NOVEL NEXT Chapter 24: Variables
"Tsk."
Looking at the old man over two meters tall in front of him, Zavia was now under immense internal pressure.
With powerful martial arts skills, perfect mastery of the two colors of Haki, especially Armament Haki, he gained the nickname "Black Arm" at the age of 34.
Although his strength has definitely declined due to his advanced age, he can still keep up with Zavia.
"What's it going to be, brat Zavia, will you accept this battle?" Seeing Zavia's hesitation, Zephyr revealed his signature smile, looking very proud.
Zavia didn't know what Zephyr's intentions were, but he really didn't want to engage in this battle. But if he didn't accept, Zavia would miss this great opportunity.
Keep in mind that there are still 3 years until the main storyline begins, and Zephyr leaves one year before the main storyline starts, which is in 1519.
Zephyr, due to being invited by Edward Weevil to join the Seven Warlords of the Sea, developed strong doubts and distrust towards the Marine HQ, and resolutely quit the Marines.
In other words, if Zavia doesn't accept this battle, starting from now, Zephyr won't teach him anything. Even if he's no longer a Marine, he still won't teach Zavia.
"Tch, I understand, Admiral Zephyr, I, Zavia, accept this battle!" Thinking of this, Zavia withdrew his previous difficult expression and put on a cold face, accepting this battle.
Upon hearing Zavia's words, everyone's expressions turned incredulous, unable to believe what they had just heard.
"Sigh, Zavia against Zephyr, it's obvious how it will turn out..." Watching this scene below, Sengoku covered his forehead helplessly with one hand.
"Heh, this is the true appearance of a Marine! Don't be discouraged just because the opponent is stronger. Sometimes when driven to desperation, fighting back may bring a chance at survival. Remember this!"
"..."
Hearing Zavia's undaunted tone, Zephyr's mood also became more pleasant.
However, upon hearing these words, a hint of blankness emerged in Zavia's eyes, but only for 0.57 seconds.
(Could it be that this old man...?)
"Then, let the battle begin! Oh, you can also take out that sword of yours, no need to worry about hurting this old man."
Just before the battle began, Zephyr stood still first, then gave Zavia a chance to take out the Yamato sword.
Zavia didn't show any particular expression at this, the Yamato sword suddenly appearing in his hand. Even if Zephyr didn't say so, Zavia would have taken out the Yamato sword. Against Zephyr, he had to use everything!
"Then, the real battle, begins!"
With a bang.
Within 0.11 seconds after Zephyr finished saying "begin", in an instant, a burst of sound came from the stage and Zephyr disappeared from everyone's sight.
Facing this sudden move from Zephyr, Zavia's gaze sharpened and the Yamato sword at his waist was already drawn the moment Zephyr vanished.
The long sword slashed horizontally, glinting brilliantly under the sun's illumination, looking especially dazzling.
Ding--!
The next second, the Yamato sword struck a huge mechanical arm, creating a metallic clang and scattering some sparks.
"Hmm, not bad reflexes. On a battlefield, you wouldn't instantly die, but your sword strike was a bit lacking in power."
Zephyr who suddenly appeared before Zavia calmly analyzed his sword strike.
Shua--!
With a cutting sound, Zavia used the force of the Yamato sword and smoothly kicked out his left leg, this kick aiming straight for Zephyr's left abdomen.
(Armament Haki...no!)
Seeing this incoming kick, Zephyr originally planned to block it with Armament Haki, but as soon as he had that thought, he felt something was off.
His right foot stomped the ground heavily, and Zephyr instantly vanished from in front of Zavia.
Just as Zephyr disappeared, a deep blue slashing air blade flew out from Zavia's outstretched left leg.
(Hrmm, Rankyaku huh? Truly a formidable brat.)
Appearing 3 meters to Zavia's left, Zephyr looked at the Rankyaku Zavia had kicked out, feeling a sense of admiration.
But even as he felt admiration, Zephyr didn't forget to also kick out a Rankyaku, neutralizing Zavia's. Otherwise, those students would have been caught in the attack.
The two Rankyaku collided, exploding with an intense blast of wind pressure that sent everyone's clothes and hair billowing backwards.
(Tch, Observation Haki huh? As expected, quite troublesome.)
Seeing the judgment Zephyr made in an instant, Zavia couldn't help but think.
Using the foresight of Observation Haki, Zephyr changed his original action and evaded Zavia's attack.
This caused a sense of displeasure to rise in Zavia's heart, but what he felt more was envy - this was the ability he had always wanted.
Observation Haki and Armament Haki, these were absolutely the two things Zavia desired most after coming to the One Piece world, even more enticing than the Six Powers and Devil Fruits.
As for Devil Fruits, Zavia had to say with all honesty that if he didn't have this inherited power, he would have definitely considered eating a Devil Fruit.
Because without this power, Zavia would just be an ordinary person, and an ordinary person coming to the One Piece world would only be crushed underfoot.
For an ordinary person wanting to grow stronger, there are a few paths: Devil Fruits, joining the Marines, joining a pirate crew, finding a powerful master to teach them, or relying on themselves alone...
