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Bang! Kaido's kanabo smashed into the golden palm. A muffled explosion rippled through the air, and the massive recoil left Kaido's arms numb. He stumbled back more than a dozen steps before he could barely steady himself. Big Mom's Emperor Sword was firmly caught by the other golden hand; her lightning and fire were an absolute joke against the golden light, failing to even scratch Sengoku's skin.

As for the rocky lion heads descending from the sky? Sengoku didn't even bother looking at them. The Buddha light radiating from his head pulverized them into fine dust on contact. The combined, full-force strike of three future Emperors had been effortlessly dissolved.

Sengoku stood his ground, the golden light around him growing increasingly intense. He turned and glared at Garp. "Garp, you bastard. There has to be a limit to how much of the spotlight you hog. I didn't pay a hundred million Beri for a standing ticket."

Garp waved him off without looking back. "I know, I know. I'll leave those three brats to you. Just don't kill them; leave them with a breath for Rocks to see."

Sengoku snorted coldly and turned to face the trio. He wasn't wearing his trademark round glasses right now, and his eyes revealed an undisguised fanaticism. It was the kind of madness that came from being suppressed by Marine regulations for years, finally allowed to run rampant inside a dungeon.

Hovering in midair, Golden Lion Shiki's expression turned exceedingly ugly. He knew Sengoku. This Marine, hailed as the Resourceful General, usually fought by the book. How had he suddenly become so ferocious?

Shiki gritted his teeth and sneered. "Sengoku. What are you doing playing the hero instead of hiding in the back arranging troops? You think you can stop all three of us by yourself?"

Young Kaido shook out his numb arms and spat a glob of bloody saliva. "Who cares who he is! As long as he's a Marine, we just smash him to pieces!"

Big Mom echoed the sentiment. "Sengoku makes for a pretty good soul vessel, too! I'm gonna use his Buddha Fruit to make a shiny golden toy!"

Sengoku didn't bother arguing with their taunts. He merely raised a hand and stroked his bare chin. It definitely lacked the proper texture without his braided beard, but that was fine. Power was the only thing that was real.

He took a deep breath of God Valley's murky air and closed his eyes, feeling the vast, boundless vitality surging through his body. Sage Art: Wood Release Chakra. This power had originally belonged to Hashirama Senju, but now it was flawlessly fused with his Buddha Fruit.

Sengoku's eyes snapped open, a terrifying glint of green flashing through his golden pupils. "Do you three brats have some sort of misunderstanding about me?"

He slammed his hands together in front of his chest.

Clap! The crisp sound echoed across the battlefield, immediately followed by the agonizing groan of God Valley's earth. This time, it wasn't a tremor—it was a rupture. Countless thick, dark golden roots tore through the hard bedrock like earth dragons rolling over. The roots wove together frantically behind Sengoku, growing at a terrifying pace.

In the blink of an eye, a colossal wooden construct, hundreds of times larger than Sengoku's Buddha form, pulled itself from the earth. The wooden golem was coated in a blinding golden luster, but it didn't stop there. The chakra inside Sengoku poured out like water, and a dense forest of gigantic arms began sprouting from the construct's back.

One. Ten. A hundred. A thousand!

Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands: Buddha Summit Enlightenment!

A dark golden Buddha possessing a thousand arms fully descended upon God Valley. Its height pierced straight through the cloud layer, its massive body blotting out the sun and casting a suffocating shadow over the entire battlefield. Sengoku stood atop the Buddha's head, looking down at the three tiny black dots on the ground, a wildly arrogant smile curling his lips.

This was the kind of experience money should buy. This was a man's romance.

Floating in the air, Golden Lion Shiki was entirely dumbstruck. He tilted his head so far back his neck nearly snapped, yet he still couldn't see the top of this colossal Buddha. His cigar slipped from his mouth, dropping into the ruins below as his mind went completely blank. What the hell was this thing? Was this still a Devil Fruit ability? Why was the wood glowing gold?

Kaido also halted his charge. His kanabo clanged uselessly to the ground. He was bullheaded, sure, but he wasn't an idiot. Staring up at the sun-obscuring Thousand-Armed Buddha, a ridiculous thought suddenly popped into his head: Maybe being a pirate really doesn't have much of a future.

Sengoku nodded in satisfaction. "That's right. Tremble obediently before my True Several Thousand Hands."

He raised his right hand. In sync, the thousand gigantic arms on the Buddha's back slowly lifted into the air. The sheer displacement of air whipped up a violent hurricane, sending rubble flying across the ground.

"I'll use you three to test my grip today." Sengoku swung his right hand down. "Get ready for a beating of justice, you Rocks scum!"

Thousands of massive wooden fists, glowing with golden light and coated in Armament Haki, rained down upon the earth like a meteor shower. The entire sky over God Valley was choked by the descending onslaught.

In the distance, Roger watched the spectacle and silently sheathed his sword. He decided it would be much better to just play the role of an audience member today. Garp, meanwhile, picked his nose while watching Sengoku make a massive scene. He curled his lip.

"Sengoku, that old geezer, sure knows how to show off."

The next second, Garp turned his head and locked his sights back on Roger. "Alright, Roger. The small fry are being dealt with. Now it's just you and me."

Roger chuckled bitterly. He knew he wasn't going to avoid a beating today. He just hoped this old dog would go easy on him—after all, he hadn't even become the Pirate King yet.

Suddenly, a figure wearing round glasses darted out from behind the ruins. It was young Silvers Rayleigh. The future Dark King, a legendary vice-captain whose bounty would reach astronomical heights, held a single-edged sword, cold sweat beading on his forehead. He hurried to Roger's side, and the two stood shoulder to shoulder.

Rayleigh looked past Roger's shoulder at the Marine Vice Admiral picking his nose. "Roger. Are you alright?"

Rayleigh's voice was kept low, tinged with a rare solemnity. "I saw it all perfectly from the back. Newgate, that absolute monster, was blasted away by a single punch from Garp. And Garp used Newgate's own tremor power—used it even better than Newgate himself."

Rayleigh's knuckles turned white around his sword hilt. He had sailed with Roger for years and weathered countless storms, but he had genuinely never seen a situation like this. This old dog Garp was acting like a completely different person.

Roger pulled his Supreme Grade Sword, Ace, back out of its sheath and shook his head with a bitter smile. "Do I look alright to you? This old dog definitely took the wrong medicine today. And just a minute ago, he said something about spending two hundred million Beri to buy something. I have absolutely no idea what kind of nonsense he's spouting."

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