Marineford's largest open-air arena.
The air was thick with a sweltering and murderous aura.
The circular stands were already packed. Besides this year's 320 New Recruits, there was a dense crowd of Marineford officers who had come to watch the excitement, and even some Vice Admirals who were off-duty had shown up.
After all, this generation was known as the "Gathering of Monsters," and everyone wanted to see what they were made of.
In the center of the stage sat three treasure chests. The lids were wide open, and three strangely shaped fruits covered in spiral patterns lay quietly on velvet.
Logia: Mag-Mag Fruit, Logia: Ice-Ice Fruit, Logia: Glint-Glint Fruit.
Three Logia fruits standing at the pinnacle!
"Gulp."
The sound of swallowing saliva rose and fell across the field.
The flames of desire and ambition burned brightly in the eyes of the young Marines.
On the main stand, Sengoku gripped his teacup, glancing at Zephyr beside him out of the corner of his eye.
"The World Government argued for three whole days over these three devil fruits. Zephyr, are you sure you want to throw them out now?"
"Hmph, good steel should be used for the blade's edge." Zephyr crossed his arms and snorted coldly, his gaze sweeping over the arena below.
"Sengoku, you and I both know how bad the situation at sea has become. The scales have already begun to tip."
Sengoku fell silent for a moment, nodded slightly, and set down his teacup.
Zephyr continued, his voice low and powerful, "Right now, Marineford is severely lacking in high-level combat power. Relying solely on a few of us to hold the fort is not a long-term solution. If we don't cultivate true monsters, who will carry the burden of justice in the future?"
He turned to look at the outstanding figures below the stands. "Most importantly, Sakazuki, Kuzan, Borsalino, and Tatsuki actually appeared in this class of New Recruits at the same time. Since the seeds are already so excellent, I won't allow them to become mediocre due to a lack of resources. Only the truly strong are worthy of this kind of power."
Beside him, Garp laughed while stuffing himself with senbei. "Kyahahahaha! I'm quite fond of that kid Tatsuki. I heard he frustrated you so much you had to take blood pressure medication? He has a future. He has the style I had back in the day."
Zephyr's lip twitched. "That brat may have a terrible personality, but his talent is indeed undeniable. Just watch, perhaps he'll give everyone a surprise today."
Sengoku took a sip of tea and said calmly, "As long as he doesn't tear down the training camp."
Before his voice could fade, Zephyr stood up, his booming voice instantly drowning out the noise of the crowd.
"There is only one rule—a free-for-all!"
"Only the last ten people standing will be qualified to choose a devil fruit! Now, let the assessment be—"
"Uh, wait a moment."
A lazy voice abruptly interrupted Zephyr.
Dead silence fell over the arena.
In the center of the arena, Tatsuki stood alone, holding a megaphone in one hand and his other hand in his pocket, looking arrogant and uninhibited.
Under the gaze of over three hundred people, he slowly blew into the microphone.
"Hello? Testing? Can you hear me? Good."
Tatsuki looked around at the more than three hundred pairs of hostile eyes and sighed.
"Everyone is busy. There's a limited supply of pudding in the cafeteria later. If we're late, it'll be gone."
"So, to save time and to prevent everyone from ruining their friendships over a few spots..."
Tatsuki took a deep breath and shouted into the megaphone, "Aside from those three monsters over there, everyone else, come at me all at once!"
The teacup Sengoku had just picked up froze in mid-air, and the senbei in Garp's mouth fell out.
Zephyr covered his face in pain.
He knew it!
The next second, the arena exploded.
"Bastard! How arrogant!"
"How dare he look down on us! Let's go together! Eliminate him first!"
"Beat him up!"
Over three hundred trainees were completely enraged by those words, swarming toward Tatsuki from all directions like a tide.
"Tsk, young people have such short tempers." Tatsuki shook his head, but a hint of manic excitement flashed in his eyes.
Watching the overwhelming crowd rushing at him, he didn't retreat a single step. Instead, with a slight smirk, he kicked off the ground with his legs and soared into the air.
Rankyaku: Wild Dance!
Tatsuki's body spun at high speed in mid-air. His legs were like windmills, kicking out dozens of vacuum slashes in a single second.
Whoosh... Whoosh...
The blue slashes were like a torrential storm, indiscriminately covering a fifty-meter radius around him. Every slash precisely avoided vital spots, yet was just enough to incapacitate people.
"Ah! My leg!"
"This wind pressure... what's going on? I can't even stand!"
"A... a monster!"
The more than one hundred people in the front were like they had hit an invisible wall of blades. Accompanied by one scream after another, rows of trainees were sent flying back.
With just one move, a large section of the arena was cleared.
On the stands, the officers who had originally intended to just watch the show all stood up abruptly.
"Is this... an advanced application of Rankyaku?"
"Not only is the range massive, but the control is absolutely exquisite. He didn't cut the bones, only the muscles to make them lose combat effectiveness. How long has this kid been practicing to reach this level?"
In just five minutes.
Tatsuki landed and elegantly brushed off non-existent dust from his clothes.
The arena was covered with groaning trainees.
Besides the "Three Monsters" in the corner who hadn't moved, the only one standing was the blonde youth whose clothes were still neat and whose hair wasn't even messy.
Tatsuki clapped his hands, looked at the "corpses" littering the ground, and gave an apologetic smile toward the stands.
"Sorry about that, I went a little too heavy. But I was just trying to help everyone test their endurance."
[Ding! Mass brawl, caused collective psychological trauma!]
[Violation Points +2,000!]
Refreshing!