Gradually—
From the shattered, collapsing deck came a thunderous rumble—
Boom!
The deck trembled.
Splintered.
Countless fragments and debris shot outward from beneath the wreckage.
Then,
A battered figure slowly pushed through—
It was Marine Lieutenant Commander Bogard.
Bruised and bloodied, he pressed both hands against the splintered boards, forcing himself out of the ruins despite the stabbing pain coursing through his body.
"Cough! Cough!"
A violent cough wracked his chest. Bogard's face was deathly pale, blood dribbling from the corner of his lips. With a bitter, defeated sigh, he shook his head, eyes filled with helplessness and shame.
He knew it.
He had lost.
And not just lost—
He'd been utterly crushed.
He hadn't even possessed the strength to fight back.
What made the defeat unbearable was that…
The one who had crushed him so completely—
Was a four-year-old child.
He would never have believed it—had he not lived it himself.
That one day, he, a proud Lieutenant Commander of the Marine Headquarters, would fall before a child not yet old enough for school.
He had trained under Vice Admiral Garp for years.
and his strength was solidly at the level of a full-fledged Commander.
Yet even so—
He lost.
Completely.
His Commander-level strength had been overpowered from start to finish.
Bogard could hardly imagine it.
Just what kind of monstrous power did that four-year-old, Kai, truly possess?
"With my current strength," he thought bitterly,
"I'm on par with the average Commander of Marine Headquarters."
"But even then…"
"I still lost."
"What does that mean?"
His pupils shrank, a chill running through him.
A Commander's strength, shattered in three punches!
Then…
At just four years old, what tier of power did Kai truly stand upon?
Gulp.
Bogard swallowed hard, momentarily forgetting the pain that wracked his body.
He was terrified.
The very thought flashing through his mind left him numb.
"Could it be…?"
"Don't tell me—!"
"At just four years old, Mr. Kai already possesses the combat power of a Commodore?"
"Heavens above…"
"That's impossible, isn't it?"
"A four-year-old with Commodore-level combat strength?!"
Bogard's eyes widened, filled with disbelief.
A Commodore—ranked above Commander in the Marine's hierarchy.
The naval ranks were numerous and rigidly ordered:
From Seaman Third Class, Seaman Second Class, Seaman First Class, Corporal, Sergeant, up to Chief Sergeant—
—the lowest rungs of the ladder.
Above them stood the commissioned officers:
Ensign, Lieutenant, Captain—
then Major, Lieutenant Commander, Commander.
And above Commander—
Commodore of Marine Headquarters.
A Commodore was already among the elite middle ranks of the Marine,
with the authority to command a warship on their own.
Their status was extremely high.
Of course, a Marine officer's rank didn't always perfectly reflect their actual power—
the most famous example being Vice Admiral Garp, whose strength was easily on par with—or even beyond—a full Admiral.
But in most cases, rank roughly matched combat ability.
Which made it all the more shocking—
That a four-year-old who defeated a Commander-level officer in three blows
might truly possess Commodore-level strength!
The thought left Bogard's mind blank.
"N–no way…?"
"T-this can't be…"
For a long time, he just stared ahead, dumbfounded.
Finally, he exhaled, forcing himself to calm the tremor in his chest.
He slumped sideways, letting his battered body fall against the deck.
Lying flat, he tried to steady his breathing.
Up close, his injuries were ghastly—
his entire body covered in bruises and cuts.
From his abdomen to his chest ran a jagged, blood-red wound; though superficial, the constant bleeding made it look all the more horrifying.
Several ribs were cracked.
His stomach was a knot of pain; one punch had nearly made him vomit blood.
He wasn't mortally wounded,
but he was only a hair's breadth away from it.
And all of that—
came from three punches.
If Kai hadn't pulled back at the last second…
Bogard knew he might have been crippled for life.
He gave a bitter smile.
"Mr. Kai… truly a terrifying monster."
