Scrap Island.
After watching the Fragrance Snake sail away, Sephiroth turned around and headed towards Water 7.
However, from a distance, he could hear Franky making a racket.
"Great! Mr. Tom, this brand - new train head we just finished will definitely run smoothly!"
Driven by curiosity, the silver - haired teenager followed the sound.
In an open space surrounded by piles of scrap ship parts, Tom, Franky, and Iceburg were standing in front of a brand - new silver train head, laughing heartily.
"Hey, kid! Are you interested in watching the launch of the train we just built?"
Tom waved at the silver - haired teenager with a big smile. The latter didn't refuse and nodded in agreement.
Soon, with Tom's superhuman strength, the entire train head weighing hundreds of tons was placed on the track.
This time, Franky volunteered again to drive the train.
Toot - toot - toot...!
After the roar of the engine, the iron wheels of the train began to accelerate and run along the sea track. It ran very fast, going round and round on the sea track. Franky stuck his head out of the cab and shouted madly:
"Great! It's really running on the sea! Great!!!"
"We did it! Mr. Tom!" Iceburg said excitedly.
"Aha - ha - ha! What a remarkable train!"
Tom stroked his round belly and laughed like a child weighing over five hundred pounds... Oh! No, over a thousand pounds...
Suddenly!
Splash -!
A huge figure over twenty meters tall emerged from the sea surface, bringing up a large splash of water.
Looking at the whole - body red, mountain - sized King Crab, Iceburg let out a shrill scream:
"It's a... King Crab!!! Run! Franky!!!"
"Help!!!"
Franky turned pale with fright. He quickly jumped off the train.
The next moment.
The King Crab waved its huge pincers, grabbed the sea train, and lifted it up.
"Let go of my masterpiece, you bastard!"
Seeing this, Tom's eyes bulged with anger. He roared, grabbed a broken mast more than ten meters long from the ruins, and then, like throwing a javelin, "Whoosh!" he threw it with both hands.
Boom!
With terrifying force, the mast pierced through the King Crab's body at an extremely high speed, making it fall straight backward.
"Phew! That's good."
After his outburst, Tom returned to his smiling, good - natured self. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, which made Sephiroth twitch the corners of his mouth and mutter to himself:
"What a monster! You're even scarier than a Sea King...
However, he thought again that the Fish - Man race was naturally strong, and their strength was ten times that of humans. Such exaggerated explosive power didn't seem so strange after all.
Finally, the silver-haired boy let out a soft sigh in his heart.
There's still a long way to go for me to become the world's most top-notch powerhouse!
The unlucky kid, Franky, climbed out of the sea and instinctively roared at Tom.
"Mr. Tom, didn't you say the sound of the train could drive away the Sea Kings?
Why did that sea king crab suddenly appear!?"
Hearing this, Tom could only force an awkward laugh.
"Aha! This is a new locomotive. I haven't had time to install the corresponding device yet..."
Seeing that Franky seemed about to blow his top, Tom quickly said,
"Don't worry, next time, I'll definitely make the necessary preparations!"
"Pfft! Let Aspargus do it next time. I'm not going."
Franky curled his lips, looking extremely annoyed.
"You were the one who insisted on going..." Aspargus retorted.
"Hey, thanks a lot, kid!
Thanks to your design drawings, the project of this Sea Train has been completed several years ahead of schedule! Hahaha!" Tom looked at the boy and sincerely thanked him.
"Well! I just did what I could.
I hope this Sea Train can be completed as soon as possible, so that this city can come back to life and stop being so dull..."
After saying that, Sephiroth waved, turned around gracefully, and walked away into the distance.
"What a handsome guy!"
Franky subconsciously touched his broken nose, which had been punched by the silver-haired boy. All his previous grudges against the latter had vanished into thin air.
...
At the edge of Water 7, there was a naval base.
In front of a seaside building, two soldiers in naval uniforms, holding long spears, stood guard at the entrance, their postures as straight as arrows.
Actually, to be precise, this was a naval logistics support point. There were only more than thirty naval personnel stationed here. They were a unit specifically responsible for replenishing and repairing warships when they docked...
Just as Sephiroth was about to enter the gate, the two soldiers crossed their spears, blocking his way. One of the young naval soldiers with a mustache spoke up.
"Kid, what do you want to do in there?"
"I want to enlist in the Navy."
The mustached soldier sized up the silver-haired boy from head to toe before asking,
"How old are you?"
"I'm fourteen, almost fifteen."
