"Bring it on, Teacher!"
Far from showing any fear, Lorne licked his lips in excitement. Fierce fighting spirit burned in his golden, bestial eyes, like a beast that had spotted fresh prey.
"Let's see which is harder-the real 'Iron Fist' or that bastard grandfather of mine!"
"You arrogant little brat!"
Zephyr snorted coldly, and his figure vanished on the spot.
The next second, he appeared before Lorne. His mechanical arm, Crusher, coated in jet-black Armament Haki, hurtled straight toward Lorne's abdomen with a howl that tore through the air!
Too fast!
Lorne's pupils contracted sharply. Almost instinctively, he bent his knees slightly and tensed his abdominal muscles, preparing to use Iron Body to withstand the blow.
But just as his muscles were about to finish contracting, Zephyr's icy voice exploded beside his ear like a curse.
"No fighting back! No defending, either!"
An order?
A flicker of disdain crossed Lorne's mind. Since when had he ever taken orders from anyone?
But then a deeper combat instinct made him forcibly halt his activation of Iron Body.
He chose to trust the old soldier's judgment.
Boom!!!
The jet-black iron fist slammed squarely into Lorne's unprotected abdomen.
"Urgh!"
Lorne let out a muffled groan of pain, his whole body curling up like a cooked shrimp.
That overwhelmingly powerful black energy seeped into his body once again like maggots burrowing into bone, rampaging through his internal organs and wreaking destruction.
The intense pain made his vision darken in waves. His stomach churned so violently that he nearly vomited bile.
Yet he gritted his teeth, his feet rooted to the ground, and refused to retreat a single step!
"We're not done!"
Zephyr pressed on without pause after landing his blow.
His attacks unfolded like a raging storm. Fists, elbows, and knees coated in Armament Haki struck from every direction at fiendishly tricky angles, pounding every vital point on Lorne's body with ruthless precision!
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
Heavy impacts like war drums echoed in rapid succession through the empty training ground.
Lorne was like a punching bag fixed in place. Abandoning all resistance and evasion, he endured the former Marine Admiral's terrifying, mountain-shattering attacks with nothing but his bare flesh.
His bones groaned, his muscles tore, and his organs shook.
Every punch felt like a thrust through his soul, allowing him to clearly "see" how that black energy brutally ripped through his defenses and ran rampant inside him.
"Remember this feeling!"
Zephyr's roar echoed in his ears.
"This isn't strength or speed. It's an extension of your will! You use your mind to command your body, to forge an invisible suit of armor!"
"Feel it! Understand it! Then... control it!"
Lorne clenched his teeth, blood constantly spilling from the corners of his mouth, but his golden, bestial eyes shone brighter and brighter.
He was frantically committing this sensation to memory with his body and soul.
So this was Armament Haki!
It wasn't a coating attached to the surface of the body, but a form of energy that merged with one's flesh and will from the inside out!
To him, each of Zephyr's attacks was no longer mere violence, but another profoundly instructive "demonstration"!
"Ha... haha..."
Amid the dense rain of punches, Lorne suddenly began to laugh softly.
His laughter was faint at first, then grew louder and louder until it became wild, unrestrained laughter!
"So that's how it works... so that's how it works!!"
His passive skill, Battlefield Valor, had long since been driven to its limit, its monstrous regenerative power frantically repairing his damaged body.
Cracks in his bones forcibly healed the very next second; torn muscle fibers regenerated in an instant, becoming tougher than before!
His health was plummeting, but his recovery was growing faster and faster!
More importantly, his grit was skyrocketing at an unprecedented rate!
Zephyr stopped attacking. As he looked at the blood-soaked monster before him, laughing more happily than anyone, a complicated look flickered through his lone eye.
"Lunatic..."
He forced the word through his teeth.
He had seen countless geniuses and countless tough men, but never in his life had he encountered anyone like Lorne, who enjoyed pain that could break a giant and could even laugh aloud on the brink of death!
"Teacher, I get it!"
Lorne straightened up and wiped the blood from his face, revealing a set of stark white teeth stained red.
"Armament Haki means turning the feeling of getting beaten up into the power to beat someone else!"
Zephyr: "..."
What the hell did he mean, turning the feeling of getting beaten up into the power to beat someone else?!
How did this brat's bizarre brain even work?
It was outrageously off the mark, but in a certain sense... it seemed to make a little sense?
Zephyr felt his blood pressure starting to soar again.
He could not be bothered to waste more words on this mentally abnormal monster and merely said coldly, "Since you understand, let's continue!"
"You got it!"
Lorne answered excitedly, even taking the initiative to assume a position for his beating.
And so, for the rest of the day, heavy impacts echoed throughout the third underground level, along with Lorne's increasingly excited laughter, occasionally interspersed with muffled groans of pain.
A few short days passed.
As Zephyr watched Lorne in the center of the training ground, his initial anger and helplessness had given way to utter numbness and shock.
Every day, he had subjected Lorne to a ten-hour "baptism" with fists coated in Armament Haki.
Any normal person, even a giant, would have been completely wrecked on the first day under blows of such intensity.
Yet this monster, Lorne, was dragged away like a puddle of mud every night, only to appear at the training ground full of vigor the next morning, even more energetic than the day before.
