Headquarters Shaken!

"Nani? You said Ron defeated Shuzuo at the Test Field?!"

Inside the Fleet Admiral's Office, Sengoku slammed the table and rose to his feet, eyes wide with fury. "Do you know the consequences of falsifying military reports?!"

"I know, Fleet Admiral. But..."

The messenger was practically in tears. "It's true!"

Who the hell knew how a recruit had defeated Brigadier General Shuzuo? He was a genuinely formidable man! Having come out of the New Recruit Camp himself, the messenger had trained under Shuzuo. How could he not know how terrifying that monster was?

And yet, it had happened.

The New Recruit Camp instructor, Garp's adjutant Traine, and Admiral Kizaru had all acknowledged the result. Brigadier General Shuzuo was still in the infirmary on oxygen. After receiving the report, the messenger had repeatedly confirmed that he was not hearing things before rushing in to deliver it.

"Gasp, how did he do it?! Give me the report!"

Sengoku sucked in a sharp breath, took the documents, and dismissed everyone else. Before he could return to his seat, he keenly caught the scent of an exceptionally intense killing intent and immediately turned around.

"Uh..."

Speechlessly twitching at the corner of his mouth, Sengoku looked at the sturdy, purple-haired old man in sunglasses sitting in his chair. The black aura behind him was visible to the naked eye, vicious as a ghost. After thinking for three seconds, Sengoku decided not to ask about it and silently moved away.

Once seated again, Sengoku distributed the files. "The timing is rather convenient. I was just about to adjourn... Everyone, take a look and give me your opinions."

With that, Sengoku held up the papers and curiously examined the report as well.

First came the basic physical fitness test.

[Maximum one-arm strength: 200 kg]

Barely acceptable. It was even somewhat below standard.

Sengoku frowned slightly and gave his assessment before looking at the next item.

[100-meter speed: 8.5 seconds]

Same assessment!

[5,000-meter weighted run: 19 minutes]

Still the same assessment!

[Attack strength: 60 Power Level]

Assessment...

Looking only at these figures, Sengoku felt that the news of Shuzuo's defeat was utterly ridiculous! How could such an insignificant person defeat Shuzuo? The gap between them was like heaven and earth!

Brigadier General Shuzuo's Doriki Value was close to 4,000. He could hammer a Sea King weighing over a hundred tons into the air, possessing immense strength; his 100-meter speed was under three seconds, faster than ordinary Rokushiki users; and he had mastered Two Types of Armament Haki, with abundant combat experience. He was the strongest instructor in the Marine New Recruit Camp, second only to Zephyr!

A superhuman among superhumans!

Ron's physical test data showed that he was merely a somewhat stronger ordinary man. Converted into a Doriki Value, he was at most 50. Defeating Shuzuo head-on should have been absolutely impossible!

The Colonel responsible for the statistics had also given a fair rating...

[Overall Evaluation: 50 Power Level—Pass]

Failing meant going back where one came from... The Marine Headquarters New Recruit Camp only accepted geniuses and strong fighters. Ordinary soldiers with a Power Level of 10 were not even qualified to enter the camp for training. Since graduates started at the rank of Major, it was only natural for this "shortcut to success" to have strict requirements!

However, the data from the following Fruit Ability test surprised Sengoku somewhat.

[Lightning attack strength: 228 Power Level]

[Lightning 100-Meter Dash: 2.5 seconds]

[Combat test: Perfect score]

[Overall Evaluation: 80/100!]

"Doriki Value" was a specialized term established by the World Government to reflect a person's combat power. However, it could not fully determine a person's strength. After all, too many factors affected victory and defeat in real combat, so it could only serve as a reference.

Since it was a rule set by the World Government, both its intelligence agency, Cipher Pol, and Marine Headquarters used it. Thus, Sengoku knew very well what it meant for Ron, with physical capabilities worth 50 Power Level, to unleash an attack worth "228"!

That was a freakish attack four and a half times stronger than his own strength!!

