"Any time."
Roya held Engetsu horizontally in front of him, his gaze flickering as he looked at the Silverback Ape King. A trace of interest flashed through his eyes.
This massive creature, covered head to toe in silver fur, really did have the bearing of a true boss.
"Eighth match—begin!"
At Vice Admiral Yamakaji's command, the two Marine Headquarters vice admirals who had been firmly suppressing the Silverback Ape King leapt away simultaneously and exited the arena.
Freed from its restraints, the Silverback Ape King spread its enormous arms, pounded its chest several times, and threw back its head in a deafening roar.
Roar!!!
The thunderous bellow shook the air, leaving ears ringing.
However, everyone present in the arena was a seasoned powerhouse who had roamed the seas for years. With figures such as Garp and Sengoku, standing at the pinnacle of the seas, even the roar of a Silverback Giant Ape was not enough to truly intimidate anyone—at most, it made Shu, Smoker, and the others tense up slightly.
Facing the roaring Silverback Giant Ape, Roya initiated the attack for the first time.
He did not rush forward. Instead, from a distance, he swung his sword down toward the beast.
Slash!
A silver-white sword wave suddenly burst forth, slicing through the air and flashing across the battlefield in an instant.
The sword wave arrived in a blink. The Silverback Giant Ape, which was still roaring skyward, clearly had no time to dodge. Yet its reaction was extremely fast—at the moment the slash swept toward it, it crossed its two massive arms in front of its body.
Clang!
The sword wave struck its arms—each thicker than Roya's waist—with a sound like metal colliding with metal. In the end, it only left a white mark and failed to break through its defense!
Although Roya had not used Armament Haki to reinforce that sword wave, it was still a full-powered slash delivered with both hands.
"The Silverback Giant Ape… it seems this is the one I encountered back when I was at the eighth stage."
In the spectator seats, Aokiji looked at the Silverback Giant Ape in the arena, scratched his head, and showed a nostalgic expression.
"And then you froze it into a block of ice."
Kizaru seemed to remember as well. He spread his hands, pursed his lips, and then looked at the arena with interest. "So then—how will he deal with it?"
In the arena—
Roar!!
After being attacked, the Silverback Giant Ape instantly fixed its furious gaze on Roya. Letting out an enraged roar, it charged straight at him, intent on tearing him to pieces.
Because it had injured people, it had been captured and brought to Marine Headquarters, locked away in a massive seastone cage. When it was finally released, it was immediately pinned down by two Headquarters vice admirals, one on each side, unable to move. Its anger had long since reached a frenzied peak.
Now, provoked by Roya, all of that fury poured directly onto him.
Whoosh!
The Silverback Giant Ape's speed was astonishing. In almost an instant, it was right in front of Roya. Its massive fist fell from above like a gigantic silver warhammer, aiming to smash Roya into a puddle of flesh.
Roya had no interest in testing whether he would be flattened into paste. He did not compete with the beast in raw strength, instead using Soru to evade the attack.
Geppo!
After dodging the Silverback Giant Ape's strike, Roya stepped on the air and, in just a few strides, reached midair. From there, he swung his sword fiercely at the ape.
In the Silverback Giant Ape's eyes, Roya was nothing more than a tiny insect darting around. Facing this slash, it simply reached out and slapped toward him.
But—
This time, Roya's attack was a close-range blade strike, and he had already activated Armament Haki.
Slash!
The ape's palm struck Roya's blade, sending Roya flying backward through the air for some distance. However, the ape's hand was also cut open, leaving a deep, bone-revealing gash!
No matter how close its hide was to surpassing steel in hardness, it could not withstand Roya's slash.
"So using Armament Haki easily breaks its defense…"
Stabilizing himself with Geppo and hovering in midair, Roya thought to himself, "I wonder if the great ape king that Luffy encountered on that nameless island while training with Dark King Rayleigh for two years was stronger than this Silverback Ape King."
Roya had no answer to that question—unless he could one day meet such an ape king himself.
Wounded, the Silverback Giant Ape seemed even more ferocious. Seeing Roya in midair, it leapt high as well, continuing its assault, determined to tear Roya apart.
But Roya had already tested its strength and had no intention of continuing to toy with it.
Clang! Clang!!
Using Geppo, Roya flickered through the air several times, colliding repeatedly with the Silverback Ape King. Rapid, piercing ringing sounds echoed like a torrential rain of blades.
When Roya completed a full circuit around the Silverback Ape King in midair and finally landed on the ground behind it, countless clearly visible bloodstains suddenly appeared across the ape's body!
Amid spurting blood, the Silverback Ape King's enormous frame crashed heavily to the ground. Roya, meanwhile, casually sheathed Engetsu.
With a sword in hand, he swept aside all opposition.
Watching the massive Silverback Ape King collapse, even Smoker and the others—who already had some understanding of Roya's strength—could not help but reveal expressions of shock.
They all knew Roya was strong, but they did not know just how strong he truly was. Against the backdrop of this terrifying beast, Roya's own overwhelming power was finally made vividly clear.
Even such a monstrous creature could not withstand more than a few of Roya's moves!
Aside from Aokiji, Kizaru, and the others—who were not surprised—the Marine Headquarters vice admirals were also deeply shaken. A heavy silence fell, with no one speaking.
"The eighth match—passed!"
After a long while, Vice Admiral Yamakaji finally spoke in a deep voice. Soon, Marines stepped forward to carry away the Silverback Giant Ape and clean the bloodstains from the arena.
By this point, not only the vice admirals, but even Aokiji, Kizaru, and figures like Garp and Sengoku were showing unusual looks in their eyes.
The eighth match had been cleared… next came the ninth match!
These Marine admirals themselves had only made it through the ninth match back then. In other words, if Roya could pass the ninth match, his graduation assessment results would stand shoulder to shoulder with theirs!
After defeating the Silverback Ape King, Roya had not used his flame abilities or Getsuga Tenshō. He relied solely on swordsmanship and Geppo, expending very little stamina. He stood there calmly, without the slightest sign of heavy breathing.
It took about ten minutes to clean up the battlefield.
Once the cleanup was complete, Yamakaji glanced at the time and did not ask whether Roya needed rest. Instead, he nodded to him and said, "Be careful in the next match."
As he spoke, Yamakaji's expression grew serious once more, and he announced:
"Ninth match—your opponent is… Vice Admiral Strawberry of the Marine G-1 Branch!"
As his voice rang out, a man wearing a vice admiral's justice coat, with a sword hanging at each side of his waist, walked into the arena. His eyes were half-lidded, leaving only narrow slits.
Ninth match: Branch Vice Admiral Strawberry!
The timeline was now close to twelve years before the Great Pirate Era—ten years before Luffy set sail.
At present, Strawberry was only a branch vice admiral. Ten years later, however, he would become a Marine Headquarters vice admiral, and not a low-ranking one at that!
In the original era, many vice admirals were still only branch vice admirals or rear admirals at this time. After all, this was ten years before Luffy went to sea—Aokiji, Kizaru, and Akainu had only recently become admirals themselves.
Even among branch vice admirals, Strawberry ranked extremely high—an exceptionally powerful vice admiral!