Chapter 263: Chapter 263: Friendship
He turned around, a complex look flashing in his eyes behind his lenses: "Similarly, regarding the upper echelons... those ’big shots’ who dwell in the clouds and decide the world’s direction, even if I occasionally notice something wrong, most of the time, I can only choose... to turn a blind eye. This is the ’reality’ I must face while sitting in this position."
"Ha!" Garp laughed out of extreme anger, suddenly springing up from the hospital bed. He swung his bandage-wrapped yet still powerful fist, smashing it straight toward Sengoku’s serious face.
"You bastard! This is exactly what’s wrong with you, Sengoku! You bastard who only thinks about climbing the ladder and has a head full of weighing pros and cons!!"
Sengoku seemed to have anticipated his reaction. He tilted his head slightly, dodging the fist, and at the same time, unceremoniously returned a punch to Garp’s bruised and swollen face: "Shut up! Barking at the bottom of a cliff and venting your frustration at a system that cannot be shaken—what can that change?!"
Bang! Crack! Thud!
The two highest combat powers of Marineford were now scuffling in the high-ranking officers’ ward, completely devoid of any dignity!
No Haki was used, no Devil Fruit abilities, and not even any decent moves—it was the most primitive, direct exchange of flesh hitting flesh!
You punch me, I kick you, like two street thugs, or like two teenagers who had completely fallen out over differing ideals and could only communicate in the most brutal way.
Bandages snapped during the struggle, newly healed wounds began to bleed again, and the equipment in the ward was knocked askew.
"Hey! Vice Admiral Garp! Admiral Sengoku! Please stop!!"
"This is a hospital! You two!!"
The Marine medics and soldiers who rushed over at the sound were dumbfounded. They tried to intervene but couldn’t find an opening, nor did they dare to actually pull them apart.
A moment later, the two separated, panting heavily, each leaning against the messy floor or the wreckage of the hospital bed.
Both were bruised and swollen, with freshly formed bumps on their heads, looking both miserable and ridiculous.
Garp roared fiercely at Sengoku, who was only a few centimeters away from him:
"Sengoku... if you get stained black too, I will definitely kill you!!!"
Sengoku wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. Looking at his best friend, whose eyes still burned with a pure, scorching fire of anger and conviction despite his heavy injuries, he pulled back his swollen lips and laughed.
In that smile, there was helplessness and exhaustion, but deep down, there was a strange sense of peace.
"See that..." Sengoku said to Garp,
"How ’reassuring’ it is. To have a ’best friend’ like this."
He patted the non-existent dust off his Admiral’s coat and turned to walk out the door.
As he passed Garp, his footsteps paused, and he said softly:
"Don’t quit... Garp."
Garp also whispered: "Idiot—!!! At the bottom of this cliff... I still have too many... too many things to protect!!!"
...In the New World, in Elbaf, hailed as the’Strongest Country’.
When that tampered news report, after many twists and turns, finally drifted into this land of giants, it triggered not discussion, but the echoing wails and destruction of a beast from the underworld.
A giant prince only a few years old, but already comparable in size to an ordinary adult human—Loki, was frantically destroying everything in sight!
"Waaaaah—!!!! Rocks—!!!"
His immature yet powerful fists frantically hammered at towering ancient trees that required several giants to encircle; the giant trees snapped and toppled at the impact!
He wailed and slammed his head against the rock walls, causing the hard stone to crack with spiderweb-like fissures!
He ran and trampled, turning the entire forest upside down. What was breaking along with his young heart was the faith in heroes and dreams that had once illuminated his entire world.
Fragments of Remembrance were like sharp icicles, repeatedly piercing his heart—
(Flashback)
On a sunny shore, the young Loki blocked the path of that man wearing a Captain’s coat and a wild smile for the umpteenth time.
Rocks laughed helplessly and with a hint of impatience: "You’re here again, brat? I’m not letting you on the ship, how many times do I have to say it? Little guy, do you think I’d let a snot-nosed brat be my crewmate?"
Loki wailed, tears and snot smearing his face.
Rocks sighed, resting his hands behind his head as he lay on a rock looking at the sky, his tone somewhat self-deprecating:
"Tsk, the man I’m so intent on recruiting won’t even give me a second glance. Yet I’m pestered all day by a brat like you. It’s really irritating."
Loki sobbed but his gaze was firm: "I... I think Rocks is ’Nika’!"
Rocks raised an eyebrow: "Nika?"
Loki nodded vigorously, his eyes shining: "Yeah! The Warrior of Liberation the elders talk about in their stories! He will laugh while destroying the world!"
Rocks was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing:
"Destroying the world? Brat, I want to become the ’king of the world’! As for that kind of ’laughing while destroying’ power you mentioned... the one who possesses that kind of power is Harald."
Loki tilted his head, his face full of confusion: "Eh? Father?"
Rocks sat up, his gaze becoming sharp and full of ambition:
"Listen, Loki. Somewhere in this world, there sleeps an incredible group of destroyers called the ’Warhammer Warband’. The only one who can move them is your father, Harald."
I will gather the world’s troublemakers, heroes, and monsters! If I can join forces with Harald..."
He stood up and looked toward the sea, his silhouette seemingly capable of propping up the sky: "In the end... who else could possibly stop us?!"
Loki’s eyes were frighteningly bright: "Wow! So cool! Then... why doesn’t Father join forces with Rocks?"
Rocks’s smile faded slightly, his tone carrying a hint of complexity: "That’s ’love’ at work... love for his clansmen, the responsibility for that ’peace’ under the existing Order... very heavy things. But—"
He turned back to look at Loki, his smile becoming confident and flamboyant once more:
"I’ll come back! Whether it’s 100 times or 200 times! Until I see that guy, until he nods his head!"
The memory ended, and now... "Ugh... aaah..."
Loki knelt in the forest clearing he had devastated, clutching that small newspaper tightly in his giant palm.
The ink printed the words "Death of Rocks" and "Pirate Crew Annihilated."
He had once thought he grasped a beam of light sufficient to illuminate the future.
But he was dragged back into the abyss of despair by this cold piece of paper in his palm.
That day, on the desolate coast of Elbaf, there were no giant war songs or horns, only the broken cries of a young boy, drifting far, far away with the cold sea breeze of the North Blue.
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