By now, Ashura Doji had regained consciousness.
His men had wrapped his entire head in bandages, and he was glaring furiously at Garp.
"You damn old man! Did you really have to go straight for my head without even asking whether I could take it?!"
Ashura rubbed his forehead, resentment written all over his face.
"Bwahahahaha!"
Garp laughed so hard his shoulders shook, though his hands never stopped working as he continued weaving something out of bamboo.
"You were the one who told me to beat you until you submitted! Of course I had to take it seriously."
He grinned.
"Just a little seriously."
Garp glanced over at him.
"So? Have I beaten you into submission yet? If not, I can always swing these fists a few more times."
"I submit! I submit!"
Ashura immediately waved both hands.
"I'll join your Marines, and my men are coming with me."
"But let's get one thing straight. When the war begins, the Marines have to help us take down Kaido."
"And once Kaido falls, some of us may return to Wano while others might choose to remain with the Marines. I want you to respect whatever each person decides."
Garp waved a large hand without hesitation.
"Fine by me!"
Catching pirates was already the Marines' job.
If Ashura Doji was willing to become a Marine, then helping him deal with Kaido was only natural.
As for anyone choosing to leave afterward…
The Marines were not some shady cult. If someone wanted to stay, they could stay. If they wanted to leave, they could leave.
Once that conversation ended, Garp wandered over to check on Tama.
Hitetsu had already explained everything earlier, but this was not something Garp could decide by himself.
Even if Tenguyama Hitetsu wanted him to take Tama out of Wano, Tama herself had to agree.
Garp had always believed that forcing someone into something never ended well.
Except for those four damn brats.
He had tried over and over to make them become Marines, yet one, two… three… four of them had all gone completely off course.
Just remembering it made him angry.
Garp crouched down and gently rubbed Tama's head, his voice becoming unusually soft.
"Tama, have you decided?"
Tama lowered her head and nervously tugged at the corner of her clothes.
"I… I do want to leave. I want to see Ace…"
"But I'm still not strong enough, and I haven't become an enchanting kunoichi yet."
"If I leave like this, I won't be able to fulfill our promise…"
Hitetsu immediately grew anxious.
"Tama, you've seen what Wano is like now. The samurai have fallen into decline, and there are barely any ninja left."
"Where are you supposed to find someone to teach you?"
"I know a ninja."
Ashura Doji suddenly spoke up and glanced toward the rafters.
"Because Garp has spent the last few days wreaking havoc around my territory—"
He caught himself.
"Performing acts of 'justice'—an old acquaintance of mine realized something strange was going on and came up the mountain to investigate."
"We don't agree on everything, but we both want to save Wano."
"She's been observing things from here for several days now."
"Come out."
The moment he finished speaking, a pink figure spun down from the rafters.
She landed dramatically and struck a pose.
"I am the bewitching kunoichi known as the 'Man-Killer'—Shinobu!"
Garp took one look at her.
Her round figure.
Her enormous, gleaming face.
He froze.
This was very different from the ninja he had imagined.
Even that student under Zephyr looked more like a proper ninja, and she was not even from Wano.
Tama, on the other hand, was fascinated.
She hurried closer with sparkling eyes and eagerly examined Shinobu's ninja outfit.
Garp rubbed his forehead before slowly speaking.
"Oh, so you're the one who's been hiding in the rafters these past few days."
"I thought the castle had developed some kind of giant rat problem."
Shinobu immediately blushed and began swaying bashfully.
"My, my! I never expected even an elderly gentleman like you to be unable to resist the charms of a mature woman!"
"So you noticed me the entire time but chose not to expose me because you wanted to secretly admire me?"
"I'm flattered!"
"As expected, the appeal of a mature woman truly is irresistible."
Garp's mouth twitched.
He had no idea what to do with someone like this, so he simply asked,
"So why have you been hiding here?"
Shinobu answered directly.
She wanted to join the Marines.
After observing Ashura Doji these past few days and secretly listening to Garp's lectures from the rafters, Shinobu had reached the same conclusion as Ashura.
They should join the Marines and use the Marines' strength to save Wano.
As Garp had said, they could not simply sit around waiting for a prophecy to fall into their laps. Sometimes, they needed to seek help from beyond their borders.
It was not a decision she had made impulsively.
She had spent a long time observing the situation and considering Wano's current condition before reaching this conclusion.
Unlike Kyoshiro, neither Shinobu nor Ashura Doji could bring themselves to serve Yamato, Kaido's child.
The only lord they recognized was Oden.
