Skull Boar began his attack yelling at the top of his voice “Boar Charge!”. He increased his speed the further he ran, his whole body became hardened, and it was apparent that it would be impossible for anything to stop his advance.

Once he had picked up full momentum, he straightened out his arm to deliver a clothesline attack to Ezra. “Boar Lariat!” Skull Boar was planning to end the fight immediately.

Ezra was fully focused and already noticed the double skill used by Skull Boar. Ezra performed a series of backflips to create some distance between himself and Skull Boar. The Lariat move missed its mark reducing the force of the charge.

Ezra retaliated by coating his pole with seawater. “Water Armament!” He responded back with his pole held firmly in both hands. He struck out with his usual lunge attack. There was nothing extravagant about the attack.

Skull Boar could not tell what the kid was up to, but he could tell this kid was also a fruit user. ‘It’s better not to be hit by that watery pole’ he thought. 

Dodging the strike, he threw a punch which was blocked by a chop attack from Ezra’s pole.

At this point where his fist met the pole, Skull Boar noticed he was weakening rapidly; it was as if he had fallen into the sea. This effect only lasted while his hand was in physical contact with the pole.

“A seastone weapon?! Are you planning to use petty tricks to drain my power?” he cried. 

Ezra noticed the fear building up in Skull Boar’s eyes as he stared at the pole in his hand. ‘What was he talking about?’ Ezra thought. 

The following attacks Ezra attempted were all skilfully dodged by Skull Boar.

Ezra had just discovered something special about his powers, he was not willing to let go of this chance until he fully understood its effects.

Clink Clank, the pole sounded as Ezra let it drop onto the floor.

“Be a man and fight. I’m the kid here, yet you are the one running around” Ezra taunted.

Skull Boar was enraged, “Tusk charge” he yelled as his horn grew in size, he pointed his head towards Ezra as he ran at full speed.

“Partial Transformation - Water Arms” as soon as Ezra said this, the flask behind him disappeared as both his arms turned crystal blue.

 

“Water Prison!” A gush of water poured out of his hands creating a water dome around the charging Boar-Man.

“No! How can this be! How can this power exist…” Skull Boar screamed, before he finished his sentence he felt all the energy in his body being drained as his fruit power was nullified, transforming him back into his human form.

Ezra looked at the water cage he had created, inside it, a large man was floating unconscious. He was excited, the effects of his power were more than he had expected. His heart was still beating rapidly, if anything had gone wrong, he would have been beaten to death.

Retracing his steps back to the harbour, Ezra finally met up with No. 1 to 10, a few of them were injured and were currently receiving first aid from No 5.

“The Commander sent me; she needs back up,” Ezra said as his heavy breathing almost made his chest explode, he was sweaty and tired as he been dragging a boar of a man on the ground behind him.

No.1 looked up at the young marine before shaking his head. “The commander did not send you here to ask for backup, she sent you away from that battle because she did not want you to slow them down. Do not worry too much, it is good that you made it here in one piece. What do we have here?" 

"WHAT!" he yelled.

"Everyone look, Don Skull Boar was done in by a rookie,” No.1 said still surprised as he examined the body on the floor.

“Kid, do you know that this man lying on the floor is one of the most ruthless people in the East Blue.” No. 5 said as he moved closer to the body, getting a Seastone cuff out from his bag, he securely restrained Don Skull Boar.

“What are those cuffs?” Ezra asked curiously.

“These? They are Seastone cuffs. A special handcuff made to arrest those with devil fruit powers. Seastone has the effect of robbing the power and stamina of devil fruit users but not their mobility.”

Ezra connected the dots between Skull Boar’s comment and his power. His power had the same effects on devil fruit users. He grinned mischievously, as he thought about its endless possibilities. 

Daybreak.

Commander Gion and the others returned to the harbour with grave injuries after occupying the palace. The Commander had a massive cut on her left thigh, others had gunshot wounds, gashes and in some serious cases an arm or leg missing.

The mission was a failure, they had failed in rescuing the royal family. Don Skull Boar had already had the royal family murdered before the marines arrived at the courtyard. The bodies of the King and Queen were found in the grand hall of the palace along with all their subjects, but there was no sign of the 1-year-old princess. A search of the palace and surrounding area was ordered by the commander, there was still no indication of the princess’s whereabouts, moreover, no one knew what she looked like. The kingdom was in ruins and those who survived knew things would never be the same any longer. 

The information, the order from the HQ, all of these had led to this point, no one wanted to imagine what the Petty Officers and Seamen had to face in the battle for the cities. Someone will have to take the responsibility for this mission.

The trip back to the ship was solemn, Ezra was the only one who was not injured during the battle. He sat at the back of the ship as he controlled the speed of the boat, heading straight for the battleship. 

Getting back to the ship, the scene was even worse than Ezra had initially imagined. Out of 595 marines who had set off from West Blue only 50 marines stood on the deck of the ship, a large number of marines either were laid down receiving treatments or the most serious cases were moved into the sick bay. Many marines had not yet made it back to the ship due to their serious conditions.

