"!!!"
The audience was stunned!
No one had expected that Mundo could take a meteorite head-on and shatter it with his own body.
What kind of physique was this?
Too tough!
Even Garp and the other high-ranking officers were caught off guard.
This Mundo was full of surprises!
"Huff… huff…"
Above them, shattered fragments of the meteorite filled the sky like falling stars.
Although Fenric had smashed the meteorite apart, the resulting debris would still cause massive casualties if it landed on the plaza.
"Borsalino!!"
Sengokus shouted toward Admiral Kizaru.
Kizaru understood instantly. Standing up, he casually muttered:
"Man… these rookies are really going overboard."
As his words fell, his body erupted in golden light. The next instant, he turned into countless motes of light and vanished from view.
In a flash!
The motes of light reappeared midair above the plaza, condensing into Kizaru's figure.
"Yasakani no Magatama!!"
His voice thundered across the square.
From his hands—like the barrels of a Gatling gun—countless beams of light burst forth!
Each beam shot out like a bullet, raining down upon the falling debris with terrifying precision.
Suddenly, the entire sky lit up with golden flashes.
One by one, the deadly meteorite fragments disintegrated in midair, reduced to dust.
Alone, Kizaru had neutralized the entire threat.
And to him, it looked effortless.
Down below, Fenric, who had just landed, watched solemnly.
In his upcoming plan—after assassinating the Celestial Dragon—the greatest obstacle during his escape would be Kizaru!
This guy was fast. Deadly fast. With powerful attacks to match.
If Kizaru caught up, Fenric could very well lose his life…
"We're saved! We're saved!"
"It's Admiral Kizaru! He protected us!"
"Thank goodness! I thought we were done for!"
"That blind old man nearly got us all killed with his meteorite stunt!"
"Senior Mundo is the real MVP. At least he tried to block it beforehand!"
"They're both terrifying… not even human anymore…"
"I wonder who'll take first place?"
As the last of the meteorite dust scattered, order slowly returned to the plaza.
The survivors—still shaken—began to voice their anger at Issho.
Seriously? Couldn't he at least consider the lives of ordinary people before dropping space rocks on them?
Not like Senior Mundo—he actually cared!
In the arena.
Issho didn't seem to care what the crowd thought. He had known from the start that the meteorites wouldn't harm anyone.
Even if no one intercepted them, he could have made the meteorite float away again.
Seeing Mundo return, Issho smiled.
"That final move of yours was really something," he said warmly. "At your age, I've rarely seen someone as talented."
Fenric shook his head, ignoring the compliment.
"I lost," he replied flatly.
He was still far from the level of a Navy Admiral.
Maybe… a Samsara player who had reached A-rank overall might be able to stand toe-to-toe with them.
The nearby referee, who had been paralyzed with fear, finally snapped out of it upon hearing Fenric's words.
"Contestant No. 30, Mundo, has forfeited! Victory goes to Contestant No. 22, Issho!"
The crowd was shocked.
"Why would Senior Mundo give up? He was amazing!"
"Come on, it's not that surprising. That blind uncle is basically a monster."
"Yeah, imagine if he dropped more meteorites. He could destroy Marine Headquarters!"
"Honestly, it's probably safer if they don't fight at all. Too dangerous."
After conceding, Fenric leapt off the ring.
The surrounding recruits instinctively parted to make way.
"Step aside! Step aside! The boss is coming through!"
Fenric ignored them and found a place to sit and rest.
Smoker approached from the side, eyes filled with admiration.
"Senior Mundo, you were incredible!" he said, then added with concern, "Don't worry too much about not placing first. With your strength, I'm sure you'll become an Admiral one day!"
Fenric smiled at the words but didn't bother explaining that he had no interest in winning.
He simply patted Smoker on the shoulder.
"Thanks, kid. We'll probably be going separate ways soon. I just hope the next time we meet, we can still speak like this."
Smoker froze. "Wait… are you leaving?"
"Yeah," Fenric nodded. "I'm leaving tomorrow morning."
At first, Smoker looked confused. Then realization dawned on him.
"I get it now! You're going to train under Vice Admiral Garp, aren't you? That's amazing… I'm so jealous."
Fenric didn't respond. He just smiled silently.
With Fenric's forfeit, the assessment had officially concluded.
The next moment, Sengoku announced that the top ten recruits would attend an appointment ceremony.
It would begin the next morning.
This "appointment" was, of course, a formal granting of military ranks.
Even more astonishing was the Fleet Admiral's declaration:
The top three would receive their commissions personally from a Celestial Dragon.
The moment he said that, envy exploded from the crowd.
Eyes turned green with jealousy as they looked toward the top ten.
Fenric's eyes narrowed slightly at this.
If he remembered correctly, he would return to the Samsara Space tomorrow afternoon.
Which meant…
If he killed the Celestial Dragon in the morning and survived for just half a day—
He could vanish without a trace.
Perfect timing.
The next morning, 9:00 a.m.
The appointment ceremony began.
Countless recruits arrived to witness the grand event.
Fenric and the other nine finalists stood on the high platform, waiting for their names to be called.
Unsurprisingly, Issho was first.
He was appointed a Rear Admiral on the spot.
His new title: "Fujitora."
In truth, based on his strength, he could've easily been made a full Admiral.
But with the Navy still maintaining its internal balance, that promotion would have to wait.
Next was Fenric.
He was promoted to Colonel, a prestigious senior officer rank in the Navy.
Then, the rest of the top ten received their own appointments.
Just as the ceremony seemed to wind down…
A strange, bloated figure waddled onto the stage.
He had a large bubble on his head and an arrogant, grotesque expression on his face.
A Celestial Dragon had arrived.
(Side Note: One Leaf Autumn killing Zoro doesn't mean that's all he can do. Don't underestimate A-rank Samsara players—someone like Aurora is no weaker than an Admiral! She just messed up her Devil Fruit usage due to her flawed innate foundation. We'll cover this in a future update. The Samsara System doesn't allow god-tier creations, okay?)