The day continued under the warm afternoon sun.
"How about you guys spar? And let's do this every day?" Ling suggested.
"I like that idea," Ace said with a grin.
The three boys nodded in agreement.
"Let's start with...."
"Me!" Luffy shouted, cutting him off excitedly.
"You can go first. Dexter, come," Ling.
"I remember beating you a year ago! Hihihihi!" Luffy grinned confidently.
Dexter just smirked back.
The two had sparred once, even before the Red-Hair Pirates had arrived at Foosha Village for the first time.
Luffy and Blackie took their stances.
"Gum-Gum: Pistol!" Luffy yelled.
His arm stretched forward but missed completely, hitting a tree and rebounding straight into his face.
"That idiot," Sabo muttered as he facepalmed.
Ace just sighed beside him.
Ling let out an internal laugh.
Dexter didn't waste the chance. He charged forward.
Seeing the incoming attack, Luffy quickly reacted.
"Gum-Gum: Balloon!" he shouted, puffing up like a balloon.
"This is my coolest technique! It can deflect bullets and cannonballs!" he declared proudly.
"It's cool, isn't it?"
"Well… I don't think it's cool," Sabo muttered, speechless.
Dexter wasn't impressed either. He pulled back his fist and punched the ballooned Luffy with full force, sending him flying into the air.
"How lame," Ace commented, unimpressed.
Having trained with Ling daily, Dexter had grown far stronger. He defeated Luffy in just a few seconds.
"Who wants to go next?" Ling asked.
"I'll go!" Sabo raised his hand.
"I'll go last then," Ace said, stretching his arms.
Dexter and Sabo faced off next. Their fight lasted eleven minutes, and it ended in a draw.
Afterward, Ling let Dexter rest under the shade of a tree for a while before continuing.
Meanwhile, Luffy had fallen asleep after his loss. He finally woke up just as Ace and Blackie were beginning their spar.
Ace and Blackie clashed fiercely, their strength and speed evenly matched. The fight dragged on with neither side giving an inch. In the end, Ace managed to land a decisive blow, securing a narrow victory.
All four eventually sat down, catching their breath. The baboons had already retreated into the trees, with Dexter followed soon after Ling said they could leave early today.
"So, what do you guys think?" Ling asked.
"You're really strong, Ling! You beat all seven of them at the same time!" Luffy said, eyes still sparkling with admiration.
"I couldn't even beat Dexter. We ended in a draw," Sabo admitted, still exhausted.
"Yeah… I barely managed to win," Ace added, wiping sweat from his brow.
Luffy had dozed off again.
"It's still early. You guys want to train more?" Ling asked.
"I can still train," Sabo nodded.
"Me too," said Ace.
"Luffy!" Ace smacked Luffy on the head.
"Hey!!" Luffy yelled, jerking awake.
"Now that Luffy's up, let me summarize what our training schedule gonna be."
"Every day, you three will continue sparring with Blackie. Since Sabo can only draw with him and Ace can barely win, I won't add any baboons yet, until you two can beat Blackie one-sided."
"And at noon, we'll punch a boulder until we can break it and continue doing it until we can break it easily with one hit."
"We would start with a small boulder. As we get stronger, we will increase the size until to the biggest boulder we can find here in Mt. Colubo." Ling pointed to a hill-sized boulder.
'Based on Ace and Sabo's strength, I can tell that I have the same strength and raw speed as Ace right now, while Sabo is right behind us. My only advantage on Ace was that I had more fighting experience thanks to Dexter and his gang, and was faster due to 'Shave'.' Ling thought.
"This training will take years," Ling said.
"Don't mind," Ace said. Sabo nodded in agreement.
"After that, we'll spar against each other a hundred times a day."
"That's too much… but fine," Sabo groaned, already tired just thinking about it.
"Yeah, I agree," Ace said.
"Me too!" Luffy added, bouncing again with enthusiasm.
