Performance (Please Keep Reading!)

That booming voice echoed throughout the entire harbor.

Countless Marine soldiers stopped where they were, staring in shock at Admiral Zephyr in the center.

Unlike Sengoku and Garp, these soldiers did not possess Conqueror's Haki, nor did they have Zephyr's keen sensitivity to Haki.

Most of them did not even know what had happened.

Only a very small number of perceptive soldiers sensed that heart-pounding aura.

Watching the mighty Marine elite approach, Beiyuan Heng, like the other Marines at the harbor, seemed to freeze in place for a moment.

It was not until Admiral Zephyr let out an angry roar that they were all pulled back to reality.

Zephyr did not care about any of that. He was genuinely itching for a fight now.

Ever since he had considered leaving the Marines, he had been kept confined to Marine Headquarters. Aside from a handful of missions, he was basically unable to go out.

Much less fight.

At that moment, a soldier timidly raised his hand and asked, "Admiral Zephyr, what exactly happened just now?"

Hearing this, impatience appeared on Zephyr's face. He did not want to explain at all.

Vice Admiral Tsuru, standing behind him, stepped forward at just the right moment and patiently addressed the soldiers.

"Did any of you just feel an aura that made your hearts pound?"

"Or suddenly feel your legs go weak?"

After hearing Vice Admiral Tsuru's words, the Marines began whispering among themselves.

Their voices were restrained at first, but as more and more people realized they had felt the same thing, the noise grew increasingly clamorous.

At that moment, an officer in a commodore's uniform stepped out of the crowd.

Garp, who was eating rice crackers behind Zephyr, noticed Beiyuan Heng and stared straight at him.

I've seen this kid before. If I remember correctly, he was transferred from Cipher Pol to the Marines a few months ago.

His name was Beiyuan Heng, I think.

Beiyuan Heng had been made a commodore as soon as he transferred over, and his way of doing things suited Garp's tastes very well. As such, Garp had a rather deep impression of him.

Could it be...

At that thought, Garp pushed Zephyr aside, walked to the front, and asked Beiyuan Heng,

"I remember your name is Beiyuan Heng, right? Do you know what that commotion just now was about?"

A trace of confusion and guilt appeared on Beiyuan Heng's face at the appropriate moment.

He gave a slight bow and spoke sincerely. "It was like this, Vice Admiral Garp."

"While I was training aboard the ship just now, I suddenly felt as though something inside me had awakened."

"At the time, I had no control over it and released it instinctively."

"I did not expect most of the people on that warship to faint for some reason."

"I do not know whether Admiral Zephyr's appearance here is related to this matter."

"But to be safe, I thought it would be better to say it."

Garp immediately became interested upon hearing this.

"Tell me more carefully."

Beiyuan Heng gathered his thoughts and spoke in deliberately vague terms:

"Over the past few months while carrying out missions, I felt unusually excited every day. I could not even sleep at night sometimes."

"When I was carrying out missions to capture pirates, there were even times when the other side fainted for no apparent reason without me having to make a move."

"I cannot control this power, but it could appear at any time."

"Only after it was fully released just now was I able to gain a preliminary grasp of it and control when it was released."

After saying that, a trace of unease and worry appeared in his eyes at just the right moment. "Vice Admiral Garp, is there something wrong with my body? Or did something go wrong with my training?"

Zephyr's two disciples, Ain and Binz, listened with puzzled expressions and fell into thought.

What kind of symptom is that? Isn't that good? Isn't it a good thing?

But Zephyr, Garp, and Vice Admiral Tsuru all had their eyes light up.

Vice Admiral Tsuru spoke in a certain tone. "Conqueror's Haki."

"Commodore Beiyuan Heng, based on what you have described, you have likely undergone an initial awakening of Conqueror's Haki."

"Conqueror's Haki?" Beiyuan Heng displayed the appropriate amount of confusion and curiosity. "I have only heard of Armament Haki and Observation Haki."

"Conqueror's Haki? What is that?"

Seeing this, Vice Admiral Tsuru explained to the confused and bewildered soldiers present as well.

"Unlike Armament Haki and Observation Haki, Conqueror's Haki cannot be mastered through training."

"It is a special kind of Haki that only a very small number of people can awaken with from birth."

"Those who possess Conqueror's Haki can use their sheer presence to frighten enemies into fainting."

What Vice Admiral Tsuru did not say was that Conqueror's Haki also symbolized the potential to become a king.

That was not something convenient to tell ordinary Marines.

"Beiyuan Heng?"

Only then did Zephyr realize that he seemed to have heard that name somewhere before.

After thinking for a while, he finally remembered.

"Kizaru once mentioned your name to me."

"He said you were an interesting kid and even recommended that I take you as my disciple."

"That guy doesn't suit my tastes, but his eye for talent is surprisingly good."

Seeing that the awakened Conqueror's Haki belonged to someone on the Marine side, Zephyr naturally dropped his hostility. A faint smile even appeared on his fierce face.

Though that smile looked utterly terrifying.

His three admiral-candidate disciples were all powerful, monsters in their own right, but he had never taken in a disciple who possessed Conqueror's Haki and the potential to become a king.

Perhaps he could show off to those old fellows in the future.

With that in mind, he looked at Garp and Vice Admiral Tsuru beside him.

He was already planning how to train Beiyuan Heng afterward and turn him into the strongest Marine rookie.

"Conqueror's Haki? So that's what it was."

Relief and understanding appeared on Beiyuan Heng's face. He gave the Marine officers a standard military salute. "Thank you for the explanation, Vice Admiral Tsuru. Now I do not need to worry anymore."

As he spoke, he made as if to return to the crowd.

However, Zephyr quickly called him back.

"Beiyuan Heng, you returned to attend an important meeting, right?"

Zephyr asked.

"Yes, Admiral Zephyr."

"Then come on, I will take you there. Kizaru has already told me about it. You should know what this is about yourself, right?"

Beiyuan Heng said excitedly, "At first, I hardly dared believe it. I did not expect that I really would be meeting with an admiral like you."

Flattered by those words, Zephyr smiled smugly. "Hurry up and follow me. Someone will naturally take care of the people on your ship."

Under the envious gazes of countless Marine soldiers, Beiyuan Heng calmly followed Zephyr and the others toward Marine Headquarters.

Of course, all of that had been Beiyuan Heng's performance.

He naturally knew what Conqueror's Haki was.

There had not been any loss of control over Conqueror's Haki at the Sabaody Archipelago either.

Nor had there been any inability to control that power.

This had all been a performance he had planned from the very beginning.