Z of Revenge (Part 2)

If he did not avenge those adorable students, he would be letting down every cry of "Teacher Zephyr" and "Instructor Zephyr."

He wore a Marine Admiral's coat, put on his sunglasses, and carried a bottle of liquor to Marineford's harbor. The sea breeze here was pleasant. At this hour, all of Marineford was quiet. Everyone was asleep.

Sitting alone at the harbor, he sang his favorite song and drank his favorite liquor. Tears fell helplessly from his eyes, only to be dried by the sea breeze.

"I really am an unqualified teacher," Zephyr, or Z, sighed.

"Who's there?!" A shout came from behind him. Under the cold moonlight, he could see that the man also wore a Marine Admiral's coat, along with a red suit and a flower pinned to his chest.

"Oh, it's Sakazuki." Zephyr glanced back.

"Teacher Zephyr, why are you here alone?" Sakazuki asked. He was a pure yet highly radical Marine. Meticulousness was his attitude toward everyone and everything. Zephyr rarely saw him smile, and every time he did, it was when facing an enemy.

"Heh, aren't you the same? Still awake this late," Zephyr said with a light laugh. His relationship with Sakazuki was somewhat special. Truthfully, he liked this student of his very much. He was talented, upright, and meticulous.

During his years of service and teaching, Zephyr had been a model Marine through and through. But Sakazuki was different; he was always the same, no matter when.

To be honest, Zephyr looked down on Devil Fruit users, because their abilities could bring them fatal weaknesses. Thus, from the very first class he taught, he had focused on strengthening his students' bodies. Yet there were always a few troublemakers who treated his words like nonsense.

Borsalino from the first class, Kuzan from the second, and Smoker, who had previously been sent to the East Blue. Ain and the others had been his final class. Mm, there would be no more after this.

Those three who treated his words like nonsense were all Logia users, and all heavily reliant on their Fruit abilities. Sakazuki, who had been in the first class alongside Borsalino, was also a Logia user. But Sakazuki was different. Taijutsu, Haki, ability—he neglected none of them. Among the four, he trained the hardest.

Zephyr's classes were unlike ordinary courses. They could last for several years. One part of them was live combat at sea.

He remembered every class he had taught, and naturally every experience from their voyages for live combat. The most unforgettable were the first and the last.

Before Borsalino and Sakazuki joined the Marines, they had already been Logia users. They had both killed pirates and developed their own fighting styles. Even after Zephyr's training, Borsalino had only learned one move: Light-Speed Kick. It was a rather opportunistic technique. Sakazuki, however, had constantly improved his fighting style throughout his studies, incorporating much of what he learned into it.

Even the way he used his abilities now bore traces of Rokuogan. He had taken the path of extreme explosive power.

That time, Sakazuki had been like a Slaughter God. Relying on his Taijutsu and the powers of the Magma-Magma Fruit, he killed every enemy and even affected his classmates. Even Borsalino had seemed like nothing more than a bystander.

Zephyr had read Sakazuki's file. He knew that Sakazuki was a pitiable man, just like many others in the Marines. Their families had all died at the hands of pirates.

But Zephyr had believed in the path of non-killing back then, so he greatly disliked Sakazuki's ruthlessness. Still, he had only sighed and said, "Sakazuki, we are Marines. All we can do is capture them, have them stand trial at Enies Lobby, and let them spend the rest of their lives in the Great Prison beneath the sea. That is the best punishment for them."

Sakazuki treated Zephyr's theories and lectures like nonsense. That had angered Zephyr as well. Every last one of them had been a troublemaker. Their relationship naturally worsened afterward.

As a Marine Admiral, Sakazuki naturally knew what had happened to Zephyr. They had both been promoted to Admiral after the Ohara Incident.

Sakazuki had experienced those events himself, so he naturally knew what state Teacher Zephyr was in. But lectures were unnecessary. He was not good at that sort of thing.

"I was merely conducting a routine patrol. Isn't that what Teacher Zephyr taught us?" Sakazuki said.

Only then did Zephyr recall that he had indeed taught that. Whenever they went to sea, he would patrol at night and generally would not sleep too deeply. But he had never said they needed to do that in Marineford as well.

The words that had reached his lips were swallowed back down.

Would anyone really cause trouble at Marine Headquarters? Yet the truth was that Golden Lion had attacked Marine Headquarters ten years ago. Nine years later, Whitebeard had launched the Summit War to save his adopted son.

He patted Sakazuki on the shoulder and sighed. "That's a very good habit. Keep it up, Sakazuki."

Come to think of it, a former Admiral patting a current Admiral on the shoulder felt rather strange.

Sakazuki found it even stranger. They had not even shown each other a pleasant face for years. Had Teacher Zephyr changed his nature today?

The atmosphere fell silent for a moment.

"Sakazuki, actually, perhaps your way of doing things was right after all," Zephyr finally said after a long while. His gaze was deeply complicated, but Sakazuki could not see it through the sunglasses.

He had spent half his life carrying out the path of non-killing, yet it had taken him only a little over half a year to learn the principle of uprooting the weeds and eliminating the roots.

Hearing Zephyr's words, Sakazuki sighed inwardly. Did this incident really affect Teacher Zephyr that deeply? He said, "If I encounter that pirate, I will absolutely not let him go."

To attack Marine cadets was, frankly, going too far. But then again, that was what pirates were. Real pirates would not reason with you about such things.

Sakazuki himself could disregard the lives of Marines, provided their deaths had value. For victory, appropriate sacrifices were necessary. But pirates who harmed Marines? There was no need for them to remain alive.

Zephyr was somewhat surprised that Sakazuki would say such a thing. Had he understood him too little? The thought existed in his mind for only an instant before he rejected it. Sakazuki was too extreme; many times, he went too far.

Zephyr sighed. "Zephyr is already in the past. I must begin anew with a new identity. The one who does not kill is Zephyr, but I am Z! Z of revenge!" With that, he drained the liquor in his hand in one gulp. His tone began to harden as well.

"I will personally end that man's life!"

Also, thanks to QQ Reading user YLY_ for the 200 Book Coin reward.

Thanks to Qidian user Beiming Youyu x Qi Mingwei Kun for the 200 Qidian Coin reward.

Thanks to Qidian user Xiangfei de Lanbai for the 100 Qidian Coin reward.

Thank you to the three bosses! You're generous, bosses!

And thanks to all the brothers for your recommendation votes. I will keep working hard.