After Vice Admiral Garp's warship docked at the G-10 Branch in the Kingdom of Neil, it hadn't set sail again.
The trail of the Roger Pirates had once more gone cold, and Garp, having lost track of their movements, remained stationed at the G-10 Branch alongside Aokiji and Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
But even during this short pause, Garp didn't sit idle. He immediately led his crew in a sweeping crackdown on the pirates infesting the Kingdom of Neil.
Following the death of the Neil King, his sons had all perished in the invasion led by the Nuke Pirates.
The one who inherited the throne was none other than the late King Nicola McCartney's daughter—the very same girl who had escaped through the secret passage and sought Aokiji's help.
After surviving such an upheaval, the newly crowned monarch cast off her father's policies and pivoted decisively toward aligning with the Navy and the World Government.
The Kingdom of Neil had always straddled both the legal and criminal worlds. Now that the king's allegiance was clear, the hidden pirate havens across the kingdom began to surface one after another.
The ports that had once served exclusively as pirate docks were now under full naval siege.
With Garp overseeing the operation, the pirates of the Kingdom of Neil didn't even have a chance to stir up trouble. Coupled with Rear Admiral Loka's Devil Fruit abilities, the Navy rooted them out one by one, leaving no place to hide.
In just a single week, pirate activity in the Kingdom of Neil had been completely eradicated.
The G-10 branch prison couldn't even hold the sheer number of captured pirates.
Aokiji suggested to Garp that they execute the lot of them on the spot—but Garp refused.
In the end, it was Rear Admiral Loka who contacted Marine Headquarters, requesting a fleet to transfer the prisoners to Impel Down.
Yoriichi and Aokiji were both baffled.
Why go through all this trouble to transport them to a prison? Wouldn't it be simpler to just kill them and bury the bodies?
Garp gave no explanation in response.
Without answers, Yoriichi didn't dwell on it. During this time at the naval branch, he kept a low profile, rarely showing himself. Most of his time was spent training in Haki.
Aokiji, on the other hand, was clearly itching for answers. But Garp kept dodging the question, and Loka wasn't talking either—leaving the young man simmering with frustration.
Hot-blooded youth indeed!
"Crack!!"
In an open clearing somewhere within the G-10 branch base, Yoriichi Tsugikuni, bamboo sword in hand, was sparring with Aokiji.
Bamboo clashed with icy blade, the "popsicle" Aokiji wielded and the clash of their blows sent a fierce gust of wind exploding outward from the space between them.
Yoriichi was quick to change stance. With a tilt of his blade, he dispersed Aokiji's force and, with a flash, appeared at his side.
His bamboo sword shot forward like a spear, slamming straight into Aokiji's abdomen and blasting him backward.
Since leaving Navy Headquarters, Yoriichi's growth had been astounding, visibly progressing day by day.
Even the earliest form of his Observation Haki, when fused with his innate Transparent World perception, allowed him to read the flow of battle with uncanny ease—predicting the direction and force of enemy attacks with razor-sharp precision.
He had fully integrated the Navy Six Styles into his combat style. Even without drawing a real blade, Yoriichi's physical prowess alone had reached an impressive level.
His Armament Haki was still in its infancy, but he'd learned to subtly channel it into his strikes reserving its use for when he was confident an attack would land.
After all, Haki was finite.
And against a tricky opponent like Aokiji, there was no point in wasting it.
By now, if Aokiji didn't use his Logia Devil Fruit powers, he could no longer match Yoriichi in close-quarters combat.
"Boom!!"
Aokiji's body hit the ground hard and yet, predictably, he'd activated his Logia ability just in time. His form shattered into shards of ice on impact, making him immune to the follow-through damage.
Moments later, the ice reassembled into his full body. Holding his popsicle-like sword in one hand, Aokiji rubbed his abdomen and looked at Yoriichi with visible awe.
"You're growing at a terrifying rate."
"There was a time when you couldn't even keep up with my movements. Now… now you're finding gaps in my defense and hitting me clean."
"Seriously, what are you made of?"
Yoriichi simply smiled in response to the compliment.
But inwardly, he was dissatisfied with his pace.
Compared to the Son of the World, Monkey D. Luffy, his growth felt like that of a crawling turtle.
Luffy went from being one-shotted by Kaido to one-shotting Kaido in a single day.
