After a few days it became clear that each boy picked the right weapon. Well, except for Luffy. No matter what weapon Luffy picked up, he just had no real talent for any weapon. As Bogard watched he couldn't help but say, "He's almost as bad as you are."
Garp nodded as he said, "His father is the same way."
Both men then looked at Marcus as he smoothly worked through different sword stances before Bogard said, "That doesn't explain the other one. The boy has an unnatural talent for the sword."
Garp shrugged as he said, "His mother was also gifted with the sword."
Bogard glanced at Garp as he asked, "Wait, you don't mean…"
"Yup, they finally got together."
Bogard smiled slightly as he said, "Good for them. But knowing her, I'm surprised she isn't raising the boys herself."
"She's dead."
Bogard let out a heavy sigh before he said, "Sorry, my condolences. Is Dragon?"
Garp nodded slightly as he said, "He's alive… But he took her loss hard."
The men fell into silence as they watched the boys practice some more. It wasn't long before Makino called them in for dinner. After dinner Garp stayed inside with Ace, Sabo and Luffy to play a card game.
While Marcus went back outside to practice his sword stances and breathing techniques some more. Bogard joined Marcus out back after grabbing a bottle of wine from Makino's bar. As Marcus practiced, Bogard would point out errors in the boy's posture, stance, foot placement and anything else he could find wrong.
That had been their routine for the last few days, after Bogard noticed how much talent Marcus had for the sword on the first day. The boy with no guide whatsoever, had somehow figured out a handful of sword stances. Not only that, but he had almost perfected them.
Sure there were still some mistakes in the boys form. But you would have expected the boy practiced for years to get to this level of skill. Instead the boy only practiced for the last five months or so. With the proper teacher, the boy had the potential to become a monster.
Bogard shook his head, the boy was also just like his brother and grandpa. Marcus said he only planned to use the sword as his backup weapon. If he could fight people with his fists, that was what he wanted to do. He would try to talk the boy out of the idea if he thought it could work. But he knew from experience you don't talk a Monkey out of something they've already set their mind too.
As Marcus was finishing his last set of sword swings, Garp and the other boys walked out of Makino's before Garp said, "Put your sword away, it's bath time."
"Just a moment, I'm almost finished." Marcus said as he finished a few more sword swings before he moved to the weapon rack and placed his sword away.
As Marcus moved towards the other boys he said, "You guys should practice more."
While they walked towards the bath house Ace said, "I'll be fine. Unlike you I don't need to practice and besides I'm already stronger than you."
Bogard raised an eyebrow at that as Garp laughed. He patted both Ace and Marcus on the shoulder as he said, "Let's have a friendly bet. Whoever is better at the end of training will get a special gift the next time I visit."
Ace glanced over to Marcus with a determined look as he said, "Sounds good to me."
Marcus nodded in agreement as Luffy asked, "No fair, what about me?"
"Am I allowed to join in too?" Sabo asked.
Garp laughed loudly as he said, "Of course, it's for whoever is the best at the end of training."
Ace turned his gaze to Sabo as they were pretty equal in strength. They shared a glance with each other before they both nodded at each other. Marcus watched them both and shook his head slightly to himself. They didn't even consider him a challenger in the competition. That was fine with him though, they could underestimate him all they wanted.
After taking a nice bath at the village's bath house, everyone headed home to sleep for the night. The next morning was when the real training started for the boys. Over the following few weeks the boys were pushed to their physical limits as Garp and Bogard trained them.
At night when the boys were given free time, Marcus was the only one who continued to train alone. Even though he was sore and wanted to collapse from exhaustion every night. Marcus still pushed himself to the absolute limit every time to finish his personal sword training.
Bogard still watched Marcus train each night, but after the end of the second week, he had nothing else to correct. The seven forms Marcus used were perfect. It was up to the boy to expand and link his forms together if he truly wanted to master them properly.
Bogard also showed Marcus some of his own advanced sword techniques. But he advised Marcus that his best training going forward would be to create his own sword techniques from scratch through trial and error.
Marcus liked that idea, but he also planned to copy techniques he remembered from manga and anime. He was sure he could figure out a few moves that way. Just like the breathing technique he was currently working on.
As for the others, Luffy was pretty much a lost cause. He couldn't use any weapon reliability to save his life. While Sabo and Ace picked up their weapons pretty quickly. Bogard helped each boy with simple beginner's stances and proper movements for each one. But that was about all he could do for them, since he was a swordsman afterall.
Besides the weapon training, Garp and Bogard had them do Zephyr's marine recruit training regiment for their morning warm up. It was normally something that took a whole day, but Garp pushed the boys into completing it within four hours.
