"Vice Admiral Garp… if someone forcefully woke you up in the middle of a good sleep, what would you do?"
"Huh? Isn't that obvious? I'd be pissed—and then I'd beat them up!"
"…Oh, really?"
Roldy sat on the ground with his head lowered.
The next instant—
He exploded forward like a leopard breaking free of its cage.
Every muscle in his body fired at once. His massive fist, coated in Armament Haki and amplified by the Moa Moa no Mi, smashed straight into Garp's face.
Garp shot backward like a cannonball.
"So what the hell are you waking me up for in broad daylight, you old bastard?!"
Roldy went berserk.
Garp's head plunged straight into the ground, his body stuck upside down with his legs pointing toward the sky.
For a moment, he didn't move.
Then—
"Wahahahaha! Not bad! That Devil Fruit really made your punch that powerful! Now I'm fired up!"
Garp yanked his head out of the ground. Blood trickled from his nose.
Though strangely—
The one who looked worse for wear wasn't him.
"You dragged me out of a nap for this? Fine. I'll entertain you!"
"Moa Moa — Tenfold Power!"
"Iron Fist — Meteor!"
Whether it was Devil Fruit amplification or Armament Haki, everything Roldy possessed ultimately served one purpose:
His martial arts.
"Iron Fist" wasn't just Garp's epithet—it was his ultimate method.
After three years of training under Garp, Roldy had learned that unique fist style. It wasn't merely about brute strength—it was about will.
A fist without intent was meaningless.
That was what Garp had taught him.
Garp grinned.
He threw a punch casually—without visible Armament, without any flashy technique.
It looked like something an ordinary man might throw.
And yet—
He blocked Roldy's attack.
The impact forced his arm to bend slightly—then he reversed the pressure, meeting Roldy's tenfold-boosted strength head-on and pushing it into a deadlock.
Both Garp and Zephyr were pure physical combatants.
But their strengths lay in different domains.
Zephyr's Armament Haki was monstrous. Balanced. Refined.
Garp also possessed immense Armament Haki—and was one of only two Marines at Headquarters currently confirmed to wield Conqueror's Haki.
But his most outrageous trait—
Was the sheer, absolute power of his fists.
He was strength incarnate.
Their clash was far louder and more destructive than Roldy's earlier fight with Zephyr.
Roldy kicked out.
Garp dodged.
The Rankyaku-like air slash from Roldy's kick cleaved an abandoned artillery tower clean in half.
Garp retaliated with a punch that barely grazed Roldy's nose—
And obliterated a thick stone wall behind him.
The commotion drew nearby Marines, who rushed over to spectate.
Upon seeing who Garp's opponent was—
Every one of them widened their eyes in disbelief.
The fight lasted from noon until nightfall.
The spectators gradually dispersed, unable to resist sleep any longer.
Garp, however, showed no sign of tiring.
Roldy, on the other hand, began to slow.
More precisely—
Maintaining both Armament and Observation Haki for so long had nearly drained his reserves.
In the end—
The spar concluded with Garp planting a fist squarely into Roldy's eye socket.
"You old fossil… next time I'll beat you."
Roldy lay spread-eagle on the ground, grumbling.
But there was no resentment in his voice.
He wasn't stupid.
If Garp had truly wanted to defeat him, it wouldn't have taken this long.
This wasn't just a fight.
It was Garp's way of teaching him the essence of the Iron Fist.
Roldy could feel it—
After clashing with Zephyr and Garp back-to-back, his understanding of his Devil Fruit had deepened another layer.
There was no faster way to grow stronger than this.
"Wahahahaha! One generation pushes the next forward!"
"You brat—give it less than ten years and you'll catch up to the true top-tier monsters of this sea!"
"As for your Devil Fruit, I won't lecture you about that. Zephyr's already done it, I'm sure."
"But there's one thing I will say."
"Your fists… aren't pure."
Garp's expression shifted—still grinning, but sharp.
"The purest punch needs no assistance."
"Not even Haki."
"The day you can shatter a mountain with the most ordinary, casual punch—"
"That's when your fists will truly be complete."
Two battles.
A sudden leap in Devil Fruit mastery.
And two sentences Roldy would remember for the rest of his life.
"Oh right—brat! In a few days, you're coming out to sea with me on a mission!"
Garp had already walked quite a distance before remembering.
His voice boomed across the night without any concern for disturbing others.
"Huh? The Officer Training Camp is about to start! I'm the Deputy Chief Instructor—I don't have time!"
"Enough whining! It's decided!"
Roldy watched Garp's retreating figure and felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him.
After such an intense battle, his body felt drained.
He lay flat on the empty training ground, alone beneath the sky, quietly staring upward.
"The moon's really round tonight… beautiful."
The night sky glittered with stars.
A full moon hung like a giant white disc overhead.
A cool breeze brushed against him. Fireflies shimmered lazily in the dark.
Everything felt peaceful.
"…It's a full moon tonight."
Roldy's relaxed expression froze.
"…Wait."
"Why is it a full moon?!"
There was no time to think.
He already felt the savage blood within his veins begin to stir violently.
Dragging his aching body, he rushed toward a secluded area of Marine Headquarters.
A place informally known as—
"The Graveyard."
It wasn't where people were buried.
It was where decommissioned warships were laid to rest.
Under the moonlight, his heart pounded.
This was his sanctuary.
Here, he no longer needed to suppress the instincts raging inside him.
"ROAR—!"
With a thunderous howl, Roldy's already massive body doubled in size under the full moon.
Eighteen meters tall.
He now stood nearly on par with a Giant.
Black-and-white fur erupted wildly across his shoulders, cascading like a cape. A tail burst forth behind him.
More and more lupine features manifested across his body.
The blood of the Mink Tribe awakened fully.
Sulong.
"…Guess I'm not sleeping tonight."
His midday nap had already been interrupted.
And now the full moon had risen.
The agitation inside him was impossible to ignore.
The full moon did not rob him of reason—
But the surging blood was undeniable.
The most direct consequence?
He couldn't sleep.
So—
The retired warships became his outlet.
He began throwing punches using nothing but raw physical strength.
No Devil Fruit.
No Haki.
Just fists.
Each heavy impact echoed like the heartbeat of a great warrior.
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