Lorne was down on his hands and knees, coughing violently. Every breath sent agonizing pain tearing through his chest.
He could clearly feel the spiderweb cracks in his breastbone. His heart felt as though an invisible hand had clenched it viciously, almost stopping it from beating.
What... was going on?
He slowly raised his head, staring in disbelief at the old man in the distance, who still held his punching stance.
The same spot, the same person-even the second punch had not felt much stronger than the first.
Why... were the results worlds apart?
The first punch had been like hitting someone through a sandbag, barely hurting at all.
The second, however, had felt as though the fist had reached straight into his body and destroyed it from within!
"Did you feel that?"
Zephyr slowly lowered his pitch-black right fist, looking down at the battered Lorne with a voice as cold as ice.
"This is Armament Haki."
"It isn't simply an addition of strength, but a higher form of energy. It can make contact with the physical bodies of Logia users and pierce the toughest physical defenses."
"That brute strength you're so proud of, your Iron Body-they're nothing but a joke before this power."
Lorne said nothing. He simply stared fixedly at Zephyr's fist, which had already returned to normal.
His mind raced, frantically recalling what he had felt in that instant.
That... black energy...
It wasn't physical 'force,' but a kind of... penetrating 'substance'!
Just as a needle could easily pierce a wooden board, while a wad of cotton of the same weight could not.
Was this... the power of will?
Condensing an intangible 'will' into nearly tangible 'energy,' giving it the ability to pierce anything!
"So that's it... so that's it..."
Lorne murmured under his breath. The pain gradually faded from his golden, bestial eyes, replaced by an almost crazed understanding and excitement!
Battlefield Valor was working furiously within him. The cracks in his breastbone healed rapidly with a series of cracks, and his damaged organs were swiftly repairing themselves as well.
In just a few dozen seconds, he had already recovered seventy to eighty percent.
"Heh... hehehe..."
Lorne pushed against the ground and staggered to his feet. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and that signature smile, brimming with wildness, returned to his face.
"So that's how it works..."
"Teacher, I think... I'm starting to understand."
Zephyr frowned slightly at the sight of him. "Understand what?"
"Why you called me stupid." Lorne moved his body, his bones giving off a string of sharp pops. "Before, I was like an idiot sitting on a whole mountain of gold without knowing how to spend it, only knowing how to hit people with gold bars."
"I kept trying to use 'force' to drive 'will.' I had it backward from the very beginning."
"It should be the other way around..."
Lorne's gaze became utterly focused.
"Using 'will' to control 'force'!"
He walked up to the Alloy Wooden Post again and slowly closed his eyes.
This time, he no longer thought about protecting anything or being wildly arrogant.
All that remained in his mind was the sensation of Zephyr's punch.
That cold, overbearing, pitch-black energy that ignored every physical law and struck straight at the core!
He would imitate it! Replicate it! And ultimately... surpass it!
The strength within him no longer surged violently toward his fist as it had before. Instead, an invisible mental force forcibly restrained, compressed, and condensed it!
He could feel all the essence, energy, and spirit in his body converging on a single point in his right fist!
It felt like forcing a surging river into a narrow water pipe!
The immense pressure made the veins in his right arm bulge, his muscles trembling uncontrollably.
"That's the feeling..."
Lorne's eyes snapped open, a brilliant gleam blazing in his pupils!
"Condense. For. Me!!"
With a roar from the depths of his soul, he once again drove that will and strength, compressed to their utmost limit, savagely into the Alloy Wooden Post before him!
Hum!
Just as his fist was about to touch the post, a speck of pitch-black color flashed across the knuckle of his right index finger and vanished!
It had lasted only an instant, covering an area so small it was almost negligible.
But that had unmistakably been the "color" of Armament Haki!
Bang!!!
This time, there was neither a dull impact nor a crisp metallic clang.
Instead, there was an immensely heavy explosion!
Lorne's fist sank deep into the Alloy Wooden Post, leaving a fist mark several times deeper than before!
Fine cracks spread outward from the fist mark like a spiderweb!
"Hah... hah..."
Lorne gulped down great lungfuls of air, his entire body drenched in sweat, as though he had just fought a battle to the death.
The skin over the knuckles of his right fist had split, leaving them dripping with blood.
Yet his face bore a smile more radiant than any he had ever shown!
He had done it!
Though it had only been a tiny amount, he had successfully attached his "will" to his fist!
He had successfully taken his first step into the world of the truly strong!
Zephyr stood nearby, looking at the crack-covered Alloy Wooden Post, then at Lorne's tightly clenched, blood-drenched fist. On that eternally impassive face, in his single eye, there finally appeared a trace of barely concealed... shock!
Only a few minutes had passed since he had used Armament Haki to injure the boy so severely that he had been near death.
Not only had this boy gotten back up thanks to his freakish recovery, but in such a short time, with just one firsthand experience, he had even found his way to the threshold of Armament Haki!
"Genius" was no longer enough to describe him.
This fellow...
He's an absolute monster born for battle! Zephyr marveled inwardly.
He slowly walked over to Lorne and glanced at his mangled fist.
"How does it feel?"
"Amazing!" Lorne raised his head and grinned, his stark white teeth gleaming beneath the lights. "Teacher, again! I feel like I'm about to grasp it!"
"No rush."
Zephyr shook his head. On his stern face, there appeared a rare curve that almost resembled a smile.
"You've already knocked the door open."
"What comes next is the real hell."
"Starting today, I'll use fists coated in Armament Haki to thoroughly 'wash' you from head to toe-every inch of bone, every muscle."
"Until... your body remembers this sensation completely, until your will can cover your entire body at your command!"
Zephyr looked at Lorne, flames blazing in his single eye-the fervor of an instructor who had discovered a peerless uncut gem.
"Are you ready to face the true... 'Iron Fist'? My... dear student!"
Before you continue