After hearing Kai's words, Zephyr's eyes narrowed.
He stared at Kai, his gaze heavy, fixed on the black Armament Haki coating both of Kai's arms.
From it, he could sense an immensely dense and razor-sharp aura.
"This boy's Armament…"
"has grown even stronger!"
"Feeling it up close, it really is terrifying. No wonder he could clash head-on with a monster like Whitebeard Jr. without falling behind."
Zephyr took a deep breath and focused completely.
If that was the case…
then he could not afford to be careless either.
With that thought, Zephyr decisively circulated the surging power inside his body.
Then, visible to the naked eye,
a layer of black Armament Haki quickly wrapped around both of his arms.
Armament Haki—activated!
The name Black Arm Zephyr had not come out of nowhere.
His mastery over Armament Haki was incredibly deep.
It was precisely because of that overbearing Armament that he had earned the fearsome title of Black Arm across the seas.
Once Zephyr activated Armament Haki, the aura around him immediately became far more imposing.
At the same time—
"Observation Haki, activate!"
Zephyr also released his Observation Haki.
Against Kai…
he did not dare to be careless or underestimate him in the slightest.
If he failed to take this seriously, he feared he might not be able to suppress the boy in front of him.
This was the same monster who had captured Whitebeard Jr.!
With both forms of Haki active, Zephyr locked eyes with Kai, his expression grave.
The air turned tense.
The battle was about to erupt.
Their terrifying presences collided violently.
Hum!
Hum!
The clash of their auras seemed to stir the air itself into a visible distortion.
Inside the training field,
every cadet stared unblinkingly at Kai and Zephyr.
Outside the field,
Kong, Garp, Sengoku, and the rest were focused far more on Kai.
When they saw—
Kai's nearly perfect muscular build and that hideously terrifying Ghost Back,
both Kong and Sengoku were visibly moved.
"This kid…"
"With such a young body, how did he forge a physique that perfect?"
Kong could not help blurting out.
"That Ghost Back…"
"is proof of relentless training, day after day."
"This kid not only possesses heaven-defying talent, but also terrifying willpower. Otherwise, there's no way he could have reached this level at such a young age."
Sengoku said.
Nearby, Kizaru clicked his tongue in wonder.
"What a frightening generation."
"These young people are all monsters."
"And Kai is only five."
On the battlefield,
the fight finally erupted!
Kai made the first move.
"Shave!"
With the Six Powers' Shave activated, Kai's body vanished from where he stood.
At the same moment,
Zephyr's Observation Haki locked onto his movement instantly.
"To the left!"
He clenched his left fist and threw it out hard, the black Armament-coated punch smashing toward that side.
In the next instant,
Kai's figure really did appear there.
"Instructor Zephyr, you're still as sharp as ever."
"To react that quickly?"
"That's honestly impressive…"
Kai wore a grin.
He did not dodge Zephyr's punch.
Instead—
he charged straight into it!
He clenched his right fist
and smashed it forward, his Armament-coated fist colliding head-on with Zephyr's.
Both of them were fighting barehanded—
a pure collision of flesh against flesh!
Boom—!!!
A deafening explosion rang out like thunder.
Their two terrifying powers collided in an instant.
It felt as if the heavens themselves had cracked apart.
The shockwave from their clash spread violently outward.
Sparks burst where their fists collided, as if two indestructible weapons were smashing into one another.
Even faint dark arcs of force crackled wildly.
The impact of their collision—
was like a massive meteor plummeting from the heavens and smashing into the earth.
The force generated by that impact carried devastating destructive power.
Centered on the point where Kai and Zephyr collided—
rumble!
The entire ground began to tremble violently.
Within a radius of over a thousand meters,
the earth shook as if an earthquake had struck.
Crack! Crack!
Cracks spread outward from where the two stood, extending in every direction like a giant spiderweb, dense enough to make one's scalp go numb.
The ground sank and split apart.
Boom!
Countless chunks of shattered earth and stone blasted into the air.
