Chapter 50: Practical Training
A month passed in the blink of an eye.
Zephyr stood in front of Axel with a faint frown and jabbed a thick finger against his arm.
"You brat... how is it that you keep getting stronger, but you still don't grow any muscle?"
Axel looked down at his own slender arm, then back at him with a helpless expression.
"How would I know?"
That was the truth.
He wanted it too. At the very least, if he looked a little tougher, maybe people would stop mistaking him for a girl every other day. But after a full month of brutal training, while his body had clearly become stronger and his height had increased a little, his frame was still lean. His arms were still long and pale and deceptively thin.
Zephyr rubbed his chin.
"Could be the effect of your Devil Fruit."
"Maybe." Axel shrugged. "Though if that's the case, it's actually pretty useful. Makes it easier to fool people in a fight."
Zephyr's face twitched.
"You think about little tricks like that all day. You'd be better off putting that brain of yours into proper training."
Axel raised his chin a little. "That's not a trick. That's tactics. Strategic policy."
After spending a month under Zephyr, he had more or less figured the man out.
On the surface, Zephyr was stern, harsh, and so sharp edged that he could make people sweat with a single look. But underneath all that, he was the type who took his students seriously. Very seriously. Once Axel understood that, talking back became a lot easier.
Zephyr stared at him for a while, then let out a long sigh.
"I really don't understand you. Your strength keeps rising, but you still don't have the heart of a true fighter. Have all my years of teaching been a lie?"
Axel kept his mouth shut.
He knew perfectly well why his improvement had been so dramatic.
With vector manipulation, he could regulate the flow of his own blood, speed up his metabolism, and absorb energy far more efficiently than normal. On top of that, he could reduce the amount of energy his body wasted by redirecting it internally. From the outside, it looked like simple hard work paying off at an absurd rate.
From the inside, it was basically cheating.
Still, there was no need to explain that.
Instead, he smiled lazily and said, "Maybe you just aren't that good at teaching. Out of all the students you've trained, only two got past my part of the test."
Zephyr's expression darkened at once.
"You still dare say that?"
Axel had hit a nerve.
The two who had passed were Binz and Ain. Anyone with eyes could tell Axel had gone easy on them. He had not even tried to hide it. Against everyone else, though, he had been merciless. In a way, that had reduced Zephyr's workload. But from a teacher's perspective, it was still infuriating.
Axel spread his hands. "Do you have proof that I let them through?"
The old man took one step forward.
"Your grandfather is Iron Fist Garp. I'm Black Arm Zephyr. My fists aren't exactly gentle either."
Axel immediately shut his mouth.
He was fairly sure Zephyr was bluffing.
Fairly.
But he was not nearly confident enough to bet his skull on it.
Seeing him give in so quickly, Zephyr's bad mood eased a little. He folded his arms and said, "Enough nonsense. I've come to tell you something important."
Axel's expression straightened slightly.
"Your practical training is being moved up."
"Practical training?"
"As the name suggests, actual combat." Zephyr's voice grew more serious. "A person's strength often grows the fastest in real danger. You can train your body and sharpen your mind all you want, but if you never enter a real fight, there are some things you'll never understand."
He paused, then looked Axel up and down.
"Your current physical condition has improved a lot. Before, you could only be called weak. Now, at the very least, your body is on the level of an ordinary Marine soldier. For only a month of training, that result is very good."
That was Zephyr's conclusion.
In his mind, Axel's rapid growth came from one simple fact: his body had been too weak before, and once that weakness began to disappear, his overall strength naturally rose with it.
He continued, speaking as if lecturing a class.
"If Devil Fruit ability is the water, then the body is the container that holds it. A bigger container holds more. That's the simplest way to explain it."
Then he gave a short snort.
"Of course, there are exceptions. Some people develop their abilities to frightening levels even without a particularly strong body. But those types are fragile in their own way. Against a true powerhouse, one mistake is enough to end them."
