Z

Eragon threw the letter in the trash bin and went into the shower to take a bath. After he got out of the shower he took out groceries and spices from one of his scrolls using the 'Enclosing Jutsu'. Of course, he ignored the instruction not to eat breakfast. On the contrary, he especially made himself a big breakfast this time and stuffed himself to the brim. One of the important things he learned in his previous life as a soldier was to always eat when possible, you can never know when you will be called into battle…

When Eragon finished eating, he got ready to leave when he noticed that it was 6:50 AM. After he locked the door he headed for the place mentioned in the letter.

After a few minutes walking, Eragon started to see the forest trees, and although he was 5 minutes early he could already see someone with his arms are folded across his chest, waiting for him in the shade under one of the trees. Eragon immediately recognized him 'He is my instructor? I knew he was teaching here at the special training camp but I did not think he would be my instructor... It is impossible that he gives private lessons to each of the students here, with more than 50 students in the special training camp he will not have time to even sleep if he does'

He was standing at the height of close to 2.5 meters like a small mountain, a large, muscular tan-skinned man with short purple hair and a large mechanical right arm. His marine coat draped over his shoulders and he wore a white V-neck shirt with the marine logo printed on it.

As soon as Eragon approached, the man who Eragon already identified as Zephyr opened his eyes and stared at him for a few seconds "You are early, excellent. I hate waiting"

Zephyr went to stand in front of Eragon and examined him closely "Mmm except for a pretty face I do not see anything worth noting. Why Brannew attaches so much importance to you is beyond me... But I guess we will see later if I'm wrong, follow me" Without waiting for Eragon to introduce himself, Zephyr began to walk with wide steps deep into the forest.

'He is kind of an ass... But I guess I can understand why he's acting like a jerk, his wife and child have been murdered, and he lost his only family. And if that's not enough almost all of his crew were massacred by pirates and he lost his right hand... every other person would probably commit suicide or go crazy but not him, it just fueled his hatred towards pirates even more... ' Eragon could understand what Zephyr had gone through. And in fact, Eragon pretty much sympathized with Zephyr, he was not so different himself in his past life, a man without a family who devoted his whole life to be a soldier just to have his superiors throw him out like garbage after they finished using him.

It's not that he agreed with Zephyr's plan to destroy the New World to eradicate all the pirates at the cost of countless innocent lives. He can simply understand where Zephyr's pain and frustration is coming from…

Sigh

Releasing a sigh helplessly, Eragon followed Zephyr after a few seconds before he disappeared from his sight. They walked quietly for a few minutes without talking before Zephyr stopped and turned to look at Eragon again.

"Attack me with all your strength but don't use the abilities of your devil fruit, let's see what you are really worth" Zephyr signaled to Eragon with his mechanical right arm that he can start whenever he wants.

Eragon warily watched Zephyr standing there without any defensive position while he thought 'Ahh, I have no abilities from any kind of devil fruit so technically I can attack you with everything I have and you can't complain' Even though that's what he thought internally to himself, Eragon knew he could not reveal this fact without raising some questions he does not want to answer 'I may not be able to use any Ninjutsu in this fight but I definitely intend to use my chakra'

Eragon released the 'Added-Weight Rock Technique' on his body and felt his body become light after the 8 times gravity disappeared, he spread his legs and looked at Zephyr for a moment before he vanished in a flicker instantly as he used 'Body Flicker Technique' to appear behind Zephyr and fired a powerful kick towards Zephyr's head!

*Bang!*

However before they could connect with Zephyr's head, a mechanic arm blocked it instantly, making a loud banging sound in the process.

Not missing a heartbeat, Eragon used his swift speed to disappear again before Zephyr counterattacked and appeared to his right, below the raised arm Zephyr used to block his kick. Eragon shook his arm and threw a strong punch at Zephyr's gut this time.

[Boxing + 3 exp]

[Running + 4 exp]

[Chakra + 2 exp]

[Chakra Control + 4 exp]

Just as he hit Zephyr's stomach, Eragon sensed a mechanical arm moving at him from above intending to smack him powerfully on his unguarded head!

