6 Chapter 6: First End of the Month Match

It was the day of the end of the month match Law had planned and everyone was gathered in the training grounds, eagerly waiting for the match.

Law and his friends were waiting for their opponent. Two men walked towards them, whom Law and his friends recognised.

Law said to them "I knew you would be our first opponent."

The two men were the ones who had their personalities swapped a month ago. Ever since then, they have been blaming themselves for the whole situation.

This motivated them to train everyday to beat them up one day. Law looked at them and one looked sad that he couldn't fight Law and his friends.

Their names were Tony and Tom. Law smiled at their faces filled with rage, which angered them even more.

Tony said to Law "Ever since that day, everytime we look at the hole in our chest, we remember what you did. We trained everyday just for this day to come where we can beat you up."

Law said "It looks like both of you want to beat me up badly. Let me make this interesting. You both can fight against us."

Tony and Tom were very happy when they heard that. Law's friends also didn't mind that since they handled them before.

Law then turned to his friends and said "I feel like I should warn you about this. They were in a weakened state due to the after effects of the sleeping powder that day, so they are way stronger than that day, plus the training they did the whole month. You should not underestimate them."

Their carefree attitude immediately disappeared. They were now looking at them seriously.

They both stood face to face with Law and his friends while the other Marines circled them. Tigan and Skleth were standing in the front.

The match started. Tom and Tony didn't waste time and immediately rushed at Penguin and Shachi, aiming to land a punch. They immediately blocked the pinches, but went sliding back.

Tony and Tom didn't let them even rest and ran towards them to attack again. Bepo tried attacking Tom, who was going to attack Penguin. Tom kicked up the snow on the ground to block the vision of both Bepo and Penguin.

He then kicked both of them away, while Shachi was barely dodging Tony's attacks. Meanwhile, Law didn't do anything and just stood there, looking at them. He wanted to see how strong his friend currently were.

Skleth, who was standing in the front with his captain, asked him "Captain, you fought with them, right? Who do you think will win?"

Tigan replied "Bepo, Penguin and Shachi are good, but I think they are no match for Tony and Tom. As for Law, he alone can handle them, without even using his devil fruit powers."

And just as Tigan predicted, Bepo, Penguin and Shachi managed to block all the attacks from Tom and Tony, but they slowly started accumulating fatigue and damage little by little to the point where they couldn't even react in time. This eventually led to their defeat.

They then stood before Law. Law smiled and said "I can wait if you want to take rest and fight me in you best. I don't want you going around telling that I used my friends to tire you down and defeated you easily."

Tony and Tom said "We are in perfect shape now that we get to beat you up."

"Good" Law said and rushed at Tony. Tony didn't back down and rushed at Law to attack as well. Tom also joined Tony to attack Law.

Law got closer to them and aimed at their legs, kicking Tony's calves while blocking the kick from Tom. The attack to Tony's calves hurt a lot since Law was now physically strong.

Tony lost his balance for a second and Law tried to use this opportunity. Tom bent down to punch Law and this was what Law was actually waiting for.

He immediately changed his target and punched Tom in his jaw. Since he wasn't prepared for an attack, he took it head on and instantly fainted.

Seeing his friend drop to the ground, Tony immediately lost his composure and rushed at Law, trying to tackle him. This was his biggest mistake. Law just jumped over him and kicked him in the back of his head, knocking him out.

Skleth looked at Law with shock and he wasn't the only one. All the Marines were completely shocked. This was because the Marines didn't see Law's progress till then.

They spared with Tigan everyday and it was completely one-sided, so it made Law and his friends look very weak, but Law proved that he was indeed strong.

Skleth said "He should be around 10-12 years old. How is he already so strong? I wonder how strong he would be if he grows up."

Tigan said "He is going to be a headache for all the Marines in the future and the worst part is that we are training him to become that. We can't let that happen. We have to increase the intensity from tomorrow. We have to break him."

Law sent his friends to their room and said to the Marines "Sorry guys, no one gets their heart today. Better luck next month."

He then heads to the cafeteria for food while the Marines start discussing amongst themselves as to how they can get their hearts back next month if he grows at this rate.

Tigan turned to his soldiers and said "This should be enough to tell you that he is going to grow stronger and if he defeats all of us, it is disgraceful. So, we are going to start training intensely from tomorrow. I don't want to see anyone slacking off."

