Kuzan's Little Scheme, the Elite Camp's Challenge

This was a plaza beside the great square in front of Marineford Fortress.

It was not far from the Recruit Training Camp, but it was large enough to accommodate two Recruit Camps. Ordinary recruits never came here except for sparring practice. Only those monsters from the Elite Camp, as the recruits called them, trained here regularly.

Their strength was already formidable, and a cramped training ground would only restrict them.

When they arrived at the plaza, several recruits were already training there. Some sparred one-on-one, while others sat cross-legged with katanas resting across their knees. The most eye-catching was a giant nearly four meters tall, squatting while holding an Iron Body even larger than himself.

"Admiral Kuzan, who are they?" Loa had initially wanted to call him Teacher, but wisely changed his wording before the frost around Kuzan could spread.

Hearing Loa's question, Kuzan stopped what he was doing and explained, "Oh~ them? They're the current Elite Camp trainees."

"Elite Camp," Loa repeated. Just as its name implied, the Elite Camp contained only elites—every one of them a powerhouse selected from countless Marines.

Upon graduating from the Elite Camp, the lowest rank one could achieve was colonel. Matching those benefits was an extremely difficult graduation examination, yet so far, no one had ever failed to graduate.

With former admiral Black Arm Zephyr serving as an Iron Mask instructor, there was no possibility of passing through improper means or leniency. Thus, those who entered the Elite Camp would basically become the backbone of the Marines in the future. Some might even take up the banner of admiral.

After all, admirals like Kuzan, Sakazuki, and Kizaru had all graduated from here.

Seeing Kuzan, the Elite Camp members who had been training stopped and gathered around, saluting in unison.

"Admiral Aokiji!"

"Mm, carry on. I just brought a friend here for some training." Kuzan spoke listlessly, pointing at Loa beside him.

Upon hearing that, Loa's heart skipped a beat as he stared at him in disbelief.

Damn! This guy is so devious. I only disgusted you a little. Did you really have to go through all this trouble to make trouble for me?

As a Marine admiral with such immense prestige, did he really need to explain why he was here to these rookies? Wouldn't it have been better to act cool and aloof? This trap was way too obvious!

Sure enough, after hearing Kuzan's words, several pairs of eyes locked onto Loa. The huge man, built like a savage bull, glared at him viciously. "Is this the brat?"

At that, the corner of Kuzan's mouth secretly curled into a smile before it immediately vanished. "Eh! Yes. It can't be helped. His Devil Fruit ability has quite a large range, so only this place gives him enough room to use it."

"You bastard, you even leaked my information to them?" Loa was furious, but then a thought struck him, and he cheerfully spoke up.

"That's right. That's why Teacher Kuzan brought me here—to teach me how to develop my Devil Fruit ability."

Forgive a 1.4-meter guy for acting cute. Anyway, with this baby face of mine, I wasn't afraid of losing face!

Since you were being heartless, don't blame me for being ruthless. Come on, let's hurt each other!

"You actually called Admiral Aokiji by name! Wait—" The big man spoke fiercely, then suddenly froze as the entire group cried out.

"Tea-tea, cher!"

Kuzan's eye twitched. He felt as sick as if he had swallowed a fly. Faced with their surprised, confused, and even slightly disappointed looks, he helplessly explained, "I haven't accepted him as a disciple. I'm just teaching him a few things."

"Mm-hmm, but Teacher Kuzan, there's a saying: someone who can teach you something you don't know is your teacher. For example, if I can't write and someone teaches me, then even if he's only a shipwright, he's my teacher. If I can't cook and a flower seller teaches me how to cook, she's my teacher too. It isn't just me—everyone is the same. Even humanity itself is like that. We learned how to make fire from nature, how to use tools, and how to build houses. Nature is humanity's teacher. So, Teacher Kuzan, since you're teaching me how to develop my Devil Fruit ability, you're my teacher too. Right, Teacher Kuzan!"

Loa kept calling him Teacher over and over, thoroughly leaving everyone bewildered.

Kuzan touched the sleep mask on his forehead and asked Loa, "Where did you hear that saying?"

"Mm, probably in the East Blue. I remember we ran into the sea restaurant Baratie before that."

"The East Blue... I understand."

Afterward, Admiral Aokiji, one of the Marines' three great admirals, personally applied to visit the East Blue. For three straight months, he turned the entire East Blue upside down.

Hearing that Kuzan did not deny it, the big man's eyes reddened as tears and snot streamed down his face. "Wuwuwu! Admiral Aokiji, you... you actually took a disciple too!"

Hey, hey, wasn't it disgusting for such a huge guy to cry like that?

Loa grumbled inwardly.

Suddenly, he stopped crying at once and looked at Loa, his eyes filled with fury and stubborn resolve.

"Brat! Let's settle this in a fight! Let me see what you've got that made Admiral Aokiji accept you as his disciple!"

"Huh?"

Seeing this, Aokiji felt a wave of satisfaction. They had finally reached the main point. Today's plan had almost been ruined, but fortunately, Arudo was still so easy to fool.

Arudo was the name of this 4.3-meter giant. Ever since he had been in the Recruit Camp, he had admired the three Marine admirals who had also emerged from the Recruit Camp. Later, Kuzan saved him, and he became determined to take Kuzan as his teacher. However, Kuzan, who hated trouble and had a lazy personality, had never agreed.

Now that Kuzan had appeared before him again and had apparently even accepted a disciple, Arudo could no longer hold himself back and challenged Loa.

Loa calmly watched him, then turned and tugged at Kuzan's clothes, giving him a sidelong look that asked, Was this your goal?

Kuzan returned a look that said, What are you trying to ask? I don't understand. How about you don't ask?

Now it was Loa who had a headache. Judging from Arudo's expression, he was clearly taking this match very seriously.

"Loa, just give it a try. You'll be joining the Elite Camp in a month anyway. Getting along with your future companions beforehand isn't a bad thing," Kuzan added from the side, leaving Loa with no room to argue.

"Ah~ I'm exhausted."

Loa shook his head and agreed.

"Then I'll be the referee. The rules are that there are no rules, as long as neither of you tries to kill the other!"

Kuzan raised a hand and announced it. Naturally, there was no one more suitable than him to serve as referee, so no one objected.

"What do you mean, as long as we don't try to kill each other?! You want me to get beaten up, don't you?"

Loa rolled his dead-fish eyes and looked at him with disdain.

Across from him, Arudo picked his position and stood there like a savage bull, jets of air blasting from his nostrils.

"Come on, Loa! I'll show you that the weak have no right to stand beside Admiral Aokiji! Even if Admiral Aokiji accepted you as his disciple, you'll never earn my recognition!"

Faced with this situation, Loa spread his hands. What could I do? I was desperate too!