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Seeing that no one spoke up, Byakuya's arrogance remained unchanged.
"Seeing as your strength is too weak, I'll give you all a chance. All of you can come at me at once!"
The soldiers, who had been silent and subdued, now raised their heads and looked at Byakuya. One person challenging all the trainees at once?
This was unheard of in the history of the Marine Elite Training Camp.
Even when it came to Akainu, Kizaru, and Aokiji, they never attempted something so outlandish during their training.
Even Zephyr was taken aback. He thought Byakuya just came to show off a little, but it seemed Byakuya wanted to do something much bigger.
"Is this kid insane?" However, given Zephyr's understanding of Byakuya's abilities, he still believed Byakuya could handle these recruits.
Everything was under control.
As the leaders of the two largest groups of trainees, Quake and Fergus exchanged a long look, seeming to consider the possibility of working together against Byakuya.
If this were a romantic scene between a man and a woman, the look in their eyes would have been charged with emotion.
Instead, it was more akin to two blind people staring at each other. Seeing no one speak, Byakuya raised the stakes further.
"You guys are too useless! So let's up the challenge—I'll take on all of you as well as the ten instructors present. Come at me together!"
"Wait, that includes us?" Cook's eyes widened, and he started cracking his knuckles in anticipation.
This kid had threatened him earlier, and now he had the chance to get even! When some instructors hesitated, Cook quickly persuaded them.
"If this rookie dares to challenge us as a group, we can't back down. We have to uphold the reputation of the instructors' group!"
"How will we teach future recruits if we're afraid of a rookie who's been here for just a month?"
"Are we going to let them say the instructor group is scared of a newbie?"
Cook's words convinced the instructors who were initially hesitant, and they agreed to join in the attack.
Cook's persuasion was key, but Byakuya's arrogant demeanor was also quite provoking.
Cook didn't bother keeping his voice low, so Byakuya heard every word.
Byakuya looked at Cook with a bright smile that sent shivers down Cook's spine and made the flicking motion of a finger.
"This kid is still threatening me?" Cook was shocked. Cook's success in rallying all the instructors wasn't enough for him.
He wanted to rope Zephyr in as well, arguing that Byakuya's actions were challenging the reputation of the entire Marine Elite Training Camp.
If Zephyr didn't take action, it would be hard to justify.
Zephyr didn't doubt that if Cook kept speaking, he would end up suggesting that they recall the three admirals who had graduated from the training camp to take on Byakuya.
"Cough... I won't get involved in this. I'll just oversee this assessment." Zephyr hesitated for a while and finally declined.
In truth, Zephyr was extremely tempted, very tempted in fact, to join in on ganging up on Byakuya. Just the thought of it was thrilling.
Watching Byakuya's arrogant demeanor infuriated Zephyr. Back when he became an admiral, he was never this arrogant.
Yet, here was this rookie acting all high and mighty. How could this go unpunished?
But Zephyr was also afraid! Byakuya was the most promising student he had encountered in his over thirty years of teaching.
He had never seen someone more outstanding than Byakuya. If he joined in and scared Byakuya away, he wouldn't know where to cry.
So he chose to observe from the sidelines and would not interfere.
Seeing he couldn't persuade Zephyr, Cook said nothing further. He figured their combined forces should be enough.
The group of instructors consisted of ten teachers, three vice admirals, and seven rear admirals.
This kind of lineup was enough to handle notorious pirates with bounties exceeding one billion.
In addition, the elite Marines from various branches brought in skilled individuals with ranks between lieutenant and captain.
The combined strength totaled 590 people. Some were as strong as the Marine HQ Captains, while the weakest among them were akin to Lieutenants.
All in all, Byakuya was challenging a group of 600 people.
When Byakuya declared his intention to challenge all the recruits and the instructors, the news spread like wildfire across the entire Marine headquarters.
Although the people didn't know Byakuya personally, they had heard his name.
Rumor had it that Zephyr had personally taken him as a disciple and had declared, "My disciple Byakuya has the potential to become an admiral."
Many thought that becoming an admiral was not easy; the title denoted being the pinnacle of Marine power.
Moreover, since Byakuya wasn't a Devil Fruit user, they believed Zephyr's words were just for show.
However, within just a month, Byakuya was now challenging all the recruits and the instructors.
All around, people could be seen hastening toward the training camp.
"Vice Admiral Bastille, what's going on?"
"There's an exciting event happening at the training camp! You have to hurry, or you might miss it."
"Rear Admiral Mori, are you also going to watch the event at the training camp?"
"Of course! I want to get a good spot to watch."
Inside the office of the Fleet Admiral, Sengoku had just finished his tasks and was about to treat himself to a donut when he noticed the streets bustling with vice admirals and rear admirals, all using Soru and Geppo to rush in the same direction.
Sengoku was puzzled. Had he not heard any signs of combat, he would have thought pirates were attacking Marine headquarters.
He quickly asked a soldier outside, who informed him of Byakuya's intentions.
Sengoku was intrigued and immediately headed to the training camp.
Meanwhile, at the docks, Garp disembarked from his ship with a gloomy expression. He had just run into Aokiji, who had just returned from a mission.
Garp was Aokiji's former superior. Before becoming an admiral, Aokiji had been by Garp's side, almost like his apprentice.
Although Aokiji was now an admiral and Garp a vice admiral, Aokiji still treated Garp with great respect.
"Garp-san, was your vacation not satisfactory?"
"Ugh, let's not talk about that." Garp waved his hand irritably, his frustration evident. He had admired Zephyr for taking such an excellent disciple.
That's why he took a vacation to Windmill Village to teach his grandson, Luffy, how to become an outstanding Marine.
But over the past month, Luffy refused to become a Marine, insisting on becoming a pirate and leaving to set sail.
