The giant bear's four-meter-tall body lifted off the ground under that punch! The whole bear flew backward like a black ball, hurtling seven or eight meters and snapping two large trees before crashing to the ground with a boom, spraying dirt into the air!
"Roar!"
The giant bear let out a howl of pain and struggled to its feet. Part of its belly had caved in, and blood seeped through its black fur.
The enraged black bear's eyes turned bloodshot. Scalding breath blasted from its mouth as it drove off all four limbs and lunged again, far faster than before!
Its mouthful of fangs came straight down at Lorne's head!
"Trying to bite me?"
Lorne sidestepped. The bear's fangs closed past his shoulder, snapping an arm-thick branch behind him with a crack.
Lorne followed through with his left fist, driving a vicious uppercut into the bear's jaw!
Bam!
The bear's head snapped upward, and a bloody fang flew from its mouth.
Lorne's right fist followed immediately!
Bam!
It slammed squarely into the bridge of the bear's nose.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Left, right, left-three punches in rapid succession! Each cut through the air with a dull whoosh, and each drove the bear another step back!
Dazed by the blows, the bear flailed its forepaws wildly. Its claws swept across Lorne's chest, tearing his clothes and leaving three faint white marks on his skin.
Iron Body's passive defense had already made his skin harder than ordinary steel.
"With that little strength, you can't even break my skin!"
Lorne caught the bear's forepaw as it swung wide, clamped his fingers around its wrist, and spun on the spot with a powerful twist of his waist!
He hoisted the four-meter-tall adult black bear, weighing over a thousand pounds, clean off the ground and swung it in an arc through the air!
"Get down!"
BOOM!!!
He slammed the giant bear into the ground!
The ground burst apart, dirt flying everywhere as a deep crater two meters across appeared in the forest. The bear lay at the bottom with all four limbs pointing skyward, foaming at the mouth, its eyes rolled back, completely unable to fight.
Lorne stood at the edge of the pit, panting heavily, his fists covered in dirt and bear blood.
"Too weak." He rolled his wrists, his voice distinctly dissatisfied. "I thought the beasts on Mount Colubo would be something special. That's it?"
"Heh heh heh."
Garp's laughter came from behind him.
Lorne turned around. At some point, the old man had come within five meters of him, holding a wild fruit he had picked somewhere and chewing it with juice all over his mouth.
"Finished?" Garp asked.
"You were watching the whole time?"
"Watching what? I was eating fruit." Garp casually tossed the core away, hitting the unconscious black bear on the head down in the pit. "Still..."
He walked to the edge of the pit and looked down at the giant bear.
"This bear ranks in the top twenty on Mount Colubo, at best."
Lorne's beast ears pricked up.
"Top twenty?"
"Right." Garp stretched. "The tiger king in these mountains is three times bigger than this fellow. There's also a giant python that can crush an entire tree in its coils."
He patted Lorne's shoulder hard enough to buckle his knees.
"When I threw Luffy and Ace into this forest back then, those two brats got chased around screaming for their parents." Garp grinned broadly. "But you went and knocked out the very first one."
"Obviously. I'm not a seven-year-old."
"True." Garp nodded. "Then you should be able to handle the rest of the trip."
"What do you mean?"
Garp had already turned and started walking, waving to Lorne with his back to him.
"It's about another three hours from here to Dadan's place." His voice drifted back. "I won't lift a finger along the way. Handle it yourself."
Lorne watched Garp swagger deeper into the forest without the slightest sign of caution, as though he were strolling through his own backyard.
"Tch."
He shook the dirt off his fists and strode after him.
The rest of the journey proved every bit as eventful as Garp had said.
Three absurdly large wild boars charged from the side, and Lorne dropped them all with one punch each.
Two giant pythons coiled in the trees attacked simultaneously. Lorne caught one snake's head in each hand and used Crushing Blow to smash them together. Their heads collided with a dull thud, knocking both unconscious.
A troop of gray-furred apes hurled rocks from the canopy. Lorne could not be bothered to dodge and took the hits head-on with Iron Body active. The rocks hitting him were like scratches at an itch. He casually picked up a rock and threw it back, striking the lead ape squarely in the forehead. The entire troop scattered with shrieks.
Garp walked ahead the whole time, glancing back occasionally and muttering, "This kid's even more like a beast."
Lorne's beast ears were in their element in the forest. Not a rustle from any direction escaped his senses.
He even began to enjoy the feeling of being hunted-surrounded by prey, then turning that prey into the hunted.
"Old man, did those two grandsons of yours grow up in a place like this?" Lorne asked without looking back, kicking away a wildcat that lunged at him.
"Yep!" Garp's voice came from ahead. "Every time I visited, I tossed them into the forest for a week. If they made it out alive, they passed."
"You call that raising children? That's raising wild beasts."
"Is there a difference?"
"..."
Lorne found that he actually had no comeback.
After roughly another half hour of walking, the density of the forest began to change.
The trees grew farther apart, and clear signs of foot traffic appeared on the ground.
"Almost there." Garp slowed his pace.
Lorne's beast ears suddenly swiveled sharply toward the front right.
"Someone's there," he said, lowering his voice.
"Hmm?"
"Two people." Lorne closed his eyes, his ears quivering rapidly. "One has a fast heartbeat, shallow breathing, and a small build. The other's heartbeat is steady, his breathing is deep, and he's a size bigger than the first."
Garp stopped and looked back at Lorne, the first genuine smile of the day appearing on his face.
"Those ears of yours work even better than Observation Haki."
"Spare me the flattery. Who are those two?"
Garp did not answer. He merely lifted his chin in that direction.
Lorne followed his gaze.
At the edge of the forest, two boys were fighting in a clearing that had been cut out of the trees.
More precisely, a slightly older boy was giving a slightly younger one a one-sided beating.
The younger one wore a straw hat, snot smeared all over his face, and swung his fists wildly while shouting, "I'm going to beat you!"
The older one had black hair and freckles, his expression cold. With a casual punch, he sent the straw-hatted kid flying three meters.
The straw-hatted kid bounced up from the ground and charged again.
He was sent flying again.
"Those two are your precious grandsons?" Lorne raised an eyebrow at the sight.
"Hahahaha!" Garp slapped his thigh and roared with laughter. "That's right! The little one's Luffy, and the big one's Ace! Well? Aren't they full of energy?"
Lorne stared at the two boys fighting in the clearing, the corner of his mouth lifting unconsciously.
"Pretty interesting." He clenched his fists.
Garp strode out of the forest and bellowed at the top of his lungs.
"You brats! Grandpa's back!!!"
Both boys in the clearing stopped moving at once.
Luffy's face fell instantly. "It's Grandpa! Run!"
Ace's gaze, however, passed over Garp and landed on the unfamiliar boy behind him with beast ears on top of his head.
Their gazes met at the edge of the forest.
Lorne grinned.
"Yo."
Before you continue