Chapter 300: Grandfather?

"I say... Saint Cerdic, are you absolutely certain you want to remain standing out here?" Garp asked, gesturing with his eyes toward the surrounding perimeter.

It was only at this moment that the group of World Nobles finally registered the predatory, bloodthirsty gazes locked onto them from every direction. The suffocating aura radiating from Dragon, in particular, made them feel like helpless sheep waiting for the slaughter.

"This..."

The Celestial Dragons suddenly grasped the grim reality—the two opposing forces were essentially locked in a dead heat.

DANGER!

What on earth were these useless buffoons doing, failing to immediately subdue a mere force of subversive intruders?

Thoughts aside, they didn't dare utter another word, prioritizing a swift retreat above all else.

"Cover Saint Cerdic's evacuation!" the Five Elders ordered with a heavy sweep of their arms. Though they held no love for these pampered World Nobles, allowing them to perish on the field was out of the question.

The CP0 agents responded without hesitation; to them, serving the Celestial Dragons was inherently an absolute honor.

The Marines, however, felt a bitter contrast. After enduring such atrocious, condescending treatment from the Celestial Dragons, they were still expected to bleed and die for them!

On what grounds?!

Deep resentment boiled in their hearts, yet they recognized that under official military command, obedience was mandatory.

"Since you've already stepped onto this stage, there's no need to leave!"

Like a haunting phantom, Dragon materialized directly before the fleeing World Nobles.

"WHAT!" the Five Elders bellowed in a panic. "STOP HIM NOW!"

The three Admirals and Fleet Admiral Akainu moved simultaneously, supported by a detachment of Marine Vice Admirals and CP0 agents.

"Admirals! We are your opponents!" Kenshin, Bell, and Locke stepped forward, anchoring a defensive line directly before the three Admirals.

Divine lightning descended from the heavens as Kenshin's blade cut through air and earth, generating a storm of celestial thunder that enveloped Admiral Fujitora.

Bell's silhouette flickered in a high-speed blur, matching Kizaru's light-speed displacements step for step. Meanwhile, Locke's staff expanded into a gargantuan pillar, sweeping across open airspace to slam down toward Ryokugyu.

The three of them intercepting three Marine Admirals simultaneously left the surrounding soldiers paralyzed in utter shock.

Three Marine Admirals... completely locked down at once!

Even the Straw Hat Pirates found the display mind-boggling—the combat mass of the Dragon Flag Pirates was ridiculously absolute!

His expression contorted in fury, Akainu was about to charge forward when a line of frost rapidly spread across the ground before his boots. "Don't move... Akainu!"

"Aokiji!" Akainu gritted his teeth, glaring with pure malice at Aokiji. Standing squarely in his path was his former colleague—former Marine Admiral Aokiji.

Except now, he was a member of a Yonko fleet—the Dragon Flag Pirates.

"You..."

"I am currently an active member of the Dragon Flag Pirates," Aokiji stated flatly.

"An Admiral..." The surrounding Marines struggled to process the reality.

KABOOM!

A massive shockwave exploded across the plaza, blasting back the Five Elders who had attempted to close in.

Dragon stood alone in mid-air, surrounded by an absolute, impenetrable pressure domain that denied any close-quarters approach.

Raging tempests formed a localized hurricane, trapping the four Celestial Dragons inside.

"HOLD YOUR HAND!" A towering silhouette surged forward, moving at a speed that elicited genuine astonishment.

"It's Commander-in-Chief Kong!" Sengoku called out, watching the veteran step onto the front line—it was the Commander-in-Chief of the World Government's military forces, Steel Skeleton Kong.

Swinging his colossal, muscular arm, Kong threw a heavy fist surging with raw physical energy straight toward Dragon.

Dragon raised a single palm, parrying the kinetic strike head-on.

BOOM!

The collision generated massive shockwaves that swept across the surrounding stone.

A black wind dragon erupted from Dragon's extended palm, slamming squarely into Kong's chest and blasting him back.

"Commander-in-Chief Kong!" Sengoku surged forward without a second thought, while Garp stood paralyzed in agonizing hesitation, his face dark.

The worst-case scenario had arrived after all. Could he truly stand on the sidelines and refrain from intervening...?

"Death Wink!" Ivankov leaped across the field out of nowhere, unleashing a massive facial shockwave that sent the rushing Sengoku tumbling backward.

Landing smoothly, Sengoku's face darkened.

"Iva, you're fully recovered?" Dragon expressed mild surprise, before catching sight of Nami and Robin off to the side, causing a wave of realization to wash over him.

