Chapter 42: The three apprentices

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"Alright, that's enough training for today" Bogard, who sighed softly while sheathing his katana, looked at Helmeppo and Coby who were lying in the ground gasping for air while looking at the sky with a lost expression on their eyes.

With their bodies covered completely in sweat, and their pitiful gasps for air being the only sound on the beach where they were training a moment ago, it took a while before both of them managed to recover enough strength in order to go back to their room to sleep.

"Haaah~ I'm fucking tired..." Helmeppo groaned as he cracked his back while he walked towards the main building of the marines where their rooms were.

"I almost thought I could die completely after the training ended... even more so when I was sure that everything I ate today could probably be ejected before I could even digest it completely" Coby, who heard Helmeppo, nodded with a grim smile on his face as he recalled the horrendous moment he went through a few minutes ago.

After Morgan escaped, both of them were granted the opportunity to become the disciples of Garp after he saw the heroic spirits lying deep inside them when they faced against Morgan without a speck of hesitation. However, unlike what they thought the training ended up being too harsh for some weaklings like them, something that soon almost made them surrender and try to escape. 

However, after considering things again, and remembering the unyielding determination that Luffy had when talking about his goal to becoming the Pirate King, both of them gritted their teeth to the point of them almost cracking and endured all the training with a determined smile on their faces. Even though they knew that it wasn't far from being a torture.

More so when they had Asura helping them train from time to time, after all, for some reason his training regime seemed to be even harsher than that of Garp, and that was just putting it in beautiful words.

Even though they knew that Asura was actually going easy on them in their trainings, they still remembered horrified the training they went through one day when they asked for his help. It was an underestimation to say that they almost fainted in the few seconds of training. They almost DIED. And what surprised them more was that Asura did that same training every day without skipping it at all, and even harsher than the training he gave them.

Though they had to say that after receiving Asura's training they could pretty much feel the results of the training showing on their bodies. Even though it wasn't by that much, it was still actually amazing that they could feel themselves becoming stronger in just a mere day! Something that could need weeks and even months in order for them to notice.

Though there was still one thing that lingered inside Coby's head and worried him about this mysterious apprentice of Garp like them.

"Did Asura-san leave again?" Coby, who saw Asura's room open without anyone inside, asked at the receptionist of the place where they were staying.

"Did he? I think so... I haven't seen him since a few hours ago... So maybe he left again without leaving a word behind" She answered as she placed a finger on her forehead as if thinking hard.

"Sigh..." Coby sighed as shook his head slightly after hearing the girl.

"That guy is just too carefree! I wonder what does he do so much that he just disappears every few days after coming back? Probably nothing good, his eyes are scary after all!" Helmeppo, who heard the receptionist, shook his head disapprovingly before he turned to look at Coby with an exhausted expression on his face.

"What are you waiting for? Let's go back! There's nothing we can do anyways...!"

"O-oh, yeah"

This was the thing that worried Coby so much. A few months ago, when they were finally starting to get accustomed somewhat to their training, one day he started noticing Asura's mysterious escapades, and although he kept silent about this matter for some weeks, his curiosity finally reached its limit at one point and he ended up asking Garp about the situation.

What he heard wasn't pleasant at all.

Asura, another pitiful victim of the vicious pirates that navigate these seas, grew up with an insatiable thirst for vengeance towards pirates after having experienced hell, and swore to exterminate every pirate on earth with his own hands. Now with an incredible power at his disposition, and the ability to make the ones that tortured him before suffer, now disappears every few days in order to kill pirates as much as he pleases, sometimes even disappearing for complete weeks to god knows where.

This caused an enormous preoccupation to rise in his heart...

...What could happen once he met Luffy-san?

He knew that even though Luffy was incredibly strong, he was no match for people like Garp or Asura currently. So he couldn't help but worry about Asura meeting Luffy, as who knows what could happen.

And as Luffy's fame increased more and more, so did his worries. After all, it could be that same fame that could make Asura to go and kill Luffy in one of his usual disappearances.

That's why he wanted to show Asura that there were actually more kind of pirates aside from the usual vicious ones. In order to avoid getting Luffy killed, he had to change Asura's mind about pirates, or at least to make him recognize Luffy as not a dangerous Pirate.

"What are you doing? I want to sleep, move your ass!" Helmeppo suddenly called Coby out, which awoke Coby of his day-dreaming state before both of them went towards their room in order to take a proper rest for the next day of training.

As both of them closed their eyes peacefully, a small thought passed through Coby's mind before he slept completely.

'I hope Asura-san manages to free himself from the traumas that seek him constantly'

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"Hello young lady, could you grant me the opportunity of taking you to dinner tonight?"

"Gyaaaaaaah, Pervert!"

*Smack!!*

A beautiful black haired girl in robes that covered her skin from the scorching sun, smacked the face of a thin blond haired guy, before she started running away.

"Ugh... just a normal denial could have been enough, why does all the ladies resort to violence whenever I'm inviting them to dinner?"

"Maybe it's because of the In-heat-animal face you do every time you talk to a girl"

"What was that Sid?! Do you want to face my fist once again?"

"I'm just saying facts, besides, today I'm too tired to kick your ass. So feel grateful"

"Tsk, you got lucky because I'm tired as well"

These two youths were Sid and Aveir, who were currently strolling around Nanohana town as they were given partial liberty to visit the stores and touristic places while they wait for the Straw-hats to arrive at this town.

It was said that they could wait for a week at most, and only then they could move towards another town in the case the Straw-hats did not appear. But for the meantime they could only visit the many restaurants and attractions that this city had.

But of course, For Sid this was the perfect opportunity to use the time given to develop further his projects. Like for example a new version of the Raxion 3.0 that could travel through land and sand.

Or maybe go towards Alubarna and infiltrate within the royal castle and borrow some books in the royal library.

Or maybe create some more weapons using the Sea stone that he borrowed from the marines.

There were many options on what to do in the meantime as the Straw-hats recruited Chopper to join their crew before starting their journey once again towards Arabasta.

*Ring ring ring*

Suddenly, the watch in Sid's wrist started vibrating while it let out a small ringtone every once in a while.

Sid, who looked around for a second to make sure no one was paying attention to him, clicked a small button on the sides of the watch and then brought it near his mouth.

"Doctor, it has been a while"

"Oh Sid, It's great to hear your voice again!"

"Yeah, It's has been quite some time since we had a conversation, how has your research been going during this few months?"

"Marvelous! Thanks to you I have been able to develop this incredible miraculous medicine even further! It's incomparable to what I achieved before I almost died, I think that anyone could be cured of any illness if they saw this"

"Hahaha yeah, however, it still doesn't heal people physical injuries, so there's still room for growth in your medicine"

"Of course, I will develop this miraculous medicine so that no one has to suffer under illnesses anymore! You can count with me!"

"I will bring you some more discovering I have made during this few months the next time we reunite, maybe they can help you improve it to a new level?"

"Oho? That could be of much help. Also, can I ask you how has Chopper been doing lately?"

"Don't worry, he is perfectly well. Even more so that now he will become a pirate like I told you"

"Oho, That's perfect then! I can't wait to see his wanted poster after he becomes a famous pirate HAHAHAHA!!"

As Sid heard the person behind the call talk about Chopper's wanted poster, he couldn't help but smile wryly while recalling a certain bounty of 250 measly berries in that the small pirate could receive in the future.

'Famous pirate...? Yeah, something like that'

...

Jarron7

I have to read another book, I hope it's better than the previous one or else I might die from boredom