"Kai, are your injuries really okay?"
Tina carefully walked over and crouched beside him. Her beautiful, delicate face was filled with worry and concern.
While the other cadets were focused on the fact that Kai had defeated and captured Whitebeard's "son"—
Tina alone had noticed just how badly hurt he was.
She knew what kind of price five-year-old Kai had paid to bring down a terrifying pirate like Weevil.
And seeing the more than ten blade wounds across his chest—some so deep they nearly exposed bone—made her heart ache.
"For now, I'm not dying."
Kai took a deep breath, feeling pain radiate through his body.
He felt a little helpless.
These injuries…
would probably take several days to recover from.
And that was only because he had such a powerful body.
If it had been an ordinary person in his place, it would have taken at least half a month to recover from wounds like these.
But for Kai—
with his monstrous physique and the support of the Ghost Back System—
he was confident that in three to five days, he could be back to normal.
"Tina, take this kid to get treated."
"If these injuries leave hidden damage behind, that'll be troublesome."
Zephyr gave the order.
"Yes, Teacher Zephyr."
Tina nodded at once.
Then she called over several cadets, and together they carried Kai—who was now badly wounded—toward the medical room for treatment.
By then, Kai had already closed his eyes and fallen into a deep sleep.
He was just too tired.
Too exhausted.
His eyelids felt like they weighed a thousand pounds.
Before long, Kai disappeared from the deck.
Watching him being escorted away, Zephyr only withdrew his gaze after a long moment, then shook his head with a helpless smile.
"What a headache. Having a genius student like this puts even his teacher under pressure."
His eyes shifted toward Whitebeard's "son," Weevil.
He stepped forward and stopped beside the unconscious giant, carefully examining the countless injuries covering his body.
After a while, Zephyr came to a firm conclusion.
Weevil's injuries were even worse than Kai's.
His life wasn't in danger—
but there was no chance he would recover anytime soon.
"A badly wounded Whitebeard's 'son,' bound in specially made chains…"
"There's no need to worry too much about him waking up and wreaking havoc on the ship."
Zephyr fell into thought.
As long as Weevil's injuries were kept in check, he could be controlled.
There was no doubt that Weevil was strong.
Ordinary chains naturally couldn't restrain him.
Even specially made chains would be hard-pressed to completely lock him down under normal conditions.
But…
if Weevil were kept in a heavily wounded state and denied food—preventing him from replenishing his body and recovering—
then there would be no chance for him to regain his strength.
A starving, wounded Weevil would only grow weaker and weaker.
Without nutrition, even a monster like him would eventually lose the strength to resist.
Not just Whitebeard's "son"—
even the strongest man in the world, Whitebeard himself, if heavily injured and denied food for long enough, would be reduced to a miserable state.
And right now—
Weevil had already been beaten half to death by Kai.
"Pass my orders."
"Capture every pirate floating in the surrounding waters."
"Not a single one escapes."
"They're all unconscious now, so there's no need to overreact. Still, stay alert."
Zephyr continued issuing commands.
The pirate ship they had destroyed had originally held well over a hundred pirates.
Now, with the ship sunk, those pirates had naturally been scattered across the sea.
Some had sunk.
Some had survived by clinging to floating wreckage.
But without exception—
all of them were unconscious.
Pirates knocked out by Kai's overwhelming Conqueror's Haki were not waking up anytime soon.
"Yes, Teacher Zephyr."
Led by Smoker, the cadets immediately obeyed.
As a Devil Fruit user, Smoker naturally couldn't jump into the sea himself, so he used the power of the Smoke-Smoke Fruit to fly over the water and retrieve the unconscious pirates one by one.
The rest of the cadets dove into the sea without hesitation.
After about half a quarter of an hour, every surviving pirate in the area had been captured and hauled back onto the warship. Under Zephyr's orders, all of them were fitted with handcuffs and leg irons to restrict their movements.
"Count them."
Zephyr said.
A short while later, the headcount was completed.
"Teacher Zephyr, we captured forty-three."
Smoker stepped up and reported truthfully.
"Only forty-three?"
