End of the Academy

(Kuzan POV)

I was training when I heard about the two new recruits who were considered 'monsters'. I had trouble believing that. But when they told me their age, I was less sceptical. The first one was called Borsalino and was aged 26 years old. The second one was called Sakazuki and was 23 years old. 

I went to have a look at these two 'monsters' when I heard that they had arrived. They were friends apparently but I had trouble believing that. Over the time I came to know them, I found out that they couldn't be any more different in their characters. 

Borsalino comes off as perpetually calm, equable, easygoing, and taking most things lightly no matter the severity of the situation. He talks in a calm voice suiting this demeanour: in a slow, sarcastically intonated manner with the last syllable of a sentence often drawn out. 

With an ever-relaxed air in or out of combat, Borsalino rarely loses his cool, raising his voice, or getting excited to prompt action. With his Logia intangibility, he can afford to remain apathetic to most enemy attempts to harm him, paying extremely sudden or surprisingly potent attacks little to no mind if they come from much weaker opposition.

Borsalino didn't really like to train and that was something that Instructor Zephyr abhorred about Borsalino. He told him that he put way too much focus and trust into his devil fruit and that that would get him killed, but Borsalino didn't really care about that. He hadn't gotten into such a situation where his speed didn't get him out of trouble. 

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Sakazuki would be best categorized as an extremist and near-blind dogmatic. He is almost the complete opposite of Borsalino. He is an adamant believer in Absolute Justice and is ruthless in his maintenance of it, his derived motto being "Thorough Justice". He has a stern, dead-serious disposition, is grim, expressionless, and is the most ruthless out of all the Marine recruits I have met. 

Sakazuki doesn't care about fellow Marines as long as he achieves what he wants to. I find that to be a very dangerous trait and also quite a hateful one. Because while the Marines somewhat know what they are getting into, the civilians don't. But that doesn't stop Sakazuki from making them into collateral damage. 

He is not as fast as Borsalino but he is stronger. He is also better at using Haki at least at the end of the Academy. 

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When I first met those two, it was underwhelming. I didn't enjoy the aggression that Sakazuki had. He was arrogant and thought he was the most powerful, while Borsalino thought he was the fastest. And given both of their devil fruits, they had some reason to believe that. 

I saw both of them as training partners. I would use their strengths to grow stronger as well. And that was the point when I came up with a plan. I would join the sparring sessions more often and then fight against both of them. Borsalino would be used to improve my Kenbunshoku Haki and achieve Future Sight.

Sakazuki would be used to train my Busoshoku Haki as well as my devil fruit. I want to freeze Sakazuki and he has the perfect devil fruit to challenge me in that regard. He is a walking magma bomb. A living volcano if you will. So that was my plan and the first time I did that ... well it went like this. 

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(3rd Person POV)

Kuzan was at the place where Zephyr held the sparring session. Zephyr who saw Kuzan understood what he wanted and nodded his head. He was glad that Kuzan decided to fight those two as they both needed a wake-up call from someone. And who better than a fellow student? 

"All right listen up! We are going to have our sparring session. Since we have two new recruits we are going to see what they are all about. First off, Kuzan vs. Borsalino. Come on stage both of you and let's see where you stand.", Zephyr said and there was a murmur going through the recruits. 

It had become common knowledge that Kuzan was the strongest recruit by far. He was fighting against Zephyr every week and no one could come close to doing something like that. And what's more, Kuzan is only 17 years old. 

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Kuzan stood opposite Borsalino who had both of his hands in his pockets. He had a lazy smile on his face as he looked at Kuzan. Borsalino was the oldest recruit in the Academy. He was 26 years old. That was 9 years older than Kuzan and so he thought that he was far stronger physically. But he couldn't be further from the truth. 

"Begin!", Zephyr said and Kuzan attacked. 

He used Soru to appear in front of Borsalino. Borsalino was surprised at that speed and was actually hit. For the first time, he was not fast enough. Kuzan's fist reached his face and his body shot back. 

Borsalino was very surprised about this. He almost couldn't comprehend how that was possible. Kuzan meanwhile stood there and waited for Borsalino to stand back up. He understood that travelling speed was not the same as reaction speed. If Borsalino had Kenbunshoku Haki and was expecting the attack, then he could have dodged easily, but now? Not a chance. 

Borsalino got back up and faced Kuzan. He got more serious and faced Kuzan. This time he was the one to initiate the attack. He used his speed and reached Kuzan immediately. But Kuzan always had his Kenbunshoku activated and was expecting the attack. 

However, the speed at which Borsalino travelled was still too much for Kuzan and he was also hit in the face by Borsalino. His body shot back and he hit the ground. But he didn't even take two seconds to stand back up and attack again. This surprised Borsalingo and Sakazuki. 

