Lying on the ground, the bell rang, and the end of the second day of Marine Academy came to an end. Joe took off his weighted ankles and chest. He knew he had to work twice as hard because these marine trainees were trained when they were little.
While Joe was just enjoying life and walks with his family who earned a nice income. Slowly walking out of the Marine Academy, Joe didn't bother to greet anyone, which was unlike his usual self.
Everyone probably attributed this to his parents' death, so they left him alone. Reaching his apartment, he took out the ankle weights he stole from the equipment room when he was "using the bathroom".
He put them on and ate some food before doing pushups. It seemed as if his body had changed. Taking off his shirt, he looked at his lean body; he never had this type of body. "Is this why I could endure the training?"
Continuing his training, he wrote down his goals. At the top of the list was to kill the most pirates in the history of the world, and the second goal was to kill the pirates who killed his family.
Clenching his fist, he trained like a madman until he couldn't even move a muscle. Lying on the ground, he fell asleep as his body began to change more and more. The food mixed with the intense training was changing him.
Hearing his alarm blaring, he felt his empty stomach. Putting away the ankle weights in his closet, he ate almost all of the food in his fridge. "Is it deja vu, or am I stronger than yesterday?"
Taking down an apple and steamed bun, he ran out of his apartment feeling lighter, and suddenly he had an enlightenment. Doing parkour around, he had flashes of memories of a little kid running from some people...
Using parkour, he took a shorter route by climbing the walls and buildings. Everyone just watched in awe as a grown man was climbing buildings. This time, Joe was wearing a bit of baggy clothes to hide his changes.
Entering the class, he was the first one there, which shocked some of the Marine Officers who were putting up equipment. "Joe, you are early."
Joe put on a weak smile. "Early bird gets the worm."
Laughing a bit, the Marine Officers felt that Joe was a bit different from yesterday. Hina and Smoker walked in behind a couple of other trainees. Everyone was confused as they saw Joe sitting in the front row, reading a book.
Walking to their seats, a big muscular boy looked at Joe with disgust, "Boy, that is my seat, how dare you take it."
Joe calmly looked up at the behemoth of a boy who had veins twitching on the side of his head. "Does it have your name on it?"
The big boy gritted his teeth and said, "Fine, then we will settle this like Marine Trainees, or are you scared?"
Everyone was keenly listening to the argument. "Sure, pick anything you like," said Joe, smiling at the big boy, which irritated him a bit more.
Jumping down, the big boy stood in the big arena next to the stands, "One versus one. Come down if you dare, you coward!"
Putting away the book, everyone watched as Joe slowly walked towards the arena. Teacher Zephyr stood at the door and watched in amusement as he had a list in his hands. Standing opposite the big boy, Joe said, "Big boy, are you sure you want to do this?"
"You...dare to call me fat?"
Joe chuckled, "No, I just called you a big boy."
This angered the big boy as he said, "We begin now!"
Rushing towards Joe, he swung his giant fist towards Joe's head. Feeling the strength behind the punch, Joe leaned back and ducked under while tripping the big boy's feet as he stepped in.
The big boy fell off the arena as the entire Academy was silent. "I guess I win then?"
Getting up, the big boy was more furious, "Knocking me off the arena isn't a win!"
Climbing the arena again, he rushed towards Joe once more. This time, he tried to roundhouse kick Joe's head clean off. Thinking of something, he held up his arms and blocked the blow but was pushed back 10 meters.
The bones in his arms were rattling. Looking at the big boy charging again, Joe decided to end it. As soon as the big boy was in range, Joe waited until the big boy swung his arm and lightly grasped it; using his momentum against him, he threw him violently against the wall.
*Bang!*
The wall dented a bit as the big boy coughed out a spit of saliva. A round of clapping was heard as Teacher Zephyr came in, holding a clipboard. "Amazing technique and execution. Using the force of the enemy to throw them, I am amazed."
Joe coughed and smiled, "Thank you, Teacher Zephyr."
Getting down from the arena, he saw the big boy was sent to the infirmary. Even though the physiques of the one-piece world was quite resilient, he must have had a few bones broken from the impact with the wall and the force he was trying to hit Joe with.
Sitting in his seat again, everyone looked at Joe in astonishment. Was this the same Joe who used to play with them as kids, the same Joe who played pranks, the same Joe who used to get in trouble all the time?
Hina wondered why Joe had changed, while Smoker ignored Joe. The others were just as confused, but before they could ask Joe, Teacher Zephyr said, "Today is where we see which class you end up in. I will be picking 30 out of you all to be in my elite training camp."
Everyone was in an uproar because everyone who went into Zephyr's training camp all came out got higher ranks, none below a major. Boiling with excitement, the elite training camp selection started.
Taking out a machine that tested Doriki or the value of someone's physical power, 10 is a normal marine, while 500 and above are superhuman. Being arrogant, Smoker went first and didn't use his devil fruit for the first test, and he got 350.
"Now, use your devil fruit, Smoker boy."
Smoker grinned and blew smoke out of his cigar, cocking his fist back, he yelled out, "White Punch!"
Smoke extended his fist quickly as it hit the machine, making it shake a little. The Doriki value rose to an astonishing 501. "Now, Smoker boy, don't rely on your devil fruit too much, or it will be your downfall."
Smoker ignored the words coming from Teacher Zephyr and sat back in his seat, sighing. Teacher Zephyr called Joe to come next. Walking up to the machine in the middle of the arena, he looked around it and wondered how much Doriki value he would have right now.
Clenching his fist, he assumed a karate stance, stomping the ground, he punched out with his right while pulling back his left. The machine didn't move, but the Doriki went up gradually, all the way to 150.
Sighing in disappointment, Teacher Zephyr was about to say something, but then he noticed that Joe was about to try again. Feeling curious, he let the second hit happen.
Calming down, Joe synchronized all of his muscles into one attack, the perfect timing of the hips, legs, and feet. Loading up, he jumped up and punched the machine as he remembered the death of his parents.
Imagining the machine as the pirates who attacked his parents, Joe cried out in anger as the machine shook a little, the Doriki value climbed past 150 and reached 300. Teacher Zephyr saw the anger in Joe's eyes and nodded in satisfaction.
"Good job, Joe."
Nodding, Joe clenched his fist that was dripping blood and sat down on his seat...