Chapter 350: Acquaintances
Early Sea Calendar 1491.
After a selection process, the candidates heading to Marine Headquarters to join the Marine Elite Training Camp were officially confirmed.
They boarded a Marine Warship, accompanied by a Headquarters Vice Admiral.
After all, this was the first Marine Elite Training Camp, and no amount of importance placed on it was too much.
They were the future of the Marines, especially such a significant number of them.
It was necessary to stand ready to prevent any accidents.
Among them were several monsters who had long since caught the eye of the Marine High Command.
If anything happened to them, there would be nowhere to cry.
For Shirek, it was something to be celebrated.
Harken and Mistral had both successfully obtained entrance tickets to Marine Headquarters.
Harken relied on his own strength to defeat many opponents and secure a spot through contention.
As for Mistral, her strength was naturally insufficient, but in the North Blue Marine Governor's Office, there were Female Marines from Marine Headquarters.
Advisor Tsuru of Marine Headquarters wanted to establish a Female Marine Unit, which was approved by the Fleet Admiral.
So, people were arranged to travel to the Four Seas, to various Navy Fortresses, to search for suitable candidates.
Compared to men, women indeed had a significant disadvantage in terms of their body, especially in the early stages.
The Female Marine Unit was specifically prepared for Female Marines.
Young Female Marines like Mistral, who couldn't enter the Marine Elite Training Camp due to insufficient strength, were thus specially recruited into the Marine Headquarters Female Marine Unit.
If they possessed enough potential, they would be cultivated to some extent and then sent to the Marine Elite Training Camp for more arduous training and further study.
With Tsuru's status and power, inserting a few people into the Marine Elite Training Camp was not a problem.
Moreover, as a Navy Officer, she inherently had the power to recommend.
Two hundred young Marines from North Blue were together on one Marine Warship.
They would pass through the Special Passage beneath the Red Line to directly reach the First Half of the Grand Line.
Kyle, Borsalino, and Sakazuki all came from the North Blue Marine Governor's Office and were considered a group.
Almost everyone looked to them as their leaders.
Seeing two familiar faces, Kyle breathed a sigh of relief.
During his time at the North Blue Marine Governor's Office, he hadn't received any news about Kiglar or Shirek, and he was somewhat worried that something unexpected had happened to them.
Kiglar was relatively steady, and Shirek had only joined the Marines for a very short time.
Kyle could tell that Shirek and Kiglar had to some extent hidden their strength.
At the very least, they hadn't used Observation Haki.
Awakening Observation Haki was not a problem for some excellent graduates of the Royal Military Academy.
From the moment they entered the Royal Military Academy, they had been doing related training.
Unlike Armament Haki, which also had body restrictions.
The awakening of Observation Haki relied on talent and continuous training over a long time.
Unlike Kyle, who had the boost of his status and didn't need to hide at all.
Marine Headquarters.
Marineford.
The departure times of the Marine Warships carrying young Marines from various Navy Fortresses were precisely calculated.
Each was different, so these young Marines from around the world basically arrived at Marine Headquarters on the same day with an error of no more than two hours.
The Marine Warships sailed into Crescent Bay.
Crescent Bay was the Port of Marine Headquarters, shaped like a crescent moon.
Rows of massive Marine Warships were neatly docked along the shore.
Along the surrounding bay coast, rows of artillery were mounted, and Navy Soldiers could be seen standing guard and patrolling on them.
Marine Warships continuously came and went, and a large number of Marines were constantly busy at the Port.
Stepping off the Marine Warship, the majestic and spectacular Navy Fortress came into view.
This huge fortress constantly emitted an indisputable authority.
The Plaza in front of the Fortress.
Young Cadets who had arrived early from other Navy Fortresses were already in position.
Facing the various gazes from Marine Headquarters, which might include some hidden Marine High Command.
They maintained various postures.
Some stood at attention with serious faces, looking straight ahead without moving at all.
Some did push-ups in place.
Some Swordsmen were polishing their weapons.
Some started making friends and chatting.
Some simply lay down on the ground, facing the sun, and fell into a deep sleep.
Borsalino stood to the side with his hands in his pockets, a cigarette dangling from his mouth.
Kyle, meanwhile, looked at these future colleagues.
Suddenly, Kyle's gaze fell upon a cold young man with short white hair and crossed arms.
He felt both familiar and strange.
Coincidentally, that young man was also looking at him.
Their two gazes intertwined in the air like this.
That young man quickly turned his head away.
Even though his style was very different from his time at the Royal Military Academy, Kyle still recognized Gulichalido.
After all, his gaze and heartbeat made Kyle very certain that this man knew who he was.
He remembered he was Ignis's Subordinate, right?
There had been no news for two years.
He didn't expect this.
Kyle didn't continue looking at him.
In fact, their gazes only intertwined for an instant.
Then, they pretended as if nothing happened, like strangers.
Kyle was on good terms with Ignis, and had seen Gulichalido many times during their time at the Royal Military Academy.
Gulichalido felt a bit awkward.
He hadn't expected to see an acquaintance in the Marines.
There were only so many top people from the Royal Military Academy.
They basically all knew each other, had met each other, and there was no situation where they didn't even know each other's names.
Besides Kyle, he also noticed Kiglar and Shirek.
He came to the Marines to go undercover, and he unexpectedly found people he knew.
What kind of situation was this?
However, they represented different strengths.
It was fine as long as he didn't take it to heart.
Gulichalido wore sunglasses, looking very solitary and indifferent, quietly gazing at the Navy Fortress before him.
However, if someone actively came up to chat with him, he wouldn't refuse.
Shirek maintained a distance from his Subordinate, Harken, and waited quietly.
The Navy Officer who escorted them to Marine Headquarters directly entered the Navy Fortress, paying no attention to them and offering no reminders.
After all, there were over a thousand of them, which looked a bit scary.
What if he accidentally offended someone, and they climbed over him in the future and held a grudge?
Disciplining these young Marines was not their mission.
These excellent geniuses should be handed over to Admiral Zephyr to train.
"Has the observation already begun?"
Shirek sharply perceived some of the gazes hidden around them.
The first mission before entering the Marine Training Camp was to observe the behavior and personality of these young Marines.
This would be combined with intelligence from Marine Headquarters for analysis.
It seemed useless, but it was actually training the ability of the Coaching Staff.
And for Marine Soldiers with different personalities, the teaching methods needed to develop their potential were also different, especially since some of them were already troublemakers.
Even for some of the excellent Marines with great potential, the Instructors at Headquarters had already begun researching them.
"Zephyr, how do you feel?"
In the Marine Headquarters Building, two figures overlooked the young Marine Soldiers below from high in the air.
Kong looked at them and asked Zephyr beside him.
"Hmph! Leave it to me."
Looking at the performance of these Marine futures, Zephyr was quite dissatisfied.
Their discipline could be said to be extremely poor, and this was fundamental for the Marines.
Turning around, Zephyr walked towards the outside of the building.
Before leaving, he left a sentence for Kong.
"Wait until the last Marine Warship arrives, then have them gather at the Training Ground."
"Hehe, it's rare to see Zephyr so serious."
"I hope you won't be scared."
Kong probably guessed what Zephyr was going to do.
He would definitely give these troublemakers a show of force first.
As the Chief Instructor, if he couldn't establish authority, then there would be no necessity to establish the Marine Elite Training Camp.
(end of chapter)