The duel between Raifeng and Koby ended just like that.
The little commotion blew over quickly, but the incident became the favorite topic of conversation among the Marines aboard the ship. Whenever they had nothing to do, they'd bring it up again—debating it, replaying it, hyping it.
And just like that, the name Raifeng was etched into everyone's memory.
Not as "Vice Admiral Garp's grandson."
But as—
"The kid who one-shot Koby."
You could say that was the moment Raifeng truly established himself on this warship.
Before, most of the Marines addressed him with some variation of "Garp's grandson."
Now, they called him by his name—Raifeng—with genuine respect.
That subtle shift spread through the ship without anyone noticing.
Raifeng had earned it with raw, undeniable strength.
A seven-year-old sword prodigy who casually obliterated Koby in a single exchange… plus the identity of Garp's grandson on top of it?
It was no surprise he became one of the most talked-about figures on board.
After that duel, Koby also seemed… more mature.
He finally recognized the limits of his own talent and ability, and trained even harder than before.
But there was one key difference:
He no longer talked about "surpassing Raifeng" like it was a goal he could reach.
The loss had been too brutal.
And that defeat made him realize something he couldn't deny anymore—
People were born different.
Some differences were so huge they couldn't be bridged.
How could a person compete with a monster?
From that day on, Koby completely gave up on the idea of surpassing Raifeng.
He didn't believe that effort plus talent would ever be enough to catch up.
It simply wasn't realistic.
In other words—
Koby had fully, completely accepted it.
Whether it was strength or talent, he respected Raifeng from the bottom of his heart.
"Vice Admiral Garp! Vice Admiral Garp!"
A few Marines hurried across the deck, footsteps chaotic, voices urgent.
"What happened?"
Bogard raised an eyebrow at the railing, set down the documents in his hands, and looked over.
As a Marine HQ colonel, Bogard was honestly far more "responsible" than Garp most of the time.
Garp was basically a hands-off boss.
All the tedious navigation work—managing the helmsman, the navigator, issuing orders—was handled almost entirely by Bogard.
You could even say Bogard was the ship's true second-in-command.
"Colonel Bogard," one of the Marines reported, visibly uneasy, "there's something behind our ship…"
"A Sea King. We've spotted a Sea King shadow tailing us from the rear."
"A Sea King?"
Bogard looked surprised and instinctively scanned the sea around them.
The ocean was calm.
No—
It wasn't just calm.
There was no wind.
Bogard's eyes narrowed.
"No wind…"
"…We've entered the Calm Belt?"
That explained everything.
Only the Calm Belt looked like this—no wind at all, which meant normal ships couldn't rely on sails to move.
A pirate ship accidentally drifting into the Calm Belt?
That was practically a death sentence.
No wind means no sailing. The ship would stall and drift, trapped in place.
And that wasn't even the worst part.
The Calm Belt was full of Sea Kings.
The sea below was a hunting ground.
That was why the Calm Belt was infamous—no wind above, monsters below.
Of course, the Marines were different.
This ship didn't enter the Calm Belt by accident.
It was intentional.
To return from the East Blue to Marineford, they had to reach the Grand Line. If they took the standard route—through Reverse Mountain—it would waste a lot of time.
Crossing the Calm Belt directly was faster.
The Marine Headquarters had long possessed technology that allowed warships to traverse the Calm Belt. Special materials and structures along the hull helped deter Sea Kings and reduce the risk of being attacked.
That was the ship's confidence.
And yet—
Today, they had encountered a rare problem:
A Sea King that kept tailing them anyway.
Bogard frowned.
"Take me to the rear deck."
"Yes, sir!"
They reached the back of the ship.
And sure enough—
In the sea behind them, a massive black shadow moved beneath the surface, following at a steady distance.
Bogard's brow tightened.
"Judging by the shadow… approximately twenty meters in length."
"A large Sea King."
"Colonel Bogard," a Marine asked nervously, "should we drive it away?"
Bogard didn't answer immediately.
"If it's tailing us like this," he said slowly, "then it's not something we can simply scare off."
Right then, a voice appeared beside him without warning.
"Colonel Bogard, let me handle it. How about that?"
Bogard turned—surprised.
He hadn't even noticed when Raifeng walked up.
"You?" Bogard asked, curious. "And how do you plan to handle it? That thing is twenty meters long. This isn't some small Sea King."
And more importantly—
They were on the sea.
Did the kid plan to jump in and fight it head-on?
Unless Garp personally moved, Bogard didn't think there was a second person on the ship who could take a Sea King in the water with bare strength.
Raifeng smiled.
"How do I handle it?"
"Simple."
He lifted his sword—calm, casual.
"I chop it to death."
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