"Are you the first one? I thought you'd be the last one, Uncle Kuzan."
"To be honest, I don't think I qualify as an uncle yet, but I'll have to come sooner or later, so I might as well do it sooner. By the way, aren't you taking this a bit too seriously?"
Looking at Lyriana in her dragon-human form, Kuzan scratched his head. If a Zoan-type Devil Fruit user immediately enters a human-beast form, then it's clear he's not joking.
"I don't want to lose either. I want to go back to celebrate my 17th birthday with a perfect record."
"Isn't there still a few months left?"
"That's about right. I'm young, so I won't hold back and will attack first, Dragon Flame!"
A scorching breath swept towards Kuzan, who saw no politeness whatsoever from Lyliana.
The land cracked instantly after being swept by her dragon flame, and even the wreckage of the distant warships showed signs of melting.
"You're really being impolite, aren't you! Ice Age!"
Kuzan jumped backward, his face instantly covered in frost. He exhaled a breath of cold air, and countless wisps of freezing air swept forward along the ground, eventually condensing the moisture in the air to form a huge ice wall.
Flames and frost clashed, instantly creating plumes of white smoke that obstructed the vision of both sides.
Both combatants possessed considerable Observation Haki, so a little moisture had little effect, but the elite few were completely blinded.
"Frozen Two-Spiked Spear!"
The mist condensed into two sharp ice spikes, which flew into the mist.
Click!
With two crisp sounds, several broken ice spikes appeared on the ground. Lyliana did nothing. Unless the probing attack hit her eyes directly, she didn't even need Haki; her scales could block it directly.
"Uncle Kuzan, let's not bother with these pointless tests!"
boom!
The fist with knuckle duster pierced through Kuzan's body and slammed into the ground; this is the most unique characteristic of Logia-type Devil Fruit users.
As long as their Observation Haki can detect the enemy's movements and they can transform into their own element to create space before the attack hits, then Logia-type Devil Fruit users will be temporarily invincible.
The simplest way to hit their true form is through elemental counteraction, which is even easier than using Haki. For example, Crocodile's Sand-Sand Fruit cannot continue to transform into its element after encountering water. By making good use of this, you can deal with him even without Haki.
"Frozen Time Capsule!"
After becoming elemental, Kuzan's body was reconstructed, and a fierce, freezing aura surged towards Lyriana, forming an icy coffin around her body.
Despite saying he didn't want to fight, Kuzan didn't slack off much when it came to actually fighting, and he showed his true skills.
"That was dangerous, I almost got hit."
call!
Kuzan had just breathed a sigh of relief when a wave of heat emanated from him. Lyriana, who had been frozen, had regained her freedom, and flames were still burning on her scales.
"Yanwu Painting"
The Ice-Ice Fruit's most countering ability is fire. Unfortunately, this is the first element that Lyliana mastered. Compared to lightning and wind, fire and clouds are the abilities she could use right after eating the fruit, and they are also the elements she is most familiar with now.
"Bullish beak!"
"Flaming Dragon Fang Thrust!"
The giant ice bird was released from Kuzan's hand, but Lyliana smashed it to pieces with a few punches.
Kuzan has the greatest advantage against opponents who have no resistance to ice. However, once the enemy finds a way to melt Kuzan's ice, the weakness of Kuzan's Devil Fruit in direct attacks will become apparent, and in the end, he can only make up for this gap with physical skills.
However, the physical benefits of Logia-type attacks are far less than those of Zoan-type attacks, and after a few rounds, Kuzan found himself at a disadvantage.
"Is this what it means for the strong to fight?"
"This is just an entry-level battle. You are the future backbone of the Navy, and you may encounter enemies like this. Fear is human nature, but you are the Navy."
Having chosen this path, you must bear the corresponding responsibility. The civilians can flee, but you cannot. If even the navy flees, who will protect the vulnerable civilians?
"Instructor Zefa is absolutely right! Even if it costs me my life, I will protect the safety of civilians! Only in this way can I live up to the name of justice!"
A man with a face somewhat resembling Brook's, and with a somewhat skeletal appearance, shouted.
He is T. Peng, a former knight of a certain kingdom, a new recruit who joined the navy this year, and is currently training at Zephyr's training camp.
Although he looks extremely fierce, he is actually very kind at heart.
Zefa wanted to say something more, but something unusual seemed to be happening on the fighting field.
"Alright, that's enough. I give up."
After fighting for a while, Kuzan had a good understanding of the battle situation and then made his move.
"Kuzan, you little brat."
"Teacher Zefa, there's no point in continuing. I already know what I'm lacking. If I get hit, it won't look good for me. It's better to stop here."
