Training Room

Leading Tashigi along, Kael followed the stairs all the way down beneath the deck to the "first basement level."

When they took delivery of the Tiga, the shipwright had mentioned it...

He had originally planned for the captain's quarters and crew cabins to be on this level as well.

But Kael, with the system at his disposal, was willful. He disliked the poor lighting below deck and insisted on placing the captain's quarters above the deck.

In any case, the system handled all the renovations and spatial planning. He only needed to prepare the Beli.

After only a few steps, Kael and Tashigi arrived at the door of an unused room.

Under Tashigi's curious gaze, Kael suddenly stopped. He then opened the dockyard system in his mind.

After searching through the facility store for a while, he quickly found a functional facility called [Training Room].

Like the [Captain's Quarters], the training room also cost 5 million Beli.

But in Kael's eyes, its function was even more powerful!

Aside from using experience items, this was currently the only method in the system for companions to gain experience.

If using experience items to level up companions counted as paying to win...

Then the training room's function was the companions' daily activity for raising their levels.

He pressed the purchase button and selected the room before him.

Since Kael had already placed all the Beli in the safe in the captain's quarters, he could use the system functions at any time even without holding the money in his hands.

A strange ripple spread before Kael and Tashigi.

In an instant!

As though illusion and reality had overlapped, an exquisite door replaced the ordinary wooden door from before.

A sign reading [Training Room] now hung above it.

Just like Kael's captain's quarters.

Even though she had already witnessed plenty of strange things, Tashigi still covered her mouth in fright as she watched the door transform before her eyes. Her gaze was filled with shock.

"Wh-what's going on this time!?"

Kael smiled and waved at her, gesturing as he said:

"What's going on? Obviously, I just activated my Devil Fruit ability."

"There will be plenty more things like this in the future. Don't be so easily startled all the time, or we'll look like bumpkins."

As he spoke, he placed his hand on the doorknob and gave it a gentle push.

The next moment, a vast open space suddenly appeared before Tashigi.

The level 1 training room was neither particularly large nor small, roughly the size of three or four basketball courts put together.

Yet all kinds of training equipment lined the walls of the room...

Dumbbells for lifting, straw men for sword practice, wooden posts for martial arts training...

Nearly every piece of training equipment one could think of could be found here.

Though none of it looked particularly high-quality, at least it had everything!

"Captain, perhaps you're right. I really haven't seen much of the world."

Tashigi clicked her tongue.

Having never seen anything so miraculous, she felt that after today, nothing else in this world might ever surprise her again.

Most importantly...

She was certain that the room's actual space had already exceeded the size of the ship itself.

Letting out a light breath, Tashigi followed Kael into the training room.

At the same time...

Kael finished reading the system description for the training room.

[Facility: Training Room]

[Level: 1]

[Experience: 0/5]

[Description: A place for training and cultivation. As its level rises, more tools and equipment will be unlocked.]

[Effect: Companions training in this room will be forcibly placed in a state of highly efficient training,

with their attention intensely focused, and they can gain 100 experience points per hour.]

[Current Level Limit: A maximum of 3 companions may enter the training state at the same time, and each person may train for a maximum of 8 hours per day.]

That was all the information on the training room.

Just one hour of training could increase experience by 100 points!

Though it had restrictions on the number of people and training time, its powerful effect made it by far the most cost-effective functional facility available!

There was no second place!

"This is a training room I created with my Devil Fruit ability specifically for you and the future crew members."

Kael led Tashigi over to a rack of wooden swords.

The wooden swords were marked with different weights from bottom to top, allowing people to train progressively.

He casually pulled out a suitably weighted wooden sword and tossed it directly to Tashigi, then said sternly:

"Starting today, you will cultivate here for eight hours every day. No more, but no less."

"This is a training journal. You can adjust it according to your own circumstances."

"But remember, you are not allowed to take this journal out of this room!"

"Yes."

Tashigi curiously accepted the journal and discovered a large red circle drawn on its cover.

Inside the red circle were the two words: "Top Secret."

"Gulp~"

She swallowed unconsciously.

After secretly glancing at Kael and seeing that he still wore a serious expression, Tashigi hurriedly shook her little head and carefully opened the journal.

What met her eyes...

Was a table of contents for the journal.

1. [Methods of Training Armament Haki]... Page 1

2. [Methods of Training Observation Haki]... Page 18

3. [Methods of Training Iron Body]... Page 25

4. [...]...

"Th-this is actually a training journal for Haki and the Six Powers!?"

Tashigi's eyes suddenly widened, and a sparkling golden light bloomed in her innocent eyes.

Though in the original story, Tashigi became quite skilled with Haki a few years later...

That was because she and Smoker benefited from the Straw Hat Pirates. The Marines forcibly credited them with the achievement of defeating Crocodile, causing Marine resources to be directed toward them.

In truth...

Not to mention Tashigi, who was merely a Chief Petty Officer, even Smoker, a Marine Headquarters colonel, would have found it impossible to obtain this journal!

After all, learning something was one thing, while being able to teach it was another matter entirely.

This journal had been written by former Marine Admiral Zephyr, the current chief instructor of the Marine Academy.

Naturally, it was filled with Zephyr's understanding and application of Haki and the Six Powers.

Its value went without saying.

If not for his connection to Kizaru, Kael, who had already left the Marine Academy, could never have obtained this journal.

And now that the journal was in Kael's hands, he chose to share the joy rather than keep it to himself, leaving it directly in the training room for every member of the Dusk Pirates to study.

After all, anyone who could enter the training room was someone Kael trusted. There was no need for him to be stingy about such matters.

Only when his companions became stronger could he, the captain who coasted to victory, reap greater rewards.

Tashigi was quickly absorbed by the contents of the journal, so much so that she forgot Kael was standing right in front of her.

Clearly, she had already triggered the training room's attention-focusing effect.

That came as something of a surprise to Kael, leaving many of the words he had prepared stuck in his throat.

"Awesome!"

"Just reading a book counts as being in a training state according to the system? This training room is way too convenient."

"Only..."

"Why can't I, the captain, enjoy this convenience!?"

Kael let out a silent cry in his heart.

As he looked at Tashigi, envy inevitably appeared in his eyes.

It was one thing for this damn training room not to give the captain experience. He could understand that...

But this focused-training buff was only available to companions too!?

Was there any justice left?! Was there any law left?!

Captains were people too. Captains had training needs too!!!

I want to master Armament Haki as soon as possible too!

Sigh...

After grumbling inwardly for a while, Kael had no choice but to quietly leave the training room so as not to disturb Tashigi's training state.

And he gently closed the door behind him.

Though he could also use the equipment in the training room, there was no reason to linger here without the buff bonus.

Besides, he had already memorized the contents of the journal.

The preliminary training intensity was not high, so it made no difference where he trained.

Kael chose to return to his captain's quarters and prepare to begin training according to the journal.

The captain's quarters also had a stamina recovery buff.

When he got tired from training, he could simply sleep and always remain in peak condition!

As long as I have the willpower, what difference does it make where I train!?