Rear Admiral

Even without Conqueror's Haki Infusion, a single punch could shatter a vast stretch of ground.

Was this Iron Fist?

No, I could call this Iron Body!

Delight welled up inside Xia Le.

He did not particularly care about defense. His goal in leveling Iron Body was to harden his fists and body, ultimately boosting his strength.

At the same time, he sensed that if he kept leveling it, he would be able to concentrate Iron Body in one spot, further increasing that area's defense and hardness.

If he concentrated it in his fist, it would become a true iron fist!

In a sense, this technique was already similar to coating himself in Armament Haki, except it could not let him grab Logia users.

The night passed quickly, but the fierce battle had yet to end.

There was no denying that humans in the pirate world had monstrous physiques. Both sides fought to the death with almost no respite.

Garp and Roger had fought their way to the island's center, sending dazzling light and violent shockwaves sweeping outward.

Over the course of that night's fighting, Xia Le raised Iron Body to level fifty.

At level fifty, he could control Iron Body freely, stacking the defense that had originally covered his entire body onto a single part.

With a mere thought, Xia Le could strike with his fists, feet, or arms in their most powerful state.

Even grains of sand that touched him would trigger Iron Body's automatic muscular recoil, sending them shooting away with greater force, like bullets.

This made his attacks all the more powerful in his fierce battle against Rayleigh.

"You're looking more and more like that monster Garp!"

Rayleigh sighed softly, his gaze grave.

He thought the kid before him was a monster. His growth during their fight was almost visible to the naked eye.

By now, that fist of his truly deserved to be called an iron fist.

Perhaps even real steel was not as hard or resilient.

The battle seemed endless, and Xia Le in particular felt no fatigue whatsoever.

In the blink of an eye, another day passed.

He did not die many times that day, gradually growing accustomed to the rhythm of fighting Dark King Rayleigh.

He raised Tempest Kick to level thirty-five.

His strengthened punches and kicks, combined with Shave's high-speed movement, put even Rayleigh under enormous pressure.

As Xia Le twisted through the air, his legs spun like a top, attacking Rayleigh relentlessly.

"Tempest Kick!"

He wielded the simple Tempest Kick like a blade, unleashing terrifying slashes that cut through a thousand meters of forest ahead, severing the trees halfway up their trunks.

This kid is practically the most terrifying Six Powers user I've ever seen!

Rayleigh marveled inwardly.

By the third day of fighting, he was beginning to feel tired, having witnessed the other man's terrifying growth firsthand.

He began to suspect that he had become the kid's whetstone.

On the fourth day, Rayleigh noticed that his opponent had begun using Shigan.

Fists gave way to fingers, and their terrifying penetrating power left him shaken.

Even more absurdly, the kid was using Conqueror's Haki Infusion on both fingers.

Amid black-red lightning, his Shigan thrust forward as if piercing space itself, firing a terrifying blast of compressed air that stretched ten thousand meters into the distance.

Against this move, Rayleigh could only use Observation Haki to dodge. Otherwise, he had no doubt that it would punch a hole clean through his body.

"Shigan!"

Just as I thought. Combined with Iron Body's localized hardening and Conqueror's Haki Infusion, its penetrating power is even greater.

Excitement surged through Xia Le.

He was testing the Six Powers one by one. At high levels, these six hand-to-hand combat techniques had clearly undergone a qualitative transformation.

This also meant that his current strength had reached an entirely new level.

Even by the standards of the wider world, he finally had some ability to survive and no longer needed to fear all manner of bizarre dangers.

When he first arrived in this world, despite his immortality, he could still have been captured and imprisoned. If he encountered some twisted researcher, he might even have been hauled off and dissected.

Immortality did not mean invincibility.

Then Garp had saved him, and he had followed him to learn. After tempering himself through repeated deaths and allocating points, he had finally raised his strength to its current level.

Even against Dark King Rayleigh, he could now hold his own.

"Shigan!"

Moving at high speed, Xia Le struck again.

Pop!

Space trembled, followed by a finger-shaped blast of compressed air wrapped in black-red lightning, shooting straight toward Rayleigh.

Rayleigh's figure flickered as he dodged the thrust.

