Zephyr frowned and looked at Barn.
"Kid, who exactly are you?"
"I already told you. My name is Barn, a pirate nobody has heard of. But none of that matters. All you need to know is that I'm your next opponent, Admiral Zephyr."
The corners of Barn's mouth curled upward. There was something inexplicable in his expression... excitement?
Yes! Excitement! It was an instinctive urge to challenge the strong-or perhaps a longing to earn that "proof of strength"?
Seeing that Barn had no intention of explaining further, Zephyr stopped asking. The muscles in his left hand, which was locked against Barn's Nidai Kitetsu, suddenly swelled. With a fierce burst of strength, he drove Barn back!
Forced backward, Barn opened his mouth in surprise and "looked" at Zephyr.
He could still muster that much strength in that position! No, he'd been holding some in reserve! He really is something!
With that thought, Barn swung Nidai Kitetsu through the air, turned toward Zephyr, and spoke.
"That's some impressive strength, Admiral Zephyr."
Zephyr's frown deepened. He had just used his full strength, yet all he had managed was to push Barn back a few steps?
Zephyr adjusted his stance and crossed his hands to loosen his wrists again, speaking coldly.
"Stop calling me Admiral. I resigned. These days, I'm nothing more than a teacher."
Surprised to hear that Zephyr had stepped down as an Admiral, Barn "looked" at him in confusion and asked,
"Why?"
Zephyr stopped moving his wrists. His expression grew darker, and then he let out a cold laugh.
"Why? Heh. You're asking me why?"
Zephyr's figure vanished from Barn's Mind's Eye in an instant. Its Danger Sense immediately prompted Barn to react.
"Soru!"
Barn spun around sharply. Zephyr reappeared within his Mind's Eye-but his fist came with him!
"Ugh!"
Zephyr's unexpected punch landed squarely in Barn's abdomen. Even someone as tough as Barn doubled over.
"Because of pirates like you, kid!"
Two years earlier, pirates had brutally slaughtered Zephyr's family, including his son, who had just turned one. Since then, Zephyr had developed a fierce hatred of pirates. Although he still refused to kill, most of the pirates he sent to Impel Down ended up crippled.
Zephyr had submitted his resignation then. To keep him around, his superior, Kong, had agreed on the condition that he become a Marine instructor. Akainu and Kizaru had been among his first students, and it was while he was teaching Akainu that Sengoku had called him here "while he was at it."
Barn stood up, enduring the pain. He now recalled from his previous life that Zephyr had come to loathe pirates after his family was slaughtered by the Marines.
"There are corrupt parasites among you Marines, too. And of course there are good people among pirates!"
Zephyr scoffed at Barn's words.
"Pirates are pirates. And the Marines' internal affairs are none of a petty pirate's business!"
Zephyr swung his left hand, coated in Armament Haki, at Barn again!
The Danger Sense of Barn's Mind's Eye warned him in time.
This isn't going to work. I have to restrict his movements!
Barn thought as he dodged Zephyr's attack.
Zephyr charged again, and Barn once more darted aside.
The two repeated this exchange more than a dozen times.
Zephyr was the first to stop, roaring,
"Hey, kid! Is running away all you can do?"
An opening!
Barn recognized it immediately. A cold gleam flashed along Nidai Kitetsu's blade, and he unleashed Ice Blade Wave Sword in an instant!
Zephyr reacted quickly, using Soru to evade the incoming ice blades. But Barn had already appeared behind him!
"Just a reminder: don't judge people by their looks. I'm not the kid you think I am. You and I are probably about the same age..."
Barn's low voice sounded beside Zephyr's ear, but Zephyr no longer had time to react.
Damn...
Zephyr realized.
"Evil Light Wave Formation!"
As Barn slammed Nidai Kitetsu downward, a barrier of evil light appeared instantly, trapping Zephyr inside!
Barn slowly raised his head and pulled away the black ribbon covering his eyes...
"What?"
Zephyr could hardly believe it. Beneath Barn's black ribbon were a pair of deathly pale eyes. The man who had been fighting him all this time was blind?
Barn raised his sword, red flames dancing along its blade in the sunlight. His hideous left hand slowly swelled, bursting through its covering to expose his grotesque red arm.
"Asura... Evil Light Slash!"
Barn had come to use this move as a finishing blow. Ever since he had severed several warships with a single strike more than twenty years ago, it had gradually become his signature.
Barn unleashed an enormous white slash, sending it straight at Zephyr, who was held fast by the barrier of evil light!
If Zephyr still failed to recognize Barn after seeing this technique, his years as an Admiral would have been wasted.
This was a notorious pirate who had made his name even before Zephyr!
Trapped inside the barrier, Zephyr wore a grim expression, but he neither dodged nor retreated before the powerful slash.
Elsewhere, Sengoku, who was locked in a stalemate with Whitebeard, also saw what happened. He spoke coldly to Whitebeard.
"Barn the Demon, the notorious pirate from over twenty years ago. So he didn't die. He disappeared for twenty years because he joined you? Whitebeard, what exactly are you planning?"
Whitebeard's mustache kept quivering.
"Gurararara! Sengoku, Barn is just a guest aboard my ship. When did you become so cautious, Sengoku?"
Whitebeard exerted his strength again, pushing Sengoku back, but his gaze shifted toward Barn.
"That won't be enough, Barn."
"So even you get distracted, Whitebeard!"
Sengoku assumed his Buddha Form and thrust a palm fiercely at Whitebeard!
"Gurararara! Sneak attacks are a bad habit, my old friend!"
Whitebeard threw a punch, meeting Sengoku's palm.
"You talk too much, Whitebeard!"
Barn's Asura Evil Light Slash cut cleanly through the barrier and slammed into Zephyr. The slash exploded on impact, bathing the surroundings in dazzling evil light.
But Barn's expression remained grave, and a dense layer of sweat had already formed on his forehead.
The others could not see it, but Barn knew. Within his Mind's Eye, Zephyr was still standing there, perfectly fine!
The slowly dispersing evil light faded, and everyone's vision returned. But the sight before them immediately left them stunned.
If Barn had been able to see, he would surely have been shocked as well.
After taking Barn's fully charged Asura Evil Light Slash, Zephyr had lost the Marine coat covering his upper body, and his trousers were in tatters. But that was precisely what allowed everyone to see his body...
It was iron-black! Even darker than the black coating on his fist when he first attacked!
Zephyr now looked like a man made of iron!
Zephyr clenched both fists, a mocking smile appearing on his face.
"Heh. What's wrong? Is this all the famous Barn the Demon can do?"
"No one in the Marines understands Armament Haki better than I do! Your attacks..."
"Soru!"
Zephyr vanished from Barn's Mind's Eye once more. By the time he reappeared, it was already too late.
Zephyr landed an even more powerful punch on Barn, sending him flying backward!
"...aren't nearly enough!"
Barn plunged Nidai Kitetsu into the deck, using the back of the blade to counter his momentum until he finally stopped.
That fist was much harder than before!
So Barn thought.
Elsewhere, Sengoku saw how Barn's fight was going and turned to Whitebeard.
"Whitebeard, I don't know what you're scheming, but it looks like your hopes are about to be dashed."
Whitebeard had also seen the situation over there, but he still retorted at Sengoku's words.
"You should worry about yourself!"
Whitebeard swung his great blade again, this time imbuing it with his Devil Fruit Ability!
Sengoku had no choice but to meet it with all his strength. But Whitebeard's ability was too powerful. Even using his own Devil Fruit Ability, Sengoku was driven back.
Whitebeard then looked toward Barn.
"Barn, you're facing a man who has completely mastered Armament Haki! Don't you lose!"