Provocation

Marine G-3 Branch port.

A squad of Marine soldiers stood by the dock. At the front was a blond lieutenant holding a roster.

"Corporal Kong Ming!"

"Present!"

"Corporal Dong Jack!"

"Present!"

"Corporal Kang Xiao!"

"Present!"

"Sergeant Maynard!"

"Present!"

"Corporal Karl D. Sephiroth!"

"Present!"

"May victory follow you all! During your year of further study at the Marineford Military Academy, may you achieve even greater accomplishments!"

"Yes!" ×10

After saluting the blond lieutenant, the ten noncommissioned officers, Sephiroth included, picked up their luggage and boarded the small warship via the gangplank.

Sephiroth rested both hands on the railing and watched the Marine G-3 Branch gradually shrink into the distance.

Thinking back on the past half month of daily beatings from Garp, he suddenly felt a sense of relief.

"Hey! You're Karl D. Sephiroth, right?"

Hearing that, Sephiroth withdrew his gaze, turned around, and looked at the burly man walking toward him.

The man stood two and a half meters tall, with a muscular build and broad chest. Beneath his white Marine cap, his long black hair was tied into a ponytail. He had a full beard and a cigarette clenched between his lips.

"Yeah! That's me... May I ask what you need?" Sephiroth asked, slightly puzzled.

"My name is Maynard. I came first in this G-3 Branch selection.

"I heard you're a Devil Fruit user, so you didn't need to take part in the G-3 Branch selection. You directly took a spot and were recommended to the Marineford Military Academy.

"I want to know just how strong a Devil Fruit user like you really is."

As he spoke, Maynard rolled his neck, then cracked his knuckles with a crack! He looked at Sephiroth with a provocative gleam in his eyes.

"Honestly, I'm not that strong. I can only beat up small fry." Sephiroth shrugged helplessly.

Seeing this, Kong Ming, who had been standing nearby, hurried over in concern and explained:

"When Sephiroth first enlisted, he killed a pirate with a bounty of 12 million Belly. I think... he was recommended because he was strong enough..."

Kong Ming's explanation not only failed to dispel Maynard's desire to provoke him, but made the fighting spirit in his eyes burn even stronger.

"Oh!? I've beaten a pirate with a 10 million Belly bounty before too...

"Now I want to know even more just how strong he is.

"Sephiroth, don't tell me you're afraid to spar with me?"

"..."

He raised his eyes and swept his gaze over the noncommissioned officers on the warship's deck, the ones traveling with him to Marineford.

He found that nearly everyone present was watching with the attitude of enjoying a good show.

Clearly, they were somewhat dissatisfied that Sephiroth could be directly recommended to the Marineford Military Academy without taking the selection test. Maynard had simply chosen to voice it openly.

Sephiroth was actually familiar with every one of these noncommissioned officers...

They were the group who appeared on the training field at four every morning for extra training.

Of course, there were also some soldiers he recognized who had failed to board this warship bound for Marineford.

Presumably, they hadn't made it into the top nine during the selection...

They had trained desperately and worked hard, defeating many opponents just to earn admission to the military academy, while someone else had obtained the qualification without doing anything at all.

Therefore, it was hardly surprising that those noncommissioned officers looked at him with hostility.

The military was a place where strength reigned supreme. Only by displaying his strength would others think highly of him.

With that in mind, Sephiroth let out a soft sigh. He walked to the center of the warship's deck and beckoned to the burly man.

"Fine! Let's spar, then. We'll stop before anyone gets hurt."

"Good! Let me see what you're really made of!"

As he spoke, Maynard assumed a free-fighting stance, slightly lowering his body before swinging a right hook at Sephiroth's left cheek.

His fist whistled through the air, carrying the sound of tearing wind.

Sephiroth was only 1.73 meters tall and rather lean, while the burly man was two and a half meters tall with bulging muscles. In terms of height and build alone, they were incomparable.

However...

To Maynard's astonishment, his fist nearly grazed Sephiroth's nose before striking empty air.

Refusing to believe it, he threw several more punches with both hands at his opponent.

Yet to everyone's immense surprise, Sephiroth moved like willow fluff drifting in the wind. No matter how Maynard attacked, he could not land a hit.

The reason Sephiroth possessed such nimble, extreme evasion skills was entirely because that old bastard Garp had beaten them into him.

After half a month of beatings, he still hadn't learned Armament Haki, but his Observation Haki had improved quite a bit.

Unfortunately, even so, he still couldn't evade more than half of Garp's punches...

After throwing punch after punch into thin air, Maynard became increasingly furious. He tossed the nearly spent cigarette from his mouth into the sea and glared at Sephiroth as he said bitterly:

"Damn it! If you've got the guts, stop dodging and take one of my punches head-on!"

"Fine. I won't dodge."

Sephiroth nodded calmly. After playing around for a while, he had lost interest too.

With the support of Observation Haki and his advantage in speed, his opponent had no chance of beating him.

"Ha!"

Maynard stomped his right foot heavily against the deck and lunged at him like a beast pouncing on its prey...

Under the horrified gazes of the crowd, Sephiroth flashed forward and appeared directly in Maynard's path. With a clean, sharp right uppercut, he smashed Maynard hard in the jaw, knocking him flat onto the deck. Maynard curled up, clutching his jaw in pain, unable to get back to his feet for a while!

Silence!

Shock!

Suffocation!

The result of this fight was actually... a one-hit knockout!

Ignoring everyone's stunned expressions, Sephiroth picked up his suitcase and leisurely walked toward the cabin.

At the end, as though remembering something, he said in a slightly teasing tone:

"Actually! Before I even enlisted, I took out a little pirate with a 35 million Belly bounty..."

Gulp!

The noncommissioned officers present were all elites of the G-3 Branch. They had all defeated pirates with bounties of several million Belly, and Maynard had even beaten one worth 10 million Belly. But none of them had expected Sephiroth to have killed a pirate worth 35 million Belly...

"I told you! He must have been recommended to the military academy because he was strong enough..." Kong Ming said proudly.

"Yeah, yeah! He was recommended based on his strength..."

"That's right."

"Maybe Vice Admiral Garp and the others exempted Sephiroth from the selection test because they were afraid we'd get discouraged?"

"That makes sense!"

Everyone chimed in, barely managing to cover up the awkward atmosphere from earlier.

It took Maynard quite a while to recover from his dizziness. Supporting his jaw, he swayed to his feet from the deck and cursed:

"Pah! Then you two bastards were the ones egging me on to pick a fight with him...?"

"Ahem!"

Among the seven men, two Marine soldiers turned away with guilty expressions and whistled, not daring to look at Maynard...