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Under the sky of Kumogakure, now covered by thick, ominous clouds as if sensing the current events, the scene in the village square was terrifying.
Rob's red blood splattered across the shattered blue ice, his right arm hanging tragically after the Hell Finger completely crushed his bones and nerves.
"Is that all?" the Third Raikage said calmly, his voice carrying the weight of thunder. "I'm disappointed. You claimed you came to test your 'battle excitement,' but you were nothing more than a child who thought he could freeze everything."
Rob was gasping for breath, sweat mixing with blood on his forehead. The pain was tearing his consciousness apart, yet deep inside, something was burning. It wasn't fear — it was that promised excitement, now beginning to turn into madness.
"No… it's not over yet…" Rob muttered as he tried to stand, leaning on his trembling left hand.
"Your stubbornness will lead you to a painful death," the Raikage roared.
He charged again. This time, he didn't use a single finger — instead, he clenched his fist, wrapped in dazzling white lightning, and unleashed a decisive punch toward Rob's chest.
BOOM!!!
Rob formed a thick ice shield with his left hand at the last moment, but the Raikage's punch shattered it like fragile glass and slammed into Rob's chest, sending him flying across the square and crashing into his own ice wall, breaking his ribs.
"Bft! Cough!"
Rob coughed up large amounts of blood as his vision began to darken. In that moment, he felt the true cold of death creeping into his limbs. The noise around him faded, and even Killer B's distant humming disappeared.
'Did I act stupid? What am I even doing here…? I should've just opened the art store and won them over easily…'
A fragment of consciousness still clung to his mind, like a candle in a raging wind, about to go out at any moment.
In this battle, the Third Raikage completely overwhelmed him before the eyes of the Cloud shinobi and all those present, who had barely managed to recover from the freezing.
…
"Ooooh yeah! That was way too harsh, Father!"
"Ya fool! Ya fool! You came here to die… even though— Aaaatchoo! Man, that was really cold…"
Teenage Killer B mocked in his unique rap-like style as he watched Rob fall easily before his adoptive father.
"He's really bullying him," someone muttered.
"Tsk… idiot. He thinks he can fight Father."
A, the Third Raikage's son, crossed his arms and looked indifferently at Rob, whose life force was clearly fading as he was dying at that very moment.
"To think that the famous mangaka who terrified the four villages for the past four months would die here in our village… what a shame. I really wanted to read Volume 4 of Naruto."
Dodai sighed regretfully.
…
[System Alert: Warning! Host vitality has dropped to a critical level…]
[True killing intent detected… Host is in a dying state!]
[Activating Unique Title: The Strongest in the World!]
Rob heard the system notifications in his mind. The mechanical voice was completely devoid of human emotion. Before losing consciousness, he chose to activate the title he had planned to test today.
At that moment, a strange silence fell.
Rob's torn body lay on the ice, blood flowing from his mouth, one arm nearly severed, the other broken, his chest caved in by a fist, his rib cage completely shattered.
This meant he would unquestionably die unless a miracle occurred.
And that miracle did occur.
The title 'The Strongest in the World' was activated.
"What's happening?"
The Third Raikage was still standing where he had punched Rob. As he turned to leave, he felt a strange change in the airflow around Rob's corpse.
…
At this moment, Rob no longer felt pain.
He felt a massive anchor being thrown into his soul, as if a mighty existence had invaded his body.
[Notice: 'The Strongest in the World' does not necessarily mean the strongest in his own world, but rather a powerful figure officially recognized as the strongest in their field!]
[Searching for target…]
[Target identified: 'Strongest Marine Soldier' from the World of Pirates…]
A terrifying Haki erupted from Rob's body to the point that the lightning surrounding the Third Raikage began to tremble and fade.
The overwhelming, radiant Haki blew apart the clouds above Kumogakure.
[Template Manifestation: Monkey D. Garp — The Iron Fist!]
Rob's body slowly rose.
His eyes no longer held that pale calmness. Instead, a sharp light burned within them — the gaze of a man who had faced the pirates of the entire world with nothing but his fists.
"Strange… you look like a different person."
The Third Raikage, who had been moving to finish things, suddenly stopped. He felt pressure he hadn't experienced even against the Eight-Tails.
"You're quite a brat…" Rob said, his voice completely changed — rougher, more dignified, carrying an almost friendly mockery. "Do you really think that lightning-loaded fist of yours can be called a 'punch'?"
"Brat? I'm 47 years old…" the Third Raikage said in confusion.
