Monsters Emerge from the North Blue

"Damn!!"

Gion's expression changed dramatically at the sight. She finally realized that Darren clearly possessed tremendous strength. 👌👽  🐊☞

He'd been playing with them!

Gion's partner excelled at close-quarters combat, and his physical strength was astonishing.

Yet his attacks had failed to cause Darren even the slightest harm!

Looking at Darren's muscular, bare chest, covered in savage scars, a thought suddenly came to Gion.

This guy's physical defenses must have reached a superhuman level!

Under normal circumstances, his body might even be as hard as Iron Body!

As the thought flashed through her mind, Gion no longer hesitated. She sprang forward, a streak of pink light.

Her eyes blazed with fighting spirit, and the golden Famous Sword in her hand gleamed with dazzling, icy light.

Things had come this far. There was no way she could back down now.

She and Gion's partner represented Marine Headquarters, and so many Marines were watching. No matter what, they had to save face!

"Watch out, Marine Captain Darren!"

As soon as the words left her mouth, Gion was already before Darren.

The golden Famous Sword in her hand sliced through the air with a piercing shriek.

"Iai—Peach Smoke!"

Her blade came down!

Shing!!

The golden sword slashed down hard, and blood sprayed into the air.

A savage gash opened across Darren's chest, gushing with blood.

Gion's pupils abruptly contracted.

He hadn't dodged!?

She stared at the Marine Captain before her in utter bewilderment, unable to react for a moment.

The blade of her sword was lodged firmly in the muscles of Darren's chest. It couldn't go any farther!

Then she saw a smile.

A cruel, delighted smile, touched with a hint of madness, slowly spread across Darren's lips, widening into an utterly unrestrained grin.

"So this is the Breath of All Things... the realm of cutting steel?"

Darren licked the salty, metallic blood splashed across his lips and looked at Gion with admiration.

"As expected of a genius from Marine Headquarters. You're only one step away from becoming a master swordsman."

As soon as he finished speaking, Gion felt a violent gust of wind slam into her, stinging her cheeks.

The air exploded before her.

So fast!!

Her expression changed drastically, and she instinctively raised her sword to block.

Clang!!

A black military boot slammed into the blade.

Gion felt an immense force surge through her. It was as if a Sea Train traveling at full speed had hit her head-on. She flew backward like a cannonball.

Ripples of air spread through the void.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Gion's body smashed through several heavy stone targets before she finally tumbled to the ground.

Rubble rained down around her.

Blood trickled from the corner of Gion's mouth. Her sword hand trembled, and the web between her thumb and index finger was torn and bleeding, burning with pain.

She stared at the man in the distance, disbelief and shock surging through her.

This guy... Not only was his body monstrously tough, he also had the strength of a grown giant!?

"Gaaaaah!! Damn it!! Darren, you bastard!! How dare you hit me in the face!!"

A furious roar suddenly rang out.

"I make my living off this face!"

With difficulty, Gion's partner pulled his head out of the crater. His face was swollen like a pig's, and he panted heavily. At some point, his eyes had turned bloodshot.

His presence changed in an instant, like a ferocious beast waking from its slumber.

"You actually forced me to use this kind of strength... You should be proud."

Hunched over, Gion's partner swayed as he slowly steadied himself.

His uniform suddenly stretched tight. Muscles bulged across his lean body like volcanic rock, swelling as his face twisted into a fierce scowl.

Crackling sounds...

As his strength erupted, fine cracks spread across the ground beneath him, crushed by the powerful shock waves.

The Marines watching were visibly shaken by the terrifying sight.

"What an incredible physique!"

"He had all that power inside him?"

"So this is a genius from Marine Headquarters!?"

They stared in astonishment as Gion's partner, a Rear Admiral from Marine Headquarters, charged toward Darren with overwhelming ferocity.

His speed kept increasing, and he moved with twice the force and speed of his earlier attack!

Like a meteor, he shot toward Darren, the base commander.

And then...

Thud!!

...he was sent flying back even faster than he'd charged in.

Crimson blood sprayed from his mouth, and his uniform was torn to pieces in an instant by the brutal force.

