A Last-Minute Change to the Assessment

"..."

Aokiji lowered his head slightly, remaining silent.

Over four months ago, he had been both a witness and a participant in the tragic massacre that took place at Ohara.

The "burning justice" that had once blazed like a raging fire in his heart had gradually dimmed and faded after that operation; even his entire demeanor had begun to shift from spirited and driven to sluggish and lethargic.

Zephyr could naturally sense the change in his disciple, but he found it difficult to offer direct comfort—how was he supposed to explain the hidden truths behind that Buster Call? And from what position could he even offer such an explanation?

There were many things he found just as intolerable as Aokiji did, but with Mary Geoise looming over them, Zephyr had long understood that there were some things even he—once the youngest Admiral in the Navy—was powerless to change, let alone a mere Vice Admiral of the Headquarters.

"Sigh..."

Zephyr let out a long sigh, and only after a long while did he say in a low voice, "There are some things I cannot teach you. I only hope that you can remain like you were back in the Recruit Camp—no matter what others do, or what those above us decide, you must still hold fast to the justice within your own heart..."

"The Headquarters doesn't have many missions lately, and I imagine you don't have much appetite for participating in any major battles right now, do you?"

He looked at Aokiji, frowned in thought, and suddenly said, "How about this: the batch of new recruits I'm currently training is about due for a field combat assessment."

"I had originally intended to lead them out myself, but since you've returned, I'll leave this responsibility to you. It will give me a chance to take a break and rest for a while. How does that sound?"

"Leave it to me?" Aokiji finally raised his head, his expression somewhat startled.

"Ha, that's right!"

Zephyr patted him on the shoulder and laughed. "Don't overthink it. Just treat it as a vacation to clear your head. Although, you've already had enough vacation time in the last few months to make someone incredibly jealous."

"..."

Aokiji hesitated for a moment, but ultimately, under Zephyr's expectant gaze, he took a deep breath and nodded earnestly.

Everyone in the room was sharp; he could roughly guess Zephyr's well-intentioned efforts.

—It was nothing more than a way to let him relax while spending time with these young juniors, perhaps hoping that he could rediscover his original intent of defending justice through these children, who were still full of passion and enthusiasm for the future, and help him walk out of this period of confusion and painful lows.

It was just that...

Aokiji looked out the window, feeling somewhat lost. The white flags of the Marineford Headquarters fortress were still fluttering in the wind.

For someone like him now, could this method really be effective?

In the spacious indoor training ground, over two hundred new recruits from the Headquarters Elite Camp were gathered, split into groups for hand-to-hand combat training.

It was already nine o'clock, and the morning's routine training had been underway for some time. Zephyr, as the chief instructor, had yet to appear, but he had sent someone to deliver an unexpected piece of news.

"Tomorrow's assessment is canceled?"

Noah was sparring with Shiryu, the two of them trading blows using the Rokushiki. Upon hearing the news, he couldn't help but be stunned. "What's going on? Did Instructor Zephyr take leave for something these past few days?"

"To be precise, it's not canceled, but postponed."

Across from him, Shiryu puffed on a cigarette, skillfully using Soru to dodge a bamboo sword strike from Noah, and said in a low voice:

"I heard while eating this morning that Instructor Zephyr is discussing something with Admiral Sengoku. It seems he wants to organize a field combat assessment to let us recruits see the real world. He's probably busy preparing for that these few days."

"I see."

Noah suddenly understood. Their batch of recruits had been in the camp for nearly a year, and it was getting a bit boring to only have assessments at the Headquarters every month. He felt it was indeed quite dull, and it was about time for some real combat.

"Are there any more detailed rumors leaking out?" he asked again. "For example, what is the target pirate crew? The New World or the first half of the Grand Line?"

"Not sure, but you can forget about the New World."

Shiryu said irritably, "No matter how you look at it, it's just an assessment. With our current overall strength, if we went to the New World for a mission, even with an instructor protecting us, it would be hard to avoid major casualties. Zephyr wouldn't be able to answer to the Headquarters if that happened."

"It's likely a pirate crew in the first half, probably one that hasn't been in the Grand Line for long."

Shiryu took a deep drag of his cigarette and offered his perspective. "Though the Four Blues are also possible; there are plenty of suitable targets there. Oh, of course, excluding your hometown, the East Blue."

Among the Four Blues, it was a universally known consensus that the pirates in the East Blue were the least formidable.

Every other sea area had its share of major pirates with bounties of fifty or sixty million Beli wreaking havoc, but in the East Blue, the highest bounty currently heard of was barely over ten million Beli.

"The truth can be really hurtful sometimes, Shiryu."

Noah looked sorrowful, his tone heavy. "You really need to change your temper. Besides, isn't it a good thing from our perspective as Marines that there aren't any high-bounty pirates in the East Blue?"

Shiryu chuckled, too lazy to respond, and instead asked casually, "Speaking of which, you seem to have been looking forward to this assessment since this morning?"

"You were even a bit disappointed when you heard it was canceled. What, are you confident you'll climb a few spots in the rankings this time?"

"Was I?"

Noah gave a dry laugh, while inwardly muttering—how could even this guy tell? Was he really being that obvious?

Shiryu's guess was indeed accurate. Ever since he had obtained the system yesterday, he had been looking forward to this assessment.

Relying on his newly mastered Intermediate Kami-e skill and the two points added to his stamina, he might not be able to shock everyone by taking first place, but breaking into the top twenty shouldn't be a problem.

He was already sick of sitting in the thousand-year-old position of fiftieth place; it was time to move up!

But plans could never keep up with changes. He had already figured out how to play the "hidden expert" in the assessment—starting low and finishing high—to perform a perfect script of playing the pig to eat the tiger, all to harvest the surprised gazes of his fellow recruits.

And yet, when the day came, he was hit with this?

Isn't this just screwing me over!

"Still distracted?"

Just as Noah was absent-minded, a low shout suddenly came from behind his ear.

It turned out that Shiryu, who had been directly in front of him a second ago, had somehow circled around to his right rear, launching a Shigan straight toward his shoulder.

This strike was naturally pulled back in terms of force, so even if it connected, it would at most cause a superficial wound, but the speed had not diminished in the slightest, reaching the surface of Noah's skin in an instant.

Got him!

Shiryu's gaze remained calm; in his view, Noah, having exposed a flaw, was already too late to react and would be jumping around in pain clutching his arm the very next moment.

However.

In the split second before the Shigan was about to land, Noah's body, facing away from him, suddenly twisted to the left at an extremely bizarre angle, as if merging with the surrounding airflow, dodging the strike by the narrowest of margins.

"Hiss..."

Shiryu immediately gasped.

His eyesight was sharp, and from the subtle sensation of airflow against his fingertips, he could naturally tell that Noah's reaction was no fluke, but rather a sign that he had mastered the physical technique of Kami-e.

"Incredible, truly incredible."

Once Noah turned around, he found Shiryu looking him up and down as if he were a monster. "Tell me, who exactly are you? Are you Rossi in disguise? Since when have you practiced Kami-e to this level?"

Noah remained silent for a long time.

"...I'll say it again, Shiryu, the truth can sometimes be really damn hurtful."