At last—
under Kai's Observation Haki, Smoker quickly fell into defeat.
The combat power of a Marine Admiral was simply too overwhelming.
For Smoker, fighting Zephyr was never truly about victory. It was a desperate tempering of himself.
From the very beginning,
his goal had never been to defeat Zephyr.
Instead—
it was to measure his own strength.
"He's about to lose."
Kai shook his head.
With his Observation Haki covering a radius of five hundred meters, it was easy for him to sense Smoker's condition steadily declining.
Meanwhile, Zephyr had barely spent any stamina from start to finish. He had not even activated either of the two forms of Haki, yet Smoker's strength had already been drained to the point of near-exhaustion.
That made Kai sigh inwardly.
Top-tier combatants of the sea really were absurdly powerful.
"Kai, can you see what's happening inside the smoke field?"
One of the cadets could no longer suppress his curiosity and asked.
Among everyone present,
if there was anyone who could read the battle between Zephyr and Smoker,
they were certain it had to be Kai.
"Smoker is about to lose," Kai answered plainly.
"As expected!"
The cadets nodded in realization.
They were not particularly surprised by Smoker's defeat.
After all,
his opponent was Admiral Zephyr himself.
Before long,
the gray-white smoke field dissipated.
The scene within was revealed clearly to everyone.
Smoker had not truly been beaten down.
But—
he had already exhausted himself.
Zephyr had never attacked him even once. He had merely stayed on defense the whole time, dodging and evading, yet that alone had been enough to drain Smoker dry.
That was the strength of a Marine Admiral.
Against Smoker, a Logia user, Zephyr had not needed to get serious. He had not even used either Armament or Observation Haki. Passive defense alone had been enough to wear Smoker down completely.
He had toyed with Smoker from beginning to end.
"Instructor Zephyr, I lost."
Smoker lowered his head.
His breathing was ragged. His aura had weakened greatly, and his stamina had been burned almost clean away.
He felt there was no point continuing.
He had reached his limit.
"No. You didn't lose."
"This fight…"
"is a draw."
Zephyr looked at Smoker and spoke calmly.
Through that exchange, he had already gotten a clear measure of Smoker's level.
After a full year and a half of training, Smoker had become vastly stronger than he had been at the start.
Setting aside his mastery and development of his Devil Fruit,
his physical strength alone had grown by dozens of times compared to before.
"Your improvement is clear."
"You've done well."
"Congratulations."
"From today onward, you are a truly qualified Marine soldier."
At that praise, Smoker's spirit lifted at once.
"Yes, Instructor Zephyr!"
A trace of excitement appeared on his face as he answered immediately.
This match…
had only ever been a teacher-student duel.
There was no need to determine a true winner.
A draw was the best outcome.
And this had always been Zephyr's tradition.
"Alright, step back."
"Next."
Zephyr's gaze shifted toward the rest of the cadets.
Smoker returned to the group.
The other cadets looked at him with clear admiration in their eyes.
Even if Smoker had clearly been pushed into a losing position…
he had at least endured for quite a while.
If it had been them instead, could they have done the same?
They did not know.
But none of them had the confidence to say they could have lasted longer than Smoker.
"Next. Who's coming?"
Zephyr asked again.
His eyes lingered slightly longer on Kai than on anyone else, a trace of anticipation in them.
But just then,
a clear and pleasant female voice rang out from the crowd.
"Instructor Zephyr, let me!"
Tina stepped forward.
"Tina?"
"Very well."
Zephyr's brow twitched faintly, then he nodded.
Soon after,
Tina launched her assault on Zephyr without hesitation.
She held nothing back.
She went all out.
Her Devil Fruit and the Six Powers worked together seamlessly in her hands.
Yet even so,
Zephyr's feet never shifted a single step.
That was the enormous gap between them.
Even without activating either of the two forms of Haki, Zephyr's sheer combat experience allowed him to evade every one of Tina's attacks with ease, guided only by instinct.
Gradually,
Tina's stamina began to drain rapidly.
Using both her Devil Fruit and the Six Powers at the same time naturally consumed stamina at an alarming rate.
But in order to show her strongest self, Tina had no choice but to go all out from the very start rather than hold anything back.
