Ch 2: First Day of the Training

After the selection was completed, everyone returned to their assigned barracks. Silver followed the soldier in front of him to the ward where he would stay in the future. The ward was a 100 m2 concrete building. 300 people were staying in it. Only high-ranking soldiers had their rooms. Since they were not yet soldiers, many people lived in the same place.

Everyone went to the bed allocated to them. Silver also got his bed. On the bed was a bamboo sword, a training uniform and a uniform for everyday use. The training uniform and the regular uniform were identical in shape. Only the materials they were made of were different. The training uniform was made of more sporty materials so that the soldiers could move more easily. On the other hand, the clothes for daily use were made of cloth.

He looked at the silver bamboo sword and put it aside, not intending to use it. He was used to the twin daggers and wanted to continue using them. He then went to ask his instructor if he could train with the twin daggers. According to Silver, moving fast was extremely important. Thanks to his speed, he was able to escape from many wild animals. In addition, he defeated many powerful animals in a war of attrition. So speed was extremely important to Silver. However, he also knew that speed was nothing without strength.

Silver had tried using a sword before, but he didn't feel comfortable with it. Then he started using a twin dagger. He felt quite free when using the twin daggers. For these reasons, Silver would try to finish his opponent with quick and powerful slashes with twin daggers.

He puts his new uniform on the bedside table next to him and sits on the bed. He hadn't slept on a soft bed for a long time because he lived in a cave near the city after losing her parents. That's why the bed felt quite soft. He sat like this excitedly for a while.

There was no training today because they had just joined. After sitting for a while, Silver went to the training ground with his daggers to do the last training of the day. When he arrived at the training ground, he met the youngest person who came after him. He had seen him before at the tryouts. He saw him swinging his bamboo sword. Silver started his training at a distance so as not to disturb him. Since the training ground was large, he easily found a free place.

After unsheathing his daggers, he began to swing them in turn. He started intensive training to increase the agility of his hands and dagger mastery by swinging his daggers in different ways. He also trained on balance control by moving his feet. After training like this for a while, he got tired and stopped training to return to the ward.

At that moment he realised that the young man had also stopped training. They decided to return together. As they walked back to the ward they were chatting.

"My name is Marcus Connor, and yours?" The young man named Marcus asked Silver.

"Mart D. Silver," Silver replied.

After introducing each other, they started talking about various topics. Marcus was a 15-year-old boy who lived with his parents in Loguetown. His family owned a small restaurant. Therefore, their income could be considered better than ordinary people.

Marcus' reason for joining the Marines was quite interesting. He used to go to the harbour to buy fish for their restaurant. One day when he went to the harbour to buy supplies again, a pirate ship was docked in the harbour. Then the pirates attacked the people in the harbour and started looting. However, without causing much damage, they were defeated in one move by Captain Smoker who came there. Moreover, the captain had a 10 million Berry reward. Seeing this, Marcus' blood boiled and he decided to become a sailor.

'Ah, a passionate young man,' Silver thought with a sigh.

Then he started talking about himself. Then they talked about their dreams. Marcus wanted to be a sailor as powerful as Smoker. Silver's dream was to want ordinary people to live a happy life without fear of being attacked. According to Marcus, this is a childish dream, so after Silver tells him his dream, he tries to dissuade him by saying words like this is impossible, but Silver's will is strong and he only responds with a slight smile.

After a while, they arrived at their wards.

Silver fell asleep thinking about tomorrow's training.

The next morning all the recruits were woken up at dawn by a loud voice. Then they were ordered to get ready in 5 minutes.

Silver hurriedly put on his training clothes and then went to the fountain to brush his teeth. In 4 minutes he was ready. They were then ordered to go to the cafeteria and finish the meal in half an hour.

The cafeteria was quite big. The meal consisted of 1 bowl of boiled rice, 250 grams of grilled meat and 1 fried egg. There was only water to drink. The contents of the meal could be said to be quite nutritious for ordinary people. Silver had not eaten this kind of food for a long time. 

After everyone had eaten, they were ordered to form a straight line of 30 people in the training area. After everyone was lined up, the instructor came to them. The instructor was a middle-aged soldier with various scars on his face. He had a very strong aura. Everyone could feel the pressure radiating from him as soon as they entered the area.

"Hello, soldier," the instructor shouted.

"Thank you," shouted the soldiers lined up in a row.

Then he told the soldiers to stand in a comfortable position.

"My name is Adam. I am your instructor for 3 months from today. Now everyone turns to the right! "The instructor named Adam ordered them to turn to the right.

After everyone turned to their right, they were ordered to run 15 kilometres around the training field. The field was circular and 3 kilometres in circumference. They had to run 5 laps around the field.

Most of the soldiers' faces were tense when they heard this. But they did not dare to disobey the order and started running. Silver also started running. Although he had high endurance, it was very difficult for him to run so long.

In the first lap, everyone was running comfortably. In the second lap, some people started to struggle a bit, but they were still able to keep going. On the third lap, a few people were losing speed and falling behind. On the fourth lap, most people started to fall behind. Marcus also fell behind a bit. Only 25 people could still run at the same pace. Silver was among them. Even though his breathing was heavy, he kept running without thinking, his eyes only looking ahead. In the last lap, 10 people were able to maintain the same pace. Silver and 9 people completed their running training.

