Inside the shop, Aren calmly ate his ramen.
Outside, the people watching were completely lost, question marks practically floating over their heads.
"...What just happened?"
"Is it over?"
"Why are those guys not moving?"
"And why did that one suddenly sit down to eat ramen..."
Everyone's eyes went back and forth between the Marine School trainees lying or standing frozen in the street and Aren, who was quietly having breakfast inside.
Most of the trainees were still struggling as hard as they could, but a fair number had already given up. Their faces were full of frustration and unwillingness, but the reality was right in front of them.
They were not a match for Aren.
And just as Aren had said, even if they somehow managed to break free from the strange ropes binding them, so what?
If he could bind them once, could he not bind them a second time?
So trying to break the ropes was completely pointless.
Instead of wasting effort on that, it was better to think about what to do about the exam.
Zephyr-sensei had made it very clear. The assessment counted toward their final scores. If they failed, they would be sent back to where they came from.
But...
Even if they thought about it, what good would it do?
This exam was clearly destined to be another failure.
Those who were worrying about the assessment all had the same look on their faces, a mix of helplessness and unwillingness.
"Aren said this assessment has a real purpose behind it, that Zephyr-sensei has a deeper meaning in mind, and that we have not seen it yet."
Jero was sitting on the ground with his arms pinned tightly to his sides. Even after partially transforming with his Zoan powers just now, he had not been able to break free. So he had given up struggling altogether.
The trainees around him froze when they heard him speak and turned to look at him.
"It might sound weird, but Zephyr-sensei definitely knows how strong Aren is. And yesterday..."
Jero lifted his head, meeting the gazes of everyone now staring at him.
"Yesterday, when Aren beat all of you in an instant, Zephyr-sensei was there. There is no way he does not know how strong Aren is, not to mention he even fought him personally."
Jero's tone still sounded timid, but he forced himself to keep going, refusing to avoid anyone's eyes.
"Yet he still gave us this kind of exam."
"To make us fight someone we cannot possibly beat," a female Devil Fruit user sitting near him added quietly.
"Yes. Just now, right after we were restrained, I suddenly remembered the questions Aren asked us and what he said. Does no one else think it is strange? Why would he suddenly ask things like that? And why would Zephyr-sensei set this assessment, knowing perfectly well that all of us together are still no match for Aren?"
The more Jero spoke, the more certain he sounded, his voice growing steadier.
Because of his words, those who were still struggling stopped as well and stared at him suspiciously.
They felt it too. Something about this test was off.
"Aren asked if our assessment was just to touch him once, or to keep attacking him until nine o'clock..." someone said, recalling it.
"He also said we had not understood Zephyr-sensei's true purpose, or the real meaning behind this exam..."
"No, it is not that we did not understand. It is that Zephyr-sensei already told us, and we never bothered to think about it..."
At that moment, the trainee who had been directing everyone from the rooftop earlier suddenly jumped down.
With his legs bound, he had only barely managed to stand on the roof. The moment he jumped, he crashed heavily onto the ground.
He did not care about the pain at all. Using the wall beside him for balance, he shifted into a sitting position, then continued speaking.
"It is not that we did not understand. It is that we only thought about how this exam affected our individual scores. We never once tried to think about it from another angle."
"What angle... Crofts, did you figure something out?"
One of the trainees from the same base as Crofts spoke up.
Crofts nodded, then looked around at all the trainees watching him. "Do you remember Zephyr-sensei's exact words? If, before nine, all of you manage to touch Aren, then your assessment is considered a pass."
Everyone nodded.
It had just been said a short while ago, and it was the content of their exam. There was no way they would forget it, so there was no need to think hard to recall it.
A female trainee seemed to catch on. She looked at Crofts and said, "He said 'all of you.' In other words, as long as someone touches Aren, then our exam is considered a pass for all of us, not each one individually."
A wave of shock crossed every face.
Jero murmured, his expression suddenly clearing, "So the real purpose is not about individual test scores. It is to tell us that we are a unit, that we have to work together to complete the task. The real meaning is... teamwork."
"Exactly," Crofts nodded. "If you look at it that way, everything makes sense. The question of why he set this exam even though he knows we are no match for Aren."
Now, every face was lit with a sudden realization.
"Since the requirement is that at least one of us touches Aren before nine, then we have not actually failed yet, have we? There is still time. Once he finishes his breakfast, if one of us manages to get close enough to touch him by some other means, then we pass.
"We may not be able to beat him in a fight, but if we use other methods, we only need to touch..." someone said excitedly, turning to the others, hope flaring in his eyes.
But Jero looked at that trainee and cut him off. "It will not work."
"Huh?"
Everyone turned back toward Jero again.
The idea just mentioned sounded right.
They knew very well they could not defeat Aren. They had learned that the first time they lost, because they did not even know how they had been knocked out.
But if they could not win by fighting, what about using other methods? For example, one person could talk to Aren, and while he was distracted, someone else could sneak up and touch him.
It might be a shameless approach, but Zephyr-sensei had clearly said they could use any means necessary.
Yet now Jero was saying it would not work.
"Zephyr-sensei would never set things up that simply. There must be another purpose to the part of the assessment that involves Aren..." Jero said, looking at them all. "That instructor is not just thinking about the score itself."
He thought back to what Zephyr had said to him that morning at the training grounds, when he had evaluated Jero's behavior in the first test. Because of that, Jero was certain.
For them, the exam was not simple.
For special recruit Aren, it certainly would not be either.
"There is."
Before Crofts could speak again, everyone heard another voice.
They all turned their heads at exactly the same time.
At some point, Aren had appeared right beside them. He was crouching down, looking at them with his usual calm expression.
He had clearly been there for quite a while already.