"Leon, please spar with me!"
"Huh?"
"T Bone, what are you doing?"
Leon stared at the serious-looking, zombie-faced man in front of him, completely bewildered.
In Leon's impression, T Bone was a very steady and reliable person. So why was he acting like Smoker today...
But T Bone didn't look like he was joking, so Leon nodded and agreed.
The three men pretending to train nearby poked their heads out and exchanged glances.
With T Bone stepping in, this was as good as settled.
Leon already sensed something was off. T Bone only attacked and never defended, and his target seemed to be... Leon's clothes?
"What kind of swordsmanship is this?"
Watching Leon dodge again and again, T Bone felt the hopes of his three companions on him. He swung his dual swords with ever-increasing ferocity.
Sorry, Leon. I'll make sure I only cut through the bandages on you...
With nowhere left to retreat, Leon still couldn't figure out what kind of technique T Bone was using. Feeling rather helpless, he seized on the flaw in T Bone's straightforward swordplay and, at the right moment, caught the blade with one hand.
The dual swords struck Leon's hand with a metallic clang.
"Leon! Are you all right?"
T Bone was horrified. He hadn't meant to hurt Leon.
"I'm fine..." Leon shook his hand as the Armament Haki faded. "But T Bone, is this a new sword technique you came up with?"
"You'd better not use it against anyone else just yet..."
Damn it!
Watching T Bone lose and hang his head in shame, the three exchanged grave looks.
As expected of Leon. He wasn't going to be easy to deal with.
They had no choice but to use Plan B.
Hina stepped forward and beckoned to Leon, who was still on the field. Her meaning was clear.
"You want a turn too? All right..."
Before Leon could get ready, Hina unleashed her Cage of Feathers, covering the entire field. Black iron bars instantly bound Leon tight.
Hina hurried over to Leon, her expression still cool and aloof.
"Oops, Hina slipped."
Hina pitched forward, her hands flailing as if at random, but in truth she was going straight for Leon's face.
Got him!
The three men below stretched their necks, ready to get a look at Leon's true face.
"Crack!"
Leon tensed his whole body and shattered the restraints.
"Hina, are you all right?"
Hina had fallen right into Leon's arms. She quickly pushed him away and stood up, then turned and strode off without changing her expression.
Another failure!
Plan C—the relay battle!
Rosinante immediately called on his connections and started rallying everyone from their class to take turns challenging Leon. He led by example, taking the first spot in line.
Training ended before long.
A whole lot of people had collapsed across the training ground. Leon walked out with a yawn.
What was with everyone today...
When he returned to Garp's courtyard, the old man wasn't home. He'd probably gone off to chat with someone again. It felt like Garp was the most carefree person at Marine Headquarters...
Exhausted after a long day, Leon took off his clothes and prepared to relax with a bath.
Outside the wall, four furtive figures huddled together.
Rosinante whispered smugly, "Everything up to now was just a setup. Leon would never expect..."
"That we'd sneak a peek at him while he's taking a bath!"
Smoker's face was covered in black lines. How had he let Rosinante lead him astray like this...
"Hurry up, Smoker." Rosinante poked him anxiously. "Leon's about to finish bathing..."
"sigh..."
Smoker let out a long sigh. His neck turned into a column of smoke, lifting his head unsteadily into the air.
The other three hardly dared to breathe. Their method might have been a little unscrupulous...
But there was no turning back now!
"Oh my, what are you four doing?"
A clear, bright voice rang out. All four shuddered, and Smoker's head dropped straight down.
"C-C-Cousin Kuzan!"
"So it's Rosinante, and Smoker too..."
Kuzan knew Leon's companions, so even though their behavior looked highly suspicious, he didn't act against them right away.
Rosinante stepped forward and explained everything to Kuzan with a mixture of words and gestures.
"Oh?"
Kuzan tilted his head and thought it over carefully.
"Now that you mention it, I don't think I've ever seen Leon's real face either..."
"If you don't mind, could I join you?"
"Huh?"
After a brief silence, five hands piled on top of one another.
With a Vice Admiral joining them, this was definitely going to work!
Leon seriously suspected he'd unknowingly offended some enemy, or that some mysterious person who had eaten the Luck-Luck Fruit was deliberately targeting him.
For the past few days, whenever he went out, he either ran into a fight and got caught up in it while watching from the sidelines, escaping only thanks to his agility, or got splattered with dye for no reason. Sometimes, hailstones even started falling out of nowhere...
After finally winning a hot-spring voucher while shopping, he'd been about to go in when he heard they'd found a perverted pink-haired woman peeking into the pool...
After a few days of this, Leon simply asked Zephyr for leave and stayed inside, refusing to go out.
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