Moments later, Garp arrived beside him.
Seeing Bogard's pitiful state, Garp couldn't help but laugh.
"How is it? Still alive?"
He'd known Bogard would lose—
but to be flattened in just three punches?
That, even he hadn't expected.
"Barely hanging on," Bogard muttered with a sigh.
"Doesn't feel great, does it? Losing like that—
and to a four-year-old brat, no less."
Hearing that, Garp burst out laughing.
"Vice Admiral Garp, please don't mock me," Bogard said helplessly. "I'm an injured man here."
Garp just grinned and had men carry him off to the infirmary.
As Bogard was taken away,
the battle finally came to an end.
But the shock in the hearts of the hundreds of sailors who had witnessed it—
refused to fade.
Even after Bogard was gone,
they couldn't forget what they had seen.
The sight of him being blown apart by three punches from Kai…
was burned into their minds forever.
"Alright, everyone—disperse!"
Garp waved a hand, trying to clear the crowd.
But one young sailor hesitated.
"Vice Admiral Garp, sir… do you think Mr. Kai already has top-Commander-level strength?"
His question made every head turn.
"Commander-level… at four years old?"
"Is that even possible?"
"He's breaking every record there is!"
A wave of murmurs swept through the gathered Marine s.
Garp chuckled softly.
"Commander-level? You're underestimating him."
He glanced toward Kai, who stood not far away,
then turned back with a knowing smile.
"Think about it."
"Bogard's power was already at Commander level—
and Kai demolished him with three punches—
without even taking a single scratch himself."
He paused.
"So tell me—
does that sound like the strength of a mere Commander?"
"No."
"More precisely…"
"It's Commodore-level combat power."
"Only that level truly fits the strength this boy possesses."
The words dropped like thunder.
For a heartbeat—
the deck fell silent.
Then—
pandemonium.
"Wh-what did he just say?!"
"Vice Admiral Garp said… Commodore-level?!"
"He's only four!"
"This can't be real!"
"A four-year-old Commodore?! That's insane!"
The Marine s' minds went blank.
They had thought Kai might be at Commander level.
That alone had been enough to shock them to the core.
But now—
even that was too low.
A four-year-old Commodore?!
It shattered everything they thought they knew about human limits.
"I-if I recall correctly," one sailor stammered,
"the youngest Commodore in Marine history was nearly twenty!"
"Even with the greatest talent imaginable, it takes over ten years of brutal training to reach that level!"
"And today…"
"Mr. Kai has completely rewritten history!"
"A four-year-old Commodore!"
"Unprecedented! Unheard of!"
"He's not human—he's a monster wearing a human face!"
All around, sailors were losing their composure, their voices filled with awe and fear.
A Commodore's strength was something most of them could only dream of achieving—
a goal they might never touch, no matter how long they lived.
Yet before their very eyes—
a four-year-old had already surpassed it.
What kind of concept was that?
If he had Commodore-level power at four…
then in time,
how terrifying could he become?
Above Commodore came Rear Admiral,
then Vice Admiral,
and finally—
the three great Admirals of Marine Headquarters!
A Commodore was already halfway there.
"Mr. Kai…"
"He has the potential to become an Admiral!"
"He's a born prodigy—no, a once-in-a-millennium monster!!"
"I swear, unless fate strikes him down, Mr. Kai will definitely become one of Marine Headquarters' Admirals in the future!"
"If even he can't reach that rank, then no one in the entire Marine ever will!"
The Marine s were trembling with excitement.
Their hearts burned with awe.
That day—
on that warship—
Kai redefined what it meant to be a genius.
What was genius?
What was monstrous talent?
This.
This was it.
Even Garp himself couldn't help but sigh.
"A four-year-old with Commodore-level combat power…"
"Even in my entire life, I've never seen anything like it."
"Once again, this kid has shattered everything I thought I knew."
He looked at Kai, eyes filled with both wonder and respect.
"What a monster."
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