Early the next morning, before dawn.
Bang!
The door to Sakazuki's hospital room met its end with a loud crash, the entire door panel slamming tragically onto the floor and kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Good morning, Sakazuki."
Tatsuki stood at the door against the morning light, holding a baguette he'd swiped from the cafeteria, his face beaming with a smile.
"It's time for rehabilitation training. As your exclusive private tutor, I absolutely won't allow you to sleep in."
On the hospital bed, Sakazuki, who had been in a light sleep, snapped his eyes open, veins bulging on his forehead. He looked at the poor door on the floor and then at Tatsuki.
"Tatsuki... it's only five-thirty!"
"The whole day's work depends on a good start in the morning. How can the pursuit of justice be constrained by time?" Tatsuki took a bite of the baguette, which was as hard as a block of iron.
"Come on, let me see how well you recovered last night."
Before his voice had even faded, Tatsuki's figure vanished into thin air.
Soru!
The next second, with a whistling wind, that hard baguette headed straight for Sakazuki's forehead.
"You bastard... don't get too cocky!"
Sakazuki was, after all, a monster-level rookie. Although his body was injured, his reflexes remained terrifying.
With a 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 moment that Sakazuki's hellish week began.
—
The third day of special training.
The hospital room was already a mess, the walls covered in craters. Anyone who didn't know better would think it had been shelled.
"Huff... Huff..."
Sakazuki leaned in the corner, gasping for breath, sweat mixed with blood from his reopened wounds staining his bandages. His eyes were fierce, staring fixedly at the man standing in the center of the room, whose clothes weren't even wrinkled.
He didn't understand.
He had clearly learned Soru and kept up with his speed. But no matter how he attacked, no matter how much power he used, the moment before his fist touched Tatsuki's body, Tatsuki would always drift away eerily like a piece of paper following the wind of the punch.
"Too stiff, Sakazuki."
Tatsuki had his hands in his pockets, his body swaying slightly with the air currents as if he had no weight.
"There is only anger in your fists, no technique."
"Shut up! Take this!"
Sakazuki's eyes were bloodshot as his fists rained down, blocking all space for evasion.
Kami-e!
Tatsuki's eyes were indifferent as his body twisted and folded at incredible angles. Sakazuki's fists all grazed past his skin without touching a single hair.
Then, Tatsuki extended a finger and lightly tapped Sakazuki's defenseless abdomen.
Shigan!
Pfft!
What seemed like a light tap erupted with a force capable of piercing through steel plates at the moment of contact.
"Blegh!"
Sakazuki's eyes bulged, his entire body doubling over. He vomited stomach acid from the blow, his knees buckling as he fell to the floor.
"Huff... Huff..."
"Why..."
He looked up, and in those fierce eyes, there was now a hint of confusion.
"Why can you improve so fast? I'm clearly working my life off every day. Even when I'm sleeping, I'm thinking about how to defeat you."
"Because of conviction, Sakazuki." Tatsuki walked to the window, his back to the sunlight, bathed in a holy glow.
"Your justice is too heavy, too uptight. But I am different."
Tatsuki turned around, revealing a smile. "I become stronger to protect everyone's smiles. This relaxed, happy, and love-filled feeling is the source of power."
At the door, Borsalino was munching on melon seeds with great interest.
Hearing these words, his eyes brightened behind his sunglasses, and he couldn't help but say to the nearby Kuzan, "Tatsuki really has a profound level of insight."
Kuzan's lips twitched.
Looking at Sakazuki, who was being beaten into questioning his very existence in the room, he shuddered. "Are you an idiot? Sakazuki is about to be broken by him."
Meanwhile, Sakazuki stared blankly at Tatsuki, actually contemplating those words.
Could it be that I really am too uptight?
[Ding! Successfully fooled a future Fleet Admiral into self-doubt, causing logical chaos!]
[Violation Points +600!]
...
The sixth day of special training.
Tatsuki sat on an intact chair, looking at Sakazuki, who was so exhausted he couldn't 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, Tatsuki had poured almost all the points he earned into the bottomless pit of the Rokushiki.
However, seeing the look of existential crisis in Sakazuki's eyes, he felt it was all worth it.
This wasn't 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 Mag-Mag Fruit.
"Alright, special training is over."
Tatsuki stood up and straightened his tie, which wasn't even messy.
"The assessment is tomorrow. Sakazuki, although you've been a punching bag these past few days, your durability has improved a lot."
Sakazuki lay on the floor, his fingers digging into the cracks between the floorboards. He didn't argue because he could feel that, despite the intense pain, a surging power was rebounding within him after being squeezed to the limit.
This bastard...
Despite his sharp tongue and underhanded methods, he really was helping him get stronger.
"Tatsuki..."
Sakazuki's voice was hoarse. "In tomorrow's assessment, I will defeat you fair and square."
"Oh?" Tatsuki 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 are?"
Sakazuki looked up.
Tatsuki held up three fingers. "Specially approved by the World Government, three top-tier Logia Devil Fruits from the Marineford collection."
"Mag-Mag, Ice-Ice, and Glint-Glint."
As soon as these words came out, not only Sakazuki, but even Kuzan and Borsalino outside the door were stunned.
Those were the entry tickets to the highest level of power on the sea.
"Three fruits, three spots."
Tatsuki 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 Logia devil fruits known as the strongest? Then climb up with everything you've got."
"Because I've set my sights on one, too."
After saying that, Tatsuki 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! Violation Points +1000!]
[Violation Points: 3000]
In the corridor, Tatsuki felt a secret thrill as he listened to the system's continuous notifications.
Tatsuki calculated in his mind, 'Heh, I'm not interested in the Mag-Mag fruit. But if I intercept the fruit that was supposed to belong to Sakazuki... hehe.'
Thinking of this, Tatsuki couldn't help but hum a 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.