The Girl Named "Gion"

Wearing a white uniform with blue trim, Wood stood among the ranks, enduring the scorching sunlight like everyone else.

After entering the Marine Academy in Marineford, Wood had initially thought he would be able to start training in the Six Styles right away.

However, it turned out that he had been thinking too much...

To master the Six Styles, every aspect of one's physical body had to reach superhuman standards before one even qualified to begin training.

Thanks to his first life simulation, Wood had gained considerable swordsmanship cultivation. However, swordsmanship was swordsmanship, and it was completely unrelated to physical constitution.

Although more than a year of physical training on Maple Leaf Island had made Wood's physique stronger than most people's, he was still far, far from meeting the requirements for training in the Six Styles.

Moreover, what the Marines had to learn was not limited to the Six Styles. In fact, that was already a course for those nearing graduation.

Swords, rifles, cannons, sailing ships, and basic navigational knowledge—all of these were fundamental courses that Marines had to master.

When fighting on the sea, ships were the primary means of transportation, so learning how to steer was extremely important.

As for rifles and cannons, which were the primary means of combat at sea, an honorable Marine soldier also had to learn how to use them skillfully.

What? You think Marine officers did not need to fire cannons themselves? Regardless of who they were, everyone who had just graduated from here started out as a raw recruit.

In other words, even Akainu and Aokiji had gone through the stage of charging into crowds with rifles in hand.

New recruits of different skill levels were assigned to different classes, and those with excellent results could graduate from here earlier.

Wood was quite lucky. He had performed excellently in cold-weapon training, and the instructor had approved him to stop wasting time on that course and only complete his routine training tasks.

Meanwhile, some unlucky fellows next door no longer needed to eat every day because they could not swim. They were already full from drinking water.

To become a Marine, it was all right if one could not master every other skill, but swimming had to be mastered.

If a Marine could not even swim, would that not be a complete joke?

"Hold out, all of you! Can't you overcome even this little difficulty?

"Whether you're using rifles or cannons to snipe enemies, a calm state of mind and the ability to adapt to your surroundings are essential!

"You never know whether the warship you're on will be hit by the enemy's attack first. When faced with chaos and harsh conditions, are you just going to give up fighting back?"

A Marine wearing a Marine cloak and holding the rank of captain stood before Wood and the other recruits, delivering his speech with passionate fervor.

The reason Wood and the others were being scorched under the sun was precisely what the Captain Instructor had said: to help them better adapt to all kinds of harsh environments.

Prolonged exposure to intense sunlight could indeed weaken a person's willpower and affect the brain to some extent.

After standing there for nearly half a day, several physically weaker unlucky fellows had already collapsed from the scorching sun and been carried away.

Apparently feeling that the time was right, the captain finally had someone bring out a row of targets and had Wood and the others step forward to fire one row after another.

They had learned the basics of firearm use several days earlier, and Wood had already more or less mastered them.

Wood had not paid much attention to the firearms of the Pirate World. Because their equipment was too outdated, he felt that these weapons were not very practical in battle.

The sheer hassle of loading them made Wood feel extremely insecure. There was a reason cold weapons had not yet been eliminated despite the emergence of firearms.

While you were loading the weapon and pulling back the safety, the enemy would already have rushed over and swung a blade at your forehead.

"Raise your rifles! Fire!"

With the Captain Instructor's shouted command, a disorderly volley of gunfire rang out across the field.

In a ten-person firing line, only half managed to fire on time. The other five were still basically stuffing gunpowder and bullets into their barrels.

As for the five who had successfully fired, their shooting results made the Captain Instructor shake his head repeatedly.

Each person fired three shots. Not one of the five had managed to hit their own target with all three shots. Three of them had hit the edges of their targets once.

Of the other two, one missed all three shots, while the other had hit the target twice—but it had been other people's targets.

And the person who had hit other people's targets was Wood himself...

There was not much wrong with that. His results were poor, but among the ten people, they had at least squeezed into the top five, hadn't they?

"Wood, successful firing, three shots off target. Result: lower-middle."

"Gion, successful firing, three shots off target. Result: lower-lower."

As the Captain Instructor announced the results, apart from the two other fellows who had successfully hit their targets, Wood had earned the impressive rank of fourth.

As for the other new recruit who had missed all three shots like Wood, she was surprisingly a woman, and she had placed fifth.

"Instructor, I have a question. Since we both missed all three shots, why is his result ranked above mine?"

The girl named Gion was slightly older than Wood. However, because people in this world generally matured early, her figure had already developed into a tall, strikingly curvaceous form.

At this moment, the beautiful girl, who seemed to be all legs below the neck, was clearly quite dissatisfied with the instructor's announced results and voiced her objection.

Hearing that someone actually dared to question his judgment, the Captain Instructor immediately prepared to launch into a harsh reprimand. But when he saw the girl's information sheet in his hand, he ultimately suppressed his displeasure and explained the reason.

There was no other reason. The girl had actually been recommended for admission by Vice Admiral Tsuru. Moreover, the girl named Gion had achieved exceptional results in both theory and every other category.

Setting aside the possibility that she had a powerful background, teachers generally did treat poor students and top students differently.

"Although both of you missed all three shots, Wood at least hit your target, while your bullets went far too far astray.

"Furthermore, when firing, Wood was also slightly faster than you. Taking everything into consideration, there's nothing wrong with his result being above yours."

According to the Captain Instructor's analysis, if pirates charged over in a group, Wood might not be able to hit his intended target accurately, but he could at least hit some other unfortunate fellow nearby.

As for Gion, aside from wasting ammunition, she had accomplished absolutely nothing.

His analysis was reasonable and well-founded, leaving Gion unable to find any grounds for rebuttal.

However, because of this incident, Gion remembered Wood. The girl believed that if Wood had not hit her target, she might have hit it herself.

This line of reasoning was almost completely illogical, but it had to be said that a proud girl could sometimes be this unreasonable...