12 Training Exercise

(Kairo's POV)

As Instructor Zephyr called for the new recruits to gather up, we saw some instructors preparing a warship.

Looking at their preparation, most of the recruits were confused, muttering and whispering to each other.

I and Dragon looked at each other, then I asked, "You have any idea what we'll be doing?"

He shook his head, then Instructor Zephyr made an announcement.

"Today, we'll be going to Paradise and capture pirates with bounties under 100 million berries to give you guys some experience."

The recruits heard that and were visibly excited, with some being scared.

One of the recruits raised their hand and said, "Instructor Zephyr, what if one of us dies on the expedition?"

A plausible question, but some of the more 'adventurous' ones jeered at that recruit for being a coward.

"There's little to no chance of you dying. If you are injured, we will provide compensation, but you dying? That will not happen since I'll protect every one of you."

I'm excited.

I could find a Devil Fruit here.

The Devil Fruit could be a Paramecia, Logia, or Zoan

There's a very low chance that I'll find a good Devil Fruit.

But, there's a very high chance that the Devil Fruit will be something weak.

Though, I believe that I can make use of the Devil Fruit, no matter how weak it is.

After all, there are no such things as bad Devil Fruits, only bad users.

I snapped out of my thoughts as Instructor Zephyr told us to get on the warship, most of the recruits looking visibly excited or scared.

I and Dragon went on the deck of the ship, then he asked me a question, "What would you do if I left the Marines?"

I was stunned. He asked a serious question out of nowhere. If I didn't have future knowledge, I would've thought that he was joking.

But I do.

I know that he will eventually leave the Marines and established the Revolutionary Army.

I calmed myself down and played it off as a joke. "Haha, I'll come with you in that case!"

Dragon looked extremely serious right now, but after listening to my answer, he wiped the serious look off his face and smiled, "I'll be counting on you then."

I hope not.

I want to stay with the Marines for as long as I can.

I gotta milk the benefits off of them.

If he leaves before I master Haki, I won't come with him.

But if he leaves after, there's a chance that I'd come with him depending on the benefits offered or the situation.

We talked for a few minutes before Instructor Zephyr called us.

"If you successfully capture a pirate, you can turn them in for their full bounties. If you killed them, bring their heads. You'll get 80% of the original bounty."

"You can also turn in treasures that you find for Military Merits, which would be useful for you in the future if you joined the Marines. You can exchange your Military Merits for better equipment or training in Haki."

Most of the recruits looked confused at hearing 'Haki', while the rest ignored it and focused on 'better equipment'.

Only me and Dragon looked interested at the word Haki, him because he has no use for weapons, while I have knowledge of the world.

...

We encountered our first pirate crew after sailing for 2 hours.

It was more like a fleet, but Instructor Zephyr said that there were no problems.

The pirates spotted us and changed their direction towards us, no doubt wanting to increase their bounties.

There were 8 ships in total, Instructor Zephyr told us to stay together, but he let me and Dragon go off because he was confident in our abilities.

I took the ship on the right, while Dragon went to the left, and Instructor Zephyr would take the other 6 ships on with the 'help' of the recruits.

I used Kamisori and appeared on the crow's nest, then I used Rankyaku to tear apart the sails.

I dropped to the ground, then the pirates gathered around me, then one of them sneered and said, "Hmph, you think you can beat us all? We have 50 men on this ship, and we are under Captain John!"

'Captain John? I think he has a bounty of 85 million berries and is wanted for massacring a town and looting a marine base.'

'He must have treasures. It doesn't matter what he has, if it's a Devil Fruit that looks fancy, I'll take the chance and eat it, and if it's anything else, I'll turn it in for Military Merits.'

But first, I needed to make a show of force.

I consecutively used Soru to teleport behind the pirates and killed 38 of them with Shigan, leaving the ones who seemingly have the most authority alive.

"Alright, I'll let you live if you tell me where you keep your treasure."

