"He made Garp... bleed..."
At the edge of the crater, Admiral Zephyr gripped the broken wall beside him, looking as though his soul had been drained away. A dry, dreamlike murmur escaped his lips.
His gaze remained fixed on the two figures at the center of the pit, his eyes filled with shock and bewilderment deeper than the crater itself.
That was Garp!
The "Marine Hero" Garp, who had fought Pirate King Roger his whole life without ever suffering such a grievous injury in a head-on battle!
His Armament Haki was hailed as this era's "Strongest Shield"!
Yet today, that "Strongest Shield" had actually been shattered head-on... by a sixteen-year-old boy who had joined the Marines less than two months ago and awakened Haki less than two hours ago, through a brutally unreasonable method Zephyr could not comprehend at all!
What on earth had happened to this world?
While Zephyr was still questioning everything he knew, several streaks of light shot skyward from across Marineford, racing toward them at top speed.
Leading them was Admiral Sengoku, his entire body radiating golden Buddha light!
"Garp! Zephyr! Yas!"
When Sengoku landed at the edge of the crater and saw the utterly devastated scene before him, as though a meteorite had struck, along with the two blood-soaked figures in the pit, the Marine Admiral renowned throughout the world as the "Tactician" went blank for a moment.
"What... what on earth happened?!" Sengoku grabbed Zephyr's shoulder and roared, his eyes bloodshot. "Weren't you 'sparring' with him?! How did it turn into this?!"
Zephyr gave a bitter smile. Pointing at Yas, who was swaying in the pit yet still keeping his back straight, he said hoarsely, "Sengoku, you were wrong. We weren't helping him train. From the very beginning... he was just playing with us two old men!"
"What?!" Sengoku was completely dumbfounded.
"Hahahahaha!"
Just then, Garp, kneeling on one knee in the pit, suddenly threw back his head and laughed. His laughter was filled with pain, exhilaration, and the relief of a burden lifted.
"That felt good! That felt damn good!" Garp wiped the blood from his face with his uninjured left hand. He looked at Yas in the distance, who had likewise reached his limit. There was not a trace of resentment in his eyes, only unprecedented admiration and approval. "Kid! I take back what I said! You're no punching bag! You're a goddamn... monster who can punch right through even me!"
With that, Garp could no longer hold on. His vision went black, and his massive body crashed backward.
The instant Yas saw Garp fall, he finally released the breath he had been forcing himself to hold. His body went limp, and he fell straight backward into a deep coma.
Before his consciousness sank completely into darkness, only one thought remained in his mind: Garp's fists... so hard... next time, I'll try the One-Finger Nukite...
An hour later, in Marine Headquarters' top-secret conference room.
The grim atmosphere was so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.
At the head of the long conference table sat an extraordinarily large elderly man with an extremely long braided beard hanging from his chin and a stern face.
He was the Marines' current supreme commander, the Fleet Admiral of Marine Headquarters, "Steel Bone" Kong!
Seated below him on either side were Sengoku, Zephyr, and Chief Inspector Vice Admiral Tsuru, who had hurried over upon hearing the news.
Garp's bed had been wheeled directly into the conference room. The Marine Hero was now covered in bandages, his right arm encased in a thick cast, sleeping soundly and snoring like thunder.
At the other end of the conference room, a huge Visual Den Den Mushi screen showed a live feed of Yas in intensive care. He, too, was covered in tubes, lying in a life-support unit, but all his vital signs were unusually stable, and he was even recovering at a rate far beyond that of an ordinary person.
"That is what happened."
Sengoku finished his briefing expressionlessly, and the conference room fell deathly silent.
Everyone's eyes were fixed on the detailed report on the table documenting everything Yas had done that afternoon.
The report's contents were alarming: Yas had awakened Armament Haki and mastered the advanced technique "Internal Destruction" on his first use; he had created a combat mode called "Lightning Release Armament" that combined his own ability with Armament Haki; during his sparring match with Garp, he had awakened "Future Sight"-level Observation Haki without instruction; finally, he had used a Haki-infused "Hell Stab: Three-Finger Nukite" to break through Garp's "Galaxy Meteorite" head-on, seriously injuring him!
