章節 16: Chapter 16
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With this chapter we officially hit 50k words:)
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ITALY
POV GARP
It took me only an hour to sprint from Normandy to the coordinates I'd been given—faster than I'd thought possible. Nothing had slowed me down, and I just kept running, only briefly slowed by the Alps.
As soon as I reached the designated area, I unleashed my Observation Haki, surprised at the sheer distance it covered. Nearly 20 kilometers, I estimated. Immediately, I sensed the Hydra base—and a smaller group, surrounded by a much larger force of foggy, subdued wills.
"Please, let me not be too late," I thought anxiously, until I felt Steve's massive, unmistakable spirit burning brightly in the middle of it all. That unmistakable will told me he was still alive. With renewed determination, I took off toward the base, finding myself soon standing in front of a heavily guarded gate. Several tanks, brimming with that strange, dark energy I'd seen before, blocked my path. Not that it would make any difference.
Before they could even register my presence, I drew back my fist, pouring everything I had into a single, devastating punch.
"Crushing Impact!" I roared, instinctively giving voice to my attack. I didn't know where the name came from, or why I felt compelled to shout it, but as the words left my mouth, I felt my Haki surge even more powerfully. Maybe I should start naming all my attacks…
BOOM!
My punch obliterated everything in sight. Where there had once been a fortified Hydra base with hundreds of tanks and thousands of soldiers, there was now only a vast, gaping void. My strike had annihilated everything on the surface in a 200-300 meter radius.
The blast was so powerful that trees were uprooted and flung even hundreds of meters away. But I had controlled my Haki carefully, ensuring only surface-level destruction—Rogers and the other prisoners were safe. In the middle of the devastation, a wide staircase now lay exposed, leading underground—directly to Steve, as my Observation Haki confirmed.
Without a second glance at the wreckage around me, I sprinted into the tunnel. A few Hydra soldiers came rushing toward me, but I was moving so fast that the sheer force of my speed tore them apart—I didn't even need to swing a punch.
I raced down the corridor, always following Steve's intense will. The underground base was like a labyrinth, with endless twists and branches, but with my Observation Haki, I could sense every Hydra soldier in their ambush, every guard, every weapons cache. None of it could stop me.
I tore through the ranks of soldiers, my sheer speed enough to scatter them—my passing sent them hurtling against walls or crashing to the floor. I barely had to slow down. All around me, red alarm sirens wailed, the lights flickered, while Hydra's men scrambled, trying to form a defensive line. But every second they lost brought me closer to Steve and the prisoners.
After the last set of security doors, I finally entered a massive, cavernous hall. And there he was—Steve, in the middle of the room, surrounded by exhausted prisoners, and at the other end stood Johann Schmidt and another man, flanked by their elite Hydra soldiers.
Steve looked at me, a mix of relief and surprise in his eyes. "Garp!" he called, with a hint of his old humor. "Took you long enough to show up."
"Thought you could start the party without me, did you?" I replied with a grin, though my focus was already on Schmidt and his companion.
Schmidt twisted his face into a sneer, his eyes glinting with sinister confidence. "Ah, the famous Monkey D. Garp finally graces us with his presence. And with that, our trap is complete. Sebastian, my old friend... if you would, please."
The man named Sebastian looked at me with a wicked grin. "I've been looking forward to dissecting you..."
"Bwahahaha! You know... for a trap to work, you actually need to be strong enough to spring it!" I laughed loudly, disappearing from my spot only to reappear in front of that creepy Sebastian and strike him in the stomach with all my physical might.
I didn't want to go overboard and avoided using Haki, not wanting to accidentally hurt any of the prisoners.
But I noticed something was wrong. Unlike what I expected, the jerk wasn't sent flying across the room or left as a bloodstain on the wall. He didn't even buckle from my punch.
"Shurororororo," he chuckled and struck back, hitting me in the gut with surprising force.
BAMM!
