At 3 PM, outside the Marineford Navy School.
Gern stood at the entrance of the training ground, stunned by the sight before him. Outside Training Ground One, people were packed shoulder to shoulder.
The area outside was filled with Marines, from ordinary soldiers to commissioned officers, and even a few Vice Admirals stood watching from a distance.
In the front row, he recognized several familiar faces.
Momonga, Onigumo, Doberman... these future Marine Vice Admirals were still students at this moment.
“Gern! Go for it! Show them the same intensity you had when fighting Whitebeard!”
“You must use your full power!!” Garp’s loud voice was particularly conspicuous.
“I didn’t expect there to be so many people,” Gern muttered softly.
“What? Scared?” Zephyr’s voice came from behind him.
Gern turned and saw Zephyr had already changed into his training uniform, his short purple hair particularly striking in the sunlight.
“I just didn’t expect Vice Admiral Zephyr to be so popular,” Gern chuckled dryly.
“Hmph,” Zephyr snorted, “They aren’t here to see me.”
With that, he strode towards the center of the training ground, “Come on, let me see your current strength.”
As the two entered the arena, cheers erupted instantly from outside.
Gern took a deep breath, unfastened the Eight Desolations from his back, handed it to the guard by the side of the field, and then slowly walked into the training ground, taking up a position opposite Zephyr.
On the vast training ground, the sunlight shone directly on the sand, reflecting a dazzling light.
Standing in the arena, Gern could clearly feel countless gazes focused on him, with a few particularly intense.
Kuzan leaned against a distant tree, seemingly nonchalant but with sharp eyes.
Dragoon stood at the edge of the crowd, his expression unreadable.
And in the window of the Navy School, a few familiar little heads were faintly visible…
“Don’t get distracted,” Zephyr’s voice pulled Gern back to reality.
“Today, you don’t need to worry about me, or even hold back.
You can fully display your Devil Fruit ability, after all, I’m also curious… about a Nature Type Tremor-Tremor Fruit.”
“Since that’s the case…” Hearing Zephyr’s words, Gern nodded, his left hand slightly open upwards.
“Is it alright if I call you Teacher Zephyr?”
As he spoke, in an instant, vibration particles condensed, like a white energy mass floating in his palm, and the surrounding air trembled.
“You should have called me that a long time ago, you idiotic disciple.” Zephyr remained motionless, only slowly raising his right fist, and dark Armament Haki covered his entire arm as if it were solid.
“Remember, Gern,” Zephyr’s voice, amplified by Haki, spread throughout the entire field.
“Haki! It originates from spirit, will, and mental strength.
You must experience it to perceive your own potential!!
You’ve already experienced peak Haoshoku from Whitebeard.
Now I will let you witness the peak of Armament Haki and the application of Observation Haki.” Before his words even finished, Zephyr had already vanished from his spot.
“So fast!” Gern’s pupils contracted sharply, and he instinctively dodged to the left, but it was too late.
A simple, unadorned straight punch directly struck his abdomen.
“Bang!” Amidst the sound of air exploding, Gern’s body flew backward like a cannonball, crashing heavily against the training ground’s perimeter wall.
The entire wall instantly cracked, and debris flew everywhere.
Outside the arena, there was complete silence.
Gern slid down from the dent in the wall, kneeling on one knee, a trace of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, then he looked up at Zephyr in shock.
This punch not only hit his physical body but also directly dispersed his elementalization state!
“Is this… top-tier Armament Haki?” Gern wiped the blood from his mouth and slowly stood up.
“It’s completely different from a half-baked guy like Logot!”
“Do you understand now…” Zephyr stood in place, maintaining his punching posture.
“In the New World, there are countless ability users who can harm Nature Types.
Without Haki, you’re nothing but a paper tiger.”
“Moreover…” Zephyr’s mouth suddenly curved upwards, and he shouted,
“At this level, it’s hard for me to imagine how you could have dealt with Whitebeard back then! Gern!!”
“Heh heh.” Facing Zephyr’s roar, Gern smiled, this time a genuine smile from the heart.
