Haymaker

The battle began!

The smile vanished from Garp's face in an instant.

There were no wasted words, nor any probing attacks.

He slid his right leg half a step back, and the hard paving beneath his feet instantly cracked like a spiderweb.

The next moment, he shot forward like a cannonball, his massive body tearing through the air with a terrifying howl. A Fist Bone, wrapped in abyss-black Armament Haki, smashed down toward Lorne's face!

Fast!

Too fast!

Lorne's Observation Haki caught it, and the Voice of All Things warned him, but his body couldn't keep up!

"Life Return: Extreme Contraction!"

"Iron Body!"

"Armament Haki Hardening!"

In that split second, Lorne abandoned all thought of dodging, concentrated every ounce of strength into his arms, and crossed them before his chest to take the punch head-on!

BOOM!!!

An indescribable force struck him.

Lorne felt as though he had been hit head-on by a meteor hurtling into a continent.

His Armament Haki defense, Iron Body, and even his muscles under Extreme Contraction were as fragile as paper before this utterly pure force.

The sharp crack of the bones in his arms breaking never even reached anyone's ears, completely drowned out by the terrifying blast of the punch.

His entire body became a black blur as he flew backward, faster than he had arrived, smashing straight through three thick walls forged from a special alloy to withstand cannon fire!

After the thunderous crashing, the entire crowd fell deathly silent.

Everyone stared blankly at the enormous human-shaped holes in those three walls and the rubble that had finally buried Lorne.

Was it over?

Just... one punch?

"Hahaha! I told you! He couldn't even take one punch!"

"He's too weak! What a joke!"

After that brief silence, the recruits erupted into even more unrestrained ridicule.

On the platform, Sengoku's face was livid. He was already preparing to send the medics to retrieve the body.

But just then-

"Wahahahaha!"

Garp's booming laughter rang out again. He looked toward the rubble, his eyes filled with excitement and admiration.

"Not bad, kid!"

Everyone froze.

Then, beneath everyone's horrified gazes-

The heap of rubble began to shake violently, stones tumbling down.

A mangled hand pushed aside the broken stones and suddenly thrust out, clutching the ground tightly.

Then came the second.

A figure staggered upright from the rubble once more.

It was Lorne!

The ribs in his chest were visibly caved in. Not a patch of skin on his body was intact, and blood covered him from head to toe.

Yet his face bore a smile of utter arrogance.

The passive effect of Battlefield Valor roared wildly within him. His broken bones rapidly knitted together with a series of cracks, and his sunken chest rose back into shape at a visible speed.

"Whew..."

Lorne exhaled a foul breath flecked with bloody foam and fragments of his organs. He rolled his neck, looked at the unscathed Garp, and grinned.

"Old man... that punch had decent power."

"It was just a little... soft."

The entire crowd fell deathly silent.

Every mocking voice abruptly cut off, as though an invisible hand had seized them all by the throat.

At the sight, Garp laughed even harder, his massive body trembling slightly with excitement.

"Good! Very good! Wahahahaha! That's my grandson!"

"Since you put it that way, I'll get a little serious!"

Before his words had even faded, Garp vanished again!

This time, it wasn't a single punch.

It was an endless barrage of heavy punches, like a raging storm!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The entire central plaza became his attack zone. Amid the dense flurry of fists, Lorne was repeatedly blasted backward, slammed into the ground, then punched out of a deep crater and into the air!

Lorne gave up dodging altogether.

He focused all his energy on taking the beating.

Every heavy blow shattered his bones and jarred his internal organs.

But every heavy blow also sent the golden energy gauge representing his Grit in his mind soaring!

20%... 40%... 60%... 80%...

The battle reached a fever pitch!

"Wahahahaha! Can you still get up, kid?"

Seeing Lorne grow fiercer as the fight went on, like a cockroach that refused to die, Garp's fighting spirit blazed to life as well. He abruptly stepped back, an unprecedented concentration of pitch-black Armament Haki gathering over his right fist, even faintly radiating an ominous red glow.

