Chapter 16 - Enlist in the Marines!

Scrap Island.

After witnessing Perfume Yuda's departure, Sephiroth turned and strolled towards the city. However, after covering some ground, he caught Franky's boisterous voice.

"Awesome! Tom-san, our newly completed locomotive will undoubtedly run smoothly!"

Driven by curiosity, the silver-haired boy followed the sound. In an open space surrounded by piles of scrap ship parts, Tom, Franky, and Iceburg stood in front of a brand-new silver engine, joyfully laughing.

"Hey! Brother, interested in witnessing the launch of our new creation?"

Tom laughed and waved to the silver-haired boy, who nodded in agreement without refusal.

Soon, with Tom's extraordinary strength, the entire locomotive, weighing tons, was moved onto the track. This time, Franky volunteered again to start the train.

Toot toot…!

After a burst of engine sound, the train's iron wheels accelerated along the sea track, running remarkably fast. It circled the sea track round and round, and Franky poked his head out of the cab, shouting ecstatically:

"It's great! It can finally run on the sea! It's amazing!!!"

"Success! Tom-san!" Iceburg exclaimed with excitement.

"Hahaha! What a great engine!"

Tom touched his round belly, smiling like a child weighing more than 500 pounds... Oh! No, it's more accurate to say more than a thousand kilograms...

Suddenly!

Whoosh!

A colossal body over twenty meters high emerged from the sea, creating large waves. Iceburg looked at the crab-like sea king, all red and as big as a small mountain, and screamed:

"It's the sea...the sea king!!! Run!!! Franky!!!"

"Help!!!"

Franky turned pale, jumping off the train quickly.

The next moment, the sea king waved its huge claws to grab the sea train, lifting it up.

"Let go of my engine! Bastard!"

Seeing this, Tom sharpened his eyes, angrily roaring. He picked up a broken mast more than ten meters long and threw it like a javelin with both hands.

Whoosh.

Boom!

With terrifying force, the mast instantly penetrated the sea king's body, causing it to fall straight backward.

"Phew! Great."

After getting angry, Tom returned to his smiling and good-natured appearance, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.

Sephiroth's mouth twitched, muttering in his heart:

'Monster! You are scarier than the sea kings…'

However, considering fishmen's extraordinary strength, Tom's exaggerated explosive power wasn't surprising.

Finally, the silver-haired boy sighed:

'I still have a long way to go before I can become the world's strongest!'

The unlucky Franky, after climbing ashore from the sea, subconsciously roared at Tom:

"Tom-san, didn't you say that the sound of the train can drive away sea kings? Why did that Crab monster suddenly appear?!"

Hearing this, Tom could only laugh in embarrassment:

"Eh haha, because this machine is a new design, I haven't had time to make the corresponding equipment for it..."

Seeing Franky seeming to go crazy, Tom quickly comforted him:

"But don't worry, I will definitely be prepared accordingly next time!"

"Tch! Let Iceburg go next time! I won't go."

Franky curled his lips, wearing an unhappy expression on his face.

"You obviously rushed there by yourself..." Iceberg complained.

"Brother, by the way, thank you! Thanks to your design drawings, the new sea train project is now several years shorter than expected! Hahaha!" Tom looked at the boy and sincerely thanked him.

"Well! I just did what I could do! I hope this sea train can be completed as soon as possible so that this city can quickly come back to life and no longer be as lifeless as it is now..."

After saying that, Sephiroth waved, turned around gracefully, and walked away.

"What a cool guy!"

Franky subconsciously touched his broken nose, originally bearing a trace of personal grudge against the latter, which had vanished.

......

On the edge of Water 7, stands a naval base.

In front of a building facing the sea, two soldiers holding long rifles and wearing marine uniforms diligently stood guard in front of the gate.

To be precise, this was a naval logistics support point, with only more than thirty naval personnel stationed. They were responsible for supplying and repairing ships when other naval warships docked.

As Sephiroth approached the gate, the two guards blocked him. One of them, a young naval soldier with a mustache, asked:

"Brother, what is your purpose here?"

"I want to sign up for the Navy."

The mustached soldier scrutinized the silver-haired boy before asking:

"How old are you?"