The Marines, however, would allow them to leave voluntarily afterward, making them the best possible choice for outside assistance.
Garp happily agreed.
As far as he was concerned, the more Marines, the better.
At that moment, Tama was circling excitedly around Shinobu.
She suddenly looked up and asked,
"Are you really a ninja? Are things like shuriken techniques actually real?"
"Of course!"
Shinobu immediately offered to demonstrate.
She glanced toward a nearby tree, took her stance, and flicked her wrist.
"Ninja Art: Shuriken Jutsu!"
Three shuriken spun through the air.
Shhk! Shhk! Shhk!
They cleanly sliced through the trunk of a tree with impressive precision.
Not bad at all.
Garp scratched his head.
"What's so impressive about that?"
Shinobu immediately took offense.
She had spent years training that technique! How could he dismiss it so casually?
Garp shook his head, bent over, and picked up one of the fallen shuriken.
He weighed it in his hand.
"Let me see… you throw it like this, right?"
He pinched the shuriken between his fingers.
Armament Haki quietly coated its surface.
Then Garp narrowed his eyes toward the base of the mountain and assumed a throwing stance.
"Ninja Art: Fist Bone Shuriken Jutsu!"
He flicked his arm.
The shuriken disappeared from his fingers so violently that there was not even a whistling sound.
A moment later—BOOM!
It slammed into the mountain below and exploded.
Shinobu stared blankly at the enormous plume of smoke rising in the distance.
Her mouth fell open wide enough to fit an entire fist.
She looked down at her own hands.
Then up at Garp.
Then back at herself.
Her knees gave out.
Thud.
She collapsed to the ground.
"I… What exactly have I been doing with my life for the last ten years…?"
"Big Sis Shinobu!"
Tama hurried forward to support her.
Still, Shinobu had seen her share of the world.
She gritted her teeth and quickly forced herself back onto her feet, brushing dust from her knees.
"O-one shuriken doesn't prove anything!"
"Watch this!"
"Ninja Art: Shuriken Rain!"
She rapidly pulled a large handful of shuriken from her clothes and threw them with both hands from a variety of tricky angles.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The shuriken embedded themselves around the earlier cut in the tree trunk, forming a perfect circle.
The moment Garp saw it, his competitive spirit flared.
"That doesn't look particularly difficult either."
He walked over, pulled every shuriken from the tree, and gathered them all into one hand.
This time, Armament Haki was not the only thing coating them.
Conqueror's Haki crackled around the blades as well.
"Ninja Art: Fist Bone Shuriken Meteor Shower!"
If Garp called it a meteor shower, then a meteor shower it became.
Dozens of shuriken exploded from his palm one after another, each trailing visible shockwaves as they screamed toward the foot of the mountain.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
One impact after another detonated below.
The shockwaves were so powerful that everyone at the top of the mountain swayed several times, while the soil beneath their feet trembled.
This time, Shinobu's entire worldview shattered.
Thud.
She dropped to her knees again and collapsed face-first onto the ground.
Her voice carried a sob.
"I quit being a ninja…"
"I'm done. I'm done being a ninja…"
Tama anxiously tugged at Shinobu while looking toward Garp.
"Grandpa Garp! Are you sure throwing them like that is safe?"
"What if someone was down there?"
Garp answered with absolute confidence.
"It's fine, it's fine!"
"I checked the area roughly with Observation Haki just now. There wasn't anyone down there."
"Only trees."
"So nothing could possibly go wrong!"
Technically, he was correct.
The foot of the mountain was covered in dense forest, with nothing visible except plants.
But was nobody really there?
Half a minute earlier…
Aramaki had been making his way toward the mountain while cursing under his breath.
The moment he arrived at the foot of the slope, a Haki-coated shuriken suddenly came flying straight at his face.
"What the—?!"
He hurriedly raised both arms to block.
BOOM!
Half his body was blown away on the spot.
"Who the hell did that?!"
With half his body missing, Aramaki gritted his teeth and activated his Devil Fruit.
His body transformed into wood, and the power of plant growth rapidly reconstructed his missing flesh.
At the same time, he merged his presence completely with the surrounding forest and concealed his aura.
Unfortunately, before he could even catch his breath—
The Conqueror's Haki-coated shuriken meteor shower arrived.
Just like Shinobu's earlier technique, the incoming shuriken surrounded him in a circle, sealing every route of escape before crashing down with terrifying precision.
BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM—!
Aramaki vanished beneath the explosions.
Only one twitching leg remained visible outside the blast crater.
"WHICH BASTARD IS DOING THIS?!"
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