Chapter 29: Binz's Ability
In response to Axel's questioning gaze, Alvis did not waste time on unnecessary buildup.
"I want to see your real strength."
Axel blinked.
So that was the reason.
He had pushed him into the center of everyone's attention for something that simple?
In a way, that really did suit Alvis. The man had no interest in subtlety. If he wanted something, he would drag it into the open and force it into the light.
Still, Axel did not mind very much.
He had never actually intended to hide his strength forever. Since he had already decided to stay here and develop himself within the Marines for the time being, then showing ability and attracting attention was not necessarily a bad thing. In a place like this, talent earned resources. Resources meant opportunities. Opportunities meant growth.
So after a brief pause, Axel clasped his hands and shifted into a loose fighting stance.
"Fine," he said. "But if you want to test me, is it you I'll be fighting, Instructor?"
Something like eagerness flickered in his red eyes.
Whether it came from instinct, from his old life's buried frustrations, or from some deeper and more dangerous part of himself, Axel could not deny one thing.
He liked combat.
Seeing his posture, Alvis actually smiled.
It was not a warm smile, and it vanished almost as quickly as it appeared, but it was there.
"Your opponent won't be me," he said. "But if you can beat the one I choose for you, then I'll spar with you myself."
Then he lifted one hand and pointed toward the other side of the field.
"Binz. You'll fight Axel."
Binz, who had been standing quietly with the others, was visibly caught off guard.
"Eh?"
There was genuine hesitation on his face.
He had only just become friends with Axel, and now he was being told to fight him in front of the whole class. To a straightforward child, that kind of situation was naturally awkward.
Axel noticed it at once.
So before Binz could overthink himself into refusing, Axel spoke first.
"It's just a spar. That's all." He loosened his shoulders and smiled faintly. "It won't affect anything between us. I used to spar with my brothers all the time."
Binz looked at him for a moment.
Then he nodded.
"...Alright."
He turned toward Alvis and said firmly, "Instructor, I accept."
The moment Binz agreed, the class shifted into motion. The surrounding students quickly moved back, making space in the center of the training ground for the two of them.
Binz stepped forward first.
He spread his arms slightly and turned his body at an angle, widening his stance as much as possible. His posture was strange, almost dance like, with a rhythm to it that looked more suited to performance than combat.
Axel did not underestimate him.
He knew enough already.
That unusual movement was not meaningless. In his memory, Binz's ability was deeply tied to that odd, flowing rhythm. The movements that looked like dancing were actually part of how he controlled his power.
So Axel adjusted his own stance as well.
His body lowered slightly, weight settling forward, more like a sprinter about to launch than a normal fighter preparing for a slugfest. His strength lay in closing distance. One clean touch was enough. The faster he got in, the less chance the enemy had to read what he was doing.
Binz gave him one last honest warning.
"Are you ready? I'm going to use my ability."
Axel nodded once.
"I'm ready."
Binz began to move.
His body twisted, arms flowing with that same bizarre rhythm as his voice rose with it.
"Grow...!"
The effect was immediate.
Plants burst from the ground beneath Axel's feet, thick vines and roots tearing upward in an attempt to seize and bind him before he could move.
For anyone caught off guard, it would have been a nightmare.
For Axel, who had already prepared himself the moment Binz shifted his weight, it was too slow.
He exploded forward.
The growing roots shot after him, but they were always just a step behind, clawing uselessly at empty space as he slipped away again and again. Dust kicked up under his feet while the plants trailed him helplessly.
Binz did not panic.
From the beginning, he had not underestimated Axel.
Anyone connected to Garp was worth taking seriously, no matter what the numbers said.
So while continuing his strange, deliberate motions, Binz created distance at the same time, forcing new plants to erupt in Axel's path, shaping them into barriers instead of chasing restraints.
A wall of growth twisted upward.
Axel's pupils narrowed.
His brain moved faster than his conscious thoughts, instantly calculating the shifting lines and gaps in front of him. The moment one path closed, another opened in his perception. He did not even need to think it through. His body simply followed the route his mind found first.
Left.
A half step inward.
Dip the shoulder.
Pass through the narrow gap before the next root twists shut.
He broke through the barrier and arrived at Binz's side almost in the same breath.
