The mountain wind, which moments before had been a gentle caress through the pine needles, now seemed to hold its breath. A palpable tension, thick and electric, settled over the clearing. Garp, a man of perpetual motion and boundless energy, stood poised, his colossal frame radiating an aura of raw, untamed power that seemed to make the very air around him shimmer and vibrate. His grin, a permanent fixture, was stretched wide, betraying the sheer, childlike glee he derived from a good fight. "Ready when you are, Minerva-chan!" he boomed, a challenge and an invitation wrapped in one.
Minerva, by contrast, was a study in serene, almost ethereal stillness. She simply inclined her head, a silent, almost regal affirmation that seemed to ripple through the assembled bandits, who collectively held their breath. Her dark, slanted eyes, usually so cool and composed, narrowed just a fraction, and for the first time since I, Ann, had entered this bizarre new world, the serene mask that typically graced her features slipped. A flash, swift as a lightning strike, of something fierce, something utterly eager, sparked in their depths. It was the gleam of a predator ready to engage, the calculating glint of a true master about to unleash her craft. It promised not just a spar, but a spectacle of beautiful, terrifying destruction.
Oh, this is going to be good, my one-year-old brain thought, buzzing with an almost frantic anticipation. I was a helpless infant, trapped in a bundle of rough furs, but my enhanced mind was practically screaming in exhilaration. Garp, the Marine Hero. Minerva, the 'Vice-Boss' from another universe entirely, wielding a power I only knew from fiction. This is it. This is the real world. My first birthday was turning out to be far, far more eventful than I could have ever, possibly, impossibly, anticipated. I wriggled slightly, trying to get a better vantage point, my tiny fists clenching the scratchy furs.
The first move was Garp's. With a sudden burst of speed that belied his massive bulk, he vanished. One moment, he was standing there, a mountain of a man; the next, he was a blur, a white flash across the sun-dappled clearing. He reappeared directly in front of Minerva, his right fist, encased in a shimmering, obsidian-black layer of Armament Haki, cocked back for a strike.
"GAHAHAHAHAHA! TOO SLOW, MINERVA-CHAN!" he roared, his voice a tidal wave of laughter and power. His fist, radiating a heat that I could almost feel from my distant spot, shot forward, aiming straight for her face. It wasn't a feint; it was a pure, unadulterated, force-of-nature punch, imbued with enough destructive potential to crater the ground beneath them.
Minerva didn't dodge. Not in the conventional sense. Her movements were too fluid, too subtle for such crude evasion. Instead, just as Garp's fist was about to connect, the air around her shimmered. It wasn't a trick of the light; it was like the very fabric of space twisted, warped, and shifted. Garp's haki-clad fist, instead of smashing into her face, slammed into… nothing. Or rather, it slammed into what should have been empty air, but felt, to him, like a wall of condensed reality. The air crunched with the impact, a sound like frozen glass shattering, and a concussive shockwave blasted outwards, tearing up clumps of dirt and sending them spiraling into the sky like angry confetti. The trees at the edge of the clearing shuddered, their leaves rustling violently as if struck by an invisible gale.
Minerva herself remained perfectly still, her silken purple hair undisturbed, her expression calm, though a faint, almost imperceptible twitch at the corner of her lips suggested a hint of effort. "A blunt approach, Vice-Admiral-san," she commented, her voice a calm, melodic murmur that somehow cut through the residual roar of Garp's attack. "Predictable, if effective, against lesser opponents."
Territory Magic! My internal knowledge base screamed. Spatial manipulation! She shifted the space around her, making his punch miss! This is incredible! That's the power of Yagdo Rigora, or at least a variation of it! She's making her personal 'Absolute Territory' a reality! This is way beyond anything the average One Piece character can do, even with advanced Haki! My baby body actually shivered with excitement, a faint tremor that was quickly suppressed. Show, don't tell, Ann. Observe.
