Below the stands, Tony felt his vision darken and his footing turn unstable. He quickly leaned on his sword to keep from collapsing.
In any complete martial art or sword style, "ultimate" techniques are the strongest, requiring imnse skill and a resilient physique. Tony didn't truly align with the tenets of the Shura Sword Style, making the execution of its ultimate move a monuntal task. As a result, he had drastically underestimated the hardness of Loya's ice armor; he didn't just fail to leave a souvenir—he hadn't even scratched the surface.
He had attempted Thousand-Corpse Purgatory at the risk of sudden cardiac arrest, yet it hadn't even left a mark on Loya. He looked up, his breathing shallow and erratic. "You… you're truly strong. Please… keep up the guidance in the future."
"No, I refuse," Loya said, rushing over to knock him out with a single punch. He then caught the prone Tony and said blandly, "Dangerous guys like you should spar with Aldo more often. He's thick-skinned and doesn't mind a beating."
Aldo, the giant "pogo-stick" currently struggling with all his might to break free, barked back, "Loya, you bastard! If you've got guts, let go! I'll fight you for three hundred rounds!"
"Ha! Wait until you can actually break free before you say that. Guys who get one-shotted by don't get to talk."
Loya wore an expression of French-style disdain. He turned to the immobilized recruits: "Now… anyone else want a beating?"
The recruits looked at each other with resignation and threw down their weapons in surrender. There was no point in arguing. Loya had always been strong—everyone knew that. Especially after his solo kill of the Silverback Great Ape during the live combat exam, his reputation had reached its peak.
They had never realistically hoped to defeat him. But they never imagined that even with the entire camp attacking at once, they wouldn't be able to leave a single scratch on him. And that was with Loya holding back and avoiding wide-range AOE attacks!
The re dozens of ice wolves had already decimated hundreds of recruits. As for a head-on clash? They had all seen the three top powerhouses of the Elite Camp taken down in a single exchange. The gap in strength was simply too vast.
Seeing the situation, Zephyr stood up from his seat. "I hereby announce that the winner of this assessnt is Christopher Loya!"
"That… didn't even count as a warm-up!"
Walking to the cafeteria, Loya sighed. Whether it was Aldo or the Jero brothers, they no longer provided enough pressure. And these were people from the "Elite Camp," supposedly a gathering place for monsters!
Loya felt a bit troubled. Kuzan was away on a mission for several months, and with no decent opponents in the Elite Camp, where was he supposed to find soone to help him level up? Was he expected to go back and provoke the instructors? Or maybe check if Vice Admiral Mole was still reading his Icha Icha magazines?
That would certainly increase his energy points quickly, but it leaned dangerously toward suicide. Zephyr would absolutely hang him up and beat him, because now that Loya had passed the assessnt, he was his student—if Loya embarrassed himself, Zephyr lost face too.
Thinking of this, Loya opened his system panel.
Na: Christopher Loya
Energy Stage: Tier 2, Level 6
Energy Value: 40/1000
Magic Power: 9000/9000
Magic Recovery: 850/min
As his energy stage increased, the energy gained from training and battle decreased. This massive battle had only netted him 50 points, with exactly 0 coming from the Jero brothers and Aldo (most of the defeated recruits didn't contribute a single point).
Only 40? At this rate, when will I ever reach Tier 3? Loya closed the panel and sighed.
After lunch, Loya and his group t up and headed toward the massive plaza in front of the Marine Headquarters fortress. This was the legendary battlefield of the Summit War, a giant square capable of holding a hundred thousand soldiers.
Standing before the imposing fortress that scraped the sky, with the endless line of the horizon behind him where the sea t the clouds, one couldn't help but feel small.
Well… everyone except Loya. You couldn't exactly expect a guy currently chewing on a roasted suckling pig to be that solemn.
Just as Loya finished his last bite, Zephyr appeared "perfectly on ti" before the group. Seeing Loya licking his fingers, the corner of Zephyr's eye twitched subtly. He quickly regained his composure and said in a deep voice, "Follow !"
Although both were recruit training institutions, the Recruit Camp and the Elite Camp were worlds apart. One was on the edge of Marineford, right by the sea; the other was deep within the fortress, at the very core.
This was one of the reasons Loya had felt such contempt for Aldo and the others that morning. Sure, they were technically under the banner of the Recruit Camp, and Zephyr was the Chief Instructor with the biggest fist, so whatever he said went. But the training location alone was a blatant disparity. Did they really have the nerve to call themselves the "Recruit Camp"?
Beyond that, the treatnt was like living in two different worlds. Because the numbers were so small, Zephyr could provide face-to-face, one-on-one guidance to everyone—a level of efficiency the standard Major-led training couldn't match.
It was Loya's first ti inside this part of the fortress. Recruits had their own activity zones; no matter how relaxed the Navy might seem in this world, they wouldn't allow a bunch of rookies to wander the core areas freely.
As he walked, Loya looked around curiously. The interior of the fortress exuded a murderous aura in both its decor and layout. Potted plants lined the corridors, and the sunlight filtering through the windows onto the green leaves provided the only warmth.
Zephyr led the group through a long corridor and into a passage on the right. Two soldiers at the entrance saw Zephyr and imdiately stood tall to salute. "Chief Instructor Zephyr!"
Zephyr nodded in acknowledgnt. Passing through the passage, the group arrived at a wide courtyard. In the center of the blue-stone paved yard, several recruits were in the middle of training.
Among them was an acquaintance of Loya's: Aldo. He was laughing wildly while trading blows—or rather, being beaten. He let his opponent strike him again and again, his expressionless face not even twitching.
Beyond the landmark that was Aldo, the most eye-catching figures in the yard were three swordsn. The Jero brothers, whom Loya had t before, were wielding Zan-u and Duan-quan, taking turns -besieging- the thin, gaunt swordsman in the ring.
Loya knew their sword skills well—they were strong. Honestly, he didn't have many good ways to counter those attacks; he could only brute-force them. Yet, facing opponents like that, the thin swordsman in the middle hadn't moved his feet once. With his eyes closed, he used a wooden sword to accurately block every single strike.
So strong! Tony's eyes glinted as he gripped the hilt of his own sword.
"He's training his Observation Haki, right?" Simon, being a second-generation marine, had more experience and insight than the others, and he ca to that conclusion with just a glance.
Zephyr nodded approvingly. "That is the current head of the Elite Camp, Bibb Hansa. A pure swordsman."
Loya looked at him, puzzled. "A pure swordsman?" That phrasing felt very subtle.
At that mont, the mbers of the Elite Camp noticed the approaching group and turned in unison. After a mont of surprise, they saluted Zephyr.
"Teacher Zephyr!"
In the crowd, Aldo spotted Loya. He smiled at the person next to him, "He's finally here. Now things are getting interesting! Oh, right—that shorty is Loya!"
Loya's hearing was incredibly sharp, and Aldo hadn't even tried to hide it. He heard every word clearly.
"Sho… shorty?!"
Instantly, a violent chill erupted from Loya. Before Zephyr even understood what was happening, he felt a shadow flash by. A second later, the massive form of Aldo vanished from his sight.
BOOM!
The blue-stone floor exploded, and countless debris sprayed outward like bullets. Facing the sudden chaos, the Elite Camp mbers showed off their skills, easily brushing the stones aside.
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