26 Chapter 26 - Encounter at Marine Academy

On Sunday after Terumi returned from Hell Island and started his Rokushiki training, he now stood in front of a large white building.

'This should be the place. Now, where is my paperwork...'

Terumi rummaged through his pocket and took out a folded piece of paper. After unfolding it and reading the contents once more, he sighed.

'Well, it's part of the job. No getting around it.'

Terumi entered the building. Once inside, he saw various young people dressed in trainee uniforms walking around. Terumi made his way past them as he arrived in front of the reception desk.

A well-dressed and orderly receptionist greeted him with a curious gaze in her eyes.

"Hello, how may I help you?"

"Hi, my name is Terumi. I'm looking for class 1E."

The receptionist raised an eyebrow but quickly returned to her normal expression.

"Ah, okay. Do you have your assignment papers with you?"

"Yes, it's right here."

Terumi passed over the paperwork Zephyr gave him.

"One moment please."

The receptionist looked over the paperwork as Terumi started examining his surroundings.

Inside the building were two large hallways leading left and right from the reception desk. Terumi could see various students making their way through one of the numerous doors scattering among the hallways.

"Okay, you're all set. You can find your classroom on your right, all the way at the end of the hall. Room number 117. Here are your books."

The receptionist then handed Terumi his schedule and his books and bid him farewell.

"Thank you."

After receiving his school books, Terumi swiftly made his way to the end of the hallway on the right side of the building. There he saw his assigned classroom, number 117.

Entering in, what he saw was a small classroom with only a few desks. Sitting in one of the desks was a familiar figure to him.

"Drake-san!"

Drake turned his head and raised an eyebrow seeing Terumi entering the room.

"Terumi-kun. So, you're in here too?"

Terumi walked over and took a seat next to Drake, placing his books on his desk.

"You can just call me Terumi, can I just call you Drake as well?"

Drake's expression didn't change but he nodded.

"Doesn't matter to me."

"Okay cool, and yes I'm starting military classes today here at the Academy. Are we the only ones here? What about our other elite camp classmates?"

Terumi examined the empty desks in the small classroom. The room was only big enough to fit about maybe twenty desks plus the lecturing platform.

Drake shook his head and answered.

"No, the rest of them already finished up their military education long ago. I believe Smoker was the last one to finish, he joined the elite camp at the same time I joined the Marines. Because I was admitted into the elite camp right after enlisting, I didn't have a chance to attend the Academy, so Instructor Zephyr and old man Sengoku assigned me to this class in order to learn."

Terumi nodded his head and thought back about what Drake said.

'I see, so everyone already graduated. It's no surprise really, Gion and Hina told me they've been at Marineford practically their whole lives. Smoker joined later and was admitted into the elite camp on the merit of his fruit as soon as he finished up his classes. Hina told me they attended classes together but she graduated before him, no doubt because of his laziness.'

Then Terumi wondered about another curious thing that popped up in his head.

"Are you close with Fleet-Admiral Sengoku, Drake? You addressed him pretty casually there."

Drake was surprised to hear this and got a little nervous before calming down and lightly coughing.

"Well, ignore that, but yes. Sengoku was the one who took me in after some events happened earlier this year."

"I see..."

Terumi nodded in understanding and didn't press further into his past.

'The birdcage on Minion Island, I believe. That was when Law got his Op-Op fruit as well.'

Terumi changed the topic towards their training regime.

"How's your training been going? You're planning on attending the field training in six months as well right?"

Drake nodded firmly before answering.

"That's right. Overall I say it's been going well. I'm getting better at using the fruit that Sengoku gave me."

"What fruit is it, if I might ask? I haven't seen you use it in training or in spars yet."

Drake thought for a bit before answering.

"Ah, that's right. You've only actually spent a short amount of time here so far because of the training on Hell Island. I have the Dragon-Dragon fruit, model Allosaurus. It's an Ancient Zoan."

Terumi acted surprised as he confirmed internally.

'So it was Sengoku who gave it to him. An Ancient Zoan really is powerful, he joined only less than a year before I did and he's already so physically strong.'

Terumi something else came to Terumi's mind.

"That's amazing Drake, but how come you aren't interested in learning the Rokushiki? Zephyr-sensei told me you weren't very motivated when he tried to teach you."

Drake had a slight frown on his face upon hearing the question, he paused slightly before answering.

"Rather than spend my time learning those techniques, I'd rather master my fruit. If I can get to the same level of Zoan mastery level as Sengoku, I'll be much stronger in a shorter amount of time."

Hearing Drake's reason, Terumi had a wry smile and shook his head.

"Drake, I think you're going about this backward. The Rokushiki training is meant to train your physique and mastery over your body. If you master the techniques, it'll only be easier for you to train your fruit. Also, the power boost provided by your Ancient Zoan will be multiplicative with your training."

Drake had a contemplative expression on his face hearing Terumi's rebuttal.

"I'll think about it."

Terumi smiled happily at Drake's response.

'Good, he's not completely opposed to it. Drake is one of my potential allies in the future, I want him to be strong as well.'