Since it represented combat power, a well-trained Marine soldier had a Doriki Value of 10, and the strongest attack he could unleash was likewise 10. Therefore, Ron's normal attack should theoretically have been around 50. The fact that he had previously produced an attack worth 60 Power Level was already proof that he had surpassed his physical limits!

In their minds, Ron had only possessed the Rumble-Rumble Fruit for one month. It would already have been impressive if he could produce attacks worth 50 to 100 Power Level through his Fruit Ability, yet...

228!

Four times his own strength!

It practically rewrote their understanding!

Lightning was indeed powerful, but such an extraordinary figure could not be explained away by the advantages of the fruit alone!

This was a genius!

He possessed a terrifying talent for the Rumble-Rumble Fruit!

Looking at that number, everyone in the room was stunned for a moment before breaking into praise.

"That's astounding! Sakazuki was several years older than Ron back then... His first test was only around 240, wasn't it? And that was merely twice his own strength..."

"Indeed. I remember Borsalino scored 270, while Kuzan only got 200."

The current Three Admirals were all Logia Devil Fruit Users and all came from the New Recruit Camp, so it was inevitable that everyone compared them.

Although Kuzan had scored over 200—more than three times his own Power Level—even while wielding ice that initially had no offensive power, Ron had been far younger than the three of them during his first test, and he had achieved four times his own strength! Given time, his future accomplishments would be immeasurable!

While everyone else expressed their shock, Garp sat in his seat, unable to make sense of it.

"Something's wrong! What is this?... That discharge brat spent all day tempering his body, so how could his Fruit Development be this high?"

Garp knew exactly what Ron did every day during the return journey. No matter how hard he thought, he could not understand how Ron had produced such an astonishing number.

"Could it be... he trained behind my back?!"

That damn brat!

Garp felt that he had discovered the truth, and his teeth immediately began to itch with resentment.

"I'll go get an answer out of him tonight!"

After that came the Lightning 100-Meter Dash result... but no one cared about that number.

At lightning's speed, finishing one hundred meters in 2.5 seconds was slow. The record Kizaru had left in the New Recruit Camp was 0.3 seconds!

For the Glint-Glint Fruit and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, the purpose of this number was not to test how fast they were... No matter how fast ordinary people moved, could they compare to lightning and light?

That would be completely meaningless!

Did speed already standing at the pinnacle need testing?

If it were a pure speed test and Kizaru went now, there would be no time interval at all. He could arrive instantly, exceeding the reaction limit of the testing equipment! Once Ron learned Enel's Teleportation technique within an Electromagnetic Field, there would likewise be no time interval.

Therefore, this number primarily reflected how quickly they could activate their Fruit Ability, how well they could track targets with dynamic vision while moving at high speed, and the coordination between their Fruit use and their bodies.

The Test Field's 100-meter dash was not simply a matter of rushing across the line. One had to stop within a designated area for the result to count. The New Recruit Camp did not teach Observation Haki, so before awakening it independently, recruits could only rely on their eyesight to determine their position.

One could imagine that, apart from wasting time at the start by turning into lightning to move, Ron had certainly slowed down midway to confirm his position within those 2.5 seconds. The sharp-eyed instructors had noticed and deducted 20 points directly. Otherwise, his time would definitely have been around one second, enough for a full score.

Finally, there was the perfect-score combat test...

"Cough, cough. Let's take a look at how he... uh... how he defeated Shuzuo, shall we?"

After calming the atmosphere in the room, Sengoku gave a dry cough and furtively glanced at someone.

The moment he spoke, Zephyr, who had been full of admiration a second earlier, immediately darkened. He snorted coldly. "There's no need to look! Put nicely, Shuzuo was careless and underestimated his opponent. Put bluntly, he was an idiot!!!"

A towering black aura surged forth as Zephyr rose to his feet, his face so dark it seemed to drip ink.

"Just wait until I get back. I'll teach him a lesson he'll never forget!!"

