On the way back, Gion kept talking in Senga's ear,
"You're really generous this time. I think those trainees are going to have to fight tooth and nail!"
Senga shrugged and said,
"Wouldn't that be even better? They'll all be your subordinates from now on. It's good to keep the benefits within the family!"
"That's true, but what are you going to do about Conis? I see she's... um!"
"What can we do? I told her to go to the palace after training and we can have a proper talk then."
"No wonder, her face was so red. But Conis has always been very good, and I've never heard her mention her relationship with you."
"Of course, how could the people I choose be bad?"
"Hey~ Do you remember your apprentice Yamato? She's been coming to your house a lot these past few days, but she always manages to avoid you. Would you like to meet her?"
Senga paused for a moment, the image of Yamato's silly grin flashing through her mind.
"Yamato... it's been quite a while since I've seen her. How is she doing?"
"That's great! Among all the newcomers, her talent is definitely the strongest. Even Teacher Zephyr is having a bit of a hard time against her now!"
Senga nodded. Yamato is Kaido's child after all, so her talent goes without saying. With systematic training, it's not impossible for her to reach her father's level in the future.
Thinking of this guy who used to follow him around calling him "Master" all the time, Senga smiled knowingly.
To be honest, he's a rather incompetent master; he hasn't taught Yamato anything at all. Yamato's real master should be Zephyr.
I wonder if this girl's personality has changed at all. Is she still the same as before, a tomboy?
Thinking of this, Senga really wanted to go see Yamato. He told Gion about it and then disappeared from the spot.
Training ground on the back mountain
With a loud bang, two humanoid beasts, one white and one black, emerged from the smoke and stood facing each other.
The two were Zephyr and Yamato, who had entered Zoan transformation form.
A look of approval appeared on Zephyr's bull face as he spoke.
"Yamato, you've made great progress lately, that deserves praise!"
Yamato touched the spiked club in his hand and said,
"That's because Master is back, and I have to show him my progress!"
"You mean Senga? Come to think of it, you've never called me 'Master' before."
Yamato stuck out his tongue and said,
"Hey, calling you Teacher Zephyr is the same thing!"
Zephyr didn't really care about that. Since having a family, his personality had become more and more gentle, and he would often joke with people.
He stretched his neck and said with a smile,
"Call me whatever you want, but I'm getting serious now, so watch out."
After saying that, Zephyr's horns instantly turned black, and he charged towards Yamato like a black heavy truck.
Yamato's gaze turned serious. She gripped her spiked club tightly and charged towards Zephyr.
Just before the collision, Yamato swung his spiked club, aiming for Zephyr's head.
"Divine Speed, White Serpent Body!"
With a bang, Yamato was sent flying by Zephyr. Zephyr stopped in place, touching the horns on his head. Yamato's attack had worked; his head was buzzing.
Yamato landed back on the ground, barely managing to stop herself by pressing her spiked club against the ground. In fact, she could have easily avoided the confrontation with Zephyr.
But she had been trying to find Senga several times in the past few days without success, and she was feeling frustrated, so she wanted to vent her frustration in this way.
Zephyr shook his head, placed his hands on the ground, and then suddenly lifted the ground up like a carpet, sending it crashing towards Yamato in a wave-like motion.
Yamato stomped her foot, and a tall ice wall rose up, protecting her behind it.
Both Zephyr and Yamato have mastered the additional abilities of their Mythical Zoan Fruit, and this battle is a clash between earth and ice elements.
Seeing his attack blocked by the ice wall, Zephyr once again expressed his admiration.
"Not bad! This ice control ability is almost on par with Kuzan's!"
Yamato didn't seem pleased at all upon hearing this. She pouted and said,
"That means you're still far from it. My goal is my master. No one can surpass him in ice control. Admiral Aokiji himself admitted that he was completely defeated by my master in this aspect!"
Yamato made no attempt to hide his admiration for Senga, mentioning "Master" almost constantly. Zephyr couldn't help but ask...
"As far as I know, Senga didn't really teach you anything, did he? Why do you like calling him 'Master' so much?"
Yamato fell silent. And you know what? When Yamato was quiet, she gave off a completely different vibe, especially against the backdrop of the snow Yamato ice, which made her look like she had a very ethereal quality.
After a while, she slowly spoke.
"Because this name is unique, only in this way can I get his attention!"
Zephyr paused for a moment, then seemed to understand something, and spoke hesitantly.
"I see, so it seems you also have feelings for Senga..."
"Enough, Zephyr- sensei! Let's continue our battle! Unparalleled Ice Fang!"
Yamato interrupted Zephyr abruptly, exhaling a burst of extremely cold air that instantly covered the path with a thick layer of ice crystals.
Zephyr was startled, narrowly dodging the attack, and laughed and cursed.
"Damn! You really are just like Senga back then, attacking without even a warning!"
These words sounded much better to Yamato than the previous compliments. She raised her chin and said with a smug look,
"Of course! I'm Master's favorite little disciple!"
"Um, I remember that Senga only has you as his apprentice, right?"
"Hmph! So what's wrong with what I said? Take this, Professor Zephyr!"
Yamato both feet, leaping high into the air. She raised her spiked club high and brought it down hard on Zephyr's forehead once more.
This time, Zephyr won't choose to fight head-on with his head. Although he is Devil Fruit User the Ox-King Fruit, his most powerful feature is still his fists, even more so than his horns.
It was with those fists that he earned the nickname "Black Arm"!
He brought his fists together at his waist, a powerful Armament Haki coating them, and then delivered a punch to Yamato as he fell from the sky.
Zephyr used at least 80% of his power in this attack. Even though Yamato had the aerial advantage, he was still knocked out of his hand by the blow, and his body flew backward uncontrollably.
Zephyr thought to himself, "Oh no!" He had indeed gone a bit too far. Just as he was about to step forward to catch Yamato, a figure suddenly appeared behind Yamato and pulled her into his arms.
The newcomer was Senga. Looking at the dazed Yamato in his arms, he scolded him.
"Why are you showing off your abilities? Do you think you're that resilient?"