The mysterious sensory power settled, permanently embedding itself into Zaraki's body.
This was Intermediate Kenbunshoku Haki.
Within a thirty-meter radius, the wind's direction, the underwater paths of swimming fish, and the rustling of seagull wings fifty meters away projected directly into his mind.
It formed a perfect, three-dimensional sensory world with absolutely no blind spots.
'This absolute control..... was intoxicating.'
Zaraki licked his dry lips and checked the translucent panel in the corner of his vision.
In his inventory, the golden "Awakening Token" shimmered quietly.
According to the System's description, this item deeply excavated the latent qualities hidden within the host's bloodline or soul.
The "Insight Token" had unlocked the door to Haki. This new token might hold the key to verifying his next theory.
Haoshoku Haki.
In this world, it served as the qualification of a king, a rare abilities that only one in million possessed.
'Kenpachi Zaraki is a battle maniac focused purely on cutting people down. However, his Reiatsu—which could drop a Lieutenant-level Shinigami to their knees—should logically translate to Conqueror's Haki in this world, right?'
Zaraki's heart raced.
Ambition surged from his chest. His finger hovered over the illusory button, nearly pressing it down.
His newly acquired Kenbunshoku Haki suddenly blasted a danger signal.
A torrent of savage life energy hurtled straight toward him from the tavern at an absurd speed.
The approach was several times faster than Bogard's quick-draw earlier.
Zaraki's scalp went numb.
The sheer speed carried a terrifying, suffocating pressure that left him breathless.
Activating his Kenbunshoku Haki to its limit, he tracked the high-speed humanoid target.
The figure showed zero signs of slowing down.
An undisguised intent to attack followed immediately.
The probing maneuver lacked killing intent, yet it bristled with heavy aggression.
"No way..."
Zaraki's pupils constricted to pinpricks.
In his split second of hesitation, the figure appeared directly behind him.
The movement outpaced the sound of its own footsteps.
Five minutes ago, Zaraki would have been paralyzed by the overwhelming pressure, but things were entirely different now.
Time slowed to a crawl within his perception.
He clearly saw a calloused fist rapidly enlarging in his vision.
A thick, heavy layer of pitch-black Busoshoku Haki coated the fist, far denser than Bogard's earlier demonstration.
A direct hit from this punch would shatter the entire pier into splinters.
'Has this old man gone mad?'
'This is clearly a "Send You to the Afterlife Fist"!'
His body reacted instantly.
Driven by the Insight Token's lingering effects and Kenpachi Zaraki's raw battle instincts, he moved without thinking.
He didn't turn around or attempt to block.
Just as the pitch-black iron fist grazed the hair at the back of his head, Zaraki's shoulder dipped sharply downward.
His right ankle twisted outward at an unnatural angle.
The fist blew past his ear, carrying a gale-force wind.
Zaraki felt the knife-like sting of the wind slice across his earlobe, alongside the intense heat radiating from the knuckles.
Garp, missing his mark, looked completely taken aback.
He had used thirty percent of his full strength combined with the high-speed Rokushiki technique, "Soru."
The goal was to force the boy into using Busoshoku Haki Hardening to defend himself, verifying Bogard's claims.
But the kid completely ignored defense, he anticipated the attack and slipped away like a greasy eel.
Force is reciprocal.
Garp threw the punch with such ferocity that he couldn't retract his arm in time. Carried by his massive inertia, he followed Zaraki's evasive maneuver and shot straight off the edge of the pier like a cannonball!
"Nani?!"
A startled cry of disbelief escaped his lips in mid-air.
Boom!
A deafening crash echoed across the coast.
The massive black reef jutting from the sea shattered instantly as Garp's head collided with it.
A towering column of water and a shower of broken stones rained down and a heavy splash followed as the large man plunged into the water.
The seaside fell into a brief silence.
A few seagulls, startled earlier by Zaraki's pebbles, circled overhead. Their raucous cries seemed to mock the drenched figure below.
"Aho~Aho~"
Zaraki remained crouched sideways, his heart pounding like a drum against his ribs.
He slowly straightened up and fixed his gaze on the bubbling sea, his eyes wide with shock.
