Chapter 14: Investigation and Training
In a dim corner of Gray Terminal, Terao Kazu stepped into a room with stiff, hesitant movements.
He knew this place well.
Compared to the other shacks in the waste heap, this room was slightly larger, slightly cleaner, and just orderly enough to stand out. That alone made it easy to recognize.
Bluejam's room.
The moment Terao crossed the threshold, a low voice reached him.
"Do you know why I called you here?"
Bluejam sat inside with casual ease, as though this were an ordinary conversation and not a summons that could cost a man his life.
The sudden question made Terao's heart lurch.
His mind, usually sluggish and opportunistic, began spinning at full speed. He did not know why Bluejam had called for him, but he knew one thing clearly. Staying passive in front of this man was courting death. He had already seen enough of Bluejam's recent executions to understand that. The ones who froze, the ones who hesitated, the ones who could not answer quickly enough were always the first to die.
So Terao chose the only path he thought might save him.
"Captain Bluejam," he said quickly, bowing his head just enough, "have I done something wrong?"
Bluejam lifted his eyes slightly.
"You don't know?"
That one calm question nearly made Terao's legs soften.
He had already guessed that something might have been exposed. But now that he stood in front of Bluejam, he still desperately tried to maintain composure.
He chose to confess a lesser sin.
"Captain Bluejam, I was wrong to punish one of my men over a personal matter. I got carried away." He lowered his head further. "Please forgive me for the sake of my past service."
Among pirates, that sort of thing was common. Bullying subordinates, skimming money, taking extra privileges, that was normal. Terao had gambled that admitting to a small offense might satisfy Bluejam and steer the conversation away from something worse.
Unfortunately, Bluejam did not react as expected.
Instead, a grin slowly spread across his face, exposing crooked, unpleasant teeth.
"You know," Bluejam said, voice almost amused, "those men who died recently did so because of you."
Terao's face changed.
"What do you mean by that?"
Even as he asked, he avoided Bluejam's gaze.
That alone was answer enough.
Bluejam leaned back slightly.
"Do you really think I predicted those brats' route last time?" he asked lazily. "I was actually on my way to find you. Running into them was just a coincidence."
Terao's breathing became shallow.
Bluejam continued, each word making the room feel colder.
"And do you really think I trust my subordinates that much? Someone in charge of intelligence, and I wouldn't have a man watching him?"
That was the final blow.
All color drained from Terao's face.
His knees hit the floor with a thud.
"Captain! Captain, please forgive me!" he blurted out, bowing low in panic. "I was blinded by greed! I made a mistake! Give me one chance to atone, just one chance!"
Bluejam did not even bother responding immediately.
He stood up slowly, walked over, and looked down at the kneeling man with detached contempt.
"I really didn't expect this from you," he said. "Betrayal."
His tone hardened.
"Even if you weren't planning to betray me outright, you still sold my information. That alone is enough to get you killed." His expression darkened further. "Most importantly, I have no use for worthless subordinates."
The moment Terao heard that, whatever little hope remained inside him shattered.
He knew then that there would be no forgiveness.
No negotiation.
No second chance.
He shot to his feet and bolted for the door.
Bluejam did not chase him.
He simply drew his flintlock pistol in one smooth motion, turned slightly, and fired.
Bang!
Terao dropped before he even made it outside.
Bluejam did not spare the body a second glance.
He lowered the pistol, then sat back down, resting his head slightly as he idly stroked the barrel.
Around him, the surrounding pirates swallowed nervously.
No one dared speak.
No one dared even breathe too loudly.
Their captain's moods were dangerous enough on ordinary days. Ever since he had been injured, something about him had grown even darker.
At last, Bluejam spoke again.
"Hang his body up," he ordered. "Let everyone see what happens to traitors."
He lifted his eyes, and his voice sharpened.
"And launch a full search for those brats. I don't care if they're hiding in Mount Colubo itself. Dig them out."
The pirates reacted as though pardoned from execution.
"Yes, Captain!"
They rushed out at once, almost tripping over each other in their haste to obey.
Soon, only Bluejam remained in the room.
