"You little brat—when the hell did you train up an Indestructible Body?!"
Zephyr stepped forward swiftly and grabbed Daren's arm. His rough hand gave it a light squeeze, and disbelief washed over his face.
He stared at Daren as if he'd seen a ghost.
"It's real!? This is insane! That's the same kind of physique as that monster Kaidou!"
If he hadn't witnessed it himself, he would never have believed it.
Zephyr had firsthand experience with Kaidou's monstrous body. Aside from top-tier Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki, almost every other attack or technique was useless against him.
It was no exaggeration to say that on large-scale battlefields, as long as he wasn't surrounded by elite forces, Kaidou could simply stand there and remain untouchable.
Bullets, blades, poison—anything that would normally kill a person couldn't even scratch him.
It was thanks to this terrifying physique that Kaidou had survived being "captured" by the Marines dozens of times and still managed to escape.
As the head instructor of the training camp, Zephyr had long been exploring the most advanced training methods, and naturally, he'd also tried to crack the secret of Kaidou's Indestructible Body.
But every single method had ended in failure.
Because the human body has limits.
Skin toughness, muscle contraction, shock resistance, bone density, joint flexibility... No matter how much you scientifically and rigorously improved them, once you hit the limits of your genes and bloodline, that was it. You couldn't push the body any further.
Yet here was Daren, this brat, flipping everything Zephyr thought he knew on its head!
Someone had actually trained themselves to the level of an Indestructible Body through sheer effort!?
"What did you do? Did you invent some new training method? No, wait..."
Zephyr narrowed his eyes at Daren, mumbling suspiciously.
"Before the blitz on Totto Land, your physique hadn't reached this level. After that, you went to Wano... Wait, Wano!!"
His eyes suddenly went wide.
"Don't tell me... Kaido taught you how to train an Indestructible Body?!"
"Uh..."
Daren's mouth twitched. He hesitated, unable to respond.
Zephyr looked as if he'd been struck by lightning.
Just from Daren's reaction, he knew—it was true.
"This can't be..."
He looked dazed, like he'd suffered a heavy blow, muttering under his breath:
"That Kaidou... actually has the ability to teach something like this? That's impossible..."
As the head of the training camp, Zephyr prided himself on being the best teacher in the seas. He'd trained monsters like Sakazuki and Borsalino, and raised a whole generation of young powerhouses like Yamakaji and Onigumo—the so-called "Golden Generation."
But what he couldn't accept was this:
One of his most gifted and proudest students had achieved his greatest growth not under his guidance—but from a pirate!
It felt like a slap across the face.
"I... have I misled my students?" Zephyr muttered, utterly crushed.
"Um... Zephyr-sensei, to be honest, Kaidou didn't teach me anything. We just had a good, all-out brawl."
Seeing Zephyr so despondent, Daren couldn't help but speak up in comfort.
Zephyr glanced at him and said in a low voice:
"So what you're saying is, he didn't teach you a thing, just fought you—and that somehow did what I spent half a lifetime trying to achieve?"
"Yeah, that's right... Wait, no, that's not what I meant!"
A bead of cold sweat slid down Daren's forehead as he saw the dangerous glint flash through Zephyr's eyes.
"Forget it. If you've trained yourself into an Indestructible Body, then that's your own fortune."
Zephyr suddenly let out a long sigh, a tired look crossing his face.
"I have no idea what kind of structure your body has. Kaidou's monstrous physique is because he doesn't have human blood running through his veins."
Noticing Daren about to comfort him again, Zephyr waved him off.
"But it's not a bad thing. At least now I don't have to worry about your life anymore."
At that, Zephyr's gaze toward Daren shifted subtly.
The insane mobility of the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi, Kaidou's Indestructible Body, the Moa Moa no Mi's massive destructive potential... This brat Daren had practically gathered the strongest traits of all those legendary pirates.
If he kept "fooling around" like this, what other bizarre, ridiculous powers would he pick up next?
Zephyr's mouth twitched.
He was starting to realize—he just didn't understand young people anymore.
"By the way, Zephyr-sensei, you looked pretty upset when you came in just now."
Daren shifted the topic.
Zephyr paused, then gave a bitter smile and shook his head.
"I can't hide anything from you, can I, you little brat... It's nothing serious. I just had a fight with Sengoku."
"A fight?"
Daren looked at him, puzzled.
Zephyr wasn't the type to keep things bottled up. He gritted his teeth and continued, "The World Government just launched a new system called the Shichibukai. It grants powerful pirates the legal right to plunder, supposedly as a buffer between the Marines and pirates."
His fists slowly clenched, and his tone brimmed with frustration.
"Since when did the Marines need to rely on pirates to fight evil!?"
"Justice and evil are fundamentally incompatible. Once this begins, it's the same as recognizing the legitimacy and legality of pirates. The consequences will be disastrous!"
"And Daren, you know what? They've already picked the first Shichibukai."
He let out an angry snort.
"It's that brat Crocodile, the one they call 'Desert King Crocodile'! That punk has taken over countless towns in the first half of the Grand Line and even sunk several Marine warships!"
"But now, thanks to this damned system, he's suddenly a 'Marine ally'!?"
"It's absurd! Laughable!"
"An insult to justice!"
Zephyr grew more agitated as he spoke, clenching his fists and grinding his teeth. He looked ready to storm back to the Admiral's office for another round with Sengoku.
"Hey, Daren, I'm talking to you. Why aren't you saying anything?"
Noticing Daren's silence, Zephyr shot him a glare—only to realize his expression looked... odd.
"Uh... Zephyr-sensei, I already know about this."
Zephyr grunted. "You knew and didn't say anything!?"
Daren blinked.
"I'm the one who gave Crocodile the title of Shichibukai."
Zephyr: ...