The Red Force slammed heavily onto the surface of the sea with tremendous booming sound.
Fortunately, Garp and Shanks had both been prepared and quickly reinforced the hull with Armament Haki, preventing the ship from being damaged.
The violent impact created a wide-ranging shockwave that directly scattered Blackbeard and his crew, who had been swimming nearby.
Because Blackbeard had been in broad contact with seawater, his body immediately went limp, bobbing helplessly on the surface.
The two Road Poneglyph rubbings he had been clutching tightly were knocked loose by the impact. The wild blast of air from the ship's descent hurled them high into the sky.
One of the rubbings flipped repeatedly through the air before landing perfectly on Garp's face.
"MMPH! WHO'S GOT SUCH BAD MANNERS, THROWING GARBAGE AROUND IN THE SKY?"
Garp yanked the paper off his face, jumped onto the ship, looked around, and shouted in displeasure.
The other rubbing drifted down with the wind and landed on the deck of the Red Force.
While checking whether the ship had been damaged, Shanks looked down at the paper near his feet and casually picked it up.
…
At that moment, Blackbeard was already sinking beneath the surface because his strength had left him.
Since Blackbeard was a Devil Fruit user, sinking into the deep sea would put his life in danger.
Burgess, Van Augur, and the others did not notice the papers flying away at all. They also had no time to examine the strange ship that had fallen from the sky.
One after another, they took deep breaths and plunged into the sea, desperately swimming downward to save Blackbeard…
And Lafitte too.
Because Blackbeard's crew acted quickly and all of them sank beneath the water, Shanks and the crew on the Red Force, who were busy stabilizing their shaking ship, did not notice them at all.
Once the ship steadied, the sails were lowered again, and the Red Force soon sailed away from where it had landed.
Not long after they left, Blackbeard's crew surfaced from the water again.
Blackbeard stared at his empty hands and shouted in panic.
"THE RUBBINGS! THE RUBBINGS!"
"Ah, Captain, I knew this would happen. Good thing I prepared another backup."
Lafitte, equally weak, lay across a companion's back and took out a camera.
"I already photographed the details of the Road Poneglyph earlier, and I waterproofed the film as well… This is truly our last one!"
"And most importantly… Burgess, shut your mouth. I really hope nothing else happens."
…
On the Red Force, Shanks flipped through the paper in his hand.
The moment he saw its contents, his pupils shrank.
He stared at the writing copied onto the page and confirmed at a glance that this was a Poneglyph rubbing.
As for whether it was a Road Poneglyph or not, Shanks did not care.
If it was, then that was naturally best. Even if it was not, he absolutely could not allow something like this to simply drift across the sea.
"I didn't expect it to be this. Why would something like this appear here?"
Benn Beckman also came over and looked at the patterns on the paper, recognizing what it was.
Shanks shook his head, showing that he did not know either.
"In any case, we'll keep it for now. We can't let it spread."
"Right. Whether it's real or fake, this thing is a key to the road toward the Pirate King."
Beckman rubbed his chin and nodded.
Then he remembered that they were currently dragging a certain old Marine along with them and quickly warned,
"Also, we absolutely can't let that old man see it."
"Right, right. You definitely can't let this old man see it."
Garp laughed as he slapped both hands onto Shanks' and Beckman's shoulders, his smile bright.
"Oh my, you two are looking at that pretty seriously. So you've got one too. What a shame. The writing printed on it is the same as the one in this old man's hand. I thought they were two different rubbings!"
As Garp spoke, he handed the rubbing in his own hand in front of Shanks, showing that the patterns were indeed identical and came from the same Poneglyph.
Feeling Garp's pressure gradually shift from cheerful to serious, Shanks and Beckman immediately stepped back, hid the rubbing away, and stared at Garp.
Garp clenched his fist until his knuckles cracked, releasing a heavy aura as he looked at Red-Haired Shanks.
"What? Being one of the Four Emperors isn't enough for you, so now you've set your sights on becoming Pirate King too? Dangerous 'garbage' like this should be recycled by the Marines, don't you think, Red-Haired brat?"
