Chapter 6 — Toward the Grand Line
That night, the battleship stayed at the island's port to rest before setting sail again the next day.
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After the celebration ended, most of the Marines went to sleep.
But Shinji Ikari returned to the beach as usual.
"Iron Body!"
Again.
And again.
Each time he pushed himself until he reached his limit.
Shinji could clearly feel it—the damage he had suffered during the battle had greatly strengthened his body.
What once required ten strikes now needed only one.
On the beach, under the moonlight, Koby and Helmeppo had already reached their limits.
Both of them were drenched in sweat, watching Shinji continue training.
"Shinji… don't you feel the sea breeze is strange tonight?" Koby asked quietly.
Helmeppo shivered."Yeah… it feels cold. Do you think it's… the villagers' spirits?"
Shinji kept punching.
"That's impossible. Their enemies were those pirates lying at the bottom of the sea now. Even if there were ghosts, they wouldn't hurt us."
His Iron Body had reached the point where it could activate instantly during movement.
But his biggest discovery tonight wasn't defense.
It was his punches.
When he delivered that full-force strike that killed the pirate earlier, Shinji had noticed something.
Because Iron Body was constantly switching on and off in split seconds—
When he punched during that instant, the faint aura inside his body seemed to concentrate into the attack.
That weak aura made the strike far more powerful.
"Is it speed… or that strange aura?"
Whoosh!
Shinji threw another fast punch.
Something still felt incomplete.
So he tried something new—moving faster, then punching at the exact moment his body froze.
This allowed the aura used to maintain Iron Body to burst outward.
Very faint.
But different from before.
When maintaining Iron Body normally, that aura spread across his entire body.
But during an instant attack—
It concentrated into the strike itself.
Whoosh!
Another flash of movement.
Another punch.
Shinji could feel the wind cutting through the air with his fists and feet.
This speed wasn't fast enough to be called Shave, one of the Six Powers.
But he began to understand something.
If Iron Body accelerated blood flow and muscle movement to bring out the hidden aura within the body—
Then high-speed movement could compress the air itself, turning attacks into cutting strikes.
That technique…
Was Tempest Kick.
Whoosh!
This time Shinji punched and kicked at the same time.
The high-speed strike released a sharp slicing force.
A large tree by the shore was cut clean in half.
Even a punch wrapped in that force could unleash tremendous power.
Most Marines first learned Shave, then developed Tempest Kick through high-speed movement.
But Shinji was different.
He adapted to explosive punches first while improving his leg speed.
The combination allowed him to accidentally develop something new.
Not quite Tempest Kick.
More like—
"Storm Fist."
If he wanted to truly master Tempest Kick, he would still need to push his body to its limits and fully learn Shave.
"Whew…"
Shinji exhaled slowly.
Using Iron Body for defense, he had accidentally grasped a half-finished offensive technique.
Only one weakness remained.
Speed.
He needed to train faster and master Shave as soon as possible.
With that thought, he began practicing again with renewed energy.
"My god… how much stamina does Shinji have?" Helmeppo groaned.
"Is he really never tired?"
Helmeppo leaned toward Koby—
Only to realize Koby was training again too.
"Koby! Have you gone crazy?!"
Koby kept lifting heavy weights while speaking.
"Don't you see it yet, Helmeppo?"
"Shinji's incredible defense during the battle… and the way he just destroyed that tree!"
"He's getting stronger every moment. Those are the Six Powers—the techniques that break past human limits!"
Helmeppo clenched his teeth.
"What the hell are you two monsters trying to do to me?!"
Still—
He started training as well.
Shinji had even added heavy weights to his body while practicing.
His extra training made everything harder.
But only under those conditions could he gain even greater explosive power and speed.
The moonlight shone cold and bright.
The sea breeze dried the sweat on the boy's skin.
On the battleship.
Vice Admiral Garp sat on the deck, eating roasted rice crackers while watching the three boys training on the beach.
Seeing them, he couldn't help remembering his younger days training with Sengoku and Zephyr.
Back then, the seas were filled with powerful young pirates.
Everyone had wanted to become stronger.
Garp sighed as the wind blew across the deck.
Before he could put down the intelligence report in his hand—
A cloaked figure suddenly appeared beside him.
"I sent Luffy off from Loguetown."
"Oh?" Garp replied casually while chewing his snack."So he's heading to the Grand Line?"
The cloaked man spoke again.
"The seas are getting rough. Hawkeye Mihawk was spotted in the East Blue recently…"
Garp continued eating as if none of it mattered.
Finally, he said one sentence.
"We're passing through the Calm Belt tomorrow. Want to come along?"
The cloaked man paused.
"I'm the leader of the Revolutionary Army. How can I ride a Marine battleship into the Grand Line?"
Garp laughed.
"You're already standing on a Marine ship right now, brat. Stop acting so serious all the time."
"Dad… the world is waiting for my answer."
The sea breeze blew again.
The man known as Dragon, leader of the Revolutionary Army and the world's most wanted criminal, quietly left the battleship of the Marine hero Garp.
The story of how he saved Luffy in Loguetown would only be revealed much later.
At that time, Luffy would finally learn that his father's name was Monkey D. Dragon.
Garp watched him leave.
"Kid always acting mysterious…"
He grumbled before taking another bite of his snack.
Back on the beach—
"Don't you want to rest after training so much?" a voice suddenly asked.
"I'm not tired," Shinji replied.
"The Navy has a future with people like you."
The wind blew again.
Shinji blinked.
He looked around.
Did someone just speak?
Maybe he imagined it.
It didn't matter.
Dawn arrived.
Koby and Helmeppo, who had trained all night, were already asleep standing beside Shinji.
Shinji, however, felt completely energized.
The Devil Fruit inside him had converted all his exhaustion into energy.
Today—
They would cross the Calm Belt aboard a Marine warship.
That region of the sea had no wind.
No waves.
And it was filled with enormous Sea Kings.
Sailing there normally meant certain death.
Only Marine ships could pass through safely, because their hulls were lined with Seastone, preventing Sea Kings from detecting them.
They also had powerful engines that allowed them to move without wind.
Most pirate ships relied on sails.
Even if they could afford it, Seastone was incredibly expensive.
Pirates rarely had the resources for such technology.
Because of that—
Only the Marines could regularly cross the Calm Belt.
"It's so boring here…" Helmeppo complained.
Without sea wind, the air felt heavy.
"These are all Sea Kings…" Koby said nervously, looking at the water.
But Shinji clenched his fists with excitement.
"This is amazing."
"We can travel anywhere in the world."
With this power, he could hunt pirates faster.
The boy looked toward the distant horizon.
"The Grand Line…"
"Here I come."