Sengoku ignored the indignant Akainu and an amused Kizaru, locking his gaze onto Zaraki with a complicated, hard-to-read expression.
"As for your position... Garp proposed placing you directly into the Admiral Candidate track, but this is not child's play. Even if your achievement is verified, it must pass through Headquarters' deliberation."
The tension in the plaza eased.
This was the proper, familiar Marine procedure.
"However," Sengoku continued, his eyes drilling into Zaraki, "I want to hear your thoughts. If this battle is verified, what do you want? Regional authority? A formal Headquarters rank? A position under Garp?"
Everyone's focus snapped back to Zaraki.
With the backing of Garp's faction, nodding his head would guarantee him a high-ranking position inside Headquarters, even with Akainu's opposition.
Zaraki scratched his messy hair, wondering if being an Admiral Candidate was a job fit for a human.
The image of Sengoku sitting behind a desk reviewing mountains of paperwork while dealing with bubble-helmeted Celestial Dragons made him shudder.
That life was infinitely more boring than the Rukongai.
If the real Kenpachi were trapped behind a desk, he would go berserk and demolish the building within three days!
"Old man." Zaraki dropped his hand, his expression turning dead serious. "Is there a position where I don't have to clock in, ignore idiot orders, sleep when I want, and wander wherever I want?"
He paused to consider it before adding, "Preferably an idle post where nobody manages me, but whenever there's a fight, I get to be the first one to cut people down. If being a Candidate means reading reports every day, forget it. I can't sit still."
Absolute silence dropped over the plaza.
Second Lieutenant Isuka fumbled her clipboard while Sengoku looked like he had swallowed a live Sea King.
The Fleet Admiral's jaw hung open as his brain struggled to process this outrageous workplace declaration regarding the Marines' highest reserve track.
A profound sense of déjà vu swept through the ranks.
Sengoku, Akainu, Kizaru, and the surrounding Marines turned their heads like rusty gears to stare in unison at Garp.
Not listening to orders, completely undisciplined, and only wanting to fight without working—this was Garp Number Two.
Receiving everyone's deadly glare, Garp froze with a finger shoved up his nose.
He pulled it out, stared at the suspicious pellet on the tip, and burst into a booming laugh that rattled his medals.
"What are you looking at me for?! This kid takes after me! Bwahahaha!" He flicked the booger away, beaming with the pride of a man who had found a worthy successor.
Sengoku's face darkened like the bottom of an iron pot.
One Garp had already cost him a decade of his lifespan; an enhanced version with even more destructive potential would bring his migraines back permanently!
Hurried footsteps broke the tension as a squad of Marines pushed through the crowd, escorting four familiar figures who looked completely out of place at Marine Headquarters.
Zoro walked in front with crossed arms, sizing up the Admirals for future fights.
Sanji followed with a lit cigarette and a scowl, though his eyes still tracked every female officer in sight.
Carina kept her hands raised defensively while her eyes mapped every exit and stealable item.
Nami walked last, her pale face freezing the moment she spotted Zaraki covered in burns and old blood.
"Zaraki…"
Zaraki raised an eyebrow. "What are you idiots doing here?"
Garp scratched the back of his head with another booming laugh. "Forgot to mention! When I rushed back through Loguetown, I found your little crew arguing with Smoker about stealing a Marine ship to chase you."
Bandaged and scowling nearby, Smoker snorted. "They weren't arguing, they were committing a crime."
Nami stiffened, Carina looked away, Sanji coughed, and Zoro clicked his tongue.
"We were borrowing it."
"That's stealing," Smoker shot back.
Garp waved off the technicalities. "Anyway, since they witnessed the Golden Lion attack and are connected to you, I dragged them to Marineford for protective questioning."
"Dragged?!" Nami yelled. "You threw us onto your warship!"
"You should be grateful, the dog-head ship is fast!" Garp grinned.
Sengoku rubbed his temples. "So while Headquarters dealt with a legendary pirate emergency, you smuggled four unauthorized civilians and bounty hunters into Marineford as 'useful witnesses'?"
Zoro locked eyes with Akainu. "And useful training partners, maybe."
"Nobody is using an Admiral as a training partner!" Sengoku snapped.
Zaraki blinked at the overreaction.
He was dead serious, in a world ruled by strength, absolute freedom was the only way to find stronger opponents, while rules were just a survival mechanism for the weak.
Garp stopped laughing as a cunning light flashed in his old eyes.
If this kid hated offices and rules as much as he did, stuffing him into a troublesome special position was the perfect solution.
Garp stroked his stubble, his grin turning wicked.
"Since you hate desks, how about taking over my fieldwork?" He leaned closer to whisper loudly.
