Early the next morning, before the first light of dawn had even touched the horizon.
"Bang—!!!"
The heavy door to Sakazuki's hospital room met its tragic end with a loud, splintering crash. The entire door panel slammed onto the floor, kicking up a thick cloud of dust that filled the small space.
"Good morning! Classmate Sakazuki!"
Kane stood in the doorway against the faint morning light, holding a long baguette he had swiped from the cafeteria. His face was beaming with a smile that looked as refreshing as a spring breeze, though his eyes held a predatory glint.
"It is time for rehabilitation training! As your exclusive private tutor, I absolutely will not allow you to sleep in on such a beautiful day!"
On the hospital bed, Sakazuki, who had been in a light sleep, snapped his eyes open instantly. Veins began bulging on his forehead as he looked at the poor door lying on the floor and then at Kane.
"Kane... it is only five-thirty in the morning!!!"
"The whole day's work depends on a good start in the morning. How can the pursuit of justice be constrained by something as trivial as time?" Kane took a large bite of the baguette, which was as hard as a block of cold iron. "Come on, let me see how well you recovered last night!"
Before his voice had even faded, Kane's figure vanished into thin air.
Shave!
The next second, accompanied by the whistling of the wind, that rock-hard baguette headed straight for Sakazuki's forehead like a club!
"You bastard... don't get too cocky!!"
Sakazuki was, after all, a monster-level rookie. Although his body was still healing from internal injuries, his combat reflexes remained terrifying.
With a gutteral roar, he propped himself up on the bed with one hand, using the momentum to spin in mid-air. His thick right leg, carrying a fierce wind, met the attack with a vicious side kick.
"Boom!"
It was from this exact moment that Sakazuki's hellish week began.
The third day of special training.
The hospital room was already a total mess, the walls covered in deep craters and cracks. Anyone who did not know better would think the room had been heavily shelled by a warship.
"Huff... huff..."
Sakazuki leaned in the corner, gasping for breath, sweat mixed with the blood from his reopened wounds staining his white bandages. His eyes were fierce and bloodshot, staring fixedly at the man standing in the center of the room, whose clothes were not even wrinkled.
He did not understand.
He had clearly learned the Shave technique by watching Kane and could now keep up with his raw speed.
But no matter how he attacked, no matter how much power he put into his blows, the moment before his fist touched the other man's body, Kane would always drift away eerily like a piece of paper following the wind of the punch.
"Too stiff, Sakazuki."
Kane had his hands shoved deep in his pockets, his body swaying slightly with the air currents as if he had no weight at all.
"There is only anger in your fists, no real technique."
"Shut up! Take this!" Sakazuki's eyes were bloodshot as his fists rained down in a barrage, blocking all possible space for evasion.
"Paper Arts: Withered Leaf."
Kane's eyes remained indifferent as his body twisted and folded at incredible, unnatural angles. Sakazuki's heavy fists all grazed past his skin without touching a single hair.
Then, Kane extended a single finger and lightly tapped Sakazuki's defenseless abdomen.
"Finger Pistol."
Puchi!
What seemed like a light tap erupted with a concentrated force capable of piercing through solid steel plates at the moment of contact.
"Blegh—!"
Sakazuki's eyes bulged, his entire body doubling over like a shrimp. He vomited stomach acid directly from the force of the blow, his knees buckling as he fell hard to the floor.
"Huff... huff..."
"Why..."
He looked up from the ground, and in those fierce eyes, there was now a hint of genuine confusion.
"Why can you improve so fast? I am clearly working my life off every day... even when I am sleeping, I am thinking about how to defeat you..."
"Because of conviction, Sakazuki."
Kane walked over to the window, his back to the sunlight, bathed in a holy glow that made him look like a saint.
He was starting his act again.
"Your justice is too heavy, too uptight. It weighs you down."
"But I am different." Kane turned around, revealing that signature spring-breeze smile. "I become stronger to protect everyone's smiles. This relaxed, happy, and love-filled feeling is the true source of power!"
At the door, Borsalino was munching on melon seeds with great interest.
Hearing these words, his eyes brightened behind his amber sunglasses, and he could not help but say to the nearby Kuzan, "Yee. Brother Kane really has a profound level of insight."
Kuzan's mouth twitched in annoyance. Looking at Sakazuki, who was being beaten into questioning his very existence in the middle of the room, he shuddered. "Are you an idiot? Sakazuki is about to be completely broken by him!"
Meanwhile, Sakazuki stared blankly at Kane, actually contemplating those words in silence.
Could it be... that I really am too uptight?
[Ding! Successfully fooled a future Fleet Admiral into self-doubt, causing logical chaos!]
[Discipline Points +600!]
The sixth day of special training.
Kane sat on the only intact chair left in the room, looking at Sakazuki, who was so exhausted he could not even lift a finger, and nodded with satisfaction.
Farming points these past few days had been great, but he was spending money like water. To maintain this overwhelming persona, Kane had poured almost all the points he earned into the bottomless pit of the Rokushiki techniques.
However, seeing the look of existential crisis in Sakazuki's eyes, Kane felt it was all worth it.
This was not just strengthening himself; it was taming the future Fleet Admiral!
In terms of raw strength, he now completely overwhelmed the Sakazuki who had yet to eat the Magma Fruit!
"Alright, special training is over."
Kane stood up and straightened his tie, which was not even messy despite the "training."
"The assessment is tomorrow. Sakazuki, although you have been a punching bag these past few days, your durability has indeed improved a lot."
Sakazuki lay on the floor, his fingers digging into the cracks between the floorboards. He did not argue because he could feel that, despite the intense pain, a surging power was rebounding within him after being squeezed to his physical limit.
This bastard... despite his sharp tongue and underhanded methods, he really was helping him get stronger.
"Kane..." Sakazuki's voice was hoarse from screaming. "In tomorrow's assessment... I will defeat you fair and square."
"Oh?" Kane walked to the door, looked back, and gave a meaningful smile. "Defeat me?"
"Do you know what the rewards for the top three in tomorrow's assessment actually are?"
Sakazuki looked up, his interest piqued.
Kane held up three fingers.
"Specially approved by the World Government, three top-tier Logia Devil Fruits from the Marineford collection."
"Magma, Ice, and Glint."
Boom!
As soon as these words came out, not only Sakazuki, but even Kuzan and Borsalino outside the door were completely stunned.
Those were the entry tickets to the highest level of power on the sea!
"Three fruits, three spots."
Kane looked at these three future Admirals, the curve of his lips becoming increasingly arrogant—it was the excitement of a hunter seeing his prey.
"Want the fruit known as the strongest? Then climb up with everything you've got."
"Because I've set my sights on one, too."
After saying that, Kane left with a loud laugh, leaving behind three monsters whose eyes were gradually becoming burning hot as their fighting spirit began to boil.
[Ding! Spoiled core secrets, triggering a vicious competitive mentality among the three future Admirals!]
[Disruption level extremely high! Discipline Points +1000!]
[Discipline Points balance: 3,000 points.]
In the corridor, Kane felt a secret thrill as he listened to the system's continuous notifications.
"Heh, I am not interested in the Magma Fruit," Kane calculated in his mind. "But if I intercept the fruits that were supposed to belong to you... hehe."
Thinking of this, Kane could not help but hum a happy tune.
Tomorrow's grand exam was destined to be spectacular.
It was also time to let all of Marineford see what true justice looks like!
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