Zephyr shook his head.
"That means the rest must have fallen into the sea."
The fate of those pirates hardly needed to be explained.
Even if they didn't drown—
they would become food for Sea Kings.
There were countless Sea Kings lurking in the Grand Line.
A careless moment was all it took to encounter several at once.
Those pirates who had disappeared into the sea were almost certainly dead.
"Forget them."
"Lock these forty-three up in the ship's prison."
Zephyr waved his hand.
Soon enough, all the captured pirates were escorted below deck and thrown into the brig.
In the end…
only Whitebeard's "son," Weevil, remained.
And what to do with a monster six or seven meters tall?
That gave Zephyr a headache.
Weevil was simply too strong.
If they took their eyes off him, Zephyr genuinely worried that the moment he woke up, he might cause irreversible damage to the warship.
And that was the last thing Zephyr wanted.
He had to keep the situation fully under control.
"Kai really gave us one hell of a surprise."
"In just one year of training…"
"he became strong enough to capture a pirate of this level."
Looking at Weevil's giant body wrapped in thick chains, Zephyr couldn't help sighing in amazement.
Beside him, Smoker and the other cadets all silently agreed.
They felt it deeply.
Even though they had never personally fought Weevil, just standing near his enormous body was enough to make them feel a crushing pressure.
Even unconscious—
the mere act of approaching him made many of the cadets instinctively tense up in fear.
They truly couldn't imagine how Kai had dared fight a monster like that.
And the most terrifying part—
Kai had actually won.
That was the part that shattered all their expectations.
"Up close, I can feel an unbelievably terrifying pressure from him."
"It's hard to imagine…"
"how Kai managed to defeat a monster like this."
"Even unconscious, this guy still makes me shiver the moment I get near."
"We don't even dare approach him, yet Kai crushed him head-on."
"That's the gap between us and Kai."
"It's hopelessly huge."
"The man called Whitebeard's 'son' really is strong. But sadly for him… he ran into an even bigger monster."
The cadets whispered among themselves.
After a long while, Smoker stepped up beside Zephyr and couldn't help asking,
"Teacher Zephyr… what do we do with Whitebeard's 'son' now?"
Zephyr's eyes flickered.
"Of course we transfer him to the proper authorities."
"Then he'll be escorted to the Underwater Prison—Impel Down."
"Only Impel Down is qualified to imprison a pirate of Whitebeard's 'son's' level."
"Any other prison would likely be torn apart by him."
"Impel Down?!"
Smoker's pupils contracted.
As a Marine, he naturally knew the reputation of Impel Down very well.
Any pirate sent there was essentially buried alive for the rest of their life.
Only one exception had ever become famous:
the Golden Lion, Shiki—
a legendary powerhouse from the old era, once spoken of in the same breath as Roger and Whitebeard.
"And not just Impel Down."
Zephyr continued.
"He'll be sent to Level 6."
"Level 6?"
Smoker froze.
"As far as I know, Impel Down only has five levels."
"Level 6…"
"That's the hidden floor."
"Very few people know about it."
"The pirates imprisoned there are all monstrous criminals among monsters."
"And a pirate on Whitebeard's 'son's' level is more than qualified to be thrown into Level 6."
"Impel Down's Level 6 is called…"
"Infinite Hell."
Zephyr's tone turned heavy.
"Level 6… Infinite Hell…"
Smoker's eyes lost focus for a moment.
Then he instinctively raised his head and looked at the unconscious Weevil.
He drew in a sharp breath.
"You mean…"
"Kai defeated a pirate terrifying enough to be locked away in the hidden sixth level of Impel Down?"
"What a monster…"
His heart shook violently.
"That's enough."
"Smoker, watch Whitebeard's 'son' for now. Make sure he doesn't wake up and start rampaging."
With that, Zephyr ended the conversation.
He turned away, slowly took a Den Den Mushi out of his coat, and walked alone toward the quiet edge of the railing.
A moment later—
without hesitation, he used it to place a call directly to Fleet Admiral Kong's office.
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 60 chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/StrawHatStudios