Every word in the report struck the hearts of the Marine leadership like a heavy hammer.
"Ahem..."
After a long while, Vice Admiral Tsuru's wise voice broke the silence. She adjusted her reading glasses and, looking at the report, slowly said, "Zephyr, based on your experience, do you think... this is talent a human could possess?"
Zephyr slumped back in his chair and shook his head, his voice filled with helplessness. "I don't know. All my teaching experience is a joke in front of him. He's not a genius. A genius... at least still falls within the bounds of humanity. But he's a monster, through and through! A... monster we cannot understand at all or measure by any conventional standard!"
"A monster who can make even Garp suffer a major loss," Sengoku added, his gaze sharp as a blade. "Fleet Admiral, everyone, the facts are before us. We Marines have inadvertently acquired an... ultimate weapon capable of overturning the balance of this entire era!"
"A weapon?" Fleet Admiral "Steel Bone" Kong's bell-like voice rang out slowly. No trace of emotion could be seen in his deep eyes. "Sengoku, get this straight. A weapon is inanimate. It can be controlled. He is alive, and he cannot be controlled. Today, he could beat Garp into this state. Tomorrow, might he turn his blade on us? On the Celestial Dragons?"
At those words, the temperature in the conference room seemed to drop several degrees.
This was the central question that none of them could avoid!
Yas was decisive in killing, revered violence, and scorned rules!
He was an unparalleled, deadly sword without a sheath! Sharp enough to cut through everything, yet dangerous enough to turn on his wielder!
"I'll stake my position as Admiral on it!" Sengoku abruptly rose from his seat and declared firmly, "His methods may be extreme, but he has his own 'justice' in his heart! What he hates are pirates and evil! As long as we guide him properly, he will become the sharpest blade in Marine history!"
"Guide him?" Fleet Admiral Kong sneered. "How do you intend to guide him? Keep him confined to Marineford and teach him Marine rules and discipline like an ordinary soldier? Don't forget, on his very first voyage, he executed every pirate on the spot! That conduct was already a serious violation of the Marine Code!"
"Then revise the code!" Sengoku refused to yield an inch, his voice suddenly rising. "Times have changed, Fleet Admiral! Rocks is watching hungrily in the New World, and monsters like Roger, Whitebeard, and Golden Lion are springing up like mushrooms after the rain! If we keep clinging to those outdated, cumbersome rules, sooner or later, this era will leave us behind!"
Sengoku took a deep breath, swept his gaze over everyone present, and voiced the insane plan that had long been taking shape in his mind.
"I propose that we establish a Special Forces unit unrestricted by any rules, with the authority to act first and report afterward! This unit will answer only to you, Fleet Admiral! Its sole mission will be to eliminate the targets posing the greatest threat to the World Government and the Marines through the most violent, most direct means!"
"And there is only one person who can lead this unit!"
Sengoku's gaze finally settled on the young figure on the screen, still unconscious.
"Yas!"
The entire conference room was utterly silent.
Everyone was stunned by Sengoku's insane proposal!
Just then, Fleet Admiral Kong, who had remained silent, turned his hawk-sharp gaze toward the other end of the conference table-to Garp, who had just slowly regained consciousness and was staring blankly at his cast-covered right arm.
"Garp." Fleet Admiral Kong's voice held no emotion. "As the one he injured, what's your opinion?"
Garp froze for a moment, then scratched his messy hair and spread his lips in a smile uglier than a grimace.
"My opinion? What opinion could I have?"
He glanced at Yas on the screen, then at his own ruined fist, and said through gritted teeth, "All I want now is to fight him again once he's healed! This time, I'm going to smash that turtle shell of his to pieces, along with his body and bones!"
"But..." Garp changed tack, an unnoticed glint of cunning and anticipation flashing in his eyes. "Before that, shouldn't we give him a promotion, raise his rank a little? Otherwise, if word gets out that a Marine Vice Admiral like me keeps fighting a Major, how embarrassing would that be?"
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