Chapter 53: The Four Seas
"What else is there to say about the sea? It's the same as always. Still blue, still wide, still..."
Axel trailed off the moment he saw Zephyr's face darken.
That answer had been pure perfunctory nonsense, of course. He straightened a little on the bed and gave a more serious reply.
"The sea right now is overrun by pirates."
That was the most direct impression the world of One Piece had given him.
Under normal circumstances, a certain balance had to exist between the Government and the pirates. Only then could the world maintain a fragile sort of order. But in this Great Pirate Era, the number of pirates had exploded far past that limit. In some regions, there were even more pirates than Marines.
So to Axel, the sea's biggest problem was simple.
Too many pirates.
"It's not just that."
Zephyr's voice turned heavier.
He was still sitting cross legged on the floor, but now he lowered his head slightly, bringing his gaze level with Axel's on the bed.
"The sea may look like it's full of pirates, but is that really the whole problem? It's not only the pirates who have started to rot. The Marines are rotting too. Like a fruit that looks fresh from the outside, only to reveal a hollow, decayed core once you peel it open."
He paused.
"Sometimes I even wonder whether sacrificing my youth for all this was ever worth it."
When he said that, his eyes lost some of their usual force. The emptiness in them was hard to ignore. He slowly lowered his head, as if he did not want anyone to see his expression.
Axel could roughly guess what he was feeling.
Zephyr had dreamed of becoming a hero since he was young. He had spent his life pursuing justice, protecting it, carrying it, believing in it. Yet now, after climbing to the very top, he had found that the justice he wanted to defend was not as pure as he once believed.
That kind of disappointment could not be described in a few words.
Axel softened his tone.
"This isn't your fault."
Zephyr did not move.
His head remained lowered, his expression hidden.
"I feel pathetic," he said after a long silence. "Pathetic that I can't change anything. And pathetic that I'm starting to doubt my own comrades."
He let out a quiet laugh that carried no humor at all.
"Even this training mission. It was supposed to begin months later. I didn't want it brought forward because I suspected Sengoku had some other motive for sending me out early. Ridiculous, isn't it? Now I'm even doubting my old comrades. Maybe the real problem is me."
Axel shifted, sitting cross legged on the bed as well. He glanced at Zephyr from the side.
"You're overthinking it."
Zephyr did not respond.
Axel continued anyway.
"Even if the Marines are changing, what does that have to do with you? You've already done everything you could. You've fought, taught, protected people, and trained the next generation. Isn't that enough?"
If Zephyr kept carrying everything on his shoulders, of course he would collapse under the weight sooner or later.
For a moment, the room fell quiet.
Then Zephyr slowly raised his head.
To Axel's surprise, the gloom on his face was already fading. A moment later, he burst out laughing, loud and uninhibited, completely unlike the stern instructor everyone knew.
That laugh sounded far more like the Zephyr Axel remembered.
"I really didn't expect to be lectured by a brat like you."
Axel did not miss the chance to stab back.
"Yeah. You're already this old and you still need someone else to set your head straight. Isn't that a waste of all those years you lived?"
Zephyr scratched his head helplessly.
This brat really could not stop himself from taking advantage the moment the mood lightened.
"Axel," he said, looking at him with mock seriousness, "if you keep acting like this, then after you leave me and join someone else's unit, sooner or later you'll get chewed out by your superiors. Not everyone is as tolerant as I am."
The unspoken meaning was obvious.
Not everyone would let him get away with talking like this.
Axel snorted.
"Then I just have to become the strongest in the world, right? If I'm stronger than everyone, what can they do to me?"
Zephyr stared at him for a few seconds.
The strongest in the world?
That was not some casual ambition. To stand at the top meant surpassing monstrous Devil Fruit users, terrifying Haki monsters, schemers, lunatics, kings, and legends. The path was so long that most people would not even dare say it out loud.
And yet Axel said it so naturally, as if he were talking about tomorrow's weather.
Zephyr did not laugh this time.
Instead, he said, "Do you know where we're heading now?"
"The North Blue," Axel replied.
He had no compass, but he could still sense the magnetic field around them. Based on that, he was fairly sure of their direction.
Zephyr raised a brow.
"So you know that much."
Then he continued, slipping naturally into lecture mode.
"But that's not the important part. The four seas, separated by the Red Line and the Grand Line, are divided into the East Blue, West Blue, North Blue, and South Blue."
"I know that already."
Axel answered too quickly.
Zephyr's face darkened again.
"Don't interrupt. You really do have the same bad habit as Garp."
Mentioning Garp immediately caught Axel's attention.
"Then tell me about him."
Zephyr fell silent for a moment.
When he finally spoke again, his expression had turned a little strange, as though he were recalling something both ridiculous and troublesome.
"Garp..." He clicked his tongue. "In short, that bastard is reckless to the bone. Annoying, loud, impossible to control. But no matter how irritating he is, a lot of places really have stayed peaceful because of him."
He let out a short breath and continued.
"Of the four seas, the East Blue is the calmest. A big part of that is because of Garp. His reputation alone keeps a lot of people from becoming pirates there. At the same time, it pushes more people toward the Marines. Add in the fact that he keeps skipping work and running back there every now and then, and that effect becomes even more obvious."
That really did sound like Garp.
Axel could practically picture it.
Zephyr went on.
"In the old days, the four seas could be governed separately. The Marines and the World Government could still keep things under control. But once the Great Pirate Era began, pirates kept flooding into the Grand Line. Power concentrated. The pirates in the first half grew stronger, and the monsters in the second half became harder and harder to restrain. That's why the Marines have become so stretched."
Axel tilted his head.
"Why are you telling me all this?"
Zephyr looked at him as if the answer were obvious.
"Didn't you say you wanted to become the strongest? Then naturally you'd have to understand the sea first. The strongest Marine can't afford to be ignorant."
Axel went silent.
Once again, the two of them were talking about completely different things.
But there was no way he was stupid enough to explain that now.
Zephyr studied him for a while, then gave a dissatisfied snort.
"This practical training probably won't do much for you, kid. Try to hold back your abilities when the time comes. Treat it as a chance to sharpen your fundamentals and your combat instincts. Give the others some room to train too."
He stopped there.
Axel caught the odd pause immediately.
"Otherwise what?"
Zephyr's expression stiffened for the briefest instant.
"That's not important."
He waved it off, clearly not intending to elaborate.
Then he added, "Anyway, don't go overboard."
Axel lay back again, folding his hands behind his head.
"Then I won't go looking for trouble. I'll just stay in the cabin."
Zephyr stared at him for a moment before letting out a laugh.
"You? Not cause trouble?"
He shook his head.
"Arguing with me over Ain, stirring up trouble in training, clashing with Smoker... You don't look like someone who knows how to stay quiet."
Axel said nothing.
That was a fair point.
Zephyr looked at him again and said, almost amused, "In that regard, you really are a lot like Garp."
Then his mouth twitched.
"But Garp's worse. That old bastard doesn't just cause trouble for himself. He causes trouble for everyone around him too."
.....
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