"Oh! Win!"
"Yeah! Loya won!"
The recruits smiled and hugged each other excitedly. Although Loya had only been there for a day, he had already earned their respect through his performance. This honor belonged to the entire recruit group at that moment.
"Unexpectedly, animal fruits can be used in this way."
"Yeah, Loya is so smart; he actually used this method to quickly consume food."
On the way back to the dormitory, the recruits, grouped in threes and fives, joked and bantered with Loya.
He wasn't disgusted by this kind of closeness; it was just typical banter among friends.
"Then, see you tomorrow, Loya."
"Well, see you tomorrow."
In the dormitory building, the recruits returned to their living quarters. Loya signed a letter at the doorman and went upstairs.
Pushing the door open, Loya looked at the dormitory room where he didn't know how long he would stay. It was a very simple recruit dormitory, with only one bed and one chair. The walls were covered with the mottled traces of time—very simple, but very clean.
"Ah~ Sure enough, this is the treatment of recruits. Well, at least not many people live in one room; it's not bad."
Touching the switch on the wall, Loya turned on the light.
Swish!
Suddenly, a whistling sounded in his ear, and a biting chill hit his neck. Loya, who had no time to turn around, squatted down quickly, opened his left hand, and rapidly formed a long sword of ice, stabbing it in reverse.
This counterattack was incredibly fast, but just as Loya felt a little relieved, he was kicked in the stomach. The ice sword in his hand was released, and his body flew out, hitting the wall with a thud.
Before he could assess the extent of his injury, Loya, still attached to the wall, clenched his right fist violently and hit the palm of his left hand. The murderous intent was coming straight at him, and he felt goosebumps all over his body.
"The Coffin of Ice!"
Click! Click!
As if opening a gate, endless cold air gushed from his palm, quickly forming a large square block of ice. The future would see people freeze inside it, and the cold killing intent also dissipated.
"Whoo~"
Seeing this, Loya finally relaxed, staggered under his feet, and took a deep breath to ease the pain in his ribs.
"Damn! This is the Navy Headquarters? Killers are here to kill!"
He looked up at the ice cube in front of him, and suddenly his eyes widened—there was nothing in the ice cube!
"Are you looking for me?"
The low baritone sounded, and Loya turned his head sharply, freezing for a moment.
"Admiral Aokiji... why are you here?"
The person who came was wearing a white suit, with a green blindfold on his forehead and an explosive hairstyle. He was one of the three current admirals of the Navy, Aokiji!
Seeing the green pheasant, Loya's nervousness finally eased. In any case, this general, who believes in lazy justice, would not kill him without necessary reason.
What had he done? Nothing!
Seeing Loya's relaxed demeanor, Kuzan couldn't help but feel a bit curious. "Hey, boy, are you so relaxed? If I attacked you immediately, you'd be dead."
Hearing this, Loya rolled his eyes, sat on the ground, and pulled off his shirt to check his injury. "You're an admiral of the Navy; even without a sneak attack, I'd still be dead... Anyway, if I'm going to die, why not relax?"
"You brat..." Kuzan was momentarily speechless. He didn't know what to say, but this lazy and effortless demeanor was quite appealing to him.
He took out a can of medicine from his pocket and tossed it to Loya.
"Take it. I saved my strength just now. With your physique, you should only be slightly injured."
Snapped!
Loya caught the jar and shook it with a smile. "Thank you!"
After Loya finished taking the medicine, Kuzan leaned back in the chair and looked at him condescendingly. "Hey, aren't you curious why I attacked you?"
"I was curious at first, but when I thought about former senior Zefa coming to the recruit camp this morning, my curiosity faded." Loya took out the bandage and wrapped it around himself, sitting cross-legged on the ground.
"Oh? Tell me your reasoning."
"First of all, former General Zefa is an instructor of the elite battalion. Our instructors should inform us about actual combat training, but he is here. You must know that even many people in the new camp have never seen him before. Isn't this unusual? As for the reason, it must be because I joined."
After a pause, seeing Kuzan's expressionless face, Loya continued: "Then, the ability used by my ice dragon form is also freezing, which is exactly the same as your freezing fruit, General Aokiji."
"So when you appeared, I understood that General Zefa was optimistic about me and wanted to pull me into the elite camp... and you are here to test me. After all, there is only one month left until the actual combat assessment, and you need to know my actual combat strength level."
"Hey~ What a wonderful inference." Kuzan clapped lazily. "But you missed one thing: I'm not just here to test you; you have to follow me to learn how to develop fruit abilities. After all, freezing is what I'm most familiar with."
Hearing this, Loya looked at Kuzan in shock.
"With your character, you would accept such a troublesome task!"
"...Boy, do you know that what you're saying is rude?"
Having said that, Kuzan showed no interest in continuing the conversation. Since Loya was clear about the situation, there would be some time to connect with him in the future.
"Then, that's it. Starting tomorrow, wait for me in the cafeteria after training at night. If I'm unavailable, someone will notify you in advance."
"Yes, I'll trouble you, Teacher Kuzan!"
Kuzan, opening the door, turned around and said, "Don't call me teacher; your teacher is only Zefa. I'm only responsible for helping you develop your fruit ability."
"Okay, Mr. Kuzan, Mr. Kuzan, walk slowly!"
Kuzan frowned with a scowl on his forehead and flicked his fingers.
"Freezing time!"
Then he closed the door and left, leaving Loya frozen as an ice sculpture in place.
...
Going downstairs, a strong figure appeared in the corner.
Kuzan was stunned for a moment and walked over with his hands in his pockets.
"Alas, Mr. Zefa, I'll send you the report tomorrow. Why don't you go to bed now?"
Zefa crossed his arms and glanced at the dormitory behind him. "If a guy throws ice cubes on your roof in the middle of the night, will you be able to sleep?"
"Well~ it's not because you didn't stop him from having a boring duel with Ms. S; otherwise, he wouldn't have to use his fruit ability to speed up digestion."
After Kuzan said that, he regretted it a bit, but as expected, Zefa looked at him with a displeased expression.
The two were silent for a while, and Kuzan coughed to break the silence. "Since you are here, let me tell you about the test results."
"Teacher, your guess is correct. Although this kid has good reaction speed and physique, he has absolutely no experience in fighting and lacks rules; he's more like a beast fighting by instinct."
"Hmph, frivolous footsteps and dull eyes. You can see this at a glance." Zefa snorted, indicating he was aware of this. "So, what about the fruit's ability?"
Hearing this, Kuzan became serious and nodded. "Very strong! That cold air can no longer be explained by pure coldness but has other special powers within it. I suspect it is the power of dragons. If I hadn't used a shave to dodge a frozen move, I'd have had a hard time breaking free. However, his use is as rough as a brawl, and even the quick release speed can't hide this fact."
"Is that so..." Zefa lowered his head and pondered. After a while, he said to Kuzan, "You should have more snacks in terms of fruit, and I will discuss with Warring States to reduce your tasks of going out. I have a feeling that chaos is coming to this sea soon, and before that, the more high-end combat power the Navy has, the better."
"Ah la la, that's really nice. Should I say thank you, Mr. Zefa?"