Training an Army

After the construction of the main base was finished, I started to train my forces in modern military force. In the world of One Piece, I noticed that a battle was little more than an all-out brawl dominated by a handful of elites that decided the fate of the war singlehandedly.

But with my knowledge of the human body and basic military tactics, we could be undefeatable on the battlefield. On the first day, I introduced my group to the Darwin Serum. I explained its effects.

As I expected, most of them were wary about the median, and I wasn't in a rush to convince them of its benefits. I knew someone eventually would take the offer and open the flood gates for everyone else.

Daily training consisted of body conditioning, combat training, and large-scale battle maneuvers. Sometimes I held tournaments to see if I had any black horses yet. However, Cal oversaw most of the activities. She even leaned into the role so much Cal started to wear clothing more and more suited for a general, though with her own personal flare.

Leana had also taken charge, becoming somewhat of a saint. As she created daycare for the nearly fifty children, we had rescued. And now and then, she gave me that looking, making me feel that it wouldn't be long before she asked me for a child of her own.

With those thoughts pushed to the back of my mind, I had a more important task. Fabricating the Darwin serum had been a chore. Creating batches with different strengths required days of effort, even with Evos and I working from dawn to dusk.

But after a month, we had enough serum to supply all our people twice over. Putting the last batch into my dimensional storage, I sighed, "I didn't think it would take us this long."

Evos nodded in agreement, "I know I had to miss a lot of stuff with Abby." At that moment, I recalled I had seen Evos hanging out with the same girl, "Let me ask how far have you gotten?"

The teenager turned a bright scarlet, "I-I d-don't know what you mean." Knudging him in the shoulder, I probed his defenses, "Oh come on, have you even kissed yet?" He turned a brighter shade of red as he turned into mist and floated away.

I let him escape, for now, and returned to my other lab work. Without any significant project, I messed around with possible medicines and drugs to boost my soldier's productivity. I wasn't expecting any real results and tried to keep wasted resources to a minimum.

Though I made a few valuable discoveries, one Piece had a rather diverse plant life with its relatively warm global temperature. Most of which had unseen medicinal effects from an aphrodisiac to taste-altering barries, which made everything taste like steak.

It made me wonder if it was the reason the sea kings of the past were now in fruits, "But the better question is did the kings choose the fruit, or did the fruit choose the kings." I hadn't spent much time trying to unlock the devil fruit, but now I was seriously considering it.

"I should also start using the devil fruit in my inventory." At the same time, we hadn't been able to loot Mary Geoise. My rampage on the marine's bases and convoys had provided a relatively steady supply.

After thinking for a moment, the door to the lab opened, and one of my subordinates walked in, "Captain, General Cal has asked you to join her for a combat demonstration. She said that if you did not come willingly, she would drag you out there herself."

Sighing, I stood and shrugged off my lab coat, "Fine. I was getting bored anyway." Out on the training field, Cal stood in the middle of a dirt ring where her trainees stood waiting. "So I didn't have to fetch you. Things might have gotten violent if I did."

Cal's amazonian nature was coming through. Every month or so, she would challenge me to a fight. And even though I won each time, she wouldn't stop. It confused me so much that I had to scour high and low for a book on the Kuja tribe.

It turns out Cal was performing a mating ritual of some sort, and until I "mated" with her, Cal would continue to test my strength to see if I was worthy of bearing her a daughter.

Stepping into the ring, I faced off against Cal, who attacked without warning. I ducked under her first kicks before blocking her third and going for a throw. Cal had grown a lot, however, and she used a combination of Soru and Geppo to push off the air and escape my grasp.

Disappearing again, Cal appeared behind me, arching my backbone protrusions exploded from my skin, forcing Cal back. Dismissing my quills, I pressed the advantage growing a pair of bone knives.

Cal avoided my attacks with ease, but I had her at the edge of the ring, flipping my knife to a reverse grip. I baited her with an overhead stab. Calling my bluff, Cal blocked my actual attack in the form of a bone spike from my knee.

With her arms and legs occupied, stopping my knives and knee, I started to press down, overpowering Cal with brute force. After a minute intertwined, Cal smiled and tapped out.

Stepping back, I boasted my victory to the crowd of onlookers. With how hard Cal was working them, I was sure they saw me as a hero. But the fight wasn't over for me, as tonight Cal was sure to drag me into another type of battle.

On my way back to the lab, I paused as I had the feeling as if I had forgotten to do something important. After coming up with nothing I shrugged and continued along my way.

[In the New World]

Whitebeard looked at today's paper his face red with anger, "Set Sail for paradise, I need to teach my Sons a lesson."