Markus and Brago were up early in the morning, it was a week after the initial crucible had taken place, the point in training camp where those who figured they couldn't make it were allowed to leave. By then end of the crucible more than half of the recruits had dropped out. Leaving behind a little over a hundred recruits remaining.
" Hey man, look who it is." Brago spoke, he pointed to the two arrivals walking into the training hall, a room that had occupied every single need for weight training, Gion and Smoker.
" Hey, Gion, Smoker. Looking good guys. What are you doing here?" Markus asked the two of them.
Smoker looked away from Markus and grumbled something under his breath before walking away.
" Don't mind him, he's just grumpy." Gion told the man.
Markus nodded. Smoker was a bit of a loner. Didn't prefer to speak with others. " It is what it is. What are you doing here though? Not too many people use this free hour for anything other than resting. Are you sure, you want to waste this time?"
" Hush! You know as well as I do, that doing anything else would be a waste of time. I can't afford to stay behind you guys forever. Just watch! I'll catch you in no time." Gion told the man.
" Yahahahaha!" Markus laughed. If anything at all, Markus appreciated Gion's bluntness. She was always quick to speak her mind and he certainly did believe she could catch them if they weren't careful.
Markus and Brago were the result of six long years of intense training. But Gion was what you would consider a prodigy. Her skills improved naturally and with ease. Smoker was no slouch himself, but the kid relied too heavily on his devil fruit for combat.
" Hey did you hear? Some of the Vice Admirals from Marineford are coming in a few days to see us." Gion spoke.
" No kidding?" This was the first time Markus was hearing about it.
" Yeah, apparently, they want to get a look at the next class of marines coming out of the academy. Seeing as how so many have already dropped out, this is our chance to impress the higher ups and maybe we'll be able to see who we'll be serving under when we do graduate."
" That could be pretty interesting. I wonder who's coming. Do you think we'll get a chance to fight any of them?" Markus asked the woman.
" Fight a Vice Admiral? Are you nuts? There's no way in hell we could beat a Vice Admiral as we are no.... Wait.... I forgot who I was talking to. The monster. Right." Gion noticed her folly in comparing herself and other standard cadets to Markus.
" Yahahahaha!" Markus laughed at the woman. It wasn't a secret what others thought about him, comparing him to a beast more than a human. " Now, now Gion. That's no way to talk to your superior. I'm actually looking forward to this."
The Vice Admirals of Navy Hq, Famous individuals known throughout the world as being amongst the best the Marines have ever produced. Many notable names include the likes of Current Vice Admiral Garp, Zephyr, Sengoku, and Tsuru. All of whom would go on to be legendary names.
The power a Vice Admiral yields is quite impressive, especially the current generation.
Kuzan, Sakazuki, Borsalino. Three of the youngest men to ever reach the rank of Vice Admiral, and their names were quickly becoming known throughout the world, and not for no reason. Amongst the Vice Admirals these three men are being heavily considered for the new positions of Admirals, since Sengoku was promoted to Fleet Admiral and Zephyr retired.
" Yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to this."
......
Three days later, at the end of the training day, Zephyr gathered the recruits together in the main hall for a special surprise.
" Recruits, I'm sure you've heard the rumors going around. I'm not sure how it became common knowledge, but yes today we are going to have a handful of special visitors. A select few of the Vice Admirals from Marineford have taken some time from their busy schedules to pay you all a visit. They will be here to evaluate your growth over the recent week, get a gauge of your potential, and maybe even give you a few tips of their own to help you further along in your journey." Zephyr told the class.
" Oh man, that's so cool. I hope Vice Admiral Garp showed up."
" I was hoping more to see Vice Admiral Dalmatian!"
" Kuzan's my pick. That guy's so chill."
" Silence!" Zephyr shouted. " So, without further ado, give a standing Salute to the Vice Admirals of Marine HQ.
The door to grand hall burst open and stepping inside were five Vice Admirals of note. Leading the trail was the oldest of the group, the tactician, Great advisor Vice Admiral Tsuru, behind her was Vice Admiral Dalmatian the dog-dog fruit eater, following up his rear was Vice Admiral Momonga, and finally behind those two, were three of the earlier talked about Vice Admirals Kuzan and Sakazuki. The eaters of the Chill-Chill fruit and the Magma-Magma fruit.
The recruits saluted the high-ranking marines all at once.
" Tsuru-chan. It is good to see you again. Dalmatian, Momonga, and even you two Kuzan, Sakazuki."
" Zephyr you old man, you look well." Kuzan told the man.