He recalled that Drake possessed those miracle beans capable of instantly restoring vital signatures—that was how his own life-threatening trauma had been erased.

Clearly, the Straw Hat Pirates carried a supply of those beans as well.

For the sake of this global campaign, Drake had emptied his entire treasury. If he failed to claim massive spoils from this war, he would suffer a devastating financial loss.

Though naturally, that treasury had originally belonged to Big Mom before Drake conveniently "borrowed" it.

"I'm joining the fight too!" Yamato charged forward with wild enthusiasm, locking her sights directly onto Garp.

She could easily sense Garp's formidable strength, recognizing that allowing an old powerhouse like him to roam freely would create massive complications.

Having learned from Ace that Dragon was Luffy's father, she was determined to hold the line.

"Old man, how about you and I throw down?!"

"Hm?" Old man Garp raised a brow. "Who might you be, little girl?"

"I am a member of the Whitebeard Pirates!" Yamato declared proudly, shouldering her heavy kanabo.

"I can tell you're exceptionally strong. Come on—I won't let you pass to interfere with them!" Yamato swung her kanabo with a sharp, forceful snap, a fierce passion igniting in her eyes.

She had been yearning to clash with elite powerhouses.

"Is that so? Gahahahaha!" Garp let out a boisterous laugh.

"What's so funny?!"

Garp checked his laughter, waving a hand dismissively. "Nothing much. I just didn't know the Whitebeard Pirates had recruited a fiery girl like you."

"What's wrong with being a girl?!" Yamato snapped in annoyance, driving her heavy kanabo straight forward.

Coating his fist in dense Armament Haki, Garp threw a punch forward, as the two forces collided violently mid-air.

Yet while Garp engaged in physical combat, his mind was entirely elsewhere.

This is fine. Just keep me tied down here... That long-dreaded day has finally arrived after all.

"Yamato..." Nami and the others called out from afar, hesitating over whether to intervene.

After all, that old Marine was Luffy's biological grandfather.

"Thunder... BAGUA!!" Yamato held back zero reserves, having gauged Garp's absolute baseline strength through their initial trade.

Against an opponent of this tier, fighting without maximum output guaranteed total defeat.

Simultaneously, a fundamental truth hit her—whether Navy or pirate, once an old veteran reached a certain age, provoking them carelessly was a catastrophic mistake.

Not a single one of them was a push-over!

Shockwaves continued to detonate across the field.

Yamato gripped her weapon with both hands, the violent vibrations travelling through the metal nearly dislodging her hold.

How can this old man be this terrifyingly strong?!

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The two exchanged dozens of high-velocity moves. Despite deploying her entire arsenal, Yamato failed to force old man Garp back by a single inch. Abandoning all hesitation, she shifted directly into her hybrid beast form.

"THUNDER... BAGUA!!" A maximum-output strike infused with Advanced Conqueror's Haki cut through the atmosphere, plunging down toward Garp's head like a celestial hammer.

KABOOM!

The bedrock shattered beneath the force, as Garp crossed both forearms to absorb the blow, a look of sudden realization flickering in his eyes.

"That's Kaido's signature style you're using. What is your relationship to Kaido?"

"That rotten old bastard?! I have absolute zero connection to him anymore!" Yamato roared, launching another fierce assault.

ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! Filaments of crackling red Conqueror's Haki stretched through the air, compressing the surrounding pressure.

BOOM!

A massive kinetic shockwave swept across the plaza, sending pulverized stone flying in all directions as deep fissures webbed through the ground.

Seeing the violence of the exchange, Nami couldn't hold back any longer, shouting at the top of her lungs: "YAMATO! That's Luffy's grandfather! Just... figure it out yourself!"

"Thunder... Wait... WHAT?!" The lightning-draped kanabo was on the verge of slamming down onto Garp's head again when Yamato froze in absolute, wide-eyed astonishment, halting her momentum mid-swing.

Spinning her head toward Nami, she stammered, "Y-You... are you serious?!"

"YES! YES! YES!" Nami nodded frantically. Yamato stood paralyzed, her gaze drifting toward the Straw Hat Pirates, only to realize that every single member was standing by without making a defensive move.

Clearly... it was the absolute truth.

If Ace was Luffy's brother, then this old Marine was Ace's grandfather as well!

"Uh..." Yamato offered an incredibly awkward, sheepish grin, stepping up to Garp while scratching the back of her head. "Um... I didn't know you were Grandfather..."

Grandfather?

Garp: "???"