Chapter 455: Akainu's Gift
Like the shooting course, today's swimming class in the training camp was no longer as peaceful as usual.
Jackie Chan's performance, while excellent, is still quite normal. Chili Shark is incredibly fast, which is understandable, and Rui Mengmeng's speed and endurance are also expected.
But... why are there strange creatures mixed in with the first echelon!
"Then...that Tom, is a cat?" A student opened his mouth wide.
"Yes, but it can't be lumped together with ordinary cats." Another student thought of Tom's performance in the training camp. Except for being lazy and gluttonous, he was better than them in every aspect, so it was understandable that he was good at swimming.
"Even if this is acceptable, that thing behind it is a duck, right?"
"Yeah, I heard it's Princess Weiwei's pet. What's so strange about a duck being able to swim?"
"But that duck swims freestyle!"
Carew followed closely behind Tom, paddling forward skillfully with his wings in a posture that was very inconsistent with the physiological structure of a duck, and his wings almost became propellers.
"Quack~" Kalu didn't notice other people's exclamations. He had been learning to swim with Tom for a long time.
As Vivi's pet and mount, Kalu decided to become a good swimmer when Vivi became a landlubber. Only in this way could he rescue her in time when she accidentally fell into the water, even though the probability of this happening was not high.
After all, this group of naval cadets are elites selected from all over the place. Although they have been hit many times in the past few days, they still haven't given up.
"Go ahead, we must not lose this time!"
"oh!"
The Marines paddled hard and caught up, which made Zefa very pleased.
Unfortunately, the Marines are not the protagonists of a hot-blooded comic, and their shouts and fighting spirit have no effect on the final outcome.
By the time they finished their training exhausted and came ashore, Tom had already set up beach chairs and parasols and was fishing on the shore.
After Shark Chili came back, he said hello to Zefa and went to the Naval Library to borrow some books. He came here for swimming training just to go through the motions. The various nautical charts and navigation materials in the library were the purpose of his visit to the headquarters.
The practice scene of the 'ability group' on the other side was quite lively. Binz kept twisting his body and doing a strange dance. The few weeds on the ground turned into several thick vines with his movements.
Ain nodded to Binz, and Binz made a few special movements. The vines bent and twisted and wrapped around Ain. The scene was very weird.
Fortunately, Ain also took action. He reached out and touched the vine lightly. The vine quickly shrank and tended to turn back into weeds.
Binz began to dance again, and the vines gradually recovered. Ain then made the vines retreat again...
Judging from the tacit understanding between the two, they must practice their abilities like this normally.
Zhang Da also expressed that it was an eye-opener and that your navy really knows how to have fun.
Their training was much more normal. Wendy and Vivi teamed up to attack Altria. Vivi was the main attacker, while Wendy was responsible for defense and adding various buffs to Vivi.
It’s not that Vivi has stronger attack power than Wendy, but Wendy has been researching new auxiliary magic recently, or it would be more appropriate to say additional magic.
If the art of attachment is practiced to a certain level, one can even change the terrain of an entire continent in an instant . One can attach one's own personality to another person, commonly known as possession. It is a magic with a very high upper limit, but to achieve that level requires extremely strong magic power as support.
Wendy was naturally only practicing ordinary addition techniques, which had already greatly improved Vivi's strength and speed, allowing her to use her abilities with abandon. When her strength gave out, Wendy would help hold Altria back, helping Vivi recover.
In an instant, yellow sand flew up around the three of them. If it weren't for Weiwei's limited strength and intentional control, this training ground would have completely turned into a desert scene today.
Zhang Da also chose to stay away from them, otherwise he would easily get a mouthful of sand.
Of course, he was not idle either. Our brother Tatsuya has become successful now and is facing the siege of Ye Yan and Xia Lulu alone.
Like Altria, he is fighting one against two, so rounding it off, Zhang Da is now the strongest person on the ship.
"White Moon Spin Kick!" Xia Lulu supported herself on the ground with one hand, turned over, and her right leg drew a white crescent-shaped trajectory in the air, kicking towards Zhang Daye's shoulder.
Fortunately, Xia Lulu was wearing navy uniform trousers, so there was no embarrassing situation.
Zhang Da also raised his left hand and blocked the kick with his forearm. Feeling Xia Lulu's strength, he commented, "That's a good move. You seem to like kicking techniques very much."