Moreover, after each day's training, just when Zephyr thought he would rest, this monster actually went to the gravity chamber, frantically doing sit-ups while muttering, "Armament Haki is about remembering the feeling of getting beaten up," as though performing some mysterious ritual.
His freakish stamina and regenerative power made even Zephyr's heart tremble.
What shocked him even more was the speed of Lorne's progress.
On the first day, Lorne could only passively memorize the sensation while being beaten.
On the second day, he could occasionally make a barely perceptible flicker of black appear on his knuckles between blows.
On the third day, he could already coat an entire finger in Armament Haki, though it was still crude and uneven in color.
And today was only the fifth day.
"Hah!"
In the training ground, Lorne let out an explosive shout and shook both arms!
Hum!
Two streams of jet-black energy instantly spread from his shoulders, rapidly covering his entire upper arms and forearms like living things, only stopping at his wrists!
Though the black was not as solid and deep as Zephyr's, and some areas even carried a faint gray tint, it was unmistakably fully formed Armament Haki Hardening!
Five days!
In just five days, he had gone from a complete outsider who could not even find the way in to someone who could steadily coat both forearms in Armament Haki!
"..."
Zephyr stood rooted in place, his mouth slightly open. For the first time, his weathered face wore an expression of utter dismay.
Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!
A towering storm surged through Zephyr's heart, and his lone eye filled with disbelief.
I was hailed as the Marines' once-in-a-century genius, and even I needed a full three months to barely manage this! That bastard Garp was faster than me, but even he took over a month!
This brat... what on earth is he made of?
Such talent, such learning speed-it's simply unheard of!
No! Zephyr's expression instantly became incomparably grave. If power like this goes astray, the harm it brings will be devastating! I must... I must guide him myself!
"Teacher! Here I come!"
Just as Zephyr reeled in shock, Lorne's excited shout pulled him back to reality.
With jet-black Haki wrapped around his arms, Lorne stamped down hard, instantly cracking the alloy floor, and shot straight toward Zephyr like a cannonball fired from its barrel!
"Now it's my turn!"
Laughing wildly, Lorne swung his Armament Haki-coated right fist viciously toward Zephyr's face, howling through the air!
He was fighting back!
A flicker of approval crossed Zephyr's eyes as he faced Lorne's attack.
Without using his full strength, he raised his own Armament Haki-coated left fist to meet it.
Clang!!!
The two fists, disproportionate in size but equally black, collided violently in midair!
A visible shock wave erupted outward from the two of them!
Lorne felt an overwhelming, irresistible force surge from the other fist, sending him flying backward uncontrollably.
But the force of that punch also drove Zephyr half a step back.
It was only a small step, but the shock in Zephyr's heart was even greater than before!
This brat's strength could already budge him when he was taking things seriously?
"Hahaha! Again!"
Lorne flipped in midair and landed securely on the ground. Before he had even steadied himself, he excitedly lunged forward again.
For the rest of the session, the scene in the training ground changed completely.
It was no longer a one-sided beating, but a true exchange of attacks!
Lorne put everything he had learned over the past few days to full use. Combining Armament Haki Hardening with the Six Powers, he launched an exceptionally fierce offensive, every punch aimed at Zephyr's vital points.
Zephyr, meanwhile, was the perfect sparring partner, always keeping his strength just slightly above Lorne's. He continually dismantled Lorne's attacks while countering with more refined techniques and more solid Haki.
The two traded blows, the clash of metal ringing incessantly, and the entire underground training ground seemed to become a powder keg on the verge of exploding.
After a thoroughly satisfying fight, both men sat on the ground to rest, panting.
"Brat, your understanding of Armament Haki is still too shallow."
Zephyr took a drink of water, looked at Lorne's two black arms, from which the Haki had yet to fade, and spoke slowly.
"What matters in Armament Haki isn't full coverage, but 'purity.'"
"Look at me, then think about that bastard Garp." Zephyr pointed to his mechanical arm, then his fist. "I'm 'Black Arm' Zephyr, and he's 'Iron Fist' Garp. We can both coat our entire bodies in Haki, but is it necessary? No."
"That only wastes stamina and mental energy. In a real fight, it's an extremely foolish thing to do."
Lorne looked thoughtful at his words.
He recalled someone from the memories of his previous life-Vergo.
That top officer of the Donquixote Family could coat his entire body in Armament Haki, looking immensely imposing. But in terms of the actual quality of his Haki, Zephyr would probably wipe the floor with him.
"I understand, Teacher." Lorne nodded. "Strength should be used where it counts. Rather than chasing flashy but impractical full-body armor, it's better to concentrate all your will on one point and achieve the utmost penetration and destruction."
"It's good that you understand that."
A gratified smile appeared on Zephyr's face. Though this monster's mind was abnormal, his aptitude for combat truly was first-rate.
"You've truly grasped the basics of Armament Haki now. The rest is slow, steady work, day after day. Keep fighting and tempering it, refining its quality to make it tougher and more solid."
Zephyr stood and brushed the dust off his clothes.
"Your 'shield' has taken shape. Though it's still rough, it's enough for you to have your way in the first half of the Grand Line."
"So, starting tomorrow, it's time I taught you how to acquire the keenest 'eyes.'"
Before you continue