Chapter 63: Interrupted Training
Vergo clearly did not recognize Smoker.
He glanced at the white haired Marine with the cigarette hanging from his lips and asked in his usual flat tone, "Who are you?"
Setting aside the crumbs stuck to the side of his face, he carried himself with the poise of a refined gentleman.
"Smoker. Captain, Marine Headquarters."
Smoker answered as casually as ever, as if speaking to a superior officer changed nothing about the way he talked.
Then he narrowed his eyes.
"What brings Vice Admiral Vergo to a place like this? This island is supposed to be part of the recruits' practical training."
Vergo replied without any visible hesitation. "I received a distress call from my subordinates and came to investigate. Unfortunately, I was too late."
Smoker's expression grew more serious.
"That's a damn shame."
His gaze swept across the blood on the floor and the corpse sprawled nearby. Then he looked at the dead pirate and asked, "Was that him? The pirate captain?"
On the way here, Ain and Binz had already told him what little they knew. The three of them had followed Bandrewyn to this place, so the guess came naturally.
"Yes," Vergo said. "I executed him."
Smoker looked like he wanted to ask more.
Axel stepped in before that could happen.
He had no intention of letting Smoker poke around too deeply and make Vergo suspicious again.
"That's right," Axel said. "He was the pirate captain from this training exercise. Vice Admiral Vergo killed him after finding out he murdered one of his own men."
With Axel adding the explanation, Smoker did not pursue the matter.
The story did not fully match what Ain and Binz had told him earlier, but Axel was standing here unharmed, and Vergo was openly present as a Marine vice admiral. In Smoker's mind, the most likely explanation was that Ain and Binz had mistaken Vergo for a threat.
He gave a slight nod.
Smoker personally preferred arrest over execution. In that regard, he was closer to Zephyr than most Marines. Still, this was Vergo, a vice admiral of Marine Headquarters. A man who had supposedly avenged a fallen subordinate. Smoker was not in a position to argue.
"In that case, I'll leave you to it."
Vergo did not seem interested in talking any further either.
He turned, stepped back into the room, and lifted the dead Marine onto one shoulder.
Then he stomped down.
The floor cracked under the force.
A second later, his body shot upward. He kicked the air in rapid succession and climbed into the sky in a series of sharp bursts, disappearing across the treetops.
Axel watched him go, eyes fixed on every motion.
Moonwalk.
He had seen Vergo use Soru earlier, but it had been too fast to properly study. This time was different. Vergo's ascent gave him enough to catch the principle behind it.
Axel was not interested in learning Rokushiki the normal way.
For ordinary people, Soru required explosive leg strength and repeated bursts against the ground. But for him, once he understood the mechanics, he could simulate the same recoil with vector control and bypass the hard part entirely.
That was the real reason he paid attention.
Unfortunately, Vergo vanished from the edge of his perception before Axel could observe more.
What a waste.
The moment Vergo was gone, Ain and Binz hurried over.
Both of them looked confused, and more than a little uneasy.
"What exactly happened?" Ain asked first.
Since Axel had known Vergo's name before, he clearly knew something about him. Which meant there had to be a reason he had told them to leave, and then later warned them with a glance to keep quiet after they returned with Smoker.
"Nothing happened," Axel said.
He had no intention of telling them who Vergo really was.
There was no upside. Only danger.
The more people who knew, the more likely it was something would leak. Smoker, especially, was the kind of person who would never keep something like that buried. And if Vergo were exposed too early, there was no telling what kind of bloody mess would follow.
Ain frowned. Binz also looked unconvinced, but neither pressed him.
Smoker, on the other hand, was not so easy to brush aside.
He stared at Axel coldly and said, "I came because those two dragged me here halfway through training. I even sent word to Teacher Zephyr. And now you're telling me nothing happened?"
His tone hardened.
"You'd better explain."
"That's how it is," Axel said flatly. "There's nothing to explain."
Then, before Smoker could continue, he shifted the topic elsewhere.
"Vice Admiral Vergo went in the direction of the other pirates. Are you just going to let him handle all of them?"
Smoker's face changed at once.
"Damn it!"
Vergo's reputation in the Marines was famous for two things: loyalty to his men and mercilessness toward pirates. If he reached the rest of the group first, then the recruits' practical training was finished.
Smoker turned into smoke on the spot and shot off after him.
…
By the time Zephyr arrived, the exercise was already ruined.
Smoker had called for help, and Zephyr had personally led people over. On the way, Axel and the others were brought back with him.
Smoker had moved fast, but even he had been too late.
What awaited them was a massacre.
The ground was soaked red. Pirates lay scattered everywhere, their bodies twisted in the final postures of panic or shock. Some had not even had time to react before they were killed. The wounds were all the same: small, clean holes, fatal and precise.
No wasted motion.
No struggle.
Just slaughter.
Zephyr looked at the scene and said nothing.
But the air around him turned heavy.
Anyone with eyes could see that his mood had darkened with the falling evening.
Since the training could no longer continue, Zephyr immediately called it off. At the same time, he contacted Smoker and Hina through a Den Den Mushi and ordered them to search the island for the remaining recruits and gather everyone back.
On the return trip, the group passed through the village.
Axel took the opportunity to explain the villagers' food shortage to Zephyr, carefully omitting Todd's part in it.
"It's like this…" he said, then laid out the essentials.
After hearing him out, Zephyr did not let his foul mood interfere with his judgment.
"Of course we'll help," he said without hesitation. "Isn't the Navy supposed to uphold justice? Protecting civilians is our responsibility."
The villagers visibly relaxed.
Old Lisila stepped forward, his voice trembling with gratitude.
"Thank you… thank you so much…"
Axel dragged out the two unconscious pirates he had knocked out earlier.
To conceal Todd's involvement, Axel had personally dealt with them. In a way, those two were lucky. If not for that, they would have ended up like the others.
Just as the Marines were about to leave, a voice called out from behind.
"Wait!"
It was timid, nervous, and carrying a weight of guilt.
Axel turned.
Christine came running over.
She looked like she had forced herself to do it. Her fists were clenched tight, and her lips pressed together so hard they had nearly gone pale. But after a few steps, she loosened her jaw and spoke.
"I'm sorry… for what I said before."
Then, after a brief pause, she added in a much smaller voice, "And… thank you."
Looking back, she knew she had been unfair.
Axel had caught pirates. Hidden the truth about Todd. Even asked his superior for help on behalf of the village.
No matter how she looked at it, she owed him both an apology and gratitude.
Before Axel could react, Christine leaned forward, kissed him on the cheek, then turned and ran off in a panic.
Axel stood there, utterly blank.
For once, he genuinely did not know what expression he was supposed to make.
Zephyr watched the whole thing without changing his face.
Then he patted Axel on the shoulder in a way that said more than words ever could.
Kid, you're growing up.
Off to the side, Ain turned her head away with a faint huff, her expression suddenly hard to read.
…..
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