A day later...
Ray had finally regained consciousness after his loss to Shanks earlier, battling through the pain he slowly sat up from the bed.
"Oh look who finally woke up, about time" he initially heard.
"Dadan?" looking around Ray realised he was back at their house, "Who brought me here?"
"It was that girl Makino and the mayor, make sure to thank them later"
"Will do"
Ace suddenly barged in, looking slightly worried "Ray what happened to you?"
"Just lost a fight that's all"
"Must've been strong" Ace said
"You have no idea, runt"
"All right let him rest, the injury looked quite bad" declared Dadan, Ace nodding left with Dadan to give Ray some peace.
'I lost huh, well it was expected but man was that a fucking blast' Despite his loss, Ray was truly unbothered.
He went into the fight to test his limits, and not to mention it was beneficial towards his progression. Having learnt to harden his Armament Haki in the middle of the fight, Ray couldn't help but smirk, it was a big accomplishment and Shanks played a massive part.
'Still, I can see my shortcomings in the fight clearly' Ray lacked fighting experience and Shanks took advantage of that at the beginning of their fight, leaving him inadequate time to prepare his moves.
Another weakness of Ray's fighting ability was his lack of range and also a lack of deadly techniques. At the moment all he could do was rush towards his opponent and bombard them with a flurry of close range attacks. If they were able to block them, he was limited on what he could do next.
'Hmm, learning Rokuogan might help but even then, it's not enough.' Ray contemplated on how he could make his fighting style more deadly.
'Maybe it's time I committed to being a swordsman?' Looking at the some of strongest fighters in One Piece, they all wielded weapons, Whitebeard/Kaido/Big Mom they were all clear examples, despite their broken Devil fruits they also relied on using their weapons. Garp was the only exception, his flawless utilisation of solely Haki and abnormal physical strength placed him at the peak of power.
It's not like Ray was a beginner in swordsmanship, he had been practicing for years but he never really saw himself as a swordsman, preferring to wield his fists instead. However, he believed that now he had to change.
A great/supreme grade sword could enhance his fighting abilities, it would just take a while to adjust to a different style. 'It's decided then' Ray concluded.
A while later...
Someone knocked loudly on the door, Ray observed and realised it was Garp. 'Looks like the old man is back, it seems that it's nearly time'
Dadan and her crew opened the door, complaining initially not realising it was Garp, the look of shock on their faces was truly humorous.
"Hey Dadan, look after him too" declared Garp as he picked up a small child with a straw hat.
"Huh?" said Dadan.
"Hey Luffy, say hi to them"
Luffy raised his right hand and casually said "Yo!"
'Hah Hah Hah, Luffy living here would make things lively, shame I have to leave soon' After Garp threatened Dadan and her crew, they unwillingly accepted taking care of Luffy.
Briefly after, Luffy met Ace who still acted the same, Garp introduced Luffy to Ace but he remained silent and walked past Luffy who was demanding an apology for spitting on him.
"Look who's back, hmm what's up with your hair old man, you turned all grey" said Ray as he walked out covered in bandages.
"Huh? looks like someone did a number on you brat" said Garp seeing Ray all fucked up.
"Of course, it was the infamous red hair Shanks"
"That red bastard, he's put these weird ideas in Luffy's head about being a damn Pirate King"
"Hah Hah Hah, let the kid dream Garp"
"Absolutely not, he's gonna become a strong marine like me in the future" replied Garp.
At that, Ray just smiled, it was Luffy's destiny to become a pirate.
"So, brat you ready to leave?"
"Yep, I'll stagnate staying here anyway"
"Heh, get ready to uphold justice in the future for the marines"
"Sure old man"
A month later...
Ray had recovered from his injuries after nearly 2 weeks of rest, he was expecting a scar on his chest but it seemed the doctor from the Red Hair pirates was quite capable.
After that he spent 2 weeks training with Garp, there wasn't a major progress in his Haki, just slight improvements but his Rokushiki was nearing mastery and he gradually implemented using a sword in his fighting style.
"Not bad brat, it seems you've improved quite a bit, you might give some vice-admirals a run for their money, not me of course BWA HAH HAH HAH" said Garp, he had been evaluating Ray's progression and strength the past few days.
In truth, Garp wasn't wrong, all the vice-admirals were able to use Rokushiki and Haki, their master over these powers however varied a lot. Some vice-admirals were pathetic honestly, but some were quite strong. Ray believed he could be on par with a few of them.
"Hmm, since we're leaving soon I may as well let you know now, you're starting off as a Seamen recruit, despite being recommended by me I can't promote you higher, you've yet to achieve anything, don't worry brat you'll rise up the ranks in no time"
Starting off as the lowest rank was expected to be honest, he wasn't in a rush to move up the ranks, in fact it didn't seem appealing. You were just given more responsibilities as you moved up anyway.