He merely stretched his shoulders, and at the same time, the tremors in the air noticeably intensified.
“Since that’s the case…” Eight white vibrating particle spheres suddenly condensed around Gern.
“You better be ready, Teacher Zephyr!!!”
“Heaven Quake: Eight Extremities Orb!” The eight vibrating particle spheres shot out and exploded violently in front of Zephyr.
The space-distorting quake blast wave spread like ripples, and the ground instantly collapsed into spiderweb-like cracks.
However, Zephyr crossed his arms, his dark Armament Haki like an indestructible armor, actually tearing through the quake blast wave!
“Boom!” Airwaves surged, sand and dust rose, and the Marines outside the arena retreated in unison.
“As expected of Vice Admiral Zephyr, to be able to directly block even such terrifying vibrations!”
“Quake Flash: Slide Rail!” Gern’s eyes narrowed, and his figure suddenly blurred.
The air particles beneath his feet instantly compressed into high-density rails, and his figure shot out in a straight line like a bullet, approaching the speed of sound!
And almost at the same time, a white vortex condensed on his left foot, poised to strike.
“Next, let’s begin… executing ‘Tremor’s’ meaning!”
“A good choice. But…” Zephyr coldly shouted, his Observation Haki having already predicted the trajectory.
“A linear surprise side kick like that is just like Borsalino, too naive!”
As he spoke, the moment Zephyr sidestepped to dodge, his left fist, imbued with Armament Haki, delivered an uppercut directly at Gern’s jaw!
“Bang!” The fist passed through the afterimage.
Gern had actually activated Quake Flash at the last moment, elementalizing in advance to evade and then repositioning behind Zephyr!
“I’m not an idiot either, Teacher Zephyr!!” Gern’s fists vibrated at high frequency, continuously striking Zephyr’s back.
“Heaven Quake: Star Shattering Fist!” In an instant, the air cracked with fine lines like glass, each strike powerful enough to shatter steel!
“You’ve only been developing it for a year, I didn’t expect you to play with it so well!” Zephyr didn’t even turn his head, striking back with an elbow, Armament Haki and tremor energy colliding violently.
“Crack! Boom!!!” The moment the two forces collided, a spherical shockwave exploded, and the training ground floor instantly collapsed!
Onigumo, who was observing the battle, was forced to draw his sword and thrust it into the ground to steady himself, while Momonga’s eyes widened: “Even the terrain!”
“Still got something there!” In the dust, Zephyr took half a step back, directly reaching out to tear off his shattered sleeve, then his gaze turned towards the sky.
Gern, who had been sent flying above the training ground by the recoil, swung both hands fiercely as he flipped in mid-air, “Heaven Quake: Thousand Light Rings!”
Hundreds of tiny white light rings poured down like a torrential rain. Zephyr’s arms trembled, and Armament Haki covered his entire body, actually taking the hits with his bare flesh!
The moment the light rings impacted, high-frequency tremor waves raged wildly, the ground shattered layer by layer, but Zephyr stood firm like a reef, only deep pits forming beneath his feet!
“Since that’s the case!” Gern continuously air-hopped to a high altitude, spreading his arms wide, and in an instant, countless vibrating particles intensely condensed throughout the entire sky.
“Heaven Quake: Quake Star Rain!” Countless basketball-sized compressed quake spheres fell like meteors, covering the entire battlefield!
“Fall back, quickly!!” Garp warned sharply, and the surrounding Marines retreated in a hurry.
The next instant, “Boom, boom, boom, boom!!!”
The continuous quake explosions transformed the training ground into a boiling furnace. Shockwaves mixed with deafening noise raged, and the glass of the distant school buildings all shattered!
“Frozen capsule!” Kuzan raised his hand and froze all the debris flying around him.
“Does this kind of Devil Fruit ability really exist…” Dragoon, meanwhile, watched in shock as the entire training ground continuously shattered due to the tremors, his lips slightly parted as he softly exclaimed,
“This is much more terrifying than Whitebeard’s Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
It’s simply… a ‘natural disaster’ that can destroy the world at will without any side effects!”