5 Marine Based - 5

Though, the one piece of advice Vergo left him with he found sounded…actually smart.

'Stick with just one of them. You'll understand the others better after getting one down and with each new one, they'll get easier.' the traitorous marine had told him.

So he decided to focus all his efforts on Soru first.

Which led him to now, well, an hour ago when he decided to try out Vergo's advice when it came to Armament Haki.

By punching the crap out trees.

Plus he couldn't find an axe anywhere in the equipment storeroom to cut down the trees to use for his idea for training Observation Haki.

So he'd put that off for the moment.

"Though maybe I don't need to." Kaden couldn't help the grin that spread across his face as he stared at his bloody and raw knuckles.

It hadn't really occurred to him before.

But…he was strong.

Like, stupidly fucking strong. Even as his knuckles throbbed and stung, he couldn't help but relish in the fact that…

He'd literally punched multiple large trees, each over twenty feet in height easily and made them fall over.

Sturdy trees with thick, powerful bases and filled with sharp, hard and rough bark. But….he'd felled four of them just by punching them over and over.

That was impossible in his old body. Forget his old body, not even the strongest of strongmen back home could do anything like this.

He was…literally superhuman and could tear even the greatest strongman in his old world apart with his bear hands.

He was trash right now, fodder really compared to anyone of note in this world. But…wasn't Zoro once? Wasn't Luffy?

Hell, Coby.

That kid went from scrawny wimp to using the Rokushiki in just a few months of training and come the time skip was a complete beast.

He at the very least, had a much better starting body than him to go on from, even if the situation around him wasn't at all ideal.

"Yeah…I can do this." his grin widened as he stared at his bloody fist.

No, not just could, but would do it.

He had power right now.

A tiny fledgling spark of power, but he had it. And he liked it.

And he wanted more.

He had a year.

How high could he climb on up the ladder in that time frame? If he could match Coby's pace and get at least a few of the Rokushiki down, he might just be able to survive, possibly even thrive.

If he trained hard enough actually, he might just be able to make something of himself.

Power, wealth, prestige. Gol D. Roger had it and everything the world had to offer at his fingertips.

He didn't specifically desire the One Piece at all, but, there was plenty more in this world to attain if one had but the strength for it.

"Heh, a nice thought." Kaden shook his head in exasperation at his own tall day dreams.

He put it out of mind. That didn't matter right now. The greatest wealth he had right now, was an entire year of time and his own memories.

That was what mattered, everything else beyond growing strong enough to escape this position he was stuck in currently and live freely as he pleased, was secondary.

"The grind awaits." he cracked his neck.

…Yeah, that was a good creed for him right now. He had to throw himself into the grind and train himself into the dirt and take advantage of every precious second he had.

This world was simply too dangerous for him to remain weak.

He cast an eye at the fallen tree at his feet, before bending down and wrapping his arms around its wide frame.

And then he gritted his teeth, grunted and heaved up. "Rah!" he all about shouted as he rose to his feet, lifting the large tree thick three multiple hundreds of pounds in weight above his shoulders.

And he walked further into the forest he found himself within, his eyes searching out as he moved.

Deeper and deeper into the forest he walked until he found one.

An even larger tree. With thick sturdy branches. Thick sturdy branches that could support a lot of weight.

"Four should be enough for now." Kaden mused to himself as he dropped the thick tree and stretched out his shoulders, eyeing the tree branches above him.

Well, eight really since he'd break all four of the trees he'd felled in half at least to make them a bit lighter and to make more…hazards.

Now he just needed to find a blindfold. Well, the bandana tie thing of his marine uniform could work for that.

'What is this thing even called anyway?' he wondered, toying with it with his fingers as he about turned and walked back out of the forest the way he came, heading back towards where he'd fell those three other trees.

He grabbed the three other trees and one by one, relocated them with the last one at the tree he'd be using for his training.

And then stomped his boot clad feet down upon each one, right centre where he'd been hammering his punches into them, using all his weight and strength as he launched himself up and landed on them over and over to break them in half.

And when that was done, he headed back towards the G5 marine base to pick up some nice sturdy rope to use to hoist the eight tree…bludgeons into the air and create his very own training thingamajig.

'Haki Pendulum?' he thought, cupping his chain as he stared up at his handiwork, 'Yeah, that fits.' he nodded to himself.

His muscles ached and his stomach rumbled with hunger, but he couldn't fight the smile on his face.

Right now, he felt…not great, but better than he had in a lot of ways since he first woke up this morning.

It was amazing how simply having a goal in mind and taking the first steps towards it, could be so….liberating.