One Piece: Mandala Swordsman

Chapter 47 I dare to offend a fox, but I dare not offend a tiger.

The beauty and the awfulness of life lie in the occurrence of "accidents".

Yesterday brought some breakthroughs, including contact with Rossini, which stirred up a little excitement in Roman.

So even though she had to go to work, she still didn't feel disappointed.

but……

"You mean this little girl? Kuzan?"

Even with clothes on, his strong muscles, resolute and sharp eyes, purple hair, and powerful aura were undeniable.

Zephyr, nicknamed Black Arm, dedicated his life to the Navy and continued to train others to dedicate their lives to the Navy. However, his original ending was extremely tragic. Every ideal he pursued was shattered by cruel reality, and he eventually died from exhaustion due to severe injuries sustained in battle.

"Yes, thank you, Professor Zeff." When Kuzan gets serious, he's absolutely reliable. Even though he's not a punctual person, since he personally called Professor Zeff over, he certainly wouldn't be late.

"Are you General Zephyr?"

"I'm no longer an admiral, just an instructor training new naval personnel. You must be the Sir Roman Kuzan mentioned, or Black Cat?" Zephyr's attitude was relatively mild. Even though he had abandoned the title of "no killing," he was indeed very approachable to his juniors.

Roman suddenly realized that Zephyr was in Kuzan's office, which meant that the two had reached some kind of agreement.

This agreement concerns me, and considering I'm supposed to go to work today as usual, so...

"Lieutenant General Kuzan, do you want me to go to the training camp? But I was specially invited, and according to the regulations, I should be able to enter actual combat immediately."

It wasn't that Roman didn't believe in Zephyr's abilities; after all, the three generals and most of the elite lieutenant generals were his students, and he himself was a good teacher.

However, the environment was not right, and she practiced swordsmanship for about eight years.

Initially, it was about physical training and learning the basics. Later, it involved sparring with others, and after leaving Whole Cake Island, it was almost entirely about real combat.

In other words, she has experienced the training camp environment. Mont-d'Or has made many plans for her to improve her strength, and also had Amand teach her, watch Big Mom's subordinates use swords, spar with Smoothie, and learn Katakuri's Observation Haki.

At the same time, there are a bunch of books that provide theoretical support for Roman. Even if she doesn't want to admit it, perhaps the most crucial part is that she has half of that woman's bloodline power.

Therefore, she didn't follow the path of a grassroots success story, but rather a thorough elite path, making her rapid progress almost inevitable.

Although it's impolite to refuse, but...

“You’re just a child,” Kuzan’s reply left Roman speechless.

"But that doesn't affect..."

“If we put a child directly into actual combat, we’ll be no different from pirates,” Zephyr chimed in.

age?

This body is actually only twelve years old; even among pirates, you almost never see a kid that age.

Even though Luffy really wanted to become the Pirate King, he waited until he was 17 years old before setting sail, but he was often teased as a "kid".

Sending Roman, who was still a child, directly to the battlefield certainly damaged the navy's prestige, but that shouldn't be the main point.

“My personal hope is that you can have a peaceful time in the training camp,” Kuzan began to explain slowly.

The navy certainly needs combat power, but it shouldn't involve underage children. Of course, if it were that bastard Sakazuki, he probably would have immediately put Roman into the service of justice.

Kuzan would prefer that Roman have a relatively happier time.

Of course, there's an even more crucial point he didn't mention: having spent time in Zephyr's training camp is equivalent to being "formally trained," making future promotions easier. Roman himself also needs to build his own friendships in the training camp. Don't underestimate the importance of connections; the longer you stay in the Navy, the more crucial they become.

The reason why Kuzan can be a lieutenant general without going to work, aside from his combat strength, is because he has supporters. It's that simple.

“Kuzan, my training camp isn’t a children’s playground,” Zeffa said with a hint of dissatisfaction.

"Speaking of which, you seem to have defeated Onigumo. I heard that Onigumo appeared in the office in a rather disheveled state. If you can do that, then if you were to undergo ordinary training, it would probably be like an amusement park for you."

Don't underestimate Onigumo. He's a future elite vice admiral, after all. Aside from the ranks of fleet admiral, admiral, and admiral candidate, the vice admiral holds an extremely high position and is a vital backbone of the navy.

Even now, Ghost Spider could easily take down a criminal with a bounty of 200 million. In fact, he was an outstanding student at the Zephyr Training Camp and later became an elite lieutenant general. If we were to convert his strength into bounty, he would be worth at least 500 million in the future.

Such praise can easily make one feel elated, but Roman astutely grasped another point: she defeated Onigumo?

Although she was confident she could defeat Onigumo, in that sparring match, she and Onigumo only exchanged blows; to say she defeated him would be a bit unrealistic.

Roman's doubts are actually easy to resolve, because most of the specially invited guys are bad-tempered, which is why the tradition of "sparring" exists. But will this tradition backfire?

Yes, of course, although it happened very rarely, but it had happened before Roman.

Moreover, compared to Roman's restraint, those fearless guys were clearly going too far.

The fact that the target Roman was supposed to receive was Onigumo, but instead it was Kuzan, means that Onigumo failed.

"I only repelled Major General Onigumo, but he himself did not lose his fighting ability. I personally felt that it was enough to just demonstrate my abilities, so I stopped quickly. Therefore, the rumor that I defeated Major General Onigumo is untrue," Roman explained seriously.

It's best to keep these rumors to themselves. She's not afraid of Onigumo, nor is she afraid of offending him, but if these rumors cause a bad influence and Sakazuki finds out...

She dared to offend Oni Spider, but she wouldn't dare offend Sakazuki.

He had already joined Kuzan's camp, and Kuzan and Sakazuki had always been at odds, which meant that people from both camps disliked each other.

Moreover, given Sakazuki's personality, he probably thinks deep down that someone like him, who was so readily recruited, can hardly be considered a member of the Navy.

Onigumo can be considered one of Sakazuki's confidants, since the two belong to the hawk faction and share the same view of justice.

Onigumo is just a fox, but Sakazuki is a tiger.

However, Roman's practical and cautious nature, which others perceived as humility, made Zephyr like her: "You're different from those brats who spout nonsense all the time. You're very composed, Kuzan. It seems you've made a good choice this time. I'm starting to like her."

After saying that, Zefa started laughing loudly.