As Kai watched from the crowd, he remained silent.
He did not step in—
not because he did not want to,
but because he was waiting for the right moment.
Eventually—
Tina was defeated.
Of course,
in Zephyr's words,
it was another draw.
From beginning to end, Zephyr never actually struck Tina. He merely remained on defense.
Since Tina had simply run herself out of stamina without ever forcing him to counterattack, it could not truly be called a loss.
"Tina, from today onward, you are a qualified Marine soldier."
Zephyr gave her the same words he had given Smoker.
"Thank you for your guidance, Instructor."
Tina took a deep breath and bowed solemnly, expressing her heartfelt gratitude.
It was obvious that,
even after draining both Smoker and Tina,
Zephyr's breathing remained perfectly steady, not the slightest bit disordered.
As Tina's match ended,
one cadet after another stepped up, eager to challenge Zephyr.
Zephyr accepted each of them in turn.
He would not show favoritism among his students.
He had to be fair.
Every one of them had been shaped through his hard work and effort.
Only by treating them all equally could he truly earn their respect.
Under Kai's watch,
ten more cadets were defeated by Zephyr in succession.
Each one collapsed only after exhausting all of their stamina.
From beginning to end,
Kai still had not seen Zephyr attack.
That meant…
not a single one of the cadets had even qualified to force Zephyr to take one step backward.
As for making him actually counterattack?
That was even more impossible.
So far, no one had reached that level.
"Zephyr really is monstrously strong."
"That's the level of a Marine Admiral."
"One of the sea's true top-tier fighters."
Cadets who had already finished their duels could not help sighing in admiration.
At the same time,
each of them had also received Zephyr's final blessing.
From now on,
they were proper Marines.
They had officially graduated.
"What do you think?"
"When Kai makes his move, will he finally force Instructor Zephyr to get serious?"
"Hard to say."
"Kai is definitely strong, but Instructor Zephyr is unbelievably deep."
"Still…"
"With Kai's strength, maybe he really can make Instructor Zephyr get serious."
"Either way, out of all of us, if anyone can do it…"
"it can only be Kai."
The cadets whispered among themselves.
Time passed.
One hour went by.
Seventy out of the seventy-one cadets had already challenged Zephyr.
Every single one had failed…
their stamina drained away.
Yet Zephyr still stood at full strength, his breathing calm and steady as ever.
He had personally sent off all seventy of them with his blessing.
He wished them bright futures in the Marines,
and reminded them never to forget their original purpose.
At last—
among the seventy-one cadets,
only one remained.
Only one had not yet challenged Zephyr.
Naturally,
that last one was Kai.
He was being saved for the grand finale.
In that moment,
countless eyes filled with curiosity and anticipation all turned toward Kai.
Everyone present was looking forward to the coming battle.
Among them,
Smoker and Tina both sharpened their focus, staring fixedly at Kai's back.
"Can he make Instructor Zephyr get serious?"
Smoker asked, throat dry.
No one answered.
No one could.
They had all just experienced firsthand how terrifying Zephyr truly was.
But at the same time,
none of them thought Kai was someone who could be judged by normal standards.
This was the same monster who had defeated and captured a pirate worth several hundred million in combat strength.
Things they themselves could not do…
did not mean Kai couldn't do them either.
"With Zephyr's strength, he'll probably have to get serious to deal with Kai."
"Just wait and see."
The cadets were practically holding their breath in anticipation.
At the same time,
outside the training ground, Kong, Garp, Sengoku, and the others all finally cast aside the boredom that had built up over the past hour and focused completely.
That hour-long teacher-student sequence had done little for them.
To their eyes,
it had been nothing more than Zephyr casually bullying rookies.
Now, however,
the real show was finally about to begin.
This was the battle they had truly come to see.
"A good show is about to begin!"
Kuzan's eyes flashed, anticipation clear in his voice.
"Instructor Zephyr is probably going to have to get serious now."
Borsalino narrowed his eyes, still wearing that same infuriatingly wretched expression.
"I wonder just how far Kai will be able to push him."
Sakazuki said.
Simply put,
the three of them had come specifically for Kai's duel with Zephyr.
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