Identity Completely Exposed

Ten thousand meters above the ground.

Kahn was flying at full speed.

Gale-force winds howled past his ears, yet he did not even blink.

He was in a hurry.

That old man Garp was probably already on his way back to the East Blue.

If Garp discovered that he was not in Foosha Village, things would get troublesome.

Although he was not afraid of laying his cards on the table with Garp.

Now was not the time.

He still needed to grow stronger.

He still needed more time to bask in the sun and fill every cell in his body.

"This haul wasn't bad."

Kahn felt the surging power within him.

Although he had not killed that sleazy uncle in his fight with Kizaru, he had absorbed quite a bit of light energy.

That kind of pure high-energy laser was far more potent than ordinary sunlight.

It had directly pushed his physical abilities up another notch.

More importantly—

The seeds had already been planted.

Fisher Tiger.

Boa Hancock.

Those two would both become crucial pieces on this sea in the future.

One was the spiritual leader of Fish-Man Island.

The other was the Empress of Amazon Lily.

Controlling them was equivalent to controlling two forces that could not be ignored.

"As for that little girl..."

Kahn recalled Hancock's look just now.

A teasing smile curled across his lips.

In the original story, the Pirate Empress had been so proud that she practically held her head in the clouds, telling everyone, "No matter what I do, I will be forgiven, because I am too beautiful."

But now, she was like a frightened little quail.

That contrast was rather interesting.

Still—

He had no time to enjoy the pleasure of raising someone up just yet.

There was a bigger problem at hand.

Kahn lowered his gaze toward the sea below.

His eyes pierced through the clouds.

He spotted a warship flying across the waves, its flag bearing a dog's head.

It was moving so fast that it hardly looked like a ship at all.

At the bow—

An old man in a suit and a Justice coat stood there, eating rice crackers.

His face was as dark as the bottom of a pot.

Even from several thousand meters away, Kahn could feel the resentment soaring off him.

"Tsk."

"That old bastard got here fast."

Kahn adjusted his posture.

He took a deep breath, then accelerated into a dive toward the East Blue like a meteor.

He had to return to the Dadan Family before Garp reached shore.

He had to pretend he had just woken up.

If he blew the act—

He probably would not escape a round of Fist of Love.

Three days later.

East Blue, Foosha Village, back mountain.

Inside the Dadan Family's bandit hideout, the atmosphere was terrifyingly oppressive.

Ace, Sabo, and Luffy were doing push-ups on the ground.

Each of them had a massive stone weighing several hundred pounds strapped to his back.

Sweat had soaked the ground beneath them.

Yet none of them dared complain about being tired.

Because the devil supervising them was lying on the nearby roof, basking in the sun.

Kahn had a blade of foxtail grass between his teeth, one leg crossed over the other.

He had been catching up on sleep these past few days.

Naturally, he had been doing so under the sun.

After the outburst at Mary Geoise, his body had entered a period of rapid growth.

The hunger gnawing at him made him want to swallow the sun whole.

"Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight..."

"Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine..."

Ace gritted his teeth and counted.

His arms were trembling.

"Can't you go any faster?"

Kahn's lazy voice drifted down from the roof.

"What time is it? Didn't you eat enough for breakfast?"

"Or do you want me to personally help loosen up your bones?"

The moment they heard the words "loosen up your bones,"

The three brothers shuddered in unison.

Their speed instantly doubled.

Just then—

A flock of birds suddenly burst out of the forest.

A suffocating, terrifying presence rapidly closed in from the foot of the mountain.

That feeling—

It was like an enraged Godzilla was charging straight at them.

Kahn opened his eyes.

He spat out the grass stem in his mouth.

He was here.

That old bastard had finally arrived.

Boom!

The Dadan Family's already rickety front door was kicked clean off.

Wood chips flew everywhere.

Garp stood in the doorway with a grim face.

Black smoke still rose from his fist.

Dadan dropped to her knees on the spot, tears and snot streaming down her face.

"G-Garp..."

Garp did not even spare Dadan a glance.

His tiger-like eyes were locked firmly on Kahn atop the roof.

There was scrutiny in his gaze, suspicion, and the faintest trace of... relief.

"Kahn!"

Garp's furious roar

Shook the entire wooden house.

"Get your ass down here!"

Kahn rolled over and slowly sat up.

He yawned, looking innocently at Garp.

"What is it, old man?"

"Why are you so worked up?"

"Hit menopause?"

The veins on Garp's forehead bulged.

Without another word, he kicked off the ground and shot up onto the roof like a cannonball.

Jet-black Armament Haki instantly coated his fist.

"Stop talking nonsense!"

"Take one of my punches first!"

That was Garp's method of verifying someone's identity.

It did not matter whether Kahn was that mysterious person.

He would beat him up first.

If he was, then Garp could give him exactly the beating he deserved.

If he was not... then it would count as loving education.

Kahn watched the fist rapidly enlarge in his vision.

The corners of his lips rose.

Perfect.

He could use the old man to test the results of these past few days of charging.

He raised his fist as well.

No Haki.

Only pure physical strength.

One large fist and one small fist collided viciously in midair.

Boom—!!!

A terrifying shockwave instantly swept across all of Mount Colubo.

Luffy and the other two were blown away together with their stones.

The Dadan Family's roof exploded outright.

Amid the dust—

Kahn did not budge an inch.

But Garp... actually took half a step back.

The old man's eyes suddenly widened.

That punch.

That feeling.

There was no mistaking it.

That bastard who had turned Mary Geoise upside down...

Really was this brat!

The dust seemed to have been forcibly pressed down by an enormous hand.

That thunderous crash had shaken the Dadan Family's ramshackle wooden house so badly that it was still creaking nonstop, as though it might fall apart at any moment.

More than half the roof was gone.

Sunlight poured down without obstruction, landing squarely on the two people facing each other.

Garp maintained his punching stance, black smoke still rising from his fist as large as a casserole.

But the wooden floor beneath his feet had already shattered into powder, and both legs were buried deep in the dirt beneath the foundation.

He was trembling.

Not from pain, but from the shockwave's recoil.

Across from him—

Kahn was still sitting there. The spot beneath his butt had not shifted even a single inch.

The half-eaten wild fruit in his hand had somehow been crushed into pulp. Aside from that, the brat looked completely unfazed, like someone who had just been woken from a nap by noise.

Silence.

Deathly silence.

The only sound was the crisp pop of Luffy pulling his head out from a pile of rocks in the distance.

"You..."

The moment Garp uttered that single word, his face began twitching wildly.

That punch just now had not used Conqueror's Coating, but he had absolutely not held back.

A hit like that would break at least a few bones if it landed on an ordinary vice admiral.

But when it struck this brat's fist, it felt like he had smashed into a solid mountain of iron.

The recoil traveled up his arm, numbing half his body.

What kind of bones did a nine-year-old have?

"What did you say?"

Kahn shook the fruit pulp from his hand and looked at Garp with utter disgust.

"You come back and start tearing the place apart. Does Dadan rebuild this house for free? If you're having a menopausal episode, go swim a couple of laps in the sea behind the house. Don't take it out on your grandson."

"Bullshit!"

Garp yanked his hand out of the muck, sending a large clump of dirt flying.

He pointed at Kahn's nose, his eyes wide as bronze bells, looking as though he wanted to swallow Kahn whole.

"You brat, still trying to play dumb with me? What was that power just now? With that kind of physical strength, aside from a monster like you, could East Blue possibly produce a second one?"

"What, I can't just be naturally gifted?"