Monsters

"Kghh..."

Stes groaned as fell to the ground, losing to Venator in another sparring session.

"Don't worry about it. You were never meant to surpass me at such an early age."

"That's not very good encouragement, you know."

"I don't need you to have a big ego."

"Haaa... at least give me some words of encouragement."

"...Nice try."

"Thank you."

Venator offered Stes a hand, and Stes gratefully accepted it.

"Let's go eat now."

"Mmh."

The two walked side by side back into their new resident, attracting looks because of Stes' dirty clothes.

"On second thought, let me take a shower first."

"I was about to suggest that."

Stes split away from Venator to head to the showers, while Venator headed for the counter to grab his meal.

As he grabbed his meal, he noticed Boralino and Sakazuki sitting at a table, and Borsalino beckoned him to join them.

Venator headed for their table, and on his way, he realized that he was the focus of attention from the other residents, just for sitting with the two.

It was surprising, but not unreasonable because Sakazuki and Borsalino both had devil fruits, presumably logia-types, which is the rarest of the three categories from what Venator knows.

"Hello."

"Hi there~"

"Hm."

The three greeted each other, and Venator sat down and started eating.

"So Venator, what are your specialties~?"

Borsalino asked him a question, one that Venator gladly replied.

"I guess it would be basic courtesies after you guys told me your devil fruit powers. I specialize in using the bow."

"Oh~ A rather uncommon choice of weapon... what happens if you run out of arrows during a fight~?"

Venator answered Borsalino's concerns with a smile, "Although my quiver is never full, it would never be empty either."

"I see~"

They resumed eating in silence, until Stes came along.

"Hey guys!"

The three looked up from their meals and glanced at Stes, each greeting him in their own ways.

"Come over."

"Hello~"

"Hm."

Sakazuki was obviously an unsociable person, even by Venator's standards.

"Watcha doing?"

"Eating."

"Eating what?"

"Food."

"What kind of food?"

"Meat."

Stes and Venator exchanged words while Borsalino looked on in amusement, and Sakazuki seemed rather annoyed.

"Just eat."

"Okay."

Venator, noticing Sakazuki's imminent volcanic explosion (pun intended), ended the playful banter quickly.

The rest of the meal was in silence (with some inputs from Stes), the four roommates quickly finished up and returned to their room.

Stes and Venator headed for their corner of the room, as did Borsalino and Sakazuki.

"Good night."

"You too!"

"You as well~"

"Hm."

Venator would never show it, but he was getting tired of Sakazuki's grunts.

...

"Good job. You're dismissed for the day. Top 10, stay with me, we have training to do."

Zephyr dismissed almost everyone and intentionally called out for the top 10 to stay with him for extra training. It's a good way of subtly encouraging the top 90 cadets to get into the top 10. It's a Venator approved method.

Venator and Stes walked away along with the other cadets, with some of them looking back in jealousy.

"Hey Venator, when are you gonna get into the top 10?"

"Soon."

"So when?"

Venator sighed, "When the next challenge time comes around. This time, I won't help you get an extra spot. You need to earn it yourself."

"That's fine. I never expected it anyways."

Venator and Stes had a conversation as they walked away from the training camp and headed to the forest for their training.

"Good luck, Stes."

Venator offered Stes his best wishes before lunging at him.

"Huh?"

Stes shouted in surprise before pulling his arms up to block Venator's incoming punch.

Venator nodded in approval before blocking an incoming palm strike from Stes, retaliating with a roundhouse kick that Stes ducked under.

"Good. Use your height to your advantage."

Venator offered some advice to Stes before transitioning from his roundhouse kick into a drop kick in a swift motion, cracking the ground underneath.

"Are you trying to kill me?!"

"Perhaps."

Stes turned his back to Venator and ran for his life deeper into the forest, where he could use his small stature to his advantage.

"Let us see the results of your training, Stes."

Stes did not bother to respond, instead opting to wait for Venator to get into the optimal position.

"Now, where are you hiding?"

Just as Venator said that, Stes swung from behind a tree and launched a kick at Venator, one that was blocked.

Stes expected this and used Venator's arm as a foothold to jump back into the trees, and he quickly repositioned out of Venator's sight.

"Good decision making skills."

Venator approved of Stes' decisions, before he grabbed and unfolded his bow. He then proceeded to draw arrows from his quiver, and nocked them onto his bow, before releasing them.

The arrows sailed through the air, piercing the wind and they made their way to their target, who was currently in the air jumping to a branch.

Stes saw this and he quickly pulled his own bow out, before drawing arrows and firing them at Venator's own arrows.

"Good job. You've improved your aim."

Stes silently accepted the praise as he jumped from tree to tree, occasionally dodging and counter-attacking with some arrows.

Venator decided that he was tired of the cat and mouse game, and decided to actively hunt Stes.

"Here I come."

Stes gratefully accepted the warning because if not for them, he would've jumped to the tree that Venator was sitting on.

Stes turned on his tail and began jumping in the opposite direction, one that Venator closely followed with an amused look.

As Venator was jumping 'behind' Stes, Stes glanced around and drew his arrows and nocked them onto his bow, to fire at... nothing.

Stes' neutral face quickly took a panicked turn, and he looked in front of him, only to find Venator, who had his arrows nocked on his bow.

"Checkmate."

The arrows sailed through the air, hitting their target and knocking him down.

Venator landed next to Stes and said to him, "I'd give that an 8. 8/100"

Venator received a rock in response.

...

"Who do you think will be in the top 10, Borsalino, Sakazuki?", Zephyr asked the monsters of the elite camp a question while training them.

Borsalino and Sakazuki stopped whatever they were doing and thoughtfully said both at once, "Venator."

"Your new roommate?"

The duo nodded in response.

"Why do you think that?"

The future admirals thought carefully before responding, "He feels strong. He's probably just behind us in strength."

That was a huge compliment, as the two were, in Zephyr's opinion, Rear Admiral level in strength, just from their devil fruits alone.

"I see. Continue your Rokushiki training. I expect you to learn at least one of them by the next challenges."

"Alright."

"Hm."

Zephyr walked away from his students as he had a thoughtful look on his face.

'This may very well be the golden age of Marines... Monsters are everywhere.'