Chapter 30

Zephyr exploded, grabbing Garp by the collar. "What do you know?! Devil Fruits are the devil's work! Real strength comes from within! If you rely on a fruit, you'll never truly grow!"

Garp and Sengoku exchanged a look. This was dangerous territory. Garp shrugged, pulling a donut from his pocket. "Easy there, pal. Have a snack, cool off."

Meanwhile, down on the field...

Simon gaped as Minnie hit the ground. "Are you kidding me? I just saved your butt and you're out already?"

Loya kicked Minnie aside, cracking his knuckles as he approached Simon. "So, you wanna pass out on your own, or should I help?"

Pass out? As if! Simon thought. But I'm not about to get pummeled either...

His eyes narrowed as he reached into his pocket.

"Still got some fight in you?" Loya sneered, his fist flying towards Simon's face.

At the last second, Simon whipped out... a white flag.

WHOOSH!

The flag fluttered in front of Loya's fist, then plastered itself to Simon's face from the wind.

Loya froze mid-punch, jaw dropping. "I've never seen anyone this shameless!"

Simon, still cowering, peeked out from behind the flag. "Hey, the Fleet Admiral and everyone's watching! You gotta save face!"

"Nope. Just don't hit me."

Up in the stands, Sengoku and Garp shared a bemused look before turning to Zephyr.

Zephyr roared, "Don't look at me like that! It's the Westin family style! What am I supposed to do about it?!"

Garp chuckled. "Well, can't fault the kid's survival instincts. Might make a good spy someday."

Sengoku rubbed his temples. "I'm getting too old for this..."

Here's a more dynamic, conversational version of that scene:

"Get out of the way!" a deep voice thundered.

Everyone turned to see Tony slowly raising his head, his eyes burning scarlet. The air around him crackled with murderous intent.

Simon, still crouched on the ground, took one look and bolted. "Don't just stand there!" he yelled to the others. "Tony's move doesn't care who it hits! Run if you can, play dead if you can't!"

Up in the stands, Sengoku's eyes narrowed. "Is that... Asura Swordsmanship? I thought that style died out years ago."

Zephyr nodded grimly. "Asura Kendo. It's not about fancy techniques - it's pure killing power. Used to be the trump card of the underworld's top assassins."

He glanced at a confused-looking Garp. "The last master, codenamed 'Asura,' passed it on before he died. Tony's one of the heirs. That's why pirates attacked his hometown - the underworld's got a 10 billion Berry bounty on this technique."

Back on the field, Loya and Tony locked eyes. One thought ran through Loya's mind: I can't run.

He didn't understand the science behind it, but he knew Tony's next move would be deadly. Even the silverback ape hadn't felt this dangerous.

Every instinct screamed at Loya to dodge, but his body wouldn't respond.

"Asura Upright One Thousand Corpse Buddha!" Tony's voice was barely a whisper.

His blade flashed out and back so fast it seemed to never leave the sheath. A scarlet line appeared in the air, vanishing instantly.

Loya's entire body broke out in a cold sweat. The danger was overwhelming, but his legs felt like lead.

The red line reappeared, inches from Loya's neck. The killing intent was so intense it made his skin crawl.

SLICE!

Everyone froze, staring at Loya. There wasn't even a scratch on his ice armor.

Tony blinked, then his face turned beet red. "Uh... sorry about that. I forgot I can't cut steel yet."

Up in the stands, Sengoku turned to Zephyr, bewildered. "What just happened? That build-up was intense!"

Zephyr groaned, covering his face. "Asura's technique doesn't pierce defenses. It's meant to strangle from inside soft targets. But it needs raw power to break through armor first."

He gestured at Loya. "That ice-covered idiot's been focusing on defense. Tony never stood a chance of cutting through."

Garp's eyes widened. "So if the kid didn't have that ice, he'd be a goner?"

"Pretty much," Zephyr sighed. He glanced at Sengoku, deciding to keep Loya's full abilities under wraps. Garp wasn't exactly known for his discretion.

