9 'Sparring' with the Seniors

(Kairo's POV)

My martial art will be named... Flowing Star Instinct!

I continued practicing Flowing Star Instinct until it was night, to which I went back to my room to sleep.

I had a good night's sleep.

When I woke up, I went to the cafeteria, but I noticed 2 people blocking the doorway.

They had a bulky body, likely comprised of only muscle mass.

They were cannon fodders, according to my sixth sense.

That's normal for cannon fodders.

But, usually, the ones with the big body are meat shields.

At least that's what happened during my time in the Marine.

I politely asked them to move, but the hunk of muscles on the left said in a booming voice, "HUH? JUNIORS SHOULD LET THEIR SENIORS GO IN FIRST, DON'T YOU THINK?"

"I KNOW RIGHT, BROTHER? THIS PACK OF RECRUITS ARE SO DISRESPECTFUL!" the other one said.

I see, it seems like they are brothers.

I decided to ignore them and walked straight towards the door.

They moved into my way, trying to shoulder check me and dislocate my shoulder.

It backfired on them.

I kept on walking, straight into them, and broke their shoulders.

They caressed their shoulders and screamed, "AUGHHHH!!!! YOU F*CKING BASTARD!"

Oops, guess I broke their shoulders.

I faked my apology, "Seniors, are you alright? I'm really sorry for my actions!"

Their eyes burned with anger, gritting their teeth, "YOU GODDAMN BASTARD!"

They charged at me like a raging bull.

I'll gladly receive them. I want to try my Flowing Star Instinct on a human other than Dakon anyways.

As they approached me, Instructor Zephyr walked out from around the corner.

He saw them charging at me, which is why he seemingly teleported in front of us and stopped their charge.

"Stop making a ruckus this early in the morning. Some of us want to eat, unlike you guys."

That did nothing to quell their anger, Zephyr noticed that and said, "Fight somewhere else, but not here."

Their eyes lit up at that statement, probably planning to cripple me under the guise of an accident.

...

The seniors challenged me to a fight and set the location to their training site.

I accepted their challenge because after all, I can't just let someone who plans to cripple this lovely body of Rocks D. Kairo gets away unscathed.

Also, their shoulders were broken, it'd be unlikely that they'd win.

As we arrived at the training site, other seniors looked at me curiously, then looked at the hunks of muscles.

"WE CAN STILL LET YOU GO IF YOU BEG FOR MERCY, WE HAVE DORIKI VALUES OF 2000!" they shouted in unison.

'Only 2000? How...disappointing. I thought that someone so largely built would have a large Doriki value, but I guess their muscles aren't just for show considering they surpassed superhuman levels.'

Anyways, their voices didn't actually sound bad. I think they could join a choir if they keep 'singing' like that.

I didn't respond to their provocation/attempt of intimidation, and they cleared out an area for us to fight.

The new recruits and the seniors gathered around, the seniors probably wanting to see the hunks of muscles win, while the new recruits wanting to see me beat them up for blocking the way to the cafeteria.

The hunk of muscle on the left went up first, "MY NAME IS LAIGER, AND MY BROTHER IS TAIGER! I'LL BE THE ONE YOU FIGHT!"

He cracked his knuckles and charged at me.

I did not dodge.

I used Flowing Star Instinct to redirect his extremely telegraphed punch.

He must've been surprised at that, I doubt anyone ever tried to redirect his punch head-on before.

He couldn't move his body like Dakon could, and I aimed a roundhouse kick at his abdomen, fracturing several of his rib bones.

His eyes bulged at that, belatedly feeling the pain, crashing into the sidelines.

His brother, Taiger was angered at that sight and charged at me.

This time, he aimed a kick at my head.

Instead of redirecting it like his brother's punch, I ducked under it and dashed to the right when he

tried to dropkick me.

'This seems familiar...' (fight with Dakon)

Once again, he couldn't react like Dakon could, and I aimed a punch at his solar plexus, almost knocking him out.

'Well, I guess the muscles are good for something..?'

"Come at me both at once, you guys are too weak individually."

Of course, they'd be weak compared to me. Superior genetics + Childhood training + Death experiencex4 = Unstoppable strength at my age.

They gritted their teeth and got up with a feral look in their eyes. Their wounds also visibly healed.

'Oh... they have a Zoan devil fruit?'

They didn't fully transform. Rather, they couldn't. It seems that their transformation was unwillingly stopped, perhaps they lacked the strength to do so, or it was a lack of proficency?

Their transformation went up to the point where fur surrounded them, but their body didn't morph into an animal yet.

They growled and charged at me.

I guess this is an opportunity to try out this new skill.

'Force redirection'

With this skill, I absorb the force from an attack and redirect it.

When they got close to me, they shouted, "BEAST FANG FIST"

As they shouted the name of their attack, their fists got close to each other, almost looking like it was a single fist coming at me.

'Alright... Force redirection.'

I held up my palm to block their punch, then I palm struck their fists with the very same force that I stored from their punch.

*CRACK* "AUGHH!!!! MY ARM!!"

There were audible cracking noises as they screamed in agony.

The onlookers winced in sympathy, with some rubbing their arms soothingly as if they were relieved that they weren't the ones this was happening to.

'Yikes...I didn't think their defense was that weak. Guess their partial transformation doesn't boost their defense?

Their arms were probably crippled from that strike. They were attacked with the same force equivalent to a Zoan enhanced strike (w/2000 Doriki from each of them), and I accidentally put a little bit of force into the strike as well.

As they continued to scream in agony, their gaze burning with hatred locked onto me, and eventually an instructor came.

"What happened here?"

An onlooker said, "Laiger and Taiger challenged him to a fight, then their arms broke because of that guy's," pointing at me, "strike."

The instructor looked towards me, then I told him my version of the story, "I was blocked on my way to the cafeteria, then they challenged me to a fight."

Laiger and Taiger couldn't say anything because an onlooker would rebuke THEIR version of the story whenever they tried to make something up, and eventually, they were taken to a medical ward.

"Instructor Zephyr would like to speak with you, Kairo."

Ah sh*t...I'm not in trouble... am I?