Rob, filled with Garp's instincts, stood completely upright despite his injuries. He wiped the blood from his mouth with his left hand, while his shattered right hand became coated in a pitch-black aura that emitted a terrifying buzzing sound.
Armament Haki.
"Let me show you…" Rob raised his left fist and clenched it hard until bones cracked, the broken hand snapping back into place. "What a real punch looks like!"
At that moment, Rob's stance completely changed. He was no longer a shinobi fighting with Devil Fruit powers — he had become the Marine hero himself.
He launched toward the Raikage like an arrow — not with lightning speed, but with pure physical power that shattered the ground beneath his feet. His speed looked unnatural.
"One-Finger Hell!" the Third Raikage roared, unleashing his strongest strike toward Rob's advancing fist.
Focusing his lightning chakra into his fingers, creating a strong, piercing effect.
CRAAAAAAACK!!!
The Strongest Spear collided with the Iron Fist.
The lightning didn't explode — it was completely crushed.
Rob's Garp-empowered fist didn't break. It tore through the lightning chakra like a knife through butter and continued forward, slamming directly into the Third Raikage's face.
The impact produced a thunderous roar that the Cloud Mountains had never witnessed before.
The Third Raikage's body — known as the Unshakable Fortress — was launched through the air like a projectile driven by raw power that defied chakra laws.
The purple office building behind him was destroyed as his massive body slammed deep into solid rock, leaving behind a massive circular crater.
Absolute silence fell.
Killer B stopped humming, his rap words freezing in his throat. Young A's eyes widened in horror as he watched his father — the man who had never fallen — be sent flying in such a humiliating way.
"Buwahahaha!"
Rob laughed in Garp's signature booming laugh, shaking the surroundings. He placed his left hand behind his head casually, while his right hand — shattered just moments ago — was now fully covered in shining metallic black, with red and black sparks tearing through the space around it.
"What a monster…" Dodai muttered, stepping back, sweat pouring down his face.
"He broke through Lightning Chakra Mode with his bare fist… There's no taijutsu in the world capable of that!"
From the dust and rubble, the Third Raikage emerged. He staggered, blood covering half his face, his jaw visibly dislocated. His eyes burned with shock mixed with instinctive respect.
"What is this power?" the Raikage asked hoarsely as he forced his jaw back into place. "I don't feel any chakra from you… only overwhelming will that smashes everything it touches."
"Chakra? That gentle energy you use?" Rob (Garp) said as he stepped forward, each step making the mountain tremble beneath his feet.
"In my world, the fist does the talking! You've got a tough body — but can you withstand… the next punch?"
An invisible aura exploded from Rob's body once again, creating violent winds so powerful that nearby shinobi began losing consciousness one after another just from entering the range of his Haki.
"Don't hold back, Father!" Young A shouted, sensing the dangerous aura as he activated his own Lightning Mode and charged beside his father. "We'll attack him together!"
He was currently an experienced jōnin, strong and skilled enough to enter elite Kage-level battles. After all, he had been preparing to inherit his father's position since childhood.
Killer B also moved, drawing his seven swords into a savage combat stance as the red chakra of the Eight-Tails began to overflow from his body.
Although he couldn't fully control the Eight-Tails yet, he could still draw out a small portion at this age without losing his sanity.
Rob (Garp) looked at them with a wide grin. Not a trace of the fear that Rob had shown earlier remained.
He had inherited everything from Garp: his intelligence, courage, boundless strength, and his wisdom in viewing opponents as children in need of discipline.
"Oh? Are we playing in groups now?" Rob laughed, crossing his arms. "That's fun! Come on, all of you… I'll treat you like pirates and teach you how this old man really fights seriously!"
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 99: Subjugation! Art Store — Kumogakure!
Chapter 100: Withdrawal! The Beginning of Volume Four.
Chapter 101: What Seals Cannot Hide
Chapter 102: Astonishment! Naruto Crushes Haku!
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BlackStar_BH:
The chapters currently available on Patreon are up to Chapter 126.
There are 30 advanced chapters available now:
5 chapters in the Silver tier ($5 subscription), 5 more chapters in the Gold tier ($10 subscription), 5 more chapters in the Platinum tier ($15 subscription), 5 more chapters in the Diamond tier ($20 subscription), and 10 more chapters in the Emperor tier ($30 subscription)
On Patreon and Ko-fi, too.
In the coming days, chapters will be made available for all tiers, reaching up to 50 advanced chapters… Enjoy!
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