Enlisting in the Marines

Junkyard Island.

After watching the Perfume Yuda sail away, Sephiroth finally turned around and headed toward the City of Water.

However, even from far away, he could hear Franky's boisterous shouting.

"This is awesome! Mr. Tom, this newly completed locomotive of ours will definitely run smoothly!"

Driven by curiosity, Sephiroth followed the sound.

In an open space surrounded by piles of scrap ship parts, Tom, Franky, and Iceburg stood before a brand-new silver locomotive, laughing heartily.

"Hey, kid! Interested in watching the train we just built launch?"

Tom laughed and waved at Sephiroth. The latter did not refuse and nodded in agreement.

Very soon, with Tom's monstrous strength, the entire locomotive weighing over a hundred tons was carried onto the tracks.

This time, Franky once again volunteered to drive the train.

Toot, toot, toot...!

After the engine roared to life, the train's iron wheels began spinning faster and faster. It raced along the tracks over the sea, circling them again and again. Franky poked his head out of the driver's cabin and shouted wildly:

"This is awesome! It's really running on the sea! This is awesome!!!"

"It worked, Mr. Tom!" Iceburg said excitedly as well.

"Ahahaha! What a fine, mighty train!"

Tom rubbed his round belly and laughed like a five-hundred-pound child... Oh! No, more like a thousand-pound one...

Suddenly!

Splash!

A massive figure over twenty meters tall abruptly emerged from the sea, sending up a huge spray of water.

Staring at the crimson crab the size of a small mountain, Iceburg immediately shrieked:

"A S-Sea King Crab!!! Run!!! Franky!!!"

"Help!!!"

Franky's face turned deathly pale. He hurriedly leaped off the train.

The next moment.

The Sea King Crab clamped the Sea Train in its enormous pincers and lifted it into the air.

"Let go of my labor of love, you bastard!"

Seeing this, Tom's eyes widened with fury. He roared, grabbed a broken mast over ten meters long from the wreckage, and hurled it with both hands like a javelin. With a sharp whoosh, it flew out.

Empowered by terrifying force, the mast shot forward at incredible speed, instantly piercing through the Sea King Crab's body and sending it crashing straight backward.

"Whew! That was close."

After his outburst, Tom returned to his usual cheerful, good-natured self. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, making Sephiroth's mouth twitch repeatedly as he muttered inwardly:

What a monster! You're even scarier than a Sea King...

But then he reconsidered. Fish-Men were naturally strong, with strength ten times that of humans. Such explosive power did not seem all that strange.

In the end, Sephiroth silently sighed to himself:

I still have a long way to go before I become one of the strongest in the world!

After the unlucky brat Franky crawled ashore from the sea, he instinctively roared at Tom:

"Mr. Tom, didn't you say the train's sound could drive away Sea Kings? Why did that Sea King Crab suddenly show up!!!"

Hearing that, Tom could only give an awkward laugh.

"Ahahaha! Since this is a new locomotive, I haven't had time to install the proper equipment yet..."

Seeing that Franky was about to explode, Tom hurriedly added:

"But don't worry! Next time, I'll definitely make the proper preparations!"

"Tch! Let Iceburg go next time! I'm not doing it."

Franky curled his lip, looking thoroughly displeased.

"You were the one fighting to go..." Iceburg remarked.

"Kid, thank you! Thanks to your blueprints, the Sea Train project has now been shortened by several years compared to our estimates! Hahaha!" Tom looked at the boy and thanked him sincerely.

"Well, I only did what I could! I hope this Sea Train can be completed soon, so this city can come back to life instead of remaining so lifeless as it is now..."

After saying that, Sephiroth waved his hand, turned around coolly, and walked away into the distance.

"What a cool guy!"

Franky subconsciously touched the nose Sephiroth had broken. The small bit of resentment he had felt toward him vanished completely.

At the edge of the City of Water, Marine base.

Before a seaside building, two soldiers in Marine uniforms stood guard at the entrance with rifles in hand, their bodies ramrod straight.

More accurately, this place was a Marine logistics station. Only a little over thirty Marines were stationed inside. They were specifically responsible for supplying docked warships and carrying out repairs and maintenance on vessels...

Just as Sephiroth was about to enter, the two men raised their rifles and crossed them in front of him, blocking his way. One of them, a young Marine soldier with a handlebar mustache, asked:

"Kid, what are you going in for?"

