The Apex Predator

That day's training was particularly hard, as if the instructor noticed something that was done by one of them.

Particularly, the food missing from a certain pantry.

Stes, and the other cadets were gasping for air by the end of the first session, while Venator and some other were completely fine, albeit maybe slightly sweaty.

The instructor glanced at them and nodded in respect, liking how they were in pristine condition compared to his other cadets.

"Take a 5 minutes break. We'll continue afterwards."

The day was not looking good for Stes, and Venator somewhat sympathized with him.

'Good luck, Stes.' Venator sent him a silent prayer before looking away. Specifically, he looked at the instructor, who noticed his stare.

"Do you need something, cadet?"

"Sir, I have someone that I'd like to bring with me into the elite camp. Is there a way to do that?"

The instructor rose an eyebrow and replied, "Well, is the person strong enough to defeat one of them over there?"

"Not at the moment, but I believe he has talent."

"Then no."

Venator expected this response, as even he understood how ridiculous his proposal was.

"If I beat two of the 'elites' and take their spots, can I give it to someone else?"

The instructor was silent for a moment before carefully replying, "Technically, you could. There is no rules against that. But, you'd have to beat them both at once."

"Can I use weapons?"

"Feel free to use weapons. In fact, weapons of any kind is allowed, even devil fruits."

After confirming that he was allowed to give an extra spot away to someone else, Venator thanked his instructor and walked away.

'I'll use normal arrows rather than the ones created by my devil fruit. It's better to keep that as a trump card.

Venator decided to head off into the forest to collect wood and stones in order to create his arrows for his battle next week.

...

"Good job. You can go now."

Venator dismissed Stes and let him go back to their dorm to get whatever rest he could, before he headed to collect wood and stones for his arrows.

It was fairly easy to create the arrows, and as he tested their durability and sharpness, he found them to his liking.

The arrows were durable, and they were not sharp enough to kill someone, even with a direct hit to the head. At most, they'd be badly bruised and there may be some bleeding.

Venator then headed back to the dorm, and on his way back, he encountered his instructor, who rose an eyebrow at him.

"Why are you out this late? You should be getting sleep for tomorr- nevermind, it's you."

Venator answered the instructor's question regardless, "I was out gathering materials for arrows. I'll need them next week."

The instructor nodded and they were headed to their own ways, before Venator asked him a question.

"How do I qualify for the elite camp tryouts?"

"You already do."

That was all Venator needed, so they continued their own ways.

...

Three weeks passed in a flash for Venator, but maybe not for others.

The training gradually got more and more intense, and by the end of it, even Venator found himself sweating slightly.

"You can do whatever you want tomorrow, because after that, you have a chance to challenge the elites to a battle for their spots."

The cadets were excited, and they chattered about it all night.

"Will you go challenge one of them?", Stes asked Venator.

Venator nodded, and Stes looked discouraged.

Venator noticed this and comforted Stes, "Don't worry. I'll fight two and get you in as well. You need extra training to be my hunting do- partner."

Stes didn't notice the slip and nodded, "Thank you."

"I didn't even pass yet."

"I know that you will."

Venator chuckled at Stes' confidence in him, before he asked, "How are you doing with your stealth training?"

Stes' face turned sour at that, "I can't seem to land softly."

"That sucks. Train harder, or you'll get devoured, because more often than not, hunters are weaker than their prey in raw power."

"I know, I know. I'll work on it later."

"Good. You'll have the whole day to train tomorrow, and I expect that you will be able to land softly with a whole day's worth of training. Don't disappoint me, Stes Sova."

Stes was surprised at how Venator referred to him, but he nodded his head with a confident look.

"I won't."

"I'll look forward to it, then."

The duo headed off to their room and bade each other good night before falling asleep.

...

Venator essentially spent a whole day filling his quiver up with arrows, and before he knew it, the day of the challenge has arrived.

His instructor, Jax, and the elite camp's instructor, Zephyr, came together to watch the challenges issued by the cadets.

"Good afternoon, Admiral Zephyr."

Zephyr nodded in response, and he looked over Jax's present cadets.

His gaze lingered on Venator for a few seconds, before nodding in approval and moving back to Jax.

Zephyr spoke in a loud voice, enough for everyone present to hear, "The challenges may begin."

Jax put his hand into a box and rummaged through it before pulling out a slip of paper, "Cadet Izuki against Cadet Edesak."

The two cadets stood up from their spot and headed to the sparring ring, where they observed each other.

Edesak was an elite cadet who specialized in long-ranged combat, while Izuki specialized in sword arts.

It was an unfavorable matchup at first glance, but the match depended on their skills.

Izuki drew his blade, a two handed sword, before rushing at Edesak, who drew two flintlocks and propelled himself backward as he fired two shots, both of which were blocked by Izuki.

Izuki got into swinging range against Edesak, who noticed that and rushed backwards once more, barely dodging a would-be lethal swing.

Although Venator doubt that would've happened due to the presence of Zephyr, who seemed ready to interfere at a moment's notice.

The cat-and-mouse game continued for a while afterward, until Izuki tired out first and dropped his blade as he prepared for one last swing.

"Cadet Edesak keeps his place in the elite camp."

Edesak glanced at Izuki before offering him a nod of respect, which Izuki returned.

After the fight was over Jax rummaged through the box once more, and pulled out another piece of paper.

"...Cadet Venator against Cadet Gradi and Cadet Lapid"

Murmurs of surprise emanated from the crowd and someone asked, "Are you sure that one of the elites' don't belong there?"

The person who asked this was Zephyr, and Jax respectfully replied, "There were no mistakes, Admiral."

"Alright, if you say so."

Zephyr accepted this and the two recruits that were mentioned walked to the ring, along with Venator, who headed for them.

When Venator glanced at them, one of them, Lapid, if he recalled correctly, asked, "Are you sure you don't want to back out of this? You can still do it, you know. You don't need to come back home in a cast."

Venator almost replied, 'You're worried about the wrong person, but he held it in. After all, he wasn't a rude man.'

"Thank you for your concern, but I believe I can do this."

The other cadet, Gradi, mumbled, "How arrogant... I'll teach him a lesson."

Lapid nodded at his words, and the three prepared to face off.

"Ready, set, go."

Jax announced the start of the match as the two rushed straight towards Venator at a respectable pace, although Venator was still faster with his bow and arrows.

Venator shot arrows at them, which they blocked with their hands, wincing as it hit them.

Venator jumped backwards once again, just like the previous match's cat and mouse game, and he unloaded a flurry of arrows at his two combatants.

As Venator kept firing arrows at his opponents, he knew that eventually, he would run out of arrows.

'My objective is to wear them down with the arrows, before moving in for the finisher as they rush me.'

Venator only intended his arrows to be bait and chip damage, and he kept unloading barrages of arrows towards the enemies.

His quiver was getting more and more empty with each movement, and eventually, he ran out of arrows.

His opponents capitalized on this and they rushed him with their fists, and he acted flustered, and continued running away.

"COME BACK HERE! YOU'RE ONLY DELAYING THE END!"

Venator chuckled and replied, "I'm such a nice guy, am I not? After all, I'm delaying my opponents' end."

His two opponents grew more angered at his words, because of their already irate condition from his arrows, they could not hold it anymore and rushed him with all their might.

That was their mistake, because in a series of swift motions, Venator struck them with his bow consecutively, before kicking them away, knocking both of them down in the process.

At that moment, Venator looked at them in the eyes, and they realized that they were never the predators.

He was the predator.

The apex predator.