"Yes sir" they all shouted in unison.

Law finished his lunch and took some back for his friends. When he entered the room, he saw them completely disappointed in themselves.

Law handed them their lunch but no one wanted to eat after their first defeat. Till then, they only lost to Law and Tigan. They knew Tigan was a monster and they had no chance of defeat, so they didn't feel bad, but today was different.

They thought that they were atleast stronger than foot soldiers, but they lost to two men who serve food. This was a huge slap in the face.

Law looked at them and asked "Are you feeling bad that you lost?"

He got no reply from them, but their faces said everything. Law chuckled and said "It is great that you are feeling bad that you lost. You are feeling bad because you gave your all and lost. You feel bad for being powerless. You should be like this for every fight you loose. We are pirates. We are going to have enemies all around us in the sea and some have strength beyond our imagination. There are going to be many battles where our lives are on the line and if we are powerless in these battles, we will die. Remember the powerlessness you feel now and make sure you never forget this feeling. This is going to be your motivation to train so that you don't feel so ever again."

Law paused and looked at them, who all looked slightly better than before. He continued "I didn't want to tell you guys about this since it might be too intense for you right now."

He then handed them the six powers book he got from Tigan. He said to them "It will take time to master, so train in your comfortable pace since torturing your body will only have negative results."

They nodded and memorized the exercises that they thought would suit them. After this, they were fully motivated and immediately ate their lunch to go train.

Law watched them train in the training grounds and thought 'I will have to become stronger do that I can protect them. I can't just let them suffer while I just look at them.'

Law headed to the gym and took some weights. He then went to the mountains on the islands. He didn't climb all the way and just climbed halfway when he had trouble breathing.

He then started training the exercises for the six powers with weights. This might look like he is just torturing himself and it is true, but he makes sure that there is no negative effect on his body by constantly checking his health, making sure that there are no problems.

He trained till his body wouldn't listen to him. He then went back to the base and joined his friends for dinner. While eating his dinner, he wondered "If those two men who serve food hate us so much that they want to kill us, how does our food still taste good. If it were me in their place, I would atleast spit in the food."

Skleth, who was walking by, heard Law and said "That's because they help the chefs cook. They see how hard the chefs work and doing anything to the food is like spitting on their efforts. That's why your food still tastes good."

Law went back to eating and finished his dinner. They then went back to their rooms and slept.

The following days were completely spent on training. They would do physical training till lunch with the Marines, get beaten up by Tigan after lunch. After this, the Marines train till evening and tend to other things to maintain the base, like clearing out the snow constantly building up, cleaning the base, etc.

As for Bepo, Penguin and Shachi, they train in the training grounds, practicing the techniques of six powers. During this time, Law goes to the mountains to train. Luckily there are no animals on the mountains since the Marines cleared them out on their first year for food.

Everyone would then have their dinner and go to sleep.

Law was doing this because Law understood the mistake the Law from the show made. The Law from the show was arrogant and was completely dependent on his devil fruit powers and neglected his strength training. He was strong enough to have a fist fight with Luffy who didn't want to fight, but he was still not strong. In a fight, he couldn't depend on his physical strength.

Also, his room demands stamina, which can only be increased by physical training. So, he was completely focused on raising his physical strength and master the six powers, which grant superhuman strength.

He can learn to master his devil fruit powers in battle later, but physical strength can only be obtained by continuous training. This is why he is hellbent on mastering the six powers by going so far as to torture himself by training in extreme conditions.

Law put himself through this torture everyday, climbing higher when he got used to the amount of oxygen at the altitude he was training before.

This environment was extremely dangerous to the point where he himself had to pump his heart to make it beat at normal heart beat rate. He also sometimes had to shock himself to keep his body warm.

Law was going through hell to get stronger, but during all the training, even if he had a pained expression on his face, his eyes showed that he was enjoying the process. He liked this life, which was way different from his previous life when he went to college or joined the company as a fresher.

He also got to train with the sword since there were Marines who used swords. His sword was going to be the weapon he would use most with his devil fruit, so he couldn't neglect his swordsmanship training. He was already good with the sword from his training with Diamante. As for Penguin and Shachi's marksmanship training, they had to practice with arrows, occassionally using the pistol and rifle.