"Look at Borsalino over there, clipping his nails and drinking tea all day, even Kuzan rides his bicycle around the ocean for months without reporting in. As long as you hit the strength standard, a mobile combat post is great. You punch whoever needs punching, Sengoku handles the paperwork, and I can finally go wherever I want to eat rice crackers while you—"
"Bastard."
Akainu's cold voice shattered the plotting as his patience finally snapped.
Discussing how to slack off inside Marine Headquarters in front of an Admiral was stomping on the very concept of justice.
The marble tiles beneath Sakazuki's feet bubbled and softened as dark-red magma seeped through the cracks, flooding the salty sea breeze with the choking stench of sulfur.
"Since you treat Headquarters like a retirement home, I will help 'justice' by cleaning the house." Akainu's right arm swelled with compressed heat, distorting the air.
"Whether you're Garp's brat or a so-called genius, trash that insults justice has only one destination: hell."
The surrounding Marines scrambled backward to escape the suffocating heat radiation.
"Sakazuki! You dare to attack my family?!" Garp's joking demeanor vanished as pitch-black Armament Haki coated both fists.
Before the old hero could step forward, a hand clamped down on his broad shoulder.
"Old man, move."
Zaraki's voice was light and lazy, but his grip held the furious Marine in place.
Garp turned, stunned, to meet Zaraki's gaze.
He found no fear or anger on his face—only a scalp-numbing excitement mirroring a starving beast catching the scent of blood.
"I like that look," Zaraki grinned. "Like you really want to burn me to ash."
The Kenpachi template stirred wildly as his suppressed spiritual pressure finally found an outlet.
"If you're just a watchdog that barks, cutting you won't be any fun."
Akainu's aura was a blazing fire, but Zaraki erupted with a bone-crushing gravitational field.
It wasn't pure Conqueror's Haki, it was materialized killing intent mixed with high-density Reiatsu.
A dark-golden shockwave exploded outward.
The magma-softened ground instantly shattered into powder, suspending rubble in midair before crushing it into dust.
"Ugh..." Isuka took a heavy blow to the brain, barely staying upright by stabbing her saber into the stone.
Thuds echoed in rapid succession as thousands of Marines within a several-hundred-meter radius collapsed, foaming at the mouth.
Only high-ranking officers and elites remained standing in the sudden, deathly silence.
"Hey, hey..." Kizaru's sunglasses slipped down his nose, true seriousness finally breaching his lazy eyes.
"What a terrifying Conqueror's Haki... No, there's something else mixed in."
Sengoku forgot to scold them.
As a Conqueror himself, he recognized the sheer value of this power.
"This level of pressure, yet he avoided crushing the unconscious beyond recovery..." He glanced at Vice Admiral Tsuru.
"I know." Tsuru brushed nonexistent dust from her sleeve. "Medical team, clear the unconscious. Remaining field officers, fall back five hundred meters. No one below Rear Admiral is to approach."
It was damage control.
If these two monsters clashed unprepared, the plaza would be the first casualty. Sengoku stepped forward, his heavy voice suppressing the rising heat.
"Sakazuki. Zaraki. If you insist on proving something, it will be in a single exchange."
Akainu's eyes narrowed while Zaraki's grin widened.
Sengoku raised a glowing, golden finger.
"One exchange. No pursuit, no lethal follow-up, and no destruction beyond the barrier. Ignore this, and I will personally suppress you."
Garp snorted, Tsuru folded her arms, and Kizaru muttered about the Fleet Admiral's genuine anger.
Akainu's magma arm boiled.
"You want to be an Admiral Candidate?" he sneered. "Prove your strength isn't just the madness of a beast."
"Then it's decided." Zaraki casually tossed both Oto and Kogarashi to Garp. "Hold these for me, old man. Someone else's swords don't feel right."
Garp caught the famous blades, snorted heavily, and retreated to Sengoku's side to let the boy walk toward the sea of magma alone.
Zaraki reached beneath the torn cloth at his waist and drew his own weapon—a long tachi exuding an ominous aura.
The cursed blade, Murasame.
The instant the pitch-black steel appeared, the sweltering temperature plummeted.
A slimy, crawling sensation washed over the remaining conscious officers.
Zaraki held the sword in a reverse grip, leaning forward into a wide-open stance with zero defense.
"If I win, I want that position, and I don't clock in," Zaraki grinned.
"If you lose, you will learn the meaning of justice," Akainu shot back.
Zaraki moved.
Without Shunpo or Devil Fruit powers, his leg muscles erupted with terrifying force.
Reiatsu crushed the air beneath his feet to turn his first step into an explosive launch that shattered the plaza stone.
In the next heartbeat, his sharp aura appeared directly above Akainu's head.
Relying on raw speed, Haki, spiritual pressure, and brutal instinct, Zaraki gripped Murasame with both hands and chopped straight down into the surging magma.
"If you're a monster, you should be able to take a slash, right?"
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