Don’t tell me everything Barrett has done... was under your orders?"

Arthur’s blue eyes swept toward him as a faint smile appeared on his face.

"Why is it that the great ’Sengoku the Buddha’ insists on framing me every single time we meet?"

"Sengoku, enough."

Kong immediately stopped him.

Within the Marines, many officers had already grown dissatisfied with Sengoku’s relentless fixation on Arthur.

Not only had it drawn criticism from military families, but it had also caused the Marines to lose many promising young recruits.

"So that’s how little you think of me?"

Ice-blue crystalline petals bloomed within Arthur’s pupils as he fixed Sengoku with an icy gaze.

Sengoku’s expression tightened.

An ominous feeling surged through him.

Without warning, frost rapidly spread across his body.

He immediately coated himself in Haki, forcibly dispersing the freezing aura before Arthur’s power could immobilize him.

Garp stepped forward with a solemn expression, positioning himself between Kong and Sengoku.

The three men stared at Arthur from the opposite side of the newly formed canyon.

The chasm stretched over twenty meters wide.

Any one of them could leap across it in an instant.

Yet the freezing mist continuously pouring out of the crack was the lingering power Arthur had infused into it.

Anyone crossing it without Haki would be frozen before reaching him.

"Arthur...!"

Sengoku leaped across the abyss and landed on Arthur’s side of the chasm.

He slowly advanced.

"Arthur... you bastard..."

Barrett weakly raised his head.

"Don’t tell me... you’re actually here... to save me..."

They barely knew each other.

He couldn’t understand why Arthur would come.

"Roger isn’t someone you need to surpass for your entire life, Barrett."

Arthur never turned around.

His eyes remained fixed on Sengoku.

"There are people in this world far stronger than Roger. Opponents you’ll never overcome in your lifetime."

"Arthur!"

Sengoku’s voice grew stern.

"Surrender peacefully!"

"Surrender?"

Arthur smiled as he slowly sheathed his black blade.

"My sword won’t allow that."

"Caw!"

"Neither will I! Arthur, I can’t stand that afro-headed guy!"

Cooper spread his wings angrily.

Seeing Arthur sheath his sword, Sengoku abruptly halted.

A terrifying aura radiated from Arthur.

"Why are you protecting Barrett?"

Every time Arthur heard Sengoku ask questions like this...

He wanted to laugh.

"What makes you think I’m obligated to answer anything you ask?"

Cracks spread beneath Arthur’s feet.

His Waist Strike Style—his iai stance—had already finished gathering power.

"Barrett massacred countless innocent people across multiple nations!"

Sengoku continued.

"If you protect him, then you’re complicit in the deaths of hundreds of thousands!"

Arthur merely looked at him.

"And why would you assume I care how many people he killed?"

He smiled coldly.

"You’re talking about unforgivable crimes?"

"The World Government has committed countless atrocities throughout history."

"Why don’t you put them on trial?"

"Instead, you wag your tail like a loyal dog and worship them as your masters."

Arthur clicked his tongue mockingly.

Sengoku’s face twisted with rage.

Unable to contain himself any longer, he charged.

The instant he took a single step—

He entered Arthur’s attack range.

CLANG!

Arthur’s blade flashed from its sheath like lightning.

The icy slash aimed directly for Sengoku’s neck.

Sengoku instinctively shifted his body.

Even so—

The sword still carved across the golden Buddha’s chest, forcing him backward.

Arthur wasn’t surprised he had reacted in time.

He calmly sheathed his sword once more, preparing another draw.

"People don’t change their beliefs because of a few words."

Arthur’s voice remained calm.

"No matter what I say... you’ll always believe your way is justice."

Cold sweat covered Sengoku’s forehead.

Holding the wound across his Buddha form, he glared at Arthur.

"No matter what excuses you make... you’re evil, Arthur!"

Arthur answered instantly.

"Then what does that make the man who created the person standing before you today?"

