Encirclement? Sweeping!

Wude and Hina carried their final plates of food, eating as they stood in line.

Facing the disdainful glares of the people newly joining the queue, they simply ignored them and said with feigned innocence, "How long is this going to take? There's not enough to eat."

In truth, Hina was already full from her first plate; Wude had dragged her along to help him fetch a few more.

Fifteen-year-old, cute, and pretty Hina was unknowingly being corrupted by a certain someone.

"Hiccup." Hina quickly covered her mouth. "I'm so hungry, Hina is starving."

Right, her friend had been acting as her sparring partner for half a day; what was wrong with her playing a little delivery girl?

It was too awful to keep waiting in line when she was already full, so she had to tell a little white lie to cover it up.

She learned that from someone surnamed Wu.

Smoker wasn't full yet either, but by the time he went to queue up, there were over a hundred people between them.

The original trio gradually grew spaced apart, unexpectedly turning into a duo.

He, Smoker, had known Wude even longer than Hina, only to get kicked right out.

After finishing lunch, the three of them took a short nap under a tree before the instructors came to shout for everyone to assemble.

"You are elites among the Marines, get up right now and start training!" a drill instructor roared at the top of his lungs, calling over all the resting recruits.

"Those of you who didn't finish your events this morning, start your new events now! When they're over, your extra punishments will be doubled! Don't even think about sleeping tonight if you don't finish!"

The squad containing Wude and Hina was led away by an instructor, separating them from Smoker.

They walked all the way to an exceptionally spacious, large kendo hall and received their issued wooden swords.

"Battle practice starts now, and you can't stop until you pass out!"

The instructor shouted, and the recruits paired off to begin combat.

This time, however, the instructor arranged the pairings based on Doriki Value. Wude was matched against a massive recruit who stood five meters tall, while Hina sparred with a female recruit.

"Please go easy on me, number one of this batch. I am Dennis," the big man said with palpable excitement, gripping a specially made wooden sword in his hand.

There was no help for it; bamboo swords were simply too small, so he had to have a wooden sword custom-made to match his physique.

The wooden sword was over three meters long. Beside Wude, an instructor tossed him a wooden sword made of special material—that way things would be a bit better, and Wude's wooden sword could hold out for a long time without breaking.

"Please go easy on me. I am Wude."

He gripped his sword with both hands, dodging swiftly the moment the big man moved.

Bang!

Was this even a wooden sword? It was blatantly like swinging a small tree to smash people; even the floor vibrated from the impact.

The big man let out a furious roar, and his body began to undergo a transformation. He grew covered in black fur, and most bizarrely, upon entering his zoan form, the big man seemed to "shrink" as he grew shorter and somewhat leaner.

The fellow who had stood over five meters tall was abruptly reduced to four meters, and the massive muscles on his body became even more refined.

"A monkey?" Wude looked at the big man's protruding snout.

The big man stared at him with glossy black eyes and smiled with confidence. "Have you ever heard of a special kind of ape in nature called a spider ape?"

"Spit it out." Wude swung his sword to slash.

"Spider apes are small in size, but more agile. Among many kinds of apes, their intelligence ranks third!" the big man roared. With that, he picked up his swinging speed, charging straight at Wude with a vertical chop.

"..." Wude looked at this fellow with a strange glint in his eyes. How should he put it... this guy definitely needed to take some medicine.

"Don't underestimate my advantages!" The big man charged over at blistering speed, trading blow after blow with Wude.

Yet even though Dennis was a Devil Fruit user and fought very fast, he still couldn't defeat Wude.

And this was even with Wude not employing Kuroh.

He's using me to hone himself. The big man's heart sank. Could it be that even he had no way to beat the opponent?

"Isn't it a bit too bullying for Wude to use Observation Haki against these recruits?" An instructor walked over to discuss the matter with Wude's instructor.

"Oh? Then what should we do about it~?" The slack-off instructor looked at this subordinate of Sakazuki.

"How about this: we gather a dozen or so of the best recruits from our respective commands to encircle and attack him together. It will hone the other recruits, and at the same time, it can be considered adding difficulty to give him a workout," said this instructor.

"Good idea~ Then I'll leave the trouble to you." Upholding the philosophy of a slacker—never refuse, never take the initiative, and never meddle—the slack-off instructor dumped the matter onto Sakazuki's subordinate.

What a model worker, truly not bad~

Just as Wude was preparing to knock down Dennis the big man, he was called away by the instructor.

A dozen or so elite recruits hailing from Sakazuki's faction stared at him with eager eyes.

"Challenging one person with a whole group of us, isn't that a bit too much?" a bearded recruit said with embarrassment, though his body had already betrayed him.

This fellow was wielding two custom-made wooden swords that whistled through the air, his feet repeatedly stomping the ground in an irrepressible urge to rush forward.

"I love using Two-Sword Style the most. Please go easy on me!"

His true colors were finally showing.

"Begin. If he uses his full strength, none of you will be a match for him," an instructor stated.

Officers from both phalanxes gathered together to watch Wude's solo show.

Wude chose not to summon Kuroh; he needed these fellows' encirclement to hone his swordsmanship and reactions, and to increase his personal experience.

Commonly known as—premium experience bags.

The dozen-odd opponents let out a shout and charged together.

Wude activated his Observation Haki perception, sensing the footwork and attacking motions of the surrounding opponents, and calmly dealt with them one by one.

Tap, tap!

The sounds of clashing wooden swords rang out in succession as the wooden swords of the other opponents arrived in a flurry.

Direct thrusts, horizontal slashes, upward strikes, and even feints with sudden changes in momentum—each of them employed different offensive methods, staring at the number one spot with boundless fighting spirit.

Even if they only teamed up to defeat him once, there would still be a little thrill of joy in their hearts.

"Eat my sword!" The Two-Sword Style recruit arrived with a sword from behind while using his other blade to parry Wude's sword, attempting a Two-Sword Style pincers attack.

"Well-timed!" the big man shouted excitedly, directly swinging his custom wooden sword to smash down at Wude.

Over a dozen opponents surrounded and coordinated against him.

Wude dodged several blades, raised a foot, and kicked fiercely against Dennis's custom sword. Following that, he slapped down with one palm to shatter the Two-Sword Style recruit's left-hand sword, batted the opponent's right-hand sword aside with his other blade, and struck the adversary's body, sending the Two-Sword Style recruit stumbling backward.

The big man retreated continuously, staring in astonishment at Wude's terrifying strength. Was his arm strength alone not the only astonishing thing?

Could this guy actually be a hand-to-hand combat expert as well?

Tsk, he'd let his guard down.

In truth, he didn't count as a proper swordsman anyway; he used to be a reckless brawler who swung a giant war hammer.

"Come on, come on! Let me see how strong your hand-to-hand combat is, hahaha!" The big man roared in excitement, his tall and robust physique charging toward Wude with dazzling agility, swinging his custom sword with one hand and throwing punches with the other.

The other dozen-odd recruits charged forward simultaneously.

Kuroh staying out of the fight gave them the illusion that they could win.

"Without Observation Haki, is the gap really this big?"

Having defeated her opponent, Hina looked at Wude's back and said.

Wude kicked one recruit flying and batted another recruit's hand with his sword, causing the opponent to drop his weapon in pain from the force.

He then dodged a blade with a shift of his body, dropped low, and swept his leg to kick another recruit tumbling.

"Such a strong guy."