Diligence Makes Up for Lack of Talent, Vergo's Shocking Move

"Tina's heart."

Below the stage, Shu and the others wore worried expressions. After holding on for over a hundred exchanges, Hina was full of openings.

After half an hour of battle, Hina was drenched in sweat, her pretty face pale, with blood already seeping from the corner of her mouth.

Seeing Hina in such a miserable state, no one knew why, but it stirred the protective instincts of the hot-blooded men below the stage. One after another, they pointed at Momonga and cursed loudly.

"Momonga, are you even a man? How can you bully Hina like this?"

"Momonga, I misjudged you! You brute who doesn't know how to treat a woman gently!"

"Stop it, Momonga! What are your hands doing? Are you taking advantage of Hina?"

"Don't let me draw you, or I'll beat you to death!"

Cursing furiously, the trainees below glared at Momonga while clutching chairs.

On the stage, Momonga's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. If he hadn't been mistaken, plenty of his good friends were cursing him too!

What happened to our friendship?

Damn it.

Fuck, this couldn't go on. He had to end the fight quickly, or the consequences would be unimaginable.

A bead of cold sweat rolled down his face. Momonga had no intention of dragging this out any longer. He sent out a slash, and as Hina blocked it, he used Soru to appear at her right side and kicked her off the arena.

With a muffled groan, Hina fell to the ground in a miserable state.

"Hina, are you alright?" Shu, Gion, and the others hurried to her side and helped her up.

"I'm fine." Hina was deeply dejected, drenched in sweat, and clearly not in good spirits.

"Momonga, go die!"

"We strongly demand that the referee declare Momonga the loser!"

"Agreed!"

All sorts of random things came flying at Momonga, making him tremble with rage.

If he could, Momonga wanted to say three words to everyone: "Fuck your mother."

In the end, the referee still declared Momonga the winner. But instead of cheers, he received only scorn.

As a result, Momonga's expression never eased throughout the entire event. His face remained taut and frighteningly dark.

He knew he had provoked public outrage.

But this was a competition. Wasn't he supposed to go all out? He won through his own strength, so why was everyone treating him like a criminal? It was as if they wanted to drag him away and execute him ten times over.

"Cough, cough. Next match."

The major serving as referee coughed and suppressed all the boos before starting the next match.

This battle was Shu's turn. His opponent was Hōshō. Unfortunately, after holding on for more than an hour, he was still defeated.

Then came the seventh match. It was Very Good, and surprisingly, he actually defeated his opponent.

In the eighth match, everyone received a bye.

The ninth match was Smoker's battle, and his opponent was Chaton. It had to be said that fate worked in mysterious ways. The two had clashed last time, but there had been no true winner. This time was the perfect opportunity.

Bang!

Their fists collided, both coated in Armament Haki. The entire arena shook. Smoker flipped backward through the air while Chaton staggered back several steps.

White Fist.

A house-sized fist of smoke shot toward Chaton like a cannonball.

Amid deafening booms, white smoke filled the entire arena, blocking everyone's sight.

Then came a continuous barrage of crashes. Collisions rang out endlessly from within the smoke, and no one knew what was happening.

After ten minutes, the smoke across the arena seemed to come alive and began to condense, revealing everything inside.

Smoker's face was deathly pale. His arms had transformed into massive smoke hands that pinned Chaton down tightly, leaving him unable to move.

Above Smoker's back, the smoke condensed into a spear aimed at Chaton.

"Do you surrender?"

Seeing this, everyone knew that Chaton had lost.

"I lost." Though filled with unwillingness, Chaton knew he had been defeated this round.

With the battle over, Smoker had never felt better.

"Well done." Shu and the others punched Smoker's shoulder, happy for him.

"Ye Chen's idea was still the best. Thanks."

Smoker grinned. Without Ye Chen's line of thought, how could he have developed his smoke to such an extent?

"It was your own hard work."

Smoker's outstanding performance made Kong and the others nod as well. As expected, even the weakest Logia could not be too bad. More importantly, Smoker had developed his ability quite well.

"Next match."

The tenth match was Vergo against Hōshō. The two stood on the arena. Vergo was expressionless, while Hōshō clenched his fists, his face somewhat grim.

He had lost the last clash due to carelessness. This time, he would definitely make up for it.

Both were pure martial artists, so from the very start, the battle was fiery and far more dazzling than the previous matches.

Gradually, the battle reached its most intense stage. On the elevated seats, Kong and the others all became serious.

"These two have decent martial arts."

Garp narrowed his eyes, his gaze especially focused on Vergo.

At the moment, Vergo was being suppressed by Hōshō. Yet Kong and the others all had their eyes on Vergo, because they could see far more than what appeared on the surface.

"Zephyr, if I remember correctly, the weighted gear you made last time for this Vergo weighed eight tons, right?"

Sengoku watched with interest as Vergo struggled to defend himself under Hōshō's attacks.

"That's right." Zephyr smiled as he looked at Vergo, who was at a disadvantage on the stage, his eyes full of approval.

"This kid has pretty good potential. Carrying eight tons of weight, yet he can still remain steady under his opponent's assault."

"He has what it takes to become strong."

At that moment, Garp turned serious as he looked at Vergo.

"Keep watching." Kong smiled. The stronger these youngsters became, the stronger the Navy's future would be.

After holding out for a full half hour, Vergo finally could not keep defending. Without taking off his weighted gear, there was no way he could win this duel.

The moment he removed the weights, the ground beneath the stage caved in, forming a pit and kicking up dust. The noisy venue instantly fell silent.

This monster had been fighting Hōshō while wearing weighted gear?

Holy shit!

Freed from the weights, Vergo bounced in place and stretched his body, feeling lighter than ever before.

Across from him, Hōshō's face immediately turned ugly. One look at those weights was enough to tell they were heavier than five months ago. Was this guy insane?

"I'll give you one chance. Surrender."

After loosening up, Vergo wore a cold expression as he looked indifferently at Hōshō.

"Hmph. I lost the last fight because I underestimated you. This time, don't even think about defeating me."

Hōshō snorted coldly. He would never allow himself to surrender before even fighting. But he did not know that Vergo's usual training was several times more intense than his.

Diligence makes up for lack of talent was no empty phrase!

Boom!

The entire ground exploded. Vergo vanished from where he stood and appeared before Hōshō. His right hand clenched into a fist, black Armament Haki covering it as overwhelming power radiated from it.

Every hair on Hōshō's body stood on end. Vergo was too fast. The next instant, blood surged, and a streak of light flew directly out of the arena toward the elevated seats.

At the same time, Garp silently vanished from his chair on the platform. He appeared in midair, caught Hōshō, who was bleeding from all seven orifices, and his expression turned grave.

The entire venue fell silent once more. Some people stood with their mouths wide open, completely dumbfounded.

What had just happened? There had only been a boom beside their ears, then Vergo had appeared before Hōshō. Next, Hōshō vomited blood and was sent flying?

What exactly happened in between?

Holding the continuously bleeding Hōshō, Garp looked at the expressionless Vergo on the arena. A glint flashed in his eyes. This kid was definitely a promising talent for martial arts training.

"Kid, if you run into any difficulties with martial arts in the future, come find me."

After saying that, without giving Vergo a chance to reply, Garp vanished from midair and appeared among the medical team waiting nearby, where he set Hōshō down.

Garp's words instantly ignited the pin-drop-silent venue. That was the Navy Hero Garp! Many trainees looked enviously at Vergo as he jumped off the arena and was surrounded by Hina and the others.