'Holy! I felt that one!'
"Oh, I've been waiting for this," Sebastian said, his eyes gleaming with anticipation. "I'm curious to see what powers the so-called Vice Admiral truly possesses... but first, allow me the courtesy of an introduction. My name is Dr. Sebastian Shaw... a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Bwahaha, this could be more interesting than I thought!" I shouted, eager for a good fight, and swung with full force, this time at Shaw's face. But again, no sound of bones breaking. No satisfying impact.
Instead, Shaw eat the punch like a champ and than ducked under my fist, closing the distance, and leapt up, landing a powerful kick to my face, forcing me back a step.
'Blood! I am bleeding from a small cut on my lip! How wonderful! Finally, an opponent who could offer a bit of resistance,' I thought as I wiped the blood from my lip with a wide bloody grin on my face.
Wordlessly, I stepped forward, my Haki pulsing around me, and the floor beneath me began to crack under the sheer force. The soldiers around Schmidt and Shaw instinctively stepped back; some staggered under the pressure of my Conqueror's Haki, while others simply collapsed, unconscious.
"Bwahaha, how wonderful! Steve! I'll play with this one a bit… you handle Schmidt, that little Nazi rat!" I shouted, letting the full weight of my presence bear down on them.
Schmidt suddenly signaled, and his remaining men opened fire. But, surprisingly, they weren't shooting at me or the prisoners. No, they fired their energy weapons at Shaw. Shaw clenched his fists, a look of exhilaration crossing his face instead of pain. He leapt forward, and in the next instant, his whole body pulsed with strange energy.
'He's absorbing energy! Probably kinetic too… that's why my punches had no effect!' I analyzed instantly.
Then, faster than before, he was in front of me, attempting another punch to my face. My Observation Haki warned me of the danger, and I dodged easily. Adrenaline coursed through my veins. Finally, an opponent who could truly threaten me.
'He can likely use the absorbed energy to enhance himself! What a powerful ability! Could he also be a mutant?' I thought as I dodged, formulating a plan to overcome his ability.
Finally, I decided to try a punch with Haki.
BAMMMM!
Shaw stumbled back, momentarily dazed. "What was that... I couldn't fully absorb it?! How interesting..." he murmured, charging at me again.
Since the Haki-enhanced punch had an effect, I thought, 'Screw it! I'll just keep hitting! Where's the fun otherwise? Let's see what breaks first… my body or his ability!'
The fight turned into a brutal exchange. Bloody and savage. Neither of us dodged the other's strikes. Just relentless blows. Shaw looked worse and worse, my Haki-infused punches leaving their marks. I was certain I could end the fight with one all-out strike... but I'd probably destroy everything and everyone here.
Shaw's hits were also growing stronger, absorbing more of my energy, even as pain twisted his face. I was feeling more pain myself, but the grin never left my face, and my laughter filled the hall.
Meanwhile, I kept an eye on the relatively dull fight between Rogers and Schmidt. Soon, they left the room, exchanging gunfire. I tracked the fight with my Observation Haki, ready to step in at any moment. Both were missing wildly, as one might expect from two men without much war experience. They shot meters wide of each other...
I focused back on my more enjoyable brawl...
But suddenly, I felt Schmidt moving rapidly away, Rogers with him. 'The bastard's trying to escape!'
I grabbed Shaw with one hand and simply carried him with me, sprinting in the same direction Schmidt and Rogers had disappeared.
Shaw, dangling like a sack of potatoes, tried to break free, but the bit of kinetic energy he could absorb from my grip made him only marginally stronger than an ordinary man. His attempts were futile.
I reached a seemingly endless tunnel, sensing them both ahead. A third person was with them, but his will was so weak I had to concentrate to feel it.
I took off running, quickly hitting my top speed. I gained on them fast, seeing Schmidt and Rogers struggling on a futuristic-looking car, while the ugliest person I'd ever seen was at the wheel.
