Sengoku was seen standing not far away, looking at him with a dumbfounded expression, blinking constantly as if confirming whether the person before him was really his grandson.
Standing next to him was Zephyr.
"Old man? How did you get here?!"
A trace of confusion appeared on Kyle's face.
Sengoku did not answer, still staring at Kyle incredulously. The next moment, his figure flashed, disappearing from his spot in an instant and appearing beside Kyle.
His arm reached out to grab Kyle.
The sudden movement made Kyle instinctively want to transform into lightning and flee.
But before he could make any move, Sengoku grabbed him by the collar at the back of his neck and lifted him up.
He held Kyle up to his own eye level.
The two stared at each other, wide eyed.
After a long while, Sengoku suddenly spoke.
"When did you eat a Devil Fruit, kid?"
Kyle did not hesitate and spoke with the excuse he had already prepared.
"This morning, a purple pineapple inexplicably fell from the sky. It looked very tempting, so I picked it up and ate it. The taste was like eating shit!"
As he spoke, to make it more vivid, Kyle even made a disgusted expression.
Hearing this, Sengoku became even more astonished.
"You've eaten shit? Otherwise, how would you know it tastes like that?"
"Kyle. Your grandpa is, after all, a Navy Fleet Admiral. I wouldn't let you sink to the point of having to eat shit, right?"
"Or is this... your special preference?"
(*￣︶￣)
Alright, alright. So this old guy wants to play it like this?
A faint smile appeared at the corner of Kyle's mouth as he responded.
"No. Last time I saw you secretly eating shit, you said the taste of a Devil Fruit was exactly like this."
"You were smacking your lips and savoring it at the time."
"Afterwards, you specifically had someone hypnotize you to forget this memory of eating shit, so it's normal that you don't remember now."
(⊙o⊙)…
In an instant, Sengoku felt a disgusted gaze directed at him. Looking back, he saw Zephyr looking at him with an extremely peculiar gaze.
Although he said nothing, Sengoku had already understood his meaning.
"No, I have not eaten it, and I have not forgotten."
Sengoku was a bit flustered and exasperated.
"Mhmm. You didn't forget."
Kyle chimed in from the side.
"I really didn't eat it."
"Mhmm, you didn't eat it."
...
"I'll say it one last time. I have never eaten shit, and I have not forgotten that I ate shit."
Sengoku's face turned red and his neck thick, his tone becoming incoherent.
Kyle, who was being held up, suddenly brightened his eyes, as if pleasantly surprised, and spoke.
"Ah. Grandpa, you finally remembered that you ate shit?"
"That's good. I don't have to keep hiding it for you anymore."
...
(╬▔皿▔)╯
Sengoku directly went red with anger, his eyes shooting fire, staring fixedly at Kyle.
!!!
Kyle's eyes sharpened. A drop of cold sweat involuntarily slid down his forehead.
Crap.
It seems... he went a bit too far.
"Kyle."
Sengoku roared, and then a fist the size of a sandbag came smashing towards Kyle.
Bam bam bam bam.
A series of dull thuds sounded, accompanied by Kyle's intermittent screams.
Who knows how long it passed.
Kyle sat on the ground, holding his head. The pain coming from it made Kyle grimace.
Damn it.
This old bastard, bullying him because he's young and weak, right?
What Kyle didn't see was that Sengoku's gaze was slightly dazed at this moment, filled with confusion and a trace of disbelief.
The feeling was different.
He had certainly beaten up Kyle this brat plenty of times, so he had always had some understanding of Kyle's physique.
When he beat him up a week ago, his physique was still weak trash.
How could it improve so much in just one week?
When the first blow landed on Kyle just now, he felt like he was hitting a piece of iron.
Completely incomparable to before.
He even had to use Armament Haki to let Kyle enjoy his grandfather's 'care'.
But he was now certain that the brat in front of him was indeed his grandson.
He didn't believe a single word of the nonsense his grandson said. Didn't he know what his own grandson was like?
But he had no intention of asking further.
Everyone has their own secrets. He just needed to make sure Kyle was okay.
At this moment, Sengoku suddenly noticed a small figure lying not far away. After looking for a while, he spoke uncertainly.
"That little kid over there is... Garp's grandson?"
"Right."
Kyle nodded.
"I accidentally released a certain ability just now and knocked him out."
"Released? Knocked out?"
A momentary confusion appeared on Sengoku's face, then as if he thought of something, he stared intently at Kyle.
"Can you release that ability again?"
"Yes."
Kyle nodded.
Focusing his gaze, Conqueror's Haki surged out from him like a runaway wild horse, sweeping towards the surroundings.
!!!
The Navy cloaks of Sengoku and Zephyr rustled loudly, but the two paid no attention to such details. Their pupils held nothing but shock and amazement.
"Con... Conqueror's?!"
Sengoku exclaimed shrilly.
Even though he was the Navy Fleet Admiral and had seen countless storms and waves, he was genuinely shocked now.
Zephyr's expression on the other side was not much better, his mouth hanging wide open.
At this moment, Zephyr's previous thought became even stronger.
No matter what, he had to recruit this kid into the elite training camp.
Only he was worthy of teaching such a genius. Could anyone else teach him properly?
"How did you awaken Conqueror's Haki?!"
Sengoku grabbed Kyle's shoulders with both hands and asked loudly.
Kyle pretended to look ignorant.
"Conqueror's Haki? So this ability is called Conqueror's Haki?"
Kyle had never been exposed to knowledge about Haki before, at least in Sengoku's view.
So he couldn't act like he knew everything, otherwise he'd have to keep making up stories later.
"I don't know what happened either. I just awakened it inexplicably. Isn't this quite easy?"
Quite easy?!!
To be honest, it was hard for Sengoku to associate that term with Conqueror's Haki.
If Conqueror's Haki were that easy to awaken, it wouldn't be called the quality of a king, and only a very few people in the world could awaken it.
First, Conqueror's Haki values aptitude. People without this aptitude, even if very strong, could never awaken Conqueror's Haki in their lifetime.
Thinking of this, Sengoku couldn't help but glance at Zephyr standing to the side.
Zephyr: ???
Feeling Sengoku's gaze, even though he said nothing, Zephyr inexplicably felt rather annoyed inside, with an urge to hit him.
Turning back, looking at the small Kyle in front of him, Sengoku couldn't help but recall the circumstances when he himself awakened Conqueror's Haki.
He remembered it was a dark and windy night...
"Hey. Old man, stop reminiscing. Don't take up story time. Don't you know how things work?"
Sengoku: ???
...