" Is this all that's left?" Tsuru asked the man; she was straight to business as usual. A no nonsense kind of person.
Zephyr nodded and Tsuru sighed. " Well, at least we know the weaklings have already been vetted out. I see a few strong faces already. Is there anyone in particular that you've taken note of?"
" First group step forward!" Zephyr shouted.
Together, Markus, Brago, Gion, Smoker, and Shuzo all stepped forward and presented themselves to the Vice Admirals and saluted them.
" Well, this is an interesting little group." Tsuru muttered.
" These are my five best students. All of them are clearly ahead of the others." Zephyr told the woman. He might have been rough on the younger kids, but he was still proud of them all. Their strength was something to be proud of at such a young age. They had the qualities to rise above the ranks in the Marines.
Tsuru observed each and every single one of them, part of her was happy to see there was a woman in the group. The amount of females in the Marines that had potential were very slim to none. So, it was always quite a gift to see more talented women showing up. " I see, yes there is some talent here. But talent doesn't matter on the battlefield. Talent without knowledge is useless."
" Hey, hey Tsuru-San. Let's not talk down the youngsters. We should be encouraging them. They still got some ways to go. Let's not break their spirits just yet."
" They'll need to learn eventually. Break them while they're young and beat justice into them. That is what needs to be done. Get rid of their bad habits now, while we still have a chance." Sakazuki grumbled.
"Hm, yes. Getting rid of the bad traits now is what the training center is for. But it is also to build them up, Sakazuki. Stop focusing so heavily on all the bad things." Kuzan told the man.
" We can't all be as carefree and careless as you are." Sakazuki responded.
" Hey, hey! Now that's just cold." Kuzan muttered.
" You two knock it off." Tsuru spoke up. " Zephyr, let's see what these recruits of yours can do." Tsuru spoke up. " Dalmatian."
Stepping forward was the rather large Dalmatian. The large vice admiral easily stood at or around a solid nine foot seven as he looked too be taller than Sengoku and Garp. His hands were white and had black spots like a dalmatian as did his legs. What's more his face from his nose and up were completely spotted like that of the dalmatian, while the rest of his face below was human.
" Gahahaha! Alright, then who wants to go first?" Dalmatian asked.
This was a rare chance for the normal recruit to have a chance at fighting one on one with one of the Vice Admirals. A painful chance of course, but a valuable one, nonetheless.
" Come on, don't be scared." Dalmatian spoke. " I won't beat ya too badly."
" Alright, I'll take dance." Markus grabbed his blue navy scarf and undid it, tossing it to the side as he knew it would only hinder his movement. He grabbed his white and blue navy shirt and took it and placed it to the side. It was uncomfortable and stiffened his arms.
For a moment Tsuru could have sworn she saw a mirror image of Garp.
" Ha! Alright, then. Come on Brat! Let's see how much you've learned since I last you saw you." In an instant, Dalmatian's legs kicked the ground hard multiple times, allowing him to move faster than any of the recruits could see.
Markus was in a bind, before coming to camp, Markus and Brago were forbidden from using their Haki in most situations. Thankfully this was a special occasion, meaning that Markus was free to exercise at least a bit of his strength. But will that be enough?
Markus could see Dalmatian approaching him, fast and turned around to block his punch with his arms. Though he tried to withstand it, Markus found himself pushed back quite a bit, to the point he hit the wall on the other side of the room.
The recruits were quite amazed by the speed which Dalmatian moved, even more so by the fact that Markus had seemingly blocked the man's attack.
Markus, however was feeling the pain. The weight of Dalmatian's attack was no joke. His size and weight, coupled with his speed and his devil fruit made him quite the formidable foe.
Markus emerged from the smoke, dashing towards Dalmatian with a look of focus on his face, rarely seen.
" Yaaaah!" Markus tried punching Dalmatian, only for the dog-man to block his attack and return one of his own.
Markus blocked his punch and tried punching him back, only for Dalmatian to once again block his punch.
The two men started training punches in place, blocking and striking back every chance they got.
Markus tried punching Dalmatian again.
Before Markus punch could land Dalmatian shouted " Soru!" and vanished form place.
Markus quickly spun around and threw a kick at the spot where he figured Dalmatian would reappear.
His attack almost hit Dalmatian right in his chest, unfortunately Dalmatian managed to dodge it at the last second.
Dalmatian jumped into the air above Markus by kicking the air below him hard. He then changed his position and lunged downwards at Markus.
Markus rolled to the side and got out of the way of Dalmatian's attack just before it hit the ground.
