One Piece: Nobody knows Devil Fruits better than me

Chapter 24 Black Arm Zephyr, Let Fists Speak!

That's right.

Now, Roy naturally understands this very well.

The strongest military force under the World Government is undoubtedly the Navy.

However, the navy is by no means the only military force of the world government.

Besides the navy, the World Government also has several large-scale elite forces—and the famous Supreme Commander-in-Chief "Steelbow Kong" is the commander-in-chief of all these forces.

This includes the "Nation Guard," responsible for suppressing bandits and defending the territories of many member states of the World Government, as well as suppressing bandits and revolutionary forces.

There is also an Aerospace Guard responsible for guarding the "Western Summit" and ensuring the smooth flow of air routes to the Sky Island.

There is also a special patrol army responsible for patrolling the "Red Line" to ensure the safety of Mary Geoise.

These armies are, of course, far inferior in overall strength to the navy, and are little known in the world.

But there are still many strong individuals among them.

As for the World Government's direct forces, needless to say—this definitely refers to the World Government's direct intelligence agency, "CIPHER POL," also known as "CP."

According to Smoker, all these forces will send representatives to participate in this "Three Armies Exercise".

So at this moment, Roy was genuinely surprised—he never expected that his act of using his clone to plunder the heavenly gold would lead to this situation.

"Phew...yeah."

Smoker exhaled a puff of smoke before nodding.

"Therefore, the scale of this martial arts exercise far exceeds that of the past, and the rules are said to be very special as well."

His words also carried a hint of fighting spirit and excitement.

"The rewards for the martial arts competition are equally astonishing—although not as prestigious as the direct selection of 'Generals' through the global military draft, it's said that the winner this time could be exceptionally promoted to 'General Candidate'!"

"Those in the top five can also be directly promoted to lieutenant general or brigadier general!"

A candidate for general, as the name suggests.

Although his military rank remains "Lieutenant General of the Headquarters", he has a special status and can enjoy the "title" unique to generals, and his power is relatively greater.

Furthermore, after a general retires, as long as there is no "world conscription" to directly select a general, the general will be able to retire.

Then the candidates for general can be promoted to general.

And every man, to some extent, yearns for fame and power.

Even Smoker believed himself to be strong enough to make a name for himself in the military exercises.

As he said this, he glanced at Roy.

"...Hey, you're not thinking of getting promoted to brigadier general or lieutenant general yourself, and then making me your adjutant, are you?"

Roy immediately sensed the other party's sinister intentions.

"Phew... I don't necessarily have to do it."

Smoker didn't deny that he did have this thought: "After all, it's a military exercise, so the number of monsters participating must be far more than usual."

"Don't worry, I will never let you be in the top three."

Roy said decisively.

Smoker sneered upon hearing this: "Try it if you can do it."

While the two were arguing...

"Smoker-senpai."

A voice suddenly came.

Roy snapped out of his thoughts and realized that he had unknowingly arrived at a naval training ground.

There were a considerable number of patrolling naval forces around them, and the groups of soldiers were well-disciplined and appeared to be elite.

The one speaking at this moment was a man.

He was dressed in ninja attire, with extremely long arms and legs. He held a tree branch in his hand and carried a green nodachi and a huge kunai on his back.

If it weren't for the navy uniform he was wearing, Roy would almost certainly have thought the other person was an infiltrator.

But at this moment...

[The Devil Fruit user 'Binz' has been identified]

[The Devil Fruit has been confirmed as the Paramecia-type, Abundance Fruit, and is currently being analyzed and stored in the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia.]

[Fruit Ability - Can accelerate plant growth and manipulate plants]

[Effects at Each Level]

[LV1: Grants a minor fruit effect, which can slightly enhance plant growth speed by up to 3 times]

[LV2: Gain some fruit effects, which can greatly enhance plant growth speed by up to 10 times. Requires 8000 million/3300 million to permanently/temporarily unlock.]

[LV3: Gain all fruit effects, allowing plants to grow and mature instantly, and control them. Requires 5 million/2 million Berries for permanent/temporary unlocking]

[LV4: Fruit Deep Development, allowing for more subtle transformations and manipulations of plants, and the creation of 'plant clones' that can sense in sync with plants. Requires 12 billion/4 million Berries for permanent/temporary unlocking]

[LV5: Fruit Awakening - Abundant Vitality, grants the user the tenacious vitality of a plant, allowing them to rebuild their body through the 'limb regeneration' process of plant growth, absorb surrounding water and life force to heal themselves, and enable the plant to grow to a size far exceeding normal. Requires 70 billion Berries/23 billion Berries for permanent/temporary unlocking]

[Analysis progress: 0%. Upon completion, you will gain the fruit's ability at level 1]

The information from the Fruit Encyclopedia confirmed Roy's identity and also confirmed who Smoker had brought him to see.

