Next day,
Vergo and Blaize stood in a combat field, surrounded by nearly 200 people; marine officers, recruits, and even the ones working on the Island.
Their fight grabbed attention, and instructor Zephyr's appearance was the best proof. Gion and Shuzo supported him, even though they are friends with Vergo too.
Blaize knew Vergo is strong. After all, he's one of Doflamingo's elite officers with a highly manipulative and insidious character.
He doesn't show his true nature here as he keeps his true identity a secret. But it's a truth that he's a powerful, intelligent, and knowledgeable man.
Furthermore, he's the type of person who's confident of his ability and thinks he's superior to others. If Blaize wasn't wrong, his strength is already close to Vice-Admirals.
After all, he already knows how to use Haki. The good thing is, Vergo won't reveal his full strength, so as not to jeopardize his cover.
Instructor Zephyr gestured with his hands to start, and the fight began. Blaize took the initiative and dashed forward with incredible speed.
Vergo welcomed his punch with bare hands. It's a known fact in the camp that Vergo possesses an enviable physique with powerful explosive strength.
Blaize's fist collided with Vergo, sending a powerful shockwave and swirling the wind around them. The onlooking marines screamed in thrill.
"Ohhh!" Watching fighting between others is great entertainment to most.
"Vergo, your strength had improved from the last time we sparred." Blaize casually commented and threw another punch which Vergo blocked with ease.
"Yes, yours too!" Vergo answered and countered with a punch. The two of them didn't utilize any fighting techniques, they just compared their strength with fists; a straightforward approach.
After a few bouts of exchange, they gauged each other's strength and began to fight seriously.
Blaize's attributes reached '18', if he's not wrong, his physical strength is close to headquarters Rear-Admirals. If he broke past the '20' bar limit, then his combat strength can even rival Rear-Admirals.
With his current strength, fighting Vergo—who's hiding his strength—is a piece of cake for him. Both of them fought to a standstill for a minute and Blaize decided it's time to take the fight to another level.
What he doesn't know is, Vergo was also shocked by his strength. He didn't expect Blaize's physical strength will advance to such a level in a few months.
'Will he be a threat to 'doffy' in the future?' Vergo thought. He thought of killing him secretly but he soon rejected the notion as it's too risky and he wasn't confident in eliminating Blaize.
There are too many variables. He knew Blaize is a devil fruit user who had abilities similar to heat-heat fruit. It's also why Vergo challenged him. He wanted to find the devil fruit powers of Blaize and to what extent he can use them. Yes, he's gathering intelligence.
And, Blaize satisfied his wish by exhibiting his devil fruit powers. In truth, his action has a deeper meaning. He wants the marines to know his existence and his superior strength.
Only by gaining other's respect and reverence, he can gain a solid foothold among the Marine ranks. If he wants to confront the World Government in the future, he can't do it alone.
He needs the power of Marines! Blaize wasn't a scheming person in nature, but he's a person with great vision.
'Soru' Blaize muttered. His figure disappeared and appeared behind Vergo startling the onlookers.
Even before Vergo could react, a punch slammed his back and sent him hurtling forward. The onlooking marines couldn't believe, the all-powerful Vergo in their heart lost his advantage.
"Sure enough, you mastered 'Soru' to such perfection," Vergo spoke and vanished from Blaize's sight.
"Let's compete to see whose 'Soru' is better." A voice sounded behind his ear. Blaize's lips curved a little, and his figure vanished before Vergo could launch an attack.
The 'Soru' martial style allows the users to move at extremely high speed. The principle behind the move was to kick off the ground at least ten times in the blink of an eye.
It's an explosive strength released from one's leg. The stronger the physique, the faster the users will be.
In Vergo's case, he hadn't mastered the 'Soru', yet. But, he compensated for the lack of mastery with brute strength.
As for Blaize, he achieved slight mastery over the 'Soru' style but unlike Vergo, his explosive strength stems from his devil fruit power.
Every cell in his legs pumped high heat and pushed his speed to another level. No one aside from Instructor Zephyr noticed this, as his control over the 'heat manipulation' reached another level.
Vergo and Blaize's form flickered all over the combat field, agitating the viewers with another great Zeal. At some point, the eyes of the recruits failed to catch the fighting figures.
"Oh my God! These two are monsters, their strength is close to Rear-Admirals trained by Zephyr sensei." A senior recruit commented.
"How did they improve their strength so fast? It's inconceivable."
Gion, Shuzo, and other recruits familiar with Blaize and Vergo were the most shocked ones. Especially, Blaize, they didn't expect him to fight Vergo as equal.
"When did he become so strong?" Gion mumbled. The memories of Blaize flashed in her eyes and how he worked twice harder than others.
Without her knowing, he surpassed her. An inexplicable feeling arose from the innermost part of her soul, her heart kindled with the desire to get strong.
Not just her, other recruits also resolved their heart watching the fight between them.
At the spectator stand, a precious smile appeared on Instructor Zephyr's face. It's what he hoped from the fight between Blaize and Vergo, the two hadn't disappointed him.
After a minute, Vergo's figure emerged some distance away from Blaize. He panted a little, as continuous use of Soru style drained him to a certain extent.
As for Blaize, he looked rather relaxed as if he wasn't even fighting. Of course, he knew Vergo's faking his exhaustion as he's clear about Vergo strength.
Vergo wanted to force Blaize to use his devil fruit powers but he underestimated the latter's strength. He narrowed his eyes a little and he admitted defeat.
If he showed anymore of his strength, there's a possibility of his cover being blown. It's better to stop now. If there's a chance in the future, he will eliminate Blaize.
Just as they ended the fight, Zephyr came forward and gave them rare praise. "You two fought well and grasped the nature of 'Soru' quite well. With repeated practice, your Soru will attain perfection. Work Hard!"