Everyone was an adult, and all of them worked in the same profession, so many things passed with a few jokes and laughs. No one took them too seriously.
Momonga had "gotten his wish" and helped his goddess, taking a seat in the last row and becoming Kajiki's desk mate. Ortolan, meanwhile, directly inherited Momonga's legacy and dream, becoming Gion's desk mate.
But this was clearly not the time for conversation. Once Gion sat down, Admiral Zephyr tapped the podium and drew everyone's attention.
"I'm very pleased to see the Marines' finest still so full of life, sunshine, and joy," Zephyr said with a teasing smile.
The onlookers in the classroom all laughed, giving Admiral Zephyr the courtesy of playing along.
Besides, what had just happened really was rather funny.
"Being selected to join this first Officer Training Camp proves that all of you are outstanding among the Marines. I also hope that you outstanding people can put away your arrogance and return to being students here. This training camp has cost me a great deal of effort. I even called in favors to invite exceptional seniors to teach you regularly, including but not limited to Chief Staff Officer Tsuru, Vice Admiral Garp, Admiral Sengoku..." Zephyr said with a smile.
The moment he finished speaking, everyone grew excited.
Although the officers present were all among the best of their respective ranks in the Marines, their status was still rather low. They were merely field-grade officers, brigadier generals, and the like. Only someone with connections like Gion, through her relationship with Chief Staff Officer Tsuru, could regularly interact with big names like Sengoku and Garp and learn something from them.
Everyone else, Ortolan included, was just a small fry. Normally, let alone learning from those big shots, even meeting them was difficult. No Marine Admiral would regularly mingle with unrelated rear admirals and captains.
That alone showed just how valuable this training camp was. Including Zephyr himself, every instructor he had named would have been among the very best not only in the Marines, but in the entire world.
Zephyr then went over some more rules. They were basically the same as the regulations in Marine units, so no one had any questions. Ortolan generally understood them as well and had no objections.
Only then did Teacher Zephyr begin discussing the core curriculum.
"What qualities do you need to become an outstanding Marine commander?" Teacher Zephyr asked the trainees present.
"Strength. Powerful strength—the strength to destroy evil and restrain crime!" Onigumo immediately answered.
Zephyr nodded, and Hoshigaki spoke up next. "A broad perspective and strategic competence!"
"Justice and a sense of responsibility!"
"Caring for your subordinates..."
A whole pile of answers followed, and Zephyr nodded approvingly at all of them.
After a long while, once the classroom had quieted down, Zephyr continued, "Strength, military competence, a sense of justice, responsibility, and a broad perspective—these are all necessary, and they are what we will learn here!"
After a brief pause, Zephyr took out a course list and said, "As for strength, our upcoming courses will include, but are not limited to, swordsmanship, Haki, Body Techniques, and guidance in ability development. You may choose electives in areas you excel at or are interested in. Of course, if you believe you have plenty of energy and have already mastered some of the techniques, you may take all of them."
"Teacher Zephyr, then what counts as passing and graduating from these courses?" Momonga, seated in the last row, asked.
"There is no rigid standard. If I had to put it plainly, it depends on my own subjective judgment," Zephyr said frankly, stroking his chin.
In other words, if Teacher Zephyr thought you were inadequate, then you were inadequate. There was no official reason required!
It sounded rather unreasonable, but no one objected. That was simply the Marine way!
Zephyr then explained the differences between these subjects in greater detail. As for swordsmanship, the Marines had produced many Great Swordsmen over more than eight hundred years, all of whom had left behind the essence of their swordsmanship. The Marines also had many skilled swordsmen. It could even be said that, because senior Marine officers traditionally wore command sabers, basically every officer from rear admiral upward knew at least some swordsmanship!
However, as Ortolan remembered it, there were many swordsmen in the later Marines, but seemingly few top-tier Great Swordsmen?
Borsalino probably counted as one. He had fought Rayleigh with swordsmanship without falling behind, though the brilliance of his strength was mainly displayed through his Devil Fruit ability. Gion probably counted as one too. As for the rest, Ortolan did not remember much.
Other than swordsmanship, there was Haki. There was not much to say about it; it was no different from other forces. Its classifications were what they were, and there were no particular schools or styles.
Then came Body Techniques. Among them, the most noteworthy was the Marines' foundational training method—the Marine Six Powers!
That was right. The powerful Marine Six Powers were, in Zephyr's words, merely a "foundational training method." The purpose of training in the Six Powers was to allow practitioners to continually deepen their control over their own bodies through them!
That was the true focus. Things like Soru, Geppo, and Shigan were merely flashy offshoots.
Only by thoroughly mastering the Six Powers, gaining control over things humans ordinarily could not consciously control—such as their hair and blood—and achieving complete control over one's body, reaching the realm of a true "superhuman," could one grasp the core of this training.
Only by reaching that level could one possess a greater advantage than ordinary people in more advanced techniques such as Haki!
The Marine Six Powers could be called basic Marine teaching material, so they were widely taught. As a result, quite a bit of it had spread outside the Marines, and its secrecy was not particularly high. Some pirates even knew a move or two!
Yet the Marines had never cared much about that. It did not matter if it spread, because things like Shigan and Geppo were not the core. The core lay in advanced techniques such as unifying the Six Powers and Life Return, which unified mind, body, and technique—profound techniques for complete mastery over the body!
As for ability development after Body Techniques, the Marines had a vast population, many Devil Fruit users, and a long history. They had accumulated countless experiences and key points regarding ability development. Basically, for every recorded Devil Fruit ability, one could find relevant development and training records within the Marines. It was that exaggerated!
Ortolan asked a question during this part: did the Marines have any relevant experience with his Goro Goro no Mi?
Teacher Zephyr confidently told Ortolan that, across the Marines' history of more than eight hundred years, including Ortolan, there had been three Goro Goro no Mi users. The first two had both left behind relevant training and development notes. The most recent had been the strongest person at sea two hundred years ago, once a Marine Admiral, known as the White Night Yaksha. If Ortolan was interested, he could apply to study their development notes later.
At that moment, Ortolan finally understood the depth of the Marines' foundation!
No ordinary force could possibly compare. Whether it was Shiki's pirate crew, the Big Mom Pirates, or even the Whitebeard Pirates, who would later be said to have dominated an entire era of the New World, none of them could compare to the Marines in terms of foundation!
It was fundamentally impossible for Ortolan to obtain Goro Goro no Mi development manuals or notes from them to use as references. That was the gap in foundation!
"Although strength is important, we do not focus solely on strength. Every subject has its fixed score. Later, there will also be scores for academic subjects such as tactics, strategy, military competence, navigation knowledge, and more. In fact, as long as you accumulate enough points for me to approve your graduation, even if you are utterly powerless in combat, I can still approve your graduation, award you the appropriate rank, and recommend you to a suitable department!" Zephyr emphasized again.
Graduation here was based on a credit system, not a fixed number of years. As long as you had enough credits, you could graduate quickly. There were also no mandatory credit requirements, such as having to reach a certain score in a particular subject. Even if you were hopeless in combat, you could still graduate if you understood astronomy and geography, with exceptionally high military competence and strategic ability!
Likewise, even if you could not read a single word and were merely a rash brute, as long as you were extremely strong and could earn enough credits, you could still graduate through martial strength!
In Admiral Zephyr's view, whether someone excelled at fighting or academics, they were both talents for the Marines, and both had positions suited to them!
Teaching according to aptitude and cultivating outstanding officers and commanders in every field—this was Zephyr's original purpose in founding the Officer Training Camp!
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