"Now, whose fist do you think... is harder?"
Yas's voice was utterly calm, but across the deathly silent training ground, it struck everyone's hearts like a divine decree from the heavens!
Gulp.
Someone swallowed with difficulty, the sound especially jarring in the pin-drop silence.
Every recruit's face bore the same expression-shock!
They stared at the young man wreathed in blue arcs of electricity, their eyes filled with awe, fear, and a trace of... fervor!
Was this still the quiet Yas who usually let the instructor bully him?
He was nothing short of a primordial beast wearing human skin!
What was that blue lightning? A Devil Fruit power?
No!
They had never heard of any Logia or Paramecia fruit like this! That power was pure, domineering, and brimming with destruction!
"M-monster..." A nearby recruit's lips trembled, his teeth chattering.
Yas ignored the gazes around him. His attention was absorbed in the virtual system panel in his mind.
[Strongest Template System] [Host: Yas] [Bound template: Third Raikage A] [Current fusion: 1%] [Unlocked abilities:] [1. Lightning Release Chakra Mode (basic): Concentrates Lightning Release chakra throughout the body, greatly enhancing defense, attack power, and speed. At the current fusion level, the most basic Raijin Armor can be activated.] [2. Hell Stab: One-Finger Nukite (inactive): Concentrates chakra intensely at the fingertips to form a piercing attack capable of penetrating anything. Its power is inversely proportional to the number of fingers used; the fewer the fingers, the greater the power. Activation requirement: Reach 5% fusion.] [Ways to increase fusion:] [1. Continue high-intensity physical and combat training.] [2. Absorb external lightning energy.] [3. Defeat powerful enemies.]
So that was it...
Yas understood.
What the system had activated in that emergency was this "Lightning Release Chakra Mode," and it was only at the basic level.
A mere 1% fusion had let him withstand Moore's Armament Haki-infused kick head-on and even leave Moore severely injured by the recoil.
What if his fusion reached 10%? 50%? Or even 100%?
Yas's heart began pounding uncontrollably!
This template was practically tailor-made for this world!
What were the Third Raikage's greatest strengths?
His body! His defense! His speed! And that piercing attack that could penetrate anything!
What would happen when the Armament Haki this world took such pride in combined with the Third Raikage's Raijin Armor, famed as an "absolute defense"?
When Observation Haki capable of seeing the future met the Raikage's extreme speed, almost impossible to follow with the naked eye, whose nightmare would it become?
And when this world's greatest power-Conqueror's Haki-coated the all-piercing "Hell Stab: One-Finger Nukite"...
Yas scarcely dared imagine further!
Perhaps... I could even kill those so-called gods!
Rocks? Roger? Whitebeard?
At that moment, those legendary names no longer seemed quite so far beyond reach!
"Cough... cough, cough..."
Just then, a violent fit of coughing interrupted Yas's thoughts.
Over a dozen meters away, Instructor Moore struggled to climb off the ground.
One of his legs was twisted unnaturally, clearly fractured by the recoil just now. Half his body was charred black, and every strand of his hair stood on end. He looked utterly wretched.
But he paid no attention to any of that. His bloodshot eyes were fixed on Yas, filled with venom and... a trace of fear he could not conceal.
"You... you monster! Who the hell are you?!" Moore roared, his voice shrill with pain and anger.
He could not understand what had just happened!
He was an elite instructor at headquarters! Though he could not compare with those monstrous Vice Admirals, he stood at the very pinnacle among ordinary soldiers!
That kick had contained a lifetime's knowledge of the Six Powers and painstakingly honed Armament Haki. He could have easily kicked through a steel plate ten centimeters thick!
Yet kicking Yas had felt like kicking an immovable mountain range!
That terrifying blue lightning not only possessed astonishing defensive power, but also potent paralyzing and destructive effects. It had instantly demolished his attack and even severely injured him!
A Devil Fruit!
It had to be a Devil Fruit!
Only a legendary Devil Fruit could give a raw recruit such bizarre and powerful abilities!
"You... you dared eat a Devil Fruit without authorization and conceal it! That's a serious crime!" As though clutching at a lifeline, Moore roared, his bluster masking his fear. "I'm reporting this to Admiral Sengoku! You're finished! You'll be locked up in Impel Down!"
The recruits' expressions changed at those words.
The Marines did indeed have a rule: anyone who obtained a Devil Fruit had to report it immediately, leaving its allocation or the choice of who would eat it to the higher-ups. Eating one without authorization amounted to contempt for military discipline, no minor offense.
Yet at those words, the corners of Yas's lips curved into a cold smile.
The blue lightning around him slowly faded, leaving him a slender young man once more, as though that thunder god had merely been everyone's imagination.
"Instructor, you can eat whatever you like, but you can't say whatever you like."
Yas walked toward Moore, step by step. He moved slowly, but every footfall seemed to land on everyone's hearts.
"You say I ate a Devil Fruit. Where's your evidence?"
