"Admiral Zephyr, does that prove my strength?"
Kai stopped attacking the moment Zephyr's big hand clamped around his arm.
He was smart enough to know the "spar" was already over.
That short exchange just now—
He'd gone all out.
From the very first move, he'd opened with maximum firepower, holding nothing back.
And the result?
One brief clash. A shattered battlefield.
And Zephyr stood there without so much as a scratch, casually grabbing him like a misbehaving kitten.
It really hammered in the truth for Kai—
A Marine Headquarters Admiral truly was a monster.
This was the kind of power that stood at the top of the current sea.
At his current level, there was no way he could shake that.
Not yet.
But someday…?
Three years.
Within three years, he swore—
He would surpass Zephyr.
By then, he'd only be seven or eight years old…
And he would already have combat power on par with a top-tier Admiral.
That—
Was Kai's first milestone.
"An Admiral really is strong," Kai thought, silently exhaling. "And that was without him even using Haki. If he'd used Armament…"
"My situation would've looked a lot uglier."
Previously, he'd thought he was already strong enough to move freely on this sea and protect himself however he liked.
But after that little exchange—
He calmly crushed any hint of complacency.
Not enough.
Still nowhere near enough.
"If this hadn't been a spar…"
"If this were a life-and-death battle…"
"Right now I'd already be a corpse."
His desire to become stronger didn't fade.
It blazed hotter.
After a moment, Zephyr released his arm.
He stared at the four-year-old in front of him, eyes full of naked astonishment.
"You," he said slowly, "are the most terrifying genius I've ever met in my life."
"No exceptions."
"Your talent… is the greatest I have ever seen."
"Even that brat Kuzan back then—he's not even close."
"Just from what you showed with Rokushiki—your mastery is already at the level of a Headquarters Commodore."
"It's honestly hard to believe you're only four years old."
"Now I finally understand why that bastard Garp keeps calling you a once-in-a-century monster."
Only after seeing Kai move—
Only after feeling his attacks in person—
Did Zephyr truly accept those ridiculous stories from yesterday.
This kid…
Was a monster.
A freak that made the word "genius" feel cheap.
Among his peers?
There were none.
Even if he looked back across centuries of Marine history…
Zephyr couldn't think of a single person he could really compare to the boy standing in front of him.
In his entire life—
This level of prodigy had appeared exactly once.
"You're the one…"
"With the strongest talent I've ever seen," Zephyr declared bluntly.
He didn't bother to soften his evaluation.
Over the decades, he'd seen more so-called "geniuses" than he could count.
But someone like Kai—
The gap was too big.
Not the same category.
Not even the same species.
"I heard…"
"Garp said you awakened Conqueror's Haki at four years old."
"Not just awakened—you've already learned to control it?"
Zephyr looked straight at Kai as he asked.
Kai tilted his head slightly.
"…Does that also affect whether I can get into the training camp?"
He couldn't help doubting it.
Was the entry requirement for this camp seriously this strict?
He'd just shown Rokushiki at half-Commodore level, and that still wasn't enough?
If that couldn't get him in—
Kai honestly couldn't imagine what kind of freak you needed to be to match Zephyr's standards.
"No, no," Zephyr shook his head, then took the time to explain. "Just from what you showed of Rokushiki, I'm already willing to grant you a special entry."
"With the strength you just displayed, even in my current batch of trainees, there aren't many who could be your match."
"So letting you in now isn't really 'breaking the rules.'"
"And it's not exactly 'nepotism' either."
"In the end, strength is what decides everything."
"So long as your strength is overwhelming, even if I let you into the camp halfway through, no one will really dare complain."
Kai nodded.
That made sense.
His gaze drifted around the area they were standing in.
This was still within the living district, not far from the Marine dorms. Rows of white dorm buildings lined up neatly in the distance.
He could see Marines moving back and forth at the edge of his vision.
He frowned slightly.
"…You want me to use it here?"
"What, is there a problem?" Zephyr said, eyebrows lifting.
Could it be Garp had lied and the kid didn't actually have it?
"Not exactly a problem," Kai said. "It's just…"
He glanced again at the clusters of dorm buildings a few hundred meters away.
"There are a lot of people around."
"I'm worried my Conqueror's Haki might affect them."
Zephyr burst out laughing.
"You don't need to worry about that!"
"We're at least three hundred meters away from the dorms."
"At that distance, your Conqueror's shouldn't be able to reach them."
In his mind, a four-year-old who'd only just begun to control Conqueror's—
Even if freakishly talented—
Shouldn't have that kind of range yet.
"Three hundred meters," he thought calmly. "Even Sengoku's Conqueror's Haki doesn't casually blow past that."
"And this kid's only just started?"
Come on.
A brat with only a bit of basic mastery of Conqueror's Haki—
Even if absurdly gifted, his Haki might at most cover a few dozen meters.
One hundred meters would already be incredible.
Three hundred?
Ridiculous.
"Being able to affect a hundred meters with Conqueror's is what we usually call 'entry-level mastery,'" Zephyr mused internally.
"This little runt…"
"Even if he awakened it before he was born, there's no way he's already reached that level."
So—
Under Zephyr's very sincere, very confident insistence…
Kai didn't argue further.
He slowly swept his eyes across the surroundings—
At those neatly lined dorm buildings…
At the countless Marines inside…
And then, silently—
He sighed in his heart.
"…I'm really sorry, everyone."
"I honestly don't want to do this to you."
"But…"
"Admiral Zephyr is very insistent."
"I'm just following orders."
"So if you have any complaints later…"
"Please go find Admiral Zephyr."
"Don't come looking for me."
With that very pure, very innocent thought—
Kai finally stopped holding back.
He took a quiet breath.
Under Zephyr's curious gaze…
He opened his Conqueror's Haki.
His eyes sharpened.
His will surged.
"—Conqueror's."
A single thought.
BOOOOOM—!!!
It was like thunder exploded inside his skull.
An unimaginable pressure burst outward from deep within his chest, turning into a massive tide of invisible force that erupted out of his body in all directions.
Centered on Kai—
A terrifying wave of spiritual might swept across the clearing.
It spread like a shockwave—
Flattening everything in its path.
Violent.
Irresistible.
An invisible storm that crushed down on everything within range—
That—
Was the overwhelming force of Kai's Conqueror's Haki.
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