The massive Marine warship had barely settled into Marineford’s crescent-shaped harbor when a squad of Marines who had been waiting onshore hurried aboard.
“Thank you for your hard work, Instructor Zephyr.” The man leading them was a Commodore and clearly another former student of Zephyr’s.
“We’ll take custody of these two criminals from here.” “All right.
Be careful.” Zephyr waved for the Marines to take Weevil and Buckingham away, but still gave them a serious warning.
“That big guy is exceptionally strong.
Whatever you do, don’t give him a chance to break free of his restraints.” “Yes, sir!” The Commodore gave Zephyr a solemn salute before Weevil and his mother were escorted off the ship.
Weevil still wore his usual foolish expression, but Buckingham looked noticeably uneasy.
Impel Down wasn’t merely a prison.
Needle-covered forests, savage beasts, starvation, scorching heat, freezing cold…
Ordinary pirates didn’t survive very long in environments like those.
Nate stood beside the railing and watched the pair being taken aboard another vessel nearby.
It was a prison ship.
Next, that ship would carry them through the massive Gates of Justice and ride the great current directly toward Impel Down.
‘Hopefully everything goes smoothly.’ Then again, Nate honestly didn’t care much if it didn’t.
‘If those two die, they die.
It’s not much of a loss.’ They were assets he’d picked up for free anyway.
“All right, kids.” Zephyr clapped his hands and turned toward the recruits gathered across the deck.
“Back to the Marine Recruit Training Camp.” “Huh?
Instructor Zephyr…” A particularly loud recruit immediately groaned from the crowd.
“We already graduated.
You’re not seriously making us train again, are you?” Zephyr’s expression hardened.
“Don’t say stupid things!
Justice doesn’t take vacations!” Every recruit’s face visibly fell.
Then Zephyr suddenly smiled.
“But your official commissions and assignments aren’t until the day after tomorrow.
You’ve got one day to handle your personal business.
Be back before lights-out tonight.” The deck fell silent for a moment.
Then— “YES!!” “LONG LIVE INSTRUCTOR ZEPHYR!” Cheers erupted across the ship.
Binz immediately hooked an arm around another recruit and squeezed his way over to Nate, looking far too excited.
“Nate!
How about we hit a bar in town and have a few drinks to celebrate?” Marineford had a proper town behind the towering Headquarters building, mostly occupied by military families and high-ranking officers.
It was actually quite prosperous.
“Not interested.” Nate yawned.
“I’m going back to sleep.” Binz narrowed his eyes suspiciously and stared at him.
“You’d better actually be going back to sleep.” Nate’s lips curved upward.
…
The Marine Recruit Training Camp stood along one side of Marineford.
It was a closed military compound made up of several buildings and a number of broad training fields.
Long ago, before Zephyr became Chief Instructor, the place had been known as the Marine Academy.
After dropping off their luggage, most of the recruits quickly left in groups.
Once the brief commotion faded, the camp returned to silence.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Only a series of dull impacts continued to echo from one corner of the grounds.
Nate stood before an enormous block of iron that looked almost like a small hill.
His usual laziness and drowsiness had vanished completely.
His back was straight, his gaze sharp, and every trace of sleepiness had disappeared from his face.
Only now did the true vigor of a seventeen-year-old boy finally show itself.
He made no unnecessary movements.
He simply drove his fist into the iron block again and again.
No Haki.
No Six Powers.
Just one fully focused punch after another.
This time, Nate hadn’t entered the Dream World and left his body to train mechanically so that he could avoid the pain.
Because this was training for his will.
In this world, willpower wasn’t some vague concept.
It was a genuine form of strength.
Explosive growth brought on by overwhelming emotion wasn’t unreasonable here.
Having mastered Life Return, Nate understood that fact especially well.
No matter how powerful someone’s body or abilities became, without conviction and sufficiently powerful will, that person would ultimately remain weak.
Nate had never personally met Garp or Aokiji.
That didn’t stop him from imitating the way the two trained their fists.
There were no warships available in the training camp, so Nate had asked Instructor Zephyr to obtain this huge block of iron instead.
From that day onward, he punched it every single day without exception.
Every punch carried his complete attention.
Every punch carried his conviction.
The incredibly hard iron was already covered in deep fist-shaped dents.
They were fists filled with sincerity.
“Weren’t you going back to sleep?” A familiar voice came from behind him.
Ain stood with her arms crossed, quietly watching Nate’s back with a teasing smile in her voice.
Nate didn’t even turn around.
He acted as if he hadn’t heard her.
Ain didn’t care.
It wasn’t as though this was her first time watching him train.
“Hey, Nate.” Her tone gradually became more thoughtful.
“After this, it’ll probably be pretty hard for us to see each other again, won’t it?” Even those who remained at Marine Headquarters would be assigned under different officers.
And Nate wanted to go all the way to the New World.
“Hm?” Nate finally stopped punching.
He glanced back in surprise.
The change in him was immediately visible.
His straight posture relaxed, his sharp brows softened, and his eyelids drooped again.
“Ain, don’t tell me you’re about to give me some dramatic graduation confession.” His sleepy expression immediately became smug.
“If so, you’re being a little too delusional.” “Idiot.” Ain had long since grown accustomed to Nate’s narcissism, so she merely rolled her eyes.
Then the most popular girl among their class smiled, and a fiery look appeared in her eyes.
“It’s been a long time since we sparred, hasn’t it?” She stepped forward.
