Zephyr forcibly suppressed the excitement surging in his chest.
The level of his punches rose higher and higher. At first, he had only intended to test the boy's physical strength and true combat ability. But now, he began deliberately guiding Roldy's punches.
To an outsider, nothing might seem different.
But to an expert, the gap between the two stages was no less than the distance from Fish-Man Island to the Red Line.
They were two entirely different realms.
At last, Roldy's final punch struck Zephyr's forearm. Completely drained, he collapsed forward from exhaustion. Zephyr reacted instantly, catching him before he hit the ground.
The muscles on Zephyr's face twitched uncontrollably.
He was excited—so excited he felt almost numb.
No matter how unbelievable it seemed, no matter how absurd it sounded, the fact remained: in just a single sparring session, this boy had glimpsed a realm that most people would need over a decade to even approach—
Intent.
A great swordsman's blade carried Haki. Naturally, a master of hand-to-hand combat could cultivate Haki .
Perhaps he had underestimated Roldy.
But such comprehension… was practically unheard of on these seas.
Maybe Roldy's raw talent did not surpass that madwoman from the Rocks Pirates—
—but in terms of insight and learning ability, he absolutely exceeded her.
Two once-in-five-hundred-years prodigies appearing in the same era?
This matter had to be reported.
After sending Roldy back to his quarters, Zephyr immediately went to knock on the door of Fleet Admiral Kong's office.
"Kong-san, you won't believe what I've discovered!"
He burst into the office excitedly—only to find that, besides Kong, there were two other people present: a man and a woman.
"Garp? So you finally got back, you old bastard!"
Zephyr froze for a moment, then burst into hearty laughter. The burly man he had addressed as Garp stood up with a grin and clapped him on the shoulder.
It was a heartwarming reunion between comrades—
—if one ignored the small detail of Garp casually wiping snack crumbs onto Zephyr's shoulder.
"What is it, Zephyr?" Kong asked calmly. "For you to come barging into my office at this hour, it must be important."
Kong understood Zephyr well. His brash personality was no different from that idiot Garp's. Neither of them would show up here without a major reason.
"Of course it's important! Kong-san, listen to this—"
Zephyr animatedly recounted everything that had happened during Roldy's first day of training.
When they heard that Zephyr had made the boy run one hundred laps around Marine Headquarters as a warm-up, Garp's jaw dropped. The other two were equally surprised.
But when Zephyr mentioned that Roldy had actually begun grasping "Intent" during the fight—
—even the composed Fleet Admiral Kong, and the ever-calm Tsuru, could no longer maintain their composure.
"Wait, you're serious?" Garp said. "An eight-year-old brat? That's impossible!"
Zephyr was an undisputed powerhouse in physical combat, famous for his mastery of Armament Haki, earning him the epithet "Black Arm." Garp was likewise a top-tier hand-to-hand fighter—known across the seas as "Garp the Fist."
If it came purely to punching, Garp was arguably even stronger than Zephyr.
And precisely because of that, he knew how difficult it was to cultivate "Intent" in one's fists.
"You think I'd joke about something like this?!" Zephyr shot back.
Seeing his certainty, the three gradually accepted the miracle before them.
"In that case," Kong said seriously, "we need to revise the training plan for this boy."
Tsuru nodded, offering several practical suggestions of her own.
This was no longer a discussion for certain muscle-brained individuals to participate in.
Which was why—
"That kid really that impressive?" Garp rubbed his chin, grinning broadly. "Now I'm interested."
He chuckled.
"I've got a feeling that brat and I are going to get along just fine."
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