Black Arm Zephyr, Speaking with Fists!

That's right.

Luo Yi now naturally understood very clearly.

Among the forces under the World Government, the strongest was naturally the Navy.

But the Navy was by no means the World Government's only military force.

Besides the Navy, the World Government had several other elite troops of considerable scale—and the renowned Commander-in-Chief of the Three Armies, 'Steel Bone Kong', was the overall commander of all these forces.

These included the 'Guardians of Nations', responsible for clearing out mountain bandits and guarding the territories of many World Government member nations, as well as dealing with mountain bandits and the Revolutionary Army.

There was also the Sky Guard, responsible for guarding the 'Western Heavenly Peak' and ensuring the smooth passage of air routes to Sky Islands.

There was also a patrol army specifically responsible for patrolling the 'Red Line' and ensuring the safety of Mary Geoise.

The overall strength of these armies was, of course, far inferior to the Navy, and they had little fame in the world.

However, there were still strong individuals among them.

As for the World Government's direct forces, that was even more obvious—it referred to the World Government's direct intelligence agency, 'CIPHER POL', also commonly known as 'CP'.

And according to Smoker, these forces would all send people to participate in this 'Three-Army Martial Arts Tournament'.

Therefore, Luo Yi was genuinely surprised at this moment—he hadn't expected that his actions of using a clone to plunder Celestial Gold would lead to such an event.

"Hoo, yeah."

Smoker exhaled a puff of smoke before nodding.

"So the scale of this tournament is far beyond previous ones, and the rules are said to be very special."

His words carried a hint of fighting spirit and excitement.

"And the rewards for the tournament are also astonishing—although not as good as the 'World Conscription' which directly selects an Admiral, it's said that the winner of this tournament can also be specially promoted to 'Admiral Candidate'!"

"The top five positions can also be directly promoted to Vice Admiral or Brigadier General!"

Admiral Candidate, as the name suggested.

Although their military rank was still 'Division Vice Admiral', they held a special status, could enjoy the unique 'title' of an Admiral, and had relatively greater power.

And after an Admiral retired, as long as there was no 'World Conscription' to directly select an Admiral.

The Admiral Candidates could then be promoted to Admiral.

And any man, to some extent, yearned for fame and power.

Even Smoker was like that—he believed his strength was not weak and that he was qualified to make a name for himself in the Three-Army Martial Arts Tournament.

And speaking of this, he glanced at Luo Yi.

"Hey, you're not thinking of getting promoted to Brigadier General or Vice Admiral yourself and then making me your adjutant, are you?"

Luo Yi immediately sensed the other party's malicious intent.

"Hmph, I don't necessarily have to do that."

Smoker didn't deny that he did have this idea: "After all, it's the Three-Army Martial Arts Tournament, and the monsters participating will definitely be extraordinarily numerous."

"Don't worry, I definitely won't let you get into the top three."

Luo Yi said decisively.

Smoker sneered upon hearing this: "Try it if you can."

And while the two were bickering...

"Senior Smoker."

A voice suddenly came.

Luo Yi snapped back to his senses from his thoughts and only then noticed that he had unknowingly arrived at a Navy training ground.

There were quite a number of patrolling Marines around, and they were organized in neat batches, looking like elites.

And the one speaking at this moment was a man.

He was wearing ninja attire, with extremely long limbs, holding a branch in his hand, and a green Nodachi and a giant Kunai strapped to his back.

If not for the Navy uniform he was wearing, Luo Yi would have almost thought the man was an infiltrator.

But at this moment...

[Devil Fruit user 'Binz' detected]

[Devil Fruit confirmed as 'Paramecia - Prosperous Fruit', parsing and storing into 'Fruit Encyclopedia']

[Fruit Ability - Can accelerate plant growth and control plants]

[Effects by Level]

[LV1: Gain weak fruit effects, can slightly enhance plant growth speed, by 3 times]

[LV2: Gain partial fruit effects, can greatly enhance plant growth speed, by 10 times, requires 8000W/3300W for permanent/temporary unlock]

[LV3: Gain full fruit effects, can make plants grow to maturity instantly and control them, requires 500 million/200 million Belly for permanent/temporary unlock]

[LV4: Fruit deeply developed, can control plants for more subtle transformations and operations, can create 'plant clones', can synchronize senses with plants, requires 1.2 billion/400 million Belly for permanent/temporary unlock]

[LV5: Fruit Awakening - Flourishing Vitality. Grants plant-like resilient life force. Can reconstruct the body through 'limb regeneration' akin to plant growth. Can absorb surrounding moisture and life force to heal oneself. Can make plants grow far beyond normal size. Requires 7 billion Belly / 2.3 billion Belly for permanent / temporary unlock.]

[Analysis Progress: 0%. Upon completion, LV1 ability of this fruit will be obtained.]

