Chapter 25 The Crisis of Porusalino

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"Whitebeard, you not only captured the Navy cadres but also stole the heavenly gold. Your actions are a great challenge to the Navy. Give up resistance now and stop being stubborn!" Tsuru shouted from the warship.

"Give up resistance?" Whitebeard laughed heartily. "It's just you?"

Larson also smiled, replying, "I am actually a Celestial Dragon, so all those golds belongs to me." He repeated a taunt he had previously used on Sengoku.

On the Navy warship, Sengoku gritted his teeth in anger. "Damn pirates, they are so arrogant." Watching the pirate responsible for the failure of his mission flaunt his power made Sengoku want to leap overboard and confront Larson directly.

"Calm down, Sengoku," Tsuru urged, narrowing her eyes. She understood that she couldn't make Whitebeard surrender with just a few words. In fact, she was merely attempting to redirect Whitebeard's attention. Porusalino had already taken action and was on his way to rescue Gion.

As soon as Larson landed on the ice, a golden light suddenly flared beside him. Through the glow, he could faintly see Porusalino's smug face, looking at him with mocking eyes as if to say that he was invincible.

Porusalino felt pride swell within him. What a pathetic pirate. What can he do when I'm here? You still can't stop me.

However, in the next second, the golden light around him suddenly vanished, and due to inertia, he fell from the air and skidded across the ice for dozens of meters before coming to a stop.

He lay stunned on the icy surface, feeling colder than the ice itself.

How is it possible? How can my fruit suddenly not work?!

Suddenly, a cold light flashed above his head as a purple blade of energy shot toward him. Porusalino broke out in a cold sweat and quickly began rolling and crawling to dodge, feeling utterly humiliated.

From a distance, Larson rubbed his eyes, a sneer on his lips.

He knew that Porusalino was trying to save Gion. Initially, Larson had planned to let the Navy leave Gion alone so that he could logically rid himself of her, but Porusalino's arrogance and mocking expression triggered Larson's ire.

Did he really think I couldn't stop him?

As a result, this was the outcome.

Larson looked at Porusalino with a smirk. "Try to show that expression again, and see if I can kill you."

Cold sweat spread over Porusalino's body. Without his Devil Fruit, his strength was less than half that of a Vice Admiral.

"No! Go and support Porusalino!" he shouted loudly from the warship.

At the same time, Sengoku and Sakazuki rushed toward Larson.

Tsuru frowned; not only had her plan failed, but it had also endangered Porusalino.

But she recalled the earlier sequence of events — Larson had merely glanced at Porusalino before the latter's powers fizzled out. What kind of terrifying ability was this?

When Sengoku had first informed her that Larson could make others' Devil Fruits activate, she had thought that this ability required certain conditions, such as the opponent needing to be touched or being within a certain distance.

That was why she sent Porusalino; he had the fastest speed and could reach Gion without needing to get close to or touch Larson.

But in reality, it was Porusalino who had failed, and his ability had faltered.

Sengoku and Sakazuki moved swiftly to reach Porusalino. As a prominent leader in the Navy, Porusalino was far more significant to them than Gion, so his safety had to be prioritized.

It was part of Tsuru's strategy to have Sengoku and Sakazuki rescue Porusalino. In truth, if they really wanted to save someone, it would have made more sense for Zephyr and Garp to go; neither of them were users of Devil Fruits, making them less vulnerable to Larson's ability to neutralize powers.

However, she sent Sengoku and Sakazuki — both fruit users — because she wanted to test Larson's ability. Even now, the Navy remained uncertain about the full extent of Larson's powers.

To defeat an opponent, you must first understand all their abilities. In addition to rescuing Porusalino, Sengoku and Sakazuki's mission was also to probe Larson's powers.

Tsuru hoped to discover whether there were any loopholes in Larson's ability to disable Devil Fruits or if there were limitations to his powers.

From a distance, a ball of golden light and a ball of fire surged toward Larson simultaneously.

Standing on the ice, Whitebeard remained unfazed. He merely murmured, "Without the ship, how are you going to reach the shore?"

Zephyr, with a calm expression, replied, "You can give it a try."

"Hey-hey."

Whitebeard held his naginata in one hand, the blade shimmering with the white light of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. "Navy, here it comes!"

As soon as he spoke, he swung the weapon forward, targeting the warship where Tsuru was stationed.

In an instant, the sky and earth dimmed, and cracks opened in the ice along the path of his slash.

By this point, the ice was entirely frozen, rendering the ship immobile. Even if the warship attempted to escape, its slow speed would not be enough to evade the incoming attack.

Suddenly, an ice wall shot up from the ground, blocking the front of the warship. However, it only took a moment for the ice structure to shatter under the force of Whitebeard's slash; once it began to descend toward the hull, Zephyr and Garp intervened.

Dark purple Haki enveloped their bodies as they faced Whitebeard's terrifying blow. They chose to absorb it directly with their own bodies.

This was not recklessness but rather a testament to their formidable nature. Their bodies were their most powerful weapons. Lacking elaborate fruit abilities, their strikes depended solely on their inherent strength.

One of them could become a naval admiral, and the other a naval hero, reliant on nothing but their fists.

Seeing this scene, Whitebeard smirked.

Garp and Zephyr still did not understand him well enough. While his attacks might resemble sword slashes, they were infused with the shockwave capabilities of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.

They could block the slash, but the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit would still reverberate through their bodies.

"Larson!" Sengoku roared angrily as a massive shockwave surged toward him.

"Long time no see, Sengoku," Larson replied, momentarily distracted from his confrontation with Porusalino. Noticing the panic on Porusalino's face, Larson realized that this guy would definitely be striving hard to improve his Haki and physical strength after returning to the Navy base.

In a sense, wasn't he helping him in disguise?

Larson regarded Sengoku with amusement. Sengoku was likely afraid of Larson's ability to neutralize Devil Fruits. While the shockwave appeared formidable, it lacked substantial energy. This must be Sengoku's way of assessing him; if Larson disabled his ability suddenly, this shockwave would not deplete too much energy.

Unfortunately for him, Larson's Sharingan could only disable one person's ability at a time. Until Porusalino's powers were restored, he could not apply it to another individual.

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