Xia Lulu nimbly did two backhand flips to distance herself, her hands habitually clenched into cat paws, and smiled, "It just feels right for me."
Zhang Da also found himself touched by her cuteness and thought that next time he should ban cuteness in battle. He clenched his fist and turned to swing it: "Friendship Breaking Fist!"
"Damn it!" Ye Yan, who was about to attack from behind, took a few steps back, covered his face, and said frantically, "I protest! We agreed that the two of us would attack you, why did you only attack me!"
Zhang Da also thought for a while and said, "Because you have a flaw."
"You're kidding! You've been thinking about this for so long, and it's obvious you made it up!" Ye Yan yelled, "I think you're just taking revenge on me!"
"Impossible, that's impossible!" Zhang Da also denied it flatly, "You haven't offended me recently."
So... if I offend you, you really want revenge, right? Xia Lulu mourned for Ye Yan for a second, then attacked again.
"I should have learned some kicking techniques in the East China Sea earlier." Zhang Da also thought of Red Foot Zhefu. He said while dealing with Xia Lulu's attack, "But it doesn't matter. There is also someone in the Navy Headquarters who is good at kicking. I can ask for his advice when I have the chance."
Zhang Da was also talking about Admiral Kizaru, the Flash Man who ate the Vile Fruit. His physical skills are definitely not weak. His Flash Kick can kill a supernova with one kick.
Although he has the cooperation of the fruit ability, since it is a flash kick and not a flash punch, it means that he at least has a foundation in kicking skills, which is more than enough to guide the newbie Xia Lulu.
As for whether he was willing or not, Zhang Da could always find a way to ask him, even if it meant being shameless. For the sake of his friends, a little face wasn't important at all. If he really couldn't bring himself to do it... he could still let Ye Yan go. The plan worked.
"Friendship Face-Breaking Fist!"
Boom! This punch hit the Soul-Suppressing Gong. It seemed that Ye Yan had been prepared and used the Soul-Suppressing Gong as a shield. The three of them paused for a moment and then fought again.
…
The admirals of the navy are usually very busy, at least busier than Garp. Now two of the three admirals have been sent out, and only Akainu remains at the headquarters.
According to Akainu's understanding of his two colleagues, one of them should be carrying out the mission leisurely, while the other is most likely hiding somewhere and sleeping, leaving the tasks directly to his subordinates to solve. He will only take action himself when his subordinates are in danger or the deadline of the mission is approaching.
As a dedicated navy soldier, Akainu is usually unable to sit still. Unless there is a strict order from his superiors, he will find some pirates to kill near the headquarters even if he stays behind.
Perhaps because he didn't encounter any pirates today, Akainu was not in a good mood when he returned to his office.
"Admiral Sakaski!" A man with scars on his face greeted respectfully. It was Vice Admiral Doberman, who was covering for Akainu in the office so that he could contact Akainu in time in case of any emergency.
"Yeah." Akainu nodded, then noticed the two cigarettes on the desk and asked, "What are these?"
Dauberman explained, "Well, today, Mr. Zefa brought the training camp back to headquarters, and he also brought the Amber Tour Group with him. This is a gift they asked Marshal Zhan Guo to pass on to you."
"Amber Travel Group?" Akainu was a little confused. He had never met them before, so why would they bring him souvenirs?
"Yes, they are currently training at Zephyr's training camp, but they don't appear to be joining the navy. They're just staying at headquarters for a while, for reasons unknown." Doberman thought for a moment and added, "Besides you, many generals who have met them have also received gifts, including General Kuzan and General Borsalino."
It seems I'm just giving it to you as a side dish. Akainu isn't completely ignorant of social etiquette; perhaps he's worried he'll be embarrassed. He shook his head slightly, "What a boring etiquette."
Akainu's attitude towards the Amber Tour Group was ambiguous, neither particularly fond nor disliked. This was thanks to their occasional successful pirate kills, particularly the one that directly killed Golden Lion, which he admired. Although Akainu didn't participate in that operation, his favorability rating increased by at least ten percentage points.
It’s a pity that Zhang Dataya’s strength became stronger and stronger, the number of failures became less and less, and occasionally he did things that made the World Government embarrassed, which led to Akainu’s decline in favor of them.
