"Hiss-"
Lorne gritted his teeth and dragged himself out of the heap of rotten canvas and splintered wood, inch by inch.
His upper body was bare, and a large section over his ribs had caved in. Beneath his skin, even the jagged ends of bones formed unnatural bulges.
With every breath, his chest wheezed like a broken bellows.
"Impossible..."
The medical officer who had rushed out stood rooted to the deck, unable to move.
He had practiced medicine for over a decade and seen countless wounded men.
Four broken ribs, bone fragments piercing the pleura, internal bleeding-with fatal injuries like those, even lying still would hurt enough to kill him, yet this kid was still trying to get up?
Thud!
Lorne's knee slammed heavily onto the deck with a dull thump.
He knelt there, spewing mouthfuls of bloody froth, his head hanging, looking ready to pitch forward at any moment.
"That's enough, kid." Garp's voice came from above him, carrying a measure of seriousness for the first time. "Your bones are broken. Lie down and let the medical officer examine you."
Lorne did not raise his head.
His lips moved, but his voice was so faint that the sea breeze immediately scattered it.
"What did you say?" Garp frowned and took a step forward.
"I said-"
Lorne lifted his head, his face covered in blood, but his eyes shone with a terrifying brightness.
"Who told you to stop?!"
Garp stopped in his tracks.
On both sides of the deck, every Marine's breath caught.
"This kid... is he insane?" a raw recruit asked shakily.
No one paid him any attention.
Because they had all witnessed something that shattered their understanding of the world.
Lorne's body was shaking!
Not from pain!
Something inside his body was working furiously!
The Grit Gauge in his mind had filled completely under Garp's punch!
Golden energy surged and boiled within the gauge, almost breaking free of its confines!
But this time, Lorne did not blast it out!
He chose to force it back into his own body!
The Grit did not turn into an attack. Instead, it raced through his blood vessels toward those broken bones like mad!
"Crack."
An extremely faint snap came from inside his chest.
The medical officer's pupils abruptly contracted. "What was that sound?"
"Crack."
Another one.
"Crack, crack, crack-"
A rapid series of bones snapping back into place sounded as though an invisible craftsman were tightening screws inside his body at incredible speed!
Intense pain flashed across Lorne's face, veins bulging all the way from his neck to his temples, but he clenched his back teeth and did not make a sound!
That warm current spread from his chest to his limbs. Wherever it passed, his broken ribs were forcibly pushed back into place one by one, and new bone rapidly filled the gaps between the fragments!
Lorne braced both hands against the deck and abruptly performed a sit-up.
"One."
Then another.
"Two."
The third, the fourth, the fifth!
He did his sit-ups faster and faster, with increasingly large movements, until he was practically bouncing madly on the deck, the cracking sounds never stopping!
"Seventeen... eighteen... nineteen-"
He did twenty in one go, then planted his hands on the deck and staggered to his feet.
The deck fell deathly silent.
The medical officer's medicine kit dropped to the deck with a clatter, bottles and jars rolling everywhere, but he did not notice.
His mouth hung open, his jaw almost dislocated.
"This is impossible..." Even his voice was trembling. "Four broken ribs, severe internal bleeding. Five minutes ago, I saw the bones pushing up under his skin with my own eyes... five minutes... how the hell is that possible in five minutes..."
Lorne spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva.
The pair of furry Beast Ears atop his head twitched, shaking off the wood shavings stuck to them.
Sunlight fell across his bare upper body, and everyone could clearly see those horrifying purple bruises fading at a rate visible to the naked eye!
Five minutes ago, he had looked like a dead man. Now he stood on the deck, alive and kicking, more energetic than anyone!
"My God..."
A veteran leaned against the railing, his calves trembling.
He had sailed with Garp for over a decade. What kind of monster hadn't he seen? Logia, Zoan, Paramecia-he had dealt with all kinds of Devil Fruit Users.
But he had never seen anything like this!
"Chief..." The veteran turned toward his ashen-faced superior. "This kid... just what the hell is he?"
The chief petty officer did not answer.
That kind of constitution was simply not something a human should possess!
And the monster with that constitution was only in his teens!
The chief petty officer shut his mouth and turned his gaze toward Garp.
He wanted to see how their Vice Admiral was reacting now.
Garp stood motionless in the middle of the deck.
His right hand was still raised, his index finger inside his nostril. He had frozen in the middle of picking his nose.
He had roamed the seas for decades, fought Roger, traded punches with Whitebeard, and chased Golden Lion around the world.
The toughest body he had ever seen belonged to Diamond Jozu, and the strongest regeneration he had ever seen belonged to Marco the Phoenix.
But those were all Devil Fruit powers!
