The vast, azure sea sparkled with rippling light, and the sea breeze blew sharply.
Warships sailed forward, cutting through wind and waves, all heading in the same direction.
After a day and night of sailing, the warship that everyone was on passed through the Gate of Justice and sailed for a further distance before they spotted an island... Marineford, the Headquarters of the Navy!
When they got close enough, the magnificent building of the Navy Headquarters came into the sight of Sephiroth and the others.
The white seagull flags atop the watchtower fluttered briskly in the wind.
Warships docked neatly at the crescent-shaped military port one after another. Teams of naval soldiers scurried back and forth. Warships were constantly arriving and departing. Behind the Navy Headquarters was an ordinary town where the families of the naval officers lived, presenting a busy scene.
Marineford has a special geographical location and holds great strategic significance. Not only is it backed by the Holy Land Mary Geoise, but the Sabaody Archipelago, located more than thirty kilometers away, is also the last stop and a must - pass point for pirates before they enter the New World in the first half of the Grand Line.
Therefore, the permanent military force in Marineford, the Headquarters of the Navy, is thirty thousand. The Navy Marshal and the Admirals are always on standby. As long as pirates cause a big enough ruckus, they will face a thunderous strike.
After the warship dropped anchor at the military port, Sephiroth and the others stepped down the gangway and lined up on the dock.
Before long, a lieutenant approached them and led them through the Oris Square and past the Oaks Bell.
This bell was a sacred one taken from the warship 'Oaks Royce,' which was very active in history long ago.
According to the Navy's custom, when a new year begins, people ring the bell eight times to give thanks for the past year, and then ring it another eight times to pray for the new year. The total of sixteen rings is called the "Sixteen - o'clock Bell," and it is also considered an announcement of the beginning and end of an "era."
Before long, they entered the Marineford Military Academy and arrived at the playground.
"Go and put your luggage over there, then line up in the middle of the playground," the lieutenant said, pointing first at the corridor where a pile of luggage had already been stacked, and then at the middle of the playground.
Sephiroth and the others didn't utter many questions. After hastily dropping off their luggage, they dashed towards the middle of the playground.
At this time, there were already ten teams of people on the playground, with ten naval soldiers in each team.
Obviously, these were all soldiers selected from different branches in the Grand Line, just like them, coming to study at the Marineford Military Academy.
If naval soldiers from the Four Seas Branches want to study at the Marineford Military Academy, they have to transfer. They can only transfer from the Four Seas Branches to the Grand Line Branches or the Navy Headquarters by demoting their military ranks by three levels. Then they need to pass the selection to get the qualification.
After waiting for a while, five more teams arrived one after another and stood on the playground with them.
When it was nine o'clock in the morning, a large group of naval soldiers came to the playground one after another.
However, these people were not from other naval branches. Instead, they were selected from the Navy Headquarters. In terms of numbers, they were the same as the total number of the other fifteen branches in the Grand Line, one hundred and fifty in total.
There were three hundred naval soldiers in total. They stood upright, with their heads held high, all full of vigor and vitality.
They were the cadets of this year's Marineford Military Academy! (Note: In the "One Piece" fan - community, this is the official way to refer to it.)
In the future, after they graduated, they would be assigned to different departments and become the mainstays of the Navy.
When the time reached 9:25, a middle - aged man came out of the teaching and administrative building with a school officer. The man was 3.1 meters tall, wore sunglasses, had short, neat purple hair, and a strong build. Then he stood in front of the three hundred naval soldiers.
The school officer was a Long - Armed Tribe man with a rugged face and dark skin. His hands were so long that he could touch the ground when standing upright. He tied his long black hair into a braid. His name was Shuza, and he was Zefa's favorite disciple and adjutant.
"Yo! Newbies, I'm your head instructor, Zefa.
It's our first meeting. Consider this as a gift for you...
Alright, everyone! Run two hundred laps around the playground for me!
Those who can't finish in an hour will have an extra penalty of one hundred laps.
