Magnus had no idea what Kokoro was thinking.
Observation Haki isn't facial recognition; it first senses a person's presence. The stronger the person, the clearer the aura.
When Magnus glanced over the merchantman, the strongest auras—besides the hired guards—were Rayleigh and Evan.
Evan hid his aura well, but the gap between them was huge; Magnus recognized his old crewmate at once.
Kokoro's race differed from humans, but her presence felt about the same. And they'd only met a handful of times. There was no way Magnus would pick her out.
So one pulse of Conqueror's and the poor mermaid girl fainted on the spot. By the time she woke, the Millennium Falcon and Newgate's ship were already making ready to sail.
After half a year apart, Magnus was genuinely curious—how far had Newgate climbed?
"Here's fine."
They chose an uninhabited island. With Ripley and the others anchoring far out, Magnus and Newgate faced each other from opposite shores.
"How long do you think Newgate can last?"
On the Falcon's deck, Ripley asked Tsuru.
"Ten minutes?"
Tsuru wasn't sure.
Like Shiki and Zephyr, she'd joined in the second wave. But as time went on, her growth fell behind Shiki's and Zephyr's.
In the White Wolf Pirates, one prodigy was universally acknowledged—
Linlin.
At five, she'd floored a top CP operative with a single punch and bullied Rocks and Newgate for ages. If not for her age slowing things down, pulling ahead of her would've been near impossible.
Once Linlin grew sensible and learned control, her rise was like a rocket.
Two years ago, Newgate overtook her.
Now, if they fought again, the winner was anyone's guess.
Beyond Linlin—
The top talent trio was Rocks, Newgate, and Shiki—their improvement was terrifying.
The pity was that they'd joined at different times; with similar gifts, Rocks stayed ahead of Newgate, and Newgate ahead of Shiki.
Behind them, Zephyr led the second tier.
Quiet, but his grind was obvious to all. A notch below in talent, he clung to Shiki's heels so tightly that Shiki didn't dare slack an inch.
Not long ago, Shiki wanted to leave the crew because he'd plateaued—and nearly tripped into a loss against Zephyr.
Like Rocks trying to poach Newgate, Shiki had long wanted to recruit Zephyr.
No chance.
Newgate and Zephyr each had their own creeds; when beliefs clash, they won't follow anyone else.
Newgate cherishes family, while Rocks walked away from the White Wolf Pirates.
Zephyr cares about ordinary people; Shiki doesn't.
Even Magnus needs both power and favor—carrot and stick—to tame such wild souls.
He'd spent years building their trust. How could Rocks or Shiki pry them loose so easily?
Below them, in the third tier, came Ripley and Tsuru.
Geniuses to normal folks—
But ordinary to true monsters.
Ripley had been stuck at a bottleneck for a long time.
Tsuru still climbed, but "big-name pirate" level looked small among a first wave whose average had drifted toward Admiral class.
So Tsuru figured Magnus was still stronger than Newgate—
But by how much?
"Heh-heh~"
Ripley folded her arms. She'd been competitive at first—no one likes admitting they're outclassed.
But after seeing those freaks, she had to concede—humans grow faster than giants.
If she couldn't catch up, she'd stop trying.
Train steady, grow steady. No matter how strong the others got, none surpassed Magnus. Even he, during drills, had to ask her to shrink down.
Longest beside him, Ripley had the clearest sense of Magnus's strength.
"Newgate's way stronger now, sure. But if the captain feels like it, he won't need ten minutes. He can end it in an instant."
When the gap is wide enough, every flaw gets magnified. Fully grown, Newgate's Armament and Observation are top-tier; his Observation can even peek at the future.
But what truly makes him terrifying isn't Haki—
It's his awakened Quake-Quake Fruit.
That destruction makes even Magnus nod.
Right now—
As Newgate clenched his fist, the air shuddered out of control—first around him, then the ground, then the entire island and the surrounding sea.
They hadn't even started, and the leakage alone left distant onlookers struggling to stand.
"So strong!"
"No wonder we had to stand so far away. If this is the aura before the first blow, the aftershock alone would paste us."
"Captain, go get 'im!"
…
Newgate's ship carried kids—including Kaido—but it wasn't bereft of proper sailors.
He had several peers aboard, but their strength lagged far behind. Unlike picky Rocks, Newgate chose crew on feel; if they clicked, strong or weak, he took them in.
"Haha, quite the show."
The further you were, the more Newgate's shock force thumped you; up close, Magnus felt little.
A normal person might think Newgate was nothing special.
But this was only the prelude.
When Newgate gathered that quake force, the trembling stilled—and milky-white radiance wrapped around his fist.
"Captain—heads up!"
