Six Powers and Combat Internship

The Six Powers were interconnected as well. Arranging the learning order properly could save a great deal of effort.

Soru was something like a prerequisite for Geppo. Once he had begun learning Soru, he could practice Geppo later.

Strictly speaking, Tempest Kick was not a kicking technique, but an ability that used the legs to unleash attacks similar to slashes. It could supplement Wright's offense whenever his close-combat weapons were restricted.

As a swordsman capable of Flying Slashes, the Tempest Kicks Wright unleashed with legs coated in Armament Haki were no weaker than ordinary sword slashes. They made an excellent addition to his close-range fighting.

As for Paper Drawing, its essence lay in control over the body. Wright's purpose in learning it was to combine it with mental cultivation and Holy Light Power, advancing further so that he could quickly master the miraculous physical technique known as Life Return—

Everyone knew there were actually seven Marine Six Powers—

It allowed one to freely control their body, hair, and internal organs by infusing them with consciousness. It was not merely a divine combat technique; it was even more useful for disguise, infiltration, reconnaissance, and the like—after all, everyone had times when they wanted to hide their identity, right...

Over the next several days, Zephyr arranged for the squad members to spar with one another and practice the Six Powers. As for Wright... Zephyr naturally had to personally beat him up... train him. Thus, at the elite training grounds, the other members happily sparred with each other while enjoying the sight of Teacher Zephyr putting Wright through all kinds of punishment.

Practicing the Six Powers greatly affected Wright's combat ability, forcing him to readjust to many of his fighting methods. The fastest way to adapt was through combat, and fighting a top-tier powerhouse like Zephyr accelerated the process immensely. The price was that Wright's Holy Light Power could not even last until the end of training because it was used to heal his injuries!

Another two months passed. Under Zephyr's guidance and through high-intensity sparring, the Elite Squad had basically mastered varying numbers of Six Powers techniques and worked to incorporate them into their own fighting styles according to their individual strengths.

As for Wright, through his high-intensity sparring with Zephyr, he had already integrated the Six Powers into his fighting style. He had even developed new moves, and his combat strength soared.

The day of the combat internship Zephyr had mentioned was drawing near. The so-called combat internship meant that Chief Instructor Zephyr would lead all the Training Camp students aboard a warship into the Grand Line to truly take part in wiping out pirates.

Most students at the New Marine Recruit Camp came from the Four Seas branches. Due to their own limitations in strength, students from Marine Headquarters were not much stronger than those from the Four Seas branches, aside from possessing far broader horizons. Thus, their experience fighting pirates was extremely limited, and most had only faced pirates with relatively low bounties.

Even though it was only Paradise, the first half of the Grand Line, it was vastly different from the Four Seas. Many pirates who ruled supreme in the Four Seas met their downfall in the first half of the Grand Line. Some had no choice but to retreat to the Four Seas, while even more never had the chance to retreat and were buried beneath the sea. Those who could reach the Sabaody Archipelago intact were elites, and those who could successfully enter the New World from the Sabaody Archipelago were elites among elites.

The warship led by Zephyr was targeting these pirate crews near the middle stretch of the Grand Line, whose strength was generally at the elite level.

Aside from the ordinary Marines needed to keep the Trainee Warship running, its combat personnel consisted of over fifty Training Camp students, the ten members of the Elite Squad, and Admiral Zephyr as insurance. Of the two commodore instructors, one remained at headquarters to stay in contact with the warship, while the other was aboard to record each student's performance.

Five months had passed. The Elite Squad had basically mastered differing numbers of Six Powers techniques, but the ordinary students were not so fortunate. They had to fight bravely and earn merits during the combat internship before they would be permitted to learn the Six Powers. Therefore, for the past five months, they had focused on foundational training to build up their bodies for learning the Six Powers.

"Ah—finally, we get to fight for real!" Wright could not help growing excited. Back when he was a Pirate Hunter in the East Blue, he would seek out pirate crews to fight after training for at most one or two months. His combat experience was on an entirely different level from these "recruits" from the Training Camp, who had merely followed their superiors aboard warships from Marine branches to wipe out pirates.

"Wright, I heard you used to be a Pirate Hunter in the East Blue and practically slaughtered your way through the entire East Blue?" Smoker was from the Grand Line, while Rosinante had grown up at Marine Headquarters. Neither knew much about Wright's past—Wright's information had previously only been known by officers above the field officer rank at headquarters, and most of them considered it exaggerated rumor. Only Garp had taken it seriously. Even if Wright had not come to him of his own accord, Garp had planned to find Wright and observe him.

Given Wright's reputation in the East Blue, although there were few students from the East Blue in the Training Camp, every one of them had heard Wright's name. To Wright, this combat internship only meant a higher level of combat intensity; he felt none of the nervousness of directly facing pirates.

"Mm... saying I slaughtered my way through it is a bit exaggerated, but in three years, fewer than five pirate crews managed to enter the Grand Line while I was hunting them down!" Wright thought for a moment, then added, "There weren't many pirate crews in the East Blue worth mentioning. They were basically just mobs."

"But even these mobs, if allowed to plunder and kill freely, could cause no less destruction than those powerful pirate crews—their numbers are simply too great!" Wright said gravely. "Ever since Pirate King Roger was executed, even the weakest East Blue has seen an unknown number of new pirates every year. They're spreading like mad!"

"As expected of Wright. You're really dependable," Rosinante said admiringly. Smoker, who had a cigar clenched between his teeth, frowned. "Then... during the half year you've been away from the East Blue, those pirates will probably... Could your departure even cause them to become more ruthless in harming civilians?"

Wright smiled. "There's no need to worry about that. When I came to headquarters with Vice Admiral Garp, I asked him about it."

"Vice Admiral Garp said that the East Blue was the Symbol of Peace created by the Marines. In recent years, even without me hunting pirates everywhere, headquarters had been systematically increasing troop deployments to the East Blue for suppression. My presence... apparently allowed headquarters to act more calmly and make fuller preparations. After Vice Admiral Garp brought me back to headquarters, he had already ordered every East Blue branch to prepare for war with all their strength."

"As expected of the 'Hero' Vice Admiral Garp!" As a firm advocate of martial strength, Smoker naturally admired Garp greatly and immediately praised him.

Wright merely curled his lip. "That unreliable old man couldn't possibly have thought of all that. If you ask me, Admiral Sengoku must be the one handling this. Old Man Garp merely gave the order, since he came from the East Blue."

Thinking of Vice Admiral Garp's casual personality, Smoker could not help covering his forehead and exhaling a cloud of smoke. Rosinante, meanwhile, chuckled. Calling Vice Admiral Garp an "unreliable old man"—Wright truly was... unusual.

He had heard that Wright had received a variety of lessons aboard Vice Admiral Garp's warship when he came to headquarters. Now, it seemed that was indeed true. Mm.