As Shuzuo's teacher, and someone who thought highly of him, Zephyr had scanned the combat details the moment he received the report.

When he discovered that Shuzuo had been toyed with from start to finish and was ultimately defeated after being wrapped in an iron ball and suffocated, Zephyr's fury had nearly erupted. He was absolutely livid!

If this were not the Fleet Admiral's Office and the meeting had not officially ended, he would already have rushed out, dragged Shuzuo from his hospital bed, and sent him to Hell Island for extra training!

"Calm down, calm down!"

Sengoku awkwardly tried to soothe him, but when he noticed Zephyr's expression, he knew there was no point saying more. So he observed a second of silence for Shuzuo in his heart, then turned to look at the hunched woman beside him, whose face was covered in wrinkles but whose eyes shone with wisdom.

"Tsuru, what do you think?"

"Very good!"

The chief strategist of Marine Headquarters, the legend in the eyes of all female soldiers, and the goddess pursued by this entire group in their youth, Vice Admiral Tsuru praised him without the slightest concern for Zephyr's feelings.

"This is a textbook example of defeating the strong while weak, enough to be included in teaching materials! I recommend immediately revising the curriculum so those brats at the military academy who complain about suffering and exhaustion all day can learn what it means to persevere until victory!"

Tsuru's very first words gave him high praise and even proposed revising the textbooks! Yet no one objected, because if they put themselves in Ron's position, they could not have achieved a more perfect result than he had!

After calming her tone, Tsuru picked up the documents and looked kindly at Ron in the photograph.

"...No matter how strong an enemy is, humans need oxygen to breathe. This is a well-known weakness. But how easy is it to exploit? At the very least, if it were me, I cannot think of any method."

"...But Ron was different! The moment he discovered the underground steel, he must have immediately formed a plan! He first enraged Shuzuo and lured him into the Steel Tunnel, an environment more favorable to himself, using speed to keep him restrained. Then he gradually set up his plan without exposing Iron Tempering, leading Shuzuo step by step into the trap. Finally, even after exhausting himself to the point of collapse, he maintained the iron ball without letting it break, waiting for Shuzuo to suffocate and lose consciousness before claiming victory! Such flexible thinking, decisive judgment, and resilient character... I have to say, Garp, you have finally done one good thing!"

"What do you mean by that, Tsuru-chan?"

Garp immediately flared his nostrils and glared, looking unwillingly at Vice Admiral Tsuru.

"I've fought through life and death for so many years, and none of that counts as doing good things?!"

In response, Vice Admiral Tsuru did not even look at him. She calmly uttered a single name.

"Flower Capital..."

Garp immediately wilted at a visible speed. He sat back down without a word and took out his frustration on the donut in his hand.

"Cough, cough. No matter what, Ron defeating Shuzuo is an established fact."

Sengoku stepped out to conclude, "His future training will be left to Zephyr. Make sure he develops in every aspect and leaves no weaknesses behind! Four months from now... we'll be counting on him!"

Though Zephyr was furious over Shuzuo's defeat, he would certainly not take it out on Ron. On the contrary, he liked this promising talent very much, and his sense of duty to nurture him was extremely strong.

"Understood!"

Nodding, Sengoku slapped the table and continued, "Also, tighten security and search with all your strength for traces of Baroque Works!"

"Since they dared to make a move once, there will definitely be a second time, a third time... Crush them in the Grand Line! I do not want to hear that the same situation has appeared in the Four Blues or the New World as well. Do you understand?!"

"Yes!"

No matter how close they were, Sengoku was still the Fleet Admiral.

The three rose at the same time and gave a crisp salute.

...(PS)...

"The protagonist is a character created by the author, the author's avatar. Praising him means praising oneself."

DASHU had never understood how to portray supporting characters' admiration for the protagonist. Recently, during a conversation with a great author, he received this fine saying and was instantly enlightened!

Without realizing it, he had praised himself for three thousand words!

Ah, how embarrassing...