Makarov sighed, "Alas. You truly are a clumsy fellow. If you just ease the pressure on your shoulders a bit, you'll see sights you've never seen before, and hear words you've never heard before. Life will be much happier that way."
"For me, protecting your growth has been the meaning of my life. I don't need you to have immense power, and it doesn't matter if you're not clever enough. As long as you grow up healthy, I'll be perfectly content."
"..."
Laxus's body trembled. When he heard that his grandfather was critically ill, an indescribable panic and fear had arisen in his heart. It was only then that he realized his seemingly strong and invincible grandfather would also face the cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death.
But his stubborn pride wouldn't allow him to bow his head, even making him say many things against his true feelings.
It wasn't until that arrogance and pride were ruthlessly trampled and ground down by Takeshi that he truly repented, realizing how many wrong things he had done.
"Laxus... you are now expelled from the Guild." Makarov announced.
Laxus's pupils constricted. He couldn't believe his grandfather would actually expel him from the Guild. After all, it was his grandfather. No matter how much mischief he had caused before, his grandfather would always protect and forgive him.
At this moment, Laxus saw Makarov's trembling, clenched fists and suddenly felt a sense of relief.
Laxus got up, took off his coat, put it on, and limped towards the door. "Thank you for all your care over the years. Please take care of yourself, grandpa."
"Get out..."
Makarov turned around, tears continuously streaming down his face.
Laxus appeared on the second floor, and everyone in the Guild saw him.
"Laxus! You bastard!"
"It's all your fault that we fought amongst ourselves!"
"How could you threaten your comrades' lives!"
Yesterday, when they saw Laxus beaten half to death, no one said anything, but today, seeing Laxus, although they couldn't physically bully an injured person, they all wanted to vent the resentment accumulated in their hearts.
Takeshi said exasperatedly, "Alright. Get to work. While it was Laxus's fault, it was wrong for you all to fight amongst yourselves. You didn't even defeat one of the Thunder God Tribe and ended up injured. Are you not ashamed?"
"Ugh..."
Everyone fell silent, lowering their heads to work.
Takeshi was right. Although they fought fiercely, let alone Laxus, they didn't even defeat a single member of Laxus's personal guard, the Thunder God Tribe. The root cause was their own weak strength.
Takeshi frowned, looking at Laxus and saying, "What are you doing down here? If you're injured, just lie down for a few more days. I hit you intending for you to be laid up for a month."
"..."
Originally, seeing Takeshi speak up for him, Laxus felt a sliver of goodwill towards Takeshi, but upon hearing his subsequent words, he extinguished that tiny bit of goodwill.
This guy was indeed as annoying as ever.
"Let's talk." Laxus said to Takeshi.
"Alright."
Takeshi put down his work and walked out first. The two of them went outside the Guild together.
"Let's talk here. What do you want to say?" Takeshi said.
"How much strength did you use yesterday?" Laxus looked at Takeshi seriously and asked.
"Yesterday? Hmm... ninety percent, I guess."
"Don't lie to me."
Laxus clearly didn't believe Takeshi's words.
Ninety percent?
If Takeshi had truly used ninety percent of his strength, it should have been a fair fight, not him being unilaterally crushed. Yesterday, not even a corner of Takeshi's clothes was ruffled, while he had been beaten half to death.
"What's there to lie about? I'm not as strong as you think, and you don't need to belittle yourself. Your strength is very formidable. If you hadn't focused on offense and instead played cautiously defensively, I wouldn't have been able to do much to you for a while."
Takeshi wasn't lying. Satoru's abilities are amazing but Laxus's lightning magic is by no means weak.
If Laxus had focused on evasion and a war of attrition, even if he could win in the end, it wouldn't have been so easy.
Through his battle with Laxus, Takeshi also discovered the upper limit of Satoru, the strongest character in Jujutsu Kaisen.
In terms of various stats, Satoru isn't particularly high. He's even average among the characters Takeshi has. But in terms of abilities, he is exceptionally outstanding, with almost no weaknesses.
So, even when facing someone whose magic power is a level stronger than his own, Takeshi can easily win.
However, the upper limit is there. When the opponent's stats far exceed the abilities, Satoru's effectiveness is greatly reduced.
For example, against Fairy Law, his Infinity was quickly breached. At that time, he was very panicked, and was even planning to activate his Domain Expansion to resist. However, Fairy Law didn't cause him any harm, meaning that deep down, Laxus didn't consider him an enemy.
Laxus felt a little better after hearing Takeshi's words. He had been somewhat demoralized by Takeshi this time, believing there was a world of difference in strength between him and Takeshi.
Now, thinking back carefully, he had been somewhat swayed by emotions during the battle, making quite a few unnecessary mistakes.
"Thanks."
"What? Is that all you wanted to ask?"
"Yes. This is quite important to me."
"No, what I mean is, you could have just asked directly in the Guild. There was no need to come out specially."
Laxus glanced at the Guild, and a strong sense of reluctance welled up in his heart. In the past, he rarely returned to the Guild because he couldn't stand the weaklings there, but now he wanted to go back but couldn't.
"The Guild... I won't go back. Please apologize to everyone for me, and take good care of the Guild for me."
"If you want to apologize, go yourself. That shows sincerity."
Before Takeshi could finish speaking, he saw Laxus staggering away, his figure appearing both desolate and lonely.
Takeshi frowned, then remembered something.
"Could it be..."
He suddenly recalled the plot. After this, Laxus seemed to be expelled from the Guild by Makarov. He wanted to call out to Laxus, but even if he did, he didn't know what to say.
Given Laxus's actions this time, expulsion from the Guild was actually a light punishment. However, the other party was, after all, the old man's only grandson, and separating from his grandson was somewhat cruel for an old man approaching ninety.
Never mind. Don't think so much about it. Anyway, Laxus would be back soon enough.
"Laxus!"
Laxus heard Takeshi call his name and turned to look at Takeshi.
"Next time you come back, let's have a drink together. Your treat."
Laxus was stunned, but an indescribable feeling surged in his heart, his eyes moist, and he loudly replied, "Okay!"