Starting with Naruto, I'll become stronger through my own efforts.

Chapter 285 Shazo and Garp's Sparring and Conversation

A few minutes after Capra left Shazo, a powerful lightning bolt that tore through the sky and a flying slash that split the sea erupted from the reef area.

The two top forces clashed fiercely, and the confrontation was more intense than ever before, leaving all the marines dumbfounded.

The strong winds from the aftermath of the battle caused at least a hundred unlucky men to fall from the heights, not only getting bruised and battered but also losing their high-flying footholds.

"My God, Vice Admiral Garp is so powerful! He truly deserves to be called a hero of our Navy."

"Hahaha, although Vice Admiral Garp is only a vice admiral, his strength is highly recognized by the three admirals and Fleet Admiral Sengoku."

"It's unbelievable that Brigadier General Shazo is so powerful that he could make Lieutenant General Garp unleash so much of his strength."

"Even the lieutenant generals at headquarters aren't worth Lieutenant General Garp taking this seriously, are they?"

"You mean to say that Brigadier General Xia Zuo has the strength of a general?"

"Are you kidding me? Commodore is a rank unique to the naval branch; how can he be compared to an admiral?"

The question drew the attention of everyone around, who then pointed to the sea: "Is that something a Vice Admiral at headquarters could do?"

At this moment, the collision between the domineering lightning and the flying slash intensified, and the resulting gusts of wind were so strong that it was impossible for people to open their eyes.

Several high-ranking officers on the dog-headed warship, who had mastered Observation Haki, also changed their expressions drastically, no longer able to sense the fierce battle on the distant reefs.

No one said that Xia Zuo was inferior to the Lieutenant General of the Headquarters anymore.

Everyone watched the battle with bated breath. The powerful officers tried their best to feel the subtlety of the domineering aura and sword energy, while the weaker officers could only watch the excitement and then brag to their colleagues in other branches or fleets.

In reality, Shazo and Garp were not actually fighting. They were cooperating with each other, fully displaying their power to make their battle look fierce, but in fact, it had no lethality whatsoever.

This way, they can be shielded from everyone's observation, including those using Observation Haki, allowing the two to talk freely.

The conversation was initiated by Shazo, who noticed Garp's unpleasant expression and realized that he was in an unprecedentedly bad mood.

So Xia Zuo took the initiative to ask, "Old man, have you confirmed the situation in Windmill Village?"

Garp sighed, "It took a whole day to ask everyone, and we confirmed that the red-haired kid does indeed come to Windmill Village to stay every two months."

"When I asked around, no one thought there was anything wrong with pirates being stationed in Windmill Village."

"I really don't know what kind of magic Shanks has that makes everyone like him and willingly hide his whereabouts."

Xia Zuo laughed and said, "Red-haired Shanks, some people jokingly say that he is a face man who ate the Face Fruit, his affability is truly unbelievable."

Then he asked casually, "How is Luffy?"

Garp gets excited whenever Luffy is mentioned.

His anger erupted like a volcano that had been accumulating immense pressure, affecting his Armament Haki and causing the black Haki lightning to be tinged with an undeniable red hue.

The pressure from Armament Haki increased tenfold or even a hundredfold due to Garp's rage, making the Marines of the 77th Branch in the distance feel as if a huge stone was pressing on their hearts, making it hard for them to breathe.

A naval captain from headquarters clutched his chest, gasping for breath, and said, "What... what's going on? I can't breathe."

Another naval captain guessed in surprise, "I've heard that Conqueror's Haki can make people breathless, and even cause them to faint from dizziness. Could this be Conqueror's Haki?"

A rear admiral from the Navy Headquarters shook his head and said, "No, this is not Conqueror's Haki. Only Fleet Admiral Sengoku in the Navy possesses Conqueror's Haki."

"This is Vice Admiral Garp's Armament Haki. After countless hours of training, once the Haki is pushed to its limit, it can be combined with one's own emotions to create a powerful force against the enemy."

"This is an advanced application method, on par with Entanglement and Flowing Cherry Blossom."

"Sigh, I haven't even mastered Armament Haki, let alone such an advanced technique."

Hearing the rear admiral's self-pity, countless naval officers at headquarters sighed.

The naval officers of the 77th Division looked at the rear admiral with curiosity.

