The sun set, its twilight glow in the sky beautiful and captivating, like blood, and the lingering light covered the earth, bathing the Marineford Military Academy in a golden hue.
At the training ground, besides Class One, two other classes were taking hand-to-hand combat lessons. And after hearing rumors that two students in Class One were fighting over a girl, they all gathered out of curiosity, seemingly enjoying the rare free spectacle.
"Come on! In terms of physical technique, I'm truly confident..." Tokikake rotated his neck and limbs a few times, producing a series of "crack, crack!" sounds, showcasing his readiness.
"Oh dear! Actually, even if you defeat me, then confess to Gion 98 more times, making it 100 rounds, she still won't accept you..." Sephiroth sighed, stating the bitter truth.
"Hahaha! Then I'll confess to her 101 times," Tokikake laughed, as if the number was the only thing that mattered.
"Little brother Sephiroth, cheer up! If you win, maybe I'll accept your offer," Gion stood in the middle of the crowd, cheering him on with a sweet smile, fanning the flames between the two men.
"..."
Seeing this situation, Sephiroth could only maintain a smiling expression, raise his right hand towards the woman, and give her the middle finger to express his displeasure, which immediately made the woman annoyed with anger.
"The atmosphere has been built up to this point... If I still refuse or deliberately concede to you, it would feel somewhat unreasonable... I will exert all my strength to defeat you!" Sephiroth thought. After simply stretching his muscles and bones, Sephiroth took a fighting stance and looked at Tokikake with a serious expression.
"Come on! This is the passion and romance only men possess!" As he spoke, Tokikake threw a right hook towards him.
Wham!
To everyone's surprise, Sephiroth neither dodged nor avoided, and took the punch directly to his face, as if it were a statement.
Wham!
Seeing this happen, Tokikake seemed to understand something. When the silver-haired youth swung his right hand towards him, he also didn't dodge, and took the punch with his body.
Bang, bang, bang!...
...
Bang, bang, bang!...
Under the twilight glow of the setting sun, Sephiroth and Tokikake, in front of many Military School Students, punched each other without dodging or avoiding. Fists met flesh, repeatedly going through the process of being knocked down, getting up, and being knocked down again. They truly had no technique whatsoever, making everyone's scalps tingle with both amusement and awe.
In the crowd, Smoker, with two cigars in his mouth, said with a bewildered expression, "What exactly are these two doing?"
Hearing this, Maynard chuckled softly and reached out to pat Smoker's shoulder, "This is a contest of wills and determination between two men! 'Never dodge, never retreat!'"
Unbeknownst to them, the fight between the two sides had already lasted for half an hour, and they had exchanged hundreds of strength-draining, bruise-leaving blows.
Wham!
Sephiroth stepped forward, swung his bloodied right hand, and struck Tokikake's chin hard, sending him falling backward with a "thud!". He lay on the ground, unable to stand for a long time, only his chest still rising and falling as usual proving he was still alive.
Maynard leaned over Tokikake's side, looked at him, and after seeing the other party had passed out, he immediately shouted, "Winner... Sephiroth!"
Woo-!Woo-!Woo-!
After the result was announced, the surrounding Military School Students immediately cheered, amazed by the technique-less but spirited fight.
However...
"You rascals, what are you cheering about? There are still thirty minutes until class ends. If you don't knock out your opponent, you'll run around the training grounds two hundred times for me!" Zephyr's words were like a bucket of cold water poured over the Military School Students' heads, immediately deflating them. They quickly found their respective opponents and began to fight reluctantly.
After confirming Tokikake was unconscious, the medical team immediately rushed over, carried him away on a stretcher, and promptly began treatment.
Marine Academy Infirmary
Sephiroth hummed a tune and walked into the Marine Academy infirmary, preparing to check on Smoker, who had been knocked out by Zephyr.
"Nurse, my name is Tokikake, what's your name?"
"Liliana."
"Miss Liliana, ever since I saw your beautiful face, I've fallen in love with you... Let's go out with me!"
