At the Marine G3 Branch harbor, a team of Marine soldiers stood at attention near the dock, led by a blond-haired lieutenant holding a roll call list.
"Corporal Kong Ming!" "Sir, yes sir!"
"Corporal Jack!" "Sir, yes sir!"
...
"Corporal Kang!" "Sir, yes sir!"
"Staff Sergeant Maynard!" "Sir, yes sir!"
"Corporal Karl D. Sephiroth!" "Sir, yes sir!"
"May you all succeed! May you achieve even more brilliant results during your year of study at the Marineford Marine Academy!"
"Sir, yes sir!" the ten petty officers shouted in unison.
The ten petty officers, including Sephiroth, saluted the blond-haired lieutenant, then picked up their luggage and boarded the small warship via the gangplank.
Sephiroth leaned his hands on the ship's railing, watching the Marine G3 Branch gradually shrink and recede from his view. Recalling the past half-month where he had been thoroughly beaten by Garp every day, a sense of relief instantly swelled in his heart.
"Hey! You're Karl D. Sephiroth, right?"
Hearing that, Sephiroth withdrew his gaze, turned, and looked at the burly man walking towards him. The man was two and a half meters tall, muscular, with a broad chest. Beneath his white Marine cap, his long black hair was tied in a ponytail. He had a thick beard and a cigarette dangled from his mouth.
"Ah! Yes, that's me... Can I help you?" Sephiroth asked, a hint of confusion in his voice.
"My name is Maynard, and I ranked first in this G3 Branch selection," Maynard introduced himself with a challenging tone. "I heard you're a Devil Fruit user, so you didn't have to participate in the G3 Branch selection and could directly get a recommendation spot to the Marineford Marine Academy. I'm really curious to know how strong you are as a Devil Fruit user."
As he spoke, Maynard rotated his neck, inadvertently cracking his knuckles with a 'crack!' sound, while staring at Sephiroth before him with a provocative gaze.
"Actually, I'm not that strong, I can only beat up weaklings," Sephiroth shrugged, looking helpless.
Seeing this, Kong Ming, who was standing nearby, anxiously hurried over to them and explained, "Sephiroth once defeated a pirate with a bounty of 12 million Berry when he first enlisted, I guess... he got the recommendation spot because his strength is sufficient..."
Kong Ming's advice did not deter Maynard from his provocative thoughts; instead, the fighting spirit in his eyes grew even stronger. "Oh!? I've defeated a pirate with a 10 million Berry bounty too... Now I'm even more curious to know how strong he is. Sephiroth, you're not going to say you're afraid to fight me, are you?"
Sephiroth glanced at the other petty officers on the warship's deck who were traveling with him to Marineford. He noticed almost everyone present was looking their way as if watching an exciting show. It was clear that they also harbored dissatisfaction about Sephiroth being directly recommended to the Marineford Marine Academy without having to participate in the selection, and Maynard had chosen to voice it directly.
Sephiroth felt that all the petty officers present were very familiar. They were the group who always appeared at the training ground for extra training promptly at four in the morning every day. Of course, there were also some soldiers he knew but who couldn't board the warship heading to Marineford. Presumably, they hadn't managed to secure a spot within the top nine in the selection. They had worked hard, trained desperately, and defeated many opponents to earn the qualification to enter the Marine Academy, while Sephiroth 'did nothing' and naturally obtained that qualification. Therefore, it was no wonder these petty officers looked at him with hostile gazes.
The military was a place where strength reigned supreme; only by demonstrating one's power would one be respected. Thinking this, Sephiroth couldn't help but sigh softly. He walked to the center of the warship's deck and waved at the burly man.
"Alright! Let's spar for a bit, we'll stop when we meet."
"Good! Let me see what you're made of!"
With that, Maynard took a free-fighting stance, his body slightly bent, and swung a right hook towards Sephiroth's left cheek. The punch whistled, creating a tearing sound in the air.
Sephiroth was only one meter seventy-three centimeters tall and slender, while the burly man was two and a half meters tall and massively muscular. In terms of height and physique alone, there was no matching the two.
However...
To Maynard's surprise, his fist nearly touched Sephiroth's nose but only struck empty air. Unwilling to believe it, he then threw a flurry of left and right punches towards his opponent. Yet, to the astonishment of everyone present, Sephiroth's figure was like a willow catkin in the wind, swaying with the breeze; no matter how fiercely Maynard swung his fists, he couldn't hit him.
The reason why Sephiroth possessed such flexible extreme evasion techniques was entirely a result of his complete defeat against that old bastard Garp. After being beaten for half a month, he still hadn't learned Busoshoku Haki, but his Kenbunshoku Haki had improved by leaps and bounds. However, it was a great pity that even so, he still couldn't avoid more than half of Garp's punches.
A flurry of punches that only met air infuriated Maynard. He tossed the nearly finished cigarette from his mouth into the sea and glared at Sephiroth, saying resentfully, "Damn it! If you have guts, stop dodging and take a direct hit!"
"Alright! I won't dodge anymore," Sephiroth nodded calmly. After playing around for a bit, he lost interest. With the aid of his Kenbunshoku Haki and his speed advantage, his opponent had no chance of winning against him.
"Ha!"
Maynard stomped his right foot hard on the deck, and his body, like a pouncing beast, lunged towards Sephiroth.
Whoosh!
Before the terrified eyes of everyone, Sephiroth's figure appeared in Maynard's path. With a clean, sharp right hook, he slammed hard into Maynard's chin, knocking him to the floor, causing Maynard to crumple and clutch his chin in pain, unable to stand for a moment!
Silence!
Shock!
Suffocation!
The result of this fight was actually... a one-punch KO!
Ignoring the astonished expressions of the crowd, Sephiroth picked up his suitcase and casually walked towards the cabin. Finally, as if he remembered something, he said in a slightly playful tone, "Right! Even before I enlisted, I defeated a small pirate with a 35 million Berry bounty..."
Thud!
The petty officers present were all elites of G3 Branch; they had all defeated pirates with bounties of several million Berry, and Maynard had even defeated a pirate with a 10 million bounty. But they never expected that Sephiroth had even defeated a pirate with a 35 million Berry bounty!
"I told you! He must have been recommended to the Marine Academy because his strength was sufficient..." Kong Ming said with a proud expression.
"Yes! Yes! He was recommended based on his strength..." "That's right." "Perhaps Vice Admiral Garp and the others were afraid we'd lose heart, which is why they exempted Sephiroth from the selection exam?" "Makes sense!"
Everyone chimed in one after another, finally managing to awkwardly cover up the previous embarrassing atmosphere.
Maynard felt dizzy for a while before finally composing himself, holding his chin, and staggering to his feet from the deck. He mumbled a curse, "Bah! So you two bastards, you even incited me to fight back then...?"
"Cough!"
Among the seven people, two Marine soldiers had guilty expressions, turning their heads and whistling, not daring to look at Maynard.
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