Morning Training

"Wow, Sirius, that was amazing!"

Black Maria watched Sirius pin Jack to the ground and murmured in awe.

Black Maria knew Jack was strong. Although he was no match for Yamato, who had inherited Mr. Kaido's bloodline, he was still far stronger than she was.

Yet before Sirius, he had been completely unable to fight back.

"Yay! Sirius won!"

Yamato threw her hands high in the air and cheered. "That was incredible!"

She looked even more excited than if she had won herself.

Aside from his sharp fangs and fiery venom, he also possessed such astonishing brute strength?

King watched Sirius effortlessly suppress Jack and pondered inwardly.

As expected of a Mythical Zoan. What an incredible ability.

As he thought, King said, "You won, Sirius. Let Jack go."

Sirius took two steps back, his body shrinking as he quickly returned to human form. Grinning, he said to Jack, who was still lying on the ground and had also reverted to human form,

"Well, Jack? What do you think of my strength?"

Jack looked somewhat dejected at first, but it quickly turned into excitement. He climbed to his feet and said eagerly, "You're amazing, Sirius! Boss Kaido really has a keen eye! You really do have the potential to become the Third Calamity!"

Seriously, how did that get dragged back to Uncle Kaido?

Sirius twitched his lips, nearly rendered speechless.

"Sirius! You really are amazing!"

Yamato ran over happily and curiously reached out to squeeze Sirius's little arm. "You're so strong!"

Sirius laughed. "It's just that my ability is pretty powerful."

That overwhelming strength naturally came from his Devil Fruit Ability as well.

The Fenrir of myth possessed strength beyond even the gods. The gods had twice tried to bind it with divine chains, only for Fenrir to break free with ease. It was not until they used the dwarf-forged chain Gleipnir that Fenrir was completely restrained.

Sirius had naturally inherited that astonishing brute strength as well.

"Don't say something so stupid, Sirius!"

King said coldly, "A win is a win, and a loss is a loss. There are no excuses! Do you think saying that will make Jack happy?"

Sirius looked at Jack.

The boy said loudly, "Brother King is right! A loss is a loss! It only means I'm not skilled enough and need to become stronger!"

Wow, what impressive resolve.

Before Sirius could say anything, King spoke with a faintly teasing tone. "Still, your words weren't entirely useless. At least you recognized one thing: aside from your ability, there's really nothing special about you."

"That's too harsh, Uncle King."

Sirius raised a hand and brushed back his bangs. "Maria said I'm especially cute."

"Enough nonsense!"

King's voice suddenly sank. "It doesn't matter if there's nothing special about you. I'll make you special!"

"The warm-up is over. Morning training officially begins. Everyone, no abilities allowed. Before breakfast, run five laps around Onigashima at full speed!"

"Five laps?"

Sirius wondered if he had misheard.

Although Onigashima was a small island, it was by no means tiny. A lap being ten kilometers wouldn't be strange at all!

Five laps would mean dozens of kilometers!

And he called this morning training?

"Hahaha, let's go!"

Yamato laughed heartily, grabbed Sirius's hand, and happily ran forward. "Charge, Sirius!"

"Wait for me, Yamato."

Black Maria followed with a smile.

"I'm running ten laps today!"

Jack, who had been utterly defeated in the previous battle, was fired up.

Yamato dragged Sirius out through Onigashima's gates in a flash and began running around the enormous Skull Head.

King transformed into a massive Pteranodon, flapped his wings, and flew overhead as he followed them.

Their little legs pumped rapidly, and the group ran at high speed.

As Sirius ran, he observed his companions. Jack's face was full of determination, while Black Maria looked calm. Yamato was the most unusual—she seemed downright delighted.

It was as though they were all used to this.

So they did this every morning?

"Faster, faster!"

Yamato said with a grin, "I want to eat breakfast early today!"

Faster still?

Sirius's mind went blank. They were already moving incredibly fast, and he was starting to get tired. They had not even finished the first lap yet!

But Yamato had no idea what Sirius was thinking. She simply sped up on her own, running forward like the wind.

"Don't think you can shake me off!"

Jack roared and quickly followed her.

Only Black Maria stayed beside Sirius, comforting him. "That's just how Yamato is. It's fine to go slower."

Sirius looked at her gratefully. Maria was the only one who knew how to care for people.

"Are you snails? I said full speed! Pick it up!"

King's cold snort suddenly came from the sky. With a flap of his wings, two Wind Blades fell from above and carved two deep trenches into the road behind Sirius and Black Maria.

