"Mr. Garp... can't you use the door properly every time?"
Makino looked at the tavern door that had gloriously sacrificed itself, shattered into splinters all over the floor, and helplessly pressed a hand to her forehead.
Her gentle face was filled with resigned complaint. Clearly, she had long grown used to this kind of violent entrance.
"Wahahaha! Sorry, sorry, Makino! I just got off the warship and couldn't rein in my foot!"
Amid flying wood chips, an old man wearing a ridiculous dog-head hat and built like an iron tower strode in with a hearty laugh.
He wore an immaculate white high-ranking Marine uniform, draped in a great cloak embroidered with the enormous word "Justice." His face was covered in a thick beard, and he looked rough, unrestrained, and utterly bold.
It was none other than the legendary vice admiral who had driven Pirate King Gol D. Roger into desperate straits several times—the man hailed as the "Hero of the Marines," "Iron Fist" Monkey D. Garp!
He happened to be on leave this time and had stopped by his hometown, Foosha Village, to visit family—and check in on his two troublesome grandsons.
"Makino! Enough with the useless chatter! Bring me a bag of the senbei you made yourself, and a cup of hot tea!"
Garp dropped himself carelessly onto a stool before the bar and shouted in a booming voice loud enough to make the glasses on display hum in resonance.
"Honestly... can't you keep your voice down? You'll scare the customers."
Though Makino complained, she still nodded with a smile and turned toward the kitchen.
She knew that was simply the personality of this Marine hero—someone who never fussed over little things.
Garp casually crossed one leg over the other and swept his gaze around the tiny tavern.
Then suddenly, his eyes stopped on the black-haired boy sitting at the farthest corner of the bar, leisurely cutting a piece of grilled sea beast meat with a knife and fork.
Hmm?
Garp's eyes, usually narrowed from all his laughter, opened by the slightest fraction.
When had such an unfamiliar little brat come to Foosha Village?
The kid looked spirited enough. He was far more pleasing to the eye than Garp's two monkey-like grandsons.
Lei En, who had been concentrating on his grilled meat, felt Garp's aggressively probing gaze and couldn't help swearing inwardly. Damn it.
No matter how much he calculated, he had never expected that on his very first day in the village, before even catching a glimpse of Luffy, he would run headfirst into Luffy's grandfather—the unreasonable old monster with unfathomable strength!
He had been careless!
Lei En quickly lowered his head, doing his utmost to conceal the powerful aura that naturally radiated from years of training. He pretended to be nothing more than an ordinary young tourist visiting town for the first time, drawn in by the food.
However, it was already too late.
A sharp, hawk-like glint flashed through Garp's seemingly cloudy old eyes!
His beast-like battle instinct, honed through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, was frantically screaming warnings at his brain!
Danger!
Extreme danger!
That little brat before him looked harmless, even somewhat handsome, yet he gave off an unfathomable and terrifying aura—one Garp rarely felt even from the great pirates in the New World with bounties over a billion!
Though the aura was well concealed, before a powerhouse at Garp's level, it was like a bonfire in the night. No matter how it was hidden, its scorching heat could not be completely covered up.
It felt like an ancient beast draped in harmless sheep's clothing, lazily dozing in its own territory.
"Interesting... truly interesting..."
Garp grinned, an intensely interested smile spreading across his face, filled with the excitement of a hunter who had spotted worthy prey.
Without drawing attention to himself, he rose to his feet and pretended to head for the kitchen to hurry Makino along about the senbei. Then he slowly walked over to Lei En's side.
"Kid, you're not from around here, are you? Where did you come from?"
Garp's voice sounded friendly, like an ordinary old neighbor chatting with a junior.
But Lei En could clearly feel a mountain-like pressure slowly radiating from the old man, locking onto him.
This was a top powerhouse's test before making a move!
Lei En cursed the old fox inwardly, but his expression remained unchanged.
He did not even raise his head. He continued cutting the meat on his plate with his knife and fork as if he had not felt the pressure at all.
"None of your damn business, old man."
That exceptionally rude, even arrogant answer froze the smile on Garp's face at once.
Well, damn!
This little brat had quite the temper!
These days, there were very few people who dared speak to Garp like that!
"Wahahaha! You've got character! I like little brats with character!"
Rather than getting angry, Garp laughed even more loudly. His booming laughter made dust rain down from the ceiling.
Without any warning, his fan-sized hand came down on Lei En's somewhat lean shoulder.
But the sensation beneath his palm made Garp's heart jolt.
The boy's shoulder looked thin, yet it was hard as iron, with a density frighteningly high!
"Since you've got so much character, let this old man see whether your bones are as hard as your mouth!"
Before his words had even faded!
Garp's gaze instantly turned blade-sharp!
His free right hand made no unnecessary windup. It was merely an incomparably simple, brutally direct straight punch, accompanied by a terrifying shriek that tore through the air as it smashed toward Lei En's temple!
That punch was fast beyond measure!
And vicious beyond measure!
Garp had not held back at all. This was the very Love Fist he had used to discipline countless arrogant pirates over his decades roaming the seas!
A terrifying blow powerful enough to punch through the armor plating of a steel warship!
"Mr. Garp! Don't!"
At the kitchen entrance, Makino had just emerged carrying a plate of steaming senbei. Seeing this, her face went pale with fright. The plate fell from her hands with a clang, scattering senbei across the floor.
Yet faced with that terrifying, potentially fatal punch, Lei En's face showed not the slightest panic.
He did not even move his butt from the barstool.
At the very instant, 0.01 seconds before Garp's mountain-shattering fist struck his temple!
Lei En's eyes narrowed!
Like lightning, he raised his right hand and threw an equally unadorned, simple, brutal straight punch directly at Garp's iron fist!
"BOOM—!!!"
One large and one small, two fists of utterly disproportionate size collided explosively within the tavern's cramped space!
In that instant, the air throughout the entire tavern seemed to freeze.
Then!
A visible white ring of air burst from the point where their fists met, spreading wildly in every direction like an exploding bomb!
The wine glasses, plates, and bottles on the bar all burst apart with a bang the moment the shockwave touched them, becoming shards that filled the air!
The tavern's thick glass windows shattered with a crash under that terrifying impact, sending fragments flying more than ten meters outside!
An incomparably dense black Armament Haki, like boiling ink, instantly covered Lei En's entire fist, radiating a heart-pounding metallic gleam!
And that was not all!
"Crackle! Crackle!"
Ominous black-red lightning erupted, leaped, and tore through the air in the narrow gap between their colliding fists!
"Th-This is?!"
Garp's eyes, wide as bells, were filled with unprecedented shock and horror.
He stared fixedly at the incredibly pure Armament Haki wrapping Lei En's fist, as well as the black-red lightning that only appeared when legendary top-tier powerhouses fought with all their strength. It felt as though his mind was about to shut down.
He had only ever seen this phenomenon on monsters at the level of Roger and Whitebeard!
"C-Conqueror's Coating?!"
Garp cried out, his voice trembling from utter shock.
"What kind of joke is this?! How can a little brat who looks no older than ten possibly master a technique that even this old man... hasn't fully comprehended yet?!"
Before he could finish.
Lei En looked at the old man before him, whose face was filled with shock as though his entire worldview had collapsed, and a wildly arrogant curve lifted at the corner of his mouth.
He abruptly twisted his wrist, and that domineering power fused with lightning instantly erupted!
A force several times more terrifying than before surged wildly up Garp's arm!
"Old man, surprised?"
Lei En's voice was not loud, but it carried an arrogant pride that looked down upon the whole world.
"If you're surprised, then get the hell away from me!"
Before you continue