Sengoku fell silent.

Because the one who had shaped Arthur into what he was now...

Was Sengoku himself.

"You’re not taking him."

Kong leaped across the canyon, landing beside Arthur and Barrett.

"I don’t know what you’re planning."

"But as Fleet Admiral... I will never stand by and watch you take him."

Arthur quietly looked at Kong.

He remembered the rumors spread throughout Marine Headquarters.

They said Kong’s bones were harder than steel.

With Armament Haki...

He was practically indestructible.

"He’s killed far too many innocent people."

Kong’s voice grew heavy.

"This is completely different from your situation."

"Do you understand?"

He stood before Sengoku while glancing at the slash across Sengoku’s chest.

"So... it looks like we can’t avoid a fight."

"Good."

"We’ll arrest you as well and give the world the explanation it deserves."

Without another word—

Kong vanished.

His Haki-coated fist blasted toward Arthur’s head.

Yet before his eyes—

Arthur seemed even faster.

Arthur simply shifted one step aside.

The punch missed.

His black blade slashed down from Kong’s flank.

Seeing this—

Sengoku instantly appeared beside Arthur.

His palm erupted with devastating shockwaves as it slammed forward.

At the exact moment the impact exploded—

An enormous dragon-headed wall of ice materialized before Arthur.

BOOM!!

The shockwave shattered the ice wall.

Behind the shattered ice—

Cooper suddenly spread both wings.

A deafening sonic blast erupted.

The violent air explosion blasted Sengoku backward.

The ringing in his ears wouldn’t stop until he slid all the way to the edge of the canyon.

Looking down at the abyss behind him, Sengoku couldn’t hide his shock.

"Even that eagle... has become this powerful?"

The moment he regained his footing—

The sounds of Kong and Arthur’s battle echoed through the air.

Looking up—

He saw Kong’s Haki-coated fists repeatedly colliding with Arthur’s black blade.

Each clash sent shockwaves roaring across the battlefield.

Arthur’s blade sliced open Kong’s flesh...

Yet it couldn’t leave even the slightest mark on his bones.

With a powerful swing, Arthur forced Kong backward.

"So..."

Arthur narrowed his eyes.

"Apart from Kaido and King... Kong’s body is this monstrous too?"

"What terrifying strength!"

Kong himself couldn’t hide his astonishment.

This was his first direct clash with Arthur.

He had heard countless rumors about Arthur’s monstrous physical strength.

Only now did he truly understand.

Arthur’s bones were every bit as resilient as his own.

"Caw!"

"Arthur... I want to fight beside you. I don’t want to just watch you face them alone."

Ignoring Arthur’s earlier orders, Cooper flew into battle.

Arthur smiled faintly.

"Then let’s fight together."

"Even if we can’t take Barrett away... we can still leave here alive."

He sheathed his blade once more, perfectly timing his breathing.

Whenever the enemy attacked—

Cooper’s wing strikes were now powerful enough to briefly force even someone of Sengoku’s caliber backward.

That tiny opening...

Was all Arthur needed for a killing blow.

"You brat!"

Kong’s voice thundered.

"Even if the Marines wronged you back then..."

He no longer held back.

His body rapidly expanded.

Silver-black fur like steel needles covered his body.

Moments later—

A gigantic black gorilla stood before Arthur.

"But with who you’ve become today..."

"We have no choice but to erase you from this world!"

Seeing Kong reveal his full strength—

Sengoku transformed as well.

His body became a colossal golden Buddha.

The overwhelming pressure released by the two legends crashed toward Arthur like mountains.

Garp sighed.

"In the end... I’m still a Marine."

"No matter how much I struggle... I can’t escape that fate."

After hesitating for a long time—

He finally crossed the canyon as well.

His fist slowly tightened.

"Don’t let go."

Arthur remained perfectly calm.

"Whatever happens... don’t let go, Cooper."

"Caw!"

