"Be careful! That's… that's a Devil Fruit ability! We can't hit his body—move back!"
One of the more knowledgeable Marine cadets finally realized the truth and turned to flee.
But that thought was far too late.
"You hit me and think you can run? Too late!"
A blinding flash of light streaked across the field.
Ren's body instantly appeared in front of the fleeing cadet, his leg already raised.
Boom!
His speed was so incredible that to everyone watching, he seemed to vanish and reappear in the blink of an eye.
Before they could even register the movement, the cadet's body was already sent flying through the air.
"Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining one Marine Rokushiki fragment!"
Ren's grin widened. What a lucky day—these rewards just kept getting better.
"Next up, it's your turn."
His voice carried an eerie chill, like a whisper rising from the depths of the underworld, freezing the hearts of the remaining Marine cadets.
Within five minutes, the battlefield fell silent again.
Only Ren was left standing.
This time, however, he had only gained a dozen or so Rokushiki fragments.
He frowned. By logic, defeating hundreds of students should have earned him at least three hundred fragments.
But the result was merely a hundred Glint-Glint Fruit fragments and twenty-six Rokushiki fragments.
So it wasn't a guaranteed drop—it depended on chance.
Unable to figure it out, Ren decided to stop thinking about it.
He'd have plenty more fights to test it out. In the Marine Academy, he'd never run short of battles.
No matter what, he had passed Zephyr's test and was directly promoted from a new recruit to the Marine Elite Division.
Garp had patted him on the shoulder, said a few encouraging words, and left.
As the old man said, "Just don't embarrass me, and we're good."
Soon after, Ren arrived at his dormitory. The moment he stepped inside, he saw three other cadets already unpacking.
"Perfect! Our last roommate's here. Hey there, I'm Simba," said a cheerful blond youth.
"Haha! Didn't expect the last one to be a little runt. Guess we've found our cleaning boy," said a towering hulk over three meters tall, laughing as he looked at Ren.
"Well then, shall we begin?"
The third person, a cool-looking guy with sunglasses, spoke calmly.
"Begin what?" Ren asked, feeling confused the moment he entered.
"Heh, obviously the dorm boss match. Dal here says this dorm follows the rule of strength—whoever's fists are harder, gets to be the boss."
Simba grinned and pointed at the giant named Dal, who looked quite smug.
"They say it's a tradition at this Marine Academy," Dal added proudly, cracking his knuckles with a kaba-kaba sound.
"That's right," said the one in sunglasses, chuckling. "Whoever's strongest rules the dorm. Looks like I, Clark, won't be the weakest this time."
"Oh, so that's how it is… I like this tradition," Ren said with a grin, closing the door behind him.
Moments later, loud thuds and agonized screams echoed from Dorm 707.
Bang! Bang!
"Stop! Stop already! Boss, we give up!"
Soon enough, Ren stood tall while the other three groaned on the floor.
They had been so confident earlier, assuming the youngest among them would be the weakest.
But what they didn't know was that Ren had already mastered Armament Haki.
With both fists wrapped in blackened Haki and his body moving at light speed, he had flattened all three within moments.
When it came to punching people, Garp's disciple was second to none.
"Good. Now you know who's boss here," Ren said with a satisfied smile. "From now on, Simba handles cleaning and the toilet, Clark organizes the room, and Dal takes care of odd jobs. No complaints, right?"
The trio nodded rapidly. They'd experienced firsthand just how terrifying Ren could be—none of them dared disobey.
The next day.
Marine Academy, Grand Parade Ground.
"Boss! Look over there—a gorgeous girl!" Simba said excitedly, pointing toward the women's cadet formation.
Ren followed his gaze and spotted a striking young woman with sea-blue hair—Ain.
Ain heard Simba's loud voice and turned to look their way.
Ren grinned and waved at her.
She was Zephyr's final disciple and had been the one to show him to his dorm the day before.
But she had been rather cold, barely reacting to his jokes.
Ren didn't mind.
There was plenty of time—the seas were vast and the days long.
"Hey, boss, look! That's Admiral Zephyr!"
"What—?! Don't tell me Admiral Zephyr is going to be our instructor?!"
Following Simba's finger, Ren turned his gaze toward the tall, broad-shouldered figure approaching from the distance.
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