Garp and Leon

"You're here."

As dusk settled, Leon, full and satisfied, had just pushed open the courtyard gate when he saw Garp, who radiated nothing but "brooding," standing stock-still in the middle of the yard.

Has this old man gone crazy?

"Should I not have come?"

Leon tested the waters with a reply, and Garp's face darkened.

"Where the hell else do you think you're going!?"

"If it weren't for me protecting you, do you really think that with your so-called 'Rookie of the Marines' reputation, you'd get off with just six months of house arrest after injuring a fellow officer!?"

Faced with Garp's reprimand, Leon's temper flared, and he shot back without backing down: "You've got some nerve blaming me, old man!"

"If you hadn't sent me to the South Blue, would I have gotten mixed up in all this Navy nonsense!?"

"Heh..."

To Leon's defiance, Garp actually laughed. He clasped his hands behind his back and walked toward the courtyard gate.

"Come on, kid. You're pretty pissed off, aren't you?"

"What for?"

Leon's guard went up.

Garp passed by Leon without looking back, leaving only a single remark.

"Between men, problems are settled with fists."

Huh?

Garp walked off into the distance, giving Leon no chance to object.

Leon instantly regained his composure. I knew that old man Garp was up to something—he just wanted an excuse to beat me up.

I guarded against every trick, but I still slipped up...

Too bad. Give it another twenty or thirty years, and I wouldn't fear anyone.

To be honest, I've got a technique that's perfect for taking down the old and weak...

Watching the silhouette about to vanish into the dark, Leon smirked and followed.

"Whatever. Might as well see just how strong Garp is at his peak."

The two went straight to a beach by the sea—a wide, open space, eerily quiet.

A good place for a fight.

Garp shed his Coat of Justice and suit jacket, revealing muscles as dense as if cast from steel.

Leon silently unwrapped the bandages around his fists. Once the fight starts, I won't have time to worry about radiation poisoning.

Anyway, this old man's tough—he can take it.

Garp cracked his knuckles.

"Leon, kid, you ready yet?"

Leon didn't rush to answer. He walked up to Garp and released the suppression on the nuclear radiation inside him.

"Ready."

The moment the words left his mouth, Garp closed in, a fist the size of a sandbag flying straight at Leon's face.

Too fast!

Facing Garp's heavy blow, Leon made a quick judgment: any attempt to dodge this punch was futile.

The only option is—

To clash!

Leon stepped back with his right leg, raised his right fist, and channeled all his strength.

In an instant, two fists—one large, one small—collided in midair.

Leon's body was sent flying backward. He twisted in the air several times to absorb the force, then drove his legs deep into the sand.

He can have this much power without even using Armament Haki...

Leon pulled himself out of the sand and, without a moment's hesitation, shot toward Garp at near-teleportation speed.

"Not bad, kid. Just with raw physical ability, you can burst out speed like 'Soru.'"

"I underestimated you."

The roles of attacker and defender swapped, but facing Leon's assault, the battle-hardened Garp handled it with ease.

Even though every strike from Leon carried immense force, Garp always predicted the trajectory of his punches a step ahead, then seized the opening and sent Leon flying again.

"Observation Haki."

Leon got up once more, but this time he didn't rush to attack.

With Observation Haki letting him predict every move I make, Garp's advantage in this fight is just too huge.

Even though Leon possessed powerful perception, it was fundamentally different from Observation Haki, which could be developed to the point of foreseeing the future.

"If only I had a tail too, then I'd see if this old geezer could still predict..."

At this moment, Leon had deeply realized the vast gap in combat experience between himself and Garp.

Garp's techniques were all honed through life-and-death struggles, while Leon still mainly relied on his body's battle instincts.

"Looks like there's no other way..."

Leon once again pulled himself out of the sand, the once-flat beach now pockmarked with countless craters of all sizes.

And Garp stood right where he was, without moving an inch.

Facing Leon's renewed assault after regrouping, Garp burst into wild laughter.

It seemed this disciple of his wasn't just physically strong—his will was incredibly tenacious too!

This old man's eye sure wasn't bad...

Garp threw his right fist, but this time, Leon wasn't instantly sent flying like before.

He didn't dodge or evade at all, taking Garp's punch straight to the face, and in the moment he was about to be knocked away, he grabbed Garp's right fist tightly with his left hand.

Using Garp's right arm as a pivot, Leon twisted his body and drove his right knee viciously into Garp's chin!

Garp exerted force with his right hand, flinging Leon away, then spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva.

Despite being unexpectedly injured, Garp wasn't the least bit angry. He said with a hint of approval, "Trading blow for blow, not bad, kid!"