A moment later, a thunderous explosion rang in his ears, and violent shockwaves radiated outward.

With power and commotion like that, no one in the world would believe this was Shigan of the Six Powers.

"This kid has taken the Six Powers in entirely new directions."

Rayleigh sighed in admiration.

The next second, he swung his sword and charged in again.

"Let's see just how much further you can grow."

Their prolonged battle had stirred Rayleigh's curiosity as well.

The fierce fighting continued.

Saron served as a battlefield reporter, tirelessly relaying developments and subjecting Sengoku on the other end of the Den Den Mushi to one shock after another.

Sengoku sketched out a rough image of Xia Le in his mind, then factored in his combat strength and techniques to build a model.

At last, he reached a preliminary conclusion.

"Xia Le may already possess the combat strength of an admiral candidate!"

"But!"

"How is that possible?!"

Rear admiral

An admiral candidate!

Anyone with that level of strength absolutely could not be overlooked.

They were all terrifying veterans of countless battles who had honed their bodies or Devil Fruit powers to the utmost.

Within the Marines, fighters of such strength could also be considered admirals in waiting.

But what Sengoku could not believe was how recently Xia Le had joined the Marines.

One month ago, or two?

And besides...

Countless thoughts ran through his mind as he lowered his head to look at the documents on his desk, his brow gradually furrowing.

"The noble family massacre."

"The Celestial Dragons."

After a moment's contemplation, Sengoku opened the file on the noble family massacre and looked down at the blood-red line in the final section.

"The primary suspect has been tentatively identified as Xia Le, former gardener of the Bokan Family."

"Xia Le: male, seventeen years old."

"Purchased by Bokan Yongle at an auction in the Sabaody Archipelago ten years ago for one million Beli."

Sengoku continued scanning downward.

"Place of birth: West Blue, unconfirmed?"

"Hometown: Ohara, unconfirmed?"

"Parents: suspected to have died at the hands of the Beli Pirates twelve years ago."

All the detailed intelligence was recorded here. Over the past month, deliberate investigation by Marine intelligence had quickly brought Xia Le's background to light.

Some details were things even Xia Le himself might not know.

After a long silence, Sengoku picked up his red pen and firmly crossed out the suspect entry.

Then he wrote his response.

"How would a gardener have the ability to murder the entire Bokan family? Absurd!"

"Continue investigating this case!"

Then he gave a derisive laugh.

"What does Xia Le the gardener have to do with Xia Le the Marine?"

He followed that with a mutter.

"Garp, you old bastard. I've done you one hell of a favor this time!"

After tossing the file aside, he casually tore up the document concerning the offense against the Celestial Dragons, his expression utterly unconcerned.

Incidents of people offending the Celestial Dragons had happened countless times. The Marines could not possibly deal with them all.

A moment later, another file lay before Sengoku.

"Criminal investigation report on Major Kalens, stationed in the Sabaody Archipelago."

Sengoku opened it, read a few lines, and smiled faintly.

"Leaving this fellow for Xia Le to handle himself might yield unexpected results."

As a veteran Marine, especially a tactician who frequently helped Fleet Admiral Kong handle affairs, he was also adept at navigating personal relationships.

Normally, such matters would have held little importance to him. But once that black-haired youth displayed his terrifying potential and strength, everything changed.

Saron's voice continued coming from the Den Den Mushi.

But Sengoku's eyes had already narrowed as he considered how to let this young Marine with boundless potential feel the Marines' warmth and justice.

Discover talent, retain talent, support talent, and thereby support the Marines.

Their greatest distinction from pirates was their established system for training talent.

Elsewhere, Xia Le and Rayleigh's fierce battle continued.

The battle lasted a full seven days and nights, ending only when the commotion at the island's center ceased.

"Hey, kid. Aren't you going to check on that teacher of yours?"

Rayleigh panted, his body covered in wounds and exhaustion written across his face.

"Hahaha! If you want to check on your captain, go right ahead!"

Xia Le laughed.

"You little brat!"

Rayleigh shook his head with a laugh and sheathed his long sword.

Over the course of this battle, he had watched his opponent grow until he could truly exchange blows with him. Rayleigh almost felt like the kid's teacher, as though he had personally guided him to maturity.