Arriving

This was Touma's first time stepping in a huge battleship like this. He was amazed by the sheer size of the ship, which could easily overshadow the battleships he had in the island. This makes him even more excited to grew stronger as he knew that he would have the chance to own a ship like this in the future. When he also held a higher rank in the marines.

Standing at the center of the deck, Touma was looking at the vast sea around him. There was a strange light in his eyes as he was immerse with his own thoughts.

"Are you the one who they say is a powerful captain in the West Blue?" a voice came from behind him and a tall man with a black mohawk and a mustache was standing there.He wears the standard marine uniform, consisting of a purple and white pinstripe suit with a coat draped over his shoulders.

"My name is Touma, sir!" looking at the man in front of him, Touma greeted respectfully. Because he noticed that the man was his superior just by looking at the coat he was wearing.

"A good young man" the man's eyes inspect Touma before nodding in satisfaction. "I am Vice Admiral Momonga from the headquarters. And I am task to escort you back to the base"

"From the reports we had receive from the headquarters, it says that you had an ability that can control or create ice. If that is true, can you show it to me?" Vice Admiral Momonga said as he was clearly interested about this.

"Alright" after that, several ice spikes formed around Touma with a very pointed edges. Then, the ice breaks and two ice swords appeared on his hands. The air in the area was slowly dropping down because of the cold air coming from the ice.

Witnessing all of this, Vice Admiral Momonga was clearly impress and look at Touma in a clear different light than before. Because in the Marine Headquarters, there was an Admiral known for his logia devil fruit which enables him to create, controls, and transforms into ice at will. And that Admiral was one of the strongest pillars of the marine right now in fighting against the pirates.

"This is really a surprise for me, from the report. It says that you didn't eat any devil fruit at all. Furthermore, in the report that you send to the headquarters. You mentioned that you get this ability when you were young. You also said that this happens after you drink some kind of blood. Can you tell me what blood it is?" Vice Admiral Momonga continues to ask question about where Touma gets this ability of his.

"Like I mentioned in the report, I drink a some kind of blood in the past which makes me able to get this type of ability. As for what kind, or where that blood came from, I honestly don't know. Because I just also accidentally found it" Touma explains to Vice Admiral Momonga. He just tells the truth as he knew that the is nothing wrong about it.

Vice Admiral Momonga look deeply towards Touma before saying, "That's unfortunate, if we could know where that blood came from. We could use it to strengthen some of our marines, and we would be able to defeat the pirates easily. Well since you didn't know where it came from, then I will stop asking about it. Also, be prepared while you are here. Because I heard that there will be a test for you before you be able to be promoted"

Touma listens to Vice Admiral Momonga, before the latter leave and enters inside the ship. Touma decided to train while on the ship knowing that there will be a test for him waiting in the headquarters.

The battleship travels faster than he had expected, and after several days, they were just half an hour away from the Marine Headquarters. While staying in the battleship, Touma practices everyday so that he could improve his skills. In terms of his ability in controlling ice, he knew that he will improve in using that as the time goes by. What he needed to train right now was his sword/blade mastery. Because he knew that he was clearly lacking in this area. If any trained or experienced swordsman saw him fight using a sword. They would realize that he was just basically swinging his sword.

Finally, the battleship arrived at the Marine Headquarters and Touma was escorted to the training grounds. While walking, they meet several marines which all gave a inspects Touma with their eyes.

When they arrived at the training grounds, there were several recruits training in the area. Aside from that, there were also several high ranking marines with the mission to observe the test that Touma would need to accomplish.

"Arara, excuse my but, are you that man called Touma?" without him ever noticing, Touma suddenly felt that there was a person standing behind him. When he turn around, he saw an incredibly tall, slim, yet muscular man standing right behind him. He has black, curly hair cut to chin length that fans out at the tips, tanned skin, and an altogether lean, long build.

Touma could feel a chilling aura coming out from the man's body. From the days he had spent in the battleship with Vice Admiral Momonga and the other marines, Touma knew an Admiral who somewhat had the same abilities as him. And that is one of the current Admiral of the marines, Marine Admiral Aokiji.

Just base from the information and description he got, he was clear that this tall man was that Marine Admiral Aokiji.

"Admiral Aokiji, just like Fleet Admiral Sengoku instructed. We will start the exam immediately" one marine officer holding a paper said. "Also, the one who will be fighting against the kid for the test was Rear Admiral Lobo. If he showed a great fight against the Rear Admiral, Fleet Admiral Sengoku is willing to give him the rank of a Rear Admiral"

- - - - -

After several minutes of waiting, Rear Admiral Lobo finally arrived carrying a pair of sword in his hands. Just like any other Rear Admiral, he was also wearing his coat over his shoulders. He was just slightly taller than Touma and he had a very serious expression on his face.

"Lets start this already, let me see if this captain is really what the report says about him" drawing the sword from its sheath. Rear Admiral Lobo steps at the center of the training ground. All the marines in the area gives space around him so that they would have the space to fight.

Touma seeing that the test was about to start, put his sword to the side and walks in front of the Rear Admiral without any weapon. This action of his might look to others that he was looking down to the Rear Admiral. But that isn't the case, he just didn't want to use it because he didn't want to accidentally kill the Rear Admiral. Because even from a small cut, it would still kill anyone because of its 'curse'.