Domon opened his mouth, but the doubt at the tip of his tongue was forcibly swallowed back down.
After so many years in the Marines, even if he was not especially outstanding, his ability to read people and situations was second to none.
The aura coming from Garp at that moment made him understand instantly that this Vice Admiral was completely serious.
There was anticipation in those eyes, and admiration too, wrapped together with a protective bias so obvious it left no room for doubt.
"An Admiral candidate? That boring kind of position where you sit in an office stamping papers all day? I can't believe you'd even think of that."
Smoker spat out the half-chewed cigar in his mouth, pulled out two fresh ones, and lit them.
Through the curling smoke, his face looked dark enough to wring water from.
"Besides, Treasure was my prey to begin with. That brat snatched my work without a word, then turned around and walked off to enjoy the spoils? What does he think the Marine rules in Loguetown are?"
"Oh? And what exactly are you planning to do about it?" Garp glanced sideways at him, his eyes full of mockery.
"Go after him." Smoker did not hesitate for even a second.
A cold light flashed through his usually half-lidded eyes.
"Whether he's the brat you're backing or some future Admiral candidate, out here in East Blue, the only justice that matters is the one I recognize. If he's nothing but a beast with brute strength, then it's my job to put a collar on him."
Cold sweat instantly drenched Domon's back.
Just as he was about to try to stop him, Smoker suddenly turned his head and fixed him with a stare.
"Where did you say he went? What village?"
"C-Cocoyashi Village," Domon stammered. "That's what his purple-haired female companion said."
"Cocoyashi?" Smoker frowned, then gave a cold sneer.
"Good. Looks like that brat plans to stir up trouble all the way there. Oran! Prepare the ship! Since he wants to play hero, I'll go see whether he can still swing that rotten piece of wood once he's standing in front of a Logia."
Watching Smoker dissolve into a plume of white smoke and rush toward his flagship, Garp made no move to stop him.
He pulled a pack of senbei from his pocket and began crunching on them while staring at the simple little boat gradually disappearing across the sea.
The smile on his face slowly faded, replaced by an expression full of anticipation.
"Go on then, Smokey. A Logia really is a ticket to becoming a monster, but that kid..." Garp brushed the crumbs from his hands and muttered to himself, "he's the kind of monster that tears common sense apart without needing Haki at all."
...
Three days later, on the wide open sea.
The midday sun scorched the deck mercilessly, and the air was thick with the salty stink of seawater and the heavy smell of sweat.
The small boat they had seized from pirates was not large to begin with, and now it rocked steadily with the waves.
"Nine hundred ninety-eight... nine hundred ninety-nine... one thousand!"
With a suppressed roar, something thudded heavily against the deck.
Zaraki leaned lazily against the mast, tossing a freshly washed green apple up and down in one hand without even lifting his eyelids.
In the corner of his vision below, Zoro was shirtless, balanced in a one-handed handstand on the scorching planks, while his other hand held up two massive iron anchors tied together with rope.
Sweat ran down the green-haired boy's muscular body in streams, gathering into a puddle beneath him.
Ever since seeing Zaraki split the pier apart with a single slash that day, this idiot who was dead set on becoming the world's greatest swordsman seemed to have been pumped full of something stronger than adrenaline.
Other than eating and sleeping, he had spent the last three days pushing himself to the edge of collapse again and again, almost like a masochist tormenting his own body.
"Hey, Moss-head." Zaraki bit into the apple and spoke around a mouthful of fruit. "I don't know anything about the secrets of swordsmanship training, but if you punch a hole through the deck, we'll have to swim all the way to Cocoyashi Village."
"Shut up!" Zoro panted heavily, switched hands, and kept going, the veins on his neck bulging thickly.
"Back then... you weren't even using your full strength in that slash, were you? That kind of raw power... if I had that kind of body, my Three-Sword Style would definitely be stronger!"
Zaraki only kept chewing his apple and did not bother answering.
The Kenpachi Zaraki Template was absurdly strong to begin with.
That kind of shackle that unlocked itself through battle and slaughter was never something a person could catch up to through ordinary hard training.
Still, he did not dislike watching Zoro push himself right up to death's door.
In a world full of monsters, weakness itself was the original sin.
If someone wanted to follow him, then at the very least they needed this kind of resolve.
"Zaraki-san..."
A timid voice came from the cabin door.
Carina stood there clutching a sea chart tightly in both hands, her purple short hair a little messy from the sea breeze.
Unease filled her beautiful eyes.
"At this wind speed, we'll be able to see the coast of Cocoyashi Village in half a day. But..."
She bit her lip, and her fingers turned pale around the chart.
"About Nami... the Arlong Pirates really are terrifying. They're not even human—they're fish-men. If we charge in like this, isn't it a little too..."
She wanted to say 'too reckless,' but the words stuck in her throat the moment she remembered the casual way Zaraki had split Treasure in half with a single slash.
Even so, Arlong had ruled over more than twenty villages for eight whole years.
Even Captain Nezumi from the local Marine branch had to bow and scrape in front of him.
"So you're wondering whether I'd risk my life fighting a bunch of fish-faced freaks just to save that little thief cat?"
Zaraki flicked the leftover apple core into the sea without even looking, the pit striking down a flying fish that had just leapt from the water.
Then he stood up and stretched lazily, his joints cracking one after another.
The aura around him soothed Carina's flustered heart almost at once.
"Relax." Zaraki walked to the bow and looked toward the distant line where sea and sky touched, a wild smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
"I'm not interested in playing savior. But since that little thief cat boarded my ship, she's mine now. In East Blue, I'm the one who decides who gets pushed around. A bunch of fish-men don't get to make rules for my people."
Carina froze for a moment after hearing that, then her eyes reddened slightly and she nodded hard.
"Alright, half a day left, right?"
Zaraki turned around and waved a hand without looking back. "I'm going to sleep in the cabin. Wake me when we get there. Until then, don't let anyone bother me, even if the heavens themselves come knocking."
The moment he stepped back into the narrow cabin, all the laziness vanished from Zaraki's face.
He sat cross-legged on the bed, and with a single thought, the pale blue System interface that only he could see unfolded across his vision.
Besides the pitiful 13% Template unlock progress, the System Shop—which had only recently opened—still held one free Advanced Shop refresh.
He had been saving it until now.
Given this lousy System's usual habits, the Shop normally refreshed with useless garbage like [Custom Eye Patch] or [Yachiru Kusajishi's Candy].
If he wanted anything genuinely good, then apart from sheer luck, the only real chance came from special refresh opportunities like this one.
"Right now, my strength's already more than enough to crush the East Blue, but there's Arlong, who's supposed to have ties to Jinbei..."
Zaraki rubbed his hands together, and a gambler's excitement flashed through his eyes.
"System, refresh. Let me see if I can draw that sword this time."
The moment his thought was confirmed, the product list on the interface began scrolling wildly, countless blurred icons turning into streaks of light.
A few seconds later, the motion stopped all at once.
Out of the usual ten product slots, only two icons were left glowing faintly.
Zaraki glanced over them casually at first, but his whole body froze as though lightning had struck him, and his expression went rigid in an instant.
His breathing stopped for a beat, and then his heart began pounding uncontrollably.
The tremor rising out of the depths of his soul was a hundred times more violent than when he had first unlocked the Kenpachi Zaraki Template.
"Hey... hey, you've got to be kidding me."
Zaraki stared fixedly at the two icons glowing with a strange purple light, his throat dry, his voice even cracking a little.
There was only one reason for him to lose composure like this.
The items that had appeared were simply too absurd.
---------
Read 30 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator