Thud!
A dull sound echoed.
There—
the sharpshooter Homa, captain of the Demon Pirates' First Division, his head obliterated by a single punch, collapsed lifelessly to the ground.
Blood spattered in all directions, staining the soil in a deep crimson hue, as though the land itself had put on a red veil.
A faint breeze stirred—carrying with it a thick, metallic scent of blood that spread in every direction.
Homa was dead.
A pirate worth over forty-one million berries, second only to the crew's leader, Oren—
a man who could be called one of the Grand Line's top-class combatants—
had just been killed by one punch from Kai!
Three against one—
and yet Kai had taken down one of them in a single move.
The Demon Pirates' three division captains, each worth tens of millions, had launched a coordinated assault on Kai…
but the result?
One of them was instantly slain.
The shock of it was indescribable.
Kai had taken on three powerful captains alone—
and not only held his ground but gained the upper hand, killing the strongest of them effortlessly.
All with a single punch!
The battlefield fell into an eerie silence.
Not a sound.
Not a breath.
Captain Grin of the Second Division—who had transformed into his massive river-beast form—stared at Homa's headless corpse in horror.
His mind went blank.
Even as one of the Demon Pirates' most ferocious fighters, he couldn't comprehend what he'd just seen.
A sharpshooter like Homa—renowned for his dual-gun technique that struck fear across the Grand Line—
had been blown apart like a watermelon.
Homa's bounty of forty-one million berries wasn't just for show.
Even Grin, at full strength, wasn't sure he could defeat him.
And yet—
that same man was now dead on the ground.
Killed instantly.
Just one punch!
Grin's throat went dry, his heart trembling.
His eyes widened in disbelief.
"Th… That's impossible…!"
Everything had happened in an instant.
He hadn't even had time to react before Homa's head exploded before his eyes.
A sharpshooter caught at close range—
the outcome was obvious.
"Th-That's Homa! A pirate with a forty-million bounty!"
"And he was… one-shotted?!"
"And the one who killed him…"
"…is a four-year-old kid?!"
"What kind of monster is this child?!"
Grin's lips quivered; his body trembled uncontrollably as cold sweat trickled down his temples.
Nearby, the White Wolf—Captain Garson—stared wide-eyed at Homa's corpse, his blood-red pupils reflecting pure fear.
Then his gaze slowly shifted to the boy standing shirtless amidst the carnage—
the small frame with steel-like muscles gleaming under the sunlight.
Terror gripped him.
From the depths of his soul, a primal sense of danger screamed within him.
"Who's the hunter… and who's the prey here?"
"Are we the hunters? No… from the very start, we were the prey."
"That kid…"
"He's the hunter."
Garson's voice trembled as he spoke.
The memory of Homa's head exploding burned into his mind, feeding his dread.
Even a pirate worth forty-one million…
had died in one punch!
Could they possibly face such a monster?
"This kid…"
"He's only four years old!"
"How can he be this strong?!"
"What kind of power does it take to kill a man like Homa with one punch?!"
"And that move just now—he vanished into thin air! What technique was that?!"
"Could it be… teleportation?!"
Garson's breath hitched. His body moved on instinct—stepping back, trembling uncontrollably.
Every fiber of his being screamed for him to run.
A four-year-old…
this terrifying…
How could they possibly fight something like that?
Even Oren—their captain—was momentarily stunned.
"Wh… What?!"
"Homa…"
"He was blown apart… by that brat?!"
The towering bear-man, standing over ten meters tall, froze in disbelief. His huge frame cast a long shadow over the bloodstained ground.
His eyes fell upon Homa's corpse—then shifted to the boy.
Kai.
The shock that coursed through Oren's mind was indescribable.
A four-year-old… had just killed one of his strongest men with one punch.
Impossible.
Unbelievable.
If he hadn't witnessed it himself, he'd have sworn it was a lie.
"What kind of monster did the Marine s send after us…?"
Oren's mind screamed in disbelief.
If this child merely possessed Conqueror's Haki, that would already be absurd enough.
But this—
this was something else entirely.
He had both overwhelming Haki and power beyond comprehension.
To kill Homa so easily… even Oren couldn't say he could do that himself.
"Monster…"
"A complete monster…"
"A four-year-old monster!"
"The talent this kid has…"
"It's unheard of in history!"
Oren's breathing quickened.
He glared at Aokiji, fury and disbelief swirling in his eyes.
"So this is what the Marine s do now?!" he roared.
"You send Aokiji the Ice Monster, and on top of that—another freak just to deal with us?!"
"You really think that highly of the Demon Pirates, huh?!"
His words echoed across the battlefield.
Aokiji blinked, only now snapping back to reality.
He too had been stunned by what he'd just witnessed.
"…If I'm not mistaken…"
"Kai just now…"
"He used… the Marine s' Rokushiki?"
"What the—?!"
"This kid knows Rokushiki too?!"
"He's four years old!"
"Four years old, and he's already mastered Conqueror's Haki…"
"…and now even the Marine s' Six Styles?!"
"My god…"
"What kind of monster is he?!"
Even Aokiji's face twitched, speechless.
He looked at Oren's enraged expression but said nothing.
He wanted to tell him—
the Marine s hadn't even sent Kai here.
He'd just happened to run into this battle on his own.
But Aokiji didn't bother explaining.
There was no point wasting words on the soon-to-be-dead.
Even he hadn't expected Kai's strength to reach such terrifying heights.
A four-year-old… mastering both Conqueror's Haki and Rokushiki.
It was simply absurd.
No wonder—
Vice Admiral Garp had called his grandson "the most terrifying monster on the seas."
Now, Aokiji finally understood why.
Kai truly was…
a monster born of the sea.
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