A month passed quickly. In fact, after only half a month, before they had even turned twenty, Ye Chen and the others obtained what they wanted.
Clearly, Ye Chen was not the first person to come up with this idea. Otherwise, it would not have been completed so quickly. After all, items that contained weight while also being compact were rare. Otherwise, the Marines would have long since made them standard issue.
This was only possible because it was Zephyr. If it had been anyone else, they probably would not even have considered it.
There were first four bracelets. They looked rather unique, silver-white in color, with one for each limb. The second item resembled a vest and could be worn either outside or underneath clothing. Together, they weighed exactly five tons.
Five tons was ten thousand jin, with each part weighing two thousand jin. Zephyr had deliberately asked for them to be made that way, because it allowed for balance and was the most effective arrangement.
Early in the morning, six half-grown children were on the training field, panting heavily and drenched in sweat as they walked.
That was right. From a distance, they simply looked like they were taking a stroll.
At the front, Ye Chen stood upright with his hands pressed tightly against his thighs. It was not that he did not want to raise them—he simply could not. What had once been an easy walk now took several seconds for every step, and the time was only getting longer.
After only five or six steps, Ye Chen was already sweating profusely, his stamina draining several times faster than usual.
To one side was Vergo, who was not much better off than Ye Chen. His waist was slightly bent, and bulging veins covered his neck.
Smoker followed close behind. Right now, he was cursing furiously inside, practically hunched over as he gritted his teeth and inched forward like an ant, as though he might collapse at any moment.
Shu and the other two were walking alongside Smoker. However, compared to Ye Chen and the other two, their expressions were still fairly relaxed. The ton of weight was probably just right for them. At least they could walk normally, though any other training was out of the question.
"Smoker, hurry up. Chen and Vergo are already two meters ahead of you."
Very Good stood there talking without feeling a thing, sticking out his tongue like a lapdog as he grinned at the hunched-over Smoker.
Without straightening up, Smoker continued to bend over and cursed, "Very Good, you bastard. Trade with me if you have the guts."
"No thanks. I'm not like you, crawling on the ground."
"Hehe." Shu laughed from the side as well, sounding especially irritating.
"You two bastards, after training ends, you're treating us on Commercial Street tonight."
"Why should we?" Shu and Very Good nearly jumped up on the spot. They received monthly allowances, but they only amounted to a little over a hundred thousand Beli. More importantly, they had huge appetites. One meal would cut their money in half at the very least.
"Sigh, once training is over, I'll have nothing to do. My hands are starting to itch."
Smoker suddenly said something completely unrelated, and Shu and Very Good's faces instantly darkened.
"You win." Gritting his teeth, Very Good directly overtook Smoker. Clearly, he did not want to keep talking to that bastard.
"Big Brother Ye Chen, Big Brother Vergo, Shu and Very Good are treating us tonight!"
Hina also passed Smoker, chirping excitedly beside Ye Chen and Vergo.
"Focus on training." Ye Chen gave a simple reply, immediately choking back everything Hina still wanted to say. She pouted and let out a cold snort.
After that, everyone buried themselves in training. By the time they had walked around the entire field, dusk had already fallen. In other words, Ye Chen and the others had spent nearly an entire day just walking.
On the second day, Ye Chen and the others were still walking, first familiarizing themselves properly with the five-ton weight.
By the fifth day, their walking had become somewhat normal.
By the twentieth day, they could already run.
Two months later, they could begin attempting push-ups.
By the fourth month, they began doing frog jumps.
The sixth month, the tenth month.
Before they knew it, a year had passed since Ye Chen and the others began carrying five tons.
Over that year, the sweat they shed could have filled a pool. But the rewards were equally unimaginable.
Nothing major happened that year. The New World was still being stirred up by those few great pirate crews.
Likewise, Zephyr kept leaving and returning, as did the other Marine officers. Even Sakazuki and the others spent more time away than at Marineford.
Relatively speaking, it had been a peaceful year.
Marineford, commercial district, on an outdoor food street, Ye Chen and the others sat together. Before them were all kinds of delicious dishes, along with strong liquor.
"Cheers."
Hina's cheeks were flushed red. Wearing a light red dress with her pink hair hanging loose, she smiled with crescent-shaped eyes as she raised her glass.
Without realizing it, everyone had grown another year older. Of them all, Hina had changed the most.
She had now completely blossomed into a beauty, curvy in all the right places. No one knew how many people at the academy wanted to pursue her.
Most importantly, all of their strength had undergone earth-shaking changes. Compared to the original story, the difference was far from minor.
"Shu, happy birthday."
Everyone looked at tonight's guest of honor and smiled.
"Hehe, thank you, everyone." His eyes were slightly moist as Shu raised his glass and looked at his good friends, his heart full of happiness.
That was right. Tonight was Shu's birthday. He had turned sixteen. Whenever someone had a birthday, they would gather together. Not long ago, they had already held a birthday feast for Very Good, and now it was Shu's turn.
"The liquor at this place is still the best."
Draining his glass in one gulp, Very Good let out a burp and gave a silly grin.
Rarely, Ye Chen did not keep a straight face. Instead, he smiled faintly.
"Everyone worked hard this year, but we succeeded. Let's have another drink."
Smoker's face was full of excitement. Each of them now carried a different amount of weight, yet they could eat, drink, and have fun as usual, as though the weights did not exist at all.
"Chen and I are paying tonight, so drink as much as you want." Vergo smiled, raised his glass, and clinked it heavily against Shu's.
"Cheers."
"Drink up. We're resting tonight. Stop thinking about all that messy training and relax properly."
For a time, the atmosphere was blazing hot. Ye Chen's table became the sight of the entire street. Many middle-aged people and elderly people watched them and sighed that being young was wonderful. They had once eaten meat by the mouthful and drunk liquor by the bowlful too, but some of those people from back then were no longer around.
"Big Brother Ye Chen, when is your birthday? Big Brother Vergo, Smoker, Shu, and Very Good have all celebrated theirs, but you haven't celebrated yours yet!"
With her eyes wide open, Hina looked curiously at Ye Chen as he drank mouthful after mouthful of liquor.
"That's right. It seems like you've never mentioned your age, Chen. Even now, I don't know how old you are."
Smoker put down his glass, startled. It seemed that apart from Ye Chen's name, they knew nothing about his past.
"I don't know how old I am."
It was true. Ye Chen genuinely did not know his age. He had known it in his previous life, but how could Mr. 5, an orphan, possibly have known how old he was?
Everyone was slightly stunned, but Vergo suddenly said, "In that case, today is also Ye Chen's birthday. The same day as Shu's. Cheers."
"That's right. But let's say Big Brother Ye Chen is sixteen. From now on, you can call me Big Sister Hina." Hina made a joke. She really was a year older than Shu, so she deliberately teased him.
"Haha, sixteen is just right."
That night, everyone drank happily, and late into the night.
The strange thing was that throughout the evening and afterward, Hina still kept calling Ye Chen Big Brother.
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