"So, what are the classes usually about? This is my first time attending. I know Zephyr-sensei told me that I had to take it if I wanted to learn how to command, but I'm still not sure about the curriculum."

Drake then took out a couple of books from inside his desk.

"These are the same books you have. Overall it's just about command structure, basic navigation, the basic layout of a Marine naval ship, military rules, things like that. For ship operation, we can leave it to the infantry and sailer division. As a commissioned officer, all you need to know is the basic operations of the Marines."

Terumi nodded and examined his books.

'History of the Marines, Naval Command Structure, Proper Procedure for Piracy Encounters...Man, I've never been good at studying in either life. Maybe I can get someone to help me?'

While Terumi stared at his books in contemplation, the doors behind them opened.

Terumi and Drake turned to see an elderly man walking through the door. He wore a suit and tie, with a Marine coat around his back.

"Drake, nice to see you again, and who do we have here a new recruit?"

Terumi stood up and saluted the man.

"Yes, sir. Trainee Terumi here to attend military education class per instructions from Instructor Zephyr."

The elderly man nodded with a soft smile.

"Nice to meet you Terumi-kun. I am Instructor Grayson. I am a retired commodore, so you don't need to be too polite. Just call me Grayson or Grayson-sensei."

"Yes, Grayson-sensei."

Grayson nodded and then made his way to the platform at the front of the classroom. He took out a book and started writing on the blackboard behind him.

"Okay, today we'll be going over pages 27 to 42 of the Proper Procedure for Piracy Encounter. Please open your books and we can begin."

Terumi opened his books and did his best to hold back the lethargic feeling creeping up on him.

'It's just for six months, I can do this.'

***

A few hours of lectures later, Terumi made his way out of the Academy building with Drake.

"Whew, I need a stretch. Are you doing anything later Drake? I'm planning on doing some Rankyaku training. You can come with me if you're free."

Drake shook his head and declined the offer.

"Sorry, I can't. I have my own training I need to finish for the afternoon, and after that, I have evening lectures with Sengoku."

"Ah, I see. Well, the offer stands any time. Just let me know."

"Sure. See you later, Terumi."

As Terumi watched Drake walk away, he thought to himself.

'Hmm, I should probably try to find some extra help too. I don't think I'm the worst at studying, but if I want to cram all this information in six months, some extra help wouldn't hurt. I wonder if Gion or Hina is free. Either way, I should definitely spend some time outside of class as well. Let's find a cafe to get some studying in while everything is fresh before my training later.'

Terumi made his way outside of the fortress and made his way down to Marineford Town. He started looking around the town for somewhere quiet to study.

'I haven't spent any of my allowances so far since I've been on the island. So maybe somewhere nice will do? I think there was a cafe in the western part of town that Hina recommended me.'

Walking around trying to look for the Full Moon Cafe that Hina had previously mentioned to him, Terumi was surprised by the liveliness of the town.

'There sure are a lot of people here. I thought that since this place was more of a military command base, there wouldn't be that many people, but I guess a lot of infantry live here as well, so it makes sense.'

Not too long after wandering around for a while, Terumi arrived in front of the Full Moon Cafe.

Entering in with the sound of a doorbell ringing, Terumi took in the surroundings, it was a neat and quiet Cafe, everything built with well-shaped wood that gave it a very natural feeling.

"Terumi-kun, what are you doing here?"

Terumi turned his head towards the voice that called out to him. In the corner of the Cafe sitting there, was Hina.

"Hina! Nice to see you. I was just looking for a cafe to study at after my military education class, and I remember you recommended this place to me before."

"Ah, I see. Hina is glad that Terumi-kun remembered. So, you started your classes today?"

"Yep, I'm in the same class as Drake. Instructor Grayson is the one teaching us."

Terumi then made his way over towards Hina's table.

"Do you mind?"

"Hina doesn't mind, feel free to sit. Hina was also doing some studying as well."

Terumi sat down and took out a book on military procedure. Noticing the cover of the book Hina was holding, Terumi commented.

"'The God Valley Incident.' Is that a book about the Rocks Pirates?"

Hina raised an eyebrow in surprise upon hearing Terumi's words.

"Yes, Hina likes to study history. Hina is surprised that Terumi-kun knows about it."

"Hina, you know you can feel free to just call me Terumi if you want, didn't we talk about it on the island? And yeah uh, Garp-san told me about it once."

Hina nodded and put down her book.

"This book details the events that gave Vice-Admiral Garp the title of Marine Hero. It's a very interesting read. If you would like, Hina can lend it to you."

Terumi smiled wryly and shook his head.

"It's okay, for now, I'll be busy with this stuff."

Terumi said as he patted the book in front of him. Terumi then looked to Hina expectantly.

"Hina, would you mind tutoring me? I want to make sure I learn everything in six months. In return, I can help you with your Rokushiki training if you like."

Hina thought for a while and then slowly nodded.

"Okay, Hina will help you."

"Yes! Thank you, Hina. I really appreciate it."

Terumi smiled brightly. Hina responded with a smile of her own.

"Don't mention it. Hina also needs help with training as well."

"Okay, let's get started."