After a lunch break, Garp instructed them in his own words with a personalized training regimen for brats…
Marcus was pretty sure Garp was a masochist after doing his training. It started out somewhat normal, running while carrying heavy objects. After completing a few miles, Garp would start phase two. He would begin throwing rocks at the boys, which they needed to dodge as they ran. In this phase Garp would easily hit the boys with rocks, but they would only leave lite bruising.
Phase three added more weight the boys needed to carry. While Garp increased the speed of each rock being thrown. It might sound simple, but Marcus saw more than a few of those rocks rip through a tree like it was a sheet of paper. He was thankful that Garp missed every throw on purpose, but he still almost shit himself since the rocks would only miss him by an inch or less.
Afterwards they were given the next task, which was to punch a tree in half. None of the boys could do that, so they were forced to punch a tree until Garp told them to stop.
While they couldn't punch a tree in half, they were still able to make a dent in the tree after hours of hitting the same spot. So each day they were given a new tree to work on. By the last few days of training, the boys were all able to get about halfway through a single tree after hours of punching. And that was all done while wearing the training harness.
It was definitely some kind of anime world bullshit magic, but no matter how hard they trained each day. Or how hurt they became from Garp's "lesson teaching fist", being hit by rocks and how their bones felt like jello from punching trees.
All it took was a good meal, a nice hot bath before bed and the boys would wake up completely fine in the morning. Garp and Bogard would then repeat the process with the boys and even increase the difficulty a little bit the next day. Marcus was pretty sure all of them should have been crippled for life with this type of training. But anime logic.
After their last day of training Garp said over dinner, "Tomorrow after your warmup routine and lunch. We'll give all of you one hour to prepare. Then we'll let each of you fight and see who's mastered their weapon the best."
Luffy finished a piece of meat and looked downcast before he said, "No fair, I can't use any of the weapons!"
Garp laughed loudly before he said, "Then just use your fists and those gloves I gave you. If you can win I'll even get you a prize."
"Is it meat?!"
Luffy was on the ground a moment later with Garp's fist where his head used to be as Garp said, "The prize isn't meat you idiot. Now hurry up and eat your dinner."
Luffy jumped back into his chair with a large lump on his head and instantly went for another piece of meat. Marcus shook his head at his brother's simple mind before he joined in to eat a piece of meat as well.
After dinner Marcus went outside to practice his sword stances again. He also worked on his breathing technique at the same time. He thought he might be getting close to a real breakthrough with it. After the last time he adjusted it a week ago. Something clicked and it felt better, more natural to use.
It didn't seem to have much effect except he wouldn't breath as hard when he used it. He thought it might improve his strength or something, but being less winded in a fight wasn't a bad thing. Plus it felt like the technique wasn't complete yet, something was still missing from it.
Marcus cleared his head of all thoughts, moved his legs into position and took his next stance. After swinging his sword once, he moved to his next stance and swung his sword again. As he worked through each one of his weapon stances, he tried to figure out the best way to combine his stances and switch between them fluidly.
It was something Bogard suggested would be beneficial for seamlessly transitioning between stances. The key was focusing on the foot placement and movement first. The sword wouldn't matter because during a fight your sword would always be out of place. But if you could control your foot placement to compensate, you would still be able to use your stance without losing much power.
At least that's what Bogard explained and demonstrated to Marcus. Bogard also explained that actual combat was the best way to learn properly. Training and sparring helped, but real combat where your life was on the line was the best way to learn and improve yourself. Garp said the same thing when he trained everyone each day, which Marcus found ridiculous. Who tells kids something like that?
"Marcus! Put your training sword away, it's bath time."
Marcus glanced at Garp before he said, "Last one grandpa."
Marcus shifted his feet then swung his sword upwards from his left hip to right shoulder as his upper body twisted to the right, into the swing. He held the stance for a moment before he let out a deep breath. Then he relaxed his stance and took his sword to the weapon rack, before he followed everyone to the bath house.
The rest of the night along with the next morning and lunch went like normal. It was a little after lunch when Garp said, "Alright everyone, it's time to see who improved the most during training."
All the boys excitedly gathered around Garp who smiled at them before he asked, "Who wants to fight first?"
Luffy quickly raised his hand and grinned as he said, "Me! I'll show you all just how strong my punch is now!"
Sabo and Ace shared a glance with each other before Ace said, "I'll go first."
Garp looked at Marcus who shrugged as he said, "I'll fight Sabo after they're done fighting."
"Fine, Ace vs Luffy first then. Follow me, I made a fighting ring for you."
Garp led the boys outside of the village to where they found Bogard standing next to a bunch of knocked down trees. The trees were shaped into a rough ring, with the ground in the middle being made of compacted dirt. Garp pointed to the middle of the ring as he said, "Ace, Luffy, you're up."