At precisely three in the afternoon, outside the Marineford Naval Academy—
Gern Reginald Sigmar froze the moment he arrived at the entrance of the training grounds.
Before him, the scene was nothing short of overwhelming.
Training Field No. 1 was completely surrounded. Marines packed the area shoulder to shoulder—from ordinary enlisted soldiers to commissioned officers. Even several high-ranking figures stood watching from a distance.
And among the front rows, Gern immediately recognized a few familiar faces.
Onigumo. Doberman. Momonga.
Men who would one day become Vice Admirals—yet here they stood now, still bearing the youthful air of trainees.
"Gern! You've got this! Show him what you did to Whitebeard!"
Garp's booming voice rang out above the crowd like thunder.
"Give it everything you've got!"
Gern exhaled softly."So… it's already this bad."
"How? Nervous?" Zephyr's voice came from behind him.
Turning around, Gern saw Zephyr dressed in training gear, his short purple hair gleaming beneath the sunlight.
"Just didn't expect you to be this popular, Vice Admiral," Gern replied dryly.
"Hmph." Zephyr snorted. "They're not here for me."
With that, he strode confidently toward the center of the training ground.
"Come on. Let me see how strong you really are now."
The moment the two stepped forward, the crowd erupted.
Gern took a slow breath, unfastened the black blade Ba Huang, and handed it to a nearby Marine before stepping onto the field opposite Zephyr.
Sunlight beat down upon the vast training grounds, reflecting sharply off the pale sand. Gern could feel countless gazes boring into his back—some curious, some excited, some sharp with expectation.
From afar, Kuzan leaned casually against a tree, eyes relaxed yet razor-sharp.
At the edge of the crowd stood Dragon, his expression unreadable.
And up in the academy windows, several familiar faces peeked out cautiously.
"Focus," Zephyr's voice cut through the noise.
"Today, you don't need to hold back. You don't need to worry about hurting me."
He paused, eyes narrowing slightly.
"You can even use your Devil Fruit freely. I want to see it—the power of a Logia… of the Quake."
Gern nodded slowly, lifting his left hand.
"In that case…"He smiled faintly."I'll call you 'Instructor Zephyr.' That okay?"
The air trembled.
White vibrational particles condensed above his palm, shimmering like condensed light as the atmosphere began to quake.
"You should've been calling me that already, you foolish brat."
Zephyr didn't move. Instead, he raised his right fist as jet-black Armament Haki surged over it like molten steel.
"Remember this, Gern."
His voice boomed across the field, infused with Haki.
"Haki is born from will—your resolve, your spirit, your soul itself!"
"You've already witnessed the pinnacle of Conqueror's Haki from Whitebeard."
"Now—let me show you the true peak of Armament and Observation!"
Before the final word left his mouth—
He vanished.
"So fast—!"
Gern's pupils shrank as instinct forced him to dodge left—
Too late.
A simple, unadorned punch smashed into his abdomen.
BOOM!
The air detonated. Gern's body flew backward like a cannonball, slamming violently into the training ground wall. The stone cracked apart, debris exploding outward.
Silence fell over the field.
Gern slid down the fractured wall, one knee hitting the ground. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as his eyes widened in shock.
That punch hadn't just hit his body—it had shattered his elemental form.
"So this is… top-tier Armament Haki…" he muttered, wiping the blood away as he stood.
"Completely different from that half-baked stuff…"
Zephyr stood unmoving, fist still extended.
"Now you understand," he said calmly."In the New World, countless people can harm Logia users."
"Without Haki, you're nothing more than a paper tiger."
Then his voice rose sharply.
"And with strength like that—I honestly can't imagine how you survived against Whitebeard!"
"Heh…"Gern laughed—this time genuinely.
He rolled his shoulders as the air around him began to tremble violently.
"Then let's take this seriously…"
Eight brilliant orbs of white vibration formed around him.
"Be ready, Instructor Zephyr!"
"Quake Art: Eightfold Rupture!"
The orbs shot forward and detonated simultaneously.
The space itself warped. Shockwaves tore through the air like rippling glass, cracking the ground beneath them.
Zephyr crossed his arms, black Haki coating him entirely—
—and tore through the shockwave head-on.
The blast roared outward, sand and debris exploding into the sky.
"Unbelievable…!""He blocked that head-on?!"
"Quake Step—Rail Drive!"
Gern vanished.
The air beneath his feet compressed into a high-density path, launching him forward at near-sonic speed.
At the same time, white spirals of energy coiled around his leg.
"Now—execution of 'Quake' justice!"
"A predictable angle," Zephyr snorted.
"With moves like that, you're no different from Borsalino!"
He twisted aside with perfect timing and drove a Haki-coated uppercut toward Gern's jaw—
—but it struck only afterimages.
Gern had already phased, reappearing behind him in a blur.
"Not stupid enough to fall for that, Instructor!"
His fists erupted with violent vibrations.
"Quake Art: Star-Shatter Fist!"
The air fractured like glass with every blow.
"Hmph—impressive for someone with only a year of experience!"
Zephyr countered instantly, slamming his elbow back.
BOOOOM!
The collision detonated like a bomb, the training ground collapsing inward.
Onigumo stabbed his sword into the ground to keep from being blown away.
Momonga's eyes widened."The terrain itself—!"
Zephyr slid backward, tearing off his shattered sleeve.
"Not bad at all!"
Above him, Gern flipped through the air, arms sweeping wide.
"Quake Art: Thousand-Light Meteor!"
Hundreds of compressed vibration orbs rained down like falling stars.
Zephyr roared, Armament Haki covering his entire body as he withstood the barrage head-on.
The ground disintegrated. Shockwaves rolled outward in every direction.
"EVERYONE, FALL BACK!" Garp shouted.
The Marines retreated as the field erupted.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The training ground became a boiling inferno of shattered earth and deafening shockwaves.
"Frozen Capsule!"
Kuzan raised a hand, instantly freezing the flying debris midair.
Dragon stared in stunned silence as the battlefield twisted and cracked under the quaking force.
"…This Devil Fruit…" he murmured.
"It's even more terrifying than Whitebeard's."
His eyes widened.
"It's like a natural disaster with no drawbacks at all."