The new year of the Sea Calendar began with a bang. Mock, the Overlord of the East Blue, went head-to-head with the Warlord Bartholomew Kuma. The fight sent pirate bounties across the sea soaring.
Then... nothing.
After one last brief surge, piracy in the East Blue entered another lull. Of course, none of that was any concern to the 16th Marine Branch. They completed their missions, cashed in when they could, and skimmed a little extra from military funds when the opportunity arose.
This new way of operating had even influenced others. When Marine Headquarters ordered Smoker to provide support in the region, he heard that the so-called Overlord was "restoring the glory of the East Blue pirates," turned his ship around, and never even showed his face. He even filed a collaborative damage report with the 16th Branch afterward.
Dante laughed until his stomach hurt. It was a kind of unspoken understanding they'd all developed. Even Smoker, that self-reliant, by-the-book hardliner, had learned to play the game.
His gaze swept over the bustling training grounds of the 16th Branch. Recruits were hard at work, their shouts and the clash of steel filling the air. He felt a quiet sense of pride.
The primary instructors for the new recruits were Kuina, Kuro, and an outsourced contractor, Daz Bonez. Kuina taught swordsmanship along with the adapted Breathing Technique Dante had developed.
Kuro handled Stealth Walk, a few of his own signature moves, and what he understood of the Rokushiki, Soru.
As for Bonez, while his power came mostly from his Devil Fruit, he knew his way around a fight and taught general combat techniques. Kenjutsu, combat, Rokushiki, and Kuro's stealth walk, those were the pillars of the 16th Branch's training regimen.
The only real issue was that learning Rokushiki required a certain degree of innate talent, and so far, very few recruits had managed to master it. The branch was still short on instructors, too. Even Kuro, their most overworked teacher, was just beginning to get a handle on the Six Powers himself. The others... well, Kuma's fighting style was entirely built around his Devil Fruit, so there wasn't much he could teach. And getting Mock to train anyone was a lost cause.
'Still,' Dante thought, 'the guy has his talents.'
Mock had picked up Tekkai surprisingly well, which was one of the reasons Dante had made him a captain. Mastering that one defensive art was more than enough to handle most threats in the East Blue. But his aptitude for it also worried Dante. Everyone knew that Tekkai could also be a trap.
"Boss."
Dante was lost in thought when he felt a presence behind him. He turned to see Kuro, who had appeared without a sound.
"It looks like you're getting the hang of that Calm-Calm Fruit," Dante said with a slight nod.
"Thank you, Boss," Kuro said, adjusting his glasses. A faint smile touched his lips. "I have to admit, this fruit suits me."
His assassination techniques had improved by leaps and bounds, and he was already developing new abilities based on the fruit's power.
"Developing your fruit is fine," Dante cautioned, "but don't neglect your physical training. Your body is just as important if you want to be truly strong."
'And Haki,' Dante thought. As Kaido once said, "Haki trancends all!". But awakening it wasn't so simple. Armament and basic Observation could be trained, hammered into a person through sheer effort, but even that had its limits. Real growth only came under fire. As for Conqueror's Haki... you were either born with it or you weren't. You couldn't just decide to learn it.
The 16th Branch didn't even have a Haki instructor. Hell, even at Marine HQ, it was a rare skill for a recruit to awaken. He'd heard that everyone on Amazon Lily knew how to use Armament Haki, that they even had their own unique training methods, but he had no idea how much of that was true and what those techniques were.
People talked about the New World as if everyone and their dog had Haki, but the reality was far from it. It was a difficult power to learn, which was why men who could teach it became so revered.
Kuro seemed to fall into thought as well. He was the one who had developed Stealth Walk, a technique that can be considered pre-cursor to Soru, entirely on his own. He was a sharp man. Perhaps his talent wasn't as explosive as Koby, but what had held him back before wasn't a lack of effort, it was a lack of perspective. Besides, how many people in the world could compare to a monster like that?
"I understand," Kuro said seriously. "I will speak with Kuma about it later."
He knew firsthand how crucial physical strength was. He'd seen powerful Logia users taken down by simple-minded brutes in a single hit. It was a disgrace, and not a mistake he ever intended to make himself. Though he had more questions, he could tell now wasn't the time.
Although he had many thoughts and doubts in his mind, now was not the time to ask about them. Instead, looking at Dante, he asked, "Boss, did you come here for... any specific instructions?"
"Not really. Just wanted to see how the training was coming along." Dante waved a hand dismissively, his eyes on the recruits. "With all the new territory we're covering, we might need to expand this place."
"We certainly do," Kuro agreed, but then he hesitated. "If we get any bigger, this location won't be enough. And..." Kuro's voice trailed off, his gaze drifting back to the recruits on the field. A hint of weariness crept into his tone. "We don't have the manpower."
"..."
Hearing Kuro's words, Dante sighed and nodded helplessly. Kuro wasn't wrong. Strictly speaking, Dante had already violated Marine personnel requirements. While a fair number of Marines had graduated recently, it wasn't nearly enough to cover the entire Grand Line, or even just the East Blue. To recruit more, the training camp would have to expand further. What's more, they lacked sufficient instructors.
In fact, the requirements for branch instructors didn't need to be so strict, any basic training would suffice. But the 16th Branch was different. And Kuro's concern went deeper than just numbers, truly talented recruits were exceptionally rare. Dante had also thought about this aspect...
Dante had already considered that. 'If talent isn't enough, we'll make up for it with science.'
He'd brought it up with Vegapunk, who was already working on physical enhancement serums. Vegapunk had just scoffed. 'Why not clone super-soldiers? Use Kuma as a template. It would be faster.'
And he was right. Dante had been tempted. Readers thought of the Pacifistas as failures because the Supernovas later tore through them, but those pirates were exceptional. Against most enemies, a Pacifista was more than enough.
The problem was the cost, he simply couldn't afford it. As for the Seraphim, they were a pipe dream. They cost a fortune, and without the Lunarian's lineage factor, they were impossible to create anyway.
For now, it was better to push the recruits harder and supplement their training with potions. At least in this world, hard work paid off. It might not make you one of the strongest people alive, but it could certainly make you strong.
"I see! So you've already found a solution. As expected of you, Boss," Kuro said, his admiration clear. He then asked with a new spark of curiosity, "On that note, is it true what I heard? That the 16th Branch is building its own dockyard?"
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