If you can't finish by 12 noon, you won't get any lunch today!"
Silence!
Two hundred laps in an hour, and the playground track was 400 meters per lap...
In other words, they had to run 80 kilometers in an hour!
If they couldn't finish in an hour, they had to run an extra 40 kilometers!
Seeing the three hundred naval soldiers still standing there looking at each other in dismay, Zefa immediately roared loudly:
"Are you all deaf? If you don't run, get out of here!!!
I don't need any useless people here!!!
Start the timer now!!!"
Swish! Swish! Swish!...
After confirming that Chief Instructor Zefa wasn't joking, the three hundred naval soldiers immediately rushed onto the track and started running like crazy.
Running eighty kilometers in an hour meant they had to reach a speed close to 22.3 meters per second to finish...
These soldiers who passed the selection generally had strong physical qualities and the potential to become powerful.
However...
Potential was one thing, but they hadn't grown up yet!
Therefore, most of them basically couldn't escape the fate of being punished to run an extra one hundred laps.
After a short while, the differences in physical fitness between different individuals became apparent. Some people's breathing rhythms were completely messed up...
However, at the front of the three hundred naval soldiers, on the outermost side of the playground track, there were two people who were far ahead, and even Sephiroth could only barely keep up with them.
Every time these two people reached the straight part of the track, their legs would stomp on the ground more than a dozen times at high speed, using the explosive speed generated by the reaction force to move, making their figures so fast that it was hard for the naked eye to keep up.
The two of them would only slow down when they encountered the turns on the track to prevent themselves from flying out of the track due to running too fast.
Apparently, the technique the two were using was one of the Six Styles of the Navy... Shave!
At their current speed, if they maintained it, they would be able to complete the task assigned by Zephyr...
Both of them were in their early twenties, a young man and a young woman.
The young man had a wretched, ugly face, and there was a pink amulet with the character "Porpoise" hanging on his chest. His name was Kaji.
The young woman was very good - looking, with a beauty mole on the right corner of her mouth. She had an impressive figure. On her exposed left thigh in the shorts, there was a spider tattoo. Her name was Gion.
Soon, while running at high - speed, they lapped the Navy soldiers at the end of the line from the front again.
In fact, Sephiraoth could barely use Shave now. Stepping on the ground at ultra - high speed would put a great burden on his legs.
If he used Shave continuously during the long - distance run, his legs would definitely get injured. However, the loss of vitality was a minor matter since he had various ways to replenish it.
But...
While repairing the injuries, he couldn't maintain the high - speed movement and needed to slow down.
In the end, the effect of using Shave was even worse than just running at full speed...
Just as Sephiraoth was considering whether to transform into a vampire to speed up, he heard Zephyr roar again:
"Smoker! If you dare use elementalization to slack off again, I'll slap you with a pair of Sea Prism Stone handcuffs and make you run three hundred laps!
Sharinguru, if you don't turn your wheel - shaped legs back, I'll make you carry a warship and run!..."
Although Zephyr didn't have the roster of the trainees in his hand, he could accurately call out the names of every new trainee...
Hearing the purple - haired old man's continuous roars, Sephiraoth had no choice but to give up the idea of transforming into a vampire and continued to run on the playground track with all his might.
When Kaji and Gion finished running one hundred laps, Zephyr took a notebook and a pen from his adjutant beside him and quickly wrote down the names of thirty people on the white paper.
"Shuzo, form these people into a class. You can handle the rest as you see fit."
"Yes!"
Zephyr's adjutant, Shuzo, nodded, took the pen and paper back, and quickly memorized the names of these thirty people.
After that, Zephyr had no intention of watching any longer, so he walked straight back into the teaching and administrative building.
If Marineford Military Academy is the place for training officers, then this class Zephyr personally picked... It's the Star - General Class!
In Zephyr's evaluation, these thirty people all had the potential to become admiral - level officers in the future and be the pillars of the Navy. Therefore, they would receive the best resource allocation for training...