Over the years, the Marines had remained trapped by a gap in their fighting strength.
It had been that way since the Rocks era.
More than a decade ago, the Marines had hoped to train senior officers through the Elite Training Camp to make up for their shortage of mid- and high-level fighters.
There had been results. They had trained many outstanding talents.
But the brutal wars that followed, the Bloody War, and the Second Fall of Marineford...
Had wiped out those gains.
The first few classes of the Elite Training Camp had been the best, after all.
The quality had declined with each subsequent class.
It was easy to imagine how much damage the wars of recent years had done to the Marines, robbing them of countless future prospects.
Just thinking about it filled them with heartache.
If there had not been so many wars over the years, once those Elite Training Camp students had matured...
The Marines would have been stronger than ever.
Unlike now, when even dealing with the Flying Pirates was extremely difficult.
In eight hundred years, the Marines had never been stronger than they were now.
In the past, only one or two of the Three Admirals usually had the ability and strength to become Fleet Admiral.
In "Steel Bone" Kong's generation, no one could compete with him at all.
And what about the more recent generation?
Of Sengoku, Garp, and Zephyr, the three veteran Marine powerhouses, which one lacked the strength to become Fleet Admiral?
Now, the three Admiral Candidates of the new generation—Kuzan, Sakazuki, and Borsalino—had also demonstrated top-tier fighting strength and potential, earning that same qualification.
Yet the Marines were also in their weakest position ever.
For as long as anyone could remember, the Marines had been the undisputed Overlord of the