Chapter 200: Testing and Progress
The next day.
The sky had only just begun to brighten when knocking sounded outside the door.
Axel, who was still fast asleep, naturally activated Reflection to block out the noise and continued sleeping without the slightest disturbance.
This was hard on Tom.
He had spent the previous night summarizing and testing some of Theodore's shipbuilding ideas. He had not fallen asleep until midnight, and now his eyes could barely open. Even so, he was still woken up by the knocking.
Tom let out a huge yawn, loud enough that the rumbling sound almost drowned out the knocking outside.
Then he glanced at Axel, who was still sleeping peacefully, and could not help muttering, "He really can sleep."
After getting up and opening the door, Tom saw the people standing outside.
One was a young man with long limbs and a rather unusual appearance.
The other was a young girl around Axel's age.
They were none other than Ain and Binz.
"Who are you?"
"Who are you?"
Both sides asked almost at the same time.
Tom was new here and naturally did not know them.
Ain and Binz were also surprised. Wasn't this Axel's home? Why had a Fishman come out?
Tom thought for a moment, then answered, "I'm a shipwright hired by Axel. I came with him to Marineford this time. Since I don't have a place to stay, I'm living here temporarily."
"We're Axel's friends," Ain said. "We heard he came back, so we came to visit him. We also have a mission to carry out with him."
Tom nodded in understanding and stepped aside.
Ain and Binz walked in, and the first thing they saw was Axel still lying there asleep.
"How is he still sleeping?" Ain complained under her breath.
Binz tried to speak up for Axel. "He probably just got back from a voyage and is tired."
A sea voyage was not only boring, but exhausting. That was something almost everyone who had sailed understood.
Even those used to sailing could not guarantee they would not feel fatigued during a voyage. Of course, there were also some people who genuinely enjoyed being at sea and could overcome fatigue through that interest.
Although Ain felt Binz's words made sense, they had come all the way here. They could not just let this guy keep sleeping so comfortably.
Then a sudden idea came to her.
She leaned close to Binz's ear and whispered something.
After listening, Binz looked a little timid.
"Is this really okay?"
"What's the big deal?" Ain said. "When he wakes up, just tell him it was my idea."
Tom noticed that Ain and Binz seemed to be planning some kind of mischief, but he felt no need to interfere in children's games.
Besides, letting that kid suffer a little once in a while was not a bad thing.
With a clear conscience, Tom went to prepare breakfast.
A short while later, Ain and Binz returned.
This time, each of them was holding a bucket filled with water.
Because they had trained together, they naturally understood Axel's ability. If they simply splashed water on him, the water would only bounce back onto them.
So Ain had Binz act first.
Under Binz's control, plants grew from the floor and quietly surrounded Axel. They spiraled upward and wrapped around him tightly, leaving only a single opening at the top.
After finishing the preparation, Binz used the plants to hook the bucket.
Then he poured the water sharply into the only opening and sealed it at the same time.
Ain and Binz both felt that even if Axel's ability could reflect attacks, there was no way he could reflect the water out of such an enclosed space.
He would definitely get soaked.
Ain had even covered her ears, waiting for Axel's miserable scream.
However, the expected sound never came.
After waiting for a while, Ain blinked.
"What happened?"
She was not the only one curious.
Even Tom, who was eating breakfast nearby, looked over with interest.
"I don't know," Binz said.
Worried that something unexpected had happened, he immediately controlled the plants to slowly shrink away, revealing the scene inside.
The water they had poured in had not touched Axel at all.
Instead, it hovered around his body.
It completely defied the laws of natural physics.
The lifeless water seemed to have found its king, surrounding him quietly from the side, not daring to show the slightest disrespect.
"He's gotten stronger again," Ain said in surprise.
During their previous training, Axel's Reflection had still been in a semi-passive state.
Most of the time, his Reflection could only adjust force and angle according to the situation of the attack. It had not reached the point where he could freely control it like this.
And now he had done it while sleeping.
It was as if this ability had become an instinct.
Only a little over a year had passed since then.
Ain and Binz had always thought their own progress during this past year was already fast enough.
But judging from Axel's control over his ability alone, their progress was still far behind his.
They truly had no idea how this guy trained.
As the person involved, Axel slowly woke up as well.
Reflection could operate on its own, but even the most basic Reflection required calculation formulas.
So when Ain and Binz launched their surprise attack, his body had instinctively activated self-protection, and calculation formulas had inexplicably appeared in his mind.
Opening his eyes, Axel saw two familiar faces.
Binz had changed less. His height seemed to have mostly stabilized, only growing a little taller.
Ain's changes were more obvious.
At her age, a girl changed quickly. In just over a year, she had grown taller, and the lines of her figure had gradually started to show.
"Ain, Binz," Axel said. "Why are you here?"
"Listen to yourself," Ain said. "Are you saying we're not welcome? Is that your attitude after not seeing us for so long?"
Axel was immediately speechless.
Girls really were unreasonable.
When had he offended her?
He had only asked a simple question.
Binz had not seen Axel for a long time and did not know what to say at first, so he spoke up after a brief pause.
"We came to carry out a mission with you this time. It's been a long time since we last went on a mission together. Thinking about it now, it feels kind of nostalgic."
"Yeah," Axel said. "It really does."
His voice softened slightly.
"People only start feeling regret after something has passed. There's always that kind of feeling."
It had only been around three years since he came to this world, yet he had already changed so much.
Whether it was his way of thinking or the way he acted, the difference was enormous.
At the very least, the old him would not have said things like stopping killing with killing. He would even have deliberately held back when dealing with pirates.
Now, that feeling was gone.
Seeing Axel ignore her and talk to Binz instead, Ain felt a little unhappy and immediately found fault with him.
"Why are you talking like an old man? So solemn and nagging."
Again?
Axel simply shut his mouth.
At that moment, Tom's suppressed laughter sounded from the side.
Good lad.
Someone can finally keep this kid in check.
Axel waved his hand casually.
The water originally floating around him flew toward the nearby table and splashed directly onto the blueprints spread across it.
Tom let out a cry.
He abandoned his breakfast at once and rushed to the table, desperately trying to save the results of his work from last night.
Ain and Binz both showed sympathetic expressions.
This guy really had not changed much from before.
At least when it came to causing trouble.
After adjusting her mood, Ain cast aside her other thoughts and became serious.
"When do we set out?"
When it came to work, she had always been meticulous.
"Wait a bit," Axel said. "We still need one more person."
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
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