After rolling across the ground more than a dozen times, Gion's partner curled up like a cooked shrimp.

He opened his mouth wide, like a fish gasping for air, his bloodshot eyes bulging from their sockets with pain.

"Urgh!!"

He vomited a pool of sour-smelling liquid, filling the air with a nauseating stench.

Silence.

The entire training ground fell deathly quiet.

Under everyone's stunned gaze, the newly appointed North Blue Admiral slowly walked toward Gion and her partner.

His tall frame cast a shadow in the blazing sunlight, enveloping them both.

Darren looked down at the two "inspectors" Marine Headquarters had sent to keep an eye on him, a sunny smile on his face.

"You two really are experts from Marine Headquarters..."

He blinked.

"—I look forward to working with you."

"Damn it!! Darren, you bastard! How can you be this strong!?"

Gion's partner had finally finished retching. He panted as he raised his head, bloodshot eyes fixed on Darren.

At his words, Darren seemed to remember something amusing, and a smile appeared on his face.

"Compared to the real monsters, I'm not that strong..."

He spoke with a smile, then glanced down at the scar on his chest.

Mm, the bleeding had stopped. It felt like it was already starting to scab over.

"All right, that was an interesting spar."

He turned and headed for the far end of the training ground.

"Warm-up's over. Now I need to start my actual training."

Gion and her partner: ???

They stared at him, dumbfounded.

That fight just now... had only been a warm-up for him!?

He'd even taken a slash!

He'd been bleeding like crazy!

Oh, the wound was already starting to scab over. Never mind, then.

They exchanged a glance, their shock plain to see.

Rumble!!

Just as Gion and her partner were reeling from the shock, a series of heart-pounding rumbles rose from beneath their feet.

Dust and gravel bounced across the training ground.

They sensed something and looked up.

The sight before them left their minds blank.

A hundred meters away,

the man who had just crushed them with overwhelming force was holding a massive black iron chain.

The rusty black chain was about ten meters long, its far end attached to an abandoned warship outside the training ground.

As the muscles across his body swelled like solid volcanic rock,

Darren gripped the huge chain with both hands,

and dragged the six-meter-tall medium-sized warship

forward, slowly!!

One step,

then another,

with every step,

Darren's military boots sank into the training ground, leaving shallow holes.

As he moved forward,

the enormous warship dragged behind him

scraped a deep furrow across the ground, sending tremors through the area.

From where Gion and her partner stood,

the Marine Captain, small in the distance,

dragged the enormous warship,

under the blazing sun,

creating a breathtakingly powerful sight.

Gion and her partner gaped at him. They opened their mouths but couldn't say a word.

"You've only just arrived in the North Blue. There's a lot you don't know."

Momonga came over to stand beside Gion and her partner.

He watched the Marine Captain struggling to drag the warship forward in the distance, his admiration plain in his eyes.

"Before Rear Admiral Sakazuki was transferred from the North Blue to Marine Headquarters, Marine Captain Darren was his adjutant."

"Most of the countless scars on Marine Captain Darren's body... came from sparring with Rear Admiral Sakazuki."

At that, Gion and her partner both drew in sharp breaths.

Those terrifying scars... had come from sparring?

That... That wasn't sparring...

That was a savage fight between beasts!!

A man who could fight that "monster," Sakazuki...

Thinking back to their own "spar," Gion and her partner flushed with embarrassment.

They had fought with everything they had, but to that lunatic Darren, it must have seemed like child's play...

"Another monster..."

Gion's partner swallowed hard and spoke hoarsely.

The saying "monsters emerge from the North Blue" had spread throughout Marine Headquarters in Marineford over the past year or two.

Two fearsome oddities with completely different personalities had risen from this most chaotic of the four seas.

—Sakazuki and Borsalino.

They graduated from the Officer Training Camp in less than half a year, then rose to prominence with their astonishing talent and unstoppable momentum. Admiral Zephyr himself had recognized them as "monsters."

But now,

perhaps before long,

another "monster" would emerge from this chaotic sea.

His name was Rogers Darren.