"I won’t... I’m not that timid bird anymore..."

Even Cooper’s voice trembled before such an overwhelming lineup.

When Kong and Sengoku captured Barrett...

Neither had even needed to use their Devil Fruit abilities.

That alone proved one thing.

Arthur represented an even greater threat than Barrett.

The only difference—

He wasn’t a mass murderer.

"You idiot!"

Watching from the shoreline with Tokikake, Gion clenched her fists.

"There isn’t a single person alive who could defeat those three by themselves!"

Yet Arthur had come alone...

Simply to save Barrett?

"This time..."

Tokikake sighed helplessly.

"Even I can’t save him."

Both he and Gion had defied Marine orders more than once to protect Arthur.

BOOOOOOM!!

The battle erupted.

Haki and sword light split both sea and sky.

The ocean surrounding the Island of Women churned violently as colossal waves surged toward every nearby island.

Relying solely on his peerless swordsmanship—

Arthur fought three legends of the Marines.

The heavens shook.

The seas roared.

Even ghosts and gods would have wept at the sight.

Relying solely on his peerless swordsmanship, Arthur fought the three Marine legends with earth-shattering intensity.

By the end of the battle, over half of Clare Island had been reduced to ruins.

Yet no victor had been decided.

He was facing Kong, whose transformed body was nearly impossible to kill or even injure.

He was facing Sengoku the Buddha, whose colossal golden form unleashed devastating shockwaves.

And he was facing Garp, whose Haki stood at the very pinnacle of the world.

In the end, Arthur had no choice but to abandon his plan to rescue Barrett.

After fighting at full strength for nearly half a day, he successfully disengaged from the battle and retreated without being captured.

The world would later come to know this clash as the Clare Island Incident.

The tale of one man standing alone against the Marines’ three greatest powers—and escaping unscathed—gradually spread across the seas like a legend.

Several Days Later

Marine Headquarters

Sengoku sat in a high-level strategy meeting, his body covered in bandages wrapped over countless sword wounds.

Fleet Admiral Kong, still bearing minor frostbite from the battle, sat with his arms crossed in the Fleet Admiral’s seat.

Garp sat to one side of the office, unusually composed, with nothing more than a small bandage across the bridge of his nose.

"What did I do wrong?! Damn it! That bastard slaughtered innocent civilians under the banner of justice!"

Standing in the center of the office was Marine Vice Admiral Kuzan.

After openly opposing a Cipher Pol chief’s massacre of innocent civilians, he had been summoned back to Headquarters to await judgment.

For the first time in his life, Kuzan openly questioned the meaning of justice.

Because the person he had opposed...

Was Spandine, a World Government official acting under the authority of the Five Elders.

Even Spandine, arrogant as he was, didn’t dare behave recklessly in front of the Marine leadership.

"The ship carrying those Ohara scholars contained people who posed an enormous threat to the World Government!"

Spandine glared at Kuzan.

"Do you even understand that?"

"But there was no reason to attack the civilians on the island just because of a few scholars!"

Kuzan roared back.

"Is slaughtering innocent people what you call justice?!"

"Spandine."

Kong finally spoke.

"We will spend the coming months investigating the evidence of Ohara’s crimes."

He was deliberately protecting Kuzan.

The young Marine represented one of the Navy’s greatest future assets, and Kong had no intention of sacrificing him over this incident.

The Marines depended entirely on the World Government’s financial support.

They simply lacked the power to openly oppose Government officials.

"What?!"

Spandine angrily pointed at Kuzan.

"And what exactly are you planning to do with this insubordinate brat?!"

"For the time being..."

Kong answered calmly.

"He will be temporarily demoted and await reassignment. If he earns sufficient merit in the future, his original position will be restored."

Spandine was clearly dissatisfied with such a light punishment.

Sengoku noticed the displeasure on his face.

Without saying a word...

He slowly reached into his pocket...

And took out a Golden Den Den Mushi.

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