"This final blow is my tribute to your perseverance, you little brat!"

"Take it, then stay down!"

"Fist Bone: Meteor!!!"

A terrifying fist that seemed capable of shattering islands and evaporating the sea tore through space, hurtling toward Lorne with an aura of utter destruction!

Facing this world-shattering blow, Lorne neither dodged nor retreated.

He even spread his arms, letting that iron fist, packed with the terrifying power of the Marine Hero, slam squarely into his chest!

CRACK!!!

His breastbone and the spine behind it were completely pulverized beneath that punch.

But at that very instant-

The golden energy gauge in his mind finally... filled!

HUM!!!

A dazzling pillar of golden light burst from the crown of Lorne's head, piercing the clouds!

His overflowing Grit even formed the hazy golden image of a crowned beast behind him!

"Got you..."

Before Garp's astonished eyes, Lorne's bloodstained hands actually seized his iron wrist, which was thicker than Lorne's thigh!

"What?!" Garp was startled.

He tried to pull his hand back, only to find that Lorne's arms were like red-hot Seastone irons. Not only did they refuse to budge, but a terrifying force surged through them, enough to make even his heart lurch!

"Get... up here!!!"

A frightening golden light burst from Lorne's eyes. With a furious roar, he unleashed Sett's ultimate technique!

"The Show Stopper!!!"

Before tens of thousands of onlookers, who stared as though they had seen a ghost-

The nearly three-meter-tall Marine Hero, Monkey D. Garp, who weighed as much as a small mountain, was forcibly hauled off the ground and into the air by a boy several sizes smaller than him!

"BOOM!!!"

Carrying Garp with him, Lorne slammed viciously into the ground in a motion that defied the laws of physics!

All of Marineford shook violently!

But it wasn't over!

He seized the instant when Garp, smashed into a deep crater, was momentarily immobilized.

Lorne poured all his overflowing Grit, all the pain and damage he had endured, his unyielding will, and his arrogant fighting spirit into his right fist!

Black Armament Haki and golden Grit energy wildly intertwined and merged, finally becoming an utterly pure void that seemed to devour all light.

"Old man... take a good look..."

"This... is my punch!"

"Hay... maker!!!"

He threw the punch!

There was no earth-shattering sound, no dazzling display of light.

There was only absolute silence, and a surge of True Damage that made the scalps of every officer of admiral rank present prickle, disregarding all rules and all defenses as it collided violently with the Haki Garp hastily raised to block it!

The next second-

BOOM!!!!!!!!!!

With the two of them at its center, the entire surface of the central plaza, along with dozens of meters of foundations beneath it, instantly evaporated! An enormous, bottomless crater appeared before everyone's eyes!

The terrifying shock wave became a force-twelve hurricane that swept outward, throwing countless Marines to the ground!

The dust cleared.

At the edge of the abyssal crater, Lorne knelt on one knee, drenched in blood. His body had reached its limit, and he collapsed.

On the other side of the crater-

Even the Marine Hero, Monkey D. Garp, was driven back several steps by that terrifying force before he barely managed to steady himself.

He lowered his head to look at his slightly numb right fist, its sleeve shredded, then looked up at the figure who, though fallen, still held his spine perfectly straight.

His face showed unprecedented shock.

The entire crowd was deathly silent.

On the platform, Kizaru's flippant expression vanished for the first time. He slowly adjusted his sunglasses and murmured to himself:

"We really have... caught a terrifying monster..."

As for the recruits who had been waiting to laugh at Lorne, they had long since lost their voices entirely.

Their mouths hung open as they stared blankly at the fallen yet still arrogant figure amid the ruins, at that bottomless crater, and at the retreating footsteps of the hero hailed as the strongest Marine...

The mockery and scorn in their hearts had long since been crushed to pieces.