In the infirmary, Tokikake, sitting on a white hospital bed, casually picked a flower from the vase on the bedside table and handed it to the nurse who was applying medicine to his face.
The beautiful nurse with long, wavy purple hair looked at Tokikake's bruised and battered face, and unconsciously blurted out her thoughts, "Sorry! I refuse!"
"..."
Seeing this, Sephiroth couldn't help but cover his face with his hand. He thought, why does this incident feel so familiar?
"Yo! Little brother Sephiroth, from now on Gion will be entrusted to you. Now, I have met my soulmate," Tokikake said with a chuckle, completely unfazed by the rejection.
"..."
Sephiroth felt there was too much to complain about, but didn't know how to express it. In the end, he could only say, "Then, I wish you success in achieving your desires."
Due to the recent close-quarters combat class, there were quite a few people in the infirmary, and almost all the beds were full. But among these people, some were also using the excuse of treatment and recovery to secretly avoid training. In response, the Marine Academy would not force them to be discharged, but would deduct corresponding behavioral points based on the length of their recovery time, which would affect the rank they received after graduation.
Sephiroth walked past a few more beds before reaching Smoker's bed. Seeing Smoker's bruised and battered face, covered in yellow medicine, he couldn't help but laugh.
"Are you okay? That old man Zephyr is really rough! Oh! Right, he was originally called 'Black Arm'," Sephiroth said.
"It's so strange... I clearly elementalized, so how could he still hit me...?" Smoker grumbled, touching his swollen cheek.
"Busoshoku Haki can touch the physical body of a Logia Devil Fruit user, wasn't this already mentioned in class?" Sephiroth reminded him.
"That kind of thing, I didn't listen to it at all..." Smoker waved his hand, as if the memory of that theory class never existed.
"By the way... how did your injuries heal so fast? I saw you were bruised and swollen earlier, but now there's no trace of scars...?" Sephiroth asked, recalling his own condition.
"I'm a Zoan Devil Fruit user, isn't it normal for my recovery ability to be strong?" Smoker countered, a little annoyed.
"But this is too outrageous, isn't it?" Sephiroth insisted, referring to the extraordinary speed of recovery.
Smoker complained while lighting two cigars for himself and putting them in his mouth.
The purple-haired nurse on the other side, seeing someone smoking in the infirmary, immediately ran over, put her hands on her hips, and said angrily, "Hey! This is the infirmary, no smoking! Since your treatment is finished, you can leave now."
"No way? Nurse, he was beaten black and blue, doesn't he need to be hospitalized for a few days for observation? What if he has side effects?" Smoker argued.
"The doctor said he only suffered minor injuries, which aren't serious. As long as he takes his medicine on time, he'll recover in a few days," the purple-haired nurse explained.
"Indeed, I don't know what kind of medicine they gave me. My face, which was originally hurting, doesn't hurt much after the medicine," Smoker nodded unconsciously, acknowledging the medicine's effect.
"Is it an anesthetic?" Sephiroth asked with a hint of doubt.
Hearing this, the purple-haired nurse immediately pouted and said with a displeased expression, "How could that be? The medicines used on him were developed by the genius scientist Dr. Vegapunk, which can stimulate the human body's life potential and quickly treat internal and external injuries. However, due to the high cost and limited raw materials, only small-scale mass production is currently possible..."
"Dr. Vegapunk?" Sephiroth nodded in understanding, and the doubts in his heart instantly vanished. Of course, Dr. Vegapunk!
The genius scientist Dr. Vegapunk was a user of the Nomi Nomi no Mi (Brain-Brain Fruit), and he was already incredibly intelligent to begin with. Coupled with the high-tech documents collected by Ohara from the Ancient Kingdom 800 years ago, it was only natural that he could create such things.
By the way, has that guy already turned his ever-growing brain into a super biocomputer and divided his mind into six parts? If I get the chance, I really want to meet this great man in person and talk to him about the concept of nuclear energy application... Sephiroth mused, his thoughts already drifting far ahead, envisioning grand possibilities in this world full of wonders.