On the beach of the 177th Branch, Dos’s face was a picture of amusement as he watched the young girl, Hibari, run back to the base, biting her lip and holding back tears.
“Hey, hey, Rosha, are you made of iron or something?”
“The girl went through all that trouble to make you a heartfelt bento, and you said it was terrible?”
“Even if she turned cream bread into a lump of coal and lean meat porridge into black sludge, it was still a heartfelt bento. Do you understand the meaning of a heartfelt bento?”
“Even if it tastes bad, you should cry and say, ‘It’s delicious! Thank you! I love it!’ That’s the standard for romance, kid!”
Rosha lay flat on the beach, completely exhausted, letting Dos massage his cramping muscles. Listening to Dos’s complaints, he could only smile bitterly.
“I didn’t want to, but… it was really terrible. Even stone-like black bread tastes better to me…”
“You brat…”
Dos glanced at the pile of oddly shaped, pitch-black items next to Rosha.
“Dos, do you want to try some?” Rosha trembled as he picked up a piece of something that glinted with a metallic sheen.
“What is… this?”
Dos’s throat moved as he hesitated.
“A North Blue specialty, steamed royal ribbonfish.”
“Royal… ribbonfish?”
Dos’s lips moved, but he couldn’t muster the courage to try the piece of what looked like unknown metal.
“This is a heartfelt bento from a little girl. How can I just eat it? Besides, I already ate in town; I’m full.”
The two exchanged glances, tacitly avoiding the topic of the heartfelt bento.
“Ahem, how was training today? Are you adapting?” Dos asked, changing the subject while applying ointment to Rosha’s bruised chest and abdomen, making Rosha wince in pain.
“Training? That wasn’t training; it was a journey through hell.”
Mentioning training reminded Rosha of the day’s torturous experiences.
In the first half of the swimming training, he was bombarded with rubber shells from the warship and hollow bullets from the shore, leaving him bruised and in pain.
However, in the latter half, Rosha, with astonishing endurance and physical prowess, managed to push to the front of the group when Lieutenants Richard and others were exhausted, making them the second batch of victims of the shells.
After the swimming training, it finally turned into something Rosha considered somewhat normal—weighted long-distance running.
According to the branch officer training standards, each person carried a 500-pound rock and ran three laps around the entire coast of Thousand Rock Island.
One lap was about twelve kilometers.
Three laps totalled thirty-six kilometers.
Carrying 500 pounds, even someone who could lift such weight on Earth would be considered incredibly strong.
But in this world, that weight was nothing.
Similarly, officers lagging behind were shot with hollow bullets and scolded mercilessly by Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer.
“Useless! You’re all useless! You can’t even match a rookie. It’s embarrassing to think you consider yourselves elite officers of the North Blue!”
“Speed up! Faster! If you don’t run faster, we’ll add another lap!”
After the weighted run came a ten-thousand-meter frog jump.
Then a thousand one-finger push-ups while inverted, two thousand sit-ups, five thousand kicks to sandbags, ten thousand strikes to wooden dummies with wooden swords…
Under this series of excessive training, only Rosha and two veteran captains of the 177th Branch lasted to the end.
As for Richard, a fellow from Minion Island in the North Blue, he collapsed during the long run…
No one expected the rookie, Rosha, to persist until the end.
Even Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer praised Rosha for his endurance.
And she announced that he would get additional training tomorrow.
Rosha felt like crying but had no tears.
After a day of training, all the officers were sore that soldiers had to carry them back to the base on stretchers.
Then the base’s medics massaged and applied ointment to them.
The base’s cafeteria prepared various nutritious foods, including rare Sea King meat.
With huge appetites due to their intense training, the officers ate like bottomless pits.
The daily food consumption for thirty-two people during training was a huge expense in Berries.
And this was just one branch in the North Blue, not counting the thousands of soldiers at the base.
This gave a glimpse of how much the Navy Headquarters had to spend each year to maintain their operations.
A few days later, after being away for a while, Akainu and Rear Admiral Adilla finally returned to Thousand Rock Island.
Akainu was preparing to return to the Navy Headquarters.
At the beach port of Thousand Rock Island, Rear Admiral Adilla, accompanied by several officers from the branch, came to see him off.
Rosha, wearing his pristine white uniform, stood at the front of the crowd, looking at the tall figure ahead with a complex expression.
“Kid, don’t waste your talent.”
Akainu broke his silence and spoke to Rosha.
“To truly understand the weight of the word ‘justice,’ you must see the essence of darkness.”
“Although you have experienced dark times, your understanding of this world is still shallow. Don’t rush to understand the world; first, make yourself strong enough to withstand the storms of the sea.”
As he spoke, under Adilla’s surprised gaze, Akainu pulled a small red notebook from his pocket and tossed it to the flustered Rosha.
“These are some insights I recorded while practicing the Six Powers. You can try to train with them in your spare time.”
“Thank you, Sakazuki-ojisan! I will work twice as hard and never forget your kindness!”
Rosha solemnly placed the notebook in his chest pocket.
After speaking, Akainu gave some instructions to Adilla before boarding the warship, and disappearing from Rosha’s sight.
“Dad! Why aren’t we taking Rosha with us?” Hibari anxiously ran over and shouted.
“No rainbow without the rain. A man from the North Blue must fight his way out of the North Blue himself.”
“But…”
Hibari bit her lip, stomped her foot, and ran to Rosha, grabbing his hand.
“Rosha, let’s go back together? You can train in Marineford too, and there are many amazing grandpas and grandmas there who can teach you a lot.”
“Hibari.”
Rosha smiled, patting her head, his blue eyes shining with unprecedented determination.
“A man from the North Blue must fight his way out of the North Blue.”
“Don’t worry; we’ll meet again soon at the Fortress of Justice in Marineford.”
“Okay.”
Hibari bit her lip, tears welling up in her eyes.
“Time to go! A real man’s farewell doesn’t need tears! Hahaha, kid, I’ll be waiting for you at the Navy Headquarters. Don’t keep me waiting too long.”
Dos, carrying his medical kit, kicked off the ground and leaped onto the high warship like a large bird.
“Kid, if you want to eat my cooking, come find me in Marineford!”
The fat chef waved his spatula, laughing heartily.
“Dos, De Niro-ojisan, Hibari, everyone! Until we meet again!”
Rosha watched them board the warship. The sails, with the seagull emblem representing justice, billowed as the ship slowly accelerated, leaving the port. Rosha waved vigorously.
“Rosha, make sure to come find me soon!” Hibari couldn’t hold back her tears any longer and waved from the ship’s railing.
“Salute!”
Rear Admiral Adilla shouted.
The officers and soldiers of the 177th Branch raised their right hands in unison.
“I will.”
Rosha clutched the small notebook Akainu had given him, his gaze firm as he spoke quietly.
In the salty sea breeze of the beach, a distant whisper could be heard.
“De Niro-ojisan, I want to learn how to cook.”
“Oh? That requires a lot of dedication. Cooking isn’t a simple skill.”
“I will work hard!”
“Dos, I want to learn medicine.”
“Medicine? Don’t joke around. Medicine won’t save this world. You should focus on learning martial arts from your father. Ouch, why are you hitting me?”
“I don’t care. I want to learn. If you don’t teach me, I’ll tell on you, saying you secretly conduct human experiments and are an evil doctor.”
“No! I never did such things…”
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