Chapter 18: Garp's "Loving Fists" – Dragon Constitution and Marine Hell Training
Garp suddenly burst into roaring laughter, the sound shaking leaves from the trees. "Good! Very good! Looks like I can finally cut loose today!" His fist instantly coated in black Armament Haki.
"Wait—old geezer! People will die!" Sol's face changed the moment he stopped attacking.
"Shut up! Let me see your limit!"
BOOM!
The punch landed. The ground within ten meters sank three inches. Sol was embedded in the bedrock—yet still conscious. Garp's grin widened with excitement. "This physique… it's almost on par with that monster Charlotte Linlin!"
From afar, three small heads poked out of the bushes.
"Is Sol… a monster?" Ace stared in disbelief.
"He lasted so long against Grandpa's fists…" Luffy's eyes sparkled.
Sabo rubbed his swollen cheek. "Should we… go save him?"
At that moment, Garp turned his head, flashing a demonic smile. "Almost forgot about you three. Come on—group special training!"
"Nooooo!!!"
Piercing screams scattered every bird in the forest. That night became an unforgettable nightmare for the four boys.
For the next two months, Garp entered an indefinite "vacation mode." Every day before dawn, he dragged the four kids from their beds into hellish training.
"1,000 push-ups! 20-kilometer run! Then bare-handed bear wrestling!" Garp's roars became the forest's daily soundtrack.
But soon, Ace, Luffy, and Sabo discovered a "good thing"—Garp's attention was almost entirely on Sol.
Bang!
Boom!
Crack!
Every day, Sol endured Garp's storm of "loving fists." Shockingly, this seemingly ordinary kid not only withstood Garp's Armament Haki punches—he occasionally countered with flames and gale-force winds!
"Fire Dragon's Roar!"
Sol unleashed a massive dragon breath toward Garp—only for Garp to punch it out with a single gale-force strike.
Sol inhaled the scattered fist wind, replenishing stamina and magic, then attacked again.
"Hahahaha! Good kid!" Garp grew more excited, eyes gleaming. "This physique! This potential! Wasting it not becoming a Marine would be a crime!"
"Gum-Gum—!" Luffy stretched his arm to help—only to get hammered into the ground. Ace and Sabo rushed forward, only to collide with black fists. The three stacked like a human pyramid in a crater.
Finally, on the last day of training, Garp made a major decision. Sensing danger, Sol tried to slip away—but Garp's fist enlarged in his vision. Bam! A heavyweight "loving iron fist" knocked Sol unconscious.
"Sorry, kid," Garp grinned, slinging the fainted Sol over his shoulder. "For justice, I can't let talent like you slip away."
He waved at the other three stunned boys. "You lot—keep training hard! I'll make you proper Marines someday. But first, I'm taking the real prodigy to Headquarters!"
As Garp and Sol disappeared into the distance, Luffy, Ace, and Sabo stared in silence—then dramatically waved goodbye:
"Sol—we'll miss you—!"
"Become an excellent Marine—!"
"Waaah, what'll we do without you—!"
The moment Garp's warship vanished over the horizon…
"YEAH!!!"
The three instantly changed expressions, high-fiving and cheering:
"Freedom at last!!!"
"With Sol becoming a Marine, the old man has no excuse to stop us from being pirates anymore!"
"Party to celebrate!!!"
…
Marine Headquarters, Fleet Admiral's office.
Sengoku looked at the unconscious boy Garp had dumped on the floor and pushed up his glasses. "This is the 'seedling scarier than Linlin' you were talking about?"
Garp picked his nose. "Yeah. Hurry up and process his enlistment."
Sol groggily woke, saw Garp and Sengoku, and exploded. "Damn old geezer! Is this still Foosha Village?! Where the hell did you drag me?!"
In the end, Sengoku refused Garp's special enlistment request. He sighed helplessly:
"Garp, the Marines aren't human traffickers or a criminal organization! This kid isn't even an adult—how can we enlist him directly?"
Garp dug deeper into his nose. "What's the big deal? Train him first, make it official when he's grown."
Sengoku: "…At least assign him a legal guardian!"
"I'm his guardian! He's my grandsons' sworn brother—so he's my grandson!" Garp declared proudly.
Sengoku: "…" (thinking: Does this guy even understand the word "legal"? This is clearly forced!)
Though formal enlistment was denied, Sol's presence quickly spread through Marine Headquarters.
"Heard about it? Vice Admiral Garp's got a cherry-haired kid with him now!"
"They say he breathes fire from his mouth—but he's not a Devil Fruit user!"
"Seriously? That's insane!"
"Rumor is he's Garp's grandson… though the hair color doesn't match."
"Maybe he took after his mother?"
Marine officers cast curious glances; some even visited the training grounds to watch.
Kizaru lounged with legs crossed, smiling lazily. "Ooooh Terrifying So young and already sparring with Garp-san~"
Aokiji yawned lazily. "Ahhh… another poor soul caught in Garp's sights."
Akainu snorted coldly. "Hmph. Too young—can't see his value yet."
Sol's hellish days had begun.
Since he wasn't enlistment age, he couldn't join the recruit camp. Garp simply kept him close for personal "tutoring."
Those days were pure torment—daily bare-handed smashing of scrapped warship hulls to forge fist strength, frequent deployments to hunt vicious pirates, and surviving Garp's iron fists.
Under Garp's near-brutal regimen, Sol displayed terrifying talent.
In less than two years, he mastered the Six Powers (Rokushiki) completely, wielded both Observation and Armament Haki proficiently, and even awakened Conqueror's Haki. His growth rate stunned Headquarters officers—even Zephyr occasionally pulled him into recruit classes to "educate" the slackers.
Thankfully, Zeref had added something special when reviving him. If Natsu was Zeref's ultimate demon "E.N.D.," then Sol was crafted with a special physique modeled after Fire Dragon King Igneel. This dragon-infused life force was the key to surviving Garp's hellish training.
At first, many Headquarters recruits envied Sol for receiving personal guidance from "Marine Hero" Garp. But after witnessing the training content, they quickly retracted that thought—it wasn't teaching; it was torture.
A boy not even ten years old was forced daily to shatter steel bare-handed, fight deadly pirates to the death, and get punched hundreds of meters—then immediately get back up and continue. Over time, the looks of envy turned to pity.
Yet Sol himself never complained. He could clearly feel his body growing stronger, his Dragon Slayer Magic improving, and his dual-color Haki becoming second nature (though Conqueror's was still hard to control).
He began thinking: Maybe becoming a Marine wasn't so bad—at least it came with free meals and lodging.
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