Knight Fruit

"What profound swordsmanship!"

Standing beside Wallace as they watched the battle, Marine Sergeant Tashigi's expression was even more spectacular than Wallace's, whose mind had been blown numb by the huge news.

Her brows were filled with deep contemplation, her bright eyes burned with fervent, almost mad admiration, and her clenched palm around her sword hilt gathered surging fighting spirit.

At that moment, all of the female swordswoman's attention was fixed on that greatsword-wielding knight.

She could not help muttering to herself:

"I never thought such an unfathomable school of swordsmanship truly existed in this world!"

"What makes you say that?"

Wallace quickly recovered from his shock and, driven by a reporter's instincts, began interviewing the young female swordswoman beside him, who seemed to have seen something others had missed.

Tashigi habitually pushed up the square-framed glasses on her nose, and a serious, wise expression quietly appeared on her lovely face.

Wallace vaguely felt that something was off, because he seemed to have seen that wise expression somewhere just moments ago.

"When he fought Colonel Smoker earlier, I had already carefully observed his swordsmanship."

Tashigi looked at Garen, standing proudly in the field with his sword in hand, and spoke in a deep voice:

"Every strike looked clumsy, nothing more than simple slashes, chops, cuts, and thrusts, without the slightest trace of technique."

"And his physical abilities should not even be stronger than Colonel Smoker's."

As she spoke, the admiration and longing in Tashigi's eyes grew increasingly intense:

"But!"

"Neither Colonel Smoker nor Vice Admiral Garp was able to evade that man's sword strikes!"

"So?"

Wallace cooperatively played the straight man.

"This is not swordsmanship!"

In a tone full of indescribable shock, Tashigi gave Garen a professional assessment: "This is the way of the sword!"

"Not only does every strike hit its target, but—"

"Every sword he swings carries exactly the same force!"

That was only natural. Although Garen could freely control the strength of his attacks, his data-based body limited him to a fixed output ceiling.

So he could not suddenly erupt with inexplicable bursts of power like an ordinary person. When attacking at full strength, every swing of his sword dealt exactly the same damage.

Yet this "way of the sword," something normal humans could scarcely achieve, clearly stunned Tashigi, who had devoted herself to swordsmanship:

"Returning to simplicity, wielding great weight as though it were light... Beneath those plain, unadorned sword techniques lies a mighty power that ordinary swordsmen might never comprehend in their entire lives..."

A thought suddenly struck Tashigi, and she continued her explanation:

"This is very similar to a legendary realm of swordsmanship."

"What kind of swordsmanship?"

As a layman, Wallace was already completely lost, though it sounded incredibly impressive.

"Cast aside every unnecessary branch and detail. Practice none of those flashy but powerless sword techniques. Return to the most fundamental instinct of the sword."

"Beginning with one and ending with one, without any diverging paths, a single road leading to the heavens."

"This is the legendary—"

With a solemn expression, Tashigi spoke of a swordsmanship realm that existed only as a concept: "Ippon Ken Dou."

"Ippon Ken Dou?"

Wallace wore a bewildered expression as he pondered the profound term, then faithfully recorded every word of Miss Tashigi's assessment in his notebook.

After giving it some thought, Wallace added a terrifying title, one that would soon thunder across the world, to Garen's news report—

Ippon Ken Dou Swordsman.

Having explained everything, swordswoman Tashigi gazed at Garen with a face full of longing and murmured:

"Such a profound realm... I wonder when I will ever be able to reach it."

As she spoke, an excited gleam faintly shimmered in Tashigi's eyes.

Miss Nami, who had listened to the entire theory of swordsmanship, stood stiffly at the side, feeling that there was now one more person who needed their brain water content measured.

Tashigi and Wallace had so much spare time to discuss Garen's swordsmanship realm because the two men sparring in the field had exchanged only one round before tacitly entering a truce.

Naturally, Garen did not dare make any reckless moves.

The terrifying physical techniques Garp had displayed after getting serious made Garen feel as though he might be fighting God himself.

In Garp's hands, the Rokushiki technique "Soru" displayed its ultimate power.

It was as insubstantial as a phantom, yet as fierce as lightning, carrying extraordinary might.

Garen was completely intimidated by that overwhelming presence.

It was as though a tiny mortal had finally raised his head to gaze upon the boundless cosmos, and he could not help but sincerely marvel at such transcendent power:

"Damn, that's fast!"

Garp, meanwhile, had fallen into unexpected astonishment.

