Hard Clash with Garp! Garp: My Punch Didn't Even Break His Defense?

Dadan did not really understand either.

But she felt that everything Kahn did was right.

After all, Kahn had just dragged back a tiger bigger than their wooden cabin yesterday.

It was enough to feed them for half a month.

Ace scoffed at Kahn's behavior.

"Idiot. How can lying around make you stronger?"

Ace held a sharpened wooden stick.

He madly stabbed it into a tree trunk.

He desperately wanted to grow stronger.

He wanted to defeat Kahn.

Though they were twins, Kahn had always outdone him.

Whether it was how fast they ate or the size of the prey they hunted.

This made the proud Ace extremely unhappy.

Kahn opened his eyes.

He looked at Ace, drenched in sweat.

"Want to spar?"

Kahn stood up and rolled his neck.

Ace's eyes lit up.

He tossed aside the wooden stick, raised his fists, and charged forward.

"Just what I wanted!"

Ace rushed in, his fist smashing toward Kahn's face.

Kahn did not dodge.

He did not even take a defensive stance.

He let Ace's fist slam into the bridge of his nose.

"Bang!"

A dull thud rang out.

Ace cried out miserably, clutching his wrist as he staggered back.

It felt like his punch had struck a solid steel plate.

The pain in his finger bones was piercing.

Kahn touched his nose. Not even a red mark had been left behind.

"Too weak, Ace."

"You can't even break through my defense."

Kahn's tone was calm.

There was no mockery in it. He was merely stating a fact.

Ace gritted his teeth, his eyes turning slightly red.

He was unwilling to accept it.

Why was the gap between them so huge when they were the same age?

"Again!"

Ace lunged at him once more.

The result did not change at all.

He was knocked back again and again, only to charge forward again and again.

Until he was utterly exhausted and collapsed onto the grass, gasping for breath.

Kahn walked over and looked down at him.

"If you want to grow stronger, eat more meat and lose your temper less."

"Your body hasn't fully developed yet. Overdrawing your strength now will only affect your growth."

After saying that, Kahn lay back down on the grass.

He continued absorbing sunlight.

Ace looked at Kahn's back, his emotions a tangled mess.

He hated Kahn's lofty, lecturing tone.

But he had no choice but to admit that Kahn was right.

In this world where the strong preyed on the weak, strength was the absolute truth.

Night fell.

The temperature on Mount Colubo dropped sharply.

A fire had been lit inside the wooden cabin.

The aroma of roasted meat filled the air.

Dadan cut off the plumpest piece of hind leg meat and handed it to Kahn.

"Eat up, little monster."

Kahn took the roasted meat and tore into it in huge bites.

Although the energy brought by sunlight could strengthen his body, it could not completely replace food.

His intense metabolism still required a huge amount of calories.

Ace sat off to the side.

He gnawed viciously on a bone.

He practically treated that bone as Kahn.

As he ate, Kahn silently considered his plans for the future.

He was only three years old now.

Though he possessed Kryptonian Physiology, he was still far from becoming a true top powerhouse of the seas.

He needed time.

He needed more sunlight.

He also needed to master this world's core power.

Haki.

Although Garp had thrown him here, he would never simply leave them unattended.

Once the time was right, Kahn would definitely find a way to learn the methods of cultivating Haki from Garp.

Armament Haki and Observation Haki.

And Conqueror's Haki, which only one in a million possessed.

He wanted them all.

Only by mastering these could he truly establish himself on these seas.

Only then would he have the right to overturn the board in the future Paramount War.

The firelight shone over Kahn's young face.

His gaze was deep and resolute.

Gol D. Roger's son.

That identity was both a curse and a source of motivation.

The World Government wanted to erase them.

The Navy wanted to turn them into lapdogs of justice.

The pirates wanted to exploit their bloodline.

But Kahn would never allow others to manipulate him.

He would walk a path that belonged to him alone.

A path that would crush everything with absolute strength.

Tomorrow, the Sun would rise as usual.

He would become stronger.

Stronger than he was today.

Stronger than everyone else.

Half a year later.

Mornings on Mount Colubo were always shattered by the startled cries of birds.

The cabin door once again met its miserable fate.

With wood chips flying everywhere, Garp's massive figure squeezed through the narrow doorway.

He carried a huge wild boar he had just killed in one hand.

"Dadan, I've come to see my grandsons!"