They found it very strange that a naval officer who hadn't cultivated an imposing aura could become a rear admiral in the headquarters.

The major general keenly sensed the watchful eyes of the branch navy.

If it were any other branch, he would definitely be angry and feel offended.

But this is the 77th Marine Division, the territory of Rear Admiral Shazo. The officers are his subordinates, and the Rear Admiral of the headquarters has a special status and knows Shazo's intelligence very well, so he naturally doesn't feel angry.

Instead, he turned his head, smiled at the officers who were watching him, and then raised his right hand.

The next moment, the major general's right hand became hairy, with stripes covering the yellow fur.

It turns out that this major general is a tiger-man who ate the Zoan-type Devil Fruit, the Cat-Cat Fruit, in its tiger form. Among Zoan-type fruits, it is a top-tier fruit, second only to Ancient Zoan and Mythical Zoan.

If he practices the Six Styles of the Navy, Tiger Man would indeed be qualified to become a Rear Admiral.

The branch naval officers politely lowered their heads and stopped looking at the rear admiral.

Garp unleashed three consecutive punches, venting his rage on Xia Zuo and nearly causing Xia Zuo to vomit blood before he finally managed to calm down.

Xia Zuo wasn't one to accept defeat easily. He gritted his teeth, raised his hand, and aimed at Garp with a powerful attack this time, a move imbued with both domineering aura and freezing air.

【Nan Dou · Bing Luan Bai Li】

As the developer of this move, Xia Zuo only needed to throw a punch, without using his ten fingers to control the freezing air, and frost feathers would be generated from the wind of his punch.

The frost feathers spread out, naturally forming a pair of huge blue and white wings.

The domineering aura and freezing energy contained in the fist further combined and condensed, forming a huge blue phoenix after a few seconds of brewing.

As soon as the curved bird's head appeared, the Frost Phoenix let out a clear and melodious cry that resounded across the sea, causing a great tremor in people's hearts.

With three cries, the Frost Phoenix flapped its wings and flew swiftly towards Garp, whose eyes were filled with surprise and amazement.

Amidst the light and crisp sound of ice cracking, Vice Admiral Garp, counterattacking with Armament Haki, shattered the Frost Phoenix, but he was also frozen in blue frost.

Although it only took a dozen seconds for Garp to shatter the ice and break free, he was still freezing, with long icicles hanging from his nose.

"Tak tak tak—Xia Zuo boy—tak tak tak—you, your freezing power—tak tak tak—is getting stronger and stronger, even this old man can't break free immediately."

As Garp spoke, his teeth stopped chattering: "This time, I admit defeat."

Xia Zuo said with dissatisfaction, "What do you mean by 'you lost'?"

"I shattered your Armament Haki in a fair and square battle, defeating you head-on!"

Garp gritted his teeth and refused to admit it: "Nonsense! I was just careless! I didn't use Flash!"

"Young man, don't be so aggressive!"

"I advise you to try rat tail juice!"

Xia Zuo watched as Vice Admiral Garp, whose face was still ashen from the cold, his eyebrows, beard, and hair covered in frost, though he was no longer trembling. Garp was trying to pull the icicles off his nose while lecturing Xia Zuo in a pretentious manner.

His distant memories were stirred up, and an uncontrollable burst of laughter erupted from him, causing him to burst into laughter and fall to the ground.

Looking at Shazo rolling around on the rocks, Vice Admiral Garp felt completely bewildered.

However, in the world of One Piece, everyone who is strong has a personality, which they express through strange habits or quirks.

Therefore, Garp simply took it as Shazo's quirk and ignored him, focusing instead on cleaning the frost off his body and encouraging his heart to beat faster to improve blood circulation and get rid of the effects of the freezing.

Garp wasn't exaggerating; he was genuinely careless and didn't have a flash.

At Marineford, Garp often sparred with his little admirer, Aokiji Kuzan. He was very familiar with the power of ice and had his own unique set of techniques for dealing with freezing.

However, after sparring with Xia Zuo so many times, he felt that the greatest threat was always swordsmanship and sword energy, and he unconsciously ignored the freezing.

If he had known that Xia Zuo's freezing power was so strong, he would have been prepared and taken timely action to avoid being frozen.

By the time Shaza had finished laughing, Garp had completely warmed up.

They exchanged a glance and then launched another attack.

