The next six months turned into a pretty steady routine, with Luffy, Marcus and Ace traveling to Gray Terminal every day. After the first month, Marcus suggested they run the whole way. First to save time on the trip, but to also help train and build up stamina.
Also within that month, they talked Sabo into joining them living at Makino's house. It wasn't hard to do at all, since he was kinda homeless in the first place. Makino was even happy to have him and bought another bed just for him to use.
The boys also started to bring home animals from the forest to eat. It was partly Marcus's idea, to help out Makino with feeding them. The other reason was because Luffy wouldn't stop pointing out animals he wanted to eat. Ace and the boys would even drop off an animal for Dadan and the bandits to eat once or twice a week.
During those six months Marcus came up with different ways they could improve their training. Most of it was simple things, like standard body weight exercises, or carrying heavy objects. Even their trips to Gray Terminal increased in difficulty. First it was running the whole way. Once that was easy, they would run it while carrying something kinda heavy. Once that was easy, they switched it to weighted backpacks and would increase the weight each day.
Marcus even found scrap metal in Gray Terminal to use as leg and arm weights. It was only around five pounds to each body part, but it helped with training their bodies. He wanted to find heavier weights to use but so far the boys haven't been lucky. But it was fine, Marcus planned to save up some money and ask a blacksmith to make custom training weights for them at some point.
Marcus also started trying different things from anime. Unfortunately Saitama's workout didn't seem to work, but it worked as a great warm up for the boys in the morning before breakfast. Marcus was secretly glad it didn't work, he didn't want to be bald. But the thought of Ace, Luffy and Sabo being bald made him chuckle a few times.
Besides that, Marcus worked on figuring out a breathing technique like the ones described in demon slayer. The technique he was making seemed to have some effect, but there was a long way to go with it. It would need a lot more testing and refining before he shared it with the others. The technique itself currently helped him with getting more air than normal. But it felt very incomplete and a little wrong. It just ended up being more work for Marcus.
All the training had another effect on the boys though. Marcus and Luffy were taller now and looked closer to Ace's age range then theirs. Ace and Sabo also had growth spurts and looked to be around ten instead of five now. Maybe it was the training, the extra food or just bullshit anime logic. Whatever it was though, Marcus wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
The last positive was learning the language seemed to come quick and easy to Marcus and Luffy. It probably helped that they talked a lot with Sabo and Ace every day. Sabo was also a fountain of knowledge and was basically a dictionary for Marcus to learn new words. Sooner or later he would need to learn how to read and write, but that could wait a few years.
It was early in the morning of the seven month as the boys finished up their pre breakfast workout. As they closed in on the docks and the home stretch of their ten kilometer run, the boys noticed a dot in the distance with the rising sun. They finished their run and then walked out onto the dock to get a better view.
After five minutes they could barely make out a ship that was slowly making its way to the island. It would be at least an hour or so before the ship was close enough to dock, so the boys went to eat first. Once they finished eating they headed back outside to get a better look at the ship.
Marcus was the only one who smiled as he noticed it was a navy ship. The only navy ship that liked to visit the village was Garps. Was Garp back already Marcus thought? Luffy also seemed happy to see the ship as he said, "You think gramps will teach us how to fly?"
"Teach us how to fly?" Sabo asked.
Ace nodded as he glanced at Sabo and said, "Garp can kick the air and it makes him fly. At least that's what it looks like."
Sabo raised an eyebrow as he asked, "He kicks the air to fly?"
Ace pointed to the ship and they could see a dot in the air above it. After five minutes Sabo could see a man kicking the air and moving towards them as the ship turned slightly and headed toward Goa Kingdom. After ten minutes Garp landed on the dock in front of them with a laugh.
Marcus smiled as he said, "Welcome back grandpa."
While Luffy blurted out, "Teach me to fly shitty gramps!"
It didn't look like Garp moved, but Luffy slammed into the ground as soon as he finished talking. Garp then looked at all of them afterwards and said, "Ace, Luffy, Marcus… Eh? Ace, Luffy, Marcus… Eh? Mmmmm."
Garp pulled up his hand and counted off Ace as one, Luffy as two, Marcus as three and froze at Sabo. He glanced back at the boys and did the count again before he glanced at Sabo as he asked, "Are you another grandson?"
Sabo looked at Ace and Marcus for a moment who just shrugged in response. Sabo turned to look at Garp as he said, "Yes grandpa Garp, my name's Sabo. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Garp laughed and patted Sabo on his top hat as he said. "Now that's a proper greeting."
