Zephyr's Relief

The surrounding trainees stared wide-eyed at everything happening on the field. Who am I? Where am I? Is that Uchiha Senga really a trainee just like us?

"So this is the ability to control gravity and repulsion that Senga-sama talked about? That's so cool!" Among the crowd, one of Senga's roommates, the chubby blond kid Bridge, shouted excitedly.

Graves, with his tough-guy face, couldn't hold it together either. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, ignoring Bridge's shameless act of already declaring Senga his boss.

Binz thought about his own Devil Fruit ability and wondered if he'd eaten a fake one.

"You brat... that power just now—are you a Devil Fruit ability user?" Zephyr had already returned to the field, unharmed except for some dust on his clothes.

As expected of a Marine Admiral. An ordinary pirate caught between the forward and reverse strikes of Universal Pull and Shinra Tensei would either drop dead on the spot or be heavily injured and coughing blood.

Even though Senga had used less than half his strength in that exchange, judging by Zephyr's condition, he knew he still had a gap to close with an Admiral. After all, Admirals were near the peak of combat power in the Pirate World.

He still had a long way to go. He needed to improve his physical strength quickly. No matter what ability you had, physical strength was always the foundation.

Dropping out of Sage Mode, Senga briefly explained that his ability was a racial trait. The Uchiha Clan was, after all, a lineage of sages. When it came to bloodline, he wasn't inferior to anyone.

"A racial trait? There's a race like that on the seas? Are all your clansmen like you?" Zephyr asked eagerly upon hearing this.

"No. Something happened. I'm the last bloodline of the Uchiha Clan."

"A pity." Zephyr was a bit disappointed, but then he thought—if such a race existed in numbers, what price would it take to win them over?

And not everyone would want to join the Marines like Senga. If some of them became pirates, the situation would be even more dangerous.

At least now the Marines had a talent like Senga. Zephyr believed that even among his clan, Senga's talent would make him a genius among geniuses. Otherwise, the world would already belong to the Uchiha Clan!

Sengoku, you handled this well! Zephyr silently gave Sengoku a thumbs-up in his mind. The more he looked at Senga, the more satisfied he became. In high spirits, Zephyr decided not to torment these new recruits today.

"Alright! I've demonstrated the Marine Six Styles. Go back today and review them thoroughly. Tomorrow will be physical training. Without a solid physique to back them up, the Six Styles are just fancy moves!"

With that, he dismissed the group and headed back to process the surprise Senga had given him today.

The trainees, who had expected a hellish first day, couldn't believe they'd just "slid by." They cast an awed glance at Senga, then cheered and headed back to the dorms in pairs and trios.

Senga, flanked by his three roommates, also left the training ground. On the way back, Bridge was unusually excited.

"Senga-sama lives up to his reputation! You actually made that teacher Zephyr eat dirt!"

Senga corrected him.

"Zephyr-sensei was completely unprepared. And even after taking the hit, he was fine. As expected of a former Marine Admiral."

On the other side, Graves commented, "It's already impressive. But I'm more amazed by someone's thick skin—comparable to a fortress wall!"

Bridge knew Graves was mocking him and fired back with a sarcastic tone.

"True. And grass is growing on that wall."

This was a jab at Graves's thick beard. Bridge had always thought that a guy in his early twenties with a full beard, plus that smug expression, was like a pig sticking scallions up its nose—pretending to be an elephant!

The two seemed born to clash. From the moment they met, they'd been instinctively at each other's throats, so often that Senga and Binz had gotten used to it.

Speaking of Binz, that kid was like a mute gourd. He rarely spoke and preferred eye contact.

Binz silently gave Senga an admiring look. Senga acknowledged it, thinking to himself that his three roommates were something else. Looked like the days ahead wouldn't be boring.