Zephyr's Surprise

Zephyr flexed his wrist, the sharp cracks grating on the three young men's nerves.

It was strange. Zephyr was clearly relaxed, and his expression was gentle.

Yet standing opposite him, the three felt like a lone boat facing black clouds that hung low over the distant sea, lightning flashing and thunder rumbling within them!

Almost instinctively, all three readied themselves for battle.

"Oh, right." Zephyr suddenly remembered something. Looking at Randall, he said:

"Momonga told me about your performance during the test. You even managed to surprise him.

He said you'd have a surprise for me.

I'd like to see that surprise right now!"

At that, Aequus and Milers turned toward Randall.

Randall had already told them what had happened during the test, so they had guessed what this surprise was.

Not only had they guessed, they had even experienced the surprise ahead of time. Ha!

What a fucking surprise that had been!

"Come at me, all of you!"

With that, Zephyr beckoned to the three of them.

Then, as usual, he stood there without guarding himself, patiently awaiting their attacks.

"Instructor Zephyr, since you want a surprise, I'll give you one!"

Rather than charging forward, Randall took a stance where he stood.

Seeing this, the other two tacitly held off on attacking.

Zephyr watched Randall prepare.

He could faintly sense the force building up, and anticipation shone in his eyes.

Randall drew back his right fist, the muscles of his upper arm suddenly swelling like a basketball.

At that moment, his right arm, waist, and legs were like a spring compressed to its limit, explosive power building to its peak, ready to erupt!

"Hah!"

The next instant, Randall's right fist shot forward.

As it swung out, a black coating instantly covered it before Zephyr's astonished eyes.

Armament: Iron Fist: Impact Steel!

In an instant, thunder seemed to crack!

His punch unleashed a thick shock wave.

With Randall putting everything into the attack, even the transparent passage through the air took on a tinge of black.

The roar snapped Zephyr out of his daze. Seeing the shock wave already upon him, he thought, I've really put my foot in it this time.

The next second, a loud bang rang out as Impact Steel struck Zephyr squarely in his broad chest.

Strong as Zephyr was, he was still human.

Without preparing himself, his physical defenses were no match for a monster like Kaido.

He felt a tremendous force explode against his chest. Then, under Milers and Aequus's stunned gazes, his towering body swayed back and forth.

To maintain his balance, Zephyr stepped back once, twice, then a third time!

Under Randall's punch, Zephyr, a man with an Admiral's strength, had been forced back a full three steps!

Milers and Aequus stared dumbfounded.

Th-this had to be a joke!

Randall had forced former Admiral Zephyr back with one punch?!

The two looked as though they were watching some absurd farce, their faces filled with incomprehensible shock.

They glanced at Zephyr, then stared at Randall in horror.

Was this his true strength now?

So when this bas—Randall had beaten them up yesterday, he'd just been playing around?

A burst of laughter brought them back to their senses.

"Hahahaha! Good! Very good!

Momonga was right! What a surprise!"

Zephyr rubbed his faintly aching chest and roared with laughter.

Randall really had given him a tremendous surprise!

His plan for these three months had actually been to teach the three of them how to train in two types of Haki.

As far as he was concerned, if even one of them got started with one type of Haki after three months, that would be a resounding success!

He had never expected Randall to fulfill that goal right away!

Zephyr was delighted.

As for embarrassing himself in front of his students?

He couldn't have cared less!

At most, he would give Randall some extra attention when beating them—no, teaching them—later.

A teacher's love.jpg

Randall looked at Zephyr and gave a wry smile.

Then he glanced at the other two, whose faces were still filled with shock, and couldn't help rolling his eyes.

What the hell are you two so shocked about?!

That was my all-out attack!

Didn't you see how long I was stuck there after throwing that punch?!

Sure, Instructor Zephyr took three steps back.

But that was all!

He'd basically taken my ultimate move head-on and come out completely fine!

And that was with him getting caught off guard!

Today, Randall had finally learned what top-tier strength truly meant.

And Zephyr's greatest strength wasn't even his body, but the powerful Armament Haki that had earned him the name Black Arm!

I still had a long way to go!

If the other two had known what Randall was thinking, they probably would have rolled their eyes straight up to the heavens.

What more did he want?

At sixteen, he'd forced one of the Navy's strongest fighters back three steps. Wasn't that worth being shocked over?

Did he seriously expect to injure an Admiral?

How could he be so greedy?!

"All right! Stop standing around! The fight's not over!"

Laughing heartily, Zephyr took the initiative and attacked.

In an instant, the four were locked in battle.

No, more accurately, one man was beating the other three senseless.

Zephyr put his overwhelming strength on full display.

Within just a few minutes, all three of their heads had swollen considerably.

Randall's most of all!

Milers and Aequus were in terrible shape too.

But seeing Randall worse off than they were still brought happy smiles to their lips.

At that point, Zephyr paused.

Although Randall's face was already "unrecognizable," Zephyr could still sense his confusion.

He said, "You're wondering why I can still hurt you and injure you even though you're using Armament Haki, aren't you?"

Randall nodded, a little glimmer of curiosity showing through the slits of his swollen eyes.

Zephyr explained, "First, it's because my Armament Haki is stronger than yours. Much stronger.

Of course, that explanation might not convince you.

After all, you should be able to tell that when I'm beating—ahem—fighting you, I deliberately lower my Armament Haki to the same level as yours.

That brings us to the second reason: an advanced application of Armament Haki, Internal Destruction!"

Hearing this, Randall nodded thoughtfully.

Indeed, when Zephyr was beating him, he had felt as though his defenses weren't working at all.

People said Armament Haki acted like armor when used for defense. In that case, Internal Destruction was like a spear thrust through a gap in that armor!

But doing so required an extremely deep understanding of both the armor and the spear!

And there had to be an actual gap in that armor!

"Looks like you understand.

This is an advanced application of Armament Haki. You can slowly work toward understanding it later.

For now, experience it firsthand with your body!

That goes for you two as well!"

Zephyr flexed his wrists and charged at them again under their terrified gazes.

Immediately, even more agonized screams rang out across the Training Ground.