The earth let out a heavy, strained rumble as clouds of smoke and dust billowed outward, pushed by the shockwave.
Everyone stared, dumbfounded, at the collapsed teaching building, their mouths twitching.
That kick... it hurts just watching.
Daren landed a hit on Kuzan!
His attack... actually worked!?
Could it be that Daren...
The delayed realization hit everyone at once. They all turned toward Daren, their pupils shrinking.
The Commodore still held the posture of a follow-through kick. On his heavy, polished black military boots, a swirling, invisible pressure coiled around like a spiraling hurricane.
"Daren has mastered Armament Haki!"
"That kind of talent... he's a complete monster!"
The Marines stood in disbelief, struggling to trust their own eyes.
"Daren, you little brat! An abandoned military fortress is one thing, but that was the teaching building! Couldn't you have kicked in a different direction?!" The source of this content ɪs novel(ꜰ)ire.net
Zephyr roared through gritted teeth, his heart practically bleeding with pain. His face was full of anguish.
Thankfully, the training camp hadn't officially started yet, so no staff had moved into the building. Otherwise, this could've turned into a disaster.
Even so, rebuilding the structure would cost a fortune!
And Sengoku would definitely give him another cold look.
"How much is this gonna cost!?"
Zephyr-sensei, is this really the time to worry about that?
"Apologies, Zephyr-sensei. I'll pay double the original cost for all damages caused during the duel," Daren said with a smile as he slowly lowered his hovering boot.
"Alright, then. Carry on."
Their mouths twitched again, but then another question struck them.
Wait, is the fight over?
Was that monster Kuzan... finished?
They widened their eyes and looked toward the ruins of the teaching building.
Thick smoke curled and lingered, and from the cracks in the collapsed walls, a glimmer of icy white began to emerge.
Bit by bit, crystalline frost spread from deep within the rubble, blooming into dazzling ice flowers as it moved forward, eventually forming a humanoid shape in front of the ruins.
A bright streak of blood dripped from the corner of Kuzan's mouth. Half of his face was visibly swollen.
But his gaze toward Daren blazed with excitement.
"Haki... Armament Haki... You really are worthy of being my opponent!"
What a ridiculous physique... Daren couldn't help but marvel silently as he looked at Kuzan's battle-ready expression.
If it had been anyone else here, they wouldn't have been able to take that hit head-on.
Even Tokikake—toughened from Daren's own "special training," with his hardened body and hand-to-hand combat skills—would've been seriously injured or knocked out cold by that kick, which had been infused with Armament Haki.
But Kuzan stood there like nothing had happened.
"Monster-level physical endurance?"
A sudden image flashed through Daren's mind—Sakazuki taking multiple direct hits from Whitebeard's Gura Gura no Mi during the war at the summit.
No, it wasn't just that.
He glanced at the collapsed building and quickly pieced it together.
Normally, his attack delivered damage in three stages.
First was the pure brute strength and explosive force of the kick.
Second was the burst from the Armament Haki.
The third was from Kuzan crashing into the building and getting buried in the rubble.
But it was clear Kuzan had nullified the third impact through elementalization.
No wonder that in the later stages, battles between Admirals and Yonkō-level fighters were measured in days.
Every single one had trained their bodies to inhuman levels. Even in the most savage close-quarters combat, there was no way to settle it quickly.
"Still want to go on, Kuzan?"
"But since you've mastered Armament Haki... I've got no choice but to use that move."
He took a deep breath, stepped forward with his right foot, and raised his hand. His gaze turned sharp.
A stream of frost slowly spilled from his mouth, crystallizing in the air.
Crackle... crackle...
Countless ice crystals rapidly spread along Kuzan's arm, and the temperature in the training ground plummeted.
Hot and cold currents clashed, stirring up a biting wind that swept across the field, making the spectators shiver from the sudden chill.
The ice crystals swelled in an instant.
With a fierce shout, Kuzan released a dazzling surge of snow and ice from his hands. It stretched outward, forming a pair of enormous ice wings.
A sharp, piercing cry echoed across the empty grounds.
A massive ice bird erupted from Kuzan's arms, spreading its wings wide as it charged straight toward the Commodore a hundred meters away with unstoppable force!
The extreme cold froze over everything in its path, coating the ground in thick frost and blanketing the entire area in blinding white.
"Ice Block: Pheasant Beak!!"
In that moment, Daren felt an overwhelming pressure surge toward him.
The ten-meter-tall ice bird barreled forward like a collapsing glacier.
He was about to move—then realized his right foot had gone numb and stiff.
Looking down, he saw a thin layer of frost had formed on his military boot at some point.
"Kuzan's incredible! Even after taking a major hit, he still managed to freeze Daren's foot!"
"At the very least, he can't dodge this move now!"
"His reflexes in battle are terrifying!"
The Marines gasped in awe, eyes locked on Daren.
At that moment, facing the immense ice bird, the Commodore's figure seemed impossibly small, as if he might be swallowed up by the snowstorm at any second.
They saw the corners of Daren's mouth curl into a smirk.
A coin appeared in his hand.
Just a simple coin, cold and metallic.
With a flick of his thumb, the coin spun into the air.
As it flipped, it reflected the cry of the ice bird, the shocked faces of the crowd, Kuzan's excitement... and the defiant smile on the Commodore's face.
Arcs of blue electricity crackled at his fingertips.
"Magnetic Overload: Railgun!"
In the distance, Zephyr's pupils shrank.
The world seemed to fall still for a heartbeat.
A colossal orange-red beam, wrapped in crackling electricity, exploded upward from the training ground.
The intense, blinding light cast the entire world into a momentary night.
Amidst the crowd's stunned expressions,
the roaring magnetic beam tore through the giant ice bird without resistance, melting it to slush as it raced toward Kuzan at blinding speed.
Shouts of alarm rang out.
Kuzan stood frozen, staring wide-eyed as the devastating Railgun surged toward him, the light engulfing everything in his vision.
The beam swallowed his silhouette. A violent shockwave exploded outward, and searing heat turned into a wild, roaring blast that scorched the battlefield.
Kuzan's eyes widened.
Within the engulfing light, a towering figure suddenly appeared before him.
Purple hair whipped in the wind. A snow-white cloak billowed behind him, the word "Justice" boldly emblazoned across it.
He stood like a dragon in mid-flight.
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