Force equals mass multiplied by acceleration. Acceleration equals velocity divided by time. So velocity and acceleration are proportional. Meaning the higher the speed, the greater the force he could apply and the greater the damage caused by such an attack. So Kuzan standing up right after that, was unprecedented and unexpected. 

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Borsalino dodged the attacks this time and tried to attack as well. His attacks managed to reach Kuzan. During the fight, Kuzan didn't use his devil fruit and only relied on his Kenbunshoku Haki. He wanted to have it grow and make it stronger. And this was the perfect time. 

As the fight went on, it became apparent that the battle of attrition wouldn't be won by Borsalino. No one would win such a fight with Kuzan ... ever. Kuzan was getting better and his Kenbunshoku Haki was growing stronger. But in the end, it was not possible for him to reach the advanced level and unlock future sight. 

Kuzan dodged an attack from a rather tired Borsalino and punched him in the face using Busoshoku Haki. This was the end of the fight and Zephyr called it. 

"That's it! Kuzan wins! Well, then Borsalino. It seems that what I told you about your devil fruit not being the absolute power, was true. Now! Is there someone else who would like to challenge Kuzan?", Zephyr asked loudly. He knew that Kuzan was only here for Borsalino and Sakazuki. 

Zephyr liked Kuzan and his willingness to undergo any amount of pain in order to grow more powerful. So when he understood why Kuzan wanted to fight the two new recruits, he of course helped him.

"I do!"

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Just as expected, Sakazuki declared that he would fight Kuzan next. For some reason, it wasn't bothering anyone that Kuzan had just fought against Borsalino. It was normal that Kuzan never tired. 

"Very well. Come up and let us begin!", Zephyr says and then starts the fight between the two. 

"Begin!"

Sakazuki didn't waste any time and his right arm turned into magma right away. He pulled his right arm back before expanding and throwing it forward akin to an oversized rocket, burning whatever lies in its path.

"Dai Funka!", Sakazuki screamed his attack's name. 

Dai Funka literally meaning "Great/Major Eruption" was an oversized fist of magma that rushed towards Kuzan. The latter pulled back his own fist and then used a move that he just came up with on the spot, after seeing Sakazuki's attack. 

'Dai Hyoka'

Unlike Sakazuki, Kuzan didn't say his attack out loud. His right arm transformed into ice and a giant fist made of ice shot towards Sakazuki's attack. 

"hyōka" means "frost" or "ice formation". So his attack was essentially 'Great frost/freezing'. 

*BOOOOOM*

Both attacks collided in the middle and the opposing elements fought against each other. Magma could get up to 1300-1400°C and considering that Kuzan's ice had reached a minimum temperature of -183°C, there should be an obvious winner ... right?

Not really. Kuzan's ice was indeed not enough to freeze the magma but that wasn't that big of a problem. He was providing more and more ice to his attack and while the ice was freezing he tried to make his ice colder and pumped more and more ice into the attack. 

He didn't use any Haki as he wanted to grow his devil fruit in this exchange. And so after a moment, the collision ended in an explosion. 

*BOOOOOOOM*

Both Sakazuki and Kuzan didn't have any expressions on their faces. They were both focused on the other and then attacked at the same time again. 

Both of them were using their element and attacked the other trying to prove that their element was the stronger and superior one. But Kuzan knew that he would only grow stronger the harder he fought and the more he pushed himself. So in the end he would win, no matter the outcome of this fight. 

They exchanged one attack after the other. The area where they were fighting looked terrible. So after a while, Zephyr had to step in or the two would destroy the place and make it unusable. He appeared between them and punched them using his powerful Busoshoku Haki.

*Dong* *Bonk*

"Enough of that! You're going to destroy the sparring pit at this rate. We shall take this as a draw. You can fight without your devil fruits if you want but if you are here on this island, don't use your devil fruits are we clear?!", Zephyr asked them and both of them nodded. 

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So the first fight between the two resulted in a draw but that wasn't necessarily true. Kuzan had gotten a feeling for the heat of Sakazuki's magma. He had infinite storage in his mind and could replay the fight over and over again. 

He used this fight and the future fights he had against both Sakazuki and Borsalino to grow more powerful and hone his abilities further. 

He could have won that fight easily if he used Haki. Sakazuki was nowhere near strong enough to deal with Kuzan when he used all of his abilities. There was also no way that Sakazuki could win against Kuzan's stamina. But that would not be that important for now. Kuzan was growing more and more powerful as time passed and soon it was time for the entire class to graduate. 

The graduation test was coming up and it was bound to be a rather boring or exciting event. This year it was a survival exam. The recruits would be sent off to an uninhabited island that only had dangerous and powerful beasts. The test was for them to survive for five days on their own. 

They had to gather their food on their own, they had to create shelter on their own and they had to fight the beasts on their own. Those who didn't make it, would not get a high position after graduation. The better you did, the higher your position would be after graduation. 

So after 8 years of staying in the Academy, Kuzan was finally graduating and moving up in the world. At least after passing the final exam.