The Roger Pirates played a clever game, luring Garp away by feigning weakness while continuing to plunder the Celestial Dragons' palace of its gold and treasures. In the process, they stumbled upon more and more enslaved people, locked away and brutalized in the depths of the palace.
Eventually, Garp stopped clashing with the Roger Pirates. Instead, he joined forces with Roger to free the captives trapped within the Celestial Dragons' stronghold, unable to escape their torment.
Amid the heartfelt gratitude of the freed slaves, a strange camaraderie formed between Roger and Garp—a bond between a pirate and a marine, forged in the heat of an unlikely alliance. Garp began to see that the Roger Pirates were cut from a different cloth compared to other pirate crews.
But their opposing roles in the world made an open friendship impossible.
"Garp, you've saved these people, but can you guarantee their safety?" Roger asked, his voice tinged with concern.
As more slaves were freed, Roger felt the weight of the situation. He couldn't possibly take them all with him—his ship, the Oro Jackson, was just a midsize vessel, nowhere near large enough to carry so many.
"…"
The fearless Garp fell silent. Even as a Marine Vice Admiral, he had no authority to release slaves branded with the "Hoof of the Celestial Dragon." Even if he set them free, they'd likely be hunted down and recaptured.
"Why not entrust them to Brook?" Roger suggested. "I trust Brook can give these people a real shot at a new life. I've seen how things work in the Hell Pirates' territory."
"I think that's a solid plan," Rayleigh, the vice-captain, chimed in quickly.
"Taking all these people with us would be a nightmare. Not only would they not fit, but we'd have the Celestial Dragons breathing down our necks!"
"That bastard Shiki's already got his floating palace up there!" Roger grumbled, his voice dripping with frustration. He'd noticed that Golden Lion Shiki had lifted the Celestial Dragons' grandest palace into the air, and with it, the red Poneglyph inside. Worse still, Shiki had raided the dragon tomb on Rokudō Island, snatching the dragon egg Roger felt such a strange connection to. It was enough to sour his mood for days. He itched to give Shiki a good thrashing.
"Everything's been snatched right from under us!" Roger fumed. "It's infuriating!"
He turned to the trembling crowd of slaves.
"Listen, everyone! If you trust me, head to that floating island. Find a man with wild golden hair and tell him to take you with him. If he asks, say Roger sent you—and that I owe him a favor!"
Roger's charismatic voice calmed the panicked slaves. They knew the consequences of being caught escaping—immediate execution by the Celestial Dragons.
"I'm a Vice Admiral of the Marines!" Garp barked, stepping forward. "If you want to live, do exactly as he says!"
Garp's words carried weight. To the slaves, a Marine Vice Admiral's authority lent credibility to the plan. But if any of them ratted Garp out to the Celestial Dragons, his career would be over. He was just an ordinary Vice Admiral, a member of the D. clan, with no "Marine Hero" title to shield him.
Hearing a Marine Vice Admiral back Roger's plan, the slaves wasted no time. They bolted toward Shiki's floating island. Garp even instructed the stronger ones to carry those too weak or broken to walk, ensuring they all escaped the island's horrors.
This lavish island of the Celestial Dragons was a place of darkness, far worse than the lawless zones of the Sabaody Archipelago.
"You lot, get moving!" Garp shouted at the Roger Pirates. "Next time, I'll haul you in myself!"
For now, Garp had no interest in chasing down Roger's crew. He needed to rush back to the main battlefield to support his comrades against two ruthless overlord pirate crews.
"Hahaha, till next time, Garp!" Roger called out with a grin.
Without wasting a second, he rallied his crew, who were still prying gold from the palace walls, and they dashed back to the Celestial Dragons' secret port. It was time to flee this war-torn island. The crew, hearing their captain's orders, reluctantly abandoned their gold-digging spree and raced back to the Oro Jackson with their spoils, setting sail immediately.
Today, they'd narrowly escaped being crushed by Rocks. Once again, they'd turned danger into triumph.
As Brook had said, Roger was truly the "Child of the Era." But this kind of adventure was almost too thrilling—enough to stop the heart of anyone with a weak ticker!
Watching the Roger Pirates sail away, Garp hurried back to the main battlefield. He arrived to a grim sight: Skal lay on the ground, his fate uncertain. Admiral Aokiba was vomiting blood after a brutal beating from Rocks, and Sengoku was gravely wounded. Without hesitation, Garp dove into the fray.
Rocks was moments away from claiming the powers of two top-tier Mythical Zoan Devil Fruits, but Garp's arrival threw a wrench in his plans. Now it was three against one, and the tide of battle stabilized.
Roger, you bastard, next time I'll kill you myself! Rocks cursed inwardly. The fact that the Roger Pirates had let Garp walk away unscathed was beyond infuriating.
The gap in crew strength was glaring. The Hell Pirates could hold their own against the Marines' heavy hitters, but the Rocks Pirates were struggling, teetering on the edge of defeat. Without Whitebeard, Golden Lion, and Big Mom, their strength had plummeted.
…
Meanwhile, the Hell Pirates were in full pursuit of Vice Admiral candidate Jung.
"Yohohoho! You're not getting away, Jung!" Brook taunted, riding his somersault cloud Hera through the air.
Redfield streaked ahead as a bolt of lightning to cut Jung off, while Whitebeard Newgate chased from below, and Charlotte Linlin rode her thundercloud Zeus in hot pursuit.
"Why is your whole damn crew after me?!" Jung roared, on the verge of losing it.
A New World overlord crew like the Hell Pirates was hunting him down with their entire roster. What had he done to deserve this kind of attention? Where was his dignity?!
He darted forward as a blur, knowing that slowing down even slightly would mean death at the hands of the Hell Pirates.
"No choice, mate!" Brook called out with a grin. "Rocks said he'd handle the other Marines, and you didn't make his list. So, you're stuck with us!"
Brook chuckled, hoping Rocks, battered as he was, had the stomach to take on the Marine heavyweights. Their strength was no joke.
Jung was a user of the Speed-Speed Fruit, a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit. Shakky had once mentioned it was the ultimate escape tool. But in the hands of a skilled fighter, it was far more than that. Jung had leveraged its power to blaze his way to the rank of Vice Admiral candidate, a testament to the fruit's potential.
"You're all ganging up on me!" Jung spat, turning into a streak of motion again.
If not for Redfield's interference, Brook and Linlin would never have kept up. His Speed-Speed Fruit was a hair's breadth from awakening, but that tiny gap meant the Rumble Fruit's speed could still catch him.
If he could just awaken his fruit, he was sure he could outrun even the lightning itself.
Was this it? Was he doomed to fall here?
Admiral Devo had been captured, and Vice Admiral candidate Braille was dead. If Jung could make it back to Marine Headquarters, he'd be the next Admiral.
Why was fate so cruel? Why?!
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Fanfic is finished 955 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg