Confrontation Test!

Many people believed that among the three types of Devil Fruits, Logia were called "Logia" because the powers they represented could all be found in nature, hence the name.

But that was not actually the case...

Through Zephyr's explanation, Ron learned that the true reason Logia were called "Logia" was because, like nature itself, they represented the vast might of heaven! Because people feared and revered nature, Devil Fruits that wielded such powers were given the name Logia.

Just like now, the move Ron had unleashed with the dramatic name "Eight Dragon Pearls" once again stirred humanity's reverence for nature!

A deafening thunderclap exploded, leaving nothing audible but a constant ringing. Blinding lightning filled the sky, and everywhere the eye could see was nothing but electric light. Only when an occasional bolt shot out and struck someone's face with a sharp sting did they realize they were still alive.

In the stands, Sengoku held down his hat before it could be blown away and sighed with mixed feelings. "Now I finally understand why Zephyr asked me to increase the distance between the audience stands and the testing platform..."

If the distance had not been increased, Ron's attack would have dragged everyone nearby into it, and the consequences would have been severe! Unlike now, when the New Recruit Camp instructors had acted in unison and swiftly blocked the lightning spreading outward.

The lightning did not last long, disappearing after only a few seconds. Yet the ordinary people in the stands remained dazed, gasping for breath as they stared at the now-calm testing platform as though they had survived another world.

The recruits on Ron's team were in even worse shape. They had collapsed to the ground under Zephyr's protection, their hearts racing with lingering fear whenever they remembered that they had nearly stood amid such a terrifying storm of lightning.

"Mon... monster!"

No one knew how long it took before someone finally spoke those dry words. At that, everyone around them nodded and looked at Ron with admiration.

This was the One Piece World, a world where the strong were respected!

No matter how terrible Ron's results had been in the first test, he was now a strong man!

One worthy of everyone's respect!

Except...

"Urgh...!!"

As they watched Ron collapse alongside the smoking testing machine, the crowd's cheers caught in their throats. They looked at one another helplessly, wide-eyed.

They had been about to cheer, but the main character had collapsed. That was... pretty awkward!

"Carry him away! You... check the results!"

"Yes!"

Zephyr had long been prepared for this. At his command, someone immediately went up, hoisted the salted-fish Ron—who was puffing black smoke from his mouth—over their shoulder, and carried him to the rear. Plenty of food had been prepared for him there, enough to fill him up. With Ron's unusual physique, such injuries were nothing to worry about.

Afterward, the Colonel officer activated his not-so-practiced Armament Haki and lifted the testing machine, which was still crackling with electricity, to look underneath it. The instructor responsible for announcing the number immediately stared at the figure in horror, his eyes widening. Only when the Colonel officer shot him an impatient glare did he swallow and raise his flag.

"The result is valid!"

"Recruit Ron, Doriki Value..."

Gulp...

Swallowing with difficulty once more, the instructor shouted himself hoarse, "2700!!!"

Boom!

The numb-handed Colonel tossed aside the nearly scrapped testing machine. The sound was like exploding dynamite, igniting the atmosphere on the scene!

"What?! 2700!!!"

"Unbelievable! Absolutely unbelievable!!!"

"2700 Doriki Value!!!"

"With this kind of power, he's almost comparable to a Headquarters Colonel, isn't he?!"

"More than that! He'd be more than qualified to serve as a rear admiral in the Four Blues!"

Although the officers stationed at Marineford held ranks equal to those of officers at the various branches throughout the Four Blues and Grand Line, their strength was worlds apart! Shuzuo's 4000 Doriki Value, for instance, was enough for him to serve as a Branch Base Commander at any branch in the Grand Line—a vice admiral's post. Yet at Headquarters, even if he had not committed mistakes in the past, he could at most be a rear admiral.

The reason for this situation ultimately came down to the difference in the strength of their opponents.

The highest rank for a Branch Base Commander in the Four Blues was rear admiral, though most were Colonels. But because the Four Blues were so weak, as long as someone had ability and military merit, even an ordinary person without much strength could take the position. After all, the enemies they faced were vastly different from those on the Grand Line. The Marines' mighty ships and cannons were no joke; when armies pressed forward, they crushed everything in their path!

But on the Grand Line...

Just try putting someone without strength in a high-ranking position.

They would be killed by pirates the next day and offered up as a banner sacrifice!

As the final gateway at the entrance to the New World, adjacent to the Sabaody Archipelago, with the Holy Land—Mary Geoise, the crucial fortress of Impel Down, and Enies Lobby behind it, Headquarters Marines faced the elite who had crossed the first half of the Grand Line, as well as the overlords causing trouble in the New World!

Therefore, it was only natural for the standards imposed on officers' strength to be extremely strict!

That was also the fundamental reason Headquarters officers stood above those of the Four Blues.

But upon hearing that, someone quickly objected.

"No, I think that's still too low! Ron uses lightning! An attack with the same Doriki Value is far more destructive than fists, kicks, or swordsmanship! It's not just fast—it also has advantages in range and area of effect! Although this move leaves him badly injured as well, very few pirates in the Four Blues or even the Grand Line could withstand it!"

After all... it was lightning!

It had far too great an advantage when it came to harming the human body!

"Hiss... So just based on that move alone, Ron is already qualified to hold a post on the Grand Line?!"

"I think so!"

"Unbelievable, unbelievable! The Marines have produced another monster!"

"Ron! Ron! Ron!"

On this day, the legend of monsters left behind by the Three Admirals decades ago was finally continued by someone: Ron, a recruit who had joined the Marines just over a month ago!

Watching the stands erupt in cheers, all chanting the same name in waves like an ocean tide, Sengoku was deeply gratified.

"Good, very good! Hahahaha!!!"

A little below him, Akainu and Kizaru stared ahead in dumbstruck silence. After a long while, Kizaru finally twitched at the corner of his mouth and teased, "What did you say earlier... at most 1000?"

"I..."

Akainu opened his mouth, looking slightly embarrassed. But he quickly composed himself and took a deep breath. "Impressive! To grow this strong in just one month! What a monster!"

"I should've bet something with you earlier... what a shame!"

Kizaru added regretfully, earning an annoyed look from Akainu.

From an extreme burst of 500 Doriki Value to 2700, in only one month!

What that result represented was not merely strength, but terrifying talent that left people aghast!

He had grown to this point in just over a month. One could only imagine what kind of terrifying monster Ron would become if given enough time!

The only thing that reassured the recruits was that Ron's overall evaluation remained within a range they could accept... With lightning's terrifying destructive power, the special boost of Overload Form, and "Lightning Fist Derivative—Eight Dragon Pearls," the power of eight lightning dragons stacked together had produced a result of 2700. But his physical fitness, after comprehensive testing, was only 700.

Was 700 not high?

It was very high!

Among this batch of recruits, aside from the monsters receiving extra training on Hell Island, Ron ranked first!

But compared to his sky-breaking 2700 attack Doriki Value, his own 700 Doriki Value was not quite so exaggerated.

Even so, it remained a terrifying number that no one in the New Recruit Camp could break. Combined with his frightening rate of growth, ordinary people could scarcely hope to glimpse his back. The gap would only grow with time, until most people fell into despair!

But surrendering so easily was not the way of Marine Headquarters New Recruit Camp soldiers. In the tests that followed, each of them gritted their teeth and unleashed their strongest moves, reigniting the atmosphere!

Ron was indeed a monster, but these youngsters were also the future backbone of the Marines!

For a time, the scene was charged with excitement, and cheers and shouts of encouragement rang out without end.

Once the preliminary tests were over, lunchtime arrived, and only then did everyone reluctantly go find something to eat. The recruits had a rare day off, and those with family or friends gathered together to enjoy a good meal in town.

As the Marines' liveliest annual event, the individual testing in the morning was only the beginning. That afternoon, there would be even more intense combat training! It was also where recruits would be ranked and compete for the best stage in their futures!

It could be said that every generation of Headquarters commanders had once shone brilliantly in combat training!

Veterans from fifty or sixty years ago—Garp, Sengoku, Zephyr; Momonga, the representative figure among Headquarters vice admirals from the class thirty years ago; Shuzuo, Zephyr's right-hand man in the New Recruit Camp; the current Three Admirals who had emerged from the class twenty years ago—Aokiji, Kizaru, Akainu... and so on. As long as one could name them, there was not a single exception!

While everyone was excitedly discussing the outstanding performances from that morning, in some corner of the Headquarters fortress, Kizaru took out a Den Den Mushi. "Moshi moshi, Mr. Vegapunk, what is it..."

"Ah, that isn't urgent. You should pay more attention to the Pacifista instead. Fleet Admiral Sengoku got angry today... What? You want to draw my blood again? Can't you show some consideration for an old man like me?"

Meanwhile, in the Headquarters hospital near the plaza, Ron tore off the bandages around his body and, under a doctor's life-questioning gaze, held up a basin-sized bowl and wolfed down food.

As the saying went, equivalent exchange!

The energy needed to restore his body and heal his injuries did not come from nowhere. Whatever he consumed had to be replenished in equal measure. The complicated testing that morning had already left him starving, and now that he had confirmed he was fine, all he wanted was to eat until the world went dark!

Zephyr stood beside him with a smile. Seeing Ron so energetic, he finally relaxed. "Eat slowly, Ron. There's plenty of food..."

"Mmph mmph ah mmph ah..."

"Hm? What did you say?"

"Mmph mmph mmph ah ah mmph mmph ah..."

Crack!

A cross-shaped vein bulged on Zephyr's forehead, and his eyelids twitched rapidly. Wrapping his fist in Armament Haki, he went, "Duang"!!

"Swallow your food before you talk, damn it!!!"

After a month, Zephyr felt that despite being so old, his Armament Haki had actually improved quite a bit. It was just that his liver fire had been running high lately... even his urine was yellow.

They said anger damaged the liver and shortened one's life. Don't get angry, don't get angry!

Ron deeply suspected that the food in his mouth had not been swallowed, but hammered down by Zephyr's punch!

It really was... fucking painful!

But Zephyr in this state was not someone to provoke. Ron immediately stood up and said, "Teacher Zephyr, I don't need to attend the combat training this afternoon, do I?"

With his current strength, the New Recruit Camp simply could not find him an opponent. In the class of the Three Admirals, the three of them had each other to spar with and temper themselves. Smoker's class had "Black Cage" Hina as his rival... But now!

Who was Ron supposed to fight?

That "top hundred recruit" Zoro, who would be subdued the moment he stepped onstage?

Or Quinn Dont, the genius swordsman the Quinn Family had struggled to produce?

There was simply no need!

Who would have thought that the moment Zephyr heard that, he smiled. "Go. Why wouldn't you go? Such a good stage—why wouldn't you take it? The world will be focused on you! Don't worry, I've arranged everything!"

At that moment, Zephyr's smile carried some mysterious Eastern power... and gave Ron a bad feeling!

Uh, would you believe me if I said I wrote this whole year-end test arc in a single document? I really wasn't deliberately cutting it off at a cliffhanger, everyone! I wrote tens of thousands of words in one document, then cut it into chapters one by one. I thought this was a good place to stop, so then—crack... Enough nonsense. Since I padded things out, I'll make up for it with word count. This chapter has 3300 words of actual content, and the next has 2500. Sincere enough, right? Finally, rolling around cutely to beg for recommendation votes and bookmarks!