"Fourteen years old, almost fifteen."

"You barely meet the age limit...Okay! Go inside and turn right on the second floor. In the third room, register for the draft first, and then go for the physical examination."

The mustachioed soldier instructed, putting down his rifle blocking the young man.

"Thanks!"

Sephiroth nodded, entering the building, and arriving at the room for marine recruitment. A bearded young man with the rank of captain sat in front of his desk.

"I want to sign up for the Navy."

"Can you read and write?"

"Yes."

"Take this form and fill it out."

The bearded man, with an expressionless face, handed him a form. The silver-haired boy found it contained routine information for investigation, with a unique question in the last column.

"Are there devil fruits? Type...and name..." The silver-haired boy muttered softly.

The bearded man chuckled and shook his head:

"Devil Fruit is the secret treasure of the sea. This kind of thing is hard to come by, so don't think too much about it, little brother."

"If you are lucky enough to eat something like that, as long as your abilities are not too useless, you will basically be trained by our navy, and your future military ranks will at least be lieutenant commander…"

"Oh! What kind of training method?" Sephiroth asked with interest.

"It's more appropriate to say to send you to Marineford Naval Academy...Why do you ask so many questions? You don't have devil fruit anyway."

The bearded man stopped mid-sentence, not wanting to talk about useless things with the boy.

The bearded man stopped mid-sentence, obviously not wanting to talk about so many useless things.

If Devil Fruits were so easy to obtain, he wouldn't have to work so hard. He had been working in the navy for many years. At the age of thirty, he became a captain and became the commander in this small shabby supply base.

"Who said I don't? I just happened to eat a weird fruit. It should be a vampire devil fruit, right?"

As he spoke, Sephiroth's body shape suddenly changed. In an instant, he grew taller, with wings growing on his back, his ears elongated, and his hands covered with sharp nails.

Taking the initiative to reveal that he had eaten a Devil Fruit, Sephiroth felt that it was irrelevant, as it would be exposed sooner or later anyway.

If he hides it and waits until the marine training, and they ask him to fight in the sea, will he jump or not...?

Therefore, it is better for him to show his extraordinary potential as early as possible and get the opportunity to focus on training.

"Gulp!"

The bearded man swallowed subconsciously, and a fine cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

In fact, he had only heard about Devil Fruit users, but had never seen them with his own eyes. Unexpectedly, he actually met one now...

The bearded man wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said with a wry smile:

"Okay! Once you finish filling out this form, go through the process and do a physical examination. If after my investigation and review, there are no problems with your personal information, you should be sent to the G3 branch with other recruits in seven days to receive recruitment training."

Sephiroth quickly filled out the form, followed the bearded man's instructions, and went to the physical examination room in the building.

He wasn't too worried about the background check.

Although he has interacted with the three Boa sisters, the three girls have not made any explicit statements regarding their relationship, and he has never had any dealings with Kuja Pirates in public. The navy should not be able to detect such a thing...

After all, the Navy can make Vergo, a gangster and ex-pirate from the Donquixote family, become a vice admiral. It shouldn't be a problem for him to go to a naval academy and get some training, right?

At worst, if someone discovers his relationship with Hancock in the future, he will just run away with a smile.

The navy's physical examination was very simple, and some physical fitness tests were also conducted to let Sephiroth know his current general physical prowess.

Normal state: Height 165 cm, weight 50 kg, weight lifting 187 kg, grip strength 98 kg, 200 meters in 19 seconds...

Human-beast form: Height 198 centimeters, weight 70 kilograms, weight lifting 373 kilograms, grip strength 220 kilograms, 200 meters in 13 seconds...

Generally speaking, in normal state, he is better than ordinary adults. When he transforms into the vampire form, he surpasses human limits.

However, there are too many superhumans in the One Piece world. Even the East Blue Admiral Krieg, whom Luffy defeated when he first went to the sea, could carry a one-ton spear and wield it casually with a single hand.

In the later period, during Zoro's daily training, the weight of dumbbells was calculated in tons, and the increase was also in tons…

Thinking about it this way, it seems that he has barely surpassed the level of an ordinary soldier... and has become an elite soldier!

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