Power

---A little over 6 months and a half---

On ashore within the G-3 base stood a young man. Surrounding him were broken trees and shredded garbage, the sand had been made into a meter deep crater and a menacing aura had been leaking out of him.

"It's finally time."

The marine applications are due today and the official training will be tomorrow. This past few months have been very taxing but at the same time worth it. I am now stronger, much stronger. Many things have changed, such as my control and power over 'Death Flash'

A month after training consistently I could barely manage 4 'Death Flash' without causing any major injuries, and now I can do 7 of them without any injuries. Even if I do 8 or maybe 9, at most I'd break a bone. I still have not reached 'Intermediate' proficiency in the skill but I'm at a novice and a breakthrough may occur when I am in battle.

As for points, I haven't really done anything that significant in the past months so it is somewhere in the hundreds still. As I have gotten stronger, so has Rachel. She is finally able to use the 5th move of her 'Butterfly Style' which is a huge feat to her, even though it may cause injuries when used. We had been training diligently and I think that if I were to meet the pirates that attacked my home island then I could kill them.

However, that is in the past and I don't wish to blindly go for revenge. As I have steeled myself to remove evil from this world, going after specific pirates will just hinder my growth and waste my time. The day will come when I meet them again and give back the pain, but as for now, I must grow even stronger.

I haven't checked my User information for a while but the system still has technically been showing up a lot. After surpassing 25+ in all my stats, I unlocked a feature called 'Scanner'. Apparently, I can scan people and inanimate objects to see their information, but I can only do so to people that are either weaker than me or a little stronger than me, anything above that will be in ???. It is still helpful as I can find personal info and value the power of my opponents with similar strengths.

As I've finished practice and now, reached my home, an example of the feature of 'Scanner' can be displayed.

| Name: Rachel

| Statistics: 29 Strength | 30 Attack power | 28 Agility | 26 Endurance

| Threat Level: Dangerous

| Affiliation: None

| Name: Sarah

| Statistics: 13 Strength | 11 Attack Power | 15 Agility | 10 Endurance

| Threat Level: Pointless

| Affiliation: Ex-Marine

| Name: Akehende

| Statistics: ?? Strength | ?? Attack Power | 33 Agility | ?? Endurance

| Threat Level: Disastrous

| Affiliation: Rear-Admiral

This is the information of Ake and his family. I can see both Rachel and Sarah's information as Sarah is weaker than me since she is retired and now a housewife and Rachel is of similar strength. Even so, Ake's statistics are mostly ?? as they are above me but I can see 'Agility' as that is my highest stat and probably Ake's lowest.

As for my information, after these 8 months, they had changed drastically.

| User: Ryle

| Mission: None

| Statistics: 26 Strength | 30 Attack Power | 31 Agility | 27 Endurance

| Skills: Basic One Sword Mastery (Intermediate), Death Flash (Novice), Dark Mirage (Novice)

| Threat Level: Disasterous

| Affiliation: None

| Points: 438

Since the 8 months are up, I completed my mission and received a reward of 300 points, then after upgrading proficiency from Novice to Intermediate I received 200 points. I then used 300 of those points to purchase 'Dark Mirage'. As both 'Dark Mirage' and 'Death Flash' reached the Novice Proficiency, I received another 200 points. The other 38 was from doing 'good deeds.'

Although 'Dark Mirage' is quite helpful in a fight and may even be a life-saving skill, I still don't regret choosing 'Death Flash' first as it is more flexible and powerful. However, unlike 'Death Flash' I can actually use 'Dark Mirage' in a spar since it doesn't cause any injuries for my opponent.

When combining both skills via using 'Dark Mirage' to blind the enemy and slow them down and attacking with 'Death Flashes' my overall attack power has skyrocketed.

The only worrying thing is that even accumulating all these points, I still haven't received any new skills in the skill shop. For the item shop, the only new things are new weapons but I am still fine with my current Katana.

As for the Threat Level, I started understanding more about it. On my User Icon, it shows how much threat I have over my opponent or the person I am facing. As I am standing in front of Sarah currently it is showing 'Disastrous'. Ake's family had their information derived from facing me so Sarah's Threat level towards me is 'Pointless.'

Although I have gotten stronger, I am not cocky enough to fight just anybody I see. Tomorrow's the beginning of my official trainee life, so I should try my best and get a good rank when I graduate. Anything above Lieutenant Commander is fine.

---Early Next Morning---

At the marine trainee camp.

Rachel and I had already been accepted into the program as we are related to Ake who is a Rear Admiral, but they still made us test our basic strength agility, etc.

"Wha-what???? You kids are really strong for your age..."

"Haha! Thanks, old man!

"Thank you for your kind words."

As both me and Rachel are above other kids our age, the person observing our tests was shocked along with the other applicants. We broke multiple machines and even broke some records. Have I really gotten that strong?

"Hey, Ryle! Aren't we like prodigies?!"

"No Rachel. Even though we are quite strong, we are nothing compared to the admirals, as they were even stronger at our age..."

What I said is true, I have heard many great things about the admirals and they are what I aspire to be. Strong and Righteous, I will admit that there are some marines out there with bad personalities but personally, I think the admirals are completely different.

"I don't like the admirals though Ryle!"

"Don't say that so loudly, and why not. Aren't they supposed to be our role models?"

"NO! Well, I don't know about the other admirals but the one I met is an a**hole!"

"Again, keep your voice down. Which one are you talking about?"

"The one with the weird beard and can turn into a really really hot lava person!"

"Isn't that Admiral Akainu?"

"Yeah, he's an a**hole!"

That's weird, I have never seen Rachel hate somebody before. She must have some personal reasons, so I won't ask but ill keep an eye out for Admiral Akainu.

After the test, the top 10 were allowed to be in the 'Elite Camp'. This camp is able to perform missions and even be able to learn from a former admiral. That's very helpful and exciting. I wish to learn Haki as it is very useful with what Ake has told me.

Since we got accepted into the 'Elite Camp' we would be transferred into the main Marine Headquarters where classes will be held.

The trip to the main Marine Headquarters was very short as we got a high spec ship to take us there, after reaching we got our uniform and were directed towards a building where we will be residing in.

"Isn't this exciting? Ryle!"

"Yes, it is indeed."

While having quick conversations with Rachel we reached the main room for classes, there were approximately 100 people combined and about 98 of those were other trainees.

"Good Morning Everyone! My name is Z and I will be your mentor from today until graduation! We will hold a mission once every 2 months which will evaluate your strength in a real fight. I will be teaching you the types of Haki along with basic combat. If you ever whimp out from missions or give up in training, I will directly remove you."

This shall be... fun.