Chapter 479: Chapter 479: Sage Body, Catching a Supreme Grade Sword Barehanded

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Chapter 479: Sage Body, Catching a Supreme Grade Sword Barehanded

The cascading lightning radiating from Garp illuminated half the sky with a ghastly, pale white glow. The stinging scent of ozone blended with the stench of blood across the battlefield.

The young Edward Newgate narrowed his eyes. He didn’t understand what kind of trick this Marine commander was trying to pull. Powers of thunder and lightning weren’t exactly rare on the Grand Line. The Mink Tribe natively generated static electricity, and various Devil Fruit users could manipulate storms. But the boundless, suffocating life force emanating from Garp was entirely beyond his comprehension.

The green aura flowing from Garp filled him with extreme dread. It didn’t feel like a Devil Fruit, nor did it carry the oppressive weight of Haki. It was a manifestation of absolute, pure life energy.

Whatever trick he’s playing, I just need to chop it to pieces. Newgate had total confidence in his own strength. He was, after all, one of the heaviest hitters in the entire Rocks Pirates.

His legs exploded with force, stomping two massive craters into the dense bedrock. The monumental kickback launched his colossal frame forward in a furious sprint.

He barreled toward Garp carrying the force of a hurricane, hoisting the Supreme Grade Sword Murakumogiri high above his head. Pitch-black Armament Haki enveloped the blade like flowing water. Ryuo, the advanced application of Armament Haki, converged at the cutting edge as streaks of black-red lightning sparked wildly in the air. The sheer ambient pressure of this berserk power caused the surrounding space to boom, lifting the shattered rocks from the ground with its gravitational pull.

"Marine dog, get out of my way!" Newgate roared like a clap of thunder.

Gripping the long shaft with both hands, he torqued his waist to drive his arms forward. Murakumogiri swung down with earth-shattering, mountain-cleaving momentum. A strike of this magnitude could leave a permanent fissure in God Valley’s tectonic plate.

Watching from the distant wall, Roger grimaced. He knew exactly how horrifying Newgate’s freakish strength could be. That naginata could cleanly bisect a mountain of iron. If Garp tried to face it head-on, he would definitely suffer. Roger even tensed his legs, preparing to dash in and save the old bulldog if needed.

Yet, Garp didn’t shift his stance an inch. He barely even batted an eye. He watched the peerless supreme blade descend upon him as if he were looking at a flimsy fire poker. Slowly, leisurely, he raised his left hand, extending his five thick fingers.

There was no hardening from Armament Haki. No defensive coating of Ryuo. He met the blade with absolutely nothing but his bare, fleshy palm.

CLANG!

A deafening screech of colliding metal erupted. A horrifying shockwave burst outward from the epicenter of their clash, physically tearing a layer of earth off the ground. The floating rubble was jettisoned like shrapnel, peppering the distant ruins and blasting deep craters into the stone.

Murakumogiri’s cutting edge had stopped dead against Garp’s palm. There was no spray of blood. No sound of fracturing bone. It didn’t even leave so much as a white indentation on Garp’s skin.

The terrifying physical density bestowed by the Sage Body had done its work. Garp’s physical form was currently infinitely harder than a thousand-times-forged block of Seastone. It was a level of structural durability that simply shouldn’t belong to a human.

Newgate’s pupils contracted to the size of pinpricks. Noticeable cracks fractured his confident, arrogant façade. How is this possible? Even Charlotte Linlin, with her vaunted Iron Balloon physique, wouldn’t dare catch this slash barehanded—let alone without a single trace of Haki! Just what kind of abomination was this Marine named Garp?

Newgate ground his teeth together. His arm muscles swelled massively, the thick veins bulging under his skin writhing like snakes. He desperately pushed every ounce of strength in his body, trying to force Murakumogiri deeper. He just wanted to break the skin—just a single scratch.

But the blade felt as if it had been welded into an anvil of the hardest pig iron. No matter how much torque he applied, it refused to budge. Garp’s palm was an insurmountable mountain.

Garp peeled back his lips, flashing two rows of gleaming white teeth. He let out a maniacal, wildly arrogant laugh. "So soft! Did you skip breakfast this morning, Newgate? You couldn’t even pin down a wild boar in Foosha Village with this kind of strength! And you dared to come out and play pirate with these parlor tricks? Does that bastard Rocks not pay you guys a meal allowance?"

The mockery felt like a ringing slap across Newgate’s face. He was a man destined to conquer the seas! When had he ever suffered such humiliation? Fury raged in his chest like an inferno. He yanked the blade back, preparing to shift his stance and channel an even stronger surge of Haki to cleave this arrogant Marine in half.

