On the battlefield, thirty to fifty vicious pirates had already surrounded Kai by himself.
They sealed him in completely.
No gaps.
No escape.
"Kid…"
"Look at your comrades. Doesn't seem like they care much whether you live or die."
"So this is the Navy, huh? Cold-blooded as ever."
"Well, we've finally seen the Marines' heartless side today."
"Brat, blame your bad luck. You picked the wrong people to provoke when you crossed the Cerberus Pirates."
"I really don't know why the Navy would send a little runt like you here to die."
The pirates grinned savagely, their eyes full of killing intent as they stared at Kai.
In their eyes, he was nothing more than something they could crush at will.
All it would take was a thought—
and they could break him.
Still, because of their captain Kurrin's order, they knew the boy still had some use.
For the moment, they couldn't kill him.
They needed him alive—
as a hostage to force the Marines to yield.
"So, kid…"
"Are you going to behave and become our hostage?"
"Or do you want us to take you by force?"
"Because if it's the second option…"
"things might get pretty ugly for you."
The pirates looked at him with mocking expressions.
Meanwhile, faced with these thirty to fifty pirates, Kai remained completely calm.
He didn't show the slightest change in expression.
Lifting his head, he gave them a casual glance.
Within the range of his Observation Haki, he had already sensed Zephyr arrive on the scene.
Everything within a five-hundred-meter radius was under his perception.
So of course Zephyr's presence couldn't escape him.
"Teacher Zephyr…"
"Honestly, this one really isn't my fault."
"I had no intention of interfering in this graduation trial."
"But some people clearly won't allow that."
"They're forcing me to take part."
"So what can I do?"
"I'll just have to oblige them."
Kai narrowed his eyes and shook his head helplessly.
Truthfully, he really didn't want to step into this trial.
Because—
this trial belonged to Smoker and the others.
Not to him.
Unfortunately, these pirates didn't see it that way.
"Looks like I've been mistaken for an easy target again."
"What a headache."
"In that case…"
"I'll settle this in one go and make them all shut up."
"A bunch of buzzing flies whining in my ear…"
"it's really getting annoying."
Kai's face remained blank.
He hadn't wanted to get involved.
But since these people insisted on dragging him in—
then he would participate.
A bunch of insects…
and they still dared to bark in front of him?
Seeing that Kai remained unmoved, the pirates gradually lost patience.
They exchanged glances, their expressions growing colder.
"Hah. Since the brat doesn't appreciate our kindness, we'll just have to do it ourselves."
"Move!"
"Take him down!"
"The weak should act like the weak."
"And a hostage should know his place!"
In an instant, the pirates rushed Kai from all sides.
At that moment, Kai's lips moved slightly.
"Soru."
His figure vanished.
By stomping the ground dozens of times in an instant and using the recoil, he disappeared like a blink.
When he reappeared, he was already outside the encirclement.
"Shigan."
He thrust one finger toward a pirate's brow.
It was as effortless as poking through tofu.
Pfft.
A soft sound rang out.
The pirate's forehead was pierced clean through, leaving behind a bloody hole.
A spray of blood splashed into the air.
Thud.
The corpse dropped heavily to the ground, kicking up dust.
Before the other pirates could even react—
Kai moved again.
"In that case…"
"I'll wipe out the lot of you."
That was the thought in his mind.
And over the next few seconds—
Kai, using Soru, tore through the pirate formation again and again.
No one could follow his movements.
No one could read his trajectory.
He was simply too fast.
Every movement looked like teleportation.
Only a blurry afterimage remained behind.
Pfft.
Pfft.
Pfft.
Blood sprayed again and again.
One pirate after another had their forehead pierced clean through.
In the span of a blink—
thirty pirates died.
The whole thing had only taken a few seconds.
Moments later, every pirate who had surrounded Kai was dead.
Every last one.
Not a single survivor remained.
Forty-eight pirates—
all killed by Kai's finger strike.
None of them had even the slightest chance to resist.
Just like that—
the fight was over.
Kai had ended it in roughly seven seconds.
It was so fast—
that no one on the battlefield had time to react.
One stunned, disbelieving gaze after another fell on Kai.
Then those eyes shifted down—
to the cold corpses piled around his feet.
Savage.
Terrifying.
Blood ran across the ground.
Bodies lay everywhere.
In the blink of an eye—
all the pirates were dead.
Blood soaked into the earth, staining the ground a vivid red, as though a bloody carpet had been spread beneath him.
Bright.
Violent.
Striking.
A faint breeze passed through.
The smell of blood drifted into the air.
It was enough to make people sick.
And there, in the center of that mound of corpses, stood a young boy in spotless white, completely untouched.
Not a single wound on him.
His breathing remained as steady as ever.
Drip.
Drip.
Blood slid from Kai's fingertip and fell to the ground.
His index finger was the only part of him stained red.
Other than that, his entire body remained spotless.
Clean.
Untouched.
Almost pure.
Against the countless corpses around him, his figure looked all the more terrifying—yet strangely imposing.
A pressure unlike anything else radiated from him.
In that instant, all eyes on the battlefield gathered on Kai.
The chaotic noise from moments ago disappeared.
The battlefield itself froze.
Everything went silent.
A dreadful, oppressive silence.
No one dared meet Kai's eyes.
Not even Cerberus Kurrin, captain of the Cerberus Pirates, the Zoan user himself, dared to look him in the eye.
The rest of the pirates could only stare blankly at Kai.
Their eyes could no longer move away.
On the other side, the four hundred branch Marines led by Colonel Trull were equally frozen in place.
That five-year-old figure—
had become the center of everyone's attention.
"I knew it."
Hidden in the shadows, Zephyr watched the pirates get instantly wiped out and let out a helpless sigh.
He had predicted this outcome from the start.
After a long moment, the strange silence was finally broken.
Gulp.
A number of pirates swallowed hard, their faces full of fear as they looked at Kai.
"W-what did I just see?!"
"This can't be real…"
"In just an instant…"
"They all died!"
"They got wiped out?!"
"Everyone who went to surround that kid got slaughtered!"
"My god!"
"How is that even possible?!"
"That little kid is way too strong!"
"He looks like he's only five! How can he possibly have that kind of combat power?!"
Every pirate felt a chill run through them.
At the same time, Kurrin, the captain of the Cerberus Pirates and a pirate with a sixty-million-berry bounty, trembled as he blurted out:
"What kind of monster… did I just provoke?!"
At last, he understood.
Now he understood why—
when he had talked about targeting that five-year-old—
the Logia brat in front of him had looked at him like that.
He understood now.
But far too late.
He finally realized just how stupid a mistake he had made.
"I get it now."
"I understand why those Marines didn't care at all about that child's life."
"It wasn't that they were cold-hearted."
"It was because…"
"that five-year-old child is the most terrifying presence among every Marine here!"
Kurrin's mind shook violently.
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