Chapter 295: Collision of Rules
Vivi refused to give up.
She had finally found a possible way out of Alabasta's crisis. If she walked away now without even trying, she knew she would regret it.
The Grand Line was filled with powerful people, but those capable of matching or surpassing the Seven Warlords of the Sea were still rare.
If fighters of that level were common, the creation of the Warlord system would never have brought even a temporary balance to the seas.
The simple truth was that very few people could stand against them.
And the youth in front of her was almost certainly one of those few.
His past record alone was extraordinary.
He had caused a major incident at Marineford and escaped despite an Admiral's pursuit.
Then there was his bounty.
Four hundred million Berries.
His very first bounty had been set at that amount.
The World Government had never publicly explained exactly what he had done to deserve it, but that silence only made the matter more suspicious. Whatever had happened, it clearly had not been minor.
Vivi looked directly at Axel.
"Then what would it take for you to help me?"
"Give up."
Axel's answer came without hesitation.
"I have no reason to help you."
Vivi clenched her hands.
"I investigated what you did in the past."
Axel glanced at her.
"A lot of it was done in the name of justice."
Her voice steadied as she continued.
"So wouldn't helping the people of Alabasta also be an act of justice?"
"From what I learned about you, I don't believe leaving the Marines means you suddenly stopped caring about what's right."
Vivi deliberately kept her words somewhat vague.
That belief was one of the reasons she had dared to approach him in the first place.
Someone who had done the things Axel once had could not simply be a bad person.
People like Crocodile, who carefully built a heroic image while secretly destroying an entire nation, were rare.
Axel let out a quiet sigh.
There was something almost regretful in it.
"People change."
He looked away.
"Maybe I cared about those things before."
"But now, I don't."
Vivi refused to accept that.
"Then why did you uphold justice before?"
"And why did you give it up?"
"There has to be a reason."
"There isn't."
"How could there not be?"
Her voice rose before she could stop herself.
Axel turned his head toward the window.
"Does the reason matter to me?"
Vivi fell silent.
Again, she had no answer.
From his perspective, he owed her nothing.
He did not need to explain himself.
And the fate of Alabasta, no matter how important it was to her, meant almost nothing to him.
She could not think of anything that would force him to care.
Vivi stared at the white-haired youth resting against the bed.
His straight white hair fell loosely around his face.
With his head turned, the large scar on his cheek was hidden from view. Without it, his features looked almost unnaturally refined.
Only now did Vivi have the chance to properly look at him.
His hair, his skin, even the shape of his face were delicate enough to make many women envious.
Without realizing it, Vivi slowly raised her hand.
It was an almost childish impulse.
His hair looked so soft that she wanted to know what it felt like.
Just once.
Her fingers touched the white strands.
Smooth.
Almost like silk.
It reminded her of the finest fabrics she had handled in the Alabasta palace.
Vivi absentmindedly stroked it again.
Then Axel spoke.
"Have you touched enough?"
Vivi froze.
"Uh..."
She immediately pulled her hand back.
Her face flushed with embarrassment, and she lowered her eyes.
It had nothing to do with romantic shyness.
She had simply realized how rude it was to touch someone without permission.
To her surprise, Axel asked another question.
"What did it feel like?"
Igaram immediately moved in front of Vivi.
He looked like an overprotective guard dog shielding its young.
Although Axel's appearance was feminine enough to confuse people at first glance, the information Baroque Works possessed clearly identified him as male.
And to Igaram, a boy around this apparent age asking a young girl such a question sounded suspiciously like teasing.
For a brief moment, he even forgot the enormous difference in strength between them.
Vivi blinked, equally confused by Axel's question.
One moment, he had seemed like someone who had walked through mountains of corpses.
The next, he sounded almost like an ordinary young man.
"Well..."
She thought about it.
"It was very smooth."
"And soft."
She glanced at his hair again.
"Honestly, it's unfair."
Her expression became slightly awkward.
"How can even your skin look better than mine?"
"So that's what it feels like."
Axel lifted one hand and rubbed his fingertips together.
"I haven't experienced that sensation in a long time."
Vivi looked at him.
"What?"
"I don't normally make a habit of touching myself."
He continued rubbing his fingers.
"But losing my sense of touch is inconvenient."
His fingertips registered nothing.
Vivi's expression changed.
"You can't feel anything?"
Axel did not answer directly.
Instead, he slowly rolled up the sleeve covering his left arm.
"Look."
Vivi stepped around Igaram and leaned closer.
Axel's arm looked completely normal.
His skin was pale and smooth, almost like polished jade.
For a moment, Vivi did not understand what he wanted her to see.
Then the arm split open.
Her eyes widened.
Several long wounds tore across the flesh without warning.
Blood burst outward as the skin separated, exposing twisted tissue and blood vessels beneath.
The arm no longer looked human.
Then, almost immediately, the wounds vanished.
The flesh returned to normal.
The skin became smooth and unbroken again.
It happened so quickly that the gruesome sight almost seemed like an illusion.
Vivi recovered first.
"What was that?"
Igaram said nothing.
His face had gone pale.
The sight had only reinforced his earlier conclusion.
Monster.
How could someone with a body like that still be alive?
"A collision of rules," Axel replied.
Vivi frowned.
Axel looked at his restored arm.
"In Academy City, Espers belong to one system, while magic belongs to another."
"The two operate under incompatible rules."
"If an Esper uses magic, the conflict causes physical damage. Their blood vessels can rupture."
He paused.
"This world has its own rules as well."
"Devil Fruit powers belong to this world."
"My power does not."
His gaze remained on his arm.
"I forced something governed by one set of rules into a world governed by another."
"And my body is paying the price."
Vivi stared at him in silence.
Axel lowered his sleeve again.
"My body is already full of problems."
"The reason I can still function normally is because I continuously use my ability to keep everything under control."
He looked back at her.
"So even if I wanted to help you, do you really think I would risk fighting Crocodile in this condition?"
Vivi had no answer.
This time, she understood his refusal.
People were selfish.
That was normal.
She had no reason to demand that Axel gamble his life for a country that had nothing to do with him.
Even a righteous person had limits.
How many people would willingly risk death for strangers simply because it was the right thing to do?
Still, understanding did not make the result easier to accept.
Vivi lowered her gaze.
Perhaps what she felt was regret.
Or disappointment.
She had finally found someone who might have been capable of fighting Crocodile.
And that rare opportunity had slipped through her fingers.
Finding another person capable of standing against one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea would be anything but easy.
....
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