"A… teacher-student duel?"
The large portion of cadets who had been completely in the dark finally understood, and their expressions immediately turned to shock.
With Zephyr's explanation, they finally understood why he had ordered everyone to report here at nine sharp.
So there really was one final step left before graduation—
a duel against Zephyr himself.
"M-my god…"
"We're supposed to fight Instructor Zephyr?"
"But…"
"He's a Marine Admiral!"
"Do you really think we could possibly be his opponents?"
The cadets stood frozen, their minds in chaos.
No one actually believed they could beat Zephyr.
"Don't get the wrong idea."
"Do you really think you can defeat Instructor Zephyr?"
"This is a duel, yes—but it's also a final check of your progress."
"His goal is to see how much stronger you've become over the past year and a half."
A few of the cadets who had known in advance finally spoke up to explain.
That eased the others slightly.
Still nervous, still tense, they all turned to look at Zephyr.
"Who wants to go first?"
As Zephyr asked the question, the cadets exchanged uncertain glances.
No one stepped forward.
"Let me."
A voice finally rang out from the crowd.
Smoker.
Under everyone's gaze, he took a deep breath and strode out.
He had chosen to be the first challenger.
"Smoker?"
Kai looked at his back with interest.
All eyes followed him.
At last, Smoker came to a stop in front of Zephyr.
"Instructor Zephyr."
"Please teach me."
His fists were clenched. His eyes held tension and nerves—but also fierce battle spirit.
He knew Zephyr would not go all out.
Since that was the case…
he would.
He wanted to use Zephyr as a benchmark to see how far he had truly come.
And that was exactly what Zephyr wanted as well.
"Come at me, Smoker."
"Don't hold back."
"Let me see how much you've improved after this year and a half."
"Come."
Zephyr looked at him calmly.
Though he had not released any pressure, simply standing there was enough to make Smoker feel a crushing weight.
That was the presence of an Admiral.
Without anger. Without noise.
Yet still enough to overwhelm.
Then Smoker moved.
Without hesitation, he launched forward.
"Soru!"
With one burst of the Six Powers, his body vanished.
In the next instant he appeared beside Zephyr as though he had teleported.
"White Blow!"
His Devil Fruit activated at the same time. His fists shot forward like cannonballs, racing toward Zephyr.
Zephyr remained expressionless.
He simply shifted slightly.
Smoker's attack missed.
Zephyr did not counterattack. He only looked at Smoker and said calmly,
"Smoker, you're capable of more than this."
"Go all out."
"Otherwise, you won't even qualify to touch me."
Smoker gritted his teeth and unleashed everything.
Thick gray-white smoke erupted from his body.
A massive cloud surged toward Zephyr, attempting to swallow him whole.
"Interesting."
Zephyr smiled faintly.
He made no move to retreat from the oncoming smoke.
Soon, his entire body was swallowed by it.
At once, the outside cadets could no longer see him.
Even Smoker's figure had vanished within the smoke.
"Instructor Zephyr is inside Smoker's natural-type field."
"Can Smoker win?"
"Don't joke around. That's Instructor Zephyr. A Marine Admiral."
"To be more accurate… the real question is whether Smoker can force him to move even half a step."
"And if Smoker can't…"
"then out of all of us, there's probably only one person who can."
At those words, countless eyes turned toward Kai.
Kai was universally acknowledged as the strongest cadet in the training camp.
As the smoke spread farther and farther, soon the entire area within thirty meters had become Smoker's domain.
No ordinary spectator could see anything inside anymore.
Only a small number of people were still able to perceive the fight.
Like Kai.
With his Observation Haki active, he could see every movement between Zephyr and Smoker with absolute clarity.
"So Instructor Zephyr hasn't even activated Observation Haki?"
"He's just using raw battle instinct…"
"And that's already enough to make Smoker completely helpless?"
"So this is the level of a Marine Admiral…"
Kai watched closely, thoughts moving rapidly.
Within the range of his Observation Haki, Zephyr was calmly evading every single one of Smoker's attacks.
Smoker couldn't even brush the corner of Zephyr's clothes.
A Logia user.
And yet he was being toyed with like a child.
Still, considering his opponent was a Marine Admiral, that was hardly strange.
Zephyr's initial display of power alone was enough to make Kai instinctively sharpen his focus, studying every movement with the utmost care.
"Too bad…"
"With Smoker's current strength, he can't even force Zephyr to become serious."
"So if I want to observe where Zephyr's real limits are…"
"That won't happen here."
Kai shook his head slightly.
He had hoped to get a better look at Zephyr's serious combat state.
Unfortunately, Smoker did not qualify.
In fact—
out of all the cadets present, none of them did.
After all, no matter how age had worn him down, Zephyr was still a genuine Marine Admiral.
If there was anyone here who could possibly force Zephyr to become serious…
it was unquestionably Kai.
"Forget it."
"I never really expected Smoker to reveal that much anyway."
On the other side, the senior officers were also observing the fight.
Garp, Sengoku, Tsuru, Kong, Kuzan, Sakazuki, and Borsalino had all activated Observation Haki as well, easily tracking every exchange within the smoke.
"A Logia user?"
"That smoke brat isn't bad."
Garp chuckled.
Then, as always, he pivoted effortlessly into bragging.
"But compared to my grandson Kai, he's not even in the same league."
"That smoke kid doesn't even qualify to make Zephyr get serious."
"If it were my grandson…"
"Zephyr would already have both Armament and Observation up by now."
Sengoku and Tsuru both gave Garp the same flat look.
Here he goes again.
The old bastard never missed a chance to show off his grandson.
As if he were indirectly bragging about himself too.
It was infuriating.
But also impossible to argue against.
Because unfortunately—
Kai really was that absurd.
"Enough, Garp."
Kong's temple twitched. "Behave yourself."
Garp only laughed and scratched his head.
Meanwhile, Sakazuki, Kuzan, and Borsalino were also watching.
"That kid."
Sakazuki suddenly spoke.
"Smoker, right?"
A natural-type Devil Fruit user was at least enough to earn a little of his attention.
"He's decent."
"Still too weak right now, though."
Borsalino gave his lazy assessment.
"Among this year's cadets, he's already very strong."
"Your standards are too harsh."
Kuzan rolled his eyes.
"What about compared to that kid over there?"
Borsalino's gaze shifted toward Kai.
Kuzan went silent.
Then he looked at Borsalino with an expression that was almost pitying.
You've got to be kidding.
Was Borsalino seriously trying to compare Smoker to Kai?
That wasn't comparison.
That was practically humiliation.
After a long pause, Kuzan finally said,
"We're all Vice Admirals here."
"So Borsalino… how about you compare yourself to Vice Admiral Garp first?"
Borsalino: "…"
That was too much.
How did this suddenly become his problem?
Compare himself to Garp?
What kind of suicidal benchmark was that?
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