"Binz, why are you alone—where's Ain? Where's Instructor Zephyr?"

And at this moment, Smoker's words indeed confirmed his thoughts.

Zephyr – Former Admiral of the Navy, and former Chief Instructor of New Recruits in the Navy.

He was a comrade-in-arms who enlisted at the same time as the naval hero Garp, the naval admiral Sengoku, and the naval chief of staff Tsuru.

He was once famous throughout the seas for his powerful Armament Haki, and had defeated countless pirates, earning him the title of "Black Arm" Zephyr.

He later became disheartened after his wife and children were killed by pirates in retaliation, and thus resigned as admiral, turning instead to teaching new naval recruits, training a large number of strong naval warriors.

For example, the three current admirals, Aokiji, Akainu, and Kizaru, were all his prized disciples.

Incidentally, Smoker was also his apprentice, while Roy was not—after basic training, a select group of elite recruits would receive training from Zephyr.

At that time, Roy had already volunteered to serve in the detention center, so he did not have the opportunity to receive Zeff's instruction.

But clearly, Lieutenant General Bilos has now let Roy make up for his regrets.

"Ain has gone out on a mission, and Professor Zephyr has gone to the SSG (Naval Special Science Class). He should be back in a little while."

While answering Smoker's question, the man named Binz glanced at Roy and asked, "This must be Major Roy, right?"

"Yes."

At this moment, Roy also came to his senses and said hesitantly, "The instructor that Lieutenant General Bilos found for me is General Zephyr? But as far as I know, he should already be..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but Binz and Smoker clearly understood him.

Four years ago, Zephyr's training fleet was attacked by pirates during a mission.

On the entire ship, most of the disciples he had painstakingly trained died, and Zefa also lost an arm and was seriously injured.

After that, he completely stepped down from his leading role.

"Yes, after that incident, the instructors haven't taught new recruits for a long time."

Binz said in a deep voice.

He was one of only two marines who survived the ship's wreckage.

"However, he and Lieutenant General Bilos are old friends, which is why he made a special exception for the request."

Binz simply introduced, "Come with me."

He turned and walked deeper into the training field.

Roy and Smoker naturally followed closely behind.

Soon, they arrived at a training ground that was clearly special.

The training ground was not surrounded by the usual training equipment, but by huge iron walls. At the end of the walls was a building with a unique "Z" symbol on it.

"Professor Zephyr asked you to wait for him here; he should be back soon."

After saying this, Binz immediately sat down cross-legged and stopped talking.

Seeing this, Roy and Smoker readily agreed.

"Don't mind him, Binz is a nice guy, he's just not very talkative because of what happened four years ago."

At this moment, Smoker surprisingly offered an explanation.

He was a rebellious guy, but he was genuinely grateful to Zephyr.

"clear."

Roy, of course, didn't care about these trivial matters.

To be precise, he was actually quite happy about it at that moment.

"The Abundant Fruit... This ability is not bad. It might be surprisingly effective in some special terrains."

"It's a pity that Ain isn't here—I remember that girl was also an ability user, and her ability was quite abnormal."

Roy recalled as he watched the numbers in the Fruit Encyclopedia grow.

Ian, another survivor of the attack four years ago.

Its fruit is the "Rewind Fruit," and its ability is to rewind the age of everything it touches—this is one of the few fruits known to Roy that touches the realm of time.

And it was precisely when Roy was thinking about how he absolutely had to get his hands on the 'Rewind Fruit' ability when he turned back.

"Oh? They're already here!?"

An aged yet still bold voice echoed throughout the training ground.

A figure stepped into the training field.

He had a resolute face, a tall and muscular build, and wore a dark purple sleeveless vest and a navy cloak.

Time and battles have left deep marks on him, but they have not diminished his aura as a top-tier expert.

What is striking is his right arm, which was severed cleanly from the shoulder, leaving only some distinctive metal components.

That was... "Black Arm" Zephyr.

"General Zephyr."

Upon seeing this former general, Roy naturally stood up to prepare to salute.

But he hadn't had a chance to speak yet.

"You must be Roy, kid?"

He then saw that Zefa's face had already broken into a smile.

"I've heard Biros mention you. He told me you're the most promising young man in the entire detention center... but I don't believe words!"

As he spoke, Roy saw the former general's figure disappear from the spot with a "whoosh".

That was a shave—and it was faster than Roy had ever seen before!

Then...

"My rule here is—fist rules!"

Roy then felt the strong wind rushing past his ears.