Morning Training

At four in the morning, the sky was still a hazy gray.

A few scattered stars still twinkled in the distant sky.

Inside a soldiers' dormitory at the Marine G-3 Branch, aside from the "tick-tock! tick-tock!" of the clock on the wall, only the rumbling snores of sleeping soldiers could be heard.

On the single bed closest to the dormitory door, Komei naturally opened his eyes, guided by his remarkably punctual body clock.

He quickly rolled out of bed, got dressed, then quietly pushed open the door and left the dormitory.

In a bed tucked into the corner of the dormitory, Sephiroth, who had heard the movement, also opened his eyes. He glanced at the clock on the wall and found that it was barely four in the morning.

According to Marine regulations, unless they were assigned to missions outside the base, all soldiers had to be in bed by ten at night and rise at six in the morning.

Sephiroth propped himself up and glanced toward the drill ground outside the window. More than a dozen Marines from the G-3 Branch had already begun arriving there in twos and threes, starting their morning runs.

Each of them ran... no, sprinted at an absurdly fast pace. On the four-hundred-meter track, they completed a lap in just over twenty, nearly thirty seconds, without any sign of slowing down.

Of course. Competition exists everywhere...

Sephiroth muttered softly. He quickly got up as well, dressed, picked up the Autumn Leaf Blade leaning against the side of his bed, and headed out to the drill ground to perform his daily thirteen thousand sword swings.

There was a reason these people trained so hard.

Every G-Branch Marine base on the Grand Line had ten slots each year for soldiers to enroll in the Marineford Military Academy. Anyone below the age of twenty-six who had reached the rank of noncommissioned officer or above could apply. After graduation, they would begin at the rank of ensign, officially entering the officer class.

The method for obtaining a place at the Marineford Military Academy was very simple... strength above all else!

As long as one ranked among the ten strongest soldiers, one had a chance of earning an enrollment slot.

For soldiers from branches in the Four Seas, enrolling in the Military Academy was more troublesome. They needed to accept a three-rank demotion and transfer their records to Marine Headquarters, becoming soldiers of a Marine G-Branch or Marine Headquarters before they could participate in the academy selection.

Sephiroth had learned all of this while Corporal Komei was boasting to the new recruits.

Moreover, judging from Komei's words, he wanted to compete for an academy slot as well...

After all, Komei had gone to great lengths to submit an application to Marine Headquarters, downgrading himself from an ensign in a Four Seas branch to a corporal at Marine Headquarters. It was hard to believe he had no intention of entering the Military Academy...

Under normal circumstances, new recruits like Sephiroth had to serve for six months before being promoted to seaman apprentice, one year before becoming seaman first class, and two years before becoming a corporal.

Two years before he could qualify to compete for a place in the Military Academy was simply too long for Sephiroth.

But...

That was without earning merit in battle.

With military accomplishments to one's name, promotions came much faster.

Raising his rank was also one of the reasons Sephiroth had chosen to actively join the battle when he encountered Paul's Grand Fleet...

At six in the morning, the sun slowly rose over the horizon. Warm sunlight shone over the base's drill ground, and the wake-up bugle sounded. The entire G-3 Branch instantly came alive as more and more Marines gathered on the field.

Having run more than two hundred laps in two hours, Komei walked over to the silver-haired youth, breathing heavily.

"Good morning, Sephiroth."

"Good morning, Komei."

Since the other party had come over to greet him first, Sephiroth could only reply while continuing to swing his sword.

"Do you also want to join the Marineford Military Academy?"

Komei wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked tentatively.

"Of course! A soldier who doesn't want to become a general isn't a good soldier."

Sephiroth nodded firmly. There was no need to hide something like that.

"Then I think you should devote more time to physical training. Otherwise, it'll be difficult for you to earn an enrollment slot..."

Komei offered the advice earnestly, then turned and left.

He still had to urge the other recruits to hurry to the drill ground for morning training.

Shortly afterward, under Komei's lead, the recruits ran six kilometers around the drill ground as part of their morning exercise.

A simple long-distance run revealed many problems. After completing their morning drills, the G-3 Branch veterans were neither red-faced nor out of breath, while most of the recruits were panting heavily.

After morning training ended, Sephiroth and the other recruits lined up with recruits from other islands on the drill ground to receive a lecture from a major.

Once all the clichés and nonsense were stripped away, the gist was that the Marines were a force under the World Government established to maintain order on the seas, that they should take the fight against evil pirates as their duty, and uphold justice and peace.

Sephiroth scoffed at that.

That kind of bullshit could only fool hot-blooded youths who were full of passion and knew nothing about the state of the world!

The higher one climbed within the Marines, the broader one's perspective became, and the more darkness one came into contact with.

Most countries in this world practiced slavery and monarchic rule, while the Marines were merely the World Government's armed organization. They had no authority to interfere in the internal affairs of other nations and had to serve the nobles of every World Government member state.

Once all the pretenses were stripped away, the Marines were essentially stateless mercenaries. Whoever supported them was who they served, no different in nature from the Vinsmoke Family.

As for countries that were not affiliated with the World Government?

Sorry! They were not under Marine protection. Even if pirates slaughtered an entire city or destroyed a nation, it had nothing to do with the Marines.

Even if the Marines themselves massacred civilians in nations not affiliated with the World Government, it would not be considered illegal!

Once the field officers and generals who had become the backbone of the Marines learned of the World Government's dark side, they could only choose to go along with it, slack off and muddle through life, or in more extreme cases, leave the Marines altogether. Very few ever considered challenging the World Government's rules and authority.

There was no other reason: the Marines had no right to participate in politics!

At the end of the day, they were merely an armed organization!

Thus, people like Garp and Aokiji, who held high positions in the Marines yet knew they were powerless to change the status quo, could only choose to slack off, lie flat, and drift through their days. Every now and then, they would go out and fight some pirates, fulfilling their duties as Marines...

After becoming a Marine soldier, Sephiroth's life became extremely monotonous. Aside from training, there was only more training. He either trained on his own or received swordsmanship instruction from Bogard, day after day.

Worth mentioning was that his sword-drawing speed had become faster and faster. His thirteen thousand swings, which had initially taken eight hours to complete, had gradually been compressed to three hours.

Aside from the fact that his swinging movements had become incomparably practiced, the improvement in his physical condition was also an important factor behind such efficiency.

Furthermore, to gain better stamina and adapt to the weakness brought on by seawater as quickly as possible, Sephiroth would go to the shallow waters by the beach every day during his lunch break. He would step into the seawater and perform squats and frog jumps.

Occasionally, he would flap his wings in the sky a few times to train his flying ability. His current top speed was around fifty kilometers per hour, and he could fly for roughly three hours.

Amid this dull and peaceful life, aside from his growing strength, the only thing Sephiroth found somewhat interesting—and something he could use to pass the time—was the few medical books he had borrowed from that old military doctor last time: diseases he had never seen before, unusual prescriptions...