Thanks to reader ~gpry~ for the 100-point tip!
"Loa? That name sounds familiar."
"Don't you remember? He's the one Admiral Aokiji took as his student—the guy who killed the Silverback Great Ape during the Elite Assessment."
"Oh! He's that Monster rookie!"
The Elite Camp members murmured among themselves and looked toward the crater.
"He really is short."
Before crossing over, Loa had stood 175 centimeters tall, and no one could honestly have called him short. But in the world of One Piece, that height was awkward. Forget Whitebeard, Moria, and Bartholomew Kuma—even Empress Hancock stood over two meters tall.
When Arudo called Loa short, he really wasn't teasing him. With his brains, he probably couldn't manage anything that subtle. He was simply stating a fact. Unfortunately, it was a fact that stung them both.
Arudo lay at the bottom of the crater, hissing through his teeth in pain. Loa pinned him down with one foot and used a pair of ice tweezers to pluck his thick chest hair, one strand at a time.
"Short, am I?"
"You've got some nerve!"
"Still talking tough, huh? Ah!"
Arudo struggled with all his might, but he wasn't as strong as Loa. His face flushed red with frustration.
The onlookers had no idea what to make of the scene. One by one, they turned to Zephyr.
Zephyr sucked at his teeth and waved a hand helplessly. "I didn't see a thing."
He turned away, ignoring Arudo's muffled groans, and addressed Tony and the others. "From today on, you can call me Teacher Zephyr. This is where you'll be training from now on. You can move in here, too, if you like."
"The moment you stepped through those gates, you stopped being ordinary recruits. You're Marines now. Real soldiers!"
"Besides your daily training, our