Application accepted!

Ezra finally understood what his master meant in his letter. He could somehow understand the struggle his master must have faced in making sure that his status as the only survivor of the massacre at Amagus two years ago, was already known to the marines.

“From now on, you will be addressed as Cadet 1030. Here is your uniform”. The issued uniform contained a navy blue trousers and shirt, a white scarf and a pair of waterproof black boots.

After registering, all cadets were ferried over to the academy. The academy was not just a building as every cadet had expected to see, the West Blue Marine Academy was a whole island. The island was barricaded with huge, grey walls. Cannons were mounted along the barricade in all directions. Clearly, this place did not give the impression of an academy, it looked more like a stronghold than a place of learning.

‘My dream starts here, behind those walls. I will have to learn as much as I can about devil fruits while focusing on combat’ Ezra thought. From the rumours that were spreading amongst the cadets, he had heard that most captains never excelled at tasks at the lower ranks except for combat and leadership.

Arriving at the academy harbour, all cadets were led to the training ground for the first years by an instructor.

“All Cadets must complete one-month compulsory physical training, there will be no housing allocated for now and you will not be receiving any additional uniforms. Welcome to Hell” the instructor said.

Ezra was amongst the few others who managed to keep up with the instructors during the months of training. The instructors’ favourite phrase was a kick to the butt for some lazy cadets, “Pirates are getting stronger, Marines must always be the strongest in the open seas”.

The training was intense, Cadets left blood and sweat behind, pushing past any mental limits. With that being said, the training already divided the cadets into groups based on their physical fitness. This simply made the course allocation a lot easier for the instructors. Weaker cadets were either sent to Shipbuilding, Engineering or Navigation. While the others were sent to Combat training.

…

Cadet 1028 … Engineering!

Cadet 1029 … Navigation!

Cadet 1030 … Combat!

Cadet 1031 …

After sorting all the cadets into courses, the instructor asked a strange question. “Those who possess the power of a devil fruit, stay behind, the rest are dismissed.” Currently, the power of devil fruit was not common knowledge in the four seas. Those who knew about it were probably due to an encounter of some sort.

The majority of the cadets left the training grounds following their course instructors, only 5 cadets including Ezra were left behind.

The cadet next to Ezra took off the marine issued cap that was covering his face. Ezra could see that the top part of the boy’s head to his nose was that of a Dalmatian and his arms and legs were covered in a white and black spotted pattern. Not forgetting about the long tail which he had now revealed.

Each cadet received a yellow scarf to replace the previously issued white scarf.

“5 of you are now the yellow scarf elites of year 1. Unlike the other cadets, each of you is guaranteed to rise to the captain rank without much effort. If you excel you can be recommended to the HQ for further training. There is a hope of creating a type of task force “Chiper Pol”.

Where was I, yes?

Your courses will be different from the other cadets, you will be taught about devil fruits, combat, leadership, and various ways to improve your powers.

Before any of these can happen, your application information needs to be updated with the information of your devil fruit. This is also an opportunity to choose a nickname for yourself.

As you must have figured out, most marine captains never reveal their real names for example Captain Bloodshot and Captain Arms which you met at registration.”

You there 1141, you go first. I want your cadet number, your chosen nickname and the name of the devil fruit you ate” asked the instructor.

Cadet 1141

Nickname: Dalmatian

Devil Fruit: Inu Inu no Mi (Dog Dog Fruit) model Dalmatian

Next! yelled the instructor.

Cadet 0880

Nickname: Hothead

Devil Fruit: Mera Mera no Mi (Flame Flame Fruit)

Cadet 0051

Nickname: White Smoke

Devil Fruit: Moku Moku no Mi (Smoke Smoke Fruit)

Cadet 0218

Nickname: Warhead

Devil Fruit: Bomu Bomu no Mi (Bomb Bomb Fruit)

Cadet 1030

Nickname: Poseidon

Devil Fruit: Umi Umi no Mi (Sea Sea Fruit)

“Very Good! yelled the instructor.

You have earned a week of rest. All information regarding your individual devil fruit gathered from the marine devil fruit encyclopaedia will be delivered to you. Take your time to understand your power, figure out its strength and mitigate its weaknesses.

That will be all for now, you are dismissed” was announced by the instructor.

Each cadet was allocated a bed in a dormitory. One of the major perks of being classified as yellow scarf elites was that each cadet had their own room.

Ezra walked into this room after confirming it was ok to retire. The room was plain and bare with no decoration except for the blue painted walls. A bed and a desk were provided as part of the package.

After cleaning up, he could finally give in to his fatigue. He quickly drifted off into the world of dreams.