"No, that brat Kuzan shouldn't be that easy to kill."
He shook his head to himself, then turned his attention back to Lorne.
"Is it the Snow-Snow Fruit? No, it feels a bit different..."
"I say, old man!"
Lorne really couldn't listen anymore; he decisively interrupted Garp's muttering and pointed at Luffy, who had snot and tears all over his face,
"This should be your own grandson, right! I was just about to save him, and you, old man, attacked me without rhyme or reason; isn't that a bit uncalled for?"
"That's right! That's right!"
Luffy immediately chimed in from the side, pointing at the pit on the ground and shouting loudly at Garp,
"Grandpa, how can you just hit people like that!"
"So noisy!"
Garp snorted two thick puffs of air from his nostrils, too lazy to even look at Luffy; with a backhand, he threw a punch that landed with pinpoint accuracy on Luffy's head.
"Thud!"
A crisp, muffled sound.
"Waaaaah! It hurts!"
A large lump swelled up on Luffy's head at a speed visible to the naked eye; he clutched his head with both hands, rolling back and forth on the ground in pain.
Only then did Garp slowly retract his fist and roar righteously at Lorne:
"I am training this brat's courage and strength! What do you know, you brat!"
Lorne watched Luffy rolling around on the ground, and the corner of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.
Only someone with Luffy's vitality, comparable to a cockroach, could grow up sturdy under this "Fist of Love," which could only be called abuse!
If it were a normal person, they would have been beaten into a fool long ago.
After Garp finished disciplining his grandson, his serious face, when looking at Lorne, now unexpectedly revealed a hint of scrutiny and appreciation.
"Didn't expect that coming back to my hometown for a vacation, I'd run into an interesting good seedling like you..."
Garp paused, grinned to reveal a mouthful of white teeth, and said in a matter-of-fact tone:
"Hey, brat! I am Monkey D. Garp; you must have heard of my name, right!"
He puffed out his chest, and an invisible aura radiated from him—it was the spirit possessed only by those who had been through countless battles and stood at the pinnacle of the world.
"How about it? Do you want to come and be a marine with me? With your aptitude, your future prospects are limitless!"
Garp actually extended an invitation to him directly!
Before Lorne could respond, Luffy, who was rolling on the ground nearby, didn't know if he had been beaten dizzy, but he suddenly leaped up from the ground, mistakenly thinking Garp was asking him, and shouted at the top of his lungs:
"No! I definitely don't want to be a marine!"
"I want to be the pirate king!!"
This sentence was like a fuse that instantly ignited Garp, the powder keg.
"What did you say?! You bastard, you still dare to mention it!!"
Garp's face turned black instantly, blue veins bulged on his forehead, and the surrounding air seemed to solidify.
He could no longer care about Lorne on the side; with one stride, he rushed in front of Luffy, grabbed him by the collar, and lifted Luffy entirely into mid-air.
"You bastard! I will absolutely not let a guy like you become a pirate!"
Garp roared, and his other fist mercilessly rained down a storm of blows onto Luffy's head.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
Fist of Love combo!
"Waaaaah! It hurts! It hurts! Grandpa!"
Luffy's screams echoed in the forest, and new lumps swelled up on his head one after another at an alarming speed, eventually stacking up to three layers, looking both comical and pitiful.
Lorne stood to the side, watching the scene of the grandfather and grandson's "intimate interaction," feeling extremely awkward and, for a moment, didn't know how to react.
However, his attention was soon drawn to the three-layer-high lump on Luffy's head.
Under normal circumstances, a user of the Rubber Fruit is immune to physical blunt attacks; no matter how hard Garp's fist was, it shouldn't be possible to beat Luffy this badly, and it would be even more impossible to cause such substantial lumps.
Lorne's gaze focused on Garp's swinging fist, and as he observed carefully, he discovered a clue.
The surface of Garp's fist seemed to be covered by a layer of invisible power that was difficult for the naked eye to detect; it was this power that caused real damage to Luffy.
Is this... Armament Haki?
Not only can it greatly increase defense, but it can also capture the entities of Logia Devil Fruit Users, and it can also attack users with special constitutions like Luffy.
Truly amazing!
Lorne was entranced; he even had an urge to let Garp hit him once so he could experience the power of Haki personally.
Just as he was deep in thought, Garp seemed to notice Lorne's focused gaze.
He casually tossed the dizzy, foaming-at-the-mouth Luffy aside, then grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, and chuckled.
"What, you want to learn?"
He seemed to have seen through Lorne's thoughts, his tone full of temptation.
"As long as you agree to join the marines, I will teach you personally..."
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