Chapter 44

Grandline, Paradise, Jaya

As Azul was leaving the battlefield, which could now only be called the former town of Jaya, nobody dared to stand in his way after witnessing the destructive power that he could wield. Meanwhile his leginjury from the shot had already healed itself due to his regeneration but that wasn't the best thing Azul was confronted with. He finally had gained some insight what triggered his 'ripper-state' and how he could possibly learn to control it.

Happy with his discovery and still filled from the rush of battle he so loved Azul marched back to the surprisingly still standing bar and bought himself some good food. He was starving!

The strawhats stood there at the edge of the crater in wonder, some watching as Azul marched back towards the bar they had crossed before, while others were still gobsmacked at the destruction of the city they had seen happening.

Soon the group decided to join Azul for an early lunch and possibly gain some knowledge over the man they knew so little about.

As they arrived at the bar they already saw Azul stuffing himself with a happy smile on his face and walked over towards him while Nami decided to order the food for them and possibly negotiate for a lower price. All for the money after all. It seems as if the story Azul had told her didn't really manage to get through to her... what a pity. It was such an enjoyable story!

Zoro was the first to walk over to Azul since he could respect a fellow warriors strength if he saw it, even if he didn't want to admit that he may loose pretty fast if they were to fight right now.

"May we join you?" Zoro asked, talking a big gulp from a beer he had grabbed from a table nearby, smacking the protesting man over the head he had stolen it from, who grumbled in protest but soon shut his mouth when he spotted the large group the thief belonged to.

"Sure, have a seat." Azul answered with a full mouth and a happy face.

"We just watched you fight. Where did you learn how to fight like that? And how do you train?" Zoro asked, wanting to know if the young man knew of a way to gain strength faster than what he had been doing so far.

"I noticed. My master taught me when I was younger but since I've started my journey I've been training by myself. Well, except the occasional opponent but that's part of the course work hahaha!

As for how I train...well, that's not something I will tell you about since I would give away knowledge that is not for your ears to hear and wouldn't be much use to you anyways I'm afraid hahaha" Azul answered, all the while stuffing his face with the food that crammed the whole table.

All the other strawhats were also listening with one ear, curious how he had achieved such a level.

"But you must have been training for decades to reach that level right? Though that seems to be quite weird since you aren't all that old. How old are you anyways?" Nami asked, not even knowing such a simple fact about Azul.

"I've been training for nearly 10 years now, my apprenticeship included and I'm around 16 years old now." Azuls words made Zoro spit out his beer he had been drinking while listening in shock.

"What the f.u.c.k? Only ten years? But I've been training for nearly 20 years now and I'm nowhere near your level! How could that be possible?!" Zoro yelled. Had he been such a slow learner all this time? He knew that his talent had been rather simple compared to Kuinas, before she had died, but he never thought himself to be so mediocre in comparison to some other folks.

"Hmm, I can't really answer that question since I barely know you Zoro. But I can tell you that I would possibly never have reached my current state without my masters instructions and wisdom to support my growth..." Azul said, his happiness slowly dimming until only a neutral face remained. Taking a big gulp from a beer nearby Azul watched Zoro and looked him up and down. From what he saw Zoro was strong, no doubt about that. Maybe he should help a fellow warrior this one time? After all he had been helped by the giants on little garden as well, though more passively in a way.

Standing up, Azul motioned Zoro to follow him outside, wanting to see what the man could do but before he could walk outside a middle aged man with short blonde hair stepped into Azuls path, which made Azul raise a brow in curiousity.

"I heard two pirates fought each other in the middle of the town today and one of them knocked my first mate out. That wouldn't be you would it?" The man said, letting his tongue hang out of his mouth like an animal.

Azul thought back to his confrontation with Blackbeard but there had simply been too many bystanders and he didn't really care anyways.

"Wouldn't know. There were too many small fry and I'm not really all that interested in weaklings." Azul replied while simply shoving the man out of his way, walking outside with Zoro following right behind him.

The man, stupefied by Azuls answer, grew a malicious grin on his face before turning his legs into springs and burst right through the wall of the bar, trying to take Azuls head off in surprise.

Azul though simply raised his left hand and backhanded the man straight into the concrete where he remained for the next few minutes, until his crew picked him up with fear written all over their faces.

"Alright Zoro, lets see what you've got. I'm not really proficient in swordplay but I know the basics and in the end your body is the most important factor in the whole equation when it comes to martial arts. Come on, hit me!" Azul said while looking at Zoro who pulled out his three swords, two in each hand while his most precious one ended in his mouth. Rushing towards Azul with his swords at his sides, Zoro attempted his oldest move. "Onigiri!" only to be stopped midrush by Azuls hand holding both of Zoro arms which were crossed before his c.h.e.s.t about to carry out a double slash from both sides.

'What the-? It's just like with hawk-eye that time! Why is it that they can both stop me so easily? Without effort? Am I that weak?!' Zoro thought while gnashing his teeth on his sword in his mouth.

"No, you are not weak Zoro." Azul answered as if he read Zoros mind, making Zoro recoil in shock.

"Hahaha, don't worry, I can't really read minds, only emotions and yours were literally written all over your face hahaha" Azul answered in a nonchalent way, with a smile on his face.

"Say Zoro, how have you been training all this time? I can feel the strength in your arms. Weight training maybe?" Azul asked, raising an eyebrow in question, stepping next to Zoro while motioning him to follow him back into the bar, at which entrance the rest of the strawhat crew stood, having watched their small confrontation, if you could call it that.

"Ye, mostly weight training..." Zoro answered as the walked back, sheathing his swords in the process.

"I see. Well, there is never really a reason not to train in that department but it becomes pretty useless when you don't train your swordplay along with it. Raw strength is very useless if you don't have any techniques or fighting style to back it up. You saw Blackbeard earlier. He was humongously strong for a human without a Zoan devilfruit but he had no technique, only experience. Of course experience is important but the technique trumps all. If that aspect is superior to that of your opponents then even if you lack in strength compared to said opponent you may still win. Speed though is another matter all together. You are very slow. If your opponent can even spot your advance towards him it becomes increasingly harder to outmatch him since his eyesight is seemingly used to higher movement speed. My point is: don't focus your training only in one single aspect but increase them all. Of course you can pick one and bring it to a higher level than the others but it is important to not forget those, which you did from what I've seen so far." Azul told Zoro, patting him on the shoulder and marching back to his table, sitting down again to continue eating.

Zoro meanwhile was contemplating what Azul had told him about. It's true he had been focusing on weights lately but he thought that he had never let the rest of his body and art hang behind. It seems he had been wrong. Time to change his training style a little. Though it made him happy that he hadn't been completely on the wrong track so far...

The rest of the strawhats joined Azul in his feast all the while chatting about this or that. Only Robin seemed out of it, from time to time staring strangely at Azul in thought.

'No matter. When Whitebeards men come here I won't have to think about such things for a long while...' Robin thought to herself and for the first in a long time putting her permanently pondering mind to rest, simply enjoying the good food with a small smile on her face.