The instant his words fell—
Kai moved.
His right leg snapped out sideways in a smooth arc.
Rankyaku.
Shing—!
A pale-blue blade of compressed air burst from his foot, slicing through the air with a shrill whistle as it shot straight toward Zephyr.
Fast.
Very fast.
To an ordinary eye, it would've been little more than a fleeting blur.
Zephyr's pupils shrank.
This move…
"That's…"
"Rokushiki—Rankyaku?!"
He hadn't expected the brat to open with a fully formed Rankyaku.
The air blade was sharp, stable, and tightly compressed.
This wasn't some sloppy, half-baked attempt.
It was the real thing.
But Zephyr was still Zephyr.
His expression only flickered slightly—
Then he drew back his fist and punched forward.
BOOOOM—!
His fist collided with the incoming air blade.
Rankyaku shattered like glass under a hammer, blowing apart into chaotic shockwaves that tore up the ground, kicking dust and gravel high into the air.
The shockwave rolled out across the clearing, ruffling branches and scattering leaves.
Zephyr's arm didn't shake.
To him—
This much power was nothing.
But in his heart—
A faint tremor had appeared.
For a four-year-old to throw out Rankyaku at this level…
His basics are outrageous…
He lifted his gaze to find Kai—
But the boy had already vanished.
"…"
Zephyr's expression darkened.
His senses sharpened.
Then he heard it—
Zzt!
The abrupt slicing sound of air being stepped on at high speed.
His eyes flicked to the side—
But Kai wasn't on the ground anymore.
He was in the air.
Feet skimming on nothing.
Geppo.
Hovering behind and above Zephyr's head.
"Rokushiki—Soru and Geppo?" Zephyr muttered under his breath. "So he's mastered those too…"
"Could it be…"
"That Garp wasn't exaggerating after all?"
"He really learned Rokushiki in half an hour… and polished it to this level in less than a month?"
His rational mind resisted the idea.
Everything he knew about human limits screamed no.
But reality was punching him in the face.
And speaking of punching—
Kai's fist was already dropping.
His arm bulged, muscles like steel cords twisting together.
"Iron Body—Steel Fist!"
Bang!
The fist crashed down toward the back of Zephyr's skull.
Kai didn't hold back.
He poured every bit of force he could muster into this one blow—
His current full power.
Facing a Marine Admiral, he had no reason to be polite.
I'm not delusional enough to think I can beat him, he thought calmly.
But I can at least give it everything I've got.
Besides—
This wasn't just a "test."
This was priceless data.
An Admiral's defense.
An Admiral's reaction.
An Admiral's aura.
You couldn't buy that kind of sparring partner.
Zephyr felt the approaching pressure behind him, heavy and suffocating, like a boulder dropping from the sky.
Good power…
This is no less than a Headquarters Commodore's strike.
A punch like this…
"—would kill any pirate under fifty million in a single hit," he judged instinctively.
His lips twitched.
"Monster…"
Out of habit, he didn't dodge.
Didn't attack.
He simply invoked Tekkai, letting every muscle in his body harden like steel, and allowed the punch to land squarely on his forehead.
BOOOOOOM—!!!
The blow detonated on impact.
Power exploded outward, a violent shock ripping through Zephyr's skull, down his spine, and into the ground under his boots.
Crack, crack, crack—
The earth split around him.
Spiderweb fractures raced out from his feet in all directions, spreading dozens of meters in an instant.
The ground caved in, forming a circular crater nearly half a meter deep beneath him.
Chunks of stone and dirt burst upward and rained back down.
Dust boiled into the air, rolling like a brown cloud across the clearing.
From a distance—
It looked like a meteor had hit.
In the middle of the crater—
Zephyr stood firm.
Unmoved.
Unbroken.
Not a single scratch marked his forehead.
But his gaze—
Was no longer calm.
He reached up and closed his hand around Kai's arm, locking the boy in place mid-air so he couldn't pull back.
He lowered his head slightly and looked the child in the eyes.
"This punch…"
"Was terrifying."
He spoke quietly, but the weight behind his words was heavy.
"If I hadn't dispersed the force through my whole body…"
"Even I might have taken some damage."
He wasn't just being polite.
He was telling the truth.
The raw power behind that fist…
Was enough to pulp most New World pirates under fifty million Berries.
"Four years old…"
"With battle power already at least on par with a Headquarters Commodore…"
"And that Rokushiki…"
"His Rankyaku, Soru, Geppo, Tekkai—every move is crisp and precise, no wasted motion, no bloat."
Zephyr narrowed his eyes.
"Is this really…"
"What Garp calls 'half an hour of learning'?"
He could feel his worldview creaking.
Yesterday, in the Fleet Admiral's office—
He'd scoffed at Garp's words.
He'd assumed the man was exaggerating, if not outright joking.
But now—
Reality was slapping him across the face one blow at a time.
This brat's only been practicing Rokushiki for what—two, three weeks at most?
And he's already using it better than most officers who've trained for years.
Zephyr's thoughts swirled.
He glanced at the shattered ground, the spiderwebbed fractures stretching out beneath his feet.
Then back at Kai's calm, unflinching face.
A long silence passed.
Finally—
He exhaled slowly.
"…so this is the 'monster' Garp was talking about."
His voice was low.
Complicated.
He loosened his grip on Kai's arm.
For the first time—
A spark of something other than suspicion flickered in his eyes.
Expectation.
"Alright, brat," he said, gaze sharpening again. "You've passed the first test."
"But I'm not done yet."
"Next…"
"I want to see just how far that so-called 'once-in-a-century talent' can really go."
And in that moment—
For the first time since yesterday's meeting in the Fleet Admiral's office…
Black Arm Zephyr had to admit, however reluctantly—
That he might soon be forced…
To rewrite his definition of the word "genius."
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