I could only identify Schmidt by his will. His face looked like a red skull, and I finally understood where his alias "Red Skull" came from.
'Those must be the side effects of the unfinished SSS,' I thought.
Steve lost his grip and fell from the car. His impact was hard, but I could tell he wasn't seriously hurt. So, I kept running.
Shaw was starting to get on my nerves. His weight didn't slow me much, but his constant whining was annoying. On impulse, I hurled the bastard back down the tunnel with a loud bang.
'Holy shit! I think I just threw him at supersonic speed!' I thought in shock. I knew he'd survive with his mutation, but I didn't care. I wanted to deal with Schmidt.
I ran parallel to the car, turning to Schmidt, and our eyes met. For the first time, I saw a flicker of fear in his gaze.
"Well," I said, cracking my knuckles, "who's next?" and jumped onto the back of the car.
But suddenly, Schmidt's panicked look turned into a mocking grin, and a sinking feeling overcame me. Before I could react, he pulled out a small device with a single red button and pressed it.
"Ah, my dear Vice Admiral! The moment my finger leaves this button, the entire Hydra base will explode in ten seconds! And that will be quite the blast with all those Tesseract weapons! So, what will you do… capture me and sacrifice all the prisoners and Rogers? Or let me go and perhaps have enough time to save everyone?" he taunted, lifting his finger.
"FUCKING MOTHERFUCKING MOTHERFUCKER!" I cursed loudly, swung a powerful punch towards Schmidt as I turned, and ran back to the Hydra base.
With my Observation Haki, I could feel Schmidt's will weakening; he was likely on the verge of death, but I had no time to turn back and make sure.
10 seconds.
That was all the time I had to get Rogers and all the remaining prisoners as far from the explosion as possible. Fortunately, I could sense that the freed prisoners had already escaped the tunnel, but those idiots were waiting right by the entrance of the staircase, directly within the explosion radius.
Others might have simply killed Schmidt and left the rest to their fate... but I couldn't do that, not if there was even a sliver of a chance to save lives.
I could destroy Schmidt another time, but I could only save these prisoners now.
9.5 seconds.
I reached Steve, and without slowing down, grabbed him by the arm and kept running. I felt his shoulder dislocate from the force, but none of that mattered.
9 seconds.
I reached the end of the tunnel and ran as fast as I could through the winding paths of the hideout. When breaking through a wall was faster, I simply smashed my way through it.
8 seconds.
I arrived at the scene of their grand trap. Schmidt and Shaw had really cooked up a clever plan, I joked in my head. At the same time, I shouted at the top of my lungs, "RUN...
7 seconds.
…YOU...
6 seconds
…FOOLS!..."
5 seconds
…RUN!"
And finally, the former prisoners began running as fast as they could. But it was all still too slow.
I reached the staircase and rushed up.
4 seconds.
I burst back onto the surface and saw that most of them had only managed to get a few meters away. They were all just ordinary people, weakened by their imprisonment, so no wonder. My mind raced. How could I save them all?
3 seconds.
'Throw them? They'd die! Run? They'd die! Punch back against the explosions? Might help... but most would still die! A shockwave! If I blast the soldiers into safety and hold back the explosions, it might just work! At least, I hope so.'
2 seconds.
I prepared for my task. My plan was simple. With one fist, I'd punch as hard as I could in the direction of the explosion to counter its force. With my other hand, I'd deliver a palm strike just strong enough to push the others to safety. I had to control my Haki perfectly, under pressure and with lives on the line.
1 second.
I took a deep breath and exhaled, focusing my entire being on one thing: executing my plan perfectly.
0 seconds.
Nothing... had Schmidt deceived me? I remained fully alert, just in case.
-1 second.
Still nothing… 'Did I miscount?!'
-2 seconds.
Suddenly, my Observation Haki flared, warning me of an enormous threat.
And then...
(TO BE CONTINUED)
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