The thunder of marching feet echoed like crashing waves, surging in from every direction.
Renn Hawk did not retreat. Instead, he stepped forward into the tide of soldiers and threw a punch.
Boom!
The air split under the force of his fist, shrieking as it tore through.
The veteran of G-3 at the very front didn't even have time to react before Hawk's knuckles smashed into his chest.
Whizz!
The man's body shot backward like a kite cut from its string, colliding into his comrades and knocking down an entire row like pins in a bowling alley.
In an instant, a wide gap opened before Hawk.
But within a heartbeat, more soldiers rushed in to fill it.
Hawk grinned, a sharp glint in his eyes. His body dropped low, and in a sudden, impossible twist, his arm lashed out like lightning and hooked another soldier.
Pinned in Hawk's grasp, the man felt as though a beast's iron jaws had clamped onto him. He couldn't move at all.
"Sorry," Hawk muttered, almost gently, "but you're my weapon now."
With that, he hoisted the soldier like a battering ram and charged forward.
Bodies flew in all directions. Every man he slammed into crumpled, coughing blood before collapsing unconscious.
In the midst of chaos, Hawk forced a path straight through the crowd. Then, with a powerful leap, he swung his makeshift weapon overhead and hurled him down into the densest cluster of soldiers.
"Magnificent!"
BOOM!
The training field shuddered violently. From the impact point, a visible shockwave rippled outward.
Hundreds of marines were blasted off their feet, flung into the air like rag dolls before crashing heavily to the ground.
The soldier Hawk had used as his "weapon" was already foaming at the mouth, knocked senseless.
"Black Cage Formation!"
Tina's sharp voice rang out. From her arms, black iron bars shot forth, weaving together into a vast net that dropped toward Hawk from above.
"White Vine!"
Smoker's body dissolved into rolling smoke, thick tendrils whipping out to block every possible escape route.
A flawless pincer attack.
Hawk's expression didn't change. "Not bad."
Then, his tone hardened. "But not nearly enough."
He inhaled deeply and unleashed a storm of fists, twenty strikes in an instant, each carrying devastating force.
"True Word Vajra King!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The violent gale of fists shredded Tina's iron bars and tore apart Smoker's smoke.
Both were caught in the aftermath, thrown back by the shockwave.
With the strongest opposition dealt with, Hawk dove back into the crowd.
Thud!
He moved through the battlefield like a predator, each punch sharp and precise.
Every strike carried the howl of wind.
Every impact sent marines screaming, lifted into the air before slamming into the ground.
The training field became a theater of destruction violence honed into beauty.
"...!"
Smoker, sprawled on the ground, struggled to rise. His pupils contracted violently at the sight.
No Devil Fruit.
Nothing but raw flesh, refined martial skill, unrelenting fists, and Haki so dense it suffocated.
And with just that, Renn Hawk was toppling the entire G-3 Branch alone.
This this was the terror of mastery taken to the extreme.
There was only one word for it: unassailable.
For the first time, Smoker felt his pride in the Smoke-Smoke Fruit crumble. Against Hawk's overwhelming strength, it seemed laughable.
He admitted it.
For the first time, he truly submitted to someone of his own generation.
Tina too rose unsteadily, brushing back her disheveled hair. She lit another cigarette and let out a long breath. "Tina… Tina admits defeat. That man Renn Hawk, the one who doesn't even know how to go easy on a lady he's completely convinced me."
Smoker shot her a glare, gesturing toward the sidelines where Lark was cheering madly for Hawk, while Peacock crossed her arms, watching with amused interest.
"Tina," Smoker muttered, "if you don't step in, you won't get beaten."
It wasn't that Hawk didn't know how to hold back it was that Tina had walked right into the storm herself.
"...Tina gets it," she replied lightly. "Next time, I'll stand back and watch you take the beating instead."
Smoker's face darkened instantly.
Thud!
At last, Hawk drove home a final punch.
Silence followed.
The training ground was wrecked, bodies sprawled everywhere. Thousands of marines lay groaning, defeated.
At the center stood Hawk, slowly drawing back his fist.
He looked around, drinking in the mix of awe and fear thick in the air. Satisfaction warmed his chest.
True, this wasn't like his sparring match with Admiral Akainu it hadn't pushed him to break new limits.
But this kind of absolute, crushing domination?
It was exhilarating.
Pure bliss.
In the corner, Zoro and Sanji stirred back to consciousness.
Their heads throbbed as they blinked blearily at the hellscape around them.
"Oi… curly-brow…" Zoro's voice was dry. "What just happened?"
Sanji lit a crushed cigarette, inhaled hard, and only then managed a reply. "No clue… one moment we were fine, the next, lights out."
Both raised their eyes to the lone figure standing above a field of fallen men.
"So? What do you think, moss-head?"
"What do you think? From now on, I'm sticking with Hawk."
Sanji clenched his teeth. "And one day, I swear I'll make him erase the words 'pathetic mess' from his vocabulary."
Zoro smirked. "Pathetic curly-brow."
"You bastard! I'll kill you!"
...
Meanwhile, in Mock Town.
Once part of Jaya Island, it had become a lawless haven for pirates. The town's outward charm was deceptive, its resort-like beauty poisoned by the stench of alcohol, sweat, and blood.
Bar fights weren't an accident here. They were the entertainment.
A pirate ship adorned with grinning faces drifted out of the harbor.
At its bow stood a blond man with a long scar slashing across his left eye Bellamy.
He sneered as he looked back at his crew. "You've heard the news, haven't you? The new commander of G-3 is just a brigadier general from the East Blue."
"Brigadier General? But on the Grand Line, every branch is guarded by at least a Vice Admiral!"
"Exactly." Bellamy's grin widened. "That's our chance. We're the pirates of the New Age time to prove it by doing something different."
One of his men blinked. "What are you saying, boss?"
"That some brigadier from the weakest sea can't be that strong."
Bellamy's eyes gleamed. "We're going to take down G-3 Branch… and offer it up as tribute to the Young Master."
"Donquixote Doflamingo will love it."
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