As his words fell, the air around Garp seemed to freeze.
Shanks showed no fear. Facing that pressure head-on, he rested his hand on the hilt of Gryphon and replied with a grave expression,
"Garp-san, this thing landed on my ship, so it belongs to me. After all, we're pirates, and this is my pirate ship. As for who this thing belongs to, we have more say in that than you do, Garp-san. Besides, don't you already have an identical copy in your hand?"
In the air, two powerful auras collided invisibly, and the sea on both sides of the ship rippled under the pressure.
"Fine, fine."
After a short while, Garp waved his hands repeatedly, dropping the pressure. He casually sat down cross-legged and put away the rubbing in his hand.
In any case, Kaido and Linlin each had one too, so one more in Shanks' hands did not make much difference.
After all, how many years had it been already? They had held onto these things for so long, yet no one could decipher the writing.
Even if all four Road Poneglyphs were gathered, it would be useless.
Besides, he had now gotten a copy of the one Red-Hair had, which meant the Marines also had intelligence on the Poneglyph.
For the Marines, this was undoubtedly a huge gain.
And the Poneglyph itself was not the real key. What truly mattered was the One Piece behind the Poneglyph.
Thinking this, an entire plan instantly formed in Garp's mind.
The more he thought about it, the prouder he became.
When he mentioned this plan to Sengoku later, that old bastard would definitely admire him so much he would fall flat on the ground.
Garp laughed, then turned to Shanks and ordered them to keep sailing before shamelessly heading into the ship's cabin.
"Boss, this…"
The crew looked toward Shanks.
Shanks shook his head helplessly.
"Keep sailing. We're almost at Whole Cake Island anyway."
On the other side, Garp familiarly walked into the ship's kitchen as if it were his own home.
He broke open the chains locking the refrigerator and began rummaging around, stuffing food into his mouth.
At the same time, he dialed Sengoku's Den Den Mushi and told him his idea.
"WHAT?! YOU WANT THE MARINES TO GO SEARCHING FOR THE ONE PIECE?"
"Hehe, that's right, Sengoku. How's that? Not a bad plan, huh?"
Garp laughed proudly while continuously shoving food into his mouth.
As long as the Marines controlled this thing, they could establish a system stating that only someone who became Fleet Admiral would be allowed to learn about the One Piece.
Then pirates would no longer have a reason to set out to sea. Maybe they would even stop being pirates altogether and run off to become Marines instead.
That was what Garp was thinking.
However, Sengoku's logic on the other end was completely different.
Leaving aside the fact that information about the One Piece had been expressly forbidden by the World Government, even trying to decipher the Poneglyphs would bring a Buster Call.
Yet this bastard Garp actually wanted the Marines to risk everything and search for the One Piece.
"AS EXPECTED, GARP! WHAT I SAW IN THAT STRANGE WORLD BEFORE REALLY WAS RIGHT! YOU REALLY WANT TO BECOME PIRATE KING THAT BADLY, DON'T YOU?!"
"YOU SHAMELESS GREAT PIRATE BASTARD WHO SURPASSED ROGER! THE MOMENT YOU ENTERED THE NEW WORLD, YOU EXPOSED YOUR AMBITION, DIDN'T YOU?! YOU BASTARD, YOU'RE ACTUALLY THINKING OF MAKING THE MARINES SUPPORT YOU AS PIRATE KING! DON'T YOU KNOW THESE THINGS ARE EXPLICITLY FORBIDDEN BY THE WORLD GOVERNMENT?!"
'Eh? Is that how it is?'
Garp hurriedly thumped his chest, but his mouth was so stuffed with food that he could not say a single word.
He desperately tried to swallow so he could explain himself.
'Listen to me! That's not what this old man meant!'
'This is all for the Marines! What does this have to do with pirates?!'
As for the World Government explicitly forbidding it, Garp had never even thought about that.
After all, in his eyes, there was only the Marines' justice and duty.
The World Government's orders could go to hell. When he came up with this plan, he had not considered the World Government at all!