Garp's booming voice shook dust loose from the ceiling.

Dadan was carrying a pot of hot soup. Her hand jerked, and she spilled it all over Dogra's feet.

Dogra clutched his feet and rolled across the floor, not even daring to scream too loudly.

Ace was sitting in the corner, gnawing on a bone left over from the night before.

The moment he saw Garp enter, he dropped the bone and darted toward the window.

Garp casually tossed the several-ton wild boar onto the ground.

The earth shuddered violently.

He strode forward and grabbed Ace by the back of his collar.

"Brat, aren't you even going to greet your grandfather?"

Garp raised his fist and mercilessly slammed it into the top of Ace's head.

Ace squatted on the ground, clutching his head as tears welled up in his eyes.

"You bastard old man, who's your grandson?!"

Garp burst into laughter, completely unconcerned by Ace's insults.

He turned to look into the yard.

Kahn was sitting bare-chested on a wooden stump.

The morning sunlight fell over him, giving off a faint bronze sheen.

This little brat was sunbathing again.

Garp scratched his head, feeling that there was something indescribably strange about the sight.

He strode over to Kahn.

His shadow blocked the sunlight falling on Kahn.

Kahn opened his eyes and looked up at this towering figure of the Navy.

"Old man Garp, you're blocking my light."

Kahn's tone was calm, completely lacking the timidity a three-year-old should have had.

Garp grinned, revealing two rows of gleaming white teeth.

"Brat, it seems you've been living too comfortably here."

"Today, I'll properly inspect the results of your training."

Garp clenched his fists, and his knuckles crackled like popping beans.

Dadan watched from inside the cabin, her heart pounding.

She was terrified that this Navy hero would kill that little monster with one punch.

Kahn stood up and patted the dust off his pants.

He did not run away like Ace.

Instead, he stepped forward.

"Fine."

"I also want to know what level I'm at now."

Kahn's words made Garp pause.

This little brat was actually challenging him on his own initiative.

Garp crossed his arms and looked down at Kahn.

"You've got guts. Then come at me."

Kahn drew a deep breath.

His lungs pumped like bellows.

The solar energy he had absorbed over the past half year boiled through his blood.

He explosively drove off with both legs.

The dirt beneath his feet burst apart, leaving a shallow crater.

Kahn shot toward Garp like a cannonball.

He moved so fast that Dadan inside the cabin rubbed her eyes.

This was not explosive power a three-year-old could possibly possess.

Kahn twisted his waist in midair, his right fist carrying a fierce wind as it smashed toward Garp's abdomen.

Garp did not dodge. He did not even lower his hands.

He intended to take the punch head-on and see just how capable this little brat really was.

"Bang!"

Fist met flesh with a muffled boom.

A shockwave spread outward from the two of them.

The weeds in the yard were blown flat against the ground.

The smile on Garp's face froze.

He felt an incredibly brute force pierce through the muscles of his abdomen.

Though it was not enough to injure him, that force definitely surpassed that of an ordinary grown man.

And this was just a three-and-a-half-year-old brat.

Kahn did not press the attack after his strike failed.

Borrowing the rebound force, he flipped once through the air and landed steadily.

His fist was slightly red.

Garp's muscles were practically harder than steel.

Kahn shook out his hand, one eyebrow rising slightly.

Looks like he had no choice but to show some real skill.

Garp lowered his hands, and his expression changed.

The teasing look he had used for a child was gone, replaced by a trace of scrutiny.

"Not bad power."

"My turn."

Garp raised his right hand and threw a seemingly casual punch.

He did not use Armament Haki.

He had not even used one-tenth of his strength.

Yet a piercing shriek still tore through the air.

Kahn did not retreat.

He knew he could not.

Kryptonian Physiology granted him not only strength, but also absurdly powerful defense.

He crossed his arms before his chest.

And forcibly took Garp's punch head-on.

"Boom!"

Kahn's feet plowed two deep trenches into the ground.

He slid for more than ten meters before finally stopping.

His back slammed into a thick oak tree.

The trunk shook violently, sending leaves flying everywhere.

Kahn lowered his numb arms.

Other than some redness and swelling on his forearms, his bones were completely intact.

He grinned.

He really could take it.

All that sunbathing had not been for nothing.

Garp's eyes widened like bronze bells.

He knew better than anyone how much force that punch had carried.