Chapter 51: Unable to Get Hurt
The next morning, everyone assembled aboard a Marine warship.
It was a standard military vessel, solid and imposing, with rows of cannons fixed along both sides. The deck smelled of salt, iron, and sun baked wood. Besides Zephyr, the recruits, and the sailors operating the ship, there were two additional figures standing near the front.
One was a man with wild silver hair swept back like a storm had never quite finished with it. His shirt hung open at the chest, a cigarette rested at the corner of his mouth, and a jitte was slung casually in one hand. Everything about him radiated impatience and unruly confidence.
The other was a woman with long pink hair and a cool, elegant face. Compared to the man beside her, her posture was far more restrained. The moment she saw Zephyr, she straightened with visible respect.
Axel recognized them at once.
Smoker and Tina.
Zephyr folded his arms and said, "These two are outstanding students I taught personally. They'll be accompanying this training exercise. Introduce yourselves."
Tina answered first, crisp and direct.
"Hina, Lieutenant, Marine Headquarters."
Smoker let out a quiet scoff, clearly not thrilled about being made to do this, then said in a low, rough voice, "Smoker. M
Lieutenant, Marine Headquarters."
"Captain..." Axel murmured under his breath.
The current Marines were not yet in the same manpower shortage they would face after Marineford. Promotion was still based on merit, not simply raw combat strength. Smoker's rank being stuck there made sense. With his personality, it was a miracle he had not been demoted instead.
Even the future Admirals had needed to climb properly through the system despite their monstrous talent.
Zephyr glanced at Smoker and said, "You should quit smoking. I also heard you disobeyed orders again and went off to hunt pirates on your own."
Smoker took the cigarette from his mouth, exhaled a thin trail of smoke, then replied with open indifference.
"I can't fix the smoking habit. As for the other thing, those old men keep giving useless orders, so I moved on my own. In the end, I was still upholding justice."
"Let's leave the smoking aside. But at the very least, you should follow Marine discipline."
Zephyr rubbed his temple, visibly irritated.
Smoker was one of those rare people who could give a teacher a headache no matter how talented he was. Axel was not surprised. This was a man who practically smoked between breaths.
While Axel was studying Smoker, Smoker's gaze also drifted across the recruits and landed on Axel, Ain, and Binz.
Then he said with a mocking grin, "Since when did the old man start running a daycare? Why are there three little brats mixed in with the recruits?"
Zephyr did not get angry. He only said, "Don't underestimate those three. They're no weaker than the others."
Smoker gave a dismissive snort.
"Oh? Then the quality of Marine recruits must be dropping."
He said it loudly enough for nearly everyone on deck to hear.
A wave of anger rippled through the recruits at once. Several glared at him openly. Smoker, however, acted as though he had not noticed a thing. He simply walked past them toward the bow of the ship, cigarette smoke curling behind him like he found the whole scene boring.
Not long after, the ship set sail.
The voyage itself was dull.
Zephyr did not force them to train on the way. He called it "your last chance to rest," which sounded strange enough that no one quite knew what to make of it. Still, given who said it, most of them guessed that whatever came next would be unpleasant.
So they rested.
Inside the ship, the cabins had been divided neatly into narrow rooms. The warship was still a warship, so there was no luxury to speak of, but it was at least organized.
Axel had only just settled in when a sudden commotion broke out in the corridor.
A recruit hurried past, only to be stopped by Smoker, who had apparently decided he was done admiring the scenery.
"Hey," Smoker said, catching him by the shoulder. "You know where those three brats are staying?"
The recruit stiffened.
After Smoker's earlier performance on deck, there was not much goodwill left for him among the recruits.
"I don't know," the boy replied flatly.
Smoker scratched his head.
"Is that so?"
The recruit thought that was the end of it.
Then Smoker kicked open the nearest cabin door.
"If you won't tell me, I'll just find them myself."
The crash echoed down the corridor.
His reason for coming here was simple.
Earlier, after his little exchange with Zephyr, the old man had casually dropped one sentence that Smoker could not let go.
"That white haired kid? You probably can't hurt him."
It was obviously a provocation. Smoker knew that.
That was precisely why he came.
A few more doors were thrown open before the noise pulled nearly everyone into the corridor, including Axel, Ain, and Binz.
The moment Smoker spotted Axel, he headed straight for him.
Before he could get there, however, Brian and several others stepped into his path.
Smoker had crossed the line.
The recruits might respect Zephyr, fear him, and obey discipline, but getting mocked again and again without reacting at all would leave a stain they would remember for a long time. Brian and the others clearly thought the same.
Smoker raised a brow.
"What? You want to stop me? Then go ahead."
That tone lit the fuse.
Brian lunged first.
The others followed immediately, fists and kicks flying in a burst of anger.
But the result was absurd.
The instant their attacks should have landed, Smoker's body broke apart into drifting smoke. Every strike passed through empty air. Before anyone could react, the smoke gathered again behind Brian, and Smoker grabbed him by the arm and slammed him to the floor.
"Sorry," Smoker said calmly, cigarette hanging from his lips, "I'm a smoke man."
A Logia.
The word flashed through everyone's minds at once.
The recruits at Headquarters were not ignorant. Plenty of them had at least heard enough to understand what that meant. A Logia user could become their element. Without Haki or Seastone, touching them was nearly impossible.
Whatever willingness remained in the others vanished immediately.
Why keep throwing punches at something you physically could not hit?
Smoker released Brian and continued walking toward Axel as if nothing important had happened.
Ain and Binz tensed at once, but Smoker stopped right in front of Axel and looked him over from head to toe.
"I heard from Teacher Zephyr that I can't hurt you," he said. "So I came to test it."
Before Ain or Binz could move, Smoker had already thrown a hand forward.
Axel did not dodge.
He simply stood there, red eyes fixed on the incoming strike.
Smoker's palm came down fast and hard.
Then the strange thing happened.
The moment contact should have been made, the force seemed to scatter. Smoker's arm dissolved into smoke on impact, as if something had rejected the attack before it could properly land.
"Hmm?"
Smoker finally lost his lazy attitude.
He drew his arm back, eyes narrowing.
"What did you do?"
Axel did not answer directly.
Instead, he used the exact same tone Smoker had used earlier, calm and faintly mocking.
"Sorry."
He looked straight at him.
"You really can't hurt me."
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 10–50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
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