Vic stopped hiding his true intentions. He took off his weights and threw them aside, creating a crater in the ground. The trainees' eyes narrowed, all marveling at how monstrous Vic was.
Vic ignored them and charged at Zephyr. Vic was knocked away every few moves, and over time, Vic gradually adapted to Zephyr's offensive rhythm.
At first, Vic was frequently knocked away, but this became less and less frequent. He used his Sword Gang energy to disrupt Zephyr's movement, which proved somewhat useful at crucial moments.
With the Speed-Speed Fruit's acceleration, Vic's speed isn't much slower than Zephyr's, so he can barely hold his own. Even though Zephyr Armament Haki, you still need to be able to hit him. Vic's twin swords aren't just for show either.
Both of them were very fast, and Vic's combat reactions were becoming increasingly rapid as he quickly adapted to Zephyr's combat responses.
Ze was increasingly alarmed Laws. The learning speed was too fast, and the adaptability was too strong. He didn't know that Vic possessed a body with a talent for proficiency, which allowed him to become stronger simply by repeating learning.
Zephyr threw a punch at Vic's face with his right arm. As Vic dodged, his twin blades were already at Zephyr's neck. Zephyr reacted quickly, his left hand already there, his black wrist blocking the neck, while his right hand, which had been withdrawn, came straight at him.
The moment Vic's twin blades were blocked, he took Geppo back, then immediately turned sideways, leaping through the air as he flew forward, his twin blades aimed straight for Zephyr's eyes.
As Zephyr withdrew his fist, the twin blades were only ten centimeters from his eyes. Zephyr quickly flicked his fists upward, and the twin blades pierced through the top of Zephyr's head. Vic's entire chest was now exposed in front of Zephyr. Vic thought to himself, "This is bad," and then he was struck by Zephyr's Haki fist.
Vic flew, flying very high and far. He was in a trance state, struck by the Haki. It really hurt. He felt an external force drilling into his body, damaging his cells. But there were similar substances inside his cells resisting, but the resistance was too weak, like a disorganized mess without a leader, so it was no match for him.
At that moment, Vic's mind seemed to conjure up images of a battlefield within the cells, where black particles were being crushed by even darker particles from outside. Some black particles were fleeing, some were resisting, and most seemed to be dormant, motionless.
Vic fell to the ground, sliding quite a distance backward, but a smile played on his lips. He finally understood the essence of Armament Haki; this trip had been very fruitful.
Vic didn't stand up; he had a smile on his face and was still recalling the feeling from just now, which he found wonderful.
No wonder it's said that Armament Haki is a power that exists throughout the entire body. It turns out that this power is hidden within the cells. When you want to use it, you simply mobilize the Haki within the cells of that part of the body and react quickly. That makes sense now.
Smoker and Hina, seeing that Vic hadn't stood up for a while, went to his side. Looking at Vic, who was smiling but motionless, their first thought was that Vic had been stunned by Teacher Zephyr. Just as they were about to help Vic up, Zephyr's voice came.
"Don't disturb him. He's probably already grasped something; disturbing him now will ruin his understanding. Don't do anything foolish like that again; it'll offend people."
As the head instructor of the training camp, Zephyr naturally knew Vic's current state and was somewhat amazed by the kid's talent, understanding things in just one go.
If Vic knew what Zephyr was thinking, he would definitely argue that he had been accumulating experience and then unleashing it, and that he should take a look at how fiercely he trained his body. He had been preparing for this moment all along, so both hard work and opportunity were indispensable.
By the time Vic came to his senses, Zephyr had vanished. Smoker and Hina stood beside him, while the other students looked at him with complicated expressions. Vic rubbed his bruised chest and stood up with a smile.
" Vic, are you alright? Are you badly hurt?" Smoker asked with concern.
"Yeah, it's nothing. I'm in good shape and can take a beating. Smoker, where's Instructor Zephyr?" Vic patted his chest, seemingly unconcerned.
" Zephyr saw you were deep in thought, so he told others not to disturb you, and then he left, leaving you a message before he went," Smoker explained.
"Oh, what did he say?" Vic asked, a little curious.
