"Oh hahaha! Interesting! Now this is interesting!" Garp roared with laughter, the admiration in his eyes deepening. "But just taking hits isn't enough! Try to counterattack! Use your body, use your clouds, use your teeth, use everything you can, and hit back!"
The next two hours became the longest, most painful hellish grind in Seraphilia's memory.
She was knocked down again and again, slammed into the earth, smashed against the wall, and rolled in the dust.
The use of cloud energy transformed from deliberate 'tactical coordination' at the beginning into pure bodily instinct later on—condensing the densest cloud mass at the point of impact the moment a fist neared her body; creating a cushioning air bladder behind her when she was struck and sent flying; using Cloud Rope to latch onto distant rocks to forcibly adjust her posture when unbalanced.
She also fought back with all her might.
Cloud energy condensed into sharp blades, Cloud Ropes attempted to entangle and bind, and even 'Cloud Bullets' imitating the principle of firearms were shot out, but all dissipated like foam against Garp's seemingly casual wave of a hand, or against his body hardened by Armament Haki.
The gap was like heaven and earth.
"Your power is too scattered! The clouds are scattered, and your will is scattered!" Garp split her fully condensed Cloud Spear with a hand chop, then punched her abdomen in return, causing it to cave in, sending her body crashing into a pit half a meter deep. "Are you still thinking about how to protect yourself? How to dodge? How to deflect force? All wrong! You should be thinking about how to crush me! Even if it's just leaving a white mark on me!"
Seraphilia lay at the bottom of the cold pit, her body feeling as if it had been broken apart. Sweat mixed with dust and blood smeared her face, and her mouth was filled with the metallic taste of rust.
Her vision flickered between light and dark due to the intense pain and lack of oxygen.
The thought of giving up flickered like a tempting serpent, flicking its tongue near her resilient nerves for the first time.
But at the moment her consciousness was about to blur, she remembered the West Blue. She remembered the long wait at dawn in Black Iron Town, the thin figure curled up by the fireplace in the small hut, and the black-haired girl who hung the Cloud stone pendant around her neck with eyes full of both unease and infinite trust... Robin.
At this moment, perhaps she was sensing her existence and persistence through that little skylark.
"I... absolutely cannot... fall here..."
An indescribable power surged from the depths of her soul.
Trembling, she propped herself up with her elbows, her fingernails digging into the dirt as she crawled out of the pit, bit by bit, inch by inch.
With every movement, the muscles throughout her body let out a painful scream. She stood straight again, and though her body swayed violently, her gaze locked onto Garp with more determination than ever before.
"Continue." Her voice was as raspy as a worn-out bellows, yet it was resolute and brook no argument.
Garp looked at her—battered and disheveled with torn clothes, yet still standing as straight as a spear—and burst into another world-shaking laugh that sent the surrounding leaves rustling down: "Good! Good! That's more like it! Remember this feeling! Pain is your friend; it tells you where you aren't strong enough! Falling down isn't the end; as long as you can stand back up, the damn fight isn't over!"
The setting sun dyed the sky a magnificent orange-red. Seraphilia was practically half-carried and half-supported by two Orderlies as she left the training ground. Every part of her body ached, she was covered in bruises, and she walked with a limp. But her eyes were exceptionally bright, as if an inextinguishable flame were burning fiercely beneath a layer of ice.
Garp watched her retreating figure, scratched his head, and said to Tsuru, who had appeared at the edge of the field at some unknown point: "Little Tsuru, this disciple of yours... her bones are tougher than I imagined, and her spirit is high. Her foundation is just too thin; she needs to be hammered with a heavy hand. Leave her to me for half a year, and I guarantee I'll hammer out a top-tier steel billet for you."
Tsuru nodded slightly, her gaze profound as it rested on Seraphilia's distant back: "Don't break her. She... is more than just a warrior."
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing!" Garp waved his hand and pulled another donut from his coat, taking a large bite. "The ones that can't be broken are the truly good materials!"
The medical room at Marineford was filled with the thick scent of antiseptic at night. The military doctor treated Seraphilia's external injuries, applied a special medicinal ointment, and instructed her that she must stay for observation.
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