Indenture

Chapter 16

"So...how are we going to beat my brother?" Zerro enquired as he sat across the two with his arms crossed.

It had been a few days after Zerro had woken up and the demon hadn't mentioned anything about how they were going to win against his brother until now.

What he recieved as an answer was Celestia shrugging her shoulders along with Han.

"Wait, are you telling me, you don't have a plan?" Zerro was in disbelief but he was sent further into it when she shook her head.

"What was the point of acting cool by saying 'we have the same enemy so we should work together'?" He mentioned as he made an attempt to imitate Celestia causing Han to release an amused snort.

"Well, you had made a plan for ten years and look where you ended up." Celestia retorted earning an offended look from the demon while Han laughed.

"Burn~" Han said with a cheeky smile causing Zerro to send him a glare.

Han decided it was best for him to speak up and he gained their attention by clearing his throat.

"First things first. We are all too weak to beat the demon King so what we should start off with is to train our power and become strong as a team, not as an individual." He pointed out but Zerro huffed, lifting his chin up in an arrogant way.

"I don't need to train, I'm strong enough."

Han raised a brow before leaning forward and giving the demon a flick on his forehead. Zerro yelped in pain and reeled back as he placed a hand over the sore spot.

"You need to train and I know just the angel to help me!"

Celestia saw the look in her friend's eyes and didn't like the unrecognisable gleam in them.

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"Right! I want you to do one hundred pull ups, one thousand push ups and twenty laps around the park! I want you all done in two hours!"

A tall bulky man who went by the name of Mike had taken the three to a public park where they all wore training outfits, Celestia having to borrow some of Han's clothes.

"That's too much! How can we finish that in two hours!" Zerro complained.

Celestia and Han said no words and proceeded to begin their work.

"Keep complaining and you'll never finish." Mike said earning a groan from the demon before he began his pull ups by using the metal pull up bar that was set up for anyone to use.

Zerro was frustrated.

The dose of power he had gotten from Xander had weared off which meant he was back to square one. He had hoped that gaining power the easy way would help him beat his brother but that obviously didn't work. The only way he was going to win was to naturally gain his strength and maybe...just maybe work together with Celestia and Han.

"Come on, Zerro! Celestia is already finished with her pull ups and Han is halfway through his pushups! You're being too slow!" Mike shouted and Zerro gritted his teeth in annoyance, slowing down in his pullups as his strength began to ware away.

Celestia ignored how her arms were shaking as she pulled off her six hundredth push up. As she thought of Zerro's brother, it was as if a fire was ignited within her and she speeded up her pushups, earning praise from Mike.

"Well done, Celestia!"

The three spent the next two hours working out and by the end of it, Zerro was the only one lying on the grass, out of breath. Han crouched down to Zerro's level and poked his back causing a groan to leave the demon's lips.