As word spread from mouth to mouth, the entire training ground was soon packed with people.
Everyone wanted to see for themselves which of the two Marine legends was actually stronger.
"Hahahaha, quite the crowd! Old buddy, I'll go a little easy on you and save you some face!"
After taking off his Marine coat and dog-head hat, Garp looked at the Marines continuously gathering around and burst out laughing.
"You damn old bastard, who wins and who loses is still up in the air!"
Sengoku was already full of pent-up anger and badly wanted an outlet.
Their strength was roughly on the same level. If they really fought to the death, Garp might come out on top, but in a sparring match there was likely no clear winner. That was why Sengoku scoffed at Garp's words about showing mercy.
"Hahaha, old buddy, this time I'm anything but ordinary!"
Garp flashed a crafty grin. Seeing Sengoku also take off his Fleet Admiral's coat, he was the first to launch an attack.
There were no fancy techniques at all. He simply leaped up and threw a punch.
At their level, unless it was a life-or-death battle, they generally would not use Haki, just pure physical skill and sparring. Otherwise, the entire training ground probably would not be enough for them to tear apart.
"Good timing!"
Back when they were young, the two had sparred countless times, so Sengoku was very familiar with Garp's moves.
He stepped forward, crossed the distance, and threw a punch of his own.
He also did not use Haki, relying purely on his body and martial techniques.
Boom boom boom...
Both of them were extremely strong in close combat. Even without Haki, their power was terrifying.
After their fists collided again and again, a massive shockwave erupted from their bodies. The Marines watching from afar were all sent flying by the impact.
"As expected of the Hero of the Marines, that's insane!"
"Just the shockwave from punching is this powerful. If I took that head-on, I'd probably die on the spot!"
"Too strong. Is this the highest combat power of Marine Headquarters?"
The Marines who were blown were not panicking at all. Instead, they stared at the two figures in the training ground with fanatical expressions.
"Hahaha, Sengoku, I didn't expect your strength to improve this much. Looks like you haven't been slacking off lately!"
"Same to you!"
Relying purely on physical strength, the two were evenly matched.
"But next, old buddy, I'm going all out. I hope you can handle it!"
As Garp spoke, he began to circulate an Aikido style.
Seeing Garp suddenly assume a strange stance, Sengoku was momentarily confused.
"Playing tricks again!"
But after being old partners for decades, Sengoku knew Garp inside out and was not intimidated.
When Garp adopted the odd posture, Sengoku immediately charged straight in.
His fists cut through the air with fierce momentum.
Instead of clashing head-on when Sengoku came at him, Garp grabbed Sengoku's palm, then released it.
Immediately after, he pressed downward.
Sengoku was pushed back by Garp, stumbling and almost falling to the ground.
"Huh? What the hell was that?"
The moment Garp grabbed him, Sengoku felt as if half of his strength had been stripped away. When he tried to exert force again, the power rebounded straight back at him.
That force even carried some of Garp's own strength within it. At the same time, Sengoku had already exhausted his old force, and new force could not be generated in time, so he was immediately pushed back.
If not for his solid martial foundation, he might have already fallen flat on his face.
"Hahaha, Sengoku, how was that move of mine?"
Seeing Sengoku suffer a loss, Garp felt incredibly satisfied.
Sure enough, Aikido was truly profound.
Borrowing the opponent's strength and returning it, the power was even three parts stronger than striking directly.
"Garp, you old bastard, what kind of weird move is that?"
Sengoku suddenly found Garp hard to read. Their close-combat skills were originally on par, yet after Garp used this strange technique, he was actually being overwhelmed.
"Hahaha, why don't you come over and try again?"
Garp felt extremely comfortable inside.
In the past, whenever the two of them fought, it was always hard to determine a winner. But now, after just a few exchanges, he already had Sengoku suppressed.
Especially with so many people watching, this felt unbelievably satisfying.
"Hmph! I'll try it then!"
With so many eyes on him, Sengoku cared about his pride. He immediately charged in again.
This time, he incorporated more techniques into his movements. After closing the distance, he attacked with both hands and feet at once.
If one attack could be deflected, then he would strike from multiple directions and see how Garp handled it.
"Hahaha, nice one. Watch me use four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds!"
Facing Sengoku's barrage, Garp also used both hands and feet. With pushes and pulls back and forth, Sengoku felt his strength being neutralized once again.
Garp's defensive techniques gave him the sensation of punching cotton, as if all his power had nowhere to go.
This shocked him deeply.
Damn it, since when did this guy become this strong?
He felt that unless he used his Devil Fruit power and transformed into the Buddha form, he would have no way to forcibly break through this strange force.
But if he did that, Garp would definitely respond with Armament Haki, and the result would likely be the same.
Moreover, they had already agreed not to use Devil Fruit abilities or Armament Haki. He could not afford to lose face like that.
So after pulling some distance between them, Sengoku became a bit hesitant and did not want to continue.
Garp, on the other hand, was having the time of his life.
He finally had a sparring partner to test his new technique on. Seeing Sengoku stop, he immediately provoked him.
"Sengoku, come on over! I am waiting for you to attack!"
"Hmph! I've already attacked twice. Now it's your turn!"
After those two exchanges, Sengoku already knew he could not beat Garp like this. He did not want to embarrass himself further and started arguing instead.
"Uh..."
Being told to attack, Garp hesitated.
He had only just learned a bit of this Aikido technique. Right now, he only knew how to use it defensively and had no idea how to attack with it yet.
So when Sengoku told him to come over, he was not very enthusiastic.
Garp's hesitation made Sengoku suspicious. Seeing Garp keep up his stance, Sengoku roughly guessed that this move might only be good for defense, which immediately put him at ease.
After letting out a sigh of relief, Sengoku continued to bicker.
"I'm not going over. If you've got guts, you come here! I've already attacked twice. This time it's your turn!"
"No no no, you come first. I'll allow you to use Haki. After that, I'll go over!"
Garp still wanted to experience the power of Aikido a bit more and even generously allowed Sengoku to use Armament Haki.
However, Sengoku did not take the bait.
"It's your turn to come over!"
"No no no, you come first, then I'll go!"
"You first!"
Just like that, the two of them suddenly stopped fighting altogether and turned it into a verbal standoff, leaving the Marines watching from the outside completely dumbfounded.
Especially the newly arrived Marines, who could not help but complain inwardly.
Damn it. They promised a legendary battle, a clash of the ages. Pants already off, and this is what you show us?
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