The setting sun was sinking in the west, and the afterglow in the sky was as gorgeous and charming as blood - stained. The setting sun bathed the earth.
On the playground of Marineford Military Academy.
Besides Class One, there were two other classes taking an unarmed combat course. After hearing the news that two guys were having a duel over a girl, they all crowded around out of curiosity. They looked keen on watching the drama without caring about the consequences.
"Come on! I'm absolutely confident in my martial arts skills..."
Kaji twisted his neck and limbs, making a series of "crackling" sounds.
"Sigh! Actually, even if you beat me and then confess your love to Tsuruoka 98 more times to make it 100 times in total, she still won't accept you..." Sephiroth sighed.
"Hahaha! Then I'll confess my love to her 101 times."
"Little Sephiroth, come on!
If you win, maybe I'll accept your pursuit."
Tsuruoka stood in the crowd, cheering him on playfully.
"..."
Seeing this, Sephiroth could only smile, raise his right hand towards her, and give her the middle finger, expressing his dissatisfaction. This made Tsuruoka grit her teeth in anger.
"The atmosphere has reached this point...
If I keep pushing it off or deliberately lose to you, it doesn't seem right...
I'll do my best to knock you down!"
After simply stretching his whole body, Sephiroth assumed a starting stance for combat and looked at Kaji seriously.
"Come on! This is the real man's excitement and romance!"
As he spoke, Kaji threw a right swing punch at the silver - haired teenager.
Bang!
To everyone's surprise, Sephiroth neither dodged nor evaded, and took the punch directly on his face.
Bang!
Seeing this, Kaji seemed to understand something. When the silver - haired teenager swung his right fist at him, he also didn't dodge and took the punch firmly on his body.
Bang! Bang! Bang! ...!
...
Bang! Bang! Bang! ...!
In the afterglow of the setting sun, Sephiroth and Kaji staged a no - dodge, punch - to - punch fight in front of many military cadets. They kept being knocked down, getting up, and then knocked down again. It was a fight with no technical skills at all, making everyone's hair stand on end...
In the crowd, Smoker had two cigars in his mouth, looking puzzled and saying:
"What on earth are these two guys doing?"
Hearing this, Maynard gave a soft laugh and patted Smoker on the shoulder:
"This is the epic showdown of will and determination between two real men!
Never evade, never retreat!"
...
Before they knew it, the battle between the two sides had lasted for half an hour, and they had exchanged hundreds of punches...
Bang!
Sephiroth stepped forward, swinging his blood - stained right fist, and hit Kaji hard on the chin, knocking him down on his back. With a "plop", he fell to the ground and couldn't get up for a long time. Only his still - rising and falling chest proved that he was still alive.
Maynard leaned over beside Kakei and took a look. After seeing that the other party had fainted, he immediately shouted:
"The winner... Sephiroth!"
"Ooh!"
"Ooh!"
"Ooh!"
After announcing the result, the surrounding cadets immediately started to cheer.
However...
"You brats, what are you cheering about?
There are still thirty minutes until class ends. If you fail to knock your opponents down, you'll have to run around the playground two hundred laps for me!"
Zephyr's words were like a bucket of cold water poured over the cadets' heads, making them deflate instantly. They quickly found their opponents and started sparring.
After confirming that Kakei was unconscious, the medical team immediately ran over, carried him away on a stretcher and off the field, and quickly began treatment.
"Smoker, you little brat like to turn into an element, right?
Then let me be your opponent..."
Zephyr grinned wickedly and pushed aside the cadet who was being toyed with by Smoker's elemental transformation. His arms were instantly covered with pitch-black armament haki...
...
Dinglinglingling...!
The bell rang, and the cadets finally ended their classes that ran from six in the morning to six in the afternoon...
Of course, some cadets who failed to knock their opponents down had to stay on the playground and run an extra two hundred laps miserably.
Sephiroth hummed a tune and walked to the military school's infirmary, planning to check on Smoker, who was knocked down by Zephyr.
"Miss Nurse, my name is Kakei. What's your name?"
"Liliana."
"Miss Liliana, ever since I saw your beautiful face, I've fallen head - over - heels for you... Please go out with me!"
In the infirmary, Kakei, sitting on the white hospital bed, casually picked up a flower from the vase on the bedside table and held it out to the nurse who was applying medicine to his face.
The nurse, with long purple wavy hair and a cute face, looked at Kakei's bruised and lecherous face and blurted out what was in her mind instinctively:
"Sorry! I reject!"
"..."
Seeing this scene, Sephiroth couldn't help covering his face with his hand. He thought to himself, 'This scene seems familiar'.
"Hey! Young man Sephiroth, I'll leave Tsuru to you from now on.
Now, I've met the one I'm destined to be with." Kakei said with a silly laugh.
"..."
The silver - haired young man felt there were too many things to rant about, but he didn't know where to start.
In the end, he could only say:
"Then I wish you all your wishes come true."
Due to the previous hand-to-hand combat class, there were quite a few people in the infirmary. Almost all the beds were occupied.
However, among them, there were also those who used the pretext of treatment and recuperation to slack off and skip training.
In response, the military academy wouldn't force them to be discharged. Instead, it would deduct corresponding conduct points based on the length of their recuperation. This would affect the military ranks they'd be awarded upon graduation...
The silver-haired teenager passed by several more beds before reaching Smoker's. Looking at the latter with a face black and blue all over, covered in yellow potion, he stifled a laugh and said:
"Are you okay? That old coot Zephyr really laid into you hard!
Oh! Right, he's originally called 'Black Wrist' anyway."
"It's so strange... I clearly turned Logia - type, so how could he still land hits on me..."
"Armament Haki can touch the physical form of Logia - type users. Didn't they teach this in class?"
"I didn't listen to that stuff at all..."
"By the way... How did your injuries heal so fast?
I saw your black and blue face before, but now there aren't any scars at all..."
"I'm an Animal - type Devil Fruit user. Isn't it natural for me to have strong recovery abilities?"
"But this is just too outrageous, isn't it?"
As Smoker was complaining, he lit two cigars and put them in his mouth.
On the other side, the purple - haired nurse saw someone smoking and quickly rushed over. Hands on her hips, she said angrily:
"Hey! This is the infirmary. Smoking is prohibited! Since you've finished applying the medicine, you can leave now."
"Really? Nurse, he got beaten up so badly. Doesn't he need to be hospitalized for observation for a few days?
What if there are some after - effects?"
"The doctor said he just has superficial injuries, not serious. As long as he takes the medicine on time, he'll be fine in a couple of days." The purple - haired nurse explained.
"Indeed, I don't know what kind of medicine they gave me. My face, which was hurting before, doesn't hurt much after applying it." Smoker nodded subconsciously.
"Was it an anesthetic?" Sephiroth asked with a hint of doubt.
Hearing this, the purple - haired nurse immediately pursed her lips and said dissatisfiedly:
"No way it's that kind of stuff!
The medicines used on him were developed by the genius scientist Vegapunk. They can stimulate the body's qi potential and quickly treat both internal and external injuries.
However, due to the high cost and limited raw materials, they can only be mass - produced on a small scale now..."
"Vegapunk, huh?"
Sephiroth nodded in realization, and the doubts in his heart disappeared.
The genius scientist Vegapunk has the Brain - Brain Fruit. He's super smart. With the high - tech literature from the Great Kingdom 800 years ago collected by Ohara, it's no wonder he can create such things.
By the way, has that guy turned his ever - growing brain into a super bio - computer and divided his consciousness into six parts?
If I get the chance, I really wanna meet this badass in person and chat with him about the mushroom bomb idea...