Early the next morning, birds chirped throughout the mountain forest as a gentle breeze swept across the clearing.
Garp pushed open the door.
The moment he saw what was waiting outside, he tried to close it again.
A hand stopped the door, and another reached inside and lifted him off the ground.
Garp struggled wildly as an ominous feeling rose within him.
“Let me go, Dad!” Jiro ignored his pleas and carried him to the foot of the mountain.
He only wants me to climb the mountain?
Is that all?
Garp didn’t believe it could be so simple, but Jiro really did point toward the summit.
“Go on, my son.” Garp cautiously prepared to climb, only for his father to stop him before he could take his first step.
“What are you doing?
Carry this with you.” Beside them sat a massive boulder, far larger and heavier than Garp.
Carrying something like that up a mountain would kill a normal person.
Garp knew it couldn’t possibly have been that simple.
“Dad, do you seriously think I can lift this?” Jiro smiled.
“Whether you can lift it isn’t up to you.
I say you can, so you can.
Besides, how will you know unless you try?” Garp couldn’t think of a response.
He braced himself and tried to lift the boulder, but it refused to move.
Even after using all his strength, he couldn’t make it budge.
Garp turned around to tell his father it was impossible, then saw the wooden stick in Jiro’s hands.
It was even thicker and longer than the previous one.
Garp immediately dropped into a horse stance.
He straightened his back, gripped the boulder, and poured all his strength into his arms.
The massive rock finally shifted, but after moving it only slightly, Garp became exhausted and let go.
Just as he was about to give up, Jiro stepped forward and casually lifted the boulder.
“Catch.” The rock dropped onto Garp’s back.
His face instantly turned bright red, and his entire body bent beneath its weight.
The pressure was so intense that he could barely breathe.
Walking was already difficult, let alone climbing a mountain.
Jiro remained unmoved.
“Hurry up.
Don’t waste my time.” With the threat of the wooden stick behind him, Garp didn’t dare argue.
He took one step, rested, then forced himself to take another.
After struggling for the entire morning, he finally reached the summit.
Garp dropped the boulder and collapsed onto the ground, completely drenched in sweat.
He didn’t want to move another muscle.
Jiro walked over and kicked the rock.
The boulder Garp had spent all morning carrying rolled over the edge and tumbled all the way back down the mountain.
“Son, go back down.” Garp blinked, his face full of confusion.
Jiro pointed over the cliff.
“What are you looking at me for?
Jump down, pick up the boulder, and carry it back here.” Garp assumed his father had pointed in the wrong direction.
“Dad, the path down is over there.” Jiro curled his lip.
“Who said you were taking the path?
I told you to jump.” Garp stared at him in horror.
Jump off the cliff?
Was his father trying to murder him?
The drop was well over ten meters, perhaps closer to twenty.
Dense forest covered the ground below, but that hardly made it safe.
“I’ll give you two choices,” Jiro said, raising one finger.
“First, you jump on your own, and I won’t interfere.” He raised a second finger.
“Second, I send you down myself.
Where you land will be entirely up to chance.” Jiro crossed his arms and waited.
Garp looked over the cliff.
The moment he saw how far the ground was below, his legs began to tremble.
He looked back at his father, but Jiro’s expression made it clear that there would be no negotiation.
“Dad,” Garp pleaded, “can I jump tomorrow?
I’m too tired today.” An obvious excuse.
Jiro glanced at him flatly.
“It seems you’ve chosen the second option.” He began rolling up his sleeves, and Garp’s face turned pale.
“No!
Dad, wait!
I’ll do it myself!” Garp stood at the edge and looked down.
His heart filled with dread, but he knew he had no way out of this.
He took several deep breaths and tried to encourage himself.
It would all be over in the blink of an eye.
“It’s fine, Garp.
Believe in yourself.
What haven’t you survived already?
This is nothing.” “Come on, Garp.
You can’t let a certain someone look down on you.” Then his body suddenly flew forward.
Jiro had kicked him.
Garp’s small body traced a beautiful arc through the air before plummeting toward the forest below.
“Aaaaaah!” His miserable screams echoed through the mountains.
As Garp disappeared from sight, Jiro could hear him shouting profanities and passionately expressing his gratitude for that final kick.
“The more energetic my son is, the happier I become.
That kick felt wonderful.” “What a beautiful sound.” No matter how many times he heard Garp scream, Jiro never seemed to tire of it.
He stood at the summit and listened.
The shouting continued from below, which meant his son was alive and still full of energy.
[System: Your son has understood your painstaking efforts.
He is expressing his gratitude for your silent support.] [Evaluation: A crucial kick that gave your son one final push of fatherly love.] [Fatherly love is as heavy as a mountain.
Your love is so great that Garp feels unworthy of receiving it.] “Claim the reward.” Moonwalk acquired.
It was Jiro’s third Six Powers technique, and he paid no attention to the system’s mockery.
It could say whatever it wanted; he would continue doing things his way.
A translucent panel appeared before him.
[Host: Monkey D.
Jiro] [Devil Fruit: None] [Skills: Iron Body Lv.
1, Finger Pistol Lv.
1, Moonwalk Lv.
1] All three techniques were only level one, and the Devil Fruit section remained empty.
The panel was simple and easy to understand, and it didn’t bother listing any of his ordinary abilities.
Looking at it this way, he was still a complete beginner.
“As expected, I’m still weak.” Jiro hadn’t yet tested the strength of his level-one Finger Pistol.
“Finger Pistol.” He drove one finger into a rock, leaving a hole straight through the head-sized stone.
If the same attack struck a person, the results would be devastating.
“Finger Pistol.” “Finger Pistol.” Jiro fired several more times.
A real man couldn’t stop after only one shot.
He moved on to a larger rock and thrust his finger forward again, punching another clean hole through it.
His finger remained completely unharmed.
“A level-one Finger Pistol is already this powerful.
What would it be like at level ten?
Would a single strike be enough to defeat a Devil Fruit user?” “And if it reached level one hundred, would even Kaido be able to withstand it?” He would have to test that theory on Kaido someday.
What would happen if he combined Finger Pistol with Armament Haki?
Jiro quickly became lost in fantasies of sweeping aside every enemy who stood before him.
After finishing his Finger Pistol tests, he moved on to Moonwalk and finally Iron Body.
Iron Body was the technique most suited to direct training.
To improve it, he needed to withstand heavy impacts and powerful attacks.
The forest had no shortage of wild beasts, so he simply needed to find one with enough strength to test his defenses.
The giant black bear would be perfect.
Jiro found the bear, provoked it, and used its attacks to temper his Iron Body.
Two hours later, he returned to the summit without a scratch.
There, he found Garp struggling up the mountain with the boulder on his back.
The child’s perseverance exceeded Jiro’s expectations.
He had assumed Garp would collapse after completing the climb once.
“He can manage two climbs in a single day.
His stamina really is impressive.
This training will make him even stronger.” While Garp was still young enough to train, Jiro intended to make him nearly impossible to kill.
Tenacious vitality had to be cultivated from childhood.
Get ahead at the starting line, and you’ll stay ahead.
I truly am a wonderful father.