"Boy, you want to fight me?" Garp asked, bitting a rice cracker in his hand. Seemingly amused by his young face.
"Yes!" Blaize nodded his head while looking at Garp with reverence. It's a form of respect that one shows when meeting a person stronger than oneself and they admire.
"Bwahaha! You are pretty courageous for a little brat." Garp laughed and punched Blaize straight in his face without any notice.
Blaize flew back a few meters before crashing onto the ground. Strangely, he didn't feel any pain from his broken nose but an indiscernible feeling surged from his heart.
'I have to strike back! I need to strike back!'
Jumping back to his feet, Blaize's entire body emanated scorching vapor. The fumes forced the surrounding marines to take a few steps back. A hot breath enveloped everything within a 1-meter radius.
Blaize calls this 'Heat sense'. In this 1-meter domain, he can perceive everything using the heatwave radiating from his body.
As for Maynard and other marines who Blaize traveled with, they watched the commotion with interest. They didn't expect the kid they brought would straight away pick a fight with 'Hero of the Marine' Garp. Moreover, they are also oblivious to the fact that he's a devil fruit user.
'A heat-type devil fruit power. This kid hid it well!' Maynard thought.
Wasting no time, Blaize rushed towards Garp and threw a punch while his heat sense observed all his opponent's move. With this ability, he can even predict the opponent's next move based on the slightest muscle tension in their body.
His senses perceived Garp putting his strength on his left, predicting his body is possibly leaning towards his left. In mid-air, Blaize's fist changed direction.
"What?" Garp was taken aback a little. 'Haki? No.' At the last second, his body stopped moving and evaded the strike.
Since Blaize's fist changed direction he couldn't strike Garp who remained still where he was. But in onlookers' eyes, Blaize became someone who couldn't even punch straight.
Because if he had, he could have hit Garp who remains unmoved. But only Garp knows, what happened in that split second.
Garp who evaded the strike observed Blaize close. He long guessed the kid before he ate devil fruit with heat abilities. What made him curious is, how did the kid predict his movements with no prior knowledge to haki?
Blaize knew it's not time to hold back his strength. He stopped restraining his devil fruit power and let his strength explode. Both his hands heated to extreme temperature and turned scorching red. The intense heat even melted the stone tiles beneath his feet.
With that, he once again clashed with Garp. What astonished him is, as before, Garp effortlessly blocked his burning hands without any difficulty. 'What kind of physique is this? Even my 'Blazing Fist' failed to char his skin!'
As he expected, you can't gauge the characters of one piece with common sense.
As his Fist missed the target, Blaize used a sweeping kick. Like his hands, his feet also heated to an intense degree and glowed in fiery red. It was also blocked by Garp. His eyes can perceive Garp's movement but his body couldn't cope with the extreme speed.
'I need to be faster!' Blazing his legs and pushing his speed to the limit, Blaize fought with much ferocity. He was like a wild animal that wants to catch its prey, exerting every ounce of his strength. Even so, he couldn't even touch the hem of Garp's cloth.
A minute passed, but the situation didn't change. From start to finish, Garp didn't strike back, allowing the wild Blaize to attack however he wants. In the mid-battle, he even found time to eat his Rice-crackers.
By the time, all the marines in the surrounding came over and formed a circle watching the battle in interest.
"Who is this Kid? Why is he trying to fight Garp-san?"
"He's a heat-type devil user. Why I haven't heard of him before? Is he new here?"
Blaize became famous the first day he came to marineford. All the marines were curious about his identity and his devil fruit. As they know all the devil fruit users would raise in rank very easily.
Unlike the spectators, Garp noticed the difference. The temperature around Blaize keeps on increasing and with his haki, he sensed it's damaging the latter's body. If this continued, it would heavily injure him.
Of course, Blaize didn't notice any of this. The only thought running in his mind is, he wants to strike Garp, at least once, or force him to reveal a part of his strength.
Unfortunately, he overestimated his strength.
Deciding it's time to end the fight, Garp's image flickered. His figure disappeared, then appeared behind Blaize. With a chop, he knocked him unconscious so that the kid can stop hurting himself further.
"This brat..." Garp laughed a little and looked at unconscious Blaize with narrowed eyes.
"Take this kid to the infirmary! Notify me after he wakes up." Tossing a few rice-crackers into his mouth, Garp left the area mumbling to himself. 'Interesting!'
Blaize aroused his interest. He liked his personality and the spark he saw in the latter's eyes. He won't mistake it, the kid has the heart of the strong. Besides, he noticed Blaize's mind is pure.
Maynard grabbed Blaize's unconscious body and moved towards the infirmary. He didn't expect Blaize to pick a fight as soon as he landed on the Marineford.
"You are pretty bold, kid!" Maynard mumbled.
--
Admiral Sengoku's office,
Garp recounted what happened in the square to Sengoku while cackling aloud. "It's been years since I met such a fine brat. He will be a fine marine in the future."
Hearing his statement, Sengoku asked: "Devil fruit power related to heat? A year ago, I heard one of Big Mom's sons named Charlette Oven ate a devil fruit which is confirmed as Heat-Heat fruit.
So that youth couldn't have eaten the same devil fruit. Is it related to temperature fruit?"
"I don't know, we can ask him once he wakes up." Garp said and carefully asked, "Why don't you leave that kid to me. I will make him a wonderful marine."
"No way!" Sengoku rejected outrightly by slamming his hands on the table. "Who knows what kind of justice you will teach him? Kuzan is a good example!"
"You don't understand Sengoku. I saw it in his eyes, his desire for strength. He isn't the type of person who will listen to other's orders. You have to handle him nicely." Garp said.
"Like how I handle you?" Sengoku rebuked.
"Bwahaha. Yes, that's right."
"I need to read his report before deciding how I should manage him." Sengoku waved his hand and pressed a bell on his table. At that moment, a Marine officer came in and handed him a report of Blaize.
As soon as he was enlisted as a Seaman recruit the Marine headquarters gathered all his information. Reading the report sent to him, Sengoku determined to make Blaize a strong marine.
"I am handing him to Zephyr, you stay out of his training," Sengoku said and tossed the report to Garp.