Kizaru finally withdrew his gaze, slowly turned around, and headed for the door.
As he passed Zephyr, he paused.
"You were right, Teacher Zephyr~ He really is a monster~"
His tone still had that drawn-out cadence that made it impossible to tell whether he meant it.
"So~ sca~ry~"
Then his figure turned into a glimmer of light and instantly vanished from the training ground entrance.
Lorne stared in the direction he had disappeared, remaining silent for a long while.
"Teacher."
"Hm?"
"That man... is strong."
Zephyr snorted.
"Of course he is. Which of the Three Admirals isn't a monster standing at the pinnacle of the world?"
He turned toward Lorne, a sharp glint flashing through his single eye.
"What, scared?"
"Scared?" Lorne rolled his wrist, his mouth spreading into a grin. "I was just thinking that before I beat him up someday, I'll have to learn how to hit light."
Zephyr stared at him for two seconds, then turned his head away.
"Get back to training. Stop dawdling."
After Kizaru left, the training continued without interruption.
Zephyr increased the intensity.
He began incorporating more complex changes of rhythm into his attacks.
Lorne was beaten black and blue.
But the speed of his progress was outrageous.
Only when the setting sun slanted through the vents at the top of the training ground did Zephyr lower his fists and stand still, his chest rising and falling slightly.
"Enough. That's it for today."
Lorne knelt on one knee, without a single patch of uninjured skin on his body, but his beast ears still stood up spiritedly.
"Teacher, I can still-"
"Enough." Zephyr cut him off. "Training Observation Haki is seven parts actual combat and three parts quiet meditation. You've had enough combat. Keep fighting, and it'll only dull your perception."
He picked up the towel hanging on the wall and tossed it onto Lorne's head.
"Rest well tonight and get yourself into the best mental state possible. However quickly your body recovers, your mind still needs time to settle."
"Tomorrow, we'll continue training your Observation Haki."
Lorne caught the towel and wiped the blood from his face.
"Quiet meditation... how exactly do I do that?"
"Find somewhere quiet to sit, close your eyes, and empty your mind." Zephyr's voice softened, a rare occurrence. "Don't deliberately try to 'hear' anything. Just feel."
"Feel the wind, feel the water, feel the breathing of the world itself."
"The pinnacle of Observation Haki isn't hearing one person's heartbeat. It's hearing the voices of all things."
The voices of all things.
Lorne repeated the phrase softly, his golden beastlike eyes flickering slightly.
Zephyr had already turned and left, his mechanical arm casting a long shadow in the twilight.
Night fell.
Marineford's lights came on one after another. Patrolling Marines changed shifts throughout the fortress, their voices carrying from the distance before gradually fading into the sea breeze.
Lorne did not return to his dormitory.
He went to the coastline on Marineford's eastern side, to the rocky shore where he had sat alone a few days earlier.
Taking off his bloodstained shirt to reveal his scarred upper body, its wounds already mostly healed, he stepped barefoot onto the seawater-soaked rocks and found a large, flat rock to sit on cross-legged.
The sea breeze blew against his face, carrying the briny tang of the deep sea.
Moonlight pierced the thin clouds, laying a silvery-white path across the sea.
Lorne closed his eyes.
He tried to do as Zephyr had said, emptying his mind without deliberately trying to "hear" anything.
But it was too difficult.
His mind was filled with scenes from the day's training. Zephyr's fists, how Observation Haki worked, the possibility of Future Sight...
All kinds of thoughts surged like the tide. He could not quiet his mind at all.
"Tch."
He scratched his hair irritably, his beast ears twitching in displeasure.
Just then, a gruff voice sounded behind him.
"Hey, kid. Still awake?"
Lorne did not turn around.
"Old man, aren't you supposed to be in your office catching up on patrol reports?"
Garp walked over with a booming laugh, clutching a bag of Senbei and crunching away, crumbs falling all over his chest.
"Reports are such a pain! Tsuru hounded me all afternoon to write them, so I climbed out the window while she was in the bathroom! Bwahahahaha!"
The corner of Lorne's mouth twitched.
"...Are you a Marine Vice Admiral or an escaped convict?"
Garp paid no attention whatsoever to the jab. He plopped down casually on the rock beside Lorne, his massive body nearly cracking it.
"That old fellow Zephyr told me." Garp's voice was muffled as he chewed his Senbei. "Said your Observation Haki has taken some unorthodox path, breaking all the usual rules."
He turned toward Lorne. In the moonlight, his weathered old face wore a rare look of seriousness.
"He also said those words of yours about 'justice' kept him thinking for a long time."
Lorne said nothing.
Garp stuffed another two Senbei into his mouth.
"Kid, do you think there's something wrong with this world?"
Lorne was silent for a moment before slowly speaking.
"...I don't think it. I know it."
"The Celestial Dragons lord it over everyone, and the Marines fly the banner of justice, yet they can't even protect their own. My mom risked her life for the Marines back then, and what did she get in the end? A body covered in festering wounds and a discharge order."
Every word rang clear.
"This world's rules are rotten at the root."
Garp stopped chewing.
The sea breeze blew between them, stirring Garp's graying hair and the beast ears atop Lorne's head.
The silence lasted a long time.
Then Garp suddenly reached out with his large, callused hand and slapped Lorne hard on the shoulder.
The force was enough to drive half of Lorne's body lower.
"Kid."
"I'm not going to discuss what's just and what isn't with you. As long as you know where you stand, that's enough."
"But there's one thing I want to tell you."
His hand pressed firmly on Lorne's shoulder.
"Grow as quickly as you can."
"Get strong. Stronger than anyone else. So strong that no one can ignore you, suppress you, or threaten the people around you."
Garp stood up and looked down at Lorne, the moonlight outlining his massive silhouette from behind.
"And then-"
His mouth spread into a wild, commanding grin.
"Let all those arrogant Pirates out on the seas know that we Marines have another new monster!"
"Bwahahahahaha-!"
Garp's booming laughter rang out across the shore at night.
His laughter gradually receded, accompanied by the rustling of the Senbei bag, and his massive back disappeared into the darkness beyond the rocks.
Lorne sat there alone, the sea breeze brushing his face.
He lowered his head and looked at his fists.
Scabs from the day's training still clung to them.
"A new monster... huh."
He murmured to himself, then slowly closed his eyes.
This time, he no longer thought about training, or Kizaru, or justice and evil.
His beast ears trembled slightly, and within his perception, those sounds drew nearer from afar, then receded into the distance again.
An unknown amount of time passed.
Lorne noticed something strange.
At some point, his breathing had fallen into sync with the rhythm of the waves.
He inhaled, and the waves surged.
He exhaled, and the waves receded.
He "heard" the fish in the sea speaking.
He heard the thoughts spoken by rocks that had been silent for untold tens of thousands of years.
Lorne's eyes opened slightly.
"What is this?"
Before you continue