He's absently turning the handle of the axe in his hands so the blade swings like a pendulum, not paying as much attention to its movements as to the conversation.

"I wasn't allowed to carry a weapon back home." That doesn't mean he didn't pick one up a few times - perks of having unstable software that didn't force him to obey laws. "I had to depend on disarming an opponent so I could fight them unarmed."

So if some idiot wanted to try throwing an axe at him, that would work out pretty well for him.

"But they were usually carrying guns."