Newgate drew a deep breath. He knew exactly how terrifying his captain was. Three years after Acropolis Port, even Admirals balked at facing him.
Against Magnus, he gave it everything.
No holding back.
"Quake—!"
With a growl, he stepped in. That towering frame exploded into a speed no one could ignore. He knew his strengths—and his faults.
No matter how strong the blow, it only matters if it lands.
Space itself seemed pressed to the limit.
He blinked from one end of the field to the other. War-hunger twisted his young face; the muscles over his arm swelled with force enough to shake the sea.
Magnus watched those cords stand out—watched the milky halo swell around that giant fist. As it swung, the air itself groaned.
"Good!"
Magnus stood his ground, delighted rather than alarmed.
At his level, few strikes stirred him. An ordinary Admiral's blow—against his hide and Armament—would tear flesh he'd knit back in less than a breath.
But Newgate's was different.
If he took it clean, even Magnus would be hurt. The damage from the quake spreads everywhere.
So, he moved.
Black blade in hand, red-black lightning crackled—Conqueror's coiling tangibly around Frostveil. The pressure was suffocating.
Newgate's fist fell.
Magnus's blade rose.
Between them, a jet-black tide slammed free; thunder roared.
"BOOOOM—!"
The ground under Magnus's feet shattered to dust. Whatever his stroke carved, Newgate's destruction was plain to see.
Naked fissures spidered out from their clash. He had unleashed ruin without reserve—only this man could make Newgate throw a full-on haymaker.
"Worldsplit!!!"
It was as if space itself cracked beneath his punch. Before his fruit awakened, he needed raw, brutal strength to lash wide-area havoc to his quake power.
After awakening, one blow—and Magnus felt the whole world shiver.
"Haha—now that's fun."
Magnus had used Conqueror's infusion—but only as a greeting.
Against this, that much Haki wasn't enough.
Cracks in space crept toward him.
Magnus's face set; the playfulness vanished.
"Alright. A little serious, then."
Until now, he'd blocked Newgate's all-out strike with one hand and a lazy, infused cut.
Next breath, he twisted—blade flashed.
No pressure troubled him. As Newgate chained a follow-up punch downward, Magnus turned and cut again.
The slash was lightning-swift—almost all his Haki compressed into a blade's breadth. The milky radiance around Newgate's fist split in an instant.
"!!!"
Newgate's expression changed. If that landed on his hand—the hand might be gone.
"Haha. Your offense is there, your guard is not. For top-tier brawlers, a fist is the sharpest spear—and the stoutest shield. If the fist isn't hard enough, it won't topple anyone."
Newgate's attack could crush a typical Admiral—
But against a higher tier, it wouldn't be enough.
Just before the blade bit, Magnus turned the cut into a smack—flat of the sword cracking across Newgate's knuckles.
Even battle-hardened Newgate hissed like a schoolboy rapped by a teacher's ruler.
"Again—look."
Magnus's blade could shear the quake halo cleanly. But when his fist met Newgate's—against a freshly reformed halo—Newgate found his quake power did nothing to him.
No—that wasn't right.
It did—but the Haki wrapping Magnus's fist was so condensed it shouldered through the quake and met bare knuckle to bare knuckle.
"Fruit power alone—no matter how mighty—won't carry you to the grand hall. Only fused with Haki, each amplifying the other, does it become your knocking-stone to the summit."
"Come again!"
He'd come to challenge—
But one cut and one punch from Magnus knocked the pride right out of him, throwing him back into the mindset of a kid being coached.
He'd thought that even if he couldn't beat Magnus now, he could at least avoid an ugly loss. Admirals wouldn't even face him, after all.
Now he knew—"Admiral level" is the starting line. To become truly mighty, his road was long.
Rocks was still groping in the dark—
But Magnus could lay the highway at Newgate's feet.
Newgate lacked opponents—
Magnus was the best opponent.
He lacked pressure—
And Magnus brought more pressure than anyone in the world.
The only drawback: this was just a guidance bout, not a life-and-death struggle. It would grant insight, not a true breakthrough.
But even that far outstripped what groping-alone Rocks had.
They still had a ten-year pact.
If Rocks asked for coaching, Magnus wouldn't play favorites—but Rocks was stubborn, set on his own way.
In his mind, he'd left the White Wolf Pirates. If he came back for guidance, wouldn't that mean leaving was wrong?
Rocks had his pride.
To Magnus, it was needless hardship—but if he truly broke the cocoon, he could finally shatter the shadow Magnus cast.
Main got overleveled; train the alt.
Since Rocks would walk his path, Magnus would pour more into Newgate. When the ten years were up—
He'd point at Newgate and tell Rocks: beat him first.
And so the "guidance" lasted a full day and night.
(End of Chapter)
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