My heart and deeds are as clear as a mirror

Garp's booming laughter echoed across the empty training ground. He strode forward without ceremony and slapped Lorne's back with his huge, fanlike hand, producing a series of loud thumps.

"Gahahahaha! Did you hear that, Sengoku? Tsuru! That's my grandson! He's got spirit, doesn't he!"

Lorne followed Zephyr onto the raised platform. At Garp's overly familiar declaration, he merely curled his lip without arguing.

His beastly eyes, gleaming gold, calmly swept over the Marines' highest-ranking officers before him.

Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Chief of Staff Tsuru.

Unlike Garp's undisguised admiration and pride, these two figures representing the Marines' intellect and strategy regarded Lorne with scrutiny and gravity.

Their silence instantly made the atmosphere across the platform solemn.

"Lorne."

Sengoku finally spoke first. Behind his signature round glasses, his eyes were as sharp as a hawk's, as though he meant to see through Lorne's soul.

"Your performance today... was astonishing."

He began with praise, but then his tone shifted, his voice turning low and oppressive.

"But what I saw wasn't a qualified Marine soldier. It was a beast relishing the thrill of the hunt! Unrestrained power like yours is far too dangerous!"

"Dangerous?" Garp picked his nose beside them and said carelessly, "What's dangerous about it? If it can beat pirates until they piss themselves, isn't that the strongest power there is? You're overthinking it, Sengoku."

"Shut up, Garp!"

Sengoku let out a low roar, completely ignoring his old friend as his gaze locked onto Lorne like a pair of sharp swords.

"Power without the restraint of conviction is a disaster! It can destroy evil, but it can just as easily destroy order and justice!"

"Boy, you possess power most people could never hope to attain. Then tell me, what kind of justice do you believe in?"

In an instant, everyone's eyes focused on Lorne.

Tsuru's gaze was deep, Zephyr stood expressionless with his arms folded, and Garp wore the grin of someone enjoying a show.

This question would determine how Marine Headquarters treated this monster with the potential to become an admiral.

"Justice?"

Lorne repeated the word, and his lips suddenly curved into a faintly mocking smile.

"Fleet Admiral, do you mean the 'absolute justice' hanging on this fortress's walls? Or the sort of justice... that lets the Celestial Dragons do whatever they please in the Holy Land of Mary Geoise?"

"Insolence!" Sengoku flew into a rage, his terrifying presence bearing down on Lorne like a mountain. "Watch your words, brat!"

Yet that presence, powerful enough to make an ordinary vice admiral break into a cold sweat, brushed over Lorne like a gentle breeze.

Not even his beast ears twitched.

"My words are the voice of my heart."

The smile faded from Lorne's face, replaced by a pure, unwavering calm.

Meeting Sengoku's almost fiery gaze, he said each word distinctly. "I don't believe in anyone else's justice. I believe only in myself."

He extended a finger and tapped his heart.

"I believe in the justice of the true heart, and act only according to my conscience."

"I do no evil and do not bully the good. I distinguish gratitude from grudges, and judge right and wrong for myself."

His voice reached everyone present clearly. Every word seemed to carry a strange magic that made the surrounding air tremble.

Under the increasingly grave gazes of Sengoku, Tsuru, Zephyr, and the others, Lorne slowly raised his head. Light as brilliant as the blazing sun burned in his golden beastly eyes.

He declared proudly.

"My heart and deeds are as clear as a mirror. Everything I do is justice!"

The instant his words fell, a deathly silence enveloped the entire platform.

The wind stopped, and the clouds stood still.

The anger froze on Sengoku's face. His mouth hung open, but he found himself unable to utter a word.

He had spent his entire life fighting for "absolute justice," yet this boy before him had declared, with the utmost arrogance, that he himself was the embodiment and arbiter of "justice"!

This... what arrogance, and what danger!

"This truly is..." For the first time, an intensely complicated expression appeared on Chief of Staff Tsuru's perpetually unruffled face. She sighed softly. "The most dangerous ideology... when someone with sufficient power begins defining the rules himself, he could become a savior, or he could become... a tyrant unlike any before him."

Zephyr remained silent, but his clenched mechanical arm betrayed his inner turmoil. As he looked at the disciple he had only just taken under his wing, doubt stirred in his heart for the first time.

Could Garp's approach really teach this monster properly?

At last, Sengoku moved.

He slowly walked up to Lorne, raised his hand, and gave his shoulder a firm pat.

This time, he used no force. It was merely the gesture of an elder toward a younger man.

"Recruit Lorne... you've chosen the hardest road, and the one on which it's easiest to go astray."

He wanted to say something, to reprimand him, to offer advice, but as he looked into Lorne's utterly clear eyes, without the slightest impurity, all his words caught in his throat.

In the end, he could only let out a sigh.

"Take care of yourself."

Sengoku turned and left, his tall figure looking somewhat desolate as he continued muttering unconsciously.

"My heart and deeds are as clear as a mirror. Everything I do is justice... truly... an absurd brat..."

Tsuru gave Lorne a long, searching look, then followed Sengoku away.

With their departure, a burst of earth-shaking laughter completely shattered the oppressive atmosphere.

"Pfft... hahahahahaha!"

Garp clutched his stomach, laughing so hard that tears streamed from his eyes. As he laughed, he pointed in the direction Sengoku had gone.

"Did you see that, Zephyr? That old fossil's face! Like he'd swallowed a hundred lemons! Too funny! Gahahahaha!"

He turned and vigorously ruffled Lorne's hair, his face filled with approval and admiration.

"Boy, well done! I like that spirit of yours!"

Garp grinned widely, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

"That's right! That's how it should be! Screw all that justice crap. If my own fists think it's right, then it's right! You little brat, you've got exactly the same temperament as me! Hahahahaha!"

Garp's laughter was hearty and unrestrained. He seemed to see nothing wrong with Lorne's thinking at all, regarding him instead as a kindred spirit.

Amid his hearty laughter, the Marine hero also left, bent at the waist and thoroughly satisfied, probably off to find somewhere to replenish his energy.

In the blink of an eye, only Lorne and Zephyr remained on the vast platform.

The sunset's lingering glow stretched their shadows long.

"Lorne, that was a very dangerous declaration." Zephyr looked at the disciple beside him, who had stirred up the entire upper echelon of Marine Headquarters, and spoke in a low voice.

"But it was the truth." Lorne shrugged indifferently.

Zephyr fell silent for a moment, then nodded.

"Yes, it was the truth."

He looked at Lorne, his gaze sharpening.

"But this 'justice' of yours needs absolute power to defend it. Without power that stands above everything else, those words of yours are nothing but arrogant boasts beyond your capabilities."

Lorne grinned without speaking, but the fighting spirit in his eyes said everything.

"You've already reached your limit today." Zephyr glanced at the wounds on his body that had yet to heal completely and ordered, "Go back and rest properly. Get your body and mind back into their best condition."

"Yes, teacher."

Lorne nodded and turned to leave.

"Wait." Zephyr stopped him.

Lorne looked back in puzzlement.

A faint, oppressive smile appeared on Zephyr's stern face.

"Starting tomorrow, I'll officially teach you... Armament Haki!"