"You barely meet the age requirement... All right! Go inside, turn right on the second floor. The third room is where you register for the recruitment, and then you'll go for a physical examination."
The mustached soldier put down his spear and gave the boy some instructions.
"Thanks!"
Sephiroth nodded and stepped into the building. He walked into the recruitment room and stood in front of the desk of a bearded young man with a captain's insignia on his shoulder.
"I want to enlist in the Navy."
"Can you read?"
"Yes."
"Here, fill this form out."
The man with a bushy beard showed no expression and took a matter-of-fact attitude. He took out a form from the folder on the table and handed the pen on the table to the silver-haired teen.
The silver-haired teen took a look and found that it was nothing more than the content of a routine information survey, including name, home address, and relatives.
However, there was a somewhat different item in the last column...
"Do you have a Devil Fruit? Type... Kind..." the silver-haired teen murmured softly.
Hearing this, the man with a bushy beard just smiled faintly and shook his head.
"Devil Fruits are the treasures of the sea. Such things are rare and hard to come by. Don't overthink it, kid.
If you're lucky enough to eat one, as long as the ability isn't too useless, you'll basically be key-trained by our Navy. In the future, you'll at least hold the rank of a field-grade officer..."
" Oh! How do you do the key training?" Sephiroth asked with great interest.
"At least you'll be guaranteed admission to the Marine Headquarters Military Academy in Marineford. That's for sure...
Why are you asking so many questions? Anyway, you don't have one."
The man with a bushy beard stopped halfway through his words. Obviously, he didn't want to talk to the teen about so many hypothetical things.
If Devil Fruits were that easy to obtain, he wouldn't have had to struggle through so many years in the Navy. At thirty, he'd only managed to work his way up to the rank of captain and was now the commander of this tiny, lousy supply station.
"Who said I don't have one! I just ate a strange fruit. It should be the Bat Fruit, isn't it?"
As he spoke, Sephiroth's body suddenly changed. In an instant, his height increased, he grew fleshy wings on his back, his ears elongated, and his hands were covered with sharp nails.
Sephiroth didn't think it mattered that he voluntarily exposed the fact that he'd eaten a Devil Fruit. Anyway, it would be exposed sooner or later.
If he tried to hide it, when it came to military training and they asked him to fight in the sea, would he jump in or not...?
Therefore, he might as well show his extraordinary qualities earlier and get the chance of key training.
"Gulp!"
The man with a bushy beard subconsciously swallowed his saliva, and fine cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
In fact, he'd only heard about Devil Fruit users but had never seen one with his own eyes. Unexpectedly, he now actually encountered one...
The man with a bushy beard reached out to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead and said with a bitter smile:
"Okay then! After you fill out this form later, go through the process of having a physical examination.
After my investigation and review, if there are no problems with your personal information, you'll be sent to the G3 Branch with other recruits for basic training in seven days."
Sephiroth filled out the form quickly and headed to the physical examination point in the building as instructed by the man with a bushy beard.
He wasn't too worried about the background check.
Although he had some interactions with the Boa sisters, the three women were not well - known publicly. Moreover, he had never associated with the Kuja Pirates in public. The Navy should not be able to find out about these...
The Navy even allowed Vergo, a gangster from the Donquixote Family, to manage to become a vice - admiral. It should be no problem for him to gain some experience by enrolling in the naval academy, right?
Well, if he was discovered later, he could just grab his stuff and run away...
The Navy's physical examination was quite simple. Along with it, there were also some physical fitness tests, which allowed Sephiroth to know his approximate physical condition now.
In his normal state, he was 165 centimeters tall, weighed 50 kilograms, could lift weights of 187 kilograms, had a grip strength of 98 kilograms, and ran 200 meters in 19 seconds...
In his beast - human form: he was 198 centimeters tall, weighed 70 kilograms, could lift weights of 373 kilograms, had a grip strength of 220 kilograms, and ran 200 meters in 13 seconds...
Generally speaking, in his normal state, he was a bit stronger than ordinary adults. It was only when he transformed into the vampire form that he surpassed the normal human level...
However, there were simply too many super - humans in the world of the Pirate King. Even at the beginning of his voyage, when Luffy defeated the Admiral Krieg of the East Blue, the guy could casually wave a one - ton gun with one hand.
In the later stages, during Zoro's daily training, the weight of the dumbbells was measured in tons, increasing by one ton at a time...
Thinking about it this way, he seemed to have just barely escaped the level of an ordinary miscellaneous soldier... and become an elite miscellaneous soldier!