The exchange had lasted only an instant, yet the entire area was plunged into silence.
The surrounding Marines swallowed hard, staring in shock. The sheer force produced when those two fists collided was enough to send a chill down everyone's spine.
What made it even more unbelievable was Kojin. He hadn't made any elaborate preparations or built up momentum; he'd simply thrown a punch, yet the power behind it was terrifying.
It barely seemed possible.
Eveya's expression turned serious as she stared at the smoking crater in the distance. She knew better than anyone how much effort Bullet had put in over the past twenty years. Other people might take time to rest or enjoy themselves between training sessions, but Bullet was different. His will was like iron, unyielding and relentless.
His life had been painfully simple: Train. Push his body to the limit. Then do it all over again the next day.
'Bang!'
Rocks and dirt exploded from the crater as a figure slowly rose through the smoke. Bullet's Marine uniform was torn in several places, exposing the heavily muscled body beneath. At over five meters tall, he looked even more imposing than Kojin.
"Heh… Looks like this fight won't be boring after all!"
Bullet slowly lowered his stance and dug both feet into the ground.
'Riiip!'
His combat boots burst apart under the pressure, his toes gripping the stone beneath him. Power flowed through his entire body down into his feet, sending cracks spreading across the hard ground.
The brutal display left the surrounding Marines staring in disbelief. Then the fabric around Bullet's arms and thighs began to tear as well as his muscles swelled dramatically. He was fully entering battle mode.
"What the hell has that monster done to his body?"
"How far did he take his physical training?!"
A newly arrived Marine officer stared at him in shock. It was obvious Bullet had forged his body into a single unified weapon. His strength flowed seamlessly through every part of him, right down to the smallest muscle. With a body like that, even his toes, fingers, nails, or practically a strand of hair, could become lethal in battle.
'Bang!'
The next second, Bullet launched himself forward like a cannonball. His thick legs hammered against the ground as he sprinted, each stride covering nearly ten meters and shattering the stone beneath his bare feet. A violent aura spread outward, quickly blanketing the sky above Marineford.
Bullet tore across the plaza like a streak of purple-red lightning.
Watching him approach, Kojin's eyes lit up as battle lust rose inside him.
"So you haven't stopped sharpening yourself all these years. Just feeling that aura is enough to get me excited."
Kojin raised his right hand and grabbed his collar.
'Riiip!'
With a casual pull, his high-quality Marine uniform tore apart like paper, revealing his upper body. The watching Marines immediately sucked in a breath.
Dense muscle covered Kojin's frame like slabs of granite. His thick neck and shoulders were packed with raw power, while eight sharply defined abs lined his torso.
But what truly shocked them was his back: the muscles there formed the outline of a demonic face that almost seemed to transform into the roaring mug of an old tiger whenever he shifted.
His waist was thick and powerful, like that of a massive bear. A true tiger's back and bear's waist.
"Just looking at that body is intimidating…"
"How the hell did he train himself like that?"
"He's practically pushed the human body to its absolute limit!"
The Marines' voices trembled. The physiques of the two men standing in the plaza were monstrous enough on their own.
Then Kojin moved. He slowly lowered his stance and leaned forward, his toes tensing.
'Boom!'
His boots burst apart as well. The next instant,
'Bang!'
The ground beneath him collapsed, leaving behind two deep footprints. A streak of lightning flashed before everyone's eyes as black and crimson Haki erupted across the sky, swallowing everything above the battlefield.
"What terrifying Conqueror's Haki!"
"Those two have practically pushed their Haki to the absolute limit!"
"Bullet was already a member of Pirate King Roger's crew back in that era. They said he could fight Dark King Rayleigh to a draw!"
"After joining Admiral Kojin, he became much more low-key, but there's no question he's spent all these years trying to get stronger!"
"And Admiral Kojin is a living legend. Ever since he first made a name for himself, he's basically never lost!"
An older Vice Admiral took a deep breath, his voice shaking.
More and more Marines were arriving from every direction after sensing the sudden clash. Now all eyes were fixed on the two men.
In an instant, Kojin and Bullet closed the distance.
"ROAAAR!" Bullet growled. His enormous arm swung forward, veins bulging across it like thick cords as purple, blue, and black energy wrapped around his entire body.
"Hahahahaha!" Kojin laughed just as loudly, clenching his fist and driving it forward.
'BOOM!'
Their fists smashed together. Black lightning exploded outward, and violent winds tore across the plaza as circular shockwaves spread in every direction.