Garp scooped up the knocked out Luffy as he asked, "You boys eat breakfast yet?"
Ace nodded as he said, "We just finished a little while ago."
Garp smiled wide as he said, "Good, that saves time. I only have five days this time."
Garp led the boys to Makino's and told her they would be with him the next few days and not to expect them back. With that he picked up all the boys and took off into the forest. Within twenty minutes they were in the deep part of the forest, which was ruled over by powerful animals.
Garp dropped all the boys on the ground and then punched Luffy in the head to wake him up. Luffy popped up rubbing the two lumps as he said, "Stupid grandpa, always hitting me."
Garp held up his fist as he said, "Be respectful like your brother and you won't be hit."
Luffy stuck out his tongue and pulled down one eyelid at Garp, which made Garp punch him again. The punch made Luffy bite his own tongue before he glared up at Garp as he said, "Chity ol man."
Garp was going to punch Luffy again when Marcus said, "Gramps forget about Luffy and tell us why you brought us out here."
"Oh ya. Your goal is to survive for the next five days out here. You need to get your own food, water and shelter."
The boys all glanced around the area for a few moments before Marcus asked, "What if…" He stopped talking when he noticed Garp was gone.
"Should we split into groups to explore the area or stay as one group?" Sabo asked.
Ace glanced around the area some more before he said, "Let's stick as a group. We have no idea how strong the animals are around here."
Sabo and the others nodded in agreement before Marcus asked, "We should search for water first, followed by shelter and then food."
Luffy looked upset as he asked, "Why not food first?"
Ace shook his head as he said, "Because we just ate and food will most likely come to us, while we look for the other two."
"Exactly. Now let's mark this area so we know if we get lost." Sabo said as he made a big X on the ground with his feet.
Luffy looked at the X as he asked, "How will that help?"
Sabo pointed at the X as he said, "If we somehow find this again, we'll know we got lost when we see it."
Luffy glanced at it for a few moments before he slammed a fist into his palm and said, "So it's a magic X."
Marcus hung his head down as he said, "I think he's an idiot."
Both Ace and Sabo nodded in agreement as Garp watched them from the trees and nodded his own head. It seemed like only Marcus inherited brains, while Luffy… Garp let out a sigh as he realized Luffy was a lot like him, if maybe a lot dumber. At least he didn't remember being as dumb as Luffy when he was that age.
Garp watched the boys for the next few days and was blown away by how easy the camping trip for them was. They found water within an hour and made a small hut next to it nestled in a rocky area. As for the animals in the area, nothing stood a chance against them. Each of the boys could easily handle any of the animals in the area, which didn't make sense to Garp.
When he last left the boys, the animals around here should have been a decent challenge for each of them. Were the boys training harder than he thought while he was gone? A smile crept onto his face as he realized he would need to step up their training the next time he visited.
At the end of the fourth day, Garp collected the boys and took them back to Makinos. After dinner and a nice bath he told the boys he had to leave and would see them the next time he visited. Luffy was protesting because he wanted to learn how to fly, but Garp only said goodbye and disappeared.
The next morning Garp stayed hidden outside as he waited for the boys. He wanted to see how they became so strong in just seven months and he wasn't disappointed. Their morning workout was done with leg and arm weights along with a fully loaded backpack. It was a hundred push ups, sit ups and squats followed by a ten kilometer run. All while wearing what was around thirty to fifty pounds of extra weight.
Garp couldn't help but smile, they were doing harder workouts then marine training recruits did. After eating breakfast the boys loaded even more weight into their backpacks and then headed up the mountain. They didn't take the cleared trail either, but went right through the forest itself and fought any animal that came in their path.
Garp's smile widened as he watched the boys, it was easy to see why they were so strong. They would definitely make great marines… Hopefully one of them would join him in the marines. Garp shook his head, that could wait for later. He needed to watch the rest of their day, so he has an idea how strong they'll be when he gets back.
Once they made it to Gray Terminal, the boys would roam around the area and collect stuff to sell for money. They would also beat up some of the scum who lived in the area and help out the weaker people in Gray Terminal. Garp smiled at the last part, at least the boys had a good sense of right and wrong.
By the end of the day, Garp had a good idea on how strong the boys would be when he came back. So he started to plan what he could do to train them the next time he came by and what he should bring them. Some better training weights would make a good gift for the boys. He would have to go to the new world to get some good ones, but that just made it fun. He would also make sure to take out a few idiots while he was there.