"Though," Zephyr added, "Zoan users heal fast. Dragons especially. When Loya and Kuzan sparred, the kid got a lung punctured. It stopped bleeding before we even found a doctor. He was back to light training the next day!"

Down on the field, Loya touched his neck, heart still racing. That was too close. If I hadn't reinforced my defenses...

He looked at Tony with newfound respect. "Not bad, kid. You almost had me there."

Tony, still embarrassed, managed a weak smile. "Thanks. Um... best two out of three?"

Loya grinned. "Nice try. How about we call it a day and grab some food instead? I'm starving after all this."

As the tension on the field dissipated, Sengoku turned to his fellow officers. "Well, gentlemen? What do you think of our new recruits?"

Garp, already munching on another donut, shrugged. "They've got spunk, I'll give 'em that. Might make decent Marines someday... if they survive training."

Zephyr just shook his head, a hint of pride in his eyes. "They're a handful, but there's potential there. Give me a few months, and I'll whip them into shape."

"So even if Tony somehow grew an extra mouth on his neck and had skin tougher than Kaido's scales, Loya would still bounce back. A month or two, tops, and he'd be good as new."

"You're kidding me!" Garp's jaw dropped faster than Luffy diving for meat. He glanced at Loya in the crowd. "Is this phantom beast thing really that ridiculous?"

"Yep, it's about as scientific as Ivankov's hormones." Zephyr chuckled, but there was a hint of awe in his voice. "Loya's got more lives than a den den mushi. If you really wanted to take him out, you'd need to hit his weak spots dead-on."

What Zephyr didn't know was that Loya's superhuman resilience was courtesy of his mystery system. Even Loya was scratching his head about it.

Thinking back to the original story, dragon slayer wizards didn't have this kind of crazy power and bounce-back ability. Magic wasn't something you could measure like Beli, and mastering it took longer than Zoro finding his way out of a paper bag. There weren't any fancy energy levels either.

The only explanation that made sense was the system itself. After the initial "holy crap, I'm in another world" excitement wore off, Loya had been poking at this system in his downtime. He was starting to smell something fishy about all these weird abilities he had.

He had a gut feeling that sometimes, the biggest enemy for a world-hopper might just be their own cheat code.

Down in the arena, Tony's world was spinning faster than Luffy after eating too much meat. He had to stab his sword into the ground just to keep from face-planting.

In a proper kendo school, the secret techniques are usually the trump cards, needing top-notch swordsmanship and a body tougher than sea stone to pull off.

Tony's personality was about as far from the Asura Kendo philosophy as East Blue is from the New World. Showing its true power? Fat chance.

He'd totally misjudged how tough Loya's ice armor was. Forget leaving a scratch, he couldn't even make it sweat.

The Thousand Corpse Pagoda move was still way beyond his skills. Tony had risked his neck using it, and for what? Loya probably didn't even feel a tickle.

He looked up at Loya, a weak smile on his face. "You're... really something else. In the future... mind giving me some pointers?"

"Nah, I'll pass." Loya said, knocking him out cold. He scooped up Tony's limp form and casually added, "A wild card like you should stick to sparring with Aludo. He's built like a brick house and can take a beating."

Aludo, still struggling against Loya's ice like a sea king in a fishing net, heard this and bellowed, "Loya, you jerk! Let me go and I'll show you a real fight! I want more rounds with you!"

"Ha! Talk to me when you can actually break free. The guy I KO every time doesn't get to make demands."

With a look that screamed 'I'm so done with this', Loya turned to the recruits who were frozen in place. "So... anyone else want a beat down?"

The recruits shared a look that said 'we're so screwed', tossed their weapons aside, and surrendered faster than Buggy confronted by Mihawk.

At this point, everyone was speechless. Loya had always been a monster, especially after that time in the combat assessment when he took down a silverback ape like it was nothing. His reputation in the recruit camp was through the roof.

But beating him? That idea had seemed about as likely as finding All Blue in a puddle.