"That damned bastard..."
Kalifa gritted her teeth in rage. Who said anything about devoting my life to you?! Delusional creep, no, shameless pervert!
Ryuuzaki jogged ahead with a wide grin on his face.
These past few days, aside from Kalifa, the person Ryuuzaki had been most focused on was Blueno.
Because he knew, Blueno, in the original series, was the user of the Door-Door Fruit.
And the Door-Door Fruit? That thing was broken. Tragically, Blueno just didn't develop it very well.
Ryuuzaki had a shortlist in his heart of ideal Devil Fruits, and this one was high on it.
After all, it was a spatial-type Paramecia.
Any Paramecia-type that involved manipulating space was never weak.
Ryuuzaki wasn't sure what his Devil Fruit Development Talent would be if he ate one, but it didn't matter, because he had the Talent Reset System.
Even if his Devil Fruit development stat was trash, he could just shift talent points from elsewhere and stack them all in one place.
He firmly believed: if the Door-Door Fruit landed in his hands, he'd develop it to god-tier levels. Maybe even open a time-space portal or something crazy like that!
And right now, he suspected Blueno hadn't eaten the fruit yet.
Because when Ryuuzaki used the system to scan Blueno's talents, he saw:
Talent: Basic Stamina (72)
Talent: Basic Strength (68)
Talent: Basic Martial Arts (73)
Talent: Basic Fist Techniques (66)
Talent: Basic Kicking Techniques (76)
Not quite as strong as Lucci, but still respectable. If he trained seriously, he'd at least be Vice Admiral-level in the future.
But notably, no Devil Fruit talent was listed.
Ryuuzaki had figured it out: if you hadn't touched something yet, its related talent wouldn't appear.
For example, until Ryuuzaki picked up a sword, none of the swordsmanship talents ever showed up.
So logically, if Blueno had no Devil Fruit talent listed, he probably hadn't eaten the fruit yet.
'I wonder when exactly Blueno gets the Door-Door Fruit…'
Well, no use overthinking it. Time to go build a good relationship with him.
"Hey, big guy! You look like a freakin' ox!"
"...Huh?"
Blueno blinked slowly. When he finally processed what Ryuuzaki said, he responded with a slow, "Thanks."
Blueno was a simple, honest type, someone who genuinely believed in Marine justice.
Growing up, people had always insulted him by saying he looked like a cow.
So hearing that he looked strong like an ox? That actually made him feel pretty good.
"Big guy, what's your name?"
"I'm Blueno. You?"
"I'm Ryuuzaki. I'm new here!"
"A rookie, huh? Don't die."
Just then, whack! whack!
Two wooden sticks flew through the air, smacking both Ryuuzaki and Blueno squarely in the head.
"No talking during training!"
Ryuuzaki rubbed his head, annoyed. Man, this place is brutal…
Whatever. I'll talk to him again later when things calm down.
Training continued. That night, they were treated to a hearty Sea King feast.
Apparently, Commander Bark was crazy strong, he could hunt Sea Kings effortlessly.
And so, training dragged on for over a month.
By then, Ryuuzaki had leveled his Stamina to LV14, and even Strength reached LV6, just from the night sessions he squeezed in.
He figured things would continue like this: harsh but predictable.
But he was wrong.
Once all the rookies passed their physical tests, a ship docked on the island.
Besides supplies, the ship carried a number of prisoners, more specifically, pirates with bounties ranging from 500,000 to 2 million Berries.
Bark gathered the rookies and announced bluntly,
"Your physical training is complete. Next, you'll be undergoing live combat training. Your opponents… are them."
He pointed at the pirates disembarking from the ship.
Live combat training?
"You've gotta be kidding, right?"
A rookie voiced his disbelief, but was silenced instantly by a glare from Bark.
Bark then turned to the pirates and spoke just as coldly:
"If you want freedom, it's simple. Kill your opponent."
The pirates' eyes lit up with excitement.
Kill a bunch of bratty little kids? Easiest job ever.
Sure, their bounties weren't much, just mid-level thugs, but their opponents? Literal children.
Meanwhile, panic erupted among the rookies.
This wasn't training, it was suicide!
They hadn't learned any real combat techniques yet. All they'd done was physical training.
And now they were expected to face real pirates in life-or-death duels?
There was no choice but to grit their teeth and go in.
They could choose their own weapons, limited to melee only.
And the combat format? One-on-one. To the death.
Ryuuzaki was no exception.
But he'd picked his weapon a bit too slowly, he had chosen a sword, but by the time he looked around, all the other pirates had already been claimed.
Only one opponent remained: a 2-million-berry swordsman.
He had no choice.
The sound of battle rang out nearby.
Clang! Clang!
Rookies were already locked in desperate fights with pirates.
Ryuuzaki stood in place, sword in one hand, eyes fixed on his opponent.
The pirate wasn't particularly tall, maybe about the same height as Koshiro.
Lean build, a scruffy mustache, sharp eyes that gleamed dangerously.
"Kid, judging by your stance… you've never learned swordsmanship, have you?"
"So what if I haven't?"
"Heh heh heh… Lucky me."
Damn it.
Ryuuzaki used the system to scan him.
Name: Kikusu
Occupation: Swordsman
Talent: Basic Stamina (31)
Talent: Basic Strength (24)
Talent: Basic Martial Arts (22)
Talent: Basic Fist Techniques (16)
Talent: Basic Kicking Techniques (26)
Talent: Basic Swordsmanship (36)
Talent: Yujin-Ryū (31)
Yujin-Ryū?
His overall talents weren't that high, pretty average.
A decent match for a low-level pirate.
But in addition to Basic Swordsmanship, he had a talent in Yujin-Ryū, meaning he practiced a specialized sword style.
Ryuuzaki tensed, staying sharp.
He had already allocated all of his talent points into Basic Swordsmanship.
At this point, it really was do or die.
Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream tore through the air.
Ryuuzaki didn't look, he knew that voice.
It was one of the rookies.
Someone had already fallen.
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200 P.S = 1 Extra Chapter