“Devil Fruit users…”
Hearing Garp’s words, a look of interest appeared on Roya’s face.
Although he was extremely familiar with many kinds of Devil Fruit abilities, after being in this world for so long, he had yet to witness the power of a Devil Fruit with his own eyes.
Devil Fruits were unique to this world.
After consuming one, a person could obtain all kinds of strange and extraordinary abilities.
Some were extremely powerful, while others seemed practically useless.
But in Roya’s opinion, there were no truly useless Devil Fruits—only users who failed to make good use of them.
The person was what mattered most.
And whenever Devil Fruits were mentioned, Roya couldn’t help thinking about Haki again.
He therefore directly asked Garp about training in Haki.
“Haki?”
Garp pondered for a moment.
“Well, you’ve now reached the point where you can begin training Haki.
But you’re about to enter the elite camp anyway.
Zeph—”
Garp paused before continuing,
“Zephyr will teach you when the time comes.”
With only a few days remaining before the full-camp combat evaluation, there simply wasn’t enough time for Roya to begin training Haki.
Moreover, he had only just reached the threshold required to start learning it.
Garp felt there was no need to force Haki training on Roya during these few days.
“That’s fine.”
Roya also knew that mastering Haki wasn’t something that could be accomplished overnight.
“In that case, I’ll take these next few days to adjust myself.”
Garp nodded before turning and leaving, leaving Roya alone in the courtyard.
It wasn’t long before Roya resumed his sword-pressure training.
He planned to perfect his four-sword merging over the next few days before attempting to train in five-sword merging.
The farther he progressed with this method of merging sword strikes, the more difficult it became—but the greater the improvement.
If someone could reach the level of merging ten slashes, they would no longer be considered weak among Swordsmen.
And if they could reach fifteen merged slashes, they would rank among the top Swordsmen across the entire sea.
…
Several days later.
A ray of dawn spread across the horizon like a golden ripple.
In an instant, it swept across the world, gently lifting the black curtain of night.
Roya had already risen and was standing in the courtyard.
Shing!
Suddenly, the shadow of his sword flashed.
For an instant, it seemed as though he had swung several times.
Yet the shadows and trajectories of those strikes appeared to completely overlap.
Whoosh!
In the next moment, a silver-white Flying Slash suddenly burst forth.
Starting from the point where the tip of Roya’s sword was angled toward the ground, it tore through the earth amid a spray of soil, carving out a deep trench nearly seven meters long.
“Five-sword merging really is a little difficult.
But now that I can perfectly merge four slashes, the sheer strength of my Flying Slashes is already enough to cut through steel.”
Roya looked at the result of his attack and nodded slightly.
He then sheathed his sword and muttered,
“It’s time to go.
The full-camp combat evaluation should be starting soon…”
…
The training program at the Marine Headquarters recruits’ camp consisted of various physical exercises as well as miscellaneous tests, such as strength tests, speed tests, shooting evaluations, and so on.
Combat evaluations were also a common form of training.
Normally, a combat evaluation would be held once every quarter or once every six months.
However, these evaluations were generally supervised and assessed separately by the instructors of each platoon.
It was rare for the entire camp to hold a joint combat evaluation.
After all, combat evaluations involved recruits fighting one another.
The greater the number of participants, the greater the number of battles that had to be conducted.
If the ten platoons of the ordinary camp held their evaluations separately, the process would be much faster.
This time, however, it was a rare full-camp combat evaluation.
Except for the elite camp, which would not participate, all ten platoons of the ordinary camp would be gathered together.
When Roya arrived at the plaza where the full-camp combat evaluation was being held, a large number of recruits had already gathered.
Some were radiating fighting spirit.
Others were rubbing their fists and palms, eager to test themselves.
The recruits were gathered on three sides of the plaza.
On the fourth side stood the instructors of the ordinary camp, as well as…
Zephyr, the chief instructor of the recruits’ camp and former Marine Admiral.
The Marine Headquarters recruits’ camp wasn’t training ordinary soldiers.
It was training future officers.
Therefore, it didn’t place particular emphasis on teamwork.
Instead, it focused much more heavily on individual ability.
Zephyr’s attention was primarily on the recruits who were about to be selected for the elite camp.
