Bearing and Thorns
"What did you mean by 'subordinates'? When did we become your subordinates, and why should we be your subordinates?" Strawberry asked.
"Because I'm stronger than you! Because I'll become the Fleet Admiral, you'll all be my capable generals sooner or later!" Vidal said bluntly and openly, stating his goal.
He looked exactly like a chuunibyou (a person with delusions of grandeur), a young navy officer whose brain was filled with passion and dreams.
He wasn't just saying this to the two people below him.
"Fleet Admiral?"
The admirals sitting in the highest conference room of the Marine Headquarters were also surprised by Vidal's high-profile declaration, especially the current Fleet Admiral, Kong.
"Haha!" Fleet Admiral Kong threw his head back and laughed heartily, his laughter filled with admiration. He exclaimed, "Good lad! What spirit!"
The robust old man with slightly gray hair stared intently at Vidal's young, handsome, flamboyant, and proud face in the image.
"I'll be waiting for the day you become Fleet Admiral!"
Sengoku also felt that Vidal was extremely ambitious, and at least given his personality, he wouldn't openly say such things.
Even if his goal is the position of Fleet Admiral.
He felt that there was no one more suitable than himself to be the Fleet Admiral in the current navy, so he took on this responsibility.
Perhaps it was truly a meeting of minds, Kong glanced at Sengoku sitting in the first Sengoku on his left, and thought to himself, "He probably wants to too, and he's been sitting in this position for far too long."
He is 76 years old this year, and his health is not as good as before. Although he has no diseases, it does not affect his normal activities.
However, they also knew that once they encountered high-level intense battles, problems would inevitably arise in various aspects.
"What! Fleet Admiral?"
Comil and Strawberry, who were present at the scene, were equally shocked. "What arrogance!" the latter snorted and took two steps forward, carrying his twin swords.
"Then let me see where you get the audacity to make such a boast!"
Vidal smiled, glanced at the twelve criminals below, ordered them to step aside and wait, then vanished from his spot and reappeared instantly in the arena.
When he suddenly closed the distance between himself and Strawberry Comil, an invisible and colorless aura erupted from his body, yet it made people's hearts tighten and their hair stand on end involuntarily!
What is Haki?
According to Dark King Rayleigh in the future, Haki is an innate latent power that people in this world are born with.
Momentum, murderous intent, fighting spirit, ambition, and aspirations—in short, it's about manipulating these feelings and wills from the depths of one's heart, transforming them into one's own weapons and armor.
Therefore, anyone who successfully cultivates Haki will exude an invisible yet real aura when they get serious.
The higher one's strength and the more resolute one's will, the more powerful one will become.
But only those who have cultivated an aura of Haki can control the release and containment of that aura; Sakazuki, for example, is completely unable to control it now.
At that moment, Comil and Strawberry felt as if a ferocious beast had suddenly appeared before them, bringing them immense sense of danger!
This was the first time Vidal had unleashed his full power; he had always been a mild-mannered man and didn't like to intimidate others with his power.
But this time was different; this was the first time he was demonstrating his strength and spirit to his future subordinates!
You must make the biggest impression on the other person the first time.
"Come on, Strawberry, let me see your true character." Vidal's smile vanished; he was now genuinely serious.
"Call--"
Strawberry took a deep breath to suppress the tension arising from his imposing presence, while Comil beside him was also surprised by Vidal's dramatic change.
"So, back then, he wasn't even serious, let alone going all out?" Comil sighed inwardly.
"Go!"
Strawberry stopped thinking about it and felt that it would be more comfortable to just start fighting.
"Shave!"
Strawberry instantly teleported behind Vidal and unleashed a vertical slash with his right hand, though he didn't know why he dared not charge forward head-on.
[Crack, bang--]
The ground suddenly cracked open, and a thick tree grew out of the crack, blocking the blade and lifting Strawberry into the air.
Strawberry's expression changed, and he quickly used 'Geppo' to stabilize himself in mid-air, but he immediately found that dense branches were rushing towards him.
He wielded two swords and launched a fierce attack on all those who approached him; it must be said that his swordsmanship was indeed superb.
While it wouldn't be impossible to get water out, it should be impenetrable to needles. The problem is, Vidal's tree isn't an ordinary tree; it's not so easy to cut down.
"Your opponent is me, not a tree."
Vidal appeared behind them at some unknown time, his tall figure blocking out the sunlight and casting a large shadow over Strawberry.
"When? Oh no!"
[Bang!]
A heavy chop to the left shoulder struck Strawberry felt as if he had suddenly been subjected to several times the force of gravity, turning into a black shadow and falling straight down, creating a crater.
Strawberry was spitting blood and covered in a cloud of dust, but none of that mattered as much as the excruciating pain in his shoulder.
"Comil, you should have come up with us." Vidal slowly descended from the air onto the thick trunk of the tree.
"Swordsman has Swordsman's pride." Comil shook his head as he looked at Strawberry struggling to get up from the pit.
"He wouldn't want to team up with someone in their first encounter, and now he understands the huge gap in strength, so..."
Comil, carrying two longswords, walked to Strawberry's side, and together they faced Vidal standing atop him, saying, "From now on, I will fight alongside him!"
The latter covered her right shoulder, pursed her lips, and did not refuse.
"Not bad." Vidal looked down at the two resolute Swordsmen, "But even if you join forces, how many trees can you take down?"
"Um?"
Before Comil and Strawberry could understand what was going on, five more lush trees rose up from the ground, surrounding them completely.
The two were so startled that they instinctively opened their mouths wide, but Vidal didn't bother with them any longer.
All the branches on the six trees stirred up, whistling through the air with rapid whooshing sounds, turning into streaks of green afterimages that shot out like a rain of arrows.
Left with no other choice, Comil and Strawberry were forced to frantically swing their twin swords, creating a flurry of blades overhead to protect themselves.
What was clearly just a clash between a steel knife and a tree branch produced a clanging sound of metal striking metal, with countless sparks flying wildly in the air.
But while they were focused on dealing with the swarm of trees, Vidal's mind was elsewhere, because he sensed that those scumbags were up to no good.
It turned out that some of the twelve criminals, seeing the fierce fighting on this side, thought that Vidal wouldn't be able to attend to them for the time being.
Two of the bolder individuals fled in different directions, while the others hesitated upon seeing this.
But the fate of those two men immediately extinguished the hope that had just begun to stir in their hearts.
Before they had run very far, green dots of light appeared behind them, whether from inside or outside their prison uniforms.
When the light reached its peak brightness, a large patch of thorny vines sprouted, tightly wrapping the person from top to bottom, leaving only the head exposed.
"Ahh!"
"It hurts! It hurts so much! No! No!!"
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