Queen's Classroom

Sirius ran until he collapsed from exhaustion several times in a row. King really was a man of his word—he had said he would make Sirius regret having such powerful recovery abilities, and he truly had.

He was tired. So, so tired.

As long as Sirius had food to eat, he possessed a virtually invincible recovery ability. Even when his stamina was utterly depleted, he could recover completely in the blink of an eye after eating enough food.

But only his stamina recovered. The suffering he endured while exhausting it was utterly real.

That kind of mental torment was no joke.

After several more rounds of sit-ups, Sirius's body was still full of energy, but his mind was already thoroughly exhausted. His eyes had turned dull and lifeless, like a dead fish's.

Still, this brutal training had not been without results. At the start of the day, Sirius had been nearly spent after running just over one lap around Onigashima. Now, he could manage around two laps before collapsing.

Part of it was because he had gradually adapted to the weights on his body and found his rhythm, but his stamina had indeed improved compared to before.

King nodded repeatedly as he watched, and the look in his eyes made Sirius shudder.

This guy is definitely thinking about raising the training intensity even further, isn't he? He's definitely still trying to come up with even more inhumane training methods, isn't he?

But Sirius was already too lazy to think of a way to change King's mind. It was impossible. That bastard's sadistic blood had completely boiled over.

A man was supposed to endure hardship in silence.

Sirius collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion once more, and King flew over as usual to feed him.

Sirius opened his mouth almost mechanically and swallowed the food. Then he rolled over and got back up, ready to continue running.

But King suddenly said, "You can stop now, kid."

At first, Sirius did not even react. He ran several more steps before turning around in astonishment and shooting King a questioning look, half-suspecting that he had misheard.

"Morning class is over."

King's voice remained calm as he turned and walked away. "Get ready for the next class."

"Sirius!"

A cheerful voice rang out. Sirius turned his head and saw Yamato and the other two hurrying over. There was even sauce still smeared at the corner of Yamato's mouth.

It looked like they had just finished eating.

"Is training over already?"

Yamato walked up to Sirius, glanced at King's distant back, and said regretfully, "What a shame. I wanted to train with Sirius."

Only then did Sirius finally confirm that the morning's devilish course was over. The tension in his mind instantly loosened. He dropped onto the ground, slowly removed the weights from his body, then simply lay down, staring blankly up at the sky and utterly ignoring Yamato's nonsense.

"Ah, he's completely burned out." Black Maria shook her head with a sigh. "Even if his stamina can recover endlessly, his mind will still wear down in the end."

"Poor Sirius."

A motherly sorrow appeared on the little girl's face, as though she had seen her own child collapse from exhaustion. She crouched down and took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from Sirius's face.

Sirius stared blankly at Maria's face. Sunlight shone from behind her, bathing her whole body in a halo of light. Sirius murmured, "An angel?"

"It's Maria," Maria said with a smile.

"Sirius! Get up already!"

Yamato's face leaned in as well. "We still have class to attend."

Sirius's eyes slowly shifted, focusing on Yamato's face. "Oh, is the angel followed by a demon?"

"It's Yamato!"

Yamato grabbed Sirius's hand and hauled him to his feet. "Uncle Queen is waiting for us."

"That's right, Sirius, cheer up!"

Jack earnestly encouraged Sirius as well. "Queen Brother's class is very important too!"

Sirius was ultimately dragged to his feet by Yamato. Without using his ability, he had no way to resist Yamato's monstrous strength.

Fine. Morning classes were academic lessons anyway. He could treat them as a break.

"Then let's go,"

Sirius said.

"Get down and walk by yourself!" Jack roared.

"Huh? When did that happen?" Sirius was startled. At some point, he had already jumped onto Jack's shoulder.

Then Sirius rubbed the bridge of his nose helplessly and plopped down onto Jack's shoulder. "Oh no, am I so tired that I'm confused? Then I guess I'll have to trouble you to carry me there, Jack."

"You're doing that on purpose!"

Jack shouted. Before he had even finished speaking, he felt something else land on his other shoulder. Turning his head, he saw Yamato standing there.

"You too?"

"Ha ha ha ha! Let's go!" Yamato swept her right hand forward, looking every bit like a pirate captain giving the order to set sail.

"All right, Jack, stop messing around and hurry up. Uncle Queen will get mad," Black Maria said with a smile.

Jack gave a muffled snort and trudged into Onigashima with his head down. Black Maria followed after him with a smile.

Queen's classroom was inside Onigashima. As the Beasts Pirates' foremost scientist, Queen had a vast laboratory area all to himself, and the classroom arranged for Sirius and the others was located there.

The four of them soon arrived outside a room.

Before they even opened the door, Sirius smelled a cloyingly sweet scent drifting from inside.

"Queen Brother, we're here!"

Jack raised a hand to open the door.

Sirius jumped down from his shoulder, and Yamato followed suit.

The door opened, and the cloying sweetness practically rushed into their faces.

"What have you brats been doing, munch munch? Do you know how painfully long I've been waiting, munch munch?"

Queen's mouth was stuffed full. He sat cross-legged on the floor with a huge iron bucket in his arms, scooping up whatever was inside with a spoon and continuously shoveling it into his mouth.

The cloying sweetness was coming from the bucket.

So what exactly had been painful about it? Wasn't he eating happily?

Sirius's nose twitched. It smelled delicious.

He edged closer hesitantly. He was not hungry right now, but having some dessert after a meal would not be bad, would it?

"Uncle Queen, what are you eating? It smells really good."

"Hm?"

Noticing Sirius approaching from the corner of his eye, Queen frowned. Then he actually lifted the huge iron bucket, opened his mouth wide, and began pouring its contents straight into it.

Realizing that his intentions had been completely seen through, Sirius said helplessly, "Come on, Uncle Queen. Do you really have to be that stingy?"

"Don't mess with me, brat!"

Queen set the huge iron bucket down, wiped his mouth, and said proudly, "All the Oshiruko is mine! I won't give up even a single drop!"

Do you know that it was exactly because of that attitude that Charlotte Linlin beat the hell out of you later?

Queen stood up and let out a satisfied burp. "All right, enough nonsense. Class starts now!"

Sirius was a little curious too. What exactly would Queen's Classroom teach?