Axel rubbed his ear and said, "You've repeated that theory about the body being a person's greatest asset so many times my ears are starting to grow calluses."
Zephyr stood there in silence for a moment.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
Then, very slowly, he said, "You really are an unbearable brat."
He turned away, clearly refusing to let Axel see how annoyed he was.
Still, he kept talking.
"Remember this well. Even if I hate admitting it, your grandfather really did develop his body to the peak of what a human can do. The human body is wealth. The real kind. Don't become like one of my idiot students and lean too heavily on your ability. In a battle between equals, that habit will ruin you."
Axel knew exactly who he meant.
Borsalino.
Even so, Axel could not fully agree. Kizaru's body was not weak in the slightest. A man who could cross blades with Rayleigh had no right to be called fragile. But compared to the true monsters at the top, Zephyr probably saw too many flaws in him to stay quiet.
Still, Axel chose not to argue.
That was progress.
Zephyr gave a lazy yawn and waved a hand.
"That's enough for today. Training's over."
Axel stepped out of the room, drew a long breath of fresh air, and instantly felt like he had come back to life.
Behind him, Zephyr remained inside for a while instead of leaving right away.
He stood there alone, brows slightly furrowed, thinking.
The decision to bring forward the practical training had not come from him. It had come from Sengoku.
And that was exactly why it bothered him.
Sengoku was not the sort of man who gave meaningless orders. If he wanted Zephyr's recruits moved into practical training ahead of schedule, then there was a reason behind it.
But what reason?
Zephyr turned the possibilities over and over in his head.
Transfer orders? A deployment? A change in the intelligence situation?
He could not pin it down.
Maybe he was overthinking things. Maybe the World Government's intelligence network had already found a suitable target, which meant they no longer needed more simulated exercises and could move directly to the next phase.
Maybe that was all.
In the end, Zephyr gave up on the thought for now and went to find Binz and Ain.
Compared to Axel, those two did not need the same sort of extreme physical conditioning. Their training space was separate from the main ground, a quieter area where they could focus more directly on their specialties.
By the time Zephyr arrived, the ground there was littered with withered vines and shriveled plants.
It crackled under his boots.
The sound alerted the two students at once. Binz and Ain stopped their training and bowed respectfully.
"Teacher Zephyr."
Zephyr looked down at them.
In front of others, he usually wore the same cold, imposing face. But with these two, as with Axel, that edge had softened little by little over the past month.
"How's your training?"
Binz answered first.
"The growth speed of my plants has improved a lot, but their toughness and total number still haven't increased much."
Ain followed right after.
"As you instructed, I've been training my swordsmanship while trying to improve the power behind my blades. I still have a lot of flaws, but I'll keep working on them."
Both of them sounded a little stiff.
Zephyr could not help it. The slightest hint of warmth appeared in his eyes.
"There's no need to be so formal."
The two of them blinked.
Then Zephyr added, "That's enough for today. End your training and go back to rest."
Binz hesitated. "We can keep going."
"Not today," Zephyr said. "Tomorrow is special training. Get some proper rest while you still can."
At that, the two of them straightened immediately.
"Yes, Teacher!"
Neither of them asked what the special training would involve.
They had already learned enough under Zephyr to understand one thing very clearly:
When the old man said rest, then rest.
After sending them off, Zephyr returned to the main training ground and dismissed the remaining recruits as well. Only after everyone was gone did he finally head back to his room.
The moment the door closed behind him, he dropped heavily onto the bed and let out a long breath.
For the first time all day, the exhaustion showed plainly on his face.
These past weeks had worn him down more than he cared to admit. Supervising the recruits, watching their progress, adjusting their training, thinking through their flaws and talents, planning how to push each of them farther without breaking them... it all took time. It took energy. More than he used to spend in his younger days, when all he had to think about was fighting the enemy in front of him.
And yet—
As he lay there staring at the ceiling, he found that none of it felt meaningless.
Watching those kids grow stronger, little by little, washed away most of the fatigue before it had the chance to settle in.
That alone was enough.
.....
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