The pistol disappeared back into his belt.
His hand moved to his injured leg.
As his fingers brushed the scabbed wound, a hideous expression slowly twisted across his face.
Hatred.
And something else.
Fear.
That feeling disgusted him more than the pain itself.
He had survived countless ugly battles in East Blue. He had clawed his way into power through filth, violence, and blood. Yet now, in a place he practically ruled, a handful of children had stormed his territory, wounded him, and escaped.
Unforgivable.
Worse, those brats were far too dangerous for their age.
Especially that white haired one.
That strange Devil Fruit, or whatever the hell it was, made Bluejam deeply uneasy.
His fingers pressed harder against the wound.
"These brats," he muttered, voice thick with malice, "must die."
At the border between Gray Terminal and Mount Colubo, patrols had multiplied.
Pirates moved through the area in groups, far more frequently than before. Some carried rough portraits of Axel, Ace, Sabo, and Luffy. Others checked paths, questioned drifters, or searched blind spots among the piles of trash.
This time, Bluejam was serious.
Hidden among the refuse, Axel and the others had come to investigate.
They needed information.
They needed to know how Bluejam was moving, how his search patterns had changed, and whether there was still any room to strike back.
Ace and Luffy stayed farther back as support.
Axel and Sabo handled the actual scouting.
That way, if something went wrong, they could either flee quickly or receive help before the situation became fatal.
As expected, Bluejam had begun a full scale search.
From the look of it, the pirates were not just posturing either. They were moving methodically, carrying portraits everywhere, questioning anyone they could intimidate, and checking routes that had previously been ignored.
Using vector manipulation to muffle all sound around him, Axel slipped through blind spots between the garbage piles and quietly entered Gray Terminal.
Soon, he spotted a pirate grabbing a local man by the collar.
"Hey," the pirate barked, shoving a portrait in the man's face. "Seen these kids?"
The man went pale and shook his head rapidly.
"No! No, I haven't!"
The pirate clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Tch. Useless."
He let the man go and moved on toward the next shack.
The trembling local did not dare talk back. He only waited until the pirate had gone a certain distance before exhaling shakily.
"These pirates are getting rougher and rougher..."
Someone from a nearby house immediately hissed back in warning.
"Keep your voice down! Bluejam's been in a terrible mood lately. A lot of people have died."
Then the man lowered his voice even further.
"Even Terao Kazu got killed."
The first man's eyes widened.
"Terao? Wasn't he one of Bluejam's right hand men? Why'd he suddenly get killed?"
"How should I know?" the other replied bitterly. "Just endure it. That's all we can do."
After that, neither of them said anything more.
Axel, hidden nearby, silently absorbed the information before slipping away.
So Terao really did die.
Axel was not particularly surprised.
He had already suspected that his deal with Terao would eventually be exposed. And given Bluejam's personality, someone like Terao was never going to survive that kind of mistake.
Still, Axel felt no guilt.
Terao had tried to prey on him the first time they met. He was not some tragic innocent dragged into disaster. He was merely another pirate rat who had been crushed by a larger pirate rat.
Axel memorized the approximate patrol routes, the search patterns, and the scraps of conversation he overheard. Once the agreed time approached, he slipped back out and headed toward the rendezvous point.
When he arrived, Ace and Luffy were already there.
Sabo appeared a little later.
His clothes were dirtier than before, and there were fresh signs of a recent scuffle on him.
Axel noticed immediately.
"What happened?"
Sabo waved it off with a small sigh.
"Nothing much. I got spotted and had to deal with it."
Axel frowned slightly.
He had avoided detection largely because he used vector manipulation to isolate sound and because luck had favored him.
But Sabo was careful by nature. If even he had been exposed, then Bluejam's men were pushing the search harder than expected.
"It looks like they're not stopping anytime soon," Axel said. "Let's head back first and rethink things."
No one objected.
To avoid being followed, the four boys deliberately took a longer route through the mountain before returning to Dadan's hideout.
Once back, they slipped into their room and sat down on the floor.
Ace spoke first.
"So what now?"
