Chapter 56: The Pirate King of the East Blue

"Besides entanglement and hardening, Armament Haki has multiple other applications. I won't list them all one by one. In short, while techniques may vary in difficulty and mastery, there is no distinction of strength between them in actual combat."

Garp said in a deep voice, "At the end of the day, no matter which technique you excel at, you must raise your overall strength! Strength is the foundation of Armament Haki, and it is the direction you should focus on exclusively!"

Xiano had understood this principle for a long time.

Brute force breaks all techniques, just like when he was sparring in swordsmanship with Kuina and Zoro earlier...

Swish—

In the distance, the canopy of the trees suddenly rustled, and startled birds flew up into the air.

Interrupted in his thoughts, Xiano looked up in the direction of the sound and happened to see a figure wearing a brownish-wide-brimmed hat descending from the sky, stepping on the Moon Walk.

Bogard?

Xiano recognized the identity of the newcomer at a glance.

This guy looked very young, around twenty or thirty years old, but he had been following Garp since before the God Valley incident, making him at least a contemporary of Akainu.

"Mr. Garp."

Bogard frowned and began, "Vice Admiral Hina—no, Vice Admiral Burnings Mountain sent a communication stating that he has driven the Buggy Pirates out of the East Blue and is currently docked at a nearby naval port. We must set off tomorrow morning to return to Marineford, so we need to leave immediately."

"Why are you in such a rush?"

Garp unhappily dug into his ear. "I've only been back home for a few days; can't I rest for a couple more?"

"But your leave period is about to expire, and don't forget, Vice Admiral, this time we hitched a ride on someone else's ship. Your flagship is still being repaired at headquarters."

Bogard said expressionlessly, "If we don't set off now, we'll have to swim across the Calm Belt ourselves tomorrow."

"...Uh." Garp's movements froze.

Swimming across the Calm Belt didn't hold much difficulty for him, but it was truly exhausting. How could it compare to the comfort of lying on the deck basking in the sun every day?

"Fine."

Garp helplessly compromised. Just as Luffy and Ace walked over, he reached out his large hand and roughly rubbed the heads of his two grandsons.

"I'm leaving! Remember to listen to Dadan. Next time I come back, if you two still don't look like trainee marines, just watch how I deal with you!"

Who wants to be a marine?! Luffy shouted in dissatisfaction, only to be stopped by a glance from Ace—idiot, we're about to leave, why won't you just play along with what he says!

"Mr. Garp."

This time it was Xiano who spoke up, calling out to Garp, who was already turning to leave.

He clenched his fist, feeling that faint, lingering presence of Armament Haki. "Aren't you going to explain?"

"What?" Garp looked at him blankly.

"I'm not a child; I'm not that easy to fool." Xiano grinned. "I can understand that you think well of me, but after all, we're not that close. There's no reason you'd teach me something this good on our very first meeting, right?"

"Didn't you save Luffy from the bandits last year? Isn't it completely normal for me, as his grandfather, to repay that life-saving grace?" Garp raised an eyebrow.

"It was just a misunderstanding. I refuse to believe Luffy didn't make that clear to you."

"...So I couldn't keep it from you after all?" Garp scratched the back of his head in mild frustration.

"Alright, I might as well tell the truth then. Back when there was a vacancy among the Seven Warlords of the Sea, I was the first to proactively propose to Sengoku that we invite Jinbe, the Knight of the Sea, to join."

"Originally, I just thought that given Jinbe's character, having him fill that position would be better than giving legal plundering rights to some other pirate. But I didn't expect the subsequent split of the Sun Pirates, Arlong branching out on his own, and all those troublesome events leading to his departure for the East Blue."

"The Conomi Islands—countless villages and towns suffered heavy casualties."

Garp sighed deeply. "And if Coco Village hadn't produced a little monster like you, it probably wouldn't have escaped that doom either. So, the first time I saw your photo in the newspaper, I felt a sense of guilt in my heart. Meeting you in person only made me feel somewhat guilty-conscious."

"There's really no need for that." Xiano shook his head slightly. "Dragging Arlong's grievances onto Jinbe is already stretching it; what does it have to do with you?"

"It's still hard to get past that mental barrier in my heart. However, hearing you say that makes me feel a bit better."

Garp suddenly grinned and patted his shoulder. "Consider the Armament Haki as my compensation to you. Keep training hard, kid, and make yourself stronger! With your talent, one day you'll become so strong that even if you leave for a long time, those ill-intentioned bastards will run away in sheer terror like stray dogs the moment they hear it's your hometown!"

You're certainly strong enough, and your fame is already terrifyingly huge.

Yet when Mountain Bandit Higuma barged into Foosha Village...

Xiano couldn't help but inwardly complain, though he didn't say it out loud. He stood alongside Luffy and Ace, watching Garp and Bogard's figures gradually recede until they disappeared at the edge of the forest.

"It's about time! The smelly old man is finally gone!"

Luffy completely relaxed, lying down on the grassy ground and stretching comfortably. Suddenly remembering something, he turned his head and smiled brightly at Xiano:

"Hey, Brother Xiano! We're getting ready to go back and find Dadan. Do you want to come with us? We can throw a banquet and celebrate properly!"

"It'll be the middle of the night by the time we get there, right? Bamu and the others came with me this time too. There are quite a few of us, so I'm afraid we won't fit."

"Don't worry, there are plenty of empty rooms! We can sort it all out! Sabo's room has always been vacant, you can just sleep there tonight!"

Sabo's room?

Xiano nodded and showed a sincere smile: "Alright."

...

At the docks.

Bogard, who was just about to buy ship tickets to the nearby naval port, looked at Garp yawning lazily beside him and finally realized something was amiss.

"Mr. Garp, where is your dog-head hat?"

"Hmm?"

Garp was stunned and instinctively reached into his pockets, only to find them completely empty.

"That's strange..." The old man puzzledly felt through all four of his pockets. "I clearly remember picking it up after the fight and stuffing it into my pocket. Did it accidentally fall out again?"

"With that sloppy, forgetfulness of yours, it's really hard to change..." Bogard was speechless.

"Are you just going to lecture me?" Garp glared at him in dissatisfaction. "Are you any better? Let me ask you, where is your hat?"

"Isn't it right here on my head?"

Not understanding what Garp meant, Bogard chuckled and reached his right hand up toward the top of his head, only to grab empty air. He instantly froze in utter bewilderment.

Wait, where's my hat?!!

Could it be that the wind at the dock was too strong and blew it away without him noticing?

...

"These are all good stuff."

Late at night, leaning against the headboard of Sabo's bed with a flushed face, Xiano let out a long, satisfied burp after eating and drinking his fill, and happily looked at the system panel floating before his eyes.

Stream after stream of scrolling notifications confirmed the sweat and hard work he had put in.

[You sacrificed Garp's dog-head hat and obtained 4,000 points.]

[You sacrificed Bogard's wide-brimmed fedora and obtained 200 points.]

[You sacrificed Sabo's old coat and obtained 150 points.]

[You sacrificed the adult magazine Ace hid under his bed and obtained 250 points.]

[You sacrificed Dadan's cherished vintage wine and obtained 50 points.]

[You sacrificed Luffy's knock-off straw hat and obtained 3,000 points.]