Lorne drew back his fist, the dark gold shimmer on his knuckles fading away completely.
He glanced at the rock beneath his feet, shattered by repeated blows, and exhaled a stale breath.
"It's a frequency problem."
Lorne clenched and unclenched his fists, repeatedly feeling the direction in which Haki flowed through his body.
Every attempt brought him a step closer to success, but he just couldn't break through that final thin barrier.
He closed his eyes and summoned his Conqueror's Haki once again.
Black and red arcs crawled over his body, gathering at his knuckles.
"Condense!"
Bang!
The Haki collapsed again, and a violent backlash surged up his arm into his body.
Several bloody gashes immediately split open across the muscles of Lorne's right arm.
Battlefield Valor activated at once, healing the wounds at a speed visible to the naked eye.
But the drain on his stamina was real.
Lorne dropped to one knee, panting heavily.
"Seventeen days."
He raised his head, looking at the valley he had blasted full of holes.
"I'm always one last step short."
Just then, his beast ears abruptly pricked up.
His Observation Haki caught an extremely familiar presence approaching from the edge of the island at a leisurely walking pace.
That presence was as vast as the sea and as solid as a mountain.
Lorne looked up toward the depths of the forest.
Creak, bang!
An ancient tree over five meters in diameter was forcibly shoved aside, its thick roots tearing free of the soil.
A burly figure emerged from behind the tree.
A floral shirt, a Marine coat, and a white dog-head hat.
He carried three bulging bags of senbei in his left hand while stuffing a whole cracker into his mouth with his right.
"Bwahahaha!"
Garp chewed his senbei and burst out