The crushing aura radiating from Garp slowly dissipated, leaving the old man looking as though he had aged several years in an instant.
Before inviting Davy to join the Marines, he had naturally investigated the boy's past.
A child from a small mountain village.
A village wiped out by pirates.
The only survivor who escaped alone.
Perhaps he encountered a Devil Fruit by chance, awakening power that ignited a deep hatred for pirates.
As for the corruption festering in the Marine unit stationed near his hometown…
Garp knew all too well.
No wonder the boy lumped all Marines together in his resentment.
A pitiful child.
Garp sighed softly. His expression softened.
"Then tell me," he asked, "what is your justice?"
"Justice?" Davy let out a cold laugh.
He didn't care about justice.
The only reason he'd bothered arguing was because he couldn't stand people parading moral superiority while turning a blind eye to the filth at their feet.
Calling themselves righteous while acting like attack dogs?
That was the part he despised most.
"To survive in a world where the strong devour the weak," Davy said quietly, "the first thing one must do… is become strong. Gain power."
Only with sufficient power can one make others listen.
Truth exists only within the range of one's cannon.
Violence is a language everyone understands.
As long as you kill enough beasts, they'll eventually tuck their tails and behave.
Garp's eyes flickered with a brief sadness, quickly masked by a hardened expression.
"Since you worship strength so much," Garp said, voice deepening, "then let's follow your rules. If you win, I'll let you walk away. If you lose, you become my disciple."
Davy frowned.
When had he ever said he supported the law of the jungle?
And that tone—your rules—as if Davy had personally invented them.
He opened his mouth to reply—
But a fist the size of a cannonball roared toward his face like a meteor.
The punch was impossibly fast, far beyond anything Davy had ever faced.
Bullets were slow in comparison.
His pupils shrank. His mind went blank.
Instinct responded before thought—
Soru!
He vanished backward.
"BOOM!"
The ground where he'd been standing exploded into a massive crater, smoke and dust billowing upward like a volcanic eruption.
Through the haze, the outline of a massive, crouched figure appeared—
a beast preparing its next pounce.
Davy didn't dare hold back another second.
The instant he landed, he seized a soul-flame and pressed it into his chest.
Ghostly green fire coiled around him.
His skin grew impossibly smooth and pale—
the power of the Smooth-Smooth Fruit activating.
"Soru? A Devil Fruit user too?"
Garp stepped out of the dust cloud, rotating his shoulder with a crackle.
Muscles bulged in layered slabs, and his bones popped like heavy timbers settling.
The possibility that Davy possessed a Devil Fruit had already crossed Garp's mind.
Otherwise the boy's sudden rise in power couldn't be explained.
But the Soru was what startled him.
Soru belonged to the Marine Six Powers—
a technique many spent decades failing to master.
Marine-exclusive? Not exactly.
Plenty of pirates and martial artists had similar techniques under different names.
But for this boy to use it—
A boy who, according to reports, had been shooting deer with bows and setting traps mere weeks ago—
It was nothing short of monstrous.
I was right, Garp thought. He's a born fighter. A true prodigy.
If his physical foundation wasn't poor, then his potential was extraordinary.
And as for the boy's hatred of Marines—
Garp wasn't worried.
These were the emotional scars of trauma.
Once Davy witnessed true Marine justice—
Once he saw real Marines fighting and dying for something greater—
He would change.
Garp grinned, raising his fist.
"Wahahaha! Playtime's over, brat. Watch out—now I'm serious!"
Davy's face tightened.
Just now… was playtime?
If he hadn't dodged, that punch would have shattered bones!
He drew his blade—
Just in time to see Garp vanish.
The vice admiral's Soru was nothing like his own—
faster, cleaner, invisible at the start.
Impossible to read by movement alone.
The gap was immense.
By speed alone, Garp could toy with him.
Before Davy could fully react, Garp's fist struck.
Thankfully, Davy had chosen correctly.
He relied on the Smooth-Smooth Fruit—
a passive, effortless defense.
Garp's terrifying punch slid harmlessly across Davy's slick, frictionless skin.
"BOOM!!"
A second crater erupted—
larger than the first.
Davy staggered back several steps, nearly losing his balance.
When he looked at the destruction left behind, his breath caught.
He knew he was in the world of One Piece.
He knew top-tier fighters shattered mountains and split seas.
But seeing it up close—
The sheer power of a living legend—
Even he felt a chill climb his spine.
Is this truly power a human can reach by training?
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