00027. Garp vs Zephyr.
After Marcus informed Garp about Vergo causing his sword to shake. Garp told Marcus not to worry about it and he would look into the issue. After that the training camp continued without any issues.
The only thing that changed was Garp adding a new training method. Since all the boys could now punch a tree in half and Marcus could almost cut a tree down with his practice sword. Garp forced the boys to punch boulders with the goal of destroying it in one hit. So far the only thing that's happened is the boy's fists hurt every day. Garp told the boys it would go away after a few months of practice and to not complain about it.
The boys weren't the only ones who suffered though. Zephyr had forced the trainees almost to the breaking point every day. While he wasn't as harsh as Garp, he made sure to push everyone till they passed out each night.
By the last few days of the training camp for the boys, most of the trainees could now hold out for a few minutes in spars. It was a big step up for most of them, from the single hit knockouts when they first started fighting the boys. Zephyr was happy with the trainees overall progress and Garp even seemed impressed with a few of them.
It was the day before they were scheduled to leave that Garp challenged Zephyr to their sparring match. Early in the morning instead of training, everyone gathered up to have breakfast. Afterwards they moved towards the dock area, so everyone could watch the sparring match.
Garp and Zephyr faced each other near the start of the dock as Zephyr said, "Let's agree on some rules before we start this."
"Rules would just get in the way of having a fun spar." Garp said as he picked his ear.
Zephyr shook his head as he said, "No, we should use this spar as an opportunity to show everyone here what a high level fight is like."
Garp glanced over to his grandsons for a few moments before he asked, "And how exactly would we do that?"
"We start with ten percent power and fight like that for an hour. Then go to twenty for an hour and work our way up. Then we can finish at full strength for an hour, but let's not overdo it. What do you think?" Zephyr asked.
Garp thought it over for a few moments before he smiled as he said, "Five hours at full strength."
"Two hours is the maximum I'll fight you at full strength. Neither of us needs to be injured because of a simple spar." Zephyr said.
"You're no fun, but fine."
Zephyr and Garp then moved back towards the group before Zephyr said, "All of you take up positions near the tree line and pay close attention to the spar while you can. If you're lucky, you might learn a thing or two from this."
Garp moved towards his grandsons before he pointed to an area with some boulders and said, "Go over there to watch us."
As the boys glanced over to the spot, Garp said, "Once you can no longer track us during the fight. I want you to train on those rocks till the fight is over."
"Uh, I thought we didn't have to train today?" Luffy asked in confusion.
Garp pushed Luffy towards the boulders as he said, "I never said that. Now get going and remember what I told you."
After the boys and trainees were out of the way, Zephyr squared off against Garp and said, "Start whenever you're ready."
A moment later Garp launched himself at Zephyr and their fists collided followed by a gust of wind from the collision. While it was only ten percent of their power, they still moved fast enough that a normal person wouldn't be able to follow their movements. In fact some of the trainees could barely follow their current speed.
As for Marcus and his brothers, they easily watched the two men as they traded blows. It was a fierce melee as both men seemed to be evenly matched with each other. A punch from one would quickly be parried or blocked before a counter attack would follow.
As Marcus watched, he couldn't help but wonder if the two of them were currently using observation haki or if this was just pure fighting instincts. But after a while Marcus stopped caring about how they might be fighting and instead studied the two men closely. He instead focused on them and he tried to memorize how they fought.
While they weren't using their full strength, they still used all of their skills and experience to fight. The longer they traded blows the more Marcus realized just how far the gap was between him and people at the peak of this world. Both men utilized one hundred percent of their bodies and wasted no movements. It was a beautiful dance filled with graceful movements and deadly power as both men traded blows.
While he watched, Marcus's eyes widened slowly as he understood just how crazy this world was going to be. At the same time he was excited and his fists clenched unconsciously as he thought that one day he would be able to fight like this himself.
