During the day, Allen followed Saitama’s training method: 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10-kilometer run every single day.
At night, he practiced his sword swings, and whenever he had free time, he went to “talk business” with the bees.
As for food, there were plenty of wild animals in the forest.
Before he grew up, he couldn’t win a head-on fight against some of the larger beasts, but he could easily kite them to death by dodging with Observation Haki.
After all, not all animals were like those on Rusukaina Island near Amazon Lily, which could actually use Two-Color Haki.
Allen didn’t understand the complex realms of swordsmanship, so he could only repeat his basic sword swings day after day.
He added weight training to his arms, hoping that a quantitative change would eventually lead to a qualitative change.
When he felt his progress stalling, he would dive into the sea to practice his strikes underwater.
Every time he dragged himself back onto the shore, the double torture of sore muscles and mental exhaustion made him feel like he was dying.
But knowing that he couldn’t move an inch in this world without strength, Allen never stopped.
Based on the principles of Rokushiki from the original series, Allen even managed to develop Soru on his own.
As for the other five techniques, he felt they weren’t of much help to his specific style, so he didn’t see the need to waste time practicing them.
Seven years of training had made Allen much stronger.
Although he still hadn’t awakened Armament Haki, his physical strength was incomparable to what it was a few years ago.
Based on his current physique, swordsmanship, and Observation Haki, he estimated he should be stronger than a standard Marine Captain at Marine Headquarters.
Oda never gave a clear power ranking, perhaps because he didn’t think too deeply about it himself.
Instead, in the comment sections of anime videos from Allen’s previous life, many fans had provided their own imagined power tier lists: Four Emperors > Admiral > Admiral Candidate ≥ First Mate ≥ Warlord > Vice Admiral > Officer-level.
By the time someone reached the officer level, they could basically use Two-Color Haki.
Below that, they were just slightly stronger ordinary people.
In the anime, apart from Smoker, Hina, and a very few other prominent officers, others had no screen time at all.
Even if they appeared, it was just to advance the plot.
While this kind of power ranking was recognized by many, there were obvious exceptions.
Among the Vice Admirals, there were monsters like Garp who could hammer Rocks to death.
Among the Warlords, there was Hawkeye Mihawk, who used to duel with Red Hair Shanks every day.
Shanks only stopped fighting him after losing his left arm, claiming he didn’t want to bully a disabled person.
Although there was a suspicion of showing off there, it was undeniable that there was a massive gap in strength between Hawkeye and the other Warlords.
Therefore, that kind of power ranking could only be used as a loose reference.
Right now, the Marines didn’t even have the rank of Fleet Admiral yet.
Commander-in-Chief Kong was the highest military commander, while Sengoku, Garp, and Zephyr were all still Vice Admirals.
The Marines were an organization established by the World Government with the resources to deal with pirates.
But perhaps because they were afraid the Marines would become too powerful and spin out of control, the World Government always tightly controlled their funds and limited their overall scale.
Now seventeen years old, Allen was no longer afraid of a real fight.
Some small-time pirates had landed on Manuka before, and Allen had used his swordsmanship and the combat experience he accumulated from hunting wild beasts to repel them.
After all, this was the island where he had lived for seven years, and the residents were good to him.
He didn’t want to see them burned, killed, or looted by low-level scum.
As for the big pirates with massive bounties, they rarely bothered Manuka.
Because the island was close to the Marine G-5 Branch, those pirates didn’t dare to enter the area carelessly.
Relying on the banner of justice, those Marines could still act as a deterrent to some extent.
Apart from the Rocks Pirates, no pirate crew was crazy enough to directly attack a Marine branch.
Everyone knew that the Marine branches in the New World were commanded by Vice Admirals.
Even if it was an unknown Vice Admiral, that wasn’t someone an ordinary pirate could mess with.
Speaking of the Rocks Pirates, Allen took out the newspaper he had bought in town earlier.
The headlines caught his eye: the Rocks Pirates had actively attacked a kingdom’s stationed Marine warship and completely destroyed the nation.
Below the text were the bounty posters of Rocks and his top executives.
Rocks D.
Xebec, Whitebeard Edward Newgate, Golden Lion Shiki, Big Mom Charlotte Linlin, John, Silver Axe, Ochoku, and Kaido, who was still just an apprentice.
Most of the faces in the newspaper were legendary figures he had seen in the anime.
The average bounty of the Captain and main executives easily exceeded one billion Berries.
This wasn’t the future era where a bounty of nine hundred million was common; a pirate crew with an average executive bounty over one billion in this era was terrifying just to think about.
Three of the future Four Emperors were currently in the Rocks Pirates, plus the legendary Golden Lion Shiki.
If the World Government tried to have a full-scale war with the Rocks Pirates right now, the World Government would likely be finished.
However, the later God Valley Incident did defeat Rocks, mostly because the executives were basically slacking off during the battle.
Most members of the Rocks Pirates had only yielded to Rocks’s tyranny or joined because they wanted to commit atrocities under his banner.
Even so, it required Roger to team up with Garp—a two-against-one fight—to finally take down Rocks.
It was easy to see how strong the Rocks Pirates were in this era to force the Marines and a rival pirate to join forces.
Allen hadn’t decided whether to join the Marines or form his own pirate crew yet.
Being in the Marines was stable; he wouldn’t have to be chased around the world, but he would ultimately have to serve as a dog for the Celestial Dragons.
As someone with the soul of a modern person, Allen felt disgusted by that from the bottom of his heart.
Being a pirate meant more freedom, but the feeling of being hunted by the Marines every day wasn’t pleasant either.
“Forget it, it’s too early to worry about this.
Let’s wait until I master Armament Haki and raise my swordsmanship to the level of a Master Swordsman.” Allen got up, patted his face to snap himself out of it, and prepared to head into the forest to hunt some prey for dinner.
On the other side of the New World, at Hachinosu, the Rocks Pirates had just returned and were having a massive feast.
John laughed arrogantly, “Hahaha!
Captain, that king thought that just because his country joined the World Government, we wouldn’t dare touch him.
It’s simply laughable!” “Yeah, he even threatened us, saying that if we dared to invade his country, we would suffer a crazy blow from the Marines.
It scared me to death!” Silver Axe and the others chimed in with evil laughs.
A tall man with a full head of wild dark hair looked over the crowd with absolute dominance.
This was Rocks D.
Xebec.
“It seems my reputation hasn’t fully spread throughout the New World yet.
After we rest for a bit, let’s go wipe out the Marine’s G-5 Branch.
The New World is my territory, hahahaha!” Beside him sat a massive, blond giant standing over six meters tall with a white crescent-moon mustache.
He was drinking alone, seemingly uninterested in the conversation.
This was Edward Newgate.
“Ma ma ma ma!
In that case, all the desserts in the New World will belong to me,” a tall, young woman with a striking figure wearing pink leather said, laughing loudly.
This was Charlotte Linlin.
“Jie hahahaha!
If you ask me, we should just attack Marine Headquarters directly.
A tiny branch doesn’t have nearly as much treasure as the headquarters,” a blond man with his hair spiked up like a mane said, chewing on a cigar as he laughed.
This was the Golden Lion, Shiki.
“The Marine Headquarters will be attacked one day, but not right now.” Rocks glanced at Shiki, clearly dissatisfied with the man’s self-assertion.
Shiki shrugged, “Then I’ll listen to the Captain.
When the time comes, I’ll drop hundreds of islands straight onto Marineford, hahahaha!” If Allen were here, he would recognize them instantly.
These were the monsters shaping the current era, completely unaware of the young man training on a quiet honey island nearby.