“Nate, show me just how big the gap between us has become.” Ever since Nate’s strength began pulling far ahead of everyone else’s, Zephyr had stopped arranging sparring matches between him and the other recruits.
The difference was simply too large.
There was no longer any point.
Instead, Zephyr usually had the camp’s other instructors fight Nate.
And as graduation drew closer, even that stopped being enough.
Zephyr eventually had to spar with Nate himself.
After all, the instructors stationed at a recruit camp were only so strong.
Truly capable Marine officers were normally serving on the front lines.
Nate lifted his eyelids slightly.
‘Was this woman always supposed to be this battle-crazy?’ A look of obvious disdain appeared on his handsome face.
“Ain, just because you can’t become my lover doesn’t mean you have to become my lifelong rival.” He sighed.
“I thought you had more self-awareness than that.” “Your mouth is every bit as annoying as ever.” Ain’s lips twitched.
“But Instructor Zephyr said it himself.
Set your sights on your goal, then keep working toward it.” She paused and stared into Nate’s lifeless-looking eyes.
“At the very least, I need to know where that goal actually stands.” “Oh?” Nate smiled and tilted his head.
“So you’ve made me your goal?” His smile grew slightly.
“That’s pretty arrogant of you, Ain.” “Which one of us is arrogant?” Ain rolled her eyes yet again before becoming serious.
“So?
What’s your answer?” Nate thought for a moment.
“I’ll give you one minute to show me what you’ve got.” “Stop looking down on me!” Ain moved instantly.
Two masses of pink, flame-like energy appeared above her palms.
With a sharp swing of both arms, she hurled them at Nate one after another.
Paramecia-type Return-Return Fruit.
Ain couldn’t yet turn someone back twelve full years in a single hit as easily as she would in the future.
But if Nate took two clean hits now, even he would be reduced to a small child.
Nate raised his right hand.
He flicked two fingers in rapid succession.
Tss!
Tss!
Two sharp sounds tore through the air.
Both pink energy spheres burst apart instantly.
“Flying Finger Pistol?” Ain wasn’t surprised in the slightest.
Her long legs suddenly tensed.
“Soru!” Her slender figure vanished.
In an instant, she appeared directly in front of Nate.
“Return!” Her palm, wrapped in pink flame-like energy, shot toward his chest.
Nate didn’t even lift his eyelids.
His body suddenly became soft like clay, his chest twisting sideways just enough for Ain’s palm to sweep harmlessly past.
Kami-e.
Ain immediately drew the two short swords at her waist.
Pink flames wrapped around both blades as she slashed, drawing two bright red trails through the air like venomous snakes lunging for their prey.
Her swordsmanship wasn’t bad.
She was simply too slow.
Nate didn’t even bother using Kami-e again.
He casually swayed left and right while stepping backward, effortlessly avoiding every slash Ain sent his way.
“That’s it?” Nate yawned.
Ain gritted her teeth.
‘Seriously?
I can’t even touch him?’ She suddenly crossed both blades and struck them together.
The pink flames around the swords erupted violently, spreading outward like an explosion and threatening to swallow Nate whole.
Nate raised an eyebrow.
‘Oh?
I haven’t seen this move before.’ “Soru.” A sharp line seemed to tear through the air.
Then that straight trajectory abruptly changed direction midway through.
Before the pink flames could spread, Nate was already standing behind Ain.
Her eyes widened sharply.
‘So fast!’ More importantly, ordinary Soru couldn’t change direction halfway through its movement.
‘Just how far has he developed the Six Powers?’ Ain let out a disappointed sigh.
“I lost.” The gap was even larger than she’d imagined.
‘If Nate actually wanted to attack, I probably couldn’t even survive one move.’ ‘As expected of—’ A sudden pain exploded across Ain’s backside.
“Huh?” Her entire body flew forward.
Still completely confused, she slammed face-first into the ground and slid across the training field, leaving a long, clean trail behind her.
“You didn’t seriously think surrendering meant I wouldn’t hit you, did you?” Nate had kicked the beautiful girl squarely in the rear without the slightest hesitation.
His sleepy voice followed her across the field.
“Congratulations.
You learned another lesson today.” He yawned.
“Don’t pick fights you can’t win.” “OW!!” Ain couldn’t even get up immediately.
She squirmed on the ground with one hand covering her face and the other arm held protectively against her chest.
“NATE!” The normally calm and mature Ain was now grinding her teeth in fury.
She might have been a Marine, but she was still a young woman who cared about her appearance.
He’d just sent her sliding across the ground face-first!
Yet when Ain turned around angrily, she suddenly froze.
Nate had already returned to the giant block of iron.
His lazy expression was gone once again.
Bang!
His fist struck the iron.
Then another.
And another.
“…” Ain fell silent.
‘That’s Nate.’ His mouth was more arrogant than anyone else’s.
But when it came to action, he worked harder than anyone too.
‘He deserves to be this strong.’ That was exactly why she’d always treated him as her goal.
And besides—Ain stared absentmindedly at Nate’s profile.
‘When he’s serious…
he’s actually pretty handsome.’ ‘If only he didn’t have a mouth.’ Her expression suddenly stiffened.
‘What am I thinking?!’ Ain slapped both cheeks.
‘Nate is already so much stronger than me, and he’s still training this hard.’ ‘If I keep slacking off, the gap will only get bigger!’ She jumped back to her feet and patted her still-warm cheeks.
‘If you’re training, then I’m training too!’ …