Pirates on Rocks' Ship 996

Chapter 896 Purpose

"I mean... what are you Navy guys doing?" Reina looked at the three guys in front of him with a helpless expression and asked with a wry smile.

“Um… I heard from Lord Sengoku that you were looking for me, so I came to check on you!” Aokiji put down the food in his hand, looked at Reina, and replied.

Upon hearing this, Reina nodded, acknowledging Aokiji's reasoning, before glancing at Garp, who was still munching on a large meat stick.

“Aokiji said he was coming to see you, and I was worried, so I came along to check!” Garp said quickly, as if struck by a sudden idea.

Reina's lips twitched. Although he didn't quite believe it, he couldn't be bothered to argue since the other party had said so. So he looked directly at Fujitora and said, "If that's your reason too, be careful, or I'll turn on you!"

Fujitora wiped his mouth and replied earnestly, "I wasn't worried about them! It was Lord Sengoku who was worried, so he notified me to come and check on them!"

Reina rubbed his forehead, looking at the three people in front of him who were eating and drinking heartily, and he really wished he could just destroy the three guys.

"Alright! In that case, let's go! Aokiji, the reason I came to find you is very simple, as I've already told Sengoku and Garp. It's just to test my abilities, nothing more!" Reina suppressed his anger and said directly.

"Uh... this isn't urgent. Since we're already here, why don't we stay a few more days?" Garp said, patting his stomach and burping after he had finished eating.

"Get lost! You think I don't know why you're here?" Reina glanced at Karp and said contemptuously.

"Eh? You knew? Hahahaha... I thought you didn't!" Garp said, scratching the back of his head and laughing to cover his embarrassment.

"As expected, you guys had ulterior motives!" Reina said, squinting at Karp.

He was just trying to bluff, but he didn't expect Garp to confess so quickly.

“Mr. Karp, Reina was just bluffing!” Aokiji said helplessly, shaking his head.

"Huh? Is that so? You little rascal, you really are bad... Well... just pretend I didn't say anything!" Garp said with a big laugh.

"Pfft!" Reina spat out a mouthful of barley wine. He simply couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was this the famous "Recall Fruit" user? Did he really think he could pretend he hadn't said anything?

"Hey... I heard what you just said, old man Garp!" Reina reminded Garp again, telling him not to do something so childish.

"Really? But I didn't say anything! You can ask them if you don't believe me!" Garp said confidently.

At this moment, Aokiji and Fujitora silently lowered their heads and ate their food, as if to say that it had nothing to do with them.

Reina was speechless at these three guys. He took a deep breath and said directly, "Tell me your purpose, and I'll see what it is. If I can agree, I'll agree to your request. Consider it the price for Aokiji coming to spar with me! If I can't agree... then you'll have to do it yourselves!"

Garp and the other two exchanged glances, then Aokiji took a sip of rum and said, "Alright, actually, our purpose in coming here is quite simple. We just wanted to see the Straw Hat crew. After all... Mr. Garp is Straw Hat Luffy's grandfather, and we haven't seen him in so long. He just happened to be in the North Blue, so we decided to see him! I was just about to come and find you, so we came together! As for Mr. Issho, it's because Lord Sengoku was worried about him, so he sent him to find us!"

Reina glanced at Fujitora, surprised that the guy was telling the truth; he had previously thought the other was just being polite.

However, Reina also knew that meeting the Straw Hat crew was definitely not their real purpose, but since they were willing to say it, it must have some connection.

"You mean Luffy and his crew? It's a pity, if you had come a few days earlier you might have found them, but they've already left!" Reina shrugged and said.

"They left?" Garp frowned and asked, "Then where did they go?"

He didn't doubt Reina's words because there was no need to. Besides, they were all here, and if Luffy was really here, Reina could have accompanied him the whole time, so he would naturally know what they wanted to see the Straw Hat crew about.

“It seems… our luck really isn’t very good!” Fujitora nodded to Aokiji and Garp and said.

His greatest skill is Observation Haki, so finding people is very easy for him.

"Hey... don't just unleash your Observation Haki here. It might cause some misunderstanding!" Reina glanced at Fujitora and said.