"I want to enlist in the Marines."

The mustached soldier sized Sephiroth up and down before asking:

"How old are you?"

"Fourteen, almost fifteen."

"You barely meet the age requirement... Fine! Go to the second floor, turn right, and enter the third room. Register for recruitment first, then get a physical examination."

The mustached soldier lowered his rifle and gave the boy directions.

"Thanks!"

Sephiroth nodded and entered the building. In the room for recruitment registration, he came before the desk of a young bearded man wearing a captain's insignia on his shoulder.

"I want to enlist in the Marines."

"Can you read?"

"Yes."

"Take this and fill it out."

The bearded man was expressionless and businesslike. He took out a form from a folder on the desk and handed Sephiroth a pen.

Sephiroth looked it over and found that it contained nothing more than standard information such as name, home address, relatives, and family members.

However, the final section included something a little different...

"Do you have a Devil Fruit? Category... type..." Sephiroth muttered softly.

Hearing this, the bearded man smiled and shook his head.

"Devil Fruits are treasures of the sea. You can only come across them by chance, kid, so don't think too much about it. If someone is lucky enough to eat one, as long as their ability isn't too useless, they'll basically receive priority training from the Marines. Their future rank will be at least that of a field-grade officer..."

"Oh? What does priority training involve?" Sephiroth asked with interest.

"At the very least, guaranteed admission to the Marine Headquarters Military Academy at Marineford. That's for certain... Why are you asking so much? It's not like you have one..."

The bearded man stopped halfway through his sentence, clearly unwilling to waste more time discussing such fantasies with the boy.

If Devil Fruits were that easy to obtain, he would not have had to struggle for years in the Marines, only becoming a captain at thirty by building seniority and giving gifts and bribes, before ending up as the commanding officer of this tiny, run-down supply station.

"Who says I don't? I just happened to eat a strange fruit. It should be a Bat Fruit, right?"

As he spoke, Sephiroth's body suddenly changed. In an instant, he grew taller, fleshy wings sprouted from his back, his ears lengthened, and sharp claws covered his hands.

Sephiroth did not think much of revealing that he had eaten a Devil Fruit. It was bound to be exposed sooner or later anyway.

If he hid it and then, during military training, they told him to go into the sea for combat, should he jump in or not...?

Therefore, he might as well display what made him exceptional early on and gain a chance at priority training.

"Gulp!"

The bearded man swallowed reflexively, cold sweat breaking out across his forehead.

In truth, he had only heard of Devil Fruit users and had never seen one himself. He had not expected to actually encounter one now...

The bearded man wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said with a bitter smile:

"Fine! Once you finish filling this out, go through the procedure and get your physical. If your personal information passes my background investigation and review without any issues, you should be sent to the G-3 Branch with the other new recruits in seven days for recruit training."

Sephiroth quickly filled out the form and followed the bearded man's instructions to the physical examination station inside the building.

He was not particularly worried about the background check.

Although he had crossed paths with The three Boa sisters, the three girls were not well-known yet. Moreover, he had never openly associated with the Kuja Pirates, so the Marines should not be able to uncover any of that...

The Marines had even allowed Vergo, a gangster from the Donquixote Family, to become a Vice Admiral. It should be no problem for him to enter the Military Academy and gain some experience, right?

At worst, if someone found out in the future, he would grab a bucket and run...

The Marine physical examination was simple. They also conducted a few fitness tests, allowing Sephiroth to learn his current approximate physical condition.

Normal state: height 165 centimeters, weight 50 kilograms, lifting strength 187 kilograms, grip strength 98 kilograms, 200 meters in 19 seconds...

Human-beast form: height 198 centimeters, weight 70 kilograms, lifting strength 373 kilograms, grip strength 220 kilograms, 200 meters in 13 seconds...

Overall, in his normal state, he was a notch above an ordinary adult. Only after transforming into Vampire Form did he surpass normal human standards...

However, there were simply too many superhumans in the world of the Pirate King. Even Krieg, the East Blue admiral Luffy defeated when he first went to sea, could casually wield a one-ton spear with one hand.

Later on, even the dumbbells Zoro used in his daily training were measured in tons, increasing one ton at a time...

Thinking about it that way, he seemed to have only barely risen above the level of an ordinary grunt... becoming an elite grunt!