Subsequently, Eragon immediately used his 'Wind Release: Wind Cloak' to cover himself with invisible currents of wind to raise his speed even higher than before as he flashed to the side and completely dodged Zephyr's strike narrowly.

*Boom!*

Noticing the huge hole that appeared on the forest ground after Zephyr's hit missed him, Eragon's eyes narrowed in shock as he understood he would be in deep shit if he had been hit 'He is not messing around, I might not have been dead if I have been hit but I would definitely be injured badly! Luckily, a few days ago I managed to get my 'Wind Cloak' battle-ready, and even though I still didn't master it and there is still much room for improvement, using it in combination with my 'Body Flicker Technique' can raise my speed greatly without any side effects…'

Of course, Eragon could have used 'Lightning Release: Chakra Mode', which would have made him even faster and improved his reaction time and his overall physical parameters. But using 'Lightning Release: Chakra Mode' wraps his body in a layer of visible lightning chakra, which Zephyr absolutely would have noticed.

Eragon didn't fear Zephyr would discover him using his 'Wind Release' since the 'Wind Cloak' was completely invisible, so he left it active as he waited for the gravel in the air to settle down. While he was waiting, Eragon turned off the system notification so we won't be distracted during the fight.

"Mmm, you are fast like a little rabbit, I'll give you that" When the dust settled, Zephyr's body appeared and he seemed completely fine after taking Eragon's powerful punch to his stomach "But what the hell are you doing? I told you to come at me with everything you got! Is that sword around your waist only for decoration?!"

Watching Zephyr yelling at him with an angry face as he reprimands him, Eragon only smiled "As you wish…"

Reaching his hand to his sword hilt, Eragon draws his sword from its scabbard and held it diagonally in front of him, ready to respond instantly in case he was attacked.

However, it seemed Zephyr had no intention to initiate any attack as he just stood at the same place as before with his arms crossed on his chest, apparently waiting for Eragon to make the first move.

'It seems you really underestimate me Z, I hope you won't regret it later…'

After a minute where the two of them just stood there and observed one another, Eragon was the first one to move. Exerting strength with his left foot, Eragon abruptly took a step forward and disappeared on the spot!

Since Zephyr didn't raise any guard up, Eragon had many openings he could exploit. He swung his sword powerfully intending to slash Zephyr's gut out.

*Clang*

Watching Zephyr blocking his attack easily without trouble, Eragon didn't give up and immediately released a barrage of swift strikes!

*Swoosh…Swoosh Clang!*

The air became extremely oppressive, flashing with the occasional cold glint as clanging sounds were heard throughout the forest loudly. They continue to exchange strikes, with Eragon swinging his sword masterfully at Zephyr's openings, while the latter only blocked effortlessly with one hand and attack with the other.

'Now!' Suddenly, the opportunity Eragon was waiting for appeared after Zephyr tried to elbow him in the chest. Eragon immediately channeled a huge chunk of his chakra to his sword and used his Active sub-skill [Heavenly Particle Slash] on his sword.

The sword gleamed dangerously as Eragon slashed at lightning speed from one of Zephyr's blind spots, intending to cleave him in two!

'Danger!!' Zephyr's danger senses immediately tingled as he got a powerful premonition he must dodge now or he will regret it! And so for the first time since the battle started, Zephyr moved from his spot as he flashed to the side to evade Eragon's sword strike.

Although Eragon hoped he would at least injure Zephyr, he wasn't surprised when his sword strike was dodged as he knows Zephyr's Observation Haki will warn him in advance for sure. He could only chase after Zephyr immediately and clash with him again.

'What was that? I couldn't see anything different about that sword strike, maybe I was wrong?' Zephyr thought to himself as he continued to fend off Eragon's sword. And then it happened again, suddenly his instincts warned him to dodge immediately once more. After many years as a soldier with countless life and death fights under his belt, Zephyr learned to trust his instincts without exception, so he immediately dodged away again even though he didn't see anything unusual in Eragon's specific slash.

As the battle raged on, Zephyr stopped being complacent and started to be a bit serious, he fended off most of the attacks that Eragon did, and occasionally he also dodged. Of course, he was not only on the defensive and he attacked Eragon with explosives fist strikes frequently as well.