He knew the other party was just verifying his words, so he didn't make trouble for Fujitora. After all, this was their base, and they couldn't let Fujitora investigate at will.

"Sorry, it was an unconscious act. It won't happen again!" Fujitora smiled and said apologetically.

Seeing this, Reina didn't say much, but became more wary of the three of them.

However, after learning from Fujitora that the Straw Hat crew was indeed not there, they had no reason to stay any longer. So Garp stood up and said, "That brat, did he know I was coming and deliberately avoid me? No way, I have to go find him right now!"

As Garp was about to leave, Aokiji and Fujitora also got up, intending to leave with him. However, Reina, who had been sitting there, suddenly spoke up: "Hey... Aokiji, you're not just planning to leave like this, are you?"

"Huh?" Aokiji looked at Reina with a puzzled expression and said, "Is there something else?"

Reina chuckled softly, looked at Aokiji, and said, "Have you forgotten why you came here?"

"Aha~" Aokiji looked at Garp somewhat awkwardly, seeking help from the latter with his eyes. He wasn't as thick-skinned as Garp, so he didn't know how to answer.

Garp looked at Aokiji with a serious expression and said, "Kuzan! Since you're here, why don't you play with Reina for a bit? Don't worry, we'll be watching from the sidelines!"

Upon hearing this, Aokiji's face darkened. This was a betrayal to test Reina's strength!

However, since the matter had already been discussed, it wouldn't be appropriate not to go, so Aokiji had no choice but to agree.

“Let’s go to the nearby deserted island. It’s not convenient to make a move here!” Reina said as he slowly stood up.

A short while later, the group arrived at the port, and on a boat arranged by Laco, they arrived at a nearby uninhabited island.

"Speaking of which... just how strong is that kid Reina now?" Garp stood on the deck of the whale ship, looking at the small island not far away, and asked Lakyo beside him.

"Oh, I don't know either!" Lakyo replied evasively.

"Hehehe... I really never thought that one day I would board the Whitebeard Pirates' ship!" Fujitora said with a smile.

Chapter 897 Experiment

"I never imagined that one day I would be on the Whitebeard Pirates' ship!" Fujitora said with a smile.

However, these words sounded rather harsh to Laqueu.

“It’s okay, we’ve been to the Marine Headquarters and Mary Geoise! ​​Being a pirate means being free. We can go anywhere on the sea, and we have!” Rakuyo said to Fujitora with a provocative look.

"Hahaha... It's alright, I'll invite you guys to Impel Down as guests in the future! It's a place that most pirates can't go. Even that brat Reina only stood at the gate back then and never went in!" Garp said with a loud laugh.

Laco's expression stiffened. Indeed, Impel Down was a force to be reckoned with, even within the Whitebeard Pirates, and the name Magellan of Impel Down was not to be mentioned lightly, especially.

If Garp hadn't resolved the feud between Reyner and Magellan back then, Reyner would probably still be eyeing Impel Down right now!

So when Garp brought up Impel Down, Rakyo was indeed speechless for a moment, and could only glare at Garp fiercely.

However, Garp, being a tough guy, didn't care at all, and watched with a smile as Reina and Aokiji prepared to fight on the island.

At this moment, the deserted island where Reina and Aokiji were located was not large, and you could see the end of it at a glance. However, the two only intended to spar, not to have a real life-or-death battle, so this small area was enough.

“Then… let’s begin!” Reina, holding Hyōrinmaru, did not activate his Sharingan.

This time, he planned to test Hyōrinmaru's ability to counter ice-type users, so whether or not he had the Sharingan wouldn't make much difference.

"Since that's the case, I won't stand on ceremony!" However, Aokiji didn't dare to be careless.

He knew that in terms of strength, he was no longer a match for Reina, and Reina, like him, also possessed the ability to control ice, so he showed no mercy when he attacked.

"Well done!" Reina chuckled as he watched several ice blades fly toward him, and thrust his Hyōrinmaru directly at the ice blades.

"Whoosh~"

The moment Hyōrinmaru made contact with the ice blade, the ice blade vanished. The ice blades around Hyōrinmaru turned into flowing water, but the ice blades a little distance away from Hyōrinmaru were completely unaffected and stabbed directly towards Reina.

