Chapter 123 – [123] : [BONUS] – Aokiji Defeated! Garp the Hero! Sengoku Has Burned Out

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BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Tyrannical energy erupted violently across this stretch of sea!

The Bomb-Bomb Fruit, while not top-tier among Paramecias, let alone all Devil Fruits, became a scary detonator in Rowen’s hands!

It ignited the Rumble-Rumble Fruit’s lightning and the Flare-Flare Fruit’s fire from their very core—from every single spark of thunder, every wisp of flame!

Lightning and fire, already the most violent elemental manifestations in nature, now had all their energy unleashed instantaneously in a colossal explosion!

The terrifying energy rocked the entire sea region!

The atmosphere was now devoid of flame and lightning—because in that single instant, they had completely detonated! All their energy unleashed!

And Thunder-Ice Island—created by the Awakened Rumble-Rumble and Ice-Ice Fruits—under this cataclysmic energy release, shattered into countless fragments!

Completely wiped from the world’s map!

Henceforth, this uninhabited island would no longer exist in this sea region!

Erased by Rowen!

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Aboard the Going Merry, far from the epicenter, the crew clung desperately to anything that offered stability as monstrous waves tossed the ship about.

“…” They stared in utter horror at the distant sea.

“G-GONE! THE ISLAND—IT’S GONE!” Usopp stammered, his mouth agape, his eyes glazed with a mixture of terror and disbelief.

In the distance, the colossal mushroom cloud from the explosion was slowly dissipating. Where the island had been—there was now nothing.

Only scattered debris rained down from the sky, splashing into the turbulent sea, swept away by the currents to unknown destinations.

Soon, only seawater would remain, no other trace.

But they remembered clearly… just a short while ago, they had personally set foot on that not-so-small uninhabited island.

Now… that island was completely GONE! Annihilated—by Rowen’s attack!

“Un-Unbelievable! R-Rowen!”

Zoro and Sanji’s foreheads were drenched in cold sweat, staring in horror at the empty expanse of sea where the island once stood.

Though they had been shocked countless times since Rowen began fighting Aokiji, the scene before them now left them somewhat stunned, almost numb.

An island of considerable size—utterly obliterated by a single attack from Rowen! Such power—was beyond words!

It felt like the act of a God—

“One of the three Ancient Weapons… Pluton, which Crocodile chased relentlessly—legend says its cannons could make an island vanish with a single shot! I once thought it was just a legend—I never imagined a power like that could exist…”

Robin murmured, covering her mouth, staring incredulously at the scene.

Robin had read about Pluton on the Alabasta Poneglyph. A single shot erasing an island from the map—the power Crocodile sought for years. Now, she had witnessed such power firsthand—From Rowen!

The Buster Call that caused her most terrifying psychological trauma—consisted of ten top-of-the-line Marine HQ warships, led by Vice Admirals.

Once activated, a Buster Call aimed to utterly destroy everything at the designated location—buildings, people, everything—with cannon fire. But it only destroyed what was on the island; the island itself remained.

An entire island was completely obliterated!

Though it was an uninhabited island of modest size, and Rowen’s current power might not yet compare to Pluton’s legendary island-destroying capability—it was still an island…

To wipe a not-so-small island directly from the map—such horrible power was beyond human description.

Robin had never even imagined such power before.

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“Where’s Rowen?!” The crew, still reeling from the shocking spectacle, were speechless.

Nami and Vivi were the first to recover, anxiously searching for Rowen. Though the attack was clearly unleashed by Rowen’s Devil Fruit abilities, under such a terrifying explosion of power, Nami and Vivi were still deeply worried for Rowen’s safety.

“Turn the ship around!” Luffy yelled.

“Aye!” The crew immediately began maneuvering the Merry back towards the former island’s location. They had to check on Rowen—even if extreme danger still lurked there.

But before they could bring the Merry close to the epicenter—a flash of lightning appeared in the sky.

“ROWEN!” Seeing the incarnation of lightning in the sky, the crew instantly sighed in relief, crying out joyfully.

“Don’t come over here yet,” Rowen’s voice came through the Transponder Snail Nami held.

Rowen now possessed the communication Trait from Transponder Snails and could directly connect with the snail Nami held.

Rowen hovered in the sky, looking down at the gradually subsiding explosion, an extreme red light flashing in his eyes.

WHOOSH! CRACKLE! CRACKLE!

Freezing aura spread across the sea—A figure, completely elementized into ice, slowly rose from the ocean surface, transforming a large area of the surrounding sea into solid ice.

“Good thing you possess the Ice-Ice Fruit,” Rowen commented, looking at Aokiji, a hint of regret in his voice. He hadn’t managed to kill Aokiji.

