Faced with Zephyr's resentful look…
Kai could only spread his hands helplessly.
"Admiral Zephyr, you're really going to blame me for this?" he said. "You were the one who insisted I do it here. I even asked you more than once if you were sure."
"You insisted anyway."
"What was I supposed to do?"
"I just followed your orders."
"Is that really my fault?"
Zephyr opened his mouth—
And had nothing to say.
Because strictly speaking…
Kai was right.
He had insisted.
Even if his heart was full of regret, there was no way he could throw this pot back onto a four-year-old's head.
"…Enough," Zephyr finally muttered, rubbing his temples. "You. This afternoon, 2 o'clock sharp. Get to Training Ground No. 1."
"That's where my training camp is held."
"Don't be late."
He waved his hand, looking like a man who'd just aged ten years in five minutes, and turned to leave.
Kai watched his back disappear into the distance, thoughtfully rubbing his chin.
Then he glanced over at the three dormitory blocks not too far away.
"…Poor guys," he sighed inwardly.
After silently offering the fallen Marines a moment of spiritual condolence, Kai also turned and headed back to his quarters.
At the same time—
Zephyr went straight to the Fleet Admiral's office.
Knock, knock, knock!
His knuckles thudded against the door.
"Come in," Kong's voice sounded from inside.
Creaaak—
Zephyr pushed the door open and stepped into the office.
"Zephyr? What's the matter?" Kong asked, slightly surprised. "Weren't you going to personally verify whether what Garp said yesterday was true?"
"It's already been verified," Zephyr said with a bitter smile. "And unfortunately for my pride… Garp wasn't lying."
"That little brat, Kai, really is an unbelievably terrifying monster."
"He has mastered Conqueror's Haki and Rokushiki. As for the advanced Life Return variant, I didn't have time to test it."
"But just judging from his Rokushiki alone… his mastery is even greater than what Garp described."
"Conservatively speaking—his actual combat power is more or less equal to a Headquarters Commodore."
"A four-year-old brat… with Commodore-level combat power."
When he finished—
Kong couldn't help sucking in a sharp breath.
He'd already been mentally prepared for Kai to be outrageous.
But hearing it from Zephyr's own mouth still made his chest tighten.
A four-year-old with Commodore-level strength…
That was not just "genius" anymore.
That was something that could overturn entire eras.
"The Marine Corps really picked up a monster this time," he thought. "A true once-in-a-century talent."
Garp, that unreliable old fool…
Had finally done something right.
Not only had he produced a freak of a grandson—
He'd actually thrown him into the Marines.
"By the way…"
"There's… one more thing I need to report," Zephyr said, coughing lightly, looking more than a little embarrassed.
"What is it?" Kong asked, exhaling slowly.
Zephyr hesitated a moment, then gritted his teeth and said:
"Because I didn't quite believe a four-year-old could truly control Conqueror's Haki…"
"I asked him to demonstrate it on the spot."
"But I… didn't expect…"
"That brat's Conqueror's is only a shade weaker than Sengoku's."
"Absolutely beyond basic 'proficiency.' It's at that level."
"So I accidentally…"
"Let his Conqueror's Haki blow out and… instantly knocked out the entire population of three nearby Marine dorms."
"Conservative estimates say… at least twenty thousand Marines fainted on the spot."
Kong froze.
"You—what did you just say?!"
"This brat's Conqueror's…"
"Is comparable to Sengoku's?!"
"Sengoku's been polishing his Haki for decades to reach his current strength."
"And Kai is four."
"His awakening was less than two months ago."
"And in just two months, he not only awakened Conqueror's…"
"He's already trained it to a strength close to Sengoku's?"
"That Sengoku."
"The Marine Headquarters Admiral Sengoku?!"
Kong stared, completely dumbfounded.
It took a long moment—
Before his brain jerked back into motion.
He quickly caught the other key point buried in Zephyr's words.
It wasn't just about how terrifying Kai's Conqueror's was…
It was also about—
The twenty thousand unconscious Marines.