" Wow! Did you see that."
" They're fast! That's insane?! has he really been that fast all along?" Gion was completely in disbelief. She had thought that maybe she had seen the height of Markus and Brago's power before. But now, she was questioning if she had what it took to catch them at all.
" Don't be discouraged, young lady." Tsuru said to the woman. Upon seeing Gion's change in attitude, Tsuru wanted to provide at least a little comfort to the woman. " Markus is a phenomenal child. He's been around the marines ever since his birth. He practically grew up with us. Dalmatian, Garp, Sengoku, and many others, we knew him when he was just a boy you see. And since he was a boy, he trained. Every single day. That's what the life of being the son of the hero Garp is. Training constantly. Don't be discouraged, instead use this as a learning experience. Training and dedication will always beat out pure talent. Always."
Gion listened closely to Vice Admiral Tsuru. But it didn't take long for her attention to turn back to the fight.
When the dust cleared, Vice Admiral Dalmatian stepped out with a smirk on his face.
" Not bad! You're quick and your punches have some real weight behind them. But surely that's not all you've learned, is it?" Dalmatian asked.
" YAHA!!! NO WAY! I'VE STILL GOT SOME TRICKS UP MY SLEEVE!" Markus exclaimed. " LET'S GO!" Markus exploded from his position and so did Dalmatian.
The two men met together.
" Finger Pistol!" Dalmatian struck his fingers out towards Markus.
" Tekken!"
" Thats!" Momonga shouted.
" Why Garp, that sneak." Tsuru's smirk couldn't go unnoticed.
" What is it, lady Tsuru?" Gion asked the woman.
" Just watch."
Markus's attack was a strong one that applied his bodies physical strength with one of the rokushiki skills taught to him by Garp, Iron body, making his body as hard as Iron and nearly impenetrable.
Dalmatian's paw and Markus' fist collided in a spectacle of force. A shockwave erupted throughout the entire hall, that blew most of the standing recruits away.
" Hey now! Not bad." Kuzan muttered.
" Gaaaaah!"
" Gaaaaah!"
Markus and Dalmatian were both in pain, but Markus seemed to be on the worse end of things. His hand was bleeding and his arm looked red.
" Not bad, that was quite a vicious punch, Markus. Even if it was only a little bit, you almost overpowered me. But it looks like you lose." Dalmatian told the man.
" Heh! Not likely!" Markus exclaimed. " I can still fight!" Markus was hurting, yes. But not completely out of the fight, he could still go further. Hardly did he ever have a chance to fight someone stronger than him who wasn't Garp or Bogard. This was his chance to really test himself, and he wasn't wasting the chance.
" No, that's enough. We don't need you getting hurt because of your pride." Tsuru stated. " You're already far more impressive than I imagined you'd be now. It's clear you're going to succeed."
" Hm?! Yes, ma'am." Markus spoke. He held a deep respect for the older woman and knew better than to go against her word.
" Gahahaha! You should be proud, your skill is amazing, and I can tell that wasn't your best. Against any normal pirate crew, you'd very much pose a threat. You'll get promoted in no time at all. Way to go kid."
" Thank you for the opportunity, Vice Admiral Dalmatian." Markus raised his injured hand up and cupped it inside his other hand and bowed to Dalmatian, showing the older veteran his respect.
" Alright! Who's next?" Zephyr asked the remaining four recruits.
Brago smirked and stepped forward, grabbing the hilt of his two training swords. " Vice admiral Momonga, sir. If you would." Brago spoke. His challenge was directed to the only swordsman amongst the group of Vice Admirals.
" Very well." Momonga muttered. He stepped towards Brago in the center of the grand hall, while Markus and Dalmatian were seen to by the nurses.
The two men turned and faced each other, and then in a sign of respect they bowed to one another.
" Are you comfortable using two swords?" Momonga asked the man.
" Yes sir!"
" Then I'll allow you to make the first move." Momonga told the man.
" ALRIGHT! LET'S GO!" In a flash, Brago exploded from his position, cracking the wooden floor below him. The speed he was moving at was obviously faster than Markus. But not by much.
Brago reappeared behind Momonga and swung at him with both of his swords.
" Soru? Not bad." Momonga commented. " Moon walk!" Momonga somehow managed to jump above Brago before his blades could touch him, and once in the air Momonga too used Soru to close the distance once again.
Brago, jumped off the ground and spun around, using the spinning motion of his blades to parry Momonga's sword strike.
* Clang!