This kid before him had eaten no fruit. With nothing but his physical body, he had taken a punch from Garp that broke four ribs and caused internal bleeding, then stood up five minutes later to do sit-ups!
And the more he was beaten, the more energetic he became!
What breed of monster was this?!
Garp pulled his finger from his nostril, completely ignoring whatever was hanging from it.
He stared fixedly at Lorne, an exceedingly rare gleam flashing through those old eyes that had seen every storm the seas had to offer.
"Vice Admiral Garp?" the adjutant beside him called shakily.
Garp ignored him entirely.
His gaze remained locked on Lorne, and his mouth began stretching into a grin he could not control.
Lorne noticed Garp's expression too.
His Beast Ears shot upright, and every hair on his back stood on end!
A sense of danger even stronger than when his bones had broken surged from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his skull!
"Hey, hey, hey..." Lorne instinctively backed away half a step. "Old man, what's with that look?"
Garp did not answer.
He began rolling his wrists, his joints crackling.
He yanked the "Justice" coat off his shoulders and casually tossed it onto the deck.
The instant the coat hit the deck, the Marines on both sides paled as one!
"The Vice Admiral took his coat off!"
"We're done, we're done, we're done-"
The chief petty officer's face had turned as white as paper. He turned and roared at everyone around him, "Everyone! Grab the railings! Grab anything near you that you can hold on to!"
Lorne's Adam's apple bobbed.
He watched Garp approach step by step, each footfall making the overburdened deck shudder.
"Kid."
Garp spoke.
"I only used ten percent of my strength in those punches earlier."
Lorne's pupils contracted sharply.
Ten percent?
Those punches that had broken his bones and torn his tendons, left him vomiting blood and unconscious, had used a mere ten percent of Garp's strength?
"I was going to test your limits slowly," Garp continued, clenching his right fist as he spoke. "Ten percent, twenty percent, thirty percent. Raise it little by little and see when you couldn't take it anymore."
He stopped only three paces from Lorne.
"But that little trick of yours just now..."
Garp's grin fully blossomed into the wild delight of a child who had received a beloved toy.
"Made me change my mind!"
Lorne clenched his fists too.
He could feel that Garp's entire aura had changed.
The man standing before him now was the Iron Fist whose very name terrified countless great pirates!
The hero of the Marines!
Monkey D. Garp!
"Old man..." Lorne's voice trembled slightly, but he did not retreat a single step.
"What if you beat me to death?"
"Beat you to death?" Garp tilted his head, looking as though the answer were obvious. "If you die, that means you weren't worthy of being my grandson. You'd only have yourself to blame for being too weak!"
"...You old bastard. You're serious."
"Of course I'm serious!"
Garp raised his right fist.
This time, there was nothing on his fist. No Haki, no light.
But Lorne clearly "saw" it.
The air around that fist was warping!
"Thirty percent," Garp said.
Lorne's Beast Ears abruptly flattened, pressing tightly against his scalp.
It was a beast's instinctive response to a natural predator!
But his feet did not move!
He raised his arms in front of himself, crossing them to block, while frantically urging his Grit's passive recovery into action in his mind.
Come on!
Hit me!
The harder you hit me, the faster I heal!
"You've got guts!"
Garp roared and drove his right fist forward!
Before the wind of his punch even reached him, the deck beneath Lorne's feet exploded!
Lorne's arms took the punch squarely.
Then he heard the bones in both forearms snap at the same time!
"Pfft-!"
He spat another jet of blood and was blasted backward!
But this time, he did not crash into the mast again.
The instant he was sent flying, he desperately twisted his body, his feet plowing two long furrows through the deck as he forcibly brought himself to a halt!
He knelt on one knee, his arms hanging limply at his sides, bent at grotesque angles.
Broken.
Both arms were broken.
The pain nearly made him shatter his back teeth from clenching them!
But the Grit Gauge in his mind was full again!
The warm current surged out once more, frantically repairing the fractures in both his forearms!
"Crack, crack, crack-"
The rapid sounds of bones snapping back into place rang out again.
The Marines on both sides of the deck had gone completely numb.
They simply stared wide-eyed at the boy kneeling on the deck as, within two short minutes, he rejoined his two broken arms.
Then he stood up.
He rolled his wrists and clenched his fists, confirming that his bones had healed.
"Whew-"
He let out a long, blood-tinged breath and looked up at Garp.
"That's it?"
Garp's nose-picking hand froze in midair.
He stared at Lorne for a full three seconds.
Then the corners of his mouth began to rise wildly, higher and higher!
His grin grew wider and wider, until undisguised excitement filled his entire face!
His eyes narrowed, and an exceedingly dangerous glint flashed in their depths.
"Brat."
"It seems this old man-"
He clenched his fist again.
This time, the air around his knuckles warped even more violently!
"Will have to get a little serious!"
Before you continue