Chapter 194: A Piece of News
"You're back."
Tom looked up at Axel when he returned, but his brow quickly furrowed.
"You killed again."
Axel glanced down at himself.
"I specifically made sure not to get any blood on me, and you still noticed?"
"That isn't the point," Tom said. His voice was steady, but there was warning in it. "You can't keep going like this. If your killing intent grows too heavy, it'll affect you."
Tom had seen too many people lose themselves in slaughter.
Among his former Fishman companions, there had been more than a few who had sunk into bloodshed and never managed to return to who they used to be. That memory had left a deep warning in his heart.
"Don't worry," Axel said. "I'm a swordsman."
In other words, a swordsman tempered the heart. A little slaughter would not be enough to shake him.
But that answer was also an excuse he gave Tom.
Although Axel spoke lightly, even he was not completely certain whether he had been affected. The change in his temperament had come too abruptly. Because of that, he could not fully judge himself.
Seeing Axel answer like that, Tom did not continue pressing him.
A man only needed to face things with his head held high.
In Tom's eyes, this little adult before him would surely have his own way of dealing with it.
"But there really have been too many pirates lately," Tom said. "The commotion almost never stops."
"Yeah," Axel replied. "A group comes every few days. It's pretty annoying."
Because pirates had been arriving one after another, Axel and Tom had come to Enies Lobby.
The Marines stationed at Enies Lobby had been unable to handle the frequent pirate attacks and had requested assistance from the nearby San Faldo Navy Base. Because of that, Axel had come over.
But once he arrived, the attacks had barely stopped.
He had not even had time to return.
Now, even his basic document work had to be handled through Den Den Mushi.
As for Tom, he had volunteered to come along and repair the damaged Marine warships. To him, being able to repair and build ships was the greatest blessing.
"By the way," Tom said suddenly, as if remembering something. "Someone from the Marines came looking for you earlier. They said that when you came back, you should go to the Chief Judge's office in the Tower of Justice."
Axel looked at him.
"What do they want with me?"
"No idea."
Tom answered casually, then lowered his head and continued working on the blueprints in front of him.
Axel knew Tom was not someone who would lie.
But who would be looking for him?
He went to the Tower of Justice.
After living here for some time, Axel was already familiar with the layout. He made his way to the Chief Judge's office without difficulty and knocked on the door.
"Come in."
A low voice sounded from inside the room.
Axel pushed open the door.
The Chief Judge was sitting on a hard chair, flipping through a thick stack of documents. His already aged face seemed even more tired than before.
When Axel entered, the Chief Judge only raised his eyes for a moment. After one glance, he returned to his documents and pointed toward the side.
"The document you want is over there."
Axel followed the direction of his finger and found a letter on an old bookshelf.
It was wrapped in a simple, old-fashioned envelope. The Marine insignia was stamped on the outside, meaning it had likely been sent from Marineford.
People still sent documents like this nowadays?
Wouldn't it be easier to use a Den Den Mushi?
Then again, Den Den Mushi calls were not something one could connect at random. The two snails had to have been in contact beforehand.
But Axel remembered that he had brought a Den Den Mushi from Marineford. If Marineford really had something urgent, they should have been able to contact him directly.
He did not think too deeply about it.
He tore the letter open.
After reading the contents, Axel's brow tightened.
The air around him seemed to stagnate.
At that moment, his emotions were enough to affect the energy in his surroundings.
The Chief Judge immediately felt a strange suffocation, though he could not quite describe it. He looked at Axel in surprise.
He was grateful that the boy had helped guard the island, but that did not mean he approved of Axel killing pirates the way he had, even if that was a power Marines could exercise.
That was also why he had not wanted to deal with Axel earlier.
"Did something happen?" the Chief Judge asked.
That feeling of breathlessness had appeared only after Axel finished reading the document. The contents must have mentioned something serious.
"It's nothing," Axel replied flatly. "Just internal Marine business."
Was he reminding him that this was a Marine matter, not a World Government matter?
What an arrogant child.
The Chief Judge was displeased by Axel's attitude and stopped paying him any further attention.
Axel had no mood to deal with him either.
He quickly left.
It was not "nothing."
The document said that Zephyr and his students had gone missing.
The first thing Axel thought of was Edward Weevil.
But after thinking carefully, he realized something was wrong.
It was now the year 1513 of the Sea Calendar, the very year Zephyr's tragedy was supposed to occur. But according to the original timeline, there should still be more than half a year before the recruit training at the end of the year.
That incident should not have happened yet.
Had some variable appeared?
His arrival had already caused many changes in history.
He had once asked Zephyr whether, without him, Zephyr would have accepted Ain and Binz into the recruit camp at that time.
Zephyr's answer had been no.
At least, he would have waited another year to observe them first.
In other words, because of Axel's appearance, Ain and Binz had entered training a full year early.
And that was undoubtedly the key that disrupted the rhythm.
History could no longer be verified.
Because the outside world had not changed much, Axel had arrogantly assumed that the time Edward Weevil encountered Zephyr would not change either. He had planned to return before that recruit training began.
He had not expected this.
If the report was true, then one thing was certain.
Zephyr really had gone out with his students.
And something unknown had happened.
Once history changed, it became impossible to deduce.
Axel could not predict the future.
Just like before, he had saved Tom, but the price had been the sacrifice of a warship full of Marines.
Who could have imagined that would happen?
One careless move had turned those Marines into lost souls beneath CP9's hands.
No matter what, he had to go to Marineford.
Although he had lost much of his empathy when killing, he had not abandoned the bonds between friends. At the very least, for his friends, he needed to make the trip.
Besides, the pirates here had already been frightened off by his killing. Not many would still dare come cause trouble.
And even if things truly got out of hand, Axel would not need to handle everything himself. Marine bounty posters and the World Government's pursuit would deal with the rest.
Using his ability, he stepped lightly against the ground.
His body shot forward like an arrow.
The Marines along the way felt only a gust of wind rush past them. They did not even see his figure clearly.
In only a short while, Axel returned to the small house by the coast.
"Pack up," Axel said to Tom, who was still busy. "We're leaving."
Tom stopped working and looked at him.
"Leaving? Back to San Faldo?"
"No."
Axel's expression was calm.
"To Marineford."
.....
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