Roldy had never imagined that the path to becoming stronger would require so much sweat.
What he definitely hadn't imagined was that the so-called "official training" would consist of getting beaten up.
Of course, Zephyr had given it a much nicer name—training.
"Zephyr-sensei… if you just want to beat me up, you could've said so. There's no need to go through all this trouble."
Standing before him, Zephyr had already removed his Marine Vice Admiral coat, rolling his shirt sleeves up to his forearms. Roldy felt utterly miserable.
What a joke. He had seen Zephyr's fists before. This was a man who could knock him flat seven times in three seconds. Fighting someone like that? Wasn't that just asking for a concussion?
Zephyr said nothing. He simply stepped forward slowly.
His massive, muscular frame radiated overwhelming pressure. Roldy instinctively sensed danger—but instead of fear, an inexplicable irritation began to rise within him.
When a person feels fear, they become uneasy. But when that fear surpasses a certain threshold, it turns into anger.
Roldy skipped the fear entirely. What surfaced was pure anger.
"Throw a punch at me. Let me see how much power there is in that soft little fist of yours!"
Zephyr stood directly in front of him, less than thirty centimeters separating them.
"Zephyr-sensei… that's really irritating to hear."
Roldy didn't hesitate.
He threw a punch.
Knowing Zephyr's strength, he held nothing back. Without exaggeration, that punch could have sent three Gion flying. Its speed and force were at the peak of his current ability.
But in Zephyr's eyes, it was still far too immature.
"That's it? Are you even trying, you little runt?"
Zephyr casually raised one hand and blocked the punch with ease. The disdain on his face was infuriating.
"Old man, don't look down on me!"
Roldy threw another punch. Zephyr tilted his head slightly and avoided it with no effort—he even yawned.
The contempt in Zephyr's eyes pushed Roldy further over the edge. He began throwing punches in rapid succession, like a meteor shower.
Yet none of them landed.
Another punch flew out—
This time, Zephyr seemed to have had enough. After sidestepping the blow, he suddenly clenched his fist and drove it squarely into Roldy's abdomen.
The force was tremendous.
Roldy felt as if he'd been struck by a cannonball. His body folded like a shrimp, and a visible shockwave burst from his back. He staggered backward several steps before dropping to one knee, gasping for air for a long moment.
"If this is all you've got, then you're a disappointment."
"With strength like this, how are you going to bring the evil in your eyes to justice?"
Zephyr understood very clearly why Roldy wanted to grow stronger.
There was hatred in his heart—hatred for criminals.
Slave traders had destroyed his hometown and slaughtered everyone close to him. In his mind, such people were unforgivable. He wanted to eradicate every last one of those who brought suffering to others.
Without a doubt, his sense of justice leaned toward the extreme.
If categorized by Marine ideology, he would clearly belong to the hardline faction—different from Zephyr's more compassionate stance, and from Sengoku's balanced, pragmatic justice.
But it was still justice, wasn't it?
Perhaps those words struck too deeply.
A faint redness crept into Roldy's eyes. Memories of past pain resurfaced, and hatred once again flooded his mind. His fists clenched tightly. Though his body trembled slightly, he forced himself to stand tall.
"I will wipe out every last one of those bastards!"
With that conviction in his heart, he punched again.
This was his path to strength.
A punch infused with conviction was on a completely different level from one without it.
From the chaotic flailing at the start, Roldy's movements began to take shape. To Zephyr's surprise, the boy was actually imitating his punching form. Though his fists carried no true spirit yet, they were already far beyond what ordinary people could achieve.
Zephyr suddenly grew interested.
He began to infuse his own punches with conviction—his justice.
At the same time, a subtle change appeared in Roldy's fists as well.
Zephyr's heart began to pound uncontrollably.
This brat…
He could learn in the middle of battle? Like a parched desert absorbing every drop of rain from the sky?
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