Only now did Rowen truly understand how Aokiji could fight Akainu—whose destructive power was renowned throughout the One Piece world for ten days and nights before a victor emerged.

Freezing aura could suppress energy explosions…

Though magma could melt ice, the true power of the Ice-Ice Fruit lay in its extreme freezing aura.

Aokiji was a man capable of freezing erupting volcanic magma with his aura!

The instant the energy exploded, Aokiji had concentrated all his freezing aura around himself, maximizing its suppressive effect on the blast.

Though he couldn’t completely negate such terrifying explosive energy, he had at least survived—If Aokiji had eaten any other Devil Fruit, under Rowen’s calculated attack, he would have already been dead.

“Yeah… Good thing I’m an Ice-Ice Fruit user,” Aokiji replied, equally shaken, reverting from his elemental form.

“Phew!” Aokiji let out a heavy breath, the breath of someone who had narrowly escaped death. He stood up.

“Scary power… I almost… really died,” Aokiji looked up at Rowen in the sky.

“But…” Aokiji’s cheek twitched, his eyes darkening as he felt the emptiness where his right leg should be.

Though he survived that terrifying explosion thanks to his Ice-Ice Fruit, his right leg—was lost in the blast! He could only use his fruit’s power to create a prosthetic leg of ice to move.

His body also bore numerous, horrifyingly deep scorch marks.

Fortunately, being an Ice-Ice Fruit user, he could use his freezing aura to treat these injuries—otherwise, the sheer pain from such horrific wounds would have crippled most of his combat ability.

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“Hey, Aokiji. Come join the Straw Hats,” Rowen offered, slowly descending from the sky, looking at Aokiji.

After fighting Aokiji, Rowen genuinely felt an appreciation for his talent.

This man was really strong—stronger than Rowen initially anticipated. Even if Rowen plundered all of Aokiji’s Traits, the net gain wouldn’t be as high as recruiting Aokiji himself, a powerful combatant.

After all, further qualitative leaps in strength became exponentially harder at higher levels.

Plundering Aokiji’s Traits, the biggest gains would be his Awakened Ice-Ice Fruit, his Martial arts, and his physique energy.

While these would significantly boost Rowen’s own power, it wouldn’t be equivalent to adding another Aokiji-level fighter to his ranks.

Rowen’s current strength, while immense, wasn’t yet on par with Emperors like Kaido or Shanks.

Forcing Aokiji to this state so quickly was largely because Aokiji’s Observation Haki wasn’t strong enough, completely countered by Rowen’s Rumble-Rumble Fruit.

Plus, Rowen’s Human-Human Fruit ability allowed him to analyze and exploit Aokiji’s weaknesses, forcing Aokiji to tank that final attack.

If he could recruit a powerhouse like Aokiji—Rowen plus Aokiji—no single Emperor could stand against them!

With Aokiji at his side, Rowen could plunder Traits from other powerhouses even faster, accelerating his own growth!

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“Huh?!” Aokiji stared at Rowen, his eye twitching.

“Are you kidding me?! Trying to recruit me?! I’M A MARINE ADMIRAL!” Aokiji roared.

“In the Navy—you’re not free, are you, Aokiji? So lost, so confused—why not try a change of environment?” Rowen laughed, looking at Aokiji.

“CHANGE OF ENVIRONMENT? Don’t get too arrogant! Sky Sovereign Rowen! You’re just a pirate!” Aokiji retorted, his face grim.

“But I’ve done many things you wanted to do but couldn’t, right? For example—Alabasta. Tens of millions of people. Yet under the World Government’s Warlord policy, they were plunged into such internal strife. Without my intervention, rivers of blood would have flowed there. The World Government’s actions—do they truly align with your justice, Aokiji???”

Rowen’s Observation Haki clearly sensed Aokiji’s confusion; he smiled knowingly.

“What… do you want to do?” Aokiji asked gravely, looking at Rowen.

“Didn’t I tell you already? I WILL STAND ABOVE ALL!” Rowen laughed with absolute power.

“Overthrow the World Government?! You want to become King of the World?!” Aokiji’s mind, acknowledged even by Sengoku, instantly grasped Rowen’s ultimate goal.

“So what if I do? The World Government is so corrupt; it should have crumbled to dust long ago! Only a new order—can usher in a new Chapter for the world!”

Rowen laughed heartily.

“You want the era to run wild?!” Aokiji stared at Rowen, his eyes filled with shock.

“Run wild? This era is destined to run wild! War is inevitable, Aokiji! The cycle of ages—will reach its end this time!” Rowen’s smile slowly faded, a crimson-black light flashing in his eyes.

