Bab 16: Initial Appearance
"Humph, surrender? That's not happening! Today I'll show you what an elite camp trainee is made of!"
Although his emotions seemed somewhat flustered, Ross was after all a trainee who made it through layers of screening to get into the elite camp, not the same as those novices. When it came down to it, he could still muster his courage to face his enemy. Though in Zavia's eyes there wasn't much difference.
The battle truly began as Ross finished speaking, spinning the black metal rod in his hand before explosively charging at Zavia.
(Oh~ Not bad explosive power.) Watching Ross charging straight at him, Zavia couldn't help but slightly narrow his eyes, concurrently evaluating Ross in his heart.
Despite the hint of arrogance, he at least had some brains. Although he didn't seem very confident in his own combat ability, when pushed he could still erupt.
Somehow, thinking this, Zavia suddenly recalled a certain yellow-haired youth using Breath of Thunder.
Revealing a trace of an icy sneer, Zavia lightly shifted his body to dodge Ross' rod strike.
And as if expecting this, Ross heavily stamped the ground with force, changing his vertical strike to a horizontal sweep, the sound of air rupturing accompanied the metal rod as it sped towards Zavia.
Zavia's gaze was icy and emotionless. His frosty blue eyes stared at that strike no faster than a turtle's.
He only needed to flick the wooden sword in hand upwards and the incoming metal rod was instantly deflected.
Unable to maintain his balance from having his attack deflected, Ross' eyes widened slightly, seemingly surprised that his attack was flicked away.
Seeing Ross' somewhat shocked expression, Zavia didn't have the slightest ripple in his heart. His wooden sword in hand rapidly shifted grips, switching to a reverse grip as he directly struck at Ross' chest.
Still somewhat blankly staring ahead, Ross suddenly saw a wooden sword chopping at him.
Unable to react in time, Ross took the wooden sword straight to the chest. His entire person slid back drawing two black heated vapor trails on the ground.
Clutching his chest with his left hand, pain showed on Ross' face. Although it was a wooden sword, and they were in the Pirate World where physiques were abnormally strong, Ross shouldn't have revealed an expression of pain.
But that was because the one using the sword was Zavia. He had basically inherited Vergil's abilities and techniques. Currently in the Pirate World he could absolutely be considered a swordsman.
Although not on Hawkeye Mihawk's level yet, that was just a matter of time. One day, Zavia would become the strongest in this world!
Whitebeard? Big Mom? Kaido? Pirates, Marines? They were nothing more than stepping stones and tools on Zavia's road to strength!
That's right. Zavia's goal was already determined. He would become the strongest in this Pirate World! That decision was made from the moment he first witnessed the dawn over Marineford.
So that was why Zavia urgently needed a mentor. To guide him on how to grasp power even faster and more efficiently.
What Zavia needed was power! Perhaps it was because he desperately sought power that he suddenly recalled some unpleasant memories from his past life, like his family.
Swoosh!
The wooden sword continuously chopped about. The metal rod continuously defended. Each sword swing brought the sound of rupturing air, indicating how much force was contained within.
Not giving Ross any chance, Zavia continually advanced, his wooden sword in hand continuously switching between standard and reverse grips. Hand-to-hand and armed combat continuously exchanged.
Pushed into a corner, Ross could only barely hold on. Or rather, he was currently doubting whether it was right to have provoked Zavia back then.
He was just acting like a young master, wanting to mock and extort some things from those he saw as beneath him. Especially since Zavia entered the navy because of Garp.
He originally thought Zavia just relied on having a Devil Fruit ability to be selected by Garp, so his actual strength definitely wouldn't amount to much.
But after witnessing Zavia's interactions with Marty, and seeing that emotionless gaze, he understood that he definitely couldn't beat Zavia. Now he deeply regretted things, while also resenting someone quite a bit - Evan.
He could have gotten off easy by throwing his young master's temper around to avoid this duel. Yet Evan just had to accept it. How could he not feel angry and resentful over this?
But in the end he didn't express that resentment. After all, that was his uncle. He could only swallow his anger silently. Knowing this point well, Ross didn't say anything more, only gritting his teeth to confront the battle ahead.
(Hm? This rod?) While continuously swinging his wooden sword, Zavia's brows slightly creased. He discovered something off about that metal rod.
Although Zavia felt somewhat indignant at the moment, recalling his scumbag father, he wasn't blinded by anger. Perhaps it had something to do with the power in Zavia's heart.
Zavia stopped swinging his wooden sword and leapt back a step to widen the distance from Ross.
Seeing Zavia suddenly stop, the previously fired up spectating students instantly felt their excitement drop. They were also very puzzled why Zavia abruptly halted his offense.
