Chapter 16 - Instructor Zephyr and The Elite Camp

After exiting the Marineford Tower, Shuzo led Terumi to a compound in the back of the fortress. Along the way, many Marines can be seen training around the clock. Shuzo pointed out a couple of areas of interest for Terumi as they walked.

"That over there is Vice-Admiral Garp's personal training ground. Each training ground has its own instructor, usually run by retired Marines, ours is the elite camp run by Instructor Zephyr. Don't forget your manners when you meet him, Zephyr trained all three of the current Admirals."

Terumi nodded in agreement.

'I only know about Zephyr from the Z's ambition arc, but from what I remember he was the best instructor in all of Marineford and had trained many powerful students. I wonder which one of them will be attending at the same time I will be?'

As Terumi contemplated which character from the show he'll get to meet next, Shuzo and Terumi soon arrived in front of a large compound.

"This is it, when I'm not on duty, I also help Instructor Zephyr train new recruits. I'll look forward to breaking you in."

Shuzo said with a confident smirk.

Terumi didn't mind Shuzo's remark, the elite camp wasn't something to be taken lightly, but he didn't plan to be a middling recruit either.

"I can handle it, I look forward to your instructions, sir."

Shuzo nodded in approval. It was important for those in the elite camp to be self-confident, or else they won't last long.

Stepping into the compound, Terumi saw Zephyr's giant 348 cm figure standing high over the recruits, watching over them as they did push-ups.

Zephyr immediately noticed Shuzo and Terumi's arrival and turned to them.

"Hm? Shuzo? What are you doing here?"

Zephyr then focused on Terumi, eyeing him up and down.

"Heh, is that a new recruit you got for me?"

Shuzo and Terumi saluted the retired Marine.

"Yes, sir! This is Terumi. I was ordered by the Fleet-Admiral to introduce him to you. He also said that you will receive a report regarding the registration today."

Zephyr walked over, his figure towering over Terumi, being almost double his height. He had a proper uniform on, with the Marine Justice Coat draped over his back. He sported short purple hair and glasses.

"Excuse me for one moment."

Zephyr patted Terumi down, starting from his arms to his legs. After he finished, he shone with a wide grin.

"So I see that sword by your waist isn't for show, huh?"

"Yes, sir. I aim to become the world's best swordsman."

"Those are some big words, let's see if you can say that again next week. Gahahaha!"

Zephyr laughed heartily but Terumi didn't hear any hint of condescension in his tone.

"I am ready to get started, sir!"

"Alright, Shuzo, I'll take it from here."

"Yes, sir!"

After Shuzo left, Zephyr pointed at the rest of the recruits doing push-ups and spoke to Terumi.

"Get in line kid, training starts now. I'll show you to your dorm room later."

"Yes, sir."

As Terumi walked over to join the other recruits doing push-ups, they all eyed him curiously. Terumi's eyes almost widened as he struggled to keep his shock contained, seeing the people looking at him.

'No way, that's...Drake, Smoker, Binz, Ain, Hina, Gion! It's a huge assembly of all the future young powerful Marines! They're all here at this time!?'

Terumi didn't dally as he swiftly got down and started doing push-ups with the rest of the recruits. They no longer paid him any attention as they focused on their exercise.

Zephyr resumed his previous position and stood over them.

"Come on now kids, my grandmother could do better! No stopping until you drop!"

Terumi and the recruits started speeding up, since Terumi just got started, he could easily do ten thousand push-ups before he felt any fatigue.

The exercise went on for another hour, with Terumi being the last to finish, ending at around twelve thousand push-ups.

"Okay, next, give me one thousand sit-ups. The last one to finish will be doing double the laps!"

"Yes, sir!"

'What, only one thousand?'

In this manner, Terumi finished swiftly as the recruits struggled as they hurriedly rushed to complete the exercise. Drake and Smoker finished second soon after Terumi, followed by Gion, Ain, Binz, and Hina being the last.

"Hina, I'm starting to think you like running."

Zephyr said with a smirk.

"Hina is not pleased with your sarcasm."

Hina replied with a willful look.

"Gahahaha! Okay ladies, get up! Give me one thousand laps around the compound. Hina, you know the deal."

"Yes, sir!"

Terumi started running in formation with the other recruits, although he's not that tired thanks to his Total Concentration Breathing: Constant that he has active 24/7, the muscle fatigue was still there.