This time there was no threat whatsoever; it was purely a grand performance, recreating a secret chamber on the battlefield.

Garp told Shazam that after confirming Shanks's timing, he contacted the strategist Sengoku and, through the Fleet Admiral, discovered who had betrayed his intelligence.

Xia Zuo was surprised by Garp and Sengoku's efficiency and also curious about who was leaking Garp's whereabouts.

So he asked, "Do you know who it is?"

Garp nodded, but did not say who it was.

Judging from Garp's barely concealed dejected mood, Xia Zuo guessed that this person must be a naval comrade-in-arms from the same period as Garp, Sengoku, Zephyr, Tsuru, and other high-ranking naval officers.

It's heartbreaking to think about such an outcome.

Xia Zuo asked again, "Judging from your reaction, Luffy is severely affected by Shanks. Can you handle it?"

Karp's mood darkened further, and he sighed, "I don't know either."

"Red-Haired Shanks lost an arm to save Luffy and even gave Luffy Gol D. Roger's straw hat. Now Luffy firmly believes that pirates are people who yearn for freedom, not wicked plunderers."

"Xia Zuo, I can't stay in the East Blue and watch over Luffy forever. I... I really don't have the confidence to change his mind."

As he spoke, old man Garp raised his head and looked at Shazo: "I've heard you're quite skilled at raising children and training marines, so why don't you—"

Xia Zuo immediately refused, saying, "Don't even think about it!"

"Your family is the lawless Monkey Clan! From you to Dragon to Luffy, you're all self-righteous bastards!"

"If you old cod can't handle Dragon, how could I possibly handle Luffy?"

"If Luffy were that easy to handle, would Shanks have spent two years slowly guiding him?"

"Luffy, I'd rather kill him than try to change him."

Garp raised his two iron fists and sighed, "Alas, it seems I'll have to try it myself."

"Just like you said, we'd rather kill Luffy than let him become a pirate!"

Xia Zuo jumped up and down in anger: "You despicable old man, when did I say that? You're slandering me!"

Garp grinned, showing his big teeth, and laughed smugly, "Hahahaha, if I said it was you, will people believe me or you?"

Xia Zuo gritted his teeth and admitted, "I admit it, you are a hero of the Navy, and they definitely believe you but not me."

"But I fucking can beat you to a pulp."

Garp laughed loudly, "Beat me up?"

"You really think you can completely surpass me just by ambushing an old man like me once?"

"Kid, Xia Zuo, let me tell you, this isn't your era yet!"

This time, both of their fists landed on each other's faces. Neither of them dodged or used any more lethal moves; instead, they simply exchanged punches.

When not engaged in a life-or-death struggle, this is the safest and most valuable way to compete, testing the strength of both sides' Conqueror's Haki, physique, and resilience.

This contest was very real, and the damage was very heavy. Every punch landed with a visceral impact, creating a roar that shook the sea.

This didn't stop the conversation between the two top-tier Armament Haki practitioners.

boom!!

"Old man, I know you can't keep Luffy with you. Only in this way can the CP organization be suspicious and not immediately harm Luffy. But can't you just hand Luffy over to Dragon?"

boom!!

"Idiot Shazo, things aren't that simple. I can't hand Luffy over to that brat Dragon."

boom!!

"I understand. If Luffy follows Dragon, he will never have another chance to choose."

"But that's not right. It was understandable that you had these concerns before, but now Shanks has spent two years enticing Luffy to make a choice. What are you still worried about?"

boom!!

"Hmph, Xia Zuo, don't make wild guesses. The old man's mind is very complicated. He hasn't experienced all these years for nothing."

"In short, if you don't want to accept Luffy, fine, but I still need you to keep the East Blue under control for a few more years to buy me more time."

boom!!

While Garp was giving a long speech, Shazo punched him squarely in the stomach, sending Vice Admiral Garp flying into the air.

Then he smiled and made a promise: "Sure, but as you know, as long as I'm still in the navy, I can't decide where I am; that's up to Fleet Admiral Sengoku."

This time, after Vice Admiral Garp climbed out of the sea, he did not retaliate.

He rubbed his aching stomach and nodded, promising, "Then it's settled. I'll have Zhan Guo arrange for you to stay in the East Sea for a few more years."

Xia Zuo stopped and agreed, "As long as I am in the East Sea, the East Sea will be peaceful."