Garp, far from being annoyed, merely chuckled. "Oh ho! Still got that fancy trick, eh? Good, good! Wouldn't be fun otherwise!" He pulled back his fist, his expression unchanged, seemingly unfazed by the fact that his full-power punch had just been nullified by a spatial anomaly. He then launched himself forward again, a blur of white coat and black Haki, not with a single punch, but a relentless barrage of piston-like jabs, each one aimed at a different point on Minerva's body, each one packing enough force to level a small building.
He's not even holding back! This is terrifying! My mind raced, trying to keep up. Garp's just casually throwing Admiral-level attacks!
Minerva moved now. Her slender form became a graceful dance, a fluid ballet of evasion and spatial distortion. With every incoming punch, the air around her shimmered, rippled, and bent. A black fist would rush towards her head, only to veer sharply, slamming into the ground beside her, gouging a foot-deep crater in the dirt. Another aimed at her gut would ripple past her side, impacting a tree trunk with a thunderous CRACK, sending splinters flying. The clearing, once a relatively flat expanse, was rapidly transforming into a pockmarked battlefield, littered with fresh craters and fractured timber.
The bandits, initially cheering, were now a terrified, awe-struck huddle. "WHOA! Did you see that?!" Dogra gasped, his eyes wide, clinging to Magra who looked utterly bewildered. "She just… moved the air! Or something!"
"Vice-Boss is amazing!" Magra managed, a faint trickle of drool escaping his lips. "She's… she's like a ghost!"
Dadan, however, was roaring, not with anger, but a raw, unadulterated excitement that made her orange hair practically stand on end. "GO, MINERVA! DODGE THAT OLD BASTARD! TEACH HIM NOT TO MESS WITH US!" She was vibrating with suppressed energy, her arms crossed, a feral grin splitting her face. She loved a good brawl, especially when it wasn't her getting punched.
The rhythmic thud of Garp's haki-infused fists echoed through the clearing, each impact a small, localized tremor. But Minerva, despite her apparent passivity, was not merely defending. She was probing. Observing. Waiting for an opening.
As Garp launched a particularly powerful uppercut, aiming to send her flying into the stratosphere, Minerva's eyes flashed. The air around her twisted not just to deflect, but to amplify. Garp's fist, instead of harmlessly veering off, slammed into the ground behind her, its force somehow redirected and magnified by her spatial magic. The earth exploded outwards, sending a geyser of dirt and small rocks high into the air, momentarily obscuring Garp in a cloud of dust.
And in that brief, blinding moment, Minerva moved. She didn't rely on spatial distortion for her own movement; her combat style was a chilling blend of elegant martial arts and her terrifying magic. She flowed forward, a blur of purple and dark hair, her left arm a piston of perfectly controlled force, aimed at Garp's chest. Her hand, slender and refined, was coated in a faint, barely visible shimmer of… something. Not haki, not exactly, but a concentrated aura of her magic.
"Eight-Gods Lightning Hammer," she murmured, a faint, almost inaudible whisper as her palm connected with Garp's chest.
There was no boom. No explosion. Just a sickening, internal THUD. The air around Garp's chest seemed to buckle inwards, a silent, localized implosion. His eyes, for the first time, widened in surprise. A faint, almost imperceptible tremor ran through his massive frame. He stumbled backward, not from the force of the strike, but from the sudden, jarring discomfort that bloomed deep within his core. It was not a physical blow; it was a strike to his space, to the very reality of his internal organs. It was a subtle, insidious violation, not a brute force attack.
Internal damage! My mind instantly processed. That's Minerva's specialized attack! 'Spatial crushing'! It doesn't rely on brute force; it directly manipulates the space within a target, collapsing it! Against someone like Garp, who's a tank, that's incredibly dangerous! She's bypassing his external defenses! I felt a sudden, cold dread. She's not playing around. This isn't just a spar; it's a statement.
Garp recovered quickly, shaking his head like a wet dog. His grin returned, but it was tinged with a new, sharper edge. "Ooh! Fancy one, that! Made my ribs feel funny!" He actually rubbed his chest, a gesture of mild annoyance rather than genuine pain. But the sheer destructive capability of that attack, even against Garp's legendary durability, was a chilling demonstration.