When he used Soru just now, he had assumed he could easily evade Garen's strange sword strike.

Yet the instant Garp's body moved like sudden thunder, the approaching blade abruptly accelerated along with his movement to a terrifying extent and struck his body completely before he could escape with his physical technique.

Although the damage from that sword was negligible to him, its bizarre guaranteed-hit effect still left Garp deeply shocked.

What surprised Garp even more was—

Although Garp had already noticed that Garen possessed some special ability that could temporarily suppress Devil Fruit Abilities, he had never imagined that—

The instant that sword struck him, his Observation Haki vanished into thin air.

The Observation Haki he had painstakingly cultivated, imprinted into Garp's body like instinct itself, fell silent in an instant. It was like a normal person with exceptional eyesight suddenly going blind in both eyes.

Garp then tried using Armament Haki, only to discover that the Armament Haki he had once wielded as easily as his own limbs had also become completely useless.

Fortunately, that bizarre negative effect did not last long, and Garp soon regained control over his Haki.

But that strange phenomenon still plunged Garp into deep thought:

He had seen plenty of things that could counter Devil Fruit Abilities. Sea Stone and Haki could both accomplish that.

But an ability that could suppress even Haki for a short time...

What exactly was it?

Garp had roamed the seas his entire life, yet he had never heard of such a bizarre ability.

After pondering for a moment, he suddenly moved.

Another gust swept up from the flat ground, and Garp's figure flashed before the ever-vigilant Garen in an instant.

Before the surprise on Garen's face could even appear, he felt his hand suddenly empty.

By the time he came to his senses, Garp was already standing several meters away, carefully examining his Greatsword.

"Not Sea Stone..."

Garp turned the gorgeous greatsword over and inspected it again and again.

"Both its materials and craftsmanship are extraordinary, but there does not seem to be anything particularly special about it."

Unable to contain himself any longer, Garp raised his head and directly asked Garen:

"How did you manage to seal even Haki?"

"Huh?"

Garen himself had not expected the silence effect to be able to seal Haki as well.

"How did I do it..."

After hesitating for a moment, Garen began making things up with a serious face. "Actually..."

Everyone quietly perked up their ears.

"I am a Paramecia-type 'Knight Fruit' user."

Garen solemnly gave his answer.

"Eh?"

Everyone was stunned by the extremely out-of-place name of the fruit.

"Impossible!"

A Marine soldier could not help questioning him:

"I saw through my telescope earlier that you fell into the sea and nothing happened to you!"

"How could you possibly be a Devil Fruit user?!"

"That is because..."

Garen once again summoned his radiant and upright mode of being justice's companion, putting on the devout and solemn expression of a holy knight:

"The abilities of Devil Fruits come from demons."

"But my Knight Fruit allows me to overcome the temptations of demons. Its power comes from the justice in my heart."

"The sea naturally will not reject my radiance!"

As he said this, Garen's bright, dazzling armor became even more resplendent.

"Overcome the temptations of demons? Power comes from 'justice'?"

Garp carefully considered this impressive-sounding explanation, then recalled that earlier sword aura that had inexplicably made people feel "justice."

After thinking for a moment, he filled in the logic behind Garen's improvised explanation:

"So your sword can counter the power of Devil Fruits?"

"But..."

Garp asked curiously, "Why does it even affect Haki...?"

"Because I am a knight who pursues justice!"

Garen's face shone with the light of justice as he pointed to his chest, blazing with passion, and declared:

"The Sword of Justice can sweep away every demon and monster!"

"I see."

Garp nodded seriously, actually accepting Garen's utterly ridiculous explanation.

There was no other choice but to accept it.

For an unprecedented ability like this, there was simply no better explanation than a "Devil Fruit."

"Countering Devil Fruits and Haki, unaffected by seawater, clones and invisibility, strange swordsmanship..."

Garp asked eagerly:

"Kid, does your 'Knight Fruit' have any other interesting abilities?"

"Uh..."

Garen pondered for a moment, then looked strangely at Garp, who was still gripping his Greatsword and showed no intention of letting go.

"It does."

"Then you'd better hold tightly onto my sword..."

"Oh?"

Garp did not understand why, but he instinctively tightened his grip on the Greatsword.

Garp was confident that even if Sengoku charged at him with all three Admirals, they would not be able to snatch this greatsword from his hand anytime soon.

"This move of mine is called..."

Garen curled his five fingers into a loose grasp and casually made up a name following the pattern of the "Knight Fruit":

"A Knight Never Dies Barehanded!"