The original idea had been simple.
Harass Bluejam's searchers.
Ambush his men.
Use the conflict to sharpen themselves while disrupting the hunt.
But that plan depended on mobility and manageable patrol pressure.
Now the security had tightened too much. Their targets would be fewer, the risk higher, and the odds of getting trapped much worse.
Sabo lowered his head in thought.
After a while, he spoke.
"We abandon that plan for now."
Ace looked at him.
Sabo's eyes lifted.
"We train."
Ace considered it, then nodded. "Fine."
Luffy, however, looked disappointed.
"Fighting is more fun."
Sabo sighed, then tried to soften the blow.
"We can still spar while training."
Luffy only muttered, "Oh..."
Clearly, the comfort did not do much.
Axel looked at him and added, "Don't be too disappointed. If the search keeps going like this, Bluejam will eventually figure out we aren't sticking close to Gray Terminal. Sooner or later, the focus of the hunt will shift deeper into Mount Colubo."
He leaned back against the wall.
"And when that happens, we'll clash with him again. Wouldn't it be smarter to prepare for that?"
That got through to Luffy immediately.
His eyes lit back up.
"Oh!"
Ace smirked.
"Don't bother comforting this idiot too much. It won't help him in a real fight."
Luffy instantly exploded.
"What did you say?!"
And just like that, the two started bickering again.
Sabo rubbed his forehead.
Axel let out a small sigh.
"Here we go again."
In the end, their days settled into a new rhythm.
Training.
Relentless, grinding training.
They hunted through the forest to build stamina and improve coordination.
They ran the mountain paths to sharpen their balance, endurance, and familiarity with the terrain.
They sparred with one another again and again, learning each other's habits, strengths, weaknesses, and instincts.
For Ace, it meant refining his explosiveness and close combat pressure.
For Sabo, it meant improving control, tactics, and timing.
For Luffy, it meant turning raw physical talent into something harder, sharper, and more reliable.
Axel joined at first.
But after some time, he realized the same basic training was not enough for him.
Physical conditioning still mattered, yes.
Combat experience mattered even more.
But neither directly strengthened the essence of his ability.
So he changed his approach.
He added a new layer of training entirely for himself.
His power did not grow the way normal fighters grew.
Vector manipulation depended on calculation.
Control.
Processing speed.
Mental output.
In the world of Academy City, esper development relied on advanced systems, specialized equipment, strange drugs, hypnosis, electrical stimulation, and other methods far beyond what existed in the middle of a forest on a backward island in East Blue.
Axel had none of that.
No labs.
No devices.
No enhancers.
No Tree Diagram level analysis support.
So he could only do the simplest thing available.
Train his mind.
Every day, Axel forced his brain to remain in a state of active calculation.
He constantly analyzed the vectors around him.
The movement of wind.
The angle of falling leaves.
The weight distribution of his steps.
The shifting force of nearby water.
The impact of thrown stones.
The acceleration and redirection of sound.
It was like working through endless equations without rest.
The more he did it, the faster his brain adjusted.
The principle was simple. Just as repeated problem solving improved speed and accuracy in mathematics, repeated mental calculation improved his ability to process vector information in real time.
But the burden was brutal.
He could only maintain that state for a few hours each day before his head felt like it was splitting apart.
Even so, he endured it.
Because calculation alone was still not enough.
He had learned that painfully during his battle with Bluejam.
Immense power meant little if the user could not apply it properly in battle.
A lack of combat sense could cripple talent just as surely as weakness.
So Axel did not abandon sparring either.
He continued exchanging blows with Ace, Sabo, and even Luffy, testing how his ability held up under pressure, learning when to attack, when to bait, when to touch, and when to retreat.
Combat refined his instincts.
And instinct made power real.
In theory, growth through combat and repeated application made perfect sense to him.
In another world, there had been absurd calculations claiming Accelerator would need hundreds of years of training and impossible battle conditions to reach a higher stage, though much of that had later proven fraudulent.
Still, one part of the logic remained true.
Real combat changed an ability user.
Forced adaptation sharpened power.
.....
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