Silver became the tenth person. It was still a miracle that he could run for so long as his body was not developed. He forcibly suppresses the urge to vomit. As soon as he finished running, he collapsed on the ground and started breathing fast with his tongue out. The others were in a similar situation. The first person to arrive was a handsome young man in his 20s.

He was looking at Instructor Silver with satisfied eyes. As a former soldier, he had fought in many wars. After his experiences in wars, he realised that willpower is a very important power to survive in the graveyard called the sea. 

The instructor ordered the arrivals to take a 30-minute break. The instructor does not plan to wait for the rest. After all, they had to complete 5 laps. After the run, there was a half-hour break followed by other training.

Another 100 people completed their laps in 15 minutes. Marcus was among the finishers. Immediately after completing the lap, they all collapsed. Some of the soldiers in this group could not suppress the urge to vomit and vomited on the ground.

Meanwhile Silver and the first finishers were resting. After waiting for another 15 minutes, another 150 people completed the run. These soldiers were in a similar situation to the previous ones. The remaining 40 could not complete their run and fainted.

Mentor ignored them and asked those who had completed their rest to do 100 push-ups, 100 pull-ups and 100 sit-ups. Silver and the others started to do this. Silver could not complete them all at once, so he had to do them slowly, but he still persevered and completed his training.

In the meantime, those who came later and finished their rest started to continue their training. The remaining 40 people finished their runs and rested.

After this training, there was a 1-hour swimming training. For the swimming training, there was an area 500 metres away from the training ground that opened to the sea. The swimming training took place here.

After swimming, there was a one-hour break. The first soldier to complete the race was the young soldier who had completed all the training in the first place. The soldiers had their meal and then went to the toilet to clean up. During the meal, most of them did not finish their meal. Silver finished his meal with difficulty.

After the break, there were 50 rounds of pistol training and 50 rounds of rifle target practice. In this training, they practised hitting the target at a distance of 30 metres. Most of the soldiers were quite happy with this training as it did not require much physical effort. However, many missed their targets. It was easy to miss the target because of the recoil. As Silver had never fired a firearm before, he was able to hit targets a total of 35 times with 15 pistols and 20 rifles. He could be considered one of the worst among the soldiers.

After target practice, there was sword training. Sword training was the last training. Those who completed this training could finish their training. Although sword training seemed simple, it was very difficult. It was necessary to swing the swords 500 times vertically and 500 times horizontally. After this training, everyone could work on their own. Of course, many people wanted to go to bed after this intensive training.

Meanwhile, Silver asked the instructor for permission to practice twin daggers instead of sword training. Satisfied with Silver's performance, Instructor Adam gave permission. Silver, who was happy that the instructor gave permission, started dagger training. However, since he was using a twin dagger, he had to do this training with both hands. Silver finished her training in an indifferent and determined manner.

And just like that, the first training day ended as it was getting dark. Many soldiers could hardly stand up and wanted to sleep immediately. After the training, the group showered and went to the mess hall for dinner. After dinner, almost everyone went to sleep.

After dinner, Silver went to the seaside to get some air. To go to the seaside, he had to pass through the training area.

While passing through the training area, he heard a sound coming from the area and looked in the direction of the training area. He saw the handsome young man he had seen in the field of education today, who had completed all his education in the best possible way. The young man's height is 1.85 meters. He had black hair, black eyes and brown skin. There was an elegant aura around him.

Silver felt a strong will from him. He felt something similar with Smoker. But what he felt from this teenager was much less than what he felt from Smoker. Even though it was small, it was enough to catch Silver's attention.

His continued training while everyone else went to their dormitories earned Silver's respect. Silver also knew that he wanted to continue training, but his body could not handle it. Meanwhile, the young man felt the gaze directed towards him and Silver came face to face with him.

*Youth's Perspective*

'I don't want to lose anyone again. That's why I have to be stronger. '

As I work, I see various faces. My family, my friends, my fiancee, and the pirates who killed them. With feelings of sadness, love and hate, I continue to swing my sword at the railing in front of me, until I feel eyes on me. Since there are no dangerous looks, I direct my gaze to where the looks come from without being alert. There I see a 10-year-old boy with a lean muscular body and silver hair.

'The child I saw in training today. Even though he is the youngest in his age group, he deserves my respect as he is one of the best in training. Then I look into your gray eyes. These eyes...

*Overview Point of View*

When the young man directed his gaze to Gümüş, they started to look into each other's eyes. And they felt the same thing in each other's eyes: the sadness of loss, the desire to protect and the desire to become stronger as a result...

They realized that they were the same with these looks. In this way, their respect for each other increased even more.

After looking at each other for a while, they smiled at each other and looked away. Later, Gümüş went to the seaside while the young man continued his education. He looked towards the horizon by the sea for a while.

Then he went back to the ward to sleep.

When he looked at the training area on his way back, he saw the young man leaving there as well.

'I guess he went to the ward.' Silver thought.

Then he came to the ward and lay down on his bed. Then he fell asleep.