Their eyes locked, electricity crackling in the air between them. Then both men grinned.
"AAAAAAAH!!" Bullet roared, surging even more power into his arm as he tried to overwhelm Kojin.
Kojin pushed back just as hard, every vein and tendon in his right arm visibly trembling under the strain.
Three seconds later,
'Bang!'
The ground beneath them shattered, collapsing into a massive crater.
Five seconds later, Bullet's face had turned bright red, and his arm was beginning to bend.
A terrifying force surged through Kojin's fist into Bullet's arm, making Bullet's eyes widen in shock. 'Impossible!' In a direct contest of strength, the power he had spent countless years tempering and training was actually losing.
That meant Kojin's body was physically stronger than his.
But how was that possible? There was already a clear difference in their builds, and they weren't even in the same weight class, yet when it came to raw power output, Bullet was being completely overwhelmed.
'Bang!'
Suddenly, the force coming from Kojin's fist surged again. The power hit like a bolt of thunder crashing down from the heavens, violent, overwhelming, and impossible to stop.
In an instant, Bullet's right arm bent backward. Then, right before his eyes, Kojin's fist slammed straight into his cheek.
Bullet instantly lost his balance and crashed to the ground, his head slamming into the stone with brutal force.
'Crack!'
The paved ground shattered, leaving Bullet's head embedded in the broken stone as dust and smoke rose around him.
"Haa…" Kojin slowly exhaled as he looked down at Bullet.
Bullet really had grown much stronger. Their short, straightforward exchange had relied entirely on raw physical strength combined with Armament Haki to settle the contest as quickly as possible. For fighters at their level, there was no need for anything more complicated; a clash of raw strength, Haki, and technique was more than enough to show who stood on top.
"Looks like…" Kojin straightened up. "I'm still the boss, Bullet."
Hearing that, Bullet's legs shifted as he slowly sat up. Still looking a little dazed, he shook his head hard a few times.
"You really are a monster, Kojin. Your physical strength actually got even more ridiculous. I've trained like hell all these years, and I'm still no match for you." Bullet sighed. Blood ran down his forehead and across his cheek, but he didn't seem bothered by the injury in the slightest.
Then he suddenly sprang back to his feet. "So! Where am I staying?"
Kojin looked him in the eyes and laughed. He raised his right hand and formed a fist, and Bullet did the same.
This time, however, they weren't fighting. Their fists bumped lightly and separated, nothing more than a greeting between two old comrades finally reunited after years apart.
"Come with me," Kojin smiled.
Under the stunned gazes of countless Marines, the group quickly left the plaza and disappeared from sight.
...
Inside the Fleet Admiral's office, Sengoku rested both hands on the windowsill, watching Kojin and the others leave below.
"Kojin… Bullet…" Zephyr sighed softly. "The younger generation has completely surpassed us."
Sengoku nodded in silence. The moment they had seen the physiques hidden beneath those torn uniforms, both men had understood immediately. Neither Sengoku nor Zephyr had ever trained their bodies to such an extreme. In their generation, only Garp had truly pushed his physical strength to its absolute limit in his youth.
But now…
Sengoku shook his head and sighed. "We really are getting old. From here on out, the future belongs to the young."
"Yeah," Zephyr sighed as well. "It was only a short spar, but it was enough to get a rough idea of Bullet's strength. All three forms of Haki have reached the absolute highest level. There's still a gap between him and Kojin, but he's a terrifying monster in his own right."
Sengoku slowly straightened up. "With those two taking part in this war… I feel a lot more confident. The Marines really are about to enter an unprecedented golden age."
A smile appeared on Zephyr's face as well.
The two men looked down at the plaza, where squad after squad of Marines arriving from the Inner Bay harbor were being organized in an orderly fashion. Both men felt a complicated surge of emotion.
Judging by nothing more than their discipline, presence, and overall quality, the elites brought in from the West Blue branch clearly possessed tremendous potential.
...
That afternoon, the personnel from the West Blue branch were assigned their quarters and settled in.
At the same time, the five Pacifistas stood silently in a row before Kojin.
"You're telling me these are their codenames?" Kojin asked with an amused expression.
"Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, and Saturn." Enel narrowed his eyes. "Or you can just call them Numbers One through Five."
As he spoke, Enel carefully studied the man standing before him.
According to Vegapunk… the source of his lightning powers had originally come from this man?
(End of Chapter)
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