"You... that lightning on your body just now! What could it have been if not a Devil Fruit?!" Moore shouted as he instinctively shuffled backward, clearly terrified by Yas's imposing presence.
"Lightning?" Yas smiled. "Which eye of yours saw lightning on me?"
He spread his hands, looking utterly innocent.
"I..." Moore was momentarily speechless.
"Did any of you see it?" Yas turned, sweeping his gaze across the hundred-odd recruits.
Every recruit his gaze passed over shuddered and instinctively lowered their head, not daring to meet his eyes.
Was he kidding?
See it? We hadn't seen anything!
Even if we had, we'd have to say we hadn't!
This Yas was already someone they could not afford to provoke! Oppose a monster with limitless prospects? Only if they had been kicked in the head by a donkey!
"N-no, we didn't!"
"We didn't see anything!"
"That's right! Instructor Moore just overtrained and accidentally fell!"
Voices of agreement soon rose one after another from the crowd.
A wise person knew when to yield.
"You... all of you!" Moore trembled with rage, nearly coughing up blood.
These bastards! They had been bowing and scraping before me just moments ago, and now they had sold me out!
"Did you hear that, Instructor?" Yas stopped before Moore and looked down at him, his gaze cold as a blade. "You accidentally fell and suffered such serious injuries. How unfortunate."
"You... you, you..." Moore pointed at Yas, too furious to form a complete sentence.
He was afraid.
He was truly afraid.
The young man before him not only possessed monstrous strength, but was terrifyingly composed!
There was not the slightest panic in those eyes, only an indifference that saw through everything.
He knew perfectly well that if he persisted, this young man would have absolutely no objection to using a more "direct" method to "silence him forever."
Accidental deaths among recruits and instructors were not unheard of here at Marineford each year.
"I... I'll remember this..." Moore forced the words through clenched teeth, burying the venom in his eyes deep within.
"Remember what?" Yas crouched and leaned close to his ear, speaking softly enough for only the two of them to hear. "Remember to watch your mouth and keep your hands to yourself from now on. Otherwise, next time, it might not be your leg that breaks."
With that, he patted Moore's face, stood, and turned to leave.
That casual gesture left Moore feeling as though he had plunged into an ice pit, every hair on his body standing on end!
Just then, a commanding, booming voice rolled like thunder from the training ground's entrance!
"What is all this racket?! Have you no discipline?!"
The voice carried an unquestionable authority that made everyone's heart sink!
They turned toward the voice and saw a tall, powerfully built man with short purple hair and sunglasses striding toward them.
Merely standing there, he radiated a steely, battle-hardened presence that pressed down on them until they could hardly breathe!
"It's... it's Vice Admiral Zephyr!!!"
"My God! What's the Marines' chief instructor doing here?!"
The crowd erupted!
Zephyr!
"Black Arm" Zephyr! The chief instructor of all the Marines' current mainstays!
Kizaru, Akainu, Aokiji... those top-tier fighters who would one day shake the seas had all been his students!
Why had he appeared at an ordinary recruit training ground?!
At the sight of Zephyr, Moore scrambled toward him as though he had found his savior, crying, "Vice Admiral Zephyr! You have to give me justice! This recruit, he..."
Before he could finish, however, Zephyr's cold, piercing gaze stopped him.
"Shut up! You're an instructor, yet look at the state you're in! You've disgraced the Marines!" Zephyr snorted coldly. His gaze swept across the grounds like lightning before settling on Yas.
From a distance just now, he had faintly sensed an extremely unusual surge of energy.
It had been... a violent power of lightning!
Though it had lasted only an instant, the purity and intensity of that power had startled even him!
His sharp gaze scrutinized Yas, as though trying to see straight through him, inside and out.
"Did you do this?" Zephyr asked in a low voice.
In an instant, everyone's heart leaped into their throat.
Could Yas remain as composed as before in the presence of this legendary chief instructor of the Marines?
Yas raised his head and met Zephyr's gaze, answering without servility or arrogance, "Reporting to Vice Admiral Zephyr: while giving me 'special instruction,' the instructor accidentally used too much force and fell."
"Oh?" The corners of Zephyr's mouth rose slightly in a meaningful smile. "Special instruction?"
He glanced at Moore, still groaning on the ground, then at Yas, unscathed and breathing steadily. The interest in his eyes grew stronger.
"It seems your body is a good deal tougher than he imagined."
Zephyr slowly raised his right arm-the enormous mechanical arm made of seastone, the "Crusher."
"Since your instructor isn't capable of teaching you, then..."
"I'll personally put your 'mettle' to the test!"
Before his words had faded, a terrifying presence erupted from Zephyr! The ground beneath his feet cracked apart. Like a cannonball leaving its barrel, he crossed dozens of meters in an instant, his enormous black mechanical arm gleaming with a cold metallic luster as it smashed down toward Yas's head with an air-rending howl!
This blow was more than a hundred times stronger than Moore's earlier attack!
Before you continue