Eragon and Zephyr continued to fight intensely for three hours straight until finally, Eragon stoped, too exhausted to continue his attacks.

"Huff… you are… huff… good" With his sword stuck in the ground to help him stabilize himself, Eragon breathed heavily as he wiped the streak of blood from his chin. During the fight, he suffered some strong punches from Zephyr to his torso and chest so he was quite bruised.

Zephyr himself only had small bleeding cuts on his face and chest from the times he could not completely dodge the sword of Eragon when he used his [Heavenly Particle Slash]. But other than that he was totally just fine, and it even looks like he can keep fighting for a few more days without any problem.

Eragon wasn't too much surprised by that. He didn't know which one between Garp and Zephyr was stronger as they both had a fearsome reputation built on mountains of corpses of powerful pirates, but he believed they were about evenly matched. And last week when he and Garp fought, Garp managed to pressure him greatly even when he was inflicted with 55 times of earth gravity! So now that he's fighting with an opponent on the same level as Garp with no advantage to help him this time, it only makes sense that the fight would only be much harder…

"You are not so bad yourself kid, your hand-eye coordination is very good. It seems you participated in many life and death fights to hone yourself…"

Zephyr watched Eragon return his sword to its sheath and he could not stop himself from praising him as well.

'Now I understand why Garp couldn't stop talking about him yesterday. He is truly an extraordinary teenager, like an unpolished diamond... His fighting sense is excellent and he knows how to use his sword very well, his physical strength and speed are also high for his young age. If I train him well, there is a high chance he will reach the level of Admiral and maybe even Fleet Admiral!! At first, I thought a 15-year-old like him would be too reliant on his devil fruit power, but I was completely wrong. His physique has already reached the threshold of learning the Rokushiki'

As Zephyr looked at Eragon, he became more and more pleasing to his eyes and he could not stop his growing excitement 'What's more, from what I understand he was a pirate hunter for the last few years and he killed dozens of pirates single-handedly. In his attacks just now I could feel real killing intent, which means he's not some soft-hearted kid, this is excellent!!'

Although his opinion of Eragon was already sky high and he intended to train him personally after what he just saw, Zephyr did not let anything show on his face as he still looked at Eragon passively. He fears that if he praises Eragon too much, because of Eragon's young age he will become too arrogant and complacent, inflating his young ego too much. The last thing Zephyr wants is for Eragon to lose his motivation to train and waste his good talents

"Even though we fought for hours and you definitely look exhausted, it doesn't seem like you are hungry... Tell me the truth, did you eat breakfast before you came here?" Zephyr inquired.

"Yes, before I came I ate a hearty breakfast" Eragon didn't hesitate and answered honestly.

Frowning, Zephyr said in a harsh tone "Was not in your letter explicitly written not to eat breakfast before you arrive? Do you not obey the orders of your superiors??"

"First of all, it was not written on the note I got who was the sender, it only instructed me go to the entrance of the forest and not eat breakfast, how was I supposed to know it was a letter from one of the camp instructors?? It could have easily been a prank of one of the students. Secondly, everyone knows one must eat whenever it's possible, you can never know if you won't be able to eat later..." Knowing he was not in the wrong, Eragon answered confidently.

Hearing Eragon's response, Zephyr was pleased with him even more so than before "Good, at least you're not one of those stupid marine zombies, obeying instructions without thinking beforehand. Just be aware that if you disobey orders again and you screw up, you'll stand to a court-martial!"

Zephyr stayed silent for a few seconds as he looked intently at Eragon's eyes to make sure he understands. He eventually reached his left hand into his inner pocket to retrieve a small brown notebook and throw it at Eragon.

"Anyway, from now you will train on your own using this notebook every even day of the week, and on the odd days we will have a spar here as I examine your progress"

Inspecting the notebook Zephyr just gave him, Eragon beamed with undisguised excitement as he read the title of the notebook, it was the martial art Rokushiki! 'Haha finally, I got it! Now I can even teach Nami and Caroline these six styles, I'm sure they will become strong in no time'