Binz's eyes widened.
With no room to evade, he made a split second decision.
More plants burst from the ground under Axel, but this time they did not try to chase or lash at him. Instead, they wrapped around Binz himself, layering together into a dense protective shell that sealed him away behind a living wall.
Axel did not hesitate.
He drove his hand straight into it.
Thick roots twisted instantly to trap his arm, but the moment they made contact, their force rebounded uselessly. He pushed through the protection and reached for where Binz should have been.
Nothing.
His fingers met empty space.
The instant he realized it, Axel understood.
The plant shell had never been meant to protect Binz directly.
It had been a feint.
While Axel's vision was obscured by the dense growth, Binz had already pulled away from the point of contact and repositioned himself. At the same time, the plants Axel had pierced through twisted inward from every direction, wrapping around him in a tightening spiral.
In the blink of an eye, Axel was swallowed in a human shaped mass of living vines.
The students watching from the sidelines gasped.
Even Alvis's eyes sharpened.
The plants wound tighter and tighter, layering over one another until Axel disappeared completely within them.
Ain covered her mouth.
"Is it over already...?"
Even Alvis found himself quietly murmuring, "Has it been decided?"
Because he knew exactly how troublesome Binz's power was.
The vines created by his Devil Fruit were unnaturally resilient. They could not be snapped apart casually, and once they wrapped around a target in sufficient numbers, escape became nearly impossible. Even an adult Marine would have difficulty forcing his way out without a blade.
The students clearly thought the same.
Ain did.
Several others did too.
But the next moment, their certainty cracked.
The mass of plants trembled.
Then, little by little, the layers began to peel apart.
Not explode.
Not tear.
Peel.
One layer after another, the vines separated cleanly, sliding away as if their own binding force had somehow reversed against them.
And from inside that collapsing prison, Axel stepped out unharmed.
The students froze.
Even Binz's eyes widened.
For Axel, the logic was simple.
The vines were still using force to bind him. Force meant vectors. And anything that relied on force without surpassing the threshold of his reflection in some special way could be turned aside. Resilient though the plants were, resilience meant nothing if the direction of their constriction was altered from the inside.
He had not needed to break them.
He only needed to make them stop holding him.
Binz was still processing what he had just seen.
That hesitation lasted less than a second.
And that was all Axel needed.
He vanished from where he stood and appeared directly in front of Binz.
Then he placed one hand against him.
Binz's body instantly went weak.
His limbs lost strength so suddenly that he could not even brace himself before collapsing to the ground.
Gasps rose from the students again.
The fight had ended so fast that many of them had not even fully understood what happened. One moment Binz seemed to have Axel trapped. The next, Axel was free. A touch later, Binz was down.
The whole exchange had passed like a flash.
Axel, for his part, had not done anything especially cruel. He had not attacked Binz's organs or used any destructive internal interference. He had simply slowed the circulation in a way that created sudden weakness and made his body give out temporarily.
A few seconds later, Binz managed to push himself back up.
He looked at Axel, and instead of frustration or anger, what showed on his face was admiration.
"You're amazing," he said sincerely. "I lost this time. But next time, I'll beat you."
Axel stared at him for a second, then smiled.
"I'll be waiting."
That answer seemed to please Binz.
By then, the rest of the class had already started crowding in.
The difference between how they treated Axel and Binz was obvious. Binz's physique, age, and strange aura naturally made some of the children keep their distance from him, while Axel, looking smaller and more approachable, was immediately surrounded.
"How did you do that?"
"That was so fast!"
"What was that last move?"
"You got out of the plants like it was nothing!"
"Did you train with Vice Admiral Garp?"
Their voices overlapped until they became a small storm of excitement and envy.
Only Ain did not push in with the others. Instead, she walked over to Binz, who still looked a little quiet after the loss, and started talking to him in a lower voice.
Axel noticed it at once.
He could already guess why Binz seemed slightly dejected.
It was not really about losing.
It was probably about losing in front of everyone, right after trying so hard, and right after becoming friends.
So Axel stepped toward him.
The crowd of students, still buzzing with excitement, instinctively followed after him.
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 10–50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, Soul Land, NBA, and more — all in one place.]