Garp had nearly tried to hammer some sense into his grandson's head, yet Luffy remained steadfast in his resolve, leaving Garp utterly worn out.
Moreover, his vacation time was up, so he could only return, dejected.
Thinking about these things, Garp couldn't help but curse the red-haired Shanks for luring his unsuspecting grandson.
If it weren't for Shanks' influence, Luffy would've already become an excellent Marine, saving Garp a lot of trouble!
"Achoo! What's going on? Am I catching a cold?" Shanks examined himself, thinking he must have just had an itchy nose.
.....
Garp and Aokiji prepared to report back to Marine headquarters, only to discover many people rushing toward the training camp.
After asking around, they found out Byakuya was planning to challenge all the recruits and instructors.
The news left them astounded, while Garp was also frustrated.
After all, he was the one who introduced Byakuya to Zephyr, and he never expected Byakuya's potential to be so high.
Therefore, they also hurried to the training camp; regardless of whether Byakuya would win or lose, his name would undoubtedly echo throughout Marine headquarters.
Inside the training camp, as Zephyr was about to announce the start of the assessment, he saw former students of the training camp, now officers wearing captain-level uniforms, sitting in the same seats they used before.
"Zephyr, your disciple is stirring up quite the commotion!"
"Sengoku, you came too."
"I just wrapped up some work, so I came to see what's going on."
Sengoku looked at the people gathering and sighed, "The high-ranking officers didn't even attend the recent meeting this promptly!"
Sengoku settled down at a high spot, and just as he did, Garp and Aokiji arrived beside him.
"Garp, Aokiji, weren't you on vacation and out on a mission?"
Aokiji held a deep respect for Zephyr, "Zephyr-sensei, I happened to meet Vice Admiral Garp at the port and heard about what was going on here, so I decided to join in as well."
Garp was feeling particularly agitated about Luffy's situation and spoke gruffly,
"Zephyr, is that kid Byakuya up to the task? We've gathered all these people to watch him; if he loses, won't we all have come here for nothing?"
Hearing Garp's displeased tone, Zephyr felt immensely satisfied, retorting with a smile,
"Garp, you need to have confidence in the person you brought from the East Blue!"
"You old fool! If I hadn't brought Byakuya from the East Blue and given him to you, would you have found such a talented disciple?"
"That's because you were blind and didn't recognize Byakuya's talent! If you had, would you have handed him over to me?"
The two old men in their sixties and seventies started arguing with each other right in front of everyone, even spitting at each other.
Aokiji, despite being a Marine Admiral, knew he couldn't step in to mediate between the two.
He turned to Sengoku, hoping for his intervention, "Fleet Admiral Sengoku, aren't you going to calm them down?"
Sengoku sighed in exasperation. These two were already old, yet here they were bickering like children in front of so many young people.
Even though he wished to stop them, their antics seemed harmless enough.
Watching the two men continue to argue, he could see their expressions softening.
Eventually, Sengoku decided to break up the argument, "Alright, alright, let's get the assessment started. You're both losing face for the older generation!"
Hearing Sengoku's words, the two men stopped their argument, and the room calmed down.
Meanwhile, the recruits and instructors in the training camp were dumbfounded.
Why was such a fuss being made over a monthly assessment at the Marine elite training camp?
This kind of assessment took place every month, so why were so many top officers present?
Sengoku, Fleet Admiral of the Marines. Garp, Marine hero. Zephyr, former Marine Admiral, and current chief instructor. Aokiji, current Marine Admiral.
Around the room sat several high-ranking officials: seven Marine Vice Admirals, twenty-two Marine Rear Admirals, and nearly a hundred Commodore and Captain.
Such a formidable gathering of senior Marines could easily take on two of the Four Emperors' crews, yet they had come just to observe a monthly assessment?
Or was it simply to witness Byakuya's part in the assessment?
The pressure was immense, but also an opportunity for motivation.
Whether instructors or recruits, no one wanted to lose to Byakuya and become just a stepping stone in his path to fame.
Being in the same batch as Byakuya meant possibly being overshadowed by him, just like others who were in the same batch as the current three Admirals.
Everyone in the training camp was ready to go all out to not lose to Byakuya.
Meanwhile, Byakuya himself hadn't anticipated such a scene.
Seeing all these top Marine officials watching, and the seriousness on the faces of the recruits and instructors, he knew this assessment would be more challenging than he thought.
He sighed inwardly and thought, "I'm not one to show off, but it seems my hand is being forced."
The systems were pushing him to perform well, using the promise of valuable rewards to entice him into playing his part.
'Sigh, this accursed system, ruining my chance to stay low-key.'
If the system could speak, it would likely give Byakuya a verbal lashing like;
[All I asked was for the host to take first place, who told the host to show off and challenge six hundred people at once? And now the host blaming me; what a shameless person!]
Byakuya took a deep breath and said, "Since I'm fighting all of you at once, this small arena isn't suitable. Let's use the entire training ground as the stage, shall we?"
Byakuya's proposal meant he was giving up his considerable advantage.
Normally, his opponents would lose if they were kicked out of the ring, but with the entire training ground as the ring, this rule no longer applied.
Zephyr didn't understand why Byakuya was doing this, but he chose to trust his student.
"All right, we'll use the entire training ground as the stage!" Byakuya said calmly, "Then there's no need for this arena."
With that, the hundred-meter-wide and ten-meter-high arena seemed to be crushed by a massive, invisible force.
The entire platform caved in with a thunderous crash, sinking three meters into the ground, its surface perfectly smooth and undamaged.
Byakuya stood at the center of the training ground, surveying the surroundings.
His voice echoed as he declared, "Come on, I'm ready to take on all six hundred of you!"
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