Looking at the sincere face of Lucas, Gion said, “I don’t want to lie to you.
You are a bit old, and although you have exercised, your foundation is not outstanding due to malnutrition.”
Gion was being very tactful; in reality, it wasn’t just that Lucas’s foundation wasn’t outstanding—years of malnutrition had left Lucas with a very poor foundation.
Upon hearing this, Lucas said, “There are many things in this world that can increase one’s foundation, for example…
a Devil Fruit.”
As he spoke, Lucas spread his hands, and two green vines sprouted from them.
“A Devil Fruit?” Gion was somewhat surprised.
Yesterday, this kid hadn’t revealed that he was a Devil Fruit user.
“Little Lucas, why do you want to join the Marine?” At this moment, Tsuru’s voice came over.
It was now the ninth year since Roger’s execution, which was the year 1507 of the Sea Circle Calendar.
Tsuru was not very old, and the protagonist, Luffy, had only been born four years ago.
Therefore, Tsuru was not as aged as she would be in over a decade, but she was already beginning to show signs of aging.
“Once you have walked through those desperate days in life, the light is not far away!
I believe my light lies within the Marine.” Lucas said with a smile, but deep in his eyes, he hid a profound killing intent—a killing intent directed at pirates.
“As a Devil Fruit user, I can give you this opportunity.
Gion, from today on, you will train him.” Tsuru said, looking deeply at Lucas, the black-haired boy, before turning and walking toward the cabin.
When she rescued Lucas, she had seen the mark of a slave on his body.
The equally resourceful Tsuru had also discerned the killing intent that Lucas was trying so hard to hide.
This child has a very strong hatred for pirates, which is good, but this child’s background still needs to be investigated.
Tsuru thought to herself.
“Alright, kid, I’m going to start training you now.
Let’s start with the most basic exercises: running laps!” Gion said, rubbing Lucas’s head.
At this moment, Gion was still quite gentle, but her attitude changed very quickly.
“Lucas, faster!
Are you trash?
You’re already worn out after running twenty laps around the deck?
Hurry up!
You want to be a Marine with that kind of performance?”
Listening to Gion’s reprimand, Lucas just lowered his head and continued to run.
At this moment, Lucas felt his heart pounding wildly, and his lungs were aching faintly.
But Lucas followed one principle: if running won’t kill you, then keep running.
“Faster, faster!
You’re slowing down!
Two more laps and that’ll be forty.
Your task for today is fifty laps.
Hurry up!” Gion urged Lucas constantly.
When he reached the 49th lap around the massive warship, Lucas could no longer see things clearly; everything was just a blur.
But he kept running until he collapsed headlong onto the deck, unable to get up again.
Looking at Lucas, who was exhausted to the point of fainting, Gion was very satisfied.
This was a seedling who knew how to work hard.
With this kind of effort, even if his natural talent wasn’t great, it wouldn’t be a problem for him to become a low-to-mid-level officer in the future.
Tsuru, standing in the cabin, was also quietly watching Lucas’s training.
She highly approved of this passion, but she wondered how long this passion could last.
I hope you don’t just have a three-minute enthusiasm, Lucas!
Lucas was tired, super tired, but this exhaustion made him feel very exhilarated.
Because, previously on the slave ship, even if he wanted to exercise, he could only do it secretly.
On the slave ship, he was the lowest-ranking servant, branded with the mark of a slave, and had absolutely no right to train.
At lunchtime, looking at the big fish and meat in front of him, Lucas began to eat voraciously, eating and eating until he was full up to his throat.
In the afternoon, Lucas consciously began to train again.
Gion had arranged for him to run laps again, still fifty laps.
The next day, just as the sky brightened, Tsuru and Gion saw a figure running continuously on the deck—it was Lucas.
This time, Lucas didn’t count the laps; he just kept running until he collapsed limply onto the deck.
“Hardworking child.
Gion, how long do you think he can persist?” Tsuru asked, watching Lucas running.
“Few people can persist with this kind of high-intensity training for more than ten days.
Moreover, Lucas’s body is too malnourished; I’m afraid he won’t be able to withstand this continuous high-intensity training,” Gion said.
“If he can persist for ten days, I will take him to Marineford and hand him over to Zephyr,” Tsuru said.
Three days, four days, five days…
when the fifth day arrived, Lucas, who was enduring continuous high-intensity training, felt his heart suddenly stop.
In that instant, he felt like he was going to die.
But immediately after, a surge of power erupted from his heart, causing strength to well up in his body once again.
Lucas saw that on his attribute panel, under the Physical Fitness category, two corners of the originally white pentagram had turned black.
In fact, by the third day of Lucas’s training, Gion had begun to worry about Lucas’s body.
However, every time Lucas was exhausted like a dead dog, he would be lively and energetic the next day.
This was because his Devil Fruit ability, the Forest-Forest Fruit, possessed a Photosynthesis Ability similar to photosynthesis.
It could provide Lucas with super-strong physical recovery and vitality, and as his body became stronger, this recovery would also become increasingly powerful.
This was just the passive ability.
When one day Lucas fully developed this ability, he would even be able to heal others’ injuries.
Furthermore, Lucas did not know that as the Photosynthesis Ability continuously strengthened, it was slowly changing his body, constantly improving his aptitude.
This was still the first stage of the Photosynthesis Ability.
The second stage of the Photosynthesis Ability would continuously enhance his physical strength, as well as the strength of the plants he manipulated.
However, the Photosynthesis Ability also had a weakness: on cloudy days or at night, the Photosynthesis Ability would significantly weaken or even disappear.
By now, five days had passed, and Lucas had become a spectacle on the warship.
Many Marine soldiers would watch Lucas running after waking up, watching him break his limits time and again: 50 laps, 60 laps, 80 laps, and finally 100 laps.
(These are the laps around the warship.)
Thirteen days later, Tsuru’s warship arrived at the Marine headquarters, Marineford.
At the same time, a background investigation report on Lucas was delivered to Vice Admiral Tsuru.
It contained a detailed investigation based on the life story Lucas had told, and the investigation found no instances where Lucas had lied.
This was a child with a clean background.
What does it mean to have a clean background?
It means his parents were both deceased and he had no pirate background; that is a clean background.
Having understood Lucas’s identity, Tsuru prepared to recommend Lucas to Zephyr, who was responsible for teaching the recruits.
However, the enrollment for the triennial Marine Academy was still over a month away.
Lucas could only enroll in this batch, and this batch was one where talent abounded.
Vergo, Smoker, and Hina all came from this batch.