Duel

The sun sank in the west, and the clouds on the horizon were as dazzling and captivating as bloodstains. The last rays of the setting sun spilled across the earth.

Marineford Military Academy, on the training field.

Besides Class One, there were two other classes taking unarmed combat lessons. When they heard that the two were dueling over a girl, they all curiously gathered around, clearly eager to watch the excitement grow.

"Come on! When it comes to Physical Prowess, I have absolute confidence..."

Tokikake rolled his neck and limbs a few times, producing a series of "crack! crack!" sounds.

"Sigh! Actually, even if you beat me, then confess to Gion another ninety-eight times to make it an even one hundred, she still won't accept you..." Sephiroth sighed.

"Hahaha! Then I'll confess to her one hundred and one times."

"Little Sephiroth, good luck! If you win, maybe I'll agree to go out with you."

Standing amid the crowd, Gion giggled as she cheered him on.

"..."

Seeing this, Sephiroth could only smile and raise his right hand, giving her the middle finger to express his displeasure, making her teeth itch with anger.

"The mood has been built up this much... If I keep refusing, or deliberately lose to you, that would be hard to justify... I'll give it everything I've got to take you down!"

After briefly stretching his entire body, Sephiroth assumed a fighting stance and looked at Tokikake with a serious expression.

"Come on! This is a man's passion and romance!"

As he spoke, Tokikake threw a right hook at him.

To everyone's astonishment, Sephiroth neither dodged nor blocked, taking the blow directly to the face.

Seeing this, Tokikake seemed to understand something. When the silver-haired youth swung his right fist at him, he did not dodge either, taking the punch solidly with his body.

Bang! Bang! Bang...!

Bang! Bang! Bang...!

Under the fading sunlight, Sephiroth and Tokikake put on a brawl before the many Military Academy students. Neither dodged nor evaded; every punch landed flesh against flesh. They kept getting knocked down, standing back up, and getting knocked down again. It was utterly devoid of technique, making everyone's scalps tingle as they watched...

Among the crowd, Smoker had two cigars clenched between his teeth as he asked in confusion, "What exactly are those two doing?"

At that, Maynard chuckled and patted Smoker on the shoulder. "This is a contest of will and determination between two men! Never evade, never retreat!"

Before they knew it, the fight had gone on for half an hour, and they had exchanged several hundred punches...

Sephiroth charged forward and swung his bloodied right fist, smashing it hard into Tokikake's chin. Tokikake was sent sprawling backward and hit the ground with a thud! He could not get back up for a long time; only the steady rise and fall of his chest proved that he was still alive.

Maynard hurried to Tokikake's side and took a look. Upon seeing that the other man had already passed out, he immediately shouted, "The winner... Sephiroth!"

Oh—!

Oh—!

Oh—!

After the result was announced, the surrounding Military Academy students immediately began cheering.

However...

"You little brats, what are you making such a fuss about? There are still thirty minutes until class ends. If you haven't knocked your opponent down by then, run two hundred laps around the training field!"

Zephyr's words were like a bucket of cold water dumped over the Military Academy students' heads. Their enthusiasm instantly wilted, and they hurriedly found opponents to spar with.

After confirming that Tokikake was unconscious, the medical team immediately rushed over, carried him away on a stretcher, and began treating him.

"Smoker, you little brat like turning into an element, huh? Then I'll be your opponent..."

With a savage grin, Zephyr shoved aside the student Smoker had been toying with through his elemental transformation. Black Armament Haki instantly covered both his arms...

Ring-ring-ring-ring...!

The dismissal bell rang, and the Military Academy students finally finished their classes, which had run from six in the morning until six in the evening...

Of course, some students who had failed to knock down their opponents could only remain miserably on the training field to run an extra two hundred laps.

Humming a tune, Sephiroth walked to the academy infirmary, intending to check on Smoker, who had been beaten flat by Zephyr.

"Miss Nurse, my name is Tokikake. What's yours?"

"Liliana."

"Miss Liliana, ever since I saw your beautiful face, I've been hopelessly in love with you... Please go out with me!"

Inside the infirmary, Tokikake sat on a white hospital bed. He casually took a flower from the vase on the bedside table and held it out to the young nurse applying medicine to his face.

The cute young nurse with wavy purple hair stared at Tokikake's bruised and swollen, lecherous face. Her thoughts slipped out before she could stop them. "Sorry! I refuse!"

"..."

Seeing this, Sephiroth could not help covering his face with one hand. Why does this scene feel so familiar?

"Yo, Sephiroth. I'll leave Gion to you from now on. I've already found the other half destined for me," Tokikake said with a grin.

"..."

Sephiroth felt there were far too many things to mock, but he did not know where to begin.

In the end, he could only say, "Then I wish you success."

Because of the unarmed combat class earlier, there were quite a few people in the infirmary, and nearly every bed was occupied.

However, among them were also certain people using treatment and recuperation as an excuse to slack off and avoid training.

The academy would not force them to leave the infirmary, but it would deduct conduct points according to how long they stayed to recuperate. This would affect the ranks they received upon graduation...

Sephiroth passed several more hospital beds before arriving at Smoker's. Looking at the other man's bruised face, which had been smeared with yellow medicine, he fought back a laugh as he said, "Are you alright? That old geezer Zephyr really hits hard! Oh, right, they do call him Black Arm."

"This is too strange... I clearly turned into smoke. How could he still hit me...?"

"Armament Haki can touch the flowing physical bodies of Logia users. Wasn't that covered in class already?"

"I wasn't listening to that stuff at all..."

"By the way... why did your injuries heal so quickly? Earlier, you were bruised all over, so why isn't there a trace of injury now...?"

"I'm a Zoan user. Isn't strong recovery ability only natural?"

"But isn't that a little too ridiculous?"

As Smoker complained, he lit two cigars and put them in his mouth.

When the purple-haired nurse saw someone smoking, she immediately ran over, hands on her hips and cheeks puffed out in anger. "Hey! This is the infirmary. Smoking is prohibited! Since your medicine has already been applied, you can leave now."

"Seriously? Miss Nurse, he was beaten until his face was swollen and bruised. Doesn't he need to stay for observation for a few days? What if he has some aftereffects?"

"The doctor said they're only superficial injuries, nothing serious. As long as he takes his medicine on time, he'll be fine in a couple of days," the purple-haired nurse explained.

"That's true. I don't know what medicine they used on me, but my face was hurting before. After they applied it, it barely hurts anymore." Smoker nodded unconsciously.

"An anesthetic?" Sephiroth asked, somewhat puzzled.

At that, the purple-haired nurse curled her lips in dissatisfaction. "How could it be something like that? The medicines used on him were developed by the genius scientist Vegapunk. They can stimulate the body's latent vitality and rapidly treat both internal and external injuries. However, the cost is too high, and raw materials are limited, so they can only be mass-produced on a small scale for now..."

"Vegapunk?"

Sephiroth nodded in realization, and the doubts in his heart vanished.

The genius scientist Vegapunk was a Brain-Brain Fruit user. He had already been exceptionally intelligent to begin with, and with the advanced technological documents Ohara had collected from the Ancient Kingdom eight hundred years ago, it was only natural that he could create something like this.

Come to think of it, has that guy already turned his ever-growing brain into a super-biological computer and divided his mind into six parts? If I ever get the chance, I really want to meet that badass in person and discuss ideas for nuclear energy applications with him...