The three in the spectator stands above were also confused. Clearly Zavia had immense advantage, so why did he give up attacking?
Was he toying with his opponent? Giving Ross a chance to catch his breath? Or did he have some other objective?
None of that was the case. The reason Zavia stopped attacking was very simple. He felt something off about that metal rod.
(Seastone huh...) Watching Ross who obtained a brief respite from his halted attack yet not paying him any attention, Zavia guessed inwardly.
The metal rod in Ross' hand was somewhat different from the seastone Zavia encountered before. Even after all this time exchanging strikes, not a single mark appeared on this rod!
Clearly this was no ordinary metal rod. Although the weapon in Zavia's hand was just a wooden training sword.
However, Zavia inherited strengthening abilities from his Legacy. Of course, not all abilities, only towards certain weapons like swords. This was related to Zavia's inner heart.
In other words, although the wooden sword in Zavia's hand looked like an ordinary wooden sword that couldn't even kill, after being strengthened, while it still couldn't kill, it shouldn't have been so weak that it couldn't even scratch metal. Let alone not leaving a single mark!
After laying out all the possibilities he could think of, Zavia could only guess it was seastone. Although he still wasn't completely certain, it was probably about 80-90% likely.
After all, that stuff was basically the most outstanding material in the Pirate World.
Once he thought of this possibility, a trace of an icy sneer appeared on Zavia's face. He originally thought that rod was made of some incredible metal to be able to block his strikes. Turns out it was just seastone. That explained things.
Seeing Zavia's sneer, Ross suddenly felt a chill. He felt as if some beast had fixed its eyes on him.
Ross tightly gripped the seastone rod in hand, involuntarily swallowing some saliva down his throat.
At this time, all sorts of thoughts ran through Ross' mind. He recalled Evan's words yesterday.
"Don't worry. He's just a Devil Fruit user right? Take this seastone rod I'm giving you. As long as you suppress him, won't he just be an ordinary person?"
Ross already had very good skills using a rod. Possibly because he extremely loved rods. Adding Evan constantly seducing him by the side, he accepted this rod and went to duel Zavia.
He actually didn't want to at first...
However, reality would always differ from ideals. No matter how wonderful Ross thought things would be, facing Zavia he didn't have the slightest chance.
"What's he planning?"
Sitting above, Sengoku stroked his abundant Ripple-Ripple fruit shaped beard. His expression was filled with puzzlement.
Although he was a wise general who possessed an extremely intelligent mind and was a strategist, right now he completely couldn't figure out what Zavia was doing.
"Who knows. He definitely has his own ideas. Let's just watch quietly."
Next to Sengoku, Garp might have had some doubts too, but from interacting with Zavia over the past few days, he more or less understood Zavia a little. So he wasn't as confused as Sengoku.
"Sigh. Is this your strength? How boring."
Figuring things out, Zavia revealed an extremely arrogant bearing. His eyes gazed at Ross in disdain.
Hearing this, anger showed on Ross' face but he only clicked his tongue without taking big actions.
(Oh~ Useless huh? Then...) Sensing the provocation wasn't working, Zavia squinted before casually using his left hand to tidy up his unmoving back swept hair from front to back.
As if sensing something, Ross suddenly tensed up his body, assuming a combat stance.
Bang!
Zavia vanished from his spot, leaving behind only a vapor emitting black footprint.
The wooden sword chopped horizontally. 0.98 seconds after Zavia disappeared, Ross saw a wooden sword appear before his eyes out of nowhere.
Mustering every ounce of his strength, focusing all his power into his two hands, Ross erupted with a speed he never imagined possible in his life before.
Wood met stone, incapable of emitting the crisp sound of colliding metals since they weren't made of the same material.
This sudden move thoroughly fired the spectating students up. But Zavia ignored them.
Zavia's left foot slightly gathered momentum before viciously kicking Ross' abdomen. The kick came fiercely with no chance for Ross to defend.
The reason was because Zavia didn't give Ross any chance to breathe.
Having taken Zavia's kick to the abdomen, Ross suddenly felt like vomiting. It was as if something wanted to exit his stomach.
Next second, space fluctuated. Zavia who was just before Ross now appeared behind him, directly hitting Ross' back with his wooden sword, sending Ross' entire person flying.
But it wasn't over yet. Space fluctuated once more as Zavia appeared at Ross' original flight path.
Puff--!
Zavia used his sword hilt to strike Ross' abdomen once more. Ross' entire being collapsed onto Zavia.
Only this time, Ross didn't pass out like before. Instead he spewed some transparent liquid from his mouth before losing consciousness.
"Winner, Zavia!"
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