'Did I... just send the Marine Hero flying into the sea?'
"Pwah!"
The water erupted as a drenched figure burst forth.
Garp wiped seawater from his face.
A soggy, half-smoked cigar remained clenched between his teeth. His justice-emblazoned coat clung to his back, making him look utterly disheveled.
Garp paid zero attention to his appearance.
His eyes bulged with shock as he stared at Zaraki, who stood innocently on the pier.
"You brat! Did you grow eyes on the back of your head?"
Garp wiped his face, opting to stay in the water while roaring, "I used Soru! How could you possibly dodge that?"
Evading Busoshoku Haki could be attributed to exceptional talent.
However, an instantaneous evasion proved he had predicted the attack's exact trajectory in advance.
That level of precognition was an advanced application of Kenbunshoku Haki.
A kid who had never stepped foot on the Grand Line had somehow awakened both types of Haki simultaneously.
Zaraki looked down at Garp soaking in the water. He shrugged helplessly and wore a perfectly crafted expression of confusion.
"Old man, your way of saying hello is a bit extreme, don't you think? If I hadn't been deeply focused on studying that strange energy inside me, my head would be gone."
Zaraki pointed to his temple, adopting a half-joking tone.
"For a split second, a picture flashed in my mind. I saw you about to attack me, and my body just moved on its own."
"A picture... appeared in your mind?"
Garp stopped treading water, sinking deeper until only his head remained visible.
He knew exactly what that meant.
It served as the classic sign of Kenbunshoku Haki awakening.
Judging by the boy's description, he had already developed clear dynamic vision.
A talent like this bordered on monstrous.
Staring at Zaraki's youthful face, Bogard's perpetually despairing expression resurfaced in Garp's mind.
If Bogard found out this kid had mastered Busoshoku Hardening and then casually awakened Kenbunshoku Haki minutes later...
His aide might commit seppuku on the spot!
Zaraki shared the exact same thought.
Noticing Garp's shifting expression, he blinked, crouched down, and whispered toward the water.
"Um... Vice Admiral Garp, could we talk about something?"
"Uncle Bogard always looks stern, but he is a good guy. He put his heart and soul into teaching me earlier."
Zaraki lowered his voice further and glanced meaningfully over his shoulder at the empty pier.
"Seeing me use Armament Haki Hardening earlier made him look incredibly frustrated. If he knew I learned Hardening and then got knocked into unlocking Observation Haki by your punch... the man's resolve would shatter. He might jump into the sea in despair."
On the water's surface, Garp's weathered face froze for a split second.
His drenched head snapped back, and he erupted into a thunderous laugh.
"Puhahahaha! Shattered resolve? Jump into the sea? You put quite some thought into that excuse!"
Garp laughed until tears streamed down his face.
He slapped the water with one hand, sending waves crashing around him. With his other hand, he casually pointed over Zaraki's shoulder.
"You little brat, next time you want to share a 'thoughtful' insight, make sure the person you are talking about is not standing right there—correct, Bogard?"
Zaraki's spine stiffened instantly.
His Kenbunshoku Haki belatedly registered a presence. Less than three meters behind him stood a nearly imperceptible yet intensely powerful aura.
His attention had been so focused on Garp that he completely overlooked the adjutant, who had concealed his presence to an extreme degree!
Zaraki turned around stiffly, moving like a rusty machine.
His eyes fell upon Bogard's face, half-hidden in the shadow of his hat brim.
The usually composed Marine Headquarters officer's chest heaved violently. His placid eyes were bloodshot, fixed intently on Zaraki.
The hand gripping his sword hilt trembled slightly.
His entire worldview shattered!
"Um... Uncle Bogard, I was merely guessing..." Zaraki forced a smile, trying to salvage the atmosphere.
Clang!
A sharp, ringing blade served as his reply.
Without a word, Bogard's standard-issue Marine longsword flashed from its sheath.
He had launched a genuine lethal strike!
The blade glinted with a blinding light under the sun. It moved so swiftly it left only an afterimage on Zaraki's eyes.
"Ittoryu: Starshine!"
The low growl squeezed through Bogard's clenched teeth.