As Terumi ran in the middle of the pack, he noticed some of the recruits eyeing him curiously. Gion was the first one to speak up.

"What's your name? How old are you?"

Terumi looked over and saw a young Gion. She had short curly black hair, a slender build, a mole right under her lip on the right side, and an eye-catching spider tattoo.

"My name is Terumi, sixteen years old this year."

Ain and Binz also perked up hearing his response.

"Sixteen? You joined even younger than me."

Ain spoke with a surprised look on her face. Binz also nodded in surprise as well.

"Indeed. Quite the young one."

Terumi chuckled hearing the responses, they didn't look that much older than he did, and they were all the same height.

"Hey, you guys barely look any older than I am. What's with all the surprise?"

Hina then answered his question.

"Hina and the others joined the elite camp after spending at least two years in standard training. Drake-kun and Smoker-kun are the only exceptions here, so does that mean you joined the Marines when you were fourteen like Instructor Zephyr?"

Terumi shook his head.

"No, I just joined the Marines today."

Everyone gasped. Drake and Smoker who were leading the pack looked back upon hearing what Terumi had said.

"Hm, is that so? You must be very talented, Terumi-kun."

Drake said with a piercing look on his face.

Terumi met his gaze with a confused look on his face. Gion then spoke up to clear up his confusion.

"Drake-chan and Smoker-chan both have powerful devil fruits which allowed them special exceptions to join the elite camp early. Do you have a devil fruit, Terumi-chan?"

Terumi smiled, now understanding their surprise.

'I see, so that's why Garp said he would get me an exception to join the elite camp.'

"No, I don't have a devil fruit. All I have is my partner, Asahi."

Terumi said as he gripped his sword tightly. Asahi shook slightly, as if in agreeance.

"Hoh..."

Smoker murmured slightly.

It was then that Zephyr yelled at them from the middle of the field.

"If you got time to chitchat, then give me an extra hundred laps!"

Terumi and the recruits all shut up with a grim look on their face. The rest of the laps went on quietly as they didn't want any more extra laps.

As soon as the recruits finished their thousand and one hundred laps, most of them collapsed on the ground tired and breathing heavily. Terumi was a tiny bit winded but not tired.

Zephyr saw this and came over to him.

"Still got some left in you, huh kid? Put this one and go join Hina in her laps."

Terumi was dumbfounded as Zephyr handed him a black shirt. As soon as he grabbed it, his hand almost fell to the ground as he winced.

"Gahahaha, what's wrong kid, it's only 100 tons. Gahahaha!"

'How did they even make this small shirt weigh so much?'

Terumi put on the shirt and immediately felt the weight bear down on him.

The rest of the recruits smirked as they saw Terumi struggle. Zephyr grinned and taunted him.

"Don't tell me you can't do it? The rest of them also had this shirt on and they did just fine."

Terumi now realized that the other recruits have been doing the exercises with this on all along. A stress mark appeared on his's forehead as he looked at their smirking faces and he immediately started running, joining Hina to finish the rest of her thousand extra laps.

Soon after Terumi started struggling as he tried his best to keep up with Hina. Hina glanced at him and spoke.

"Hina thinks that Terumi-kun shouldn't force himself to keep up with Hina."

Terumi had a wry smile on his face when he heard her comment.

"It's okay Hina-san, I can do it."

Hina nodded and didn't speak any further. Occasionally she would peak at him to make sure he wasn't going to collapse.

Another hour later, Terumi and Hina finished, tired, and collapsed on the ground.

Zephyr walked over and handed them a small barrel full of water.

"Okay, good work. Hina, go join the others. Terumi, come with me, I'll show you around the compound."

Hina nodded and accepted her drink, before getting up and heading inside the inner compound building.

Terumi forced himself up and greedily drank all the water in the barrel. Zephyr saw this and smiled.

"Gahahaha, not as easy as you thought it would be, right kid? Now, come with me."

Terumi didn't comment out of embarrassment, he truly thought he could easily outshine the others right away, but a smile soon rose to his face.

'Heh, this is perfect, just what I wanted. With the training I can get here, I'll be able to get way stronger even faster than I thought. I won't back down from something like this.'

Terumi followed Zephyr into the compound, with renewed resolve in his heart.