Bellmere was amongst the serious cases as she was carried off to the sick bay on a stretcher. She had made it back to the ship half-dead with two children, one about 7 years old, the other barely 1-year-old. The doctor found it strange that Bellmere remained alive until now. He broke the news that she would only have 2 more years to live if she remained on active duty. However, it could be prolonged if she was discharged and ensured she was in a relaxed environment. 

2 marine galleons were approaching the harbour at the first city. The marine captain stepped out; “Vice Admiral Aokiji had destroyed all the pirate reinforcements to the kingdom, before sending us here to oversee clean-up, you all should get some rest.”

Recovery and maintenance took two months, they had watched the marine ships shuttle civilians who survived the battle to other cities, and the kingdom of Oykot was no more. During this time, half-dead marine soldiers made their way back to the ship for treatment. Out of the 570 marines assigned to Squad B, only 300 returned, out of that, 100 were to be discharged or reappointed into different teams outside of combat due to permanent injuries. The ship was now ready to make its trip back to the West Blue.

“Bellmere here are your discharge papers, are you sure you will be taking these kids with you?” Commander Gion now had a black spider tattoo on her left thigh covering the scar she received during the battle.

“Yes, the reason I am alive now is because of them. I might not have much time left but I know the people in Cocoyashi village on Conomi island will be able to raise them into good girls. Commander…” Bellmere said in a reply.

“I told you to call me big sister” the Commander interrupted in a friendly manner.

“Big sister is it possible to get a boat, Conomi island is not too far from here. Since I have my papers it will be pointless going back to the academy.”

“Okay, I will have a boat prepared, you leave at midnight.” After hearing the Commanders response, Bellmere got up and bowed, “Thanks Big sister.”

Night-time of the same day as the rest of the crew was preparing to call it a night, only a handful of marines could be seen patrolling the deck of the battleship.

Ezra noticed Bellmere and the girls making their way to a lifeboat that was ready for deployment into the sea. Commander Gion approached the 3 inside the lifeboat as she draped her marine coat on Bellmere’s shoulders whispering “Goodluck little sister, I don’t think you have a name for the baby yet, why don’t you call her Nami, let her be the wave that took you back home.”

He had heard about Bellmere’s case from the doctor and could only respect her for continuing to fight on even with her body that broken. 

 As soon as the boat hit the water, Bellmere knew her life, and that of the girls will all depend on her getting them to the island quickly with the temperature dropping as it went further into the night. 

It was then she heard a voice coming from underneath the boat. “I will take you to Conomi island, you can take the time to relax, focus on keeping warm,” the voice said.

Knowing who it was she murmured thank you before cuddling the two girls, she felt warmth in her heart.

Ezra controlled the waves as the boat sped along the ocean. He was already informed by Commander Gion to take the boat to Cocoyashi village on Conomi Island. 

The sea this night was calm as the silvery moonlight reflected off it. As soon as they got close to the village, he released his control of the boat, generating a slow current, drifting the boat towards the village harbour.

The village guards sat lazily as they discussed happenings in the village, they drank and laughed as one guard was acting out his story. A guard on the lookout spotted the unidentified boat drifting towards the island.

“Sound the alarm” he yelled.

A loud siren sounded out, alerting the whole island. 

The guards all carrying old rifles with a bayonet, gathered behind the Sheriff Genzo of Cocoyashi village. 

“Identify yourself,” he said sternly.

The boat drifted to a stop at the dock, and the cries of a baby could be heard. The guards with weapons drawn crept slowly towards the boat. Inside the boat, they could see a little girl with a baby in her arms and a woman who looked lifeless. Upon seeing who it was he could not help but shout “Get me a doctor, fast”.

Ezra watched the Sheriff scold Bellmere again and again about being too reckless as they moved her body on a stretcher. He could not hear the full story, but it sounded like she was also reckless as a child. Jumping back into the water, Ezra made his way back to the ship. It was time to head back to the academy.

It has been a week since everyone got back from their 6 months placement. Some people had tales of stories and places they visited, things they had seen. While others like Ezra remained dazed and lost by the death and blood they had witnessed.

The 600 remaining apprentices were now standing in front of the head instructor for the second year. In a similar fashion to last year, he congratulated the group for making it this far. There was a minute of silence held for the Eternal Marines of this year. Ezra felt sombre as he thought about the day when they set off from the academy with hopes of achieving greatness, only to return as eternal marines or discharged.

“This marks the end of your journey here at the academy. 2 years of training has transformed you all from kids to soldiers.

Each of the yellow class apprentices showed a lot of promises during the training and 6 months placements. The academy applied for the four elites to be promoted to Petty Officers of the 2nd class, this was approved earlier this morning. Congratulations.

The rest of you have been promoted also to Petty Officers of the 3rd class.

To some, this is the end of the time at the academy, you will be assigned a post within the marines. I wish you all the best of luck out on the seas, do not forget the blood, sweat, and hard work you put into getting to where you are today.

Due to the performance of some of the apprentices, HQ has allowed for a special third year to be added to the curriculum. The yellow scarf elites and the top 80 combat class officers will be required to attend this special third year. I expect to see you all back in the academy in 3 months. Marines I salute you” with that all the instructors performed the marine salute.