The pirates were scared, and the same guy who sneered at me stepped up with a fearful look on his face and said, "It's in the Captain's room!"

'Captain's room? Where the hell is that?'

"Lead me there and I'll let YOU live. I might even let you go."

He led me to the Captain's room with a frightened expression, then he unlocked the door. He went towards the bed and grabbed a chest from underneath.

'Is this a devil fruit? Is it something else? Oh man, I'm so excited!!!'

I had a crazed expression on my face, and he must've seen that, which is probably why he fumbled with the keys before finally unlocking the chest.

He opened it and presented it to me, and the thing in there was... disappointing.

It was a dagger with a fancy design.

No fruits, no maps, and no gold.

How disappointing.

I grabbed the dagger and slashed it towards the man's neck with as little force as I could.

It sliced through his neck like butter.

A second later, I saw the side of the room as been cut out, and I could see the other ships fighting against Instructor Zephyr and other recruits.

I also saw Dragon floating above the air, with winds surrounding him.

I was envious.

Dragon was lucky and got a Devil Fruit.

It was likely a Logia as well, judging from how he was controlling the winds to create mini-tornados.

'I should've chose left...'

Guess I'm turning this dagger in for Haki training.

Dragon would probably be trained by Garp in Haki anyways.

Ahh... why did Father abandon me?

I would've been even stronger if I was trained by him.

Oh well, no use crying over something I can't control.

Anyways, I tested the dagger once more by cutting everything around the room.

Then, I stumbled upon a casket when I was cutting the bed apart.

'This is creepy, especially if a corpse falls out, but there's a chance that there will be treasures in there..'

I opened the casket and found a sword.

There was engraving on the blade that said, "William's gift to John".

This is a gift to John?

The sword must be sharp because it was used as a gift for a pirate with an 85 million berries bounty.

I tested the sharpness of the sword by using the same method, cutting everything in the room.

To my surprise, it was far weaker than the dagger.

I needed to put force in to cut apart the wall, even if it was a super clean cut.

The sword should be a Grade sword, which means that the dagger could be a Great or Skillful Grade dagger.

That's nice.

I'll trade the sword in for Haki training, and if that's not enough, I'll put the dagger in as well.

For now, I'll keep the dagger.

I used Kamisori to teleport back to the marine warship, and Dragon was there, talking to Instructor Zephyr.

Instructor Zephyr congratulated Dragon for eating a Logia fruit, while the other recruits looked envious.

As I walked towards Instructor Zephyr, he and Dragon looked towards me and asked, "Did you find anything good on that ship?"

I responded by showing him the sword and he called for an appraiser on the ship.

A/N: Since they are capturing pirates, it makes sense for there to be an appraiser on the ship because they need to know the worth of the things they find

The appraiser looked shocked after examining the sword.

"This sword...is a Skillful Grade sword!"

Wait, the sword is a Skillful Grade? Does this mean that the dagger could be Great or even Supreme Grade?

I was shocked at his examination because after all, there were only 21 Great and 12 Supreme Grade swords, while there were countless Logia devil fruits, even if they were the rarest type.

I could've gotten something better than Dragon did.

Zephyr looked impressed at my findings and asked if I wanted to turn it in for Military Merits.

"Yes, and I'd like to request 'Haki' training."

Zephyr raised an eyebrow and said, "Very well, come to me when we get back to H.Q."

'Finally...I can learn Haki now! This will be my first step to stand atop the world!'

"By the way, are there any pirates alive on the ship?"

There is. 11 of them were alive, but some could've died when I was recklessly swinging the weapons around.

But...

"Nah, there's no one there. You can sink it if you want."

"Alright, SINK THAT SHIP!"

The recruits were enthusiastic to fire the cannon and sink a pirate ship, and the ship ended up sinking after 8 cannonballs hit the hull.

"Alright, let's start going back to H.Q now!"

'Ah shit... I forgot to take the corpses and turn in the bounties...'