Training

Elsewhere.

After getting off the ship, Aokiji went to Sengoku's office and began reporting on the completion of the mission, as well as the unexpected good news concerning Dawn.

"How was it? Did you find the child Yukimura mentioned?"

Sengoku sat behind his desk, constantly flipping through documents with one hand while casually eating a rice cracker with the other.

He did not ask whether the pirates had been wiped out. Since Aokiji had gone, there was naturally no chance of failure. That was his trust in the strength of the next Admiral!

In Sengoku's eyes, it was even just a trivial matter. Information about those pirate scum was not nearly as important as the situation of a single child.

"Yeah, I found him. He's a promising one. Using the training methods he saw on the ship before, he trained like mad on the Boin Archipelago so he wouldn't get fat and eaten.

He's now completed the preliminary foundation for Shave." Aokiji lounged lazily on the sofa nearby.

"Oh? That alone shouldn't be enough to make you come report to me the moment you arrived, right?" Sengoku's eyes lit up. With a quick turn of thought, he thoroughly understood Aokiji's intentions.

"Ah-ha." Aokiji raised a hand to his mouth and yawned. "Nothing can ever be hidden from you, Mr. Sengoku."

"Besides constantly eating on the island and practicing the Marine Six Powers training methods, that kid also accidentally ate a Devil Fruit." Aokiji's mood visibly improved as he said this.

"Oh? Sounds like quite a pleasant surprise. A big gain?" Hearing the change in Aokiji's tone, Sengoku's interest was instantly piqued.

"Of course."

Since Yukimura had already completed his mission, he was considered to be on leave after returning to headquarters, so he acted as Dawn's guide.

They first settled Dawn's accommodations. There were many vacant dormitories near the training grounds, and Dawn simply picked an empty room.

After all, he had no luggage, and the training camp provided food and lodging for free. If he needed anything, he could apply for it. Everything was quite convenient.

He had managed to live when he had nothing at Stomach Baron. At least this place had a bed. Dawn was already very satisfied with that.

He slept soundly in bed, and when Dawn woke the next day, he was still somewhat dazed.

He had really left that deserted island.

With that strangely amusing sense of unreality lingering in him, Dawn finished breakfast with Yukimura and followed him to the training grounds.

Upon entering the training camp, Dawn saw only one familiar face there: Hina.

He did not see that troublemaker Smoker.

Smoker was about nine or ten years old at this point. He should still have been in Loguetown, and likely only chose to join the Marines after seeing Roger's execution.

At the training grounds, Hina was the only character Dawn knew. Their ages were close, so Dawn was assigned to the same class as her.

Although the sudden arrival of a new companion had aroused the curiosity of the little brats on the field, none of them dared stop because of the instructor's roar. Instead, they began running for their lives.

For the moment, they had no time to look at Dawn, the new kid.

After saying goodbye to Yukimura and listening to the instructor's brief words of warning, Dawn joined the mass of runners and started jogging with ease.

Simple running like this was merely a warm-up for Dawn. Back on the Boin Archipelago, he had run with every ounce of strength he had.

After all, he had truly been running for his life. With huge, vicious sea beasts chasing behind him, how could he not run like his life depended on it?

Over the course of that day, besides physical training, Dawn also encountered shooting lessons and swordsmanship classes.

The training courses were interspersed with language and writing classes, navigation theory, and even survival skills for shipwrecks at sea.

Those interspersed academic classes might have seemed boring to the other children, perhaps even serving as rest time after training, but Dawn did not see them that way.

As an adult who had survived on a Desolate Island, Dawn knew exactly how terrifying the seas of this world were, and he understood the importance of such knowledge.

He did not need to become a professional navigator, but at the very least, he would not be left completely bewildered when faced with an emergency.

Besides, as a transmigrator, it would be ridiculous if he became illiterate after arriving in another world. Though this child seemed to have learned some things before, his education had been incomplete.

As for the children around him, most of them had yet to recover from physical training and were hopelessly absorbed in sleep. Where would they find the energy to listen to these boring academic lessons?

But that also had one advantage: it saved Dawn the trouble of screening people to befriend.

Those who still had the energy to listen in class or play energetically at their desks were all handling the training with ease.

At the very least, with talent far beyond ordinary people, their future achievements would not be low. They would surely have a place in the future Marines, becoming at minimum mid-to-high-ranking Marine officers.

These were the people Dawn needed to surpass and befriend.

Although his more than twenty years in a peaceful world had given him values that inclined him toward goodness,

and although Dawn craved battle, even feeling that only through battle could he experience the brilliance of life,

he would not become a bad person just because he craved battle. That was a belief instilled into his soul by a peaceful and beautiful homeland.

Dawn did not mind becoming a Marine.

He could enjoy growing stronger and fighting while bringing peace to others, until he was truly able to control his own fate.

But Dawn absolutely did not want to do things he could not accept.

For example, doing things against his conscience for the World Government or the Celestial Dragons.

Most of Dawn's impression of the Celestial Dragons came from the anime of his previous life.

Their existence was like a malignant tumor.

Perhaps the arrival of this world's Great Pirate Era was half their fault as well.

Even if the Great Pirate Era contained people pursuing dreams and ambition, most pirates came from lowly origins. Some had even gone to sea as pirates merely to survive, only to become scum through endless slaughter.

And Dawn would never yield in his determination to control his own fate.

Once someone had embraced such beautiful ideals as prosperity, democracy, civilization, harmony, and equality, how could he possibly believe that some people were born inherently noble?

"Are kings, lords, generals, and ministers born to their stations?" That spirit, passed down for over two thousand years, was engraved into his marrow and soul!

It was also the only gift Dawn had brought with him after coming to this world.

Even if things were peaceful and pleasant for everyone now,

Dawn understood that, with his beliefs, he would inevitably come into conflict with certain people someday.

And going it alone would be the worst-case scenario.

The sea was boundless, while one person's strength was limited. No matter what one wanted to do, one person's power was not enough. People needed companions!

What Nami said made perfect sense. What Dawn needed to do now was make companions, and these future Marine elites would be his strongest support!

But Dawn also understood priorities. A blacksmith needed to be strong himself before he could forge iron; otherwise, everything would be nothing more than a castle in the air.

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