Meanwhile, the ordinary-camp instructors were observing the recruits who performed particularly well but weren’t necessarily among those selected for the elite camp, allowing them to formulate training programs better suited to each individual’s strengths.
The center of the plaza was the designated combat area.
Roya’s arrival was nothing remarkable among the recruits and attracted little attention.
Other recruits continued arriving one after another.
Once most of the recruits had arrived, Zephyr, standing at the front of the instructors, nodded slightly and spoke in a deep voice.
“Time’s up.
Silence.”
Zephyr’s voice wasn’t particularly thunderous, but it was powerful and resonant.
At the same time, it carried an unmistakable authority.
Every recruit present couldn’t help straightening their expression.
“You’ve all participated in combat evaluations before.
But this time, we’re holding a full-camp combat evaluation.”
Zephyr looked across the gathered recruits and calmly explained the rules.
“The people you can challenge aren’t limited to the members of your own platoon.
You may challenge anyone in the ordinary camp who is ranked above you.”
The rules of this full-camp combat evaluation were similar to those used during the regular platoon-level combat evaluations held every six months.
The previous evaluation’s rankings would serve as the basis.
A recruit with a lower ranking could challenge any recruit ranked above them.
If the challenger lost, the rankings would remain unchanged.
If the challenger won, the two recruits would exchange rankings.
This continued until no one issued any further challenges.
At that point, the resulting rankings would become the final results of the combat evaluation.
There were also several restrictions.
Firearms were prohibited.
A higher-ranked recruit could not challenge someone ranked below them.
Only lower-ranked recruits could challenge higher-ranked recruits.
Furthermore, challenges could neither be avoided nor refused unless the target was too seriously injured to continue participating in the evaluation.
“This full-camp combat evaluation will use the rankings from the previous practical combat evaluation as its foundation.”
“You should already know the rankings within your respective platoons from the last practical evaluation.”
“Now, I’ll announce the overall ranking for the entire camp.”
With that, Zephyr gave a slight signal to a Marine Rear Admiral standing beside him.
The Rear Admiral nodded and immediately stepped forward.
He projected a list behind the recruits, displaying it across the massive fortress wall of Marine Headquarters.
The number of recruits in the Marine Headquarters recruits’ camp was actually quite small.
Even those at the bottom of the ordinary camp could almost all become petty officers.
After further experience and training, most would eventually become commissioned officers, potentially even reaching the ranks of senior officers.
They were the backbone of the Marines.
Because their numbers weren’t large, and because the rankings were projected onto the enormous fortress wall of Marine Headquarters, the entire list was exceptionally easy to see.
This was the overall ranking for the entire camp.
Many recruits were curious to see where everyone had placed in the previous practical evaluation.
But without a doubt, the names at the very top attracted the most attention.
Overall Ranking — Practical Combat Evaluation:
First Place…
Roya.
Second Place…
Hina.
Third Place…
X Drake.
Fourth Place…
Kazan.
…
“Roya?
Who’s that?!
He’s actually first in the entire camp?”
“Monkey D.
Roya…
Monkey D…
That surname sounds familiar.
Wait!
Isn’t that the surname of Marine hero Vice Admiral Garp?!”
The moment they saw the name in first place, many recruits showed expressions of astonishment and uncertainty.
Roya’s reputation in the recruits’ camp wasn’t particularly impressive.
He had only been part of the recruits’ camp for three months in total, and he had spent two of those months away from the camp.
During the one month he had actually spent there, his performance had been fairly ordinary.
Naturally, recruits from the other platoons didn’t know him.
But while recruits from the other platoons didn’t know Roya, the recruits from his own platoon were different.
“Roya isn’t just first in our platoon—he’s first in the entire camp?!”
“What kind of joke is this?!”
“Being first in our platoon was already ridiculous enough.
Now he’s first in the entire camp?
Heh.
They aren’t even trying to hide it anymore.
Do they think we’re all blind?”
The recruits from Roya’s platoon looked at the ranking and sneered one after another.
This time, most of the recruits merely sneered to themselves.
No one bothered to raise any further objections.
There was no need.
The combat evaluation was about to begin.
The truth would soon become apparent.
No matter how well someone tried to hide something, the truth would eventually come out.
If the rankings had truly been tampered with, such an inside arrangement would inevitably be exposed once the actual battles began.