Blessings

[ Third Person POV ]

A while back, Mariejois

The Five Elders had been pondering what kind of Devil Fruits they should use to bolster the forces that had been protecting Mariejois.

The way Whitebeard and his crew casually walked into Mariejois caused havoc, and it was going to be something that wouldn't happen again. The Five Elders were determined to make that a reality.

Numerous discussions and countless evaluations were held as they tried looking for the most suitable for those knights to use. However, in the middle of their deliberations, they were summoned by their lord to the Throne Room. 

The Five Elders bowed humbly as they waited for their Lord to speak.

"Bring them."

That was the first direct order that was passed to them. They wasted no time pulling out a transponder snail and calling the God Knights into the Throne Room. 

Leading them into the Throne room was none other than Saint Figarland Garling. A man who had matured rather firmly, his blonde hair forming a curved peak as he humbly bowed in front of the Lord.

Once everyone had all assumed their proper positions, a dark, baleful aura emanated from their Lord. The muscles of everyone in the room immediately stiffened as they all thought for the worst. 

The aura quickly covered the entire room, making it look like a black smoke screen had settled in the Throne Room.

The Five Elders were about to speak up when they started hearing screams coming from behind them.

The entire group of the God Knights were all on the floor, rolling in pain. Even their leader, Figarland Garling, had collapsed on the floor. Huge amounts of sweat came out of him as he struggled to get back on his knees. 

That was when the Five Elders began to notice something peculiar happening with the God's Knights.

Scale-like patterns appeared around their flesh as if they were about to turn into lizard people. Slowly but surely, the scales began to cover their entire bodies as they continued rolling over in pain. 

Then, as if they never appeared, the scales vanished within their skin. Letting the original appearances of the God Knights return. The God Knights took a bit of time to regain their bearings before they could resume their kneeling stance.

"It worked...Good," The Lord complimented the group.

"It is all thanks to the blessings of the Lord!!" Figarland Garling, along with the rest of the God Knights, immediately responded to their Lord's compliment.

"Go....handle it," with a simple wave of his hand, The Lord retreated back to another room that he happened to have always spent his time in.

The Five Elders, along with the God Knights, immediately but quietly exited the room and reconvened back into the Room of Authority.

When the Five Elders finally took their seats, they began to address what had happened in that Throne Room. 

"Tell me, Garling, how do you feel?" Saint Warcury asked curiously.

"I feel.....Powerful. Almost like I can slay a god!!" Figarland's fingers trembled as he looked at them.

The rest of the soldiers nodded as they all shared the same sentiment. The pain that they got in exchange for their new powers almost felt like a distant dream. The only problem that they had at the moment was how they were going to be able to test the extent of their abilities.

"It seems that the Lord had also acknowledged the problem with our security. Take this chance to hone your abilities. I believe that you will be of use in time," Saint Saturn remarked.

The God Knights bowed respectively before taking their leave out of the Room of Authority. Figarland Garling's top priority at that moment was to analyze the extent of their abilities.

"We're going to the training grounds; prepare yourselves for extensive exercises and training," Garling remarked as he immediately headed to the training grounds. 

The rest of the group immediately followed him, and soon, they had already begun their primary stretches and light exercises as they readied themselves for the training session ahead. However, they were already beginning to feel the effects of the blessings.

"Even though we're only light training, I haven't even done so much as break a sweat....Incredible!!" One of the Godknights remarked.

"I can't believe it...." Even Figarland Garling, who had been leading the exercise, couldn't believe the excessive energy that he was feeling even after the short session of training.

"Then, if everyone feels like they haven't done too much, we will increase the intensity of the regime," Figarland Garling tactfully instructed.

It was just like that; they had spent three days and three nights performing various exercises and training sessions. They had no need for food, drinks, or sleep during this period. Even as they kept increasing the pace of their training, they didn't feel any sense of tiredness or famish of any sort.

They ultimately decided to stop on the fourth day. Just to review what they felt had improved in their physique.

"There's no doubt that our stamina and resilience have increased by a hundredfold. However, what else has improved? I want to hold spars to see the extent of our physical combat," Figarland Garling remarked.

Their training sessions were mostly revisions of the basic techniques that they had been taught as young soldiers beforehand. They wanted to fully integrate themselves with their new strength and abilities before holding a proper sparring session.

Now that they had completed that segment of the training, It was time to really push the limits of what they could do on the battlefield. 

Figarland Garling sorted the entire crew out and ended up pairing them with each other. It was more than obvious that the extent of their abilities varied from one knight to the other. So he did his best to pair them according to who he had considered to an equal to another. 

Figarland Garling paired himself up with the sub-leader of the God Knights, a son of a rather influential nobleman who was quite formidable as well.

Soon, the sparring began; grunts and the sounds of weapons clashing soon began to spread throughout the training facility. 

Figarland and his partner soon began sparring, and the effectiveness of their battle techniques was almost earth-shattering. They were almost a hundred times better compared to what they had been in the past. Figarland swung his sword accidentally with a bit more force than he had wanted. 

Fortunately, his sparring partner managed to dodge the attack in time before he could get caught up with it, but it didn't stop the wall from being cleaved right in two as a result.

"This power.....Unbelievable," That was the only thing that could come out of Garling's mind as he tried to process what had just happened.

"This power would have been very useful when it came to fighting off those bastards, don't you agree?" His sparring partner asked.

Garling remembered how Whitebeard and the individuals accompanying him had easily handled him and the God Knights. A deep flame of hatred ignited within him for pieces of trash to be able to defeat him. That would mean that he was something worse than trash. 

It was an error that he simply couldn't tolerate, not when he had just received an opportunity to rectify that mistake.

"We won't have to contemplate the possibilities," Garling declared, making everyone within the training facility stop, "We will make sure those trash invaders now what happens when they stand against us."