"Clang!" Reina's left hand, holding the Thousand Cherry Blossoms, shattered the remaining ice blades, rendering Aokiji's first wave of attacks ineffective.

"How did you do that!" Aokiji stopped attacking and looked at Reina in surprise.

He had just noticed the key point: the ice blade that touched Hyōrinmaru disappeared immediately, which puzzled him greatly.

In previous battles with Reina, the two had always fought for control of the ice. This was the first time that Reina had directly absorbed the power of the ice, as happened just now.

Reina retrieved Hyōrinmaru without answering Aokiji. Instead, he examined Hyōrinmaru closely and found that it had not changed at all.

"Is this your new ability? It seems that it can only be absorbed by contact. In that case, it's a bit of a waste!" Aokiji's eyes were sharp, and he instantly guessed Reina's new ability.

However, Reina shook his head and said, "This isn't a new ability! I've always had it, I just hadn't noticed it!"

Aokiji frowned. He didn't doubt Reina's words because although this ability seemed exaggerated, it made sense upon closer inspection. Reina himself didn't have the ability to control ice; his abilities all came from the Hyōrinmaru in his hand.

In other words, Reina hadn't fully mastered Hyōrinmaru's abilities before, but now that he's suddenly discovered Hyōrinmaru's ability to absorb ice, it makes perfect sense that he'd try it out on himself.

Moreover, judging from his performance just now, this ability is completely dispensable for Reina.

It requires contact to be absorbed, which is too restrictive.

Besides, Hyōrinmaru has already made contact with the opponent, so what's the point of absorbing anything? Wouldn't it be better to just stab the opponent directly?

Without contact, this ability is completely useless, which is why Aokiji felt that Reina had not deceived him.

“Try again… Try increasing the strength of your ice!” Reina looked up at Aokiji and said.

"Frost Spear!" Aokiji raised his hand, and a spear made of frost appeared. Then, with a flick of his finger, the frost spear flew directly toward Reina.

Without further ado, Reina struck the Ice Spear directly with the tip of Hyōrinmaru's sword.

"Ding!"

The two collided, first producing a loud thud, and then the entire icy spear vanished.

"Absorbed?" Aokiji asked, completely unable to sense the ice spear he had just created.

Reina examined Hyōrinmaru carefully, nodded, and replied, "Absorbed!"

Aokiji raised his hand, and the water vapor in his palm quickly froze. He said, "How about its application in actual combat? Want to try it?"

Reina nodded and said, "That's exactly why I came to find you!"

"Then... let's open!" As soon as Aokiji finished speaking, he slammed his palm on the ground, and the entire island began to freeze rapidly. The ice then rushed towards Reina, seemingly intending to freeze him as well.

"Hoo~ Then let me give it a try! Hyōrinmaru... Here I come!" Reina lightly leaped up, and the Hyōrinmaru in his hand pierced the ground directly, but the ice coming from all directions seemed unaffected, directly wrapping around the Hyōrinmaru and freezing Reina as well.

"This……"

The onlookers felt it was all a bit of a joke.

In the past, Reina would have been able to easily dodge such an attack, let alone avoid it. Even if he couldn't dodge it, he would have had countless ways to resist it. But now, he actually failed to absorb the Hyōrinmaru's absorption ability.

"Phew~ Just as I thought!" Aokiji slowly stood up, exhaling a breath of cold air, and said, "Although your Hyōrinmaru has the ability to absorb ice, its absorption speed is simply not as fast as my ice-making speed, so... that's why it's like this!"

Aokiji's words made everyone suddenly realize the truth.

Especially Laco, who knew that Reina had only recently mastered this ability, so he was no match for the Ice-Ice Fruit user.

As for Reina, who was frozen in ice, he wasn't worried at all. If an attack of this magnitude could defeat Reina, that would be ridiculous.

Garp and Fujitora, standing to the side, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. If what Sengoku said about Reina getting stronger was just this, then there was nothing to worry about.

This is no different from before. Such a small change has almost no effect in a battle of their level, so there is no need to worry at all.

Chapter 898 Reina's Scheme