"…You're telling me," Kong said slowly, voice going stiff, "that three full dorms worth of Marines…"
"Were all knocked out by that brat's Conqueror's?"
He sounded like he was asking for confirmation—
But his face already said he knew the answer.
"This…"
"What even is this situation?!"
How did a simple "talent verification" session—
Turn into a small-scale natural disaster?
"Ahem… That's about it," Zephyr said weakly. "It's my fault."
"I really didn't expect his Conqueror's to be that strong."
"His blast covered a full three hundred meters in diameter."
"That's already close to Sengoku's range."
"How was I supposed to know…"
"That a brat who's only four years old would have Conqueror's at this level?"
Kong pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose and let out a very deep, very long sigh.
"Enough. What's done is done."
"This is going to be a pain to clean up."
"You wanted to test his strength. Fine. But you couldn't have taken him to a training ground?"
"You had to do it next to the dorms?"
"You're a Headquarters Admiral…"
"And this is the level of decision-making I'm seeing?"
There was heat in his voice—
But he didn't dare truly lash out.
He couldn't.
He knew all too well what Zephyr had gone through for the Marines.
How his family had been slaughtered in revenge.
How he'd still stayed.
Still trained new generations.
Still worked himself to the bone for the sake of "justice."
He couldn't just bark at that kind of man like he was some recruit.
If he crushed Zephyr's spirit now…
Who would train the future of the Marines?
Who would run the training camp?
After thinking it through, Kong could only sigh again.
"I'll send people to assess the scene," he said at last. "We'll arrange for everyone to receive aid and medical checks, and get them back on their feet as quickly as possible."
"In the future, don't pull something like this again."
"Think before you act."
"And one more thing…"
"Stop trying to evaluate Kai with ordinary standards."
"He's not an 'ordinary genius'."
"Monsters like him live completely outside common sense."
Zephyr's expression grew solemn.
"…I understand," he said quietly.
"Alright. You can go."
Kong waved him off, looking a decade older.
When Zephyr left, the office fell silent.
After a while—
Kong picked up the Den Den Mushi on his desk and dialed.
Purupurupuru…
The snail's ringing echoed in the room.
Soon—
"Fleet Admiral Kong," a calm, mature female voice answered.
It was Vice Admiral Tsuru.
"Tsuru," Kong said, sounding tired. "I've got something troublesome for you to take care of."
"What happened?" she asked immediately. She could hear the fatigue in his tone.
"It's Zephyr."
"He was trying to test Kai's strength—and had the brilliant idea of asking him to unleash his Conqueror's Haki right next to the dorm blocks."
"The result…"
"Three dormitories worth of Marines got hit."
"Rough estimate says at least twenty thousand got knocked out."
Kong summarized it in one breath.
There was a moment of stunned silence.
"…What?!" Tsuru blurted. "Twenty thousand?!"
"Simply put, that brat's strength is even more frightening than Garp claimed."
"So I need you to take twenty elite men to the site, check the damage and injuries, and then coordinate treatment and cleanup."
"We need an accurate assessment."
"I understand," Tsuru said, taking a slow breath.
Not long after—
Kong put the receiver down.
He walked over to the window and looked out over Marineford, hands clasped behind his back.
It took him a while—
But eventually, a wry smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"What happened today…"
"Is going to shake Marine Headquarters to the core."
"Zephyr, that idiot…"
"Has basically just sponsored Kai…"
"In creating the biggest 'mass-injury case' the Marines have ever seen."
"Over twenty thousand Marines knocked out in one shot…"
"All of them victims of a four-year-old's Conqueror's Haki."
Kong shook his head.
In all his years as Fleet Admiral—
He had never seen anything like this.
Even when Golden Lion Shiki invaded Marineford back then…
The damage had been mostly to buildings.
Actual personnel casualties hadn't broken three digits.
Today?
A single brat, with a single burst of Haki—
Had flattened more Marines than Shiki ever managed.
The scale of this "incident"…
Was absolutely unprecedented.
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