The sound of the two swords striking off each other was loud, the force knocked Brago back quite a distance, giving him time to regroup himself.
Brago and Momonga glared at each other, and then they lunged at each other.
Brago and Momonga proceeded to exchange blows with one another, their swords collided with force. The sound of metal crashing into metal.
Brago's two swords clashed with and met Momonga's on each and every swing.
" They're both monsters!"
Needless to say, Momonga was quite impressed by Brago's skill with his blade.
" However, you still got a way to go. Momonga raised his fist and clocked Brago square in his jaw and then, while he was reeling, he swept Brago off of his feet and pinned him to the ground with his blade.
" Damn it. That wasn't very flashy." Brago muttered. He was disappointed by the fact that Momonga had managed to sneak him like he did.
" You expected me to stick strictly to swordsmanship. Never do that. In a fight all cards are on the table. That means always keep your guard up, no matter what." Momonga told the man.
" Yes, Sir."
" Heh! here, come on." Momonga sheathed his sword and extended a hand to his junior.
Brago nodded and accepted the hand.
Once he was back to his feet, Brago bowed to Momonga one more time before falling back in line.
After that Gion, Shuzo, and Smoker all had their chance to face a Vice Admiral, and they were all crushed effortlessly.
Gion had the chance to face Vice Admiral Dalmatian, herself, and was quickly overwhelmed by the man's massive size. Smoker challenged Kuzan and found that the man could freeze him in place, and poor Shuzo had it the worst. He had the misfortunate pleasure of facing Vice Admiral Sakazuki.
by the time the battles were done, each of the top five recruits had been beaten, something none of the other recruits had expected to see. It really drove home the point that there was always someone stronger than you, out there.
...........
" Thank you for coming today, Tsuru-Chan. What did you think?"
" I think you all show great promise. You should be proud of what you have accomplished today, even if you did lose." Tsuru said to the first group. " As for the rest of you, take what you saw and use it to drive yourselves even further. you have a lot of catching up to do and now you have no excuse. What happens for the next year is entirely in your hands, so continue striving to be the best." Tsuru told the recruits.
" YES, MA'AM!"
With her speech done, Zephyr decided now was the time for him to step in and take over again.
" Okay, listen up. The rest of the day you have off from training, I want you all to approach the Vice Admirals for any tips and recommendations they might be able to give to you. For those of you who did not get a chance to spar, try your luck in challenging one of them. Give them a chance to get a feel for your power and abilities. Alright? Dismissed!"
" YES, SIR!"
Zephyr gave the recruits a chance to actually gain something from this little field trip. Brago approached Vice Admiral Momonga for more instruction on his blade, while Markus ended up making his way over to Kuzan.
" Yo! Kuzan!"
" Yo!"
Markus and Kuzan high fived each other.
" How's it going, here? Having fun with Zephyr-sensei?" Kuzan asked the man.
" Ha! It's alright. The first week was rough as hell, but after that old man Z really loosened up. I guess seeing who was serious about being a Marine and who was not was why he was so tough." Markus told the man.
" Yeah, that's about how it went for me. But be careful. The old shark can still come out from time to time, ya know."
" Oh yeah, I know. How are things back at Marineford? With Sengoku stepping up as Fleet Admiral, I hear there's a campaign going around for those who would take the new admiral position."
" Ah, it's a mess. Nothing's set in stone yet. But eh, we'll see what happens." Kuzan told the man.
" Yeah, we'll see. How's pops doing?"
" Garp is still Garp, annoying the hell out of Sengoku. They wanted to try and get Garp-San to take one positions, seeing as how there is two open spots. But he refused again. Needless to say, Sengoku is stressed out."
" Yahahahaha! that's my pops alright." Markus exclaimed.
" Ha! Funny enough, he tried to come today, but Sengoku and Tsuru-San refused to allow it. We had to sneak off Marineford, just to keep him from coming with us."
Markus reached up and Grabbed Kuzan's coat. " Thank you." There was a look of dread in Markus' eyes. He knew full well what kind of chaos Garp would coming here. " I relish the fact that no one here knows I'm the son of the hero of the marines. Makes things a little easier for me to speak to some people." Markus told Garp.
" Ara ara ara! You mean that young lad with Tsuru-San?" Kuzan asked.
Markus turned and looked to where Kuzan was looking and saw both Gion and Tsuru speaking to one another along with a group of the women on the island.
" Yeah. Gion's good people. She doesn't treat me special. In fact, it's actually quite fun seeing her try to compete with me. Yahahahahahaha!" Markus told the man. " It's hard coming by people who are genuine, Kuzan."
