Sengoku didn't know why Chiga reacted so strongly to the news of Zephyr going out to sea. It was just a sea drill. Was it really that big of a deal?
However, out of trust for Chiga, he still asked, "What's wrong? Is there a problem with this sea drill?"
Of course, there was a problem, and a huge one at that.
In the movie Film: Z, it was mentioned that Zephyr was attacked by Whitebeard Jr. while taking the last batch of students on a training ship. Only Ain and Binz survived, and Zephyr even lost an arm.
Although history had changed and Zephyr had gone out to sea earlier, there was no guarantee that Zephyr wouldn't still encounter Whitebeard Jr. If the outcome was good, it would be fine, but what if it was worse?
Thinking of this, Chiga's face darkened even further, and he anxiously asked, "Where did Teacher Zephyr go?"
"I don't know the exact location. I'll ask him with a Den Den Mushi."
With that, Sengoku dialed Zephyr's Den Den Mushi, but after a long wait, there was no answer.
This abnormal situation made Sengoku's face sink as well. He looked up at Chiga and asked, "What exactly happened, Chiga? Do you know something?"
There was no time for further explanation. The southeast direction was too vague. However, at this point, Chiga couldn't afford to think too much. He directly opened the window of Sengoku's office, activated his Deva Path ability, and soared into the sky.
The documents on Sengoku's desk were scattered all over the floor by the gust of wind created when Chiga left. Sengoku had no time to worry about that either. He immediately summoned Aokiji and ordered him to quickly lead a ship of soldiers to rendezvous with Zephyr.
In a certain sea area, a giant head suddenly emerged from the calm surface. A serpent-shaped Sea King over a hundred meters long burst out of the water, biting a huge whale in its mouth.
With a forceful bite, the whale's corpse was directly torn in half and swallowed by the Sea King.
The well-fed Sea King smacked its lips in a human-like manner and was about to sink back into the sea when suddenly, a continuously expanding black dot in the distant sky caught its attention.
It squinted its massive eyes, trying to see what it was. However, the black dot, which had just been small, expanded in an instant. It finally saw that the black dot was a human, and this was its last conscious thought.
"Get out of the way!"
The Sea King's head was smashed into a pile of minced meat by Chiga, and for a moment, a rain of blood fell over the sea area.
After this delay, Chiga, who had been flying at high speed for some time, also stopped. At this moment, his face was terrifyingly gloomy.
This sea area was simply too vast. Even with the perception of his Rinnegan and Observation Haki, Chiga still hadn't found any trace of Zephyr's ship.
"Damn it, are Teacher Zephyr and those students destined for this calamity?"
He hated himself for not leaving a Hiraishin mark for Zephyr. Was it Zephyr's strength that made him careless?
Chiga slammed his fist hard onto the sea surface. Hundreds of tons of seawater were immediately blasted into the sky, turning into a curtain of rain.
Chiga's body trembled as seawater splattered on his face. A forgotten jutsu suddenly appeared in his mind: Sensing Rain.
The Sensing Rain jutsu, originally used by Pain in Naruto, created rain clouds imbued with chakra, allowing the user to perceive everything within the rain's range. It was perfectly suited for the current situation.
Chiga closed his eyes, clasped his hands together with his middle and index fingers raised, and activated the Sensing Rain.
As the jutsu was activated, the sky above the sea area for several hundred kilometers, which had been clear, instantly became covered in dark clouds, and heavy rain poured down.
After calmly sensing for a while, a small cluster of life energy appeared in one location, with one of the fluctuations already very weak.
Receiving the information, Chiga immediately opened his eyes and once again activated his Deva Path ability. His figure instantly disappeared from above the sea surface.
In another sea area, on a lifeboat,
A group of Marine soldiers wearing blue and white striped vests were gathered together, many of them familiar faces, including Bridge, Graves, and Binz.
At this moment, their bodies were more or less stained with blood, clearly having just experienced a fierce battle.
However, none of them cared about their own injuries. They just sadly watched a blonde female Marine crying while holding another female Marine with sea-blue hair.
These two female Marines were Ain and her roommate, whose name was Alice.
Ain, held in Alice's arms, was in a very bad condition. Her eyes were half-closed, and her long eyelashes trembled continuously due to the pain in her body. There was a terrifying wound across her entire abdomen, constantly gushing blood.
"No, Ain, don't fall asleep. We'll be back at headquarters soon. Damn it, why is it suddenly raining!"
Alice kept shouting at Ain, her face a mixture of rain and tears. One hand desperately tried to stop Ain's bleeding, but the wound was simply too large. No matter how hard Alice tried, blood still seeped through her fingers.
Some of the other students couldn't bear to watch anymore. Some even turned their heads and silently wept. It could be said that Ain had played a huge role in them being able to hold on until now.
It was supposed to be just a sea drill, led by former Marine Admiral Zephyr, and no one expected such a thing to happen.
As they sailed into a certain sea area, they encountered Whitebeard Jr., Edward Weevil, and Miss Bakkin.
Upon seeing a ship full of new recruits, Weevil immediately attacked under Miss Bakkin's instruction, but was blocked by Zephyr.
However, Zephyr was old and not in good health. He also had to protect the students behind him. He was momentarily careless and was injured by Weevil. It was Ain who used her Devil Fruit ability to temporarily stop Zephyr's injuries and even regressed Zephyr's age by eight years.
It was Ain's intervention that caught Miss Bakkin's attention. She immediately ordered Weevil to take a direct punch from Zephyr just to eliminate this female Marine with special abilities.
Ain was severely wounded and fell unconscious in this situation, struck in the waist by Weevil's blade. Due to her unconsciousness, Zephyr's regression also became ineffective, and his battle with Weevil turned disadvantageous again.
But Ain stubbornly woke up, forcefully activated her ability to regress Zephyr by another eight years, and then continued to support her consciousness until the remaining Marines brought her here.
Hearing Alice's cry, Ain opened her mouth and spat out a large mouthful of blood. Alice immediately cried even harder.
Ain tremblingly reached out and touched a package placed beside her, then took it and handed it to Alice.
Alice, wiping away her tears, took the package and asked, "What is this? When we left the warship just now, you didn't forget to have Bridge hook it over for you. Is it something important?"
Seeing Alice take the package, Ain also breathed a sigh of relief and weakly said, "This is the Devil Fruit I got in the assessment. When you go back, give it to Chiga. It was meant for him anyway…"
"Why don't you give it to me personally?"
A voice sounded, and a figure descended onto the ship. It was Chiga, who had arrived.
With Chiga's arrival, the dark clouds that had covered the sky just moments ago instantly dispersed, and sunlight streamed through the clouds, falling on everyone's faces.
Imagine if Ain died, lol.