"You're learning, Minerva-chan! You're getting good!" Garp declared, his eyes burning with renewed vigor. He flexed his fingers, and then, with a thunderous roar, he launched himself forward. This wasn't a casual spar anymore. This was a direct, full-power assault.
"GALAXY IMPACT!!!"
He spun, a whirlwind of white coat and black haki, his entire body coiling, channeling unimaginable force into a single, devastating punch. The air shrieked, compressed and superheated, as his fist tore through it. It wasn't just a punch; it was a localized meteor strike, imbued with the raw, planet-cracking force of the 'Hero' of the Marines. The very ground buckled and cracked under his feet as he launched himself, leaving a smoking trail of pulverized earth.
Minerva's expression remained calm, but her eyes, those dark, mesmerizing pools, narrowed to slits. Her aura, which had been subtle, now flared outwards, tangible and oppressive. The space around her, and indeed, around Garp, began to distort visibly. The air shimmered with an otherworldly light, bending and warping, not just around her, but in patches across the entire clearing. The world seemed to wobble, like a poorly rendered video game environment.
"Absolute Territory: Mirror World Reflection," she whispered, her voice almost lost in the howling winds Garp's attack generated.
Just as Garp's colossal, haki-infused fist, glowing with sinister black energy, was about to devour her, the space directly in front of Minerva fractured. Not a crack, but a tear in reality itself. It was as if the world had become a funhouse mirror, shattered and reassembled. Garp's fist, traveling at hypersonic speeds, didn't hit Minerva. It hit its own distorted reflection.
KRA-THOOOOOM!!!
The explosion was deafening. It wasn't just a sound; it was a physical blow, a force that slammed into my tiny body, vibrating through the furs and the crate. A mushroom cloud of dust, broken branches, and pulverized rock erupted from the center of the clearing, blotting out the setting sun. The ground beneath me buckled violently, sending me bouncing in my reinforced crib. I heard screams from the bandits, a mixture of terror and awe.
"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" Magra shrieked, burying his head in Dogra's shoulder.
"MY HOUSE! MY BEAUTIFUL, CRACKER-SCENTED HOUSE!" Dadan wailed, clutching her head, even as her eyes remained fixated on the swirling maelstrom of destruction. She was absolutely furious, but deep down, I could sense a thrill, an undeniable pride.
This is insane! My mind raced. She redirected his own attack back at him! Not just deflecting, but reversing the vector within a confined, localized space! That's next-level spatial magic! This isn't just a simple parlor trick; this is the kind of power that could unravel battlefields! She could turn a cannon volley into a friendly fire incident, or make a marine ship crash into itself!
When the dust began to settle, a chaotic scene was revealed. The clearing was a wreck. Trees were splintered, their branches shorn off. Craters pockmarked the ground like giant acne scars. The bandit hut itself looked like it had been in a bar fight with a rampaging giant, timbers groaning, a large section of the roof caved in.
Garp stood in the center of the largest crater, singed and dusty, but miraculously, almost comically, unharmed. His white coat was shredded in places, his hair a tangled mess, and a faint smear of dirt streaked across his cheek. But his grin was wider than ever, radiating pure, unadulterated joy.
"GAHAHAHAHAHA! THAT'S MORE LIKE IT, MINERVA-CHAN! A REAL CHALLENGE!" he roared, wiping a speck of dust from his eye. "You're getting stronger! That one felt… like I'd just punched myself! Good work!" He raised a thumb in approval.
Minerva, standing just outside the crater, her purple hair still impeccably styled despite the chaos, her elegant dress still mostly intact, simply gave a serene, almost triumphant smile. There was no sign of strain on her face, no heavy breathing. She looked as if she'd merely taken a leisurely stroll in the park. "Indeed, Vice-Admiral-san," she replied, her voice cool and composed. "Perhaps now you understand why my 'talents' are wasted within the confines of your Navy's rigid structure."