A few days have passed since the ship left the Seaside City's harbor.
It had been an uneventful couple of days.
The waves had been calm, and the storms had stayed far away.
It was currently night time, and while the ship hadn't turned completely quiet, a couple of passengers had already retreated to their cabins to sleep.
At the bottom bunk bed, Julian scrolled through the internet on his phone and whistled with amazement.
"Kiernan, I am reading some New Rakuya articles, and I didn't know you were famous."
"Famous? Hardly." Kiernan pushed himself up, and down on the floor, doing push-ups.
"Well, they're calling you the next superstar of New Rakuya. Sounds like a big deal." Julian sat on the edge of the bed and cleared his throat.
"Kiernan Hunter is the future of New Rakuya. As only sixteen years old, he was able to push Johan Yeager to the extreme.
"With given time to grow, Kiernan will dominate the next nationals with an iron fist."
He read through the article.
"New Rakuya is just a small pond!" Kiernan said while struggling to finish the push-up. "If you were there, you would've won the nationals during your first year. I am not proud of anything that I've accomplished there.
"The world is big, and I don't want to stay in the small pond!"
"Heh, I could change my nationality to New Rakuya and come to your school." Julian laughed. "That would be pretty funny. Karuza High on top~"
"Whew…" Kiernan jumped to his feet and started shadow boxing, punching the air as if it were his greatest enemy.
"So, you came to the World Seas to meet your horrible mother and to become Martial Champion, correct?"
"Yeah, and?" Kiernan asked with sweat gathering on his forehead.
"Nothing, nothing." Julian lazily waved his hand. "Don't you have a master?"
"No," Kiernan shook his head.
"My father was my master. I am a lone wolf now." Julian stood up with a yawn. "Want to have a sparring match?"
"Huh?" Kiernan stopped shadow boxing and looked around the cramped cabin. "There isn't that much space here."
"Let's go to the deck." Julian pushed the door open, and they headed straight to the deck.
The deck was empty with a starlit sky above, and none of the sailors were in sight, but they were able to see the captain of the ship through one of the windows, making sure that the ship was on the correct route.
"You attack, and I will defend." Julian turned to face him.
"Alright." Kiernan placed his arms in front of his body as he moved into his attacking stance. "Ready?"
"Yup!" Julian lazily placed his hands in front of his body.
Kiernan lunged forward with a powerful acceleration, and his shoulder rotated as he brought his fist forward with immense strength!
"?!" Julian's eyes widened, and he crossed his arms in front of his chest.
The fist landed on the crossed arms and sent him sliding backwards. He stumbled but managed to stay on his feet, feeling the impact of the powerful blow coursing through his body.
"Hey, what's going on over there?" The captain shouted from the open window. "No fighting on the ship!"
"Sorry, we're just sparring!" Kiernan called back.
"Sparring?" The captain raised an eyebrow. "You almost tossed that young man overboard. Take it easy, or someone will end up going for an unexpected swim!"
"Yes, thank you!" Kiernan wryly smiled and turned back to Julian.
"High Stage Martial Fighter, my ass…" Julian narrowed his eyes. "Your real strength is greater than that, isn't it?"
"Maybe, I don't know." Kiernan said and moved back to his attacking stance. "Ready to continue?"
"I will attack now, and you defend!" Julian lunged forward and drove his fist forward.
Kiernan quickly shifted his stance and said. "Rendering Edge!"
With the side of his hand, he steered Julian's fist away and made the punch miss his body entirely.
Julian smacked his kick against Kiernan's raised knee. It was an equal exchange.
Then, he followed with an uppercut. Kiernan moved his head back to dodge it. Julian continued with rapid punches. The Rendering Edge defended.
Smack, smack, smack, smack!
The captain watched from the window and wiped the sweat off his face.
"Those two are monsters!"
Julian brought his hands towards Kiernan's ears to give them a proper smack. However, Kiernan quickly raised his arms and blocked them with his forearms, expertly deflecting the blows.
However, then Julian grabbed his arms and smashed his knee into Kiernan's chest, but he quickly buckled his knees to absorb some of the impact.
The knee kick sent him stumbling a few steps back.
"Hehe…" Julian laughed as if he were having fun. "Your turn to attack; I will defend!"
Kiernan took a long stride forward, and with gritted teeth, he started punching as if he were trying to kill his opponent.
"Iron Style, Reigning Fallow!"
The random trajectory punches came out of nowhere, and no one from New Rakuya's youth division would be able to even dream of blocking all of them.
Julian widened his eyes, and his arms moved like whips, slapping the punches away like flies.
When the fists and the slaps contacted, the flesh-resounding sound reverberated throughout the deck.
Slapped, slapped, slapped, slapped!
All of Kiernan's random trajectory punches were swiftly slapped away. Not a single one of them managed to land on Julian!
'What in the world…' Kiernan looked shocked. 'My fists are starting to sting. He has amazing talent for Iron Style with his reaction time and accuracy of his moves.'
"I wonder whose defense is better." Julian said with a smirk.
"Haha, are you challenging me?" Kiernan grinned with his white teeth and punched ahead, but when Julian was about to slap it away, he stopped his punch.
The hand, because of that short stop, missed the slap completely.
"Iron Fist!" Kiernan quickly placed his fist against Julian's chest.
The one-inch punch landed on his chest, and the impact rocked throughout his body.
"URGH!" Julian grinned in pain. "That hurt, you bastard!"