"So you're not actually from Zou?"
After a day's voyage, the snow leopard girl, now calmer, shook her head. She'd realized the man in front of her wasn't a bad person.
Along the way, Hammer had acted like a warm-hearted big brother, gently easing her trauma little by little.
Through their conversation, he learned that the girl's name was Shirley.
"No... I wasn't born on Zou," she murmured. "My father was from the legendary island, but my mother was just an ordinary human. Mom said Dad was traveling alone when they met"
"We used to live a happy life together, but then one day... everything changed…"
"Dad… Mom…"
Shirley trailed off, her words caught in her throat.
Hammer didn't need to ask, he could guess what had happened.
His fists clenched tightly as he gritted out through clenched teeth: "Those damned slavers..."
He quickly tried to comfort her.
"Shirley, you heard what that guy said earlier. I'm a Marine, from Marine Headquarters. If you're okay with it, you can come with me to Marineford, it's very safe there."
Shirley nodded.
"You saved me. I'll trust you."
Hammer: 'Sigh... Wounds like hers won't heal so easily. Hopefully, once we're back, Vice Admiral Tsuru can help.'
The speedboat roared forward at full speed toward Marineford.
A few days later, Marineford Port
Countless steel warships lined the coast, with many small military vessels returning one after another.
Hammer guessed they were other cadets returning from their assessment missions.
"Shirley, this is Marineford. Impressive, huh?"
Hammer slung the still-unconscious Batou over his shoulder and led Shirley off the boat.
Batou had briefly woken up mid-voyage, but Hammer quickly knocked him out again with a hammer blow.
"Mhmm...It smells like iron and gunpowder,"
Marineford was a fortress of steel, and its sheer presence was overwhelming.
Shirley stared at the massive characters for "Justice" carved prominently, clearly shaken.
Hammer gently patted her on the shoulder.
Shirley nodded lightly. Thanks to his support along the way, she had calmed down a lot.
Looking at the cold, imposing steel fortress in the distance, a glint of hope sparked in her eyes.
Their odd pairing, a bruised man hauling a captive pirate alongside a feline-eared girl, drew immediate attention. Whispers erupted among the patrolling Marines:
"Is that Hammer? And that mink girl… is she the one from the news??"
"Seems like it. Looks like the news wasn't wrong."
"He's Zephyr's top student, how could he do something like this?"
"Tsk tsk. Even the best men crack under a pretty face."
Though the whispers were quiet, Hammer's keen ears caught everything. He was, after all, an elite among elites.
A stream of question marks might as well have floated over his head.
'What news? What beauty?? What the hell are they talking about?'
Baffled, Hammer continued walking with Shirley toward the elite training camp.
The deeper he went, the more rumors he overheard.
Some patrolling soldiers even stopped in their tracks when they saw them, flashing Hammer a "Bro, I get it" expression.
Hammer was completely confused but quickened his pace. He needed answers, and he needed to ask Old Man Zephyr directly. 'Just what the hell happened while he was gone?'
Soon, at the Elite Training Camp Office Building…
"Zephyr-sensei! I'm back!"
A black shadow suddenly burst out from the building.
"You disgrace! You dare come back?!"
"Take one of my Fists!!"
Hammer: '???? What's going on? Why is he attacking me right away??'
But Zephyr's punch was fast and fierce, giving Hammer no chance to explain.
*BOOM!*
A fist wrapped in Haki smashed him straight into the ground.
A massive, man-shaped crater appeared instantly.
The attacker was none other than Hammer's teacher, Zephyr.
Well, perhaps it's better to call him "Furious Zephyr" right now.
"Stop, What are you doing?!"
Seeing Hammer injured, Shirley finally showed emotion. Her quiet face flared up like an angry cat, fur bristling as she bared her teeth at Zephyr.
The scene caught Zephyr off guard. He stared, dumbfounded, before turning back to the crater and roaring:
"Get your ass up from that crater, you shameless brat!"
"Zypreh-shenshe, whf hit mhe ffor?!"
Hammer crawled out of the hole with difficulty. His face was so swollen that he could barely speak properly.
But the moment he opened his mouth, Zephyr exploded with even more fury.
This only fueled Zephyr's fury. "YOUR EXAM WAS TO CAPTURE A PIRATE! NOT TO KIDNAP A GIRL!"
Hammer: ...
'I'm completely lost. What did I do?'
"Zephyr-sensei, do you really think I'm that kind of person?"
"I'm a Marine of justice! How could I possibly abduct a girl?!"
Zephyr: "..."
Zephyr fell silent after hearing Hammer's explanation, but the fury on his face didn't subside one bit.
He reached into his coat and suddenly flung a newspaper right at Hammer's face.
"Then explain this, you bastard!"
Hammer caught the paper, completely bewildered. As he opened it up, his eyes widened.
There, in bold print, was a photo of him carrying Sherry onto his speedboat, with Batu's beaten-to-a-pulp face visible in the background.
The headline screamed:
"Marine Rising Prodigy Fights Over a Girl with a 100-Million Bounty Pirate, A Shift in Justice or a Perverse Twist of Humanity?"
Hammer: "…"
"What the hell?! That bastard Morgans! What kind of nonsense is this?!"
"This is pure slander!!!"
"I'll pluck that overgrown chicken bald for this!"
Morgans: 'Come at me! I'm an albatross, I've got feathers to spare and bones of steel!'
Seeing Hammer fuming and yelling, Zephyr finally started to realize the story was likely a bunch of crap fabricated by Morgans.
The fire in his eyes eased a little.
Still, the fact remained: Hammer brought back a mysterious girl during an exam mission, there were questions that had to be asked.
"Then start talking," Zephyr growled. "What really happened out there?"
Hammer nodded frantically and quickly explained Shirley's story, and his clash with Batu.
As the story unfolded, Zephyr scratched his head, the pieces clicking into place.
"Oh... so that's how it was. I wrongly blamed you."
"Damn that bastard Sengoku! I knew my student couldn't possibly do something disgraceful like that!"
"Strategic genius my ass! Pfft!"
Sengoku: 'Seriously? You weren't saying that five minutes ago!'