Didn't she say it was fine to go slower?

Sirius felt a chill down his back, as if his pants had nearly been sliced open.

"Eek! Mr. King is angry!"

Maria cried out. "Hurry up, Sirius!"

As she spoke, she had already picked up her pace and chased after Jack and Yamato.

"Sirius! What are you standing around for? Are you worse than a woman?" King shouted again.

If you said that in my previous life, you'd get punched for it.

Sirius had no choice but to accelerate and charge ahead.

One lap, two laps. They were already more than halfway through the third lap, and more than halfway through the total morning training distance.

"Pant... pant... pant..."

Sirius gasped heavily, sweat already soaking through his clothes.

Every breath felt as if his lungs were about to burst, while his legs had long since gone weak and sore. Every step felt like his legs were about to fly off.

So tired.

So tired.

I'm going to die.

Neither in his previous life nor this one had Sirius ever experienced exercise this intense.

Even during the year on Desert Island, his ability had let him crush his opponents with ease, leaving no beast able to stand in his way.

Making him suddenly run dozens of kilometers at high speed was simply too much.

At the end of the day, this wasn't something a six-year-old should be expected to do!

Sirius's vision began to blur. The sounds around him seemed to fade away, his steps became unsteady, and his body swayed.

Was he at his limit?

King shook his head almost imperceptibly from the sky.

With his ability included, he was indeed strong. But he was ultimately just a brat who had yet to undergo systematic training. Making it this far was already quite impressive.

Sirius's body swayed, and his vision went dark as he pitched forward.

But Sirius did not feel any pain. He landed on something soft.

"Can't run anymore, Sirius?"

Yamato's worried voice sounded by his ear.

Sirius struggled to open his eyes and realized that he was lying on Yamato's back. The little girl turned her head and looked at him worriedly.

Beside them, the panting Black Maria and Jack had stopped as well. Black Maria sadly reached out and rubbed Sirius's head.

"There's no need to be upset, Sirius. When Jack first started, he couldn't even finish two laps."

Jack's face darkened. "You've got the nerve to talk about me? You idiot, you couldn't even move after one lap!"

"It's okay!"

Yamato grinned and pulled Sirius more firmly onto her back, reaching behind herself to hold his legs. "Since you can't run anymore, I'll carry you for the rest of the course!"

This was way too humiliating!

"Yamato, put him down!" King said coldly from the sky.

"No!"

Yamato shouted stubbornly, "Sirius is my companion! How can I just ignore him as his companion?"

Listening to the two of them argue, Sirius took a deep breath. This was so embarrassing.

Forcing himself to overcome the dizziness, Sirius lifted his head and shouted, "Uncle King, can I eat something first? I'm starving to death!"

"Hm?"

King was somewhat surprised. He could not even stand up, yet he still wanted to eat?

"Muahahahaha! Don't be so heartless, King!"

Laughter came from the side.

Everyone turned their heads. They had apparently finished the third lap and returned to the gates of Onigashima, where another Calamity, Queen, was strolling out with a grin.

He clapped his hands, and several Beasts pirates quickly carried over a large pot filled with all kinds of food.

"Kid! Eat as much as you can!"

Queen laughed loudly. "But I should warn you first, in your current condition, you'd better not eat—eh?!"

Queen's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

He watched Sirius's head instantly turn into a wolf's head, his mouth opening wide.

Truly wide—wider than the pot itself. He swallowed the entire pot in one bite.

After chewing casually a few times, Sirius swallowed all the food.

"H-He finished it?"

Jack stared in disbelief. How afraid was he that someone would steal his food? He had swallowed the whole pot too!

The moment the food entered his stomach, Sirius's pale face instantly regained its color. He leaped off Yamato's back, raised both clenched fists, and shouted energetically,

"I'm revived!!"

"Huh??"

Queen's mouth fell open. "What kind of logic is that?!"

Delight flashed in King's eyes. "He actually has an ability like that too?"

"Sirius, you recovered?"

Even Yamato looked astonished.

"Yeah! Once my stomach is full, my strength comes back too!"

Sirius laughed loudly, spun around, and took the lead in running again. "Let's settle this, Yamato!"

"Wah! Sirius, that's so sneaky! You started running without warning!"

Yamato cried out and hurried after him. "But I won't lose!"

"Hey, wait for us! Don't run so fast!"

Jack and Black Maria hurriedly chased after them.