"Professor Zephyr said that you can come to the Elite Camp anytime you want. He has already instructed the guards to let you in whenever he is around. You're really lucky, kid. It's very difficult for us to get individual guidance from Professor Zephyr, and you can even come without being a member of the Elite Camp."
After Smoker finished recounting Zephyr's instructions, he said enviously. He was genuinely envious because Zephyr didn't seem to like him much and never gave him a friendly look.
Vic smiled but didn't reply. He knew Zephyr's purpose was to put a ferocious Sea Kings among the fish to provoke them.
However, he didn't mind. He could use many of the equipment here, and the facilities were quite complete. He couldn't possibly spend all his time on academic studies.
Vic picked up the weights from the ground and put them on. The surrounding trainees were startled again; they had just tried on the weights and couldn't lift them at all—they were too heavy.
This made them realize how much Vic had spared them during the battle. They now admired Vic immensely, and their gazes towards Vic were completely different. This man was incredibly ruthless to himself, but he was unbelievably strong.
"Alright, I'm off then. Come over for drinks tonight." Vic, now wearing his weights, waved to the two people beside him and walked straight out, ignoring the stares of the others.
Upon arriving at the entrance, the guards were the same two as before. They were already awake and seemed a little scared when they saw Vic. Vic didn't make things difficult for them; it was their duty, and he was the one breaking the rules. He smiled at the two of them and walked straight towards the dormitory area.
After fighting Zephyr for several hours, he was also a bit hungry. He went to the dormitory and called Rebecca. The two of them walked towards the beach in the recruit area.
The recruit training area is sandwiched between the living quarters and the Red Line, with the sea on both sides.
Vic wanted to catch Sea Kings in the sea to eat, because ordinary food was no longer enough to replenish the Primal Spirit needed to strengthen his body; only Sea Kings meat had some effect.
The battle between Vic and Zephyr consumed a lot of their Observation Haki. Activating Observation Haki with full force and focus depletes Haki quickly, and they also need to replenish their stamina. Rebecca came along to benefit from this.
After passing through the forest and arriving at the seaside, there were many watchtowers along the coast, with people on guard at all times, mainly to prevent unidentified ships from landing at sea and to sound the alarm in advance. Smoker said that there were some such watchtowers in the sea, far from the coast.
The sentries, seeing that the two had come from the island, ignored them, knowing they were new recruits from the recruit area. Their main duty was to guard the sea. Vic and Rebecca merely glanced at the watchtowers out of curiosity and then paid them no further attention.
Vic took off his weights and shirt, revealing his strong, well-defined muscles—not overly bulging, but powerful—and plunged into the sea, swimming towards the deep ocean. Rebecca, meanwhile, prepared firewood for a barbecue on the beach; they had already brought the seasonings.
Rebecca chopped down some dead trees, shredded them, and hauled them to the beach. She then chopped down many living, large trees, shredded them into small pieces, and scattered them on the open ground by the beach. These were to be used later and needed to be dried. She had been doing these things very well together before, as the two of them had always divided the work this way.
By the time Rebecca had finished making preparations, Vic had already dragged a large Sea Kings with its eyes rolling back onto the shore.
The sentry looked at Vic, who had just come ashore, with some surprise. This was no ordinary person; how could he just grab Sea Kings?
Rebecca was used to it all; now she just wanted to try the taste of this Sea Kings. There were so many sea Sea Kings in the ocean, and they looked all sorts of strange shapes and sizes. She guessed that there was no reproductive isolation between these Sea Kings, so their offspring were all different. Each Sea Kings tasted different, which was why she always looked forward to it.
Vic processed the Sea Kings on the beach, dismembering it into pieces; he planned to save some for later to enjoy with his drinks.
He kept some of each part, and put the rest around the campfire. Vic's stomach had definitely learned to Life Return; it could eat a lot.
His digestive ability is truly remarkable; even bones can be visibly dissolved after entering the digestive system. Vic felt that once he Awakening Armament Haki, he could control his entire body to use the Rokushiki Ogi of Life Return. This was a feeling he had after the images of Haki warfare appeared in his mind today.