"Ahhh! No matter how I look at it, this is so embarrassing!"
Cain yanked his head out of the bedrock and leaped from the freshly made crater, only to see Garp charging toward him with a darkened face and a massive scorched afro!
"Cain, if you can miss a shot like that, my training has clearly been too laxed!"
Before the words even finished, a fist wrapped in Conqueror's Haki struck again.
With no time to defend, Cain took the blow head-on and was sent flying backward.
'Is this... Conqueror's Haki infusion?'
Mid-air, he closed his eyes and let his body fall weightlessly, carefully analyzing the lingering pain of the strike.
With a sudden flick of his dragon tail, Cain stuck the landing.
He staggered back two steps before locking his gaze firmly on Garp, his eyes burning with determination.
"Come on, Grandpa."
The initial probing was over.
The battle that followed held no flashy moves or spectacular blasts—only brutal, fist-to-flesh collisions.
Cain knew that enduring each blow was the only way to truly grasp the intricacies of Conqueror's Haki.
"Cain, still not giving up?"
Each of Garp's punches was imbued with ferocious Haki, the sheer power behind them astonishing.
Yet Cain still had room to resist.
He was growing rapidly, he was no longer the boy who would be sent sliding hundreds of meters from a single strike.
Relying entirely on his physical prowess, he withstood the onslaught, even as his injuries mounted.
'Ah, Grandpa. You once said I was the most sensible among us. This time, please forgive me for being willful.'
In a fleeting moment of clarity, Cain finally grasped the flow of power.
Transforming his fist into a claw, he launched a decisive strike wrapped in a fierce gale, aiming straight for Garp's shoulder just as the old man's fist landed squarely on Cain's face.
Both men were sent flying backward, yet the battle did not stop.
They exchanged blows, colliding and taking heavy hits countless times over.
But that perfect sensation of channeling Conqueror's Haki never surfaced again.
'Still not enough... I need that feeling...'
No matter how hard Cain pushed himself afterward, he just couldn't recapture the spark.
The brawl lasted through the night, only ending when the horizon lightened with the first glow of dawn.
Cain's pink scales were drenched in sweat and blood, while Garp was battered and heavily bruised.
However, the old man's vital spots remained completely untouched, as a grandson, striking his grandfather's head or heart was a line Cain absolutely refused to cross.
In the end, the monstrous recovery and endurance of the Azure Dragon Fruit proved superior to an aging human body.
Staggering to his feet, Cain looked down at Garp in the dirt and a relieved smile curling the corner of his mouth.
"Grandpa, I've finally beaten you once."
"Bwahaha! I really am getting old! This world belongs to you young ones now!" Garp laughed heartily from the ground.
Cain knew very well that the old hero had never gone all out, Garp had deliberately fed him moves all night to help him master his Haki.
Cain withdrew from his hybrid form.
Pressing a hand to his eye, he swept back his messy hair and forced a smile on his face.
"Grandpa, I won't let you down."
"Hahaha, get out of here. What's with all the crying? This old man can still fight for a few more years, so just focus on growing up," Garp said, pushing himself up with one hand.
He looked at his grandson standing tall against the morning light and grinned.
"If you see Luffy and Ace, tell them I said hello."
Sengoku and the others hurried over from the sidelines to tend to their injuries.
"You two are too reckless," Sengoku sighed, walking up to gently pat the boy's shoulder. "But Cain, remember this. No matter what flag you fly in the future, you must uphold your own justice."
"My own justice?" Cain murmured softly.
It occurred to him that every high-ranking Marine held their own unique philosophy.
What was his?
In a pirate-infested world where justice was easily twisted and convictions constantly clashed, defining his moral compass wasn't simple.
But as he searched his thoughts, a specific philosophy surfaced.
A person experiences three stages of growth.
The first is learning what is right and wrong.
The second is realizing that the world isn't simply black and white.
The third is accepting that while some things have no clear right or wrong, you must still firmly do what you believe in and take responsibility for the outcome.
With his resolve settled, Cain spoke clearly.
"Even if others don't understand, and even if the world blames me—ignoring the rumors, not caring whether I am thanked or hated, and just doing what I believe is right in my heart. That is my 'I do as I please' justice."
Sengoku visibly froze upon hearing the declaration, while Vice Admiral Tsuru smiled approvingly.
"A truly outstanding statement. I never expected someone your age to have such an insight."
"Haha, I thought 'I do as I please' sounded a bit too arrogant," Cain scratched his head awkwardly.
Sengoku exchanged an awkward glance with Tsuru.
Should they tell the boy that his grand philosophy was essentially Garp's exact brand of justice?
They truly were grandfather and grandson!
Zephyr finally spoke up, his tone surprisingly calm. "It seems you've already formed your own understanding of justice. The convictions of us old-timers can't sway you anyway. From now on, do whatever you wish."
"Huh? Zephyr-sensei, I never thought you'd support me. I assumed..."
"What are you thinking? Do I really seem like such a rigid old man?" Zephyr waved him off, turning to call out to the Admiral nearby.
"Hey, Kizaru, don't you have anything to say?"
Kizaru let out another long yawn and spoke nonchalantly. "Fleet Admiral Sengoku, I'm taking the day off to catch up on my sleep. And Cain... remember what you just said. If you cause trouble in the future, don't let me catch you."
"Got it." Cain nodded with a bright smile. "Grandpa, Grandpa Sengoku, Zephyr-sensei, Granny Tsuru, and Uncle Kizaru... I'll be going now. I'll leave the handling of my Marine records to you."
Cain waved goodbye, and the older generation smiled back to see him off.
In the next moment, he transformed into a massive dragon, riding a trail of flame clouds into the sky as he set off toward the East Blue.
"By the way, where is that kid heading?" Zephyr asked, puffing on his cigarette and blowing a smoke ring as he watched the dragon disappear into the clouds.
"Huh? You didn't know?" Garp, who was currently having his head bandaged by Tsuru, dug his pinky into his nose and looked at Zephyr with genuine bewilderment.
"Ah. He's going to become a pirate," Sengoku sighed softly, finally revealing the truth.
"HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH?!"
Zephyr's pupils contracted sharply.
His mouth gaped wide, his sunglasses slid down the bridge of his nose, and the cigarette dropped from his fingers straight into the dirt.
He snapped his head toward Kizaru, then turned to Tsuru, and finally locked his gaze on Garp.
Seeing the others nodding silently, Zephyr's expression instantly darkened into pure rage.
An ear-splitting roar erupted across the island.
"Sengoku! Garp! You two old fools! CAIN—!!"
High above the clouds, Cain turned at the sound.
Looking down, he saw Garp and Sengoku struggling to physically restrain the furious Zephyr.
The old instructor howled toward the sky, his voice echoing with anguish and resentment.
"Even if you are my student, once you set foot on the path of a pirate, you better pray I don't run into you at sea!"