A tremendous wave of force whipped up dirt and dust.
In an instant,
dust clouds surged skyward.
The impact from Zephyr's power traveled through Kai's right arm. Kai narrowed his eyes, and his entire body sank slightly downward as the ground under his feet crumbled apart.
In the blink of an eye,
his figure had sunk nearly half a meter into the earth.
At the same time,
Zephyr was no different.
The terrifying force released by both of them wrecked the ground beneath their feet, reducing it to a ruined, cracked wasteland.
Fractures spread everywhere.
The entire area around them became riddled with damage.
"Kai, you're still far from enough!"
Zephyr laughed loudly, clearly enjoying himself.
That first exchange with Kai had already stirred his blood in a way he had not felt in a long time.
"Is that so, Instructor Zephyr?"
"Then let me see it."
"Show me the full strength…"
"of a Marine Admiral."
"Please don't disappoint your student."
Kai laughed as well.
The two withdrew their fists—
then smashed them out again.
Their fists collided once more.
Boom—!!!
Another earth-shaking burst erupted.
The destructive force alone was enough to pulverize everything nearby.
It was clearly visible—
all objects close to Kai and Zephyr, such as fallen leaves and scattered stones, were instantly crushed to powder by the shockwave from their clash.
The violent gale exploded outward, determined to erase everything in the area.
Like a tidal wave,
the force rolled more than a hundred meters in every direction.
The cadets watching from the training field hurriedly retreated, not daring to remain close to the battlefield. Their eyes were full of lingering fear as they watched Kai and Zephyr's terrifying duel.
"So strong!"
"Instructor Zephyr got serious right from the start."
"He's completely different from how he fought us!"
"Against Kai, Instructor Zephyr clearly entered full combat mode."
"Kai is too strong!"
"Even Zephyr, a Marine Admiral, was forced to go all out."
"A monster like this…"
"is somehow only five years old."
The cadets were deeply shaken.
They did not dare approach the battlefield.
Because—
even the aftershocks of that fight were enough to injure them severely.
They could only stay hundreds of meters away in the safe zone, watching this astonishing showdown with stunned eyes.
In a blink,
Kai and Zephyr had already exchanged more than ten blows.
Pure hand-to-hand combat.
A direct clash of flesh and power.
No dodging.
This kind of battle suited Kai perfectly.
"Good!"
As he saw Zephyr's fist coming in again, Kai laughed wildly and threw his own punch straight at it.
His fist broke the air with a piercing sonic boom.
The moment it struck—
Boom—!!!
His fist collided head-on with Zephyr's once again.
The force they released was like colliding steel plates.
The sound was as loud and sharp as thunder.
Bright sparks burst from every collision of their fists.
Light flashed.
Power rippled.
At this point,
both of them had clearly entered a serious state.
Every punch they threw carried terrifying power.
A single blow could split mountains—
and crack the earth!
The clash of their Armament Haki sent waves of force whipping their hair and clothes around.
Kai's bulging muscles stood fully exposed.
His Ghost Back looked incomparably savage.
Every muscle in his body seemed to be storing explosive force.
Rumble!
The place where they clashed was broken and collapsing.
In only a few breaths,
this broad area of Training Ground No. 1 was already marked by terrifying fissures and craters.
It was devastated.
Scarred beyond recognition.
A horrifying sight.
Kai and Zephyr's figures flashed everywhere.
One moment they were here, the next they were dozens of meters away.
Every appearance was accompanied by another thunderous collision.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The aftershocks of their clashes were so destructive
that every object near them was crushed apart.
Everything turned to dust.
Nothing remained.
"Kai, you really are strong!"
"So this is the power that captured Whitebeard Jr.?"
"It's stronger than I imagined."
"Today, I've finally experienced for myself how terrifying you are!"
Even while battling fiercely, Zephyr did not forget to praise him.
To force a Marine Admiral to go all out—
at the age of five, no less—
was enough by itself to prove it.
Kai truly deserved the title of the strongest genius in Marine history.
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