Kuzan gave Zeff a relatively perfect and irrefutable answer. Since Kuzan had already found what was missing, there was indeed no need to continue.
However, Zephyr did not start the second race immediately, but waited until the next day to send out Borsalino as the second batter.
"Borsalino, I'll say it again, you overestimate your abilities. This kind of mentality will put you at a disadvantage against opponents of the same level. I hope you learn a lesson this time."
"Thank you for reminding me, Professor Zephyr. I will be careful."
Unlike the harmonious atmosphere when Kuzan was on the field, Borsalino and Zeff's communication was somewhat tense, but when Kizaru arrived on the island, he showed an indifferent attitude.
"Hey little sister, you're not really interested in this battle, are you?"
With a slight smirk, Borsalino stood in front of Lyliana and casually chatted about everyday matters.
"It's alright. Since Uncle Zefa said so, I can't refuse. But since I've agreed to it, I have no intention of losing."
"I see. Then I won't stand on ceremony. Watch out, Yasakani no Magatama!"
Borsalino appeared in the sky as a shining point of light. Compared to Kuzan, the Glint-Glint Fruit grants Borsalino the ability to fly freely, giving him extremely strong battlefield mobility and support capabilities.
His speed is unparalleled in the Navy. He might not be able to defeat this enemy, but if he really wanted to escape, no one could stop him.
The Yasakani no Magatama is a large-area AOE attack, which can be simply described as a large-area laser attack. Whether it is accurate or not depends entirely on the attacker's mood.
Anyway, Borsalino can break a key with a single shot from a kilometer away, or it can take thousands of shots to hit a fleeing submarine.
When the Yasakani no Magatama appeared, Borsalino himself became a huge ball of light, so dazzling that it was impossible for anyone to open their eyes.
Lyliana's response was simple: as a surge of energy flowed through her body, a touch of black stained her pink scales, and she transformed into a "black dragon."
Very few people can cover their entire body with Armament Haki, mainly due to the sheer amount of it used. Such extravagant and wasteful use of Haki can significantly impact the duration of a battle.
In some cases, the coverage area is so large that the strength of certain parts may be insufficient.
However, Lyriana doesn't need to worry about this. Besides the defensive advantage provided by the Iron Balloon, her own Haki reserves are also extremely high, allowing her to waste them at will.
Almost enduring Borsalino's attack head-on, Lyliana also flew in front of him, interrupting the release of his Yasakani no Magatama.
"That was dangerous. If I hadn't stopped attacking, you would have hit me just now."
Borsalino's clothes had a tear, apparently caused by Lyliana's dragon claws.
Borsalino's speed isn't true light speed, it's just extremely fast, but with Observation Haki's prediction, it's not exaggerated to the point of being completely untouchable.
"Just like the newspapers say, a monstrous genius. Well then, let me ask one more question: speed is power, have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"
boom!
"Unfortunately, your strength is still not great enough."
Leliana used her arm as a shield to block Borsalino's kick, and then something unexpected happened.
"You're really strong, I admit defeat."
"You're admitting defeat a little too quickly, aren't you?"
"There's no difference, the result is the same. It's not a life-or-death battle anyway, so let's just go through the motions."
If this were an enemy, Borsalino would not admit defeat. Despite his seemingly glib tongue, he is actually much more arrogant than Kuzan and Sakazuki. However, he advocates ambiguous justice and usually acts in a very lazy manner.
That's Oran's daughter. If she's really that powerful, fighting her won't do us any good; it'll just make us lose face.
If he wasn't that strong, and he didn't want to embarrass his opponent too much, Borsalino naturally wouldn't want to fight properly in this situation.
Moreover, as a problem student, Borsalino disliked Zephyr's teaching in the first place, and now that he has graduated, he has to be dragged back to train all over again.
Although Borsalino didn't say anything and obeyed his superior's orders, he was inwardly complaining.
It's not good to not cooperate, but Borsalino doesn't intend to cooperate completely either.
Now that Kuzan is an example, he simply went straight for it and passed the baton directly to Sakazuki.
"Kuzan, Borsalino, you two!"
Sakazuki's lips twitched twice, clearly displeased with the actions of his two colleagues.
Even if this isn't something that's made public, they shouldn't easily admit defeat for the sake of the Navy's reputation.
At this moment, Sakazuki was unaware that there was such a thing as an actor, who, although on the same team as an ally in the same match, had different objectives.
Perhaps many years later, when he recalls today's experience, Sakazuki will realize something special, that some of his ideas were not spur-of-the-moment but premeditated.
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