But now that it has been given to him, Akainu will not deliberately return it. He opened a cigarette, took out one and put it in his mouth, and the tip of his right index finger turned into magma to light the cigarette.
Akainu usually smokes cigars. If he hadn't seen this kind of cigarette before, he might have thrown it directly to Doberman or Spider Demon.
"Do you want to have a..." Akainu took a puff of cigarette and suddenly felt that something was wrong with him - the irritable mood he had when he entered the door was swept away, and now he was in an unusually calm mood, and even the tone of his voice was softer than usual.
Doberman nearly got goosebumps when he heard this: "General Sakaski, are you... unwell?"
Akainu took another drag on his cigarette, trying to maintain a normal tone: "I'm fine, this cigarette might have been spiked with sedatives or tranquilizing herbs or something."
Akainu realized something was wrong and immediately made a judgment. He threw the cigarette box in his hand to Doberman and said, "Take it for testing."
"yes!"
Neither of them thought that the Amber Tour Group would be stupid enough to poison the admiral inside the Marine Headquarters. Akainu knew very well whether the cigarette contained poison or not, so he continued to smoke it with confidence - this thing tasted really good.
But since there is a problem, it is better to check it out.
In fact, no matter how much testing is done, it is useless because there is absolutely no problem with the smoke.
[Tom's cigarette before death: Take a puff, and you will remain calm even if a bull charges at you, and even... want to dig your own grave.]
Originally, when the gifts were being prepared, there was no gift for Akainu, but Shark Chili felt that since both admirals had received one, it would be a bit awkward to leave Akainu out. Zhang Da also thought it made sense, after all, he had used Akainu's name before, and they had been close friends for a long time, so he decided to take the opportunity to show his appreciation.
Then he pulled out these two interesting cigarettes and labeled them with Sakaski's name, thinking that it might be funny when Akainu smoked them.
…
Three days have passed since the Amber Tour Group arrived at the Naval Headquarters.
In a small restaurant in the town of Marinford, the tables were almost all occupied by Marines on leave. Zhang Daye and his companions also came here under the introduction of Ain and Binz.
They said that although the place is small and the store is not very conspicuous, the food tastes very good.
Zhang Da also expressed his understanding, just like many truly delicious local dishes are often hidden in inconspicuous restaurants.
So they came to this restaurant together, and now they are waiting for their food to be served while...listening to the navy soldiers at the next table gossiping.
Maybe because everyone in the store was wearing navy uniforms, the soldiers chatted very freely and didn't try to control their voices.
"Hey, have you noticed?" a Marine said mysteriously to his companions, "There seems to be something wrong with Admiral Sakaski lately."
"You're in charge of the gate, so of course you see him often. We don't see the admiral very often." Another Marine complained, then asked curiously, "What's wrong?"
"General Sakaski always had a stern face and looked very majestic, but these days he actually smiled at me!" The soldier showed a complicated expression on his face.
"You must be kidding!" A table of soldiers said they couldn't imagine what Admiral Akainu's smile looked like.
"It's true! Especially that day, I threw a cigarette butt on the ground, and General Sakaski happened to pass by and scared me. But when I was about to bend down to pick up the cigarette butt, he actually handed me a cigarette and told me to stand guard and not be nervous!"
The soldier dug out his cigarette box and took out one of the cigarettes. "Here, this is it. It looks very high-end. I can't bear to smoke it."
"Really? It's a brand I've never seen before!"
"It smells really good. Is it really a gift from the general?"
Everyone believed him and tried to imagine Akainu's smile again, but failed. They began to divert their attention:
"Hey, that cigarette, one puff each!"
"Yes, you can't eat alone!"
"Don't even think about it!"
The Marines were in a commotion.
Zhang Da also glanced at the cigarette. Hmm, it looked familiar.
"Boss Ye, is nothing going to happen?" Ye Yan asked, "Does that cigarette have a hypnotic effect? Did you add some contraband to it, like laundry detergent or something?"
"How could I have that ability? If there was really a problem, someone would have come to arrest me long ago." Zhang Da also said, "Besides, Tom has smoked that cigarette before, and it will be fine after the effect wears off. After all, he is a general, so he should be fine... right?"
"But boss, that's Teacher Tom." Rui Mengmeng said worriedly, "You're becoming less and less confident the more you talk. We won't be wanted for something like this, right?"