Devil Fruits are undoubtedly the first option an ordinary person would consider, since they allow rapidly gaining power.
But at the same time, it's not all good, since you would lose the ability to swim and be forever "disdained" by the sea, becoming a landlubber.
The Marines and pirates are two opposing forces. Joining the Marines allows learning ways to grow stronger more quickly and systematically, while as a pirate everything depends on self-practice, with the risk of being hunted by the Marines along the way.
Finding a powerful person to teach you is not recommended, as this method depends on luck and personal charisma; otherwise, it's not even worth discussing.
Self-reliance is strongly discouraged. If not for being an isekai'd person, attempting this method is practically suicidal in the One Piece world, with the various forces consisting of no fools.
"Hmm, you even used something other than just the weapon in your hand, this is quite unexpected. Did someone teach you beforehand?"
"No one."
"No one, huh."
After neutralizing Zavia's Rankyaku, Zephyr showed a hint of interest in Zavia's combat method, but only received Zavia's cold reply.
Letting out a cold snort, Zephyr's right arm - the Battle Smasher machine - began expelling large amounts of steam, the sound of machinery operation entering everyone's ears.
"If that's how it is, then Smash Blaster!!!"
As the Battle Smasher's operating speed grew faster and faster, emitting more and more steam, Zephyr let out a furious roar and his entire body disappeared from Zavia's sight.
From the moment he saw the Battle Smasher begin operating, Zavia had already started being on guard against Zephyr.
But this attack seemed to exceed Zavia's expectations - before he could even react, Zephyr had already appeared right in front of him.
That cold Battle Smasher on his right arm had already become scorching hot, with large amounts of steam continuously gushing out.
One punch, struck directly at the Yamato sword Zavia raised to defend.
This punch contained immense power that was transmitted through the Yamato sword in Zavia's hand to his body, temporarily overwhelming him.
However, this was just the first stage. After the punch hit the Yamato sword, the machine rapidly operated again.
With a boom, the Battle Smasher unleashed a powerful explosion.
In an instant, due to the explosion, large amounts of black smoke rapidly formed - or rather, it wasn't smoke but gunpowder smoke.
As the gunpowder smoke dispersed, to everyone's wide-eyed amazement, Zavia had appeared 5 meters away from Zephyr.
Of course, in that "everyone", Zephyr was included. But unlike the others, Zephyr was only slightly surprised.
He looked at the drag marks on the ground, then at Zavia's bleeding forehead, as if understanding something.
"I see, in the instant the Battle Smasher exploded, you used spatial relocation to avoid being seriously injured by the blast, huh?"
Smiling at Zavia, Zephyr felt very pleased inwardly.
(Tch, this old man actually got serious! I thought it was just a normal match. If I hadn't read about the Battle Smasher's abilities in the original work, plus him calling out the attack name, I might have been out for a week or two from that hit.)
Standing 5 meters from Zephyr, Zavia wiped the blood from his face, thinking inwardly.
He had thought it would just be Zephyr testing him due to the match being one-sided, following normal match rules.
Little did he expect this old man to go all out, even using the Battle Smasher technique Smash Blaster! This really gave Zavia a fright.
(Damn! Although it was just a few exchanges, I never expected the gap in strength to be this huge. Could it be...I have to use spatial abilities after all? But...)
In just those few brief exchanges, those 2 minutes, Zavia became aware of the strength gap between himself and Zephyr.
Powerful! Extremely powerful! Overwhelmingly powerful to an unimaginable degree! Powerful enough that Zavia had to consider using his ultimate move - spatial abilities.
However, just as Zavia was considering whether to use spatial abilities, in an instant, dark clouds filled the sky, blocking out the sunlight completely.
"What...what happened?!"
"Is it going to rain?"
"How's that possible? Are you an idiot?"
"..."
This sudden covering of dark clouds caused the students to start murmuring in discussion, only the four people above and Zephyr and Zavia below sensed something was amiss.
"Kuzan! Something's not right, quickly arrange for personnel to evacuate, take the students to the shelters! All Vice Admirals remain behind!" In an instant, Sengoku issued orders - first evacuate non-combatants and students to shelters to ensure safety. Second, have all Vice Admirals remain behind to cover the evacuation and buy time to escape.
"Sengoku, doing this might..."
"Garp, you don't need to say it. This time I have a bad feeling, something extremely dangerous is going to come from up there!"
"..."
Originally thinking this was going overboard, Garp abandoned his words after seeing his old friend's expression and entered a combat ready state.
After hearing the orders, Kuzan only nodded and swiftly left the room, already making calls on a Den Den Mushi to arrange the evacuation.
"This feeling, what is it?!"
Standing on the circular platform below, Zavia looked at the dark swirling vortex of clouds in the sky, his face filled with shock and bewilderment.
Have you ever heard of a whale whose entire life is spent in loneliness? The reason is its frequency of 52 hertz - no matter how hard it tries, it will forever be ignored by its kin, eternally alone.