If Donquixote Doflamingo, now languishing in Impel Down, ever saw the newspaper… he'd probably drop his jaw in disbelief—watching Luffy, once his plaything inside a birdcage, now bringing down a Yonko alliance in mere months.
Who could've predicted that the so-called Strongest Creature Alive, Kaido, would one day become Kaido the Mentor?
Before the Wano War, no one could've imagined such a turnaround.
Just like that, Aokiji, who until recently had been able to dominate Yoriichi in physical combat, now found himself completely outmatched.
To this, Yoriichi Tsugikuni had only one thing to say...
"Totally normal."
Kuzan's hand-to-hand combat had always been… mediocre at best. Sure, he was an elite of the Navy, and yes, he had mastered the Six Powers technique. But when it came to actual combat ability, Kuzan's close-quarters skills? At most, they were evenly matched with CP9's Rob Lucci. Nothing more.
Kuzan had always relied on his Devil Fruit powers to fight. Haki? Martial arts? Swordsmanship? What even were those? Could they top Ice Time?
Let's be honest, if this weren't a friendly sparring match, if it were a real battle? He would've hit Yoriichi with a casual Ice Time and ended the fight right then and there.
Yoriichi didn't deny it, if Kuzan had used his Devil Fruit for real, he could have one-shot him. At Yoriichi's current stage, his Haki wasn't yet strong enough to completely negate the power of Kuzan's ice.
But still, if we're talking about martial arts?
Yoriichi had some advice for Kuzan:
Don't. Use. It. In. Battle.
Because honestly? He'd get himself killed.
Yoriichi's swordsmanship was already top-tier. His transitions between techniques flowed like water. And ever since he'd mastered Soru (Shave), his recent training had allowed him to keep pace with Kuzan's movements.
From a pure martial perspective, if Kuzan couldn't beat him with speed, then he definitely couldn't beat him at all.
Maybe Yoriichi's Douriki (combat power level) hadn't risen significantly. But he knew his actual combat strength was on a completely different level now.
"Kuzan," Yoriichi said bluntly, "it's not that I've improved too fast, it's that your hand-to-hand skills are garbage."
"Really, you should stop depending so much on your Devil Fruit."
"You've already mastered it thoroughly. If you work on your martial arts, you could become even stronger."
With that, Yoriichi smacked Kuzan across the training yard with a single strike, bamboo sword still in hand. Clearly, he had no intention of stopping their spar.
"Aren't I trying right now?" Kuzan groaned as he picked himself up.
"Honestly, losing to a kid your age in close combat... hurts my pride, man."
With that, he charged again, ice popsicle gripped in both hands, aiming straight for Yoriichi.
"Tch!"
Yoriichi tilted his bamboo sword to deflect the blow cleanly, then lunged forward and swept the sword hard into Kuzan's abdomen.
Just one clash, and Kuzan was sent flying again.
But this time, before he even hit the ground, his body shattered into a cloud of ice particles. In the next moment, his figure reformed swiftly on the floor, solidifying back into his usual self.
Kuzan frowned slightly, lifting his shirt to reveal a glaring red mark across his midsection.
He had activated Tekkai (Iron Body) in time…
Still hurt like hell, though.
"Come on, Kuzan, again!"
Yoriichi grinned eagerly, practically glowing with excitement.
Kuzan's martial skills made him just barely qualified as a decent punching bag, and Yoriichi took this as the perfect opportunity to test out some of his newer techniques.
Kuzan nodded silently, charging once more. This time, he raised his ice popsicle high and brought it down fiercely toward Yoriichi's head.
Yoriichi read his movements like an open book.
Before the attack even landed, he was already in position, bamboo blade rising to meet the strike.
He blocked it cleanly.
He was just about to counter with a kick to Kuzan's gut when...
Chill.
He felt it in his hands first, a biting cold creeping in from where he held his sword.
Looking up, he realized his arms had been frozen solid by Kuzan's ability.
And then...
His feet.
The cold surged up from the ground, locking him in place.
Looking down, he saw his legs were now fused to the floor in a sheath of ice.
"Hey! Kuzan! We said no Devil Fruit powers, this was martial arts training! That's cheating, man!"
"Sneak-attacking a—cough—I mean, ambushing a child? Where's your sense of honor?!"
Having successfully frozen Yoriichi in place, Kuzan casually flopped onto the ground in a spread-eagle sprawl and grinned.
"Let's take a break. Just a short one."
*********
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