Chapter 40: Zephyr's Appearance
"How is that possible?! Teacher Alvis was actually sent flying!"
Shock rippled through everyone present.
Alvis was a Navy Lieutenant and the strongest instructor in the academy. On top of that, years of harsh discipline and iron handed teaching had built an almost unshakable pressure around him. In the eyes of the students, the title of strongest had long since become part of him.
Yet now, that same Alvis had been knocked back in a single exchange.
Binz stared at Axel with a solemn expression.
So this is his real strength...
He had been feeling rather proud after passing the screening himself, but the scene before him wiped that feeling away in an instant. Even with his Devil Fruit ability, even if he could restrict Alvis, he still could not imagine defeating him head on the way Axel just had.
At that moment, Ain, who had just arrived, also saw everything clearly.
She had already thought she was giving Axel enough credit. She had been wrong.
She never expected that even Alvis would be blasted away by him.
It was hard to connect the boy in front of her, the one who joked around with her so casually every day, with this terrifying image.
After being sent flying, Alvis adjusted his body in midair and landed steadily on the ground.
Physically, he was unharmed.
Mentally, however, his face flushed slightly.
Being knocked back by his own student made him want to dig a hole and bury himself on the spot. At the same time, though, a deep sense of satisfaction rose in his chest.
This was a good thing.
The Navy producing a talent like this was a good thing.
And with Axel showing this level of power, what reason would Admiral Zephyr have to refuse him?
Still, that did not mean Alvis intended to hold back.
A battle was a battle. Since it had already begun, he would fight with everything he had until the very end.
He lowered his stance again and charged straight at Axel.
Facing the oncoming Alvis, Axel remained calm, but his mind was already working at full speed.
That first exchange had looked simple.
In truth, it had not been simple at all.
He had manipulated gravity, layered resistance and reaction force onto his fist, then used his calculations to strike Alvis's arm at precisely the right angle, targeting the weak point from the side. Only by stacking all of those conditions together had he barely managed to send Alvis flying.
If even one step had gone wrong, he would not have pulled it off.
Even so, Axel still felt no fear.
He had not yet used his blood flow control technique.
He had not yet used [Wind Blade].
He still had cards left.
So he moved forward as well.
In a narrow path, the brave won.
If he could not even face a battle like this head on, one without true mortal danger, then what courage would he have when facing the real monsters of this world later?
He understood his own weakness very well.
The mindset from his previous life still clung to him. In battle, he was often overly cautious, overly hesitant, overly restrained.
But the true monsters of this world were not like that.
Did Shiki fear Whitebeard?
Did Gecko Moria stop dreaming of revenge against Kaido just because he had once been crushed?
No.
To become strong, one needed more than hard training. One also needed the heart of the strong.
In the pirate world, defeat usually meant death. The moment pirates set sail, they stepped into a world of plunder, blood, and belief. The strong wagered their lives on their convictions.
Just like Luffy smiling on the execution platform in Loguetown.
One could call it recklessness. One could call it stupidity. But the truth remained the truth.
He could smile in the face of death for the sake of his dream.
Bang!
The two of them clashed again.
A deep, heavy impact rang through the field.
The sight that followed was even stranger than before.
Alvis's massive, muscular arm met Axel's far smaller one in a direct collision, yet neither side gave way immediately.
The difference in size between them was almost absurd, but the impact they generated was equal.
From a distance, Zephyr, who had been observing in silence from the shadows, finally showed a trace of surprise.
"Hmph. Just as I thought," he muttered. "Garp's grandson is a monster too."
Yet there was no displeasure in his voice.
Only approval.
"Good. Very good. The Navy needs fresh blood like this. Only then can this rotten age be brought to an end sooner."
As the battle continued, Alvis grew more and more alarmed.
After a week of brutal retraining under Sicily, he had temporarily forced his body back toward its old fighting condition. But now, in the heat of a real battle, fatigue was already creeping back into his limbs.
This can't continue.
On the other side, Axel's movements had not lost any sharpness from the beginning of the fight until now. His pace, rhythm, and power remained frighteningly stable.
If this dragged on, Alvis would lose.
So he made his decision instantly.
Gathering all his remaining strength into a single point, he unleashed a punch at blinding speed.
Axel had not expected the sudden explosive burst.
The fist slammed into his abdomen, and the force behind it was terrifying.
Boom!
Both of them were blown apart by the impact.
Alvis's eyes hardened.
The outcome is decided.
That strike had incorporated the principle behind Finger Pistol. In Sicily's special training, he had already begun to grasp the trick of condensing force into a piercing point. Because his body was no longer what it once was, he could not truly perform the technique, so at best it could only be called an incomplete imitation.
Even so, he believed the power behind that blow far exceeded what Axel could endure.
But reality gave him another answer.
While airborne, Axel dispersed the force tearing through his body bit by bit. Because he remained in the air long enough, by the time he landed, he had already neutralized most of the damage.
He touched the ground and coughed twice, one hand pressing lightly against his aching abdomen.
That was all.
He was not seriously injured.
"How is that possible?!"
Alvis could not believe it.
His strongest attack, the one he had staked everything on, had only managed to make the boy cough.
His lips twitched.
If not for the hellish week of training Sicily had put him through, that last blow probably would not even have earned him that much.
A genius. A real genius.
Axel straightened slowly and looked at him.
"Be more careful next time," he said.
He was not mocking him.
He was warning him.
Because what Axel intended to use next was not a harmless move. It was [Wind Blade], a real killing technique.
He lowered his left palm and gathered the wind there, condensing it into a sphere.
At the same time, he bent his right leg slightly and positioned his right hand beside the spinning mass of air.
Then his right hand slashed across it in an upward arc.
"Wind Blade!"
The sphere split in an instant, transforming into a crescent shaped blade of compressed wind that shot toward Alvis.
"This is...?!"
Alvis's eyes widened.
The attack was too fast.
By the time surprise even registered in his mind, the blade was already upon him. Instinctively, he raised both arms to block.
But before it could hit him, another figure moved.
Zephyr, who had been standing far away only a moment ago, appeared in front of Alvis so quickly that no one saw when he crossed the distance.
He raised one arm, caught the incoming wind blade head on, and crushed it with sheer force.
The atmosphere froze.
The sudden twist left everyone stunned.
The man who had casually intercepted Axel's attack did not care in the slightest about the shocked eyes fixed on him.
He looked at Axel and said in a calm, heavy voice, "It's fine. You've passed the screening."
His face was rugged and stern, with old fashioned flat glasses resting over sharp eyes. His hair was short and sparse, combed back in a gentlemanly style, while his shirt was far more flamboyant than his severe face suggested. Marine officer's shoulder pads rested over it, but even that could not hide the sheer enormity of his frame. He stood well over two meters tall, broad and imposing like a walking fortress.
The first impression he gave was simple.
Power.
Pure, overwhelming power.
"Screening?" Axel asked.
The moment he saw the man, he had already guessed his identity.
Zephyr.
Only, this was not the version from later years with the wilder hair and the tinted sunglasses. This was a younger Zephyr, but the pressure he gave off was unmistakable.
"Of course it was my screening," Zephyr said. "Kid, you passed. You can join my recruit training unit."
"Join the recruit training unit?"
Axel frowned slightly.
Learning under Zephyr was certainly not a bad thing.
In fact, it was an excellent opportunity.
But being accepted so abruptly, without any proper explanation, still felt a little too sudden.
.....
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