“I don’t expect to convince you so easily. After I capture you alive, I can chat with you properly about the world I intend to create. Then you can choose—join me, or have all your power stripped away,” Rowen declared, crimson-black lightning beginning to coil around his body again.

After taking that last attack, Aokiji was at the end of his rope. Rowen was confident he could capture Aokiji alive in a short time.

“Damn it!” Aokiji felt his condition; his face turned incredibly grim. His state was terrible. Against Sky Sovereign Rowen’s attacks, he probably wouldn’t last much longer!

“Huh?!” Just as Aokiji’s mind raced, trying to figure out how to retreat from this battlefield, he suddenly noticed the man opposite him frown.

“What a strong presence…” Rowen turned his head, looking towards a distant stretch of sea.

An extremely powerful presence and Haki had just entered the range of his Observation Haki—

—Rowen pushed his Rumble-Rumble Fruit ability to its limit, listening intently to the sounds from that direction.

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A Marine warship, its figurehead a dog’s head, was rapidly approaching Rowen and Aokiji’s battle site!

“GARP! YOU BASTARD! HOW MUCH LONGER UNTIL YOU GET HERE?!” Sengoku’s voice, anxious and agitated, blared from a Transponder Snail.

“I’m already going full speed, old friend! But Sengoku—what the hell happened to your face?” Garp’s voice replied, looking at the Transponder Snail in his hand.

The snail’s projected image of Sengoku was incredibly distorted—appearing to be crying and laughing, joyful and sorrowful, all at once.

“MY ABILITY IS OVERDRAWN! BASTARD!” Sengoku yelled, barely able to control his emotions.

The Human-Human Fruit, Model: Daibutsu, granted Sengoku Buddha-like wisdom, not just for thinking, but also for ‘Buddha Deductions’. Combined with his manifested sixth sense, Sengoku could see even further into the future than extreme Observation Haki. Shortly after Aokiji embarked on this mission to capture Rowen, Sengoku felt an intense sense of unease—

It was his Buddha ability warning him—the source of the unease was Aokiji! This left Sengoku utterly bewildered. Aokiji’s level of combat strength could directly confront the Four Emperors—

Yet a mission to capture Rowen made him feel so uneasy?! So, Sengoku immediately performed a Buddha Deduction regarding Aokiji’s mission. The result shocked Sengoku to his core—After completing the deduction, his Devil Fruit ability was completely overdrawn.

The price of overdrawing the Buddha form was a temporary, complete inability to control his facial expressions and emotions, resulting in that bizarre, statue-like visage.

Sengoku had essentially burned out his ability for a short time. What shocked Sengoku even more—was the result of the deduction!

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“Aokiji is in danger! Great danger! Aokiji’s level of strength—absolutely cannot be lost!” Sengoku’s strangely modulated voice, simultaneously joyful and sorrowful, came through the snail, his emotions unstable.

“Fleet Admiral! Are you joking?! That’s Kuzan we’re talking about!” A figure walked up beside Garp, speaking incredulously into the snail. It was Vice Admiral Gion.

“MY ABILITY IS OVERDRAWN! DO I HAVE ANY REASON TO JOKE WITH YOU?! DAMN IT ALL!” Sengoku, his emotions extremely unstable due to ability exhaustion, roared curses.

“Though I can’t know the exact situation—the result I got is that Aokiji is in great danger! Mortal danger! My Buddha ability can only get a general picture! I’m not a god! I can’t know everything accurately!” Sengoku’s unstable, strangely modulated voice continued from the snail.

“Un-Unbelievable… Kuzan—in mortal danger from Sky Sovereign Rowen? Could it be… is there an Emperor there?!” Gion’s beautiful eyes widened in horror.

Kuzan’s combat strength? Those capable of putting him in mortal danger on these seas—could be counted on one hand…

Those four who reigned over these seas like emperors—the super great pirates! The Four Emperors!

Beside Gion stood Tashigi.

Since the Alabasta incident, Tashigi had been training under Gion. Hearing their conversation, Tashigi’s eyes also filled with disbelief.

“I understand. I’m heading there at full speed now,” Garp replied, all traces of his usual frivolity gone, his voice serious. Kuzan—was still his student.

But the next moment—

VMM! BOOOOOOM!!!

High above, a terrifying flash of lightning erupted!

“Huh?!” Gion and the others stared upwards in horror!

A terrifying bolt of lightning—descended!

“Divine Judgment——” Rowen declared, pointing a single finger towards the sky, activating his Rumble-Rumble Fruit ability.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

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