Time quickly passed as the two men slowly moved up in power. By the third hour, Marcus could barely see the two men as they blurred around above the clearing. They had to fight in the air at this point because they could easily ruin the docks if they weren't careful. Once they moved to forty percent power, nobody was able to watch them fight properly anymore and then even moved slightly away from the island.
Just the aftershock from one of their blows alone made the water in the calm belt choppy. But when they traded five blows in a single second it could create decent sized waves. With both men now high up in the air away from the island, the trainees went back to the training camp to eat an early lunch.
The boys also joined them, but came back once they finished to punch boulders, while the trainees went to run the obstacle courses. For the next few hours one of the main things that was heard around the island was a sound that almost resembled a blacksmith working at an anvil. The clanging noise was fast, persistent and sometimes followed by a loud boisterous laugh.
When it was just around sunset the atmosphere around the island changed and a lot of the trainees who were at camp preparing for dinner passed out. Marcus and the other boys even felt a little weird as the sky darkened with clouds that seemed to clash together as they heard Garp let out another laugh from his place in the sky. A moment later Marcus almost lost consciousness as he felt a crazy pressure push down on his mind and body.
Marcus knew what just happened and gritted his teeth as he looked up to the sky above in defiance. At first he thought he would be fine, but within a minute he was drenched in sweat and his whole body felt like it was on fire from the strain. He glanced towards his brothers and noticed that even they were still standing, but none of them looked to be doing great. Just like him they were covered in sweat and their bodies were trembling.
Marcus's body screamed at him to just lay down on the ground and let it rest as he said, "I think this is another one of grandpa's tricks."
Sabo barely nodded in agreement as he said, "I wonder what this is."
"It doesn't matter. All I know is I don't want to submit to it." Ace said with narrowed eyes.
Luffy leaned against his boulder as he said, "I just want to eat dinner."
The other boys couldn't help but laugh at Luffy before an even stronger wave hit the boys and forced them to stop. Marcus used every once of his will power to not collapse on the ground and that only lasted for a few more minutes. As he finally fell to the ground he noticed he wasn't the only one. Luffy was already laid out on the ground, Sabo fell at almost the same time as him and Ace collapsed to one knee. After another couple of minutes everything went black.
Marcus awoke to a slap to the back of the head and the smell of food. It was night time already and he was seated at a table with a large plate of food in front of him. As he glanced around he realized he seemed to be the last person to wake up so he just dug into his food instead of thinking about it. As he ate, he looked at Garp and noticed one of his arms was wrapped in a cast so he asked, "How did you get hurt grandpa?"
Garp waved his arm around as he said, "This little thing? Don't worry about it, it'll heal in a few days."
Zephyr who was seated across from Garp also had his arm wrapped up in a cast and said, "Bullshit, this will take at least a month to heal. I told you not to overdo it and you still did!"
"Bah! You're just being salty because I won the spar." Garp said before he took a bite from a large piece of meat.
Zephyr's mouth tightened for a moment before he said, "You didn't win, I stopped when we reached the time limit. You kept attacking me afterwards until I gave up."
"Exactly, that means I won." Garp said matter of factly.
Veins swelled on Zephyr's forehead as he stared Garp down. Garp appeared not to care as he smiled happily and stuffed meat into his mouth. While it was a slightly awkward dinner to sit though, it was still rather relaxed as everyone seemed to be drained from the day. Once finished with dinner everyone turned in early for the night.
The next morning everyone woke up early and while the trainees warmed up for the day. Marcus and the others loaded some extra supplies on their ship. Once they were finished, they ate breakfast with everyone else before they bid farewell.
On the dock as the boys started to row the ship away, Zephyr, his son and a few other trainees waved to the ship as it left. As it moved out of sight Nicholas glanced up at his dad as he asked, "When do you think they will join the marines, sir?"
Zephyr turned around as he said, "I'm not sure. They might not even join."
Nicholas turned to look at his dad as he asked, "Why not?"
Zephyr let out a sigh before he said, "Just a feeling I have. But it should be fine, they're pretty good kids. Maybe a little too much like Garp, though."