But Garp wiped the smile from his face. He clenched his right fist at his side. There was no dark coating of Armament Haki. There was no crackling exterior of Lightning Chakra. He merely tapped into the vast, oceanic purity of the Sage Body’s power. The green life energy roared deeply within his muscle fibers.

Garp threw a completely unflashy, straightforward punch. His target wasn’t Newgate’s body. It was the broad, thick spine of Murakumogiri.

Crack.

An agonizing, metallic wail pierced through the entire battlefield. The divine weapon, ranked among the Twelve Supreme Grade Swords, let out a tortured shriek. The absolute apex of kinetic force channeled frantically down the length of the blade.

Newgate felt as if he were holding an erupting volcano instead of a hilt. The immense shockwave of the impact instantly tore open the webbing of his hands. Blood spurted wildly from the split flesh. His grip completely gave out.

The kinetic force traveled up his arms and slammed into his chest, effortlessly shattering his protective Haki. Before Newgate could even muster a scream, he was blasted backward like a cannonball fired from a mortar. He moved so fast the naked eye couldn’t even track him. His massive body left a blur in the air as he smashed through countless, solid boulders along his trajectory.

A continuous chain of thunderous explosions rang out. He completely pulverized the first mountain peak, sending jagged rocks and dust spiraling into the sky. Immediately after, he crashed into a second mountain, snapping its structure in half and causing a massive cave-in. Finally, he slammed violently into the belly of a third mountain, carving a massive, bottomless crater straight into the cliff face.

The entirety of God Valley trembled violently from the residual shockwave of Garp’s single punch. Fissures split the earth, sprawling all the way to the coastline. The once-cacophonous battlefield fell into a deathly, eerie silence. Only the clattering of tumbling rocks echoed through the air. The pirates didn’t even dare to breathe, while the Marine soldiers stared in slack-jawed stupefaction.

Roger’s jaw hung open. The Supreme Grade Sword Ace sagged limply to the ground. He rubbed his eyes furiously, convinced he was hallucinating. The same Newgate who could fight him to a dead standstill had just been sent flying with one punch. And Garp hadn’t even used Haki! Just what kind of dark sorcery had this old dog been secretly practicing behind his back?

Suspended mid-air, the Golden Lion Shiki had turned completely rigid. The cigar clamped in his teeth had long since gone out, dropping a pile of ash onto his chest without him even noticing. He had originally planned to wait for Newgate to whittle down Garp’s stamina before swooping in to clean up. Now, a freezing chill crawled up his spine. This wasn’t ’whittling down stamina.’ This was a hopelessly one-sided beatdown of a toddler.

Shiki subconsciously reached down to touch his proud legs. He realized with absolute certainty that if that punch had landed on him, both of his legs would have been instantly snapped into pieces.

The young Big Mom gasped, sucking in a sharp breath of cold air. Her face, perpetually twisted by greed, was now masked in sheer terror. She gripped the Napoleon sword so tightly that the cold sweat from her palms soaked the hilt. In the face of that kind of power, her vaunted Iron Balloon physique felt like a tragic joke. The intrusive thought of turning tail and running actually flashed through her mind.

Sengoku stood amidst the rubble, looking at Garp’s peerless, imposing back. He secretly thanked his lucky stars that he hadn’t tried to steal the spotlight earlier. The two-hundred-million Beri trial card was truly extraordinary. It was the best money they had ever spent. He habitually raised a hand to adjust the glasses on the bridge of his nose, only to remember he was in his younger body and didn’t wear glasses yet. Lowering his hand awkwardly, Sengoku’s lips curled into a delightfully gloating smirk.

Garp dusted off his hands, then picked at his ear. Turning toward the massive hole in the distant mountain, he hollered at the top of his lungs. "Oi! Stop playing dead, Newgate! I only used ten percent of my strength! Hurry up and roll back out here so we can keep going!" Garp’s voice echoed across the ruined island, reeking of unrivaled arrogance.

Rolling his wrists, he listened to the satisfying pop of his joints. He had to admit, the Sage Body was a fantastic thing. In the past, he always had to meticulously budget his stamina during long fights. But now, his stamina was like an open floodgate—an infinite reserve he couldn’t drain even if he tried.

He turned his head to glare at the Golden Lion floating in the sky. "Oi! You! The blond guy with the smoke! What the hell are you floating up there for? Are you a kite? You want me to drag your ass down here and loosen your joints for you?"

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