The information from the Fruit Encyclopedia confirmed the opponent's identity for Luo Yi, and also definitively confirmed who Smoker had brought him to meet this time.

"Binz, why are you alone? Where's Ain? Where's Instructor Zephyr?"

At this moment, Smoker's words indeed corroborated his thoughts.

Zephyr - Former Marine General, the Marine's former chief instructor for new recruits.

He was a comrade who enlisted in the same period as Marine Hero Garp, Fleet Admiral Sengoku, and Marine Chief of Staff Tsuru.

He was once famous across the seas for his powerful Armament Haki, having apprehended countless pirates, earning him the title 'Black Arm' Zephyr.

Later, disheartened after his wife and children were killed in retaliation by pirates, he resigned as a General and turned to teaching new Marine recruits, nurturing a large number of strong individuals within the Marines.

For example, the current Three Admirals - 'Aokiji', 'Akainu', and 'Kizaru' - were all once his proud disciples.

Incidentally, Smoker was also once his disciple, but Luo Yi was not. After the end of new recruit training, a portion of the elite new recruits could receive training from Zephyr.

At that time, Luo Yi had already voluntarily applied to serve in the Detention Unit, so he didn't have the chance to receive Zephyr's tutelage.

But clearly, Vice Admiral Billoss was now letting Luo Yi make up for that regret.

"Ain is out on a mission. As for Teacher Zephyr, he went to the SSG (Special Science Group), he should be back shortly."

The man named Binz answered Smoker's questions while looking at Luo Yi. "This must be Major Luo Yi, right?"

"Yes."

At this moment, Luo Yi also snapped back to reality and said hesitantly, "The instructor Vice Admiral Billoss found for me is General Zephyr? But as far as I know, he should have already..."

His words didn't finish, but both Binz and Smoker clearly understood.

Four years ago, the training ship fleet led by Zephyr was attacked by pirates during a mission.

Most of the disciples he had painstakingly trained on the entire ship died, and Zephyr lost an arm and was severely wounded.

From then on, he completely retreated to the second line.

"Yes, after that incident, Teacher hasn't taught new recruits for a long time," Binz said solemnly.

He was one of the only two Marine soldiers who survived that ship.

"However, he's an old friend of Vice Admiral Billoss, so he specially accepted the request."

Binz introduced simply, "Follow me."

He turned and walked toward the depths of the training ground.

Luo Yi and Smoker naturally followed closely behind.

Soon, they arrived inside a training ground that was clearly special.

Instead of the usual training equipment, the surroundings of the training ground were enclosed by huge iron walls. At the end of the walls was a building with the unique insignia of 'Z' on it.

"Teacher Zephyr asked you to wait for him here. He should be back soon."

After saying this, Binz immediately sat down cross-legged and fell silent.

Seeing this, Luo Yi and Smoker followed suit.

"Don't mind him. Binz is a good guy, he just doesn't talk much because of what happened four years ago."

At this moment, Smoker, uncharacteristically, offered an explanation.

He was a rebellious fellow, but he was genuinely grateful to Zephyr.

"Understood."

Luo Yi naturally didn't care about such minor matters.

To be precise, he was quite happy about it at the moment.

"Prosperous Fruit. This ability isn't bad. It might have special effects in some unique terrains."

"It's a shame Ain isn't here—I remember that girl is also an Ability User, and her ability is quite monstrous."

Looking at the continuously growing numbers within the Fruit Encyclopedia, Luo Yi recalled.

Ain, the other person who survived the attack four years ago.

Her fruit was the 'Reverse Fruit', and her ability was to reverse the age of anything she touched—this was one of the few fruits Luo Yi knew of that touched upon the domain of time.

And just as Luo Yi was contemplating how he must get his hands on the 'Reverse Fruit' ability later.

"Oh? They're already here!?"

An old but still heroic voice echoed within the training ground.

A figure strode into the training ground.

His face was resolute, his build tall and sturdy. He wore a dark purple sleeveless vest and a Navy greatcoat.

Time and battles had left deep marks on him, but they had in no way diminished the aura of a top-tier Strong Person.

What drew the eye was his right arm. It was severed from the shoulder, replaced by some special metallic components.

That was indeed 'Black Arm' Zephyr.

"Admiral Zephyr."

Upon seeing the former admiral, Luo Yi naturally rose to offer a greeting.

But before he could speak, "You're that kid, Luo Yi, right?"

He saw Zephyr's face break into a smile.

"I've heard of you from Billoss. He told me you're the most promising young man in the entire Detention Unit. But, I don't believe words!"

As he spoke, Luo Yi saw the former admiral's figure vanish from his spot with a 'swish'.

It was Shave—and its speed was faster than anything Luo Yi had ever seen!

Then, "The rule here is—fists talk!"

Luo Yi felt a gale rush past his ears.