"Fire?!"
The Kirigakure Genin operating the cannon were stunned.
"Captain, he's too close! If we fire now, we'll get caught in the blast ourselves!"
The Kirigakure captain's face was deathly pale as he stared fixedly at the figure ahead, pulling faster and faster.
"We can't worry about that now! If we let him keep pulling, the ship will fall apart!"
"Fire!"
At the captain's roar, the cannon at the bow thundered.
"Boom!"
A solid black iron cannonball whistled straight toward Kenya's back.
Yet Kenya seemed to have eyes in the back of his head.
He didn't let go of the anchor chain. He simply gave it a sharp yank.
The tremendous pull sent the entire warship into an unbelievable fishtailing drift across the sea!
The cannonball skimmed past Kenya's shoulder and slammed into the water dozens of meters away, throwing up a towering plume.
"It missed?!"
Deep despair welled up in the Kirigakure captain's heart.
Before he could give the order to fire again.
Kenya suddenly released the anchor chain.
"Whoosh-"
Without the pulling force, the warship coasted forward over a hundred meters on its momentum before finally coming to a stop.
The Kirigakure Ninja on deck were tossed about until they were dizzy and disoriented. Many slumped over the railings and vomited profusely.
Kenya surfaced and shook his short black hair.
"Thanks! Pulling a ship really does make for good training."
He waved at the warship.
"To thank you for cooperating, I won't sink you today. Get going."
With that, he took a deep breath and plunged into the sea, disappearing in an instant.
He left behind a ship full of shaken Kirigakure Ninja exchanging bewildered looks.
"Captain... do we... do we keep chasing him?"
The Genin on lookout duty asked in a trembling voice.
"Chase him, my ass!"
The Kirigakure captain smacked the Genin on the head.
"Turn the ship around! Get out of these waters at full speed! That guy isn't human!"
As though it had seen a ghost, the warship fled the fog-shrouded waters for its life.
Meanwhile, Kenya had already dived into the deep sea.
After that intense exercise, his stomach rumbled in thunderous protest.
"Grrrr-"
"Looks like pulling a warship takes even more stamina than I thought."
Kenya rubbed his belly, and his Observation Haki instantly spread across the seabed.
Soon, he locked onto a target.
It was a giant octopus sea beast, a size larger than the warship from earlier.
It lay on a submerged reef, its eight thick tentacles waving idly.
"You're today's lunch."
Kenya grinned and kicked hard with both legs.
Like a black torpedo, he shot straight toward the giant octopus.
Half an hour later.
On the deserted island's granite platform.
The rich aroma of roasting meat instantly spread across half the surrounding waters on the sea breeze.
Kenya used Black Iron Wood Release to grow several enormous wooden poles.
He skewered the giant octopus, which he had knocked unconscious with one punch and skinned, and set it over a bonfire lit with an Explosive Tag.
"Sizzle, sizzle..."
The thick fat on the octopus's tentacles sizzled enticingly under the intense heat, dripping into the fire and sending up bursts of flame.
Kenya sat beside the bonfire, feasting on an octopus tentacle thicker than his thigh.
"Delicious! Deep-sea octopus meat really is firm!"
With grease all over his mouth, Kenya mumbled indistinctly.
Fusing with the Garp Template had not only drastically changed his physique, but also made his appetite unfathomable.
That pure physical strength required an immense amount of energy to sustain.
In the time it took to eat a meal.
He actually ate most of the small-mountain-sized giant octopus all by himself!
Even ten ordinary ninja together probably couldn't finish what he ate in this one meal.
"Whew-that hit the spot."
Kenya let out a loud belch and tossed the last piece of tentacle in his hand into the sea, counting it as feeding the fish.
He lay sprawled on the granite warmed by the fire, casually picking his teeth with a small wooden stick.
This carefree life on a deserted island, eating meat by the mouthful.
Was countless times more comfortable than living in that lousy, scheming village of Konoha.
"Out at sea, eating meat by the mouthful really is the way to go!"
Kenya patted his round belly in satisfaction.
Just then, he keenly sensed a slight change in his body.
He lowered his head and looked at his abdomen.
His belly, swollen from overeating, was flattening at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The enormous quantity of high-protein food he had just eaten was instantly broken down by the Garp Template's powerful digestive system.
It was converted into an unending stream of energy that replenished every cell in his body.
As the energy flowed in, over Kenya's firm abdominal muscles.
A metallic sheen as deep and dark as obsidian gradually emerged.
He wasn't deliberately activating his Armament Haki.
Rather, his Haki had begun to fuse deeply with his flesh!
This was an extremely overbearing form of physical evolution.
"Haha! Looks like this special training of pulling warships and stuffing myself works surprisingly well."
Kenya laughed excitedly.
"At this rate, it won't be long before I can maintain constant Armament Haki coverage!"
Once his Armament Haki could constantly cover his entire body without consuming stamina.
It would mean he possessed a true "absolute defense."
When that time came, never mind Wind Release or Lightning Release.
Even if a Tailed Beast Bomb blasted him head-on, he was confident he could tank it with his flesh alone!
"Sure enough, only by constantly challenging my limits can I get tougher!"
Kenya clenched his fists, feeling the seemingly endless power surging within him.
He was full of anticipation for the next two years of special training.
Just as he was basking in the joy of his increased strength.
The sound of waves washing against the beach suddenly reached his ears.
"Splash-splash-"
Today's waves seemed a little bigger than usual.
Kenya rolled over and lazily looked toward the beach.
What he saw made him pause.
Amid the receding tide.
A small, thin figure in white was washed onto the black beach by the waves.
It was a boy who looked only seven or eight years old.
He wore a tattered white kimono, his face as pale as paper.
Most surprisingly, although the boy was already on the verge of death.
His hands still clung tightly to a huge block of ice that radiated a bone-chilling cold.