"Before heading out to the Grey Terminal, we should at least be strong enough to destroy a small boulder. This is necessary if we want to at least escape if Bluejam manages to find us if we return to Grey Terminal," Ling said, his tone calm but firm.
"I heard in Foosha Village that Bluejam has one of the highest bounties in the East Blue."
"Really?" Sabo's eyes widened.
"Can you beat him?" Ace asked.
"No. Do you guys know about the giant bear with a scar? Bluejam is several times stronger than it."
'If my guess is correct.' Ling thought.
"What?! That big bear?" Sabo asked in disbelief.
"We should lay low for a while and just train," Ling said.
"You're right, we're not strong enough yet." Ace agreed.
The three boys nodded and followed Ling into a clearing filled with small boulders, it's near the river area.
"Since Luffy is weaker, he'll start on a tree," Ling said.
"Hey! I'm not weak!" Luffy shouted in protest.
"Until you can destroy a tree on one shot, you won't train on a boulder," Ling replied flatly.
"No way! I can destroy a tree!" Luffy insisted.
"Gum-Gum: Pistol!"
His fist stretched and slammed into a tree. It shook slightly… but didn't even dent.
Without saying a word, Ace walked up to another tree and punched it. The tree was broken in half on a single hit.
Ling and Sabo followed suit, splitting their trees just as easily.
Luffy's jaw dropped.
"You can only do that because you're ten!" he said, pouting.
"I could do that when I was seven," Ace shouted.
The two launched into their hourly argument. Sabo sighed and stepped between them.
"Can you guys stop already?" Sabo separated the two.
Over the next month, the boys committed themselves entirely to training.
Every morning, they woke at dawn and hunted wild animals for breakfast. Then, they sparred with Dexter and the baboons.
After lunch, they headed straight into their boulder-punching sessions. Luffy still lagging behind trained on trees.
The day ended with their final sparring matches against each other. Before returning to Dadan's house, they'd hunt animals again for dinner.
After eating, they'd meditate for an hour before sleep.
By the end of the first week, Ace and Sabo could beat Dexter easily. But once Ling added one baboon, both of them lost badly.
Luffy, on the other hand, had his own progress. Since he still couldn't beat Dexter, Ling assigned him a single baboon first.
For three days straight, he could only manage a draw. But after another four days, Luffy could finally defeat two baboons at once.
That might not sound like much but considering the two baboons coordinated attack and speed, it was impressive.
Their boulder training was far less rewarding. For the entire first week, Ace, Sabo, and Ling could barely scratch the surface.
Luffy, on the other hand, couldn't even dent the tree he trained on.
In their sparring matches, Ling is undefeated. Out of 25 bouts, he won all of them. Luffy lost every match, while Ace narrowly led Sabo with 21 wins to 19.
Still, there was progress. At the end of the week, Luffy managed to leave a noticeable dent on his tree.
During the second week, the improvements continued.
Ace managed to beat Blackie along with three baboons. Sabo was close behind, able to hold a draw against them.
Luffy? He can win against four baboons now.
In the boulder training, nothing changed for Ling, Ace, or Sabo, though they remained consistent.
Luffy, however, finally break the tree his been practicing since day one. His beaming face afterward said it all.
By then, Ling had reduced his daily sparring to 20 rounds. He still won every match without fail.
Luffy continued to lose all his matches, but he was learning. His aim has also improved; he can hit a target three out of ten.
Meanwhile, Ace and Sabo tied evenly at 20 wins each.
Now, after a month of nonstop training, they were noticeably stronger than ever.
Ace and Sabo could now defeat Blackie and six baboons easily.
Luffy, though not at their level yet, could hold his own in a draw against six baboons.
He was still behind, but the gap was shrinking.
In their strength training, Ling managed to break the boulder first, though it's still the boulder he started with a month ago. A week later, both Ace and Sabo finally break their boulders since day one.
Yes. It's the same boulder they started.
As for Luffy, he could destroy a tree in one day now. With a few more weeks of effort, Ling figured, Luffy would be able to smash trees casually, just like them.