Garp's roar exploded across the training ground like thunder.
"What?!"
"C-cannon fire?!"
"Even training shells are still cannon shells! If someone dies, we'll be court-martialed!"
The Marines manning the artillery batteries froze, exchanging panicked glances. No one dared act first.
If a recruit died under live fire, their careers would end.
"Are you deaf?!" Garp barked.
His eyes widened, and an overwhelming pressure surged outward like a crashing tide.
"This is an order! If anything happens, I'll take responsibility!"
Under the weight of his voice alone, the artillery crews broke.
They scrambled to load shells and adjust firing angles.
Around the field, spectators instinctively stepped back, staring at the lone figure in the center with fear, pity… and a sliver of hope.
They wanted to see how this legendary newcomer would survive hell.
KING's mind was blank.
Cannon fire?
He's going to shoot me?!
This old man has lost his mind! He's executing me for slacking off!
Nearby, Helmeppo trembled.
"Koby… Mr. KING… he'll be okay, right?"
Koby stared intensely at the arena, fists clenched.
KING's body trembled slightly.
Koby interpreted it entirely differently.
"Don't you feel it, Helmeppo?" he whispered.
"He isn't afraid… he's excited."
"His warrior's blood is boiling."
Helmeppo nearly fainted.
"First shot! Fire!"
BOOM!
A black training shell screamed through the air toward KING's face.
I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead—!
Instinct took over.
Dodge.
He shifted left without thinking.
WHOOSH—
His body vanished.
The shell tore through his afterimage and exploded behind him, blasting a crater into the ground.
"He… dodged it?" a recruit whispered.
"That speed…" a veteran muttered. "My eyes couldn't follow."
"Second shot! Third shot! Burst fire!"
BOOM! BOOM!
Two shells screamed in from opposite angles, sealing escape routes.
"HELP!"
KING had barely regained balance when the black spheres filled his vision.
He kicked off the ground instinctively.
BOOM!
The earth detonated beneath his feet as he rocketed skyward.
The shells crossed beneath him and collided in a deafening blast.
"He's flying?!"
"Geppo?! No— he hasn't trained Rokushiki!"
KING spun uncontrollably in midair like a thrown top before gravity seized him.
"Fourth! Fifth! Sixth! Intercept pattern!"
Three shells formed a triangular kill zone around the falling KING.
"AAAAAH—!"
He flailed wildly.
To observers, it looked like a battle cry.
Then—
a miracle.
His arm brushed one shell at an almost imperceptible angle.
The shell deflected.
It struck the second.
The second slammed into the third.
BOOM —!!!
A midair chain explosion erupted.
The shockwave blasted KING like a leaf in a storm.
He tumbled before crashing into the training ground with a heavy thud, carving a shallow crater.
He lay motionless.
Silence swallowed the arena.
What the Marines believed they witnessed:
He casually dodged the first shell.
• He calmly ascended to avoid the second volley.
• He manipulated the final barrage midair, triggering a chain detonation.
What terrifying combat instinct.
What precision under pressure.
"…Monster," a lieutenant whispered, lowering his binoculars.
In Koby's eyes, flames ignited.
"So… this is Mr. King's true strength…"
Only Garp frowned.
He saw more clearly than anyone.
The results were incredible.
But the movements were chaotic.
Uncontrolled.
"This kid's too fast," Garp thought. "So fast his body can't keep up."
"In that case…"
Excitement lit his eyes.
"…this old man will help you."
He removed his cloak.
The muscles in his right arm bulged instantly, veins coiling like steel cables. A pressure far more terrifying than before surged skyward.
"HEY, KING!"
"The cannonballs are too slow!"
"Now it's my turn!"
He stomped.
The training ground trembled.
"Iron Fist of Love!"
Garp vanished.
To the naked eye, he became a black line slicing across space.
He appeared before KING, who had just staggered upright, still dizzy.
His fist — larger than a clay pot — carried devastating force. The air warped around it, compression waves distorting the space ahead.
Though only a fraction of his true strength, the punch was far faster than artillery fire — and infinitely more terrifying.
KING's pupils shrank to pinpoints.
His mind went blank.
This time… I'm really dead.
He couldn't run.
The punch sealed every escape path.
But—
a fraction of a second before impact—
KING slipped.
He fell backward.
Landed awkwardly on his backside.
Garp's punch grazed his hair.
BOOM —!!!
The shockwave tore forward like a plow through earth.
A deep trench ripped across the training ground, stretching to the horizon before striking the distant target hill.
The hill trembled.
Cracked.
Then split slowly down the middle.
Marineford fell silent.
Garp remained frozen in his punching stance.
He stared at the missed strike.
Then at KING.
Time stopped.
Three seconds.
Then—
"Hahaha…"
"Hahahahahahahaha!!"
Garp withdrew his fist and pointed at KING, laughing until tears streamed down his face.
"You dodged it!"
"You brat… you actually dodged my punch!"
"GOOD! EXCELLENT! HAHAHAHAHA!"
KING sat on the ground, scalp burning from the shockwave.
He stared at the distant split hill.
His eyes rolled upward.
(I… I'm alive?)
A lazy, mildly teasing voice drifted across the ruined training ground.
"My, my… Vice Admiral Garp, you're lively this early in the morning."
"You've destroyed the training field again. Logistics will be writing reports all week."
Everyone turned.
A tall man in a white Marine coat rode slowly into the wreckage on a bicycle.
Sleep mask lifted to his forehead.
Relaxed posture.
Marine Headquarters' highest combat power.
Admiral Kuzan.