" Hey, what's up with your laugh?" Kuzan asked, finally taking notice.
" What do you mean?"
" You changed it. You used to sound like Garp-San."
" Oh that? Yeah, I did that to try and distance myself form the Garp name. Ya know? I love, admire, and respect everything pops has done. But I don't want his legacy to be my name. I do what I do for my reasons and my reasons alone. Ya get it?"
" Yeah, I get it. Anyway, it was nice catching up. But I have to try and attend to the others for a little bit. Why don't you come catch me later and we'll have a drink."
" Sure thing. See ya Kuzan." Markus waved goodbye to the older man as he walked away. " Maybe I'll go see how Aunty Tsuru's doing." Markus muttered to himself. He stuffed his hands into his pocket and started walking over to the group of women.
" Hey! Aunty Tsuru!" Markus called out to the woman as he approached her. The sound of his voice calling out to her in such a nonchalant way annoyed Tsuru slightly, only due to the fact that right now, she was supposed to be his superior officer.
" How many times have I told you not to call me that, when I'm working?" Tsuru asked the boy.
" What? I can't help it. You're family." Markus told the woman. He walked up to her and gave her a gentle hug. " How have you been?"
" Horrible. That pops of yours has been making my life miserable."
" Isn't he always?" Markus joked.
" Yes, that's the problem." Tsuru told the boy. " How are you fitting in? I've heard uite a bit about you from the girls. But I wanna hear it from you." Tsuru told the boy.
" Oh well, you know. Doing my best." Markus told the woman. " I'd also appreciate it, if you didn't tell them too much about me." Markus said in a voice barely above a whisper. " I just don't need the Garp name looming over me."
" Well, that's a little too late." Tsuru told the boy. She pointed to all the women staring at Markus and watched and giggled as the boy sighed in frustration.
" Well, that's unfortunate." Markus sighed. " What about you, Gion? You gonna start geeking out on me."
* BAM!
Gion swatted Markus on the back of his head hard.
For a second Markus swore he could see stars.
" How could you hide such a thing?" Gion asked the man.
" I figured you'd all treat me differently if you knew I was the son of the Hero Garp." Markus told the woman.
This only seemed to further agitate Gion as she hit him in the face again and knocked Markus onto his back.
" Jerk!" Gion shouted.
" My, my, what a young lady." Tsuru stated. She looked down at Markus and giggled as she watched the boy's eyes spin around his head.
" Yeah. I know right. HA!" Markus lifted himself up off the ground and brushed himself off. " Well, I better go apologize. Don't want to keep her mad at me. That woman is impressive you know, she's a hard worker. Hey, you should try and get her under you, aunty. I know she'd appreciate it."
" We talked about the possibility." Tsuru stated. " She's quite a smart young lady, but she did feel a bit inferior when watching you and your friend spar with the others. Speaking of which, when did you learn Rokushiki?"
" Oh, about some time ago. I had to really work hard for that." Markus explained.
" I see. I was surprised when Dalmatian's attack was matched. Quite impressive indeed. Make sure to keep up the hard work and don't let it all go to your head. Or else you'll end up falling flat on your face."
" Don't worry, Aunty. I got it. I got it." Markus told the woman. " I won't let you down."
" I know you won't. I expect nothing but the best from you, Markus."
" Thank you, aunty."
" Alright, now come here and give me a hug." Tsuru smiled and pulled the young man close to her and hugged him.
Markus had to lean down to let her near him, due to how much bigger he was than her. He wasn't that little kid running around Marineford causing trouble anymore. He was becoming a man.
.........
After sometime, the Vice Admirals finally left to return to Marineford, but not before Markus said his goodbyes.
Tsuru gave him a box of herbal tea, and Kuzan left him with a few bottles of his favorite booze. Both things' Markus had to sneak back into his room before Zephyr saw them.
Before the day was closed however, Zephyr gathered everyone together one last time.
" I hope you all had a good time today. It's a rare chance to learn from people that have been where you are now and have thrived. Some of you really impressed the Vice Admirals today. Some of you came up a little short on review, but that's okay. This is all just the beginning. You'll all grow and change in ways in the coming year that you never could have imagined before, and I know that when the day comes for you all to walk into Marineford once again, as newly crowned Marines, you'll be able to look back and be proud of yourselves for all of your accomplishments. Now, then it's time to hit the sack and prepare for tomorrow, because we're back on schedule. Got it? Okay, good. Dismissed!"
" YES, SIR!"
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