The ship broke through the cloud barrier of Upper Yard and landed heavily on the solid cloud shore. Aiden was the first to jump off. The professors followed one by one, looking around this unfamiliar land with curiosity.
Whoosh!
A flaming spear cut through the air with a sharp whistle and buried itself in the ground less than half a meter in front of Aiden's feet with a thud. The end of the spear was still shaking violently.
The atmosphere froze at once.
Aiden slowly raised his head. In the shadows of the jungle ahead, dozens of cold, hostile eyes gradually appeared.
"Get out of Upper Yard!" the Shandia warrior shouted, his voice old and furious. "Invaders!"
That cold roar echoed along the edge of the jungle, mixed with the trembling of the flaming spear still lodged in the ground.
The Shandia Chief, an old warrior with a firm gaze and a spear in hand, stepped out from the shadows with dozens of guerrilla fighters behind him. Every one of them stared fiercely at the intruders.
Saul was the first to step forward. He raised both hands, trying to explain. "We don't mean any harm! We came here to find a safe place!"
But the Shandia Chief did not believe him at all. He had suffered too much oppression in his life. In his eyes, this huge ship that had fallen from the sky and this giant had to be connected to Gan Fall and the people of God's Land.
"Another group of invaders from God's Land!" the Chief shouted, pointing his spear at Saul, the largest among them. "Upper Yard doesn't welcome you! Leave now, or don't blame us for what happens next!"
"Hey, old man. You've got the wrong idea."
Smoker walked out with a dark expression. Two cigars were clenched between his teeth, and a thick cloud of smoke spilled from his mouth.
As a Marine, he instinctively hated this kind of blind hostility. He had no patience for being threatened by these people.
"I don't care what kind of place this is!" Smoker roared. He rolled his shoulders, and his lower body instantly turned into thick smoke.
"White Out!"
He shot forward like an arrow, rushing straight at the Shandia Chief. His plan was simple. Take down the leader first, then make them listen.
Faced with the oncoming smoke, the Shandia Chief showed no panic at all.
Just as Smoker's smoke-covered hand was about to reach him, the Chief calmly pulled a strange shell from his waist.
"Hm? A shell?"
Smoker sneered inwardly. He assumed it was just some primitive weapon.
Thanks to his Marine training, he did not rely completely on his elemental body. He coated his arm in Armament Haki, ready to seize the man with a solid grip while taking whatever weak counterattack came his way.
He did not even bother to dodge and charged straight in.
"Impact Dial!" the Chief growled as he aimed the shell at Smoker's solid arm and drove it forward.
BOOM!!
A terrifying shockwave, visible to the naked eye, exploded outward.
"What?!"
Smoker's pupils shrank. It did not feel like he had hit a shell. It felt like he had slammed into an exploding volcano.
The force was pure, direct, and overwhelming.
The Armament Haki Smoker had raised in haste was torn apart like paper by that terrifying power.
Puff!
The shockwave slammed straight into his chest.
Smoker felt like all his organs had been thrown out of place. A mouthful of blood burst from his lips.
His tall body was sent flying like a cannonball. He smashed through seven or eight giant trees in a row before crashing heavily into the ground, throwing up a cloud of dust.
"Smoker!" Saul shouted in shock.
The professors were even more frightened and quickly backed away.
"Weak," the Chief said with a scoff as he returned the Impact Dial to his waist. His arm trembled slightly. The recoil of the Dial was severe, but he forced himself to endure it.
He raised his spear and pointed it at Aiden and Saul. "If you don't leave, you're next! Get out!"
The morale of the Shandia guerrillas surged, and they all raised their weapons.
"Cough, cough..." Smoker struggled out from the shattered trunks, staring at his chest in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me... what kind of power was that..."
"Honestly, it doesn't look like you've improved at all during these three months of internship."
At that moment, a calm voice broke the standoff.
Aiden slowly walked out from in front of the professors. He casually rolled his wrist and stepped forward.
"Aiden!" Smoker saw him move and clutched his chest in pain. "Be careful of the shells in their hands! The power of those things is..."
The Chief had already fixed his eyes on Aiden as his new target. Looking at this younger man, he decided to use his strongest attack and crush him completely as a warning to the others.
With a roar, he pulled another shell from behind his back. This one was larger than the Impact Dial that had just sent Smoker flying, and its casing gave off a dark red glow.
Gan Fall, circling above in the air, saw the shell in his hand and immediately dove lower as he shouted, "Watch out! That's a Reject Dial! It has ten times the power of an Impact Dial!!"
"Aiden!!" Robin's face turned pale at once. She clutched Olvia's clothes tightly and shouted at Aiden, "Be careful!!"
The Chief gave Aiden no time to react. He aimed the red-glowing Reject Dial at him, madness and resolve showing on his face.
"Pay, invader!"
BOOM!!!!!
A terrifying shockwave, several times thicker than the last one and almost solid, screamed through the air as it came crashing forward.
But Aiden did not move.
Under everyone's shocked gaze, he slowly raised his right arm.
Hum!
A layer of black Armament Haki, so solid it looked like ink, spread from his shoulder to his fingertips in an instant.
BOOM!!
The terrifying shockwave slammed head-on into Aiden's black arm.
Before the stunned eyes of everyone present, that destructive force struck Aiden's Armament Haki as though it had hit an immovable wall.
The white shockwave and the black Haki clashed violently, giving off a harsh sizzling sound as they erased each other. Violent air currents burst outward from Aiden at the center.
The professors nearby could not even open their eyes against the wind.
The ground under Aiden's feet cracked apart like a spiderweb, but he himself did not budge.
When the air currents finally died down, Aiden was still standing in the exact same spot, completely unharmed.
He simply shook the arm still covered in perfect Haki, as if brushing off dust that was not even there.
Puff!
In sharp contrast to Aiden's calm reaction, the Shandia Chief, who had launched the attack, paid the price.
The recoil, ten times greater than before, struck his body at the same time.
A large spray of blood burst from his mouth. His entire right arm, the one he had used to fire the Reject Dial, twisted at a grotesque angle. It was obviously shattered.
He could no longer stay standing and dropped to one knee with a thud. The Reject Dial rolled to the ground beside him, still releasing wisps of green smoke.
He lifted his head and stared at the unharmed young man in horror, as if he had seen a ghost.
"You're... kidding me..."
Aiden slowly lowered his arm, and the black Armament Haki faded away. He met the Chief's terrified gaze and spoke calmly.
"Now, can we talk?"