Crushing the Entire Recruit Camp!

"Now I can finally get a proper warm-up."

No sooner had Lorne spoken than the first recruit to charge ahead, a hand-to-hand combat expert known for his speed, drove a fist toward his face with a rush of wind!

But the instant that fist was about to touch the tip of his nose, Lorne vanished.

"Soru!"

"What?!"

The recruit's pupils contracted sharply. His fist hit empty air, and his momentum sent him stumbling.

Before he could even understand what had happened, he felt a chill at the back of his neck, followed by an irresistible force. His vision went black, and he lost consciousness completely.

"The first."

Lorne casually tossed the recruit aside. His figure blurred again, like a phantom, instantly slipping into the surging crowd rushing toward him.

A one-man carnival had officially begun!

"Where is he?!"

"Where did he go? He was just there!"

"Watch your back!"

Terrified cries erupted from the crowd. They had completely lost track of Lorne.

A burly man who boasted of his invincible defense had just taken his stance, ready to withstand an attack head-on, when something tightened around his ankle. An immense force swept over him, lifting him helplessly into the air.

To his horror, he discovered that he and a companion in another direction were being dragged by an invisible force, hurtling toward each other!

"Crushing Blow!"

Thud!

Their heads collided squarely with a muffled crack like a watermelon splitting. Stars swam before their eyes, and both passed out.

"Too slow, too weak, and far too disorganized."

Lorne's voice sounded in everyone's ears like a whisper from hell, yet none of them could pinpoint his location.

"These are the elite of Marine Headquarters? How... disappointing."

"Bastard! Stop hiding! Come out and fight me head-on if you've got the guts!" a hot-tempered recruit roared, slamming both arms into the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.

"As you wish."

The voice came from above his head.

The recruit jerked his head up. At some point, Lorne had appeared in midair above him and was slowly descending.

"Geppo?!"

"He's learned Geppo too?!" an instructor below the platform exclaimed.

Before the recruit could even react in shock, a blue-green slash, so condensed it seemed solid, burst from Lorne's toes!

"Rankyaku!"

Boom!

The blue-green slash struck the ground. Its tremendous impact sent the recruit flying, blood spraying from his mouth while he was still in midair.

"Next."

Lorne deftly changed direction several times in the air, as though strolling on level ground, easily dodging attacks from several directions.

"Kami-e!"

His body drifted like a weightless sheet of white paper on the winds stirred up by the attacks. Every punch, kick, slash, and even bullet skimmed past his clothes without touching a single hair.

"This... this is impossible! I had him in my sights!" Disbelief covered the face of a recruit wielding a firearm.

"My sword... why can't it hit him? He's right there!" A swordsman stared blankly at his blade as it missed.

"A monster... this guy's a monster!"

Panic spread like a plague through the hearts of all the recruits.

The speed, strength, skill, and even Devil Fruit powers they took such pride in had all become laughable jokes before this boy with beast ears.

He was like an all-knowing, all-powerful examiner, defeating each of them at what they did best, then telling them: you failed.

Up on the platform.

Fleet Admiral Sengoku's initially calm expression had turned grave. He stared fixedly at the battle below, forgetting to eat the rice cracker in his hand.

"Garp! This is... that kid you mentioned?"

"Hahahaha!" Garp laughed smugly. "Well, Sengoku? I didn't lie to you, did I? This boy's a treasure!"

"More than a treasure." Beside him, Chief Staff Officer Tsuru scrutinized Lorne's every movement with her wise eyes, a rare note of amazement in her voice. "Soru, Geppo, Rankyaku, Kami-e... he hasn't merely learned them. He's integrated these moves perfectly into his own fighting rhythm. This is no longer simple imitation. He's creating his own art of combat."

Tsuru's gaze deepened. "His combat instincts are unlike anything I've seen in my life. When surrounded, he always finds the most energy-efficient way to cause the greatest damage. This child must be trained properly. We cannot let him stray down the wrong path."

"Hmph, he's got more than the makings of an Admiral!" Garp planted his hands on his hips and declared smugly, "The way I see it, he'll punch a hole in the sky one day!"

Sengoku's mouth twitched at that, but he did not argue.

Because he could see that the battle below was already drawing to a close.

Lorne seemed to have grown bored of this game of cat and mouse.

He stopped in midair, looking down at the few dozen recruits still putting up a desperate resistance below.

"Warm-up's over."

He murmured the words, then stomped hard against the air with both feet!

"Geppo!"

This time, he did not move. Instead, he concentrated all his strength beneath his feet!

"Rankyaku: Pack of Wolves!"

In an instant, dozens of blue-green vacuum slashes rained down from the sky, covering the entire arena!

"Aaah!"

"I surrender!"

"Stop hitting us!!"

Screams and pleas for mercy rose one after another, only to fall abruptly silent.

When the dust cleared, not a single recruit remained standing anywhere on Training Ground No. 1 apart from Lorne.

The trainees lay sprawled all over the ground. Though they had only suffered superficial injuries and passed out, the terror of being utterly dominated by one person was branded deep into every heart.

"He... he's learned... all the Six Powers?"

"This has to be a joke... we haven't even gotten a foot in the door with Soru..."

"He's done more than learn them. Look at that move he just used. It was an inescapable net! Is that really something a human can do?"

"There were so many of us, and we even had Devil Fruit users... yet we couldn't beat him alone..."

The defeated trainees lay on the ground, groaning in despair. Their eyes were filled with awe and fear as they looked at Lorne.

Zephyr leaped down from the platform and landed steadily before Lorne. Looking at the boy, who was completely unscathed and had not even broken a sweat, he burst into laughter.

"Gahahahaha! Well done, Lorne!"

He clapped Lorne heavily on the shoulder, his eyes full of appreciation.

"Boy, remember this: the Six Powers are only the foundation, the experience distilled by those who came before us. Once you've trained them into your bones, you can start trying to develop your own Six Powers Derivative Techniques! That's the real road to becoming strong. I see you've developed one for Rankyaku. You can try the others too!"

A golden glint flashed through Lorne's eyes at those words, and he nodded thoughtfully.

Zephyr looked at him with satisfaction, then added, "Your foundation in hand-to-hand combat is already impeccable. Next, it's time you encountered a higher level of power. Starting tomorrow, I'll personally teach you... Armament Haki!"

Armament Haki!

At those words, not only Lorne but even the surrounding recruits who had just regained consciousness showed expressions of extreme shock and envy.

That was a power only flag officers were qualified to study in depth!

But in the very next second, Zephyr's expression changed.

He turned toward the dejected failures. His smiling face instantly became colder than an iceberg.

"Look at you useless lot!"

Zephyr's roar exploded like thunder in everyone's ears.

"Hundreds of you! With quite a few Devil Fruit users among you! And you couldn't even beat a single recruit! You've utterly disgraced the Marines! You've shamed me!"

His fierce gaze swept over every recruit. Everyone he looked at lowered their head in shame.

"You couldn't even beat one person. What a disgrace to me! All of you, listen up!"

"Starting today, every one of you will have your training load doubled!"

"Whaaat?!"

Wails rang throughout the training ground.

Zephyr ignored the wailing failures. He turned to Lorne with a smile. "Come on, boy. Sengoku and the others want to see you."

"Yes, Instructor."

Lorne followed behind Zephyr, and the two headed toward the platform.

"Hahahahahaha!"

Garp stood at the edge of the platform with his hands on his hips, watching everything below and laughing so hard he nearly cried.

"Nicely done, Lorne! That's my grandson!"