He staked his last shred of dignity on this test!
He refused to believe that anyone could awaken Kenbunshoku Haki without guidance, simply by facing a near-death moment, and then wield it with absolute precision.
The blade sealed off Zaraki's escape routes to the left and right.
The tip aimed directly at the corner of Zaraki's left shoulder. Even if the strike went out of control, it would inflict severe damage rather than a fatal wound.
The speed, however, was absolutely lethal.
The air cleaved in two and the piercing sound of the wind make his eardrums ache.
In Zaraki's world, everything shifted.
The incoming blade forced his sensory radar to activate at full capacity.
The lightning-fast sword slowed down tenfold within his mental projection.
He saw the minute muscle contractions in Bogard's wrist, telegraphing the exact moment the blade's trajectory would shift.
Zaraki's body reacted before his mind fully processed the threat.
His upper body arched backward at an impossible angle, forming an exaggerated iron bridge pose.
With a light tap of his toes against the wooden floor, he floated effortlessly.
Riding the air currents stirred by the blade's wind, he drifted half a meter backward and to his right.
The edge swept past, nearly grazing the tip of his nose.
A stray strand of hair at his forehead was severed by the razor-sharp sword slash, drifting slowly downward.
But, the assault was far from over.
Bogard had zero intention of stopping. With a flick of his wrist, he abruptly reversed the blade's momentum mid-air, transforming it into a dense net of descending slashes.
The strikes arrived relentlessly!
An ordinary person would have collapsed in terror at the sight of the flashing steel.
But Zaraki's eyes only grew brighter.
'Leftward dodge, sidestep, duck, spin.'
He moved through the storm of blades with effortless grace. Each movement was refined to its absolute essence. He timed every evasion perfectly to the instant before the blade fell.
He used no wasted strength and lost no milliseconds.
He went beyond mere sight.
This was precognition.
The moment Bogard's intent to strike formed in his mind, Zaraki already knew where the blade would fall.
Ten strikes.
For ten full strikes, Bogard's blade never grazed the corner of Zaraki's robe.
Clang.
Before the eleventh strike could launch, Bogard's longsword drooped weakly in his hand.
The tip clanged heavily against the wooden planks.
The meticulous adjutant looked drained of all strength, his face incredibly pale.
He stared at Zaraki, whose breathing remained steady.
Bogard's lips moved silently before he finally let out a bitter laugh. "Intermediate... Kenbunshoku Haki..."
The boy had bypassed the spotty sensitivity of a newly awakened ability.
He possessed intermediate Kenbunshoku Haki—the power to clearly predict an opponent's intentions and perceive the surrounding rhythm.
Splash!
Garp hauled himself out of the water, supporting his weight with one hand on the pier's edge.
Ignoring the seawater dripping from his clothes, Garp strode between the two men.
The carefree laughter vanished, replaced by an unusual solemnity and a heavy scrutinizing glare.
"I thought it was just a coincidence," Garp said, wringing the water from his coat.
His sharp eyes locked onto Zaraki. "To emerge completely unscathed beneath Bogard's 'Starshine'... Brat, tell me the truth. You've never trained before, have you?"
"Never," Zaraki replied, spreading his hands to show his sincerity. "That feeling... it was like someone activated a full-map cheat in my head. Bogard's movements seemed to slow to a crawl."
Garp and Bogart exchanged glances, both seeing shock in the other's eyes.
Teenagers beginning to learn Haki was a common sight.
But to awaken both Armament Haki Hardening and intermediate Observation Haki within half a day of first contact? This went far beyond mere "genius."
This kid was an absolute monster!
"Vice Admiral Garp..."
Bogard took a deep breath, forcibly calming the turmoil in his chest.
His voice sounded dry, and his gaze remained fixed on Zaraki as he spoke to his superior.
"This natural talent... this innate combat intuition... He possesses the instinct to grow exhilarated under immense pressure rather than backing down..."
Bogard paused, hesitating to voice his ultimate suspicion.
Finally, staring into Zaraki's pitch-black eyes, he slowly brought up the concept that could plunge the entire sea into madness.
"Vice Admiral... do you believe this boy might also possess that power?"