Listening to the noisy chatter of the little brats, Whitebeard was startled. Looking at Ares, he said with some reluctance,
"Ares, these kids are so young, and they're already going through such cruel, harsh training…"
"Isn't that a bit too much?"
Tengetsu Ares set down his wine bowl and grinned.
"Whitebeard, sometimes a person's potential is forced out of them."
"If someone wants a peaceful, stable life, then why become a pirate at all?"
For pirates, what tomorrow brings can never be predicted.
Speculation is pointless. They are people who live for the moment, enjoy the moment, and seize whatever they can while they still can.
Kaido laughed loudly and declared in a grand voice,
"Worororo! Big Brother Ares is right! If someone wants a stable life, why be a pirate at all?!"
"If you want to grow stronger, then you have to pay in blood and sweat far beyond ordinary people!"
"You have to accept the tempering and suffering of the world!"
Having grown up in the midst of war, Kaido had learned very early on just how important strength was.
In this cruel world, you could live without money.
But you absolutely could not live without power.
Whitebeard curled his lip.
"You lunatics really are crazy."
He did not even know what else to say.
At any rate, he had no intention of making Marco, Jozu, and Vista go through such brutal training at such a young age.
They should have a beautiful childhood.
They should forget the misfortunes of their past lives and enjoy happiness.
Ares laughed.
"Hahaha! Everyone has their own path to pursue. Enough of that for now. Come on, let's see who drops first!"
"Gurarara! Who's afraid of who!"
The two drank from daylight until nightfall.
In the end, they both collapsed onto the floor without any dignity at all and fell asleep.
When Ares finally went down, the corner of Whitebeard's mouth curled upward.
"Ares, kid, if you want to outdrink me, you need a lot more practice."
The next day, driven by curiosity, Marco, Jozu, and Vista followed Alber and Kuma to the place where they normally trained.
When they saw everyone holding wooden sticks and striking their own bodies, and heard the constant thudding sounds in their ears, all three of them were visibly shaken.
They were so stunned that they could not speak.
It took them a long while to recover.
"Hey, hey, don't tell me these guys have been training in such a变态 way this whole time?!"
Jozu's face went pale from fright.
"This training method is way too ruthless. Can their bodies really take it?!"
Vista swallowed hard, his whole body turning cold.
"If they keep this up forever, then in the future… what kind of monsters are they going to become?"
"Don't tell me… don't tell me they're all trying to become like Ares?!"
The three were completely dumbfounded.
The training in front of them was just too violent and savage.
It made their eyelids twitch just watching it.
Alber bared his teeth in a grin.
"Well? Weren't you curious? Now you know, right?"
"You brats, I can handle all of you by myself!"
"We're not brats!" Marco snapped back. "Aren't you the same age as us?"
Alber shot him a sidelong glance.
"A chick that's always being protected, what else would you call it if not a brat?"
"You, you…"
Marco instantly turned red with anger and choked on his own words.
"I'm not some chick. I'm a Phoenix!"
As he spoke, he strode over and picked up a wooden stick.
"It's just training, right? I can do it too!"
He raised the stick and copied the others, striking his own body with it.
Bang!
The pain made Marco bare his teeth and suck in a cold breath.
Alber smirked.
"Well? Hurts, doesn't it? I bet you can't even make it to fifty strikes."
"I'm a Phoenix. Forget fifty, I can do a hundred!"
Refusing to lose, Marco struck himself a second time.
When Jozu saw Marco start training together with Alber, he quietly said to Vista,
"Vista, let's train with them too…"
"…"
Vista's face stiffened. Then he steeled himself.
"Screw it!"
Jozu and Vista each took a stick and joined in.
Jozu walked over to Kuma and asked curiously,
"Hey, what's your name? You don't talk much. You're kind of like me."
"Kuma, Bartholomew Kuma. That's my name," Kuma answered.
After the stick-beating portion of the training ended, Marco, Jozu, and Vista all let out long sighs of relief.
"It's finally over!"
Marco ran over to Jozu. Blue flames appeared in his hand as he began healing Jozu's injuries.
A trace of envy flashed through Alber's eyes.
A Mythical Zoan ability was an incredibly rare power, the kind countless people dreamed of obtaining.
He said,
"Hey, your ability really is pretty useful. But today's training isn't over yet."
"It's not over yet?!" Vista was stunned. "There's more training after this?!"
"Of course."
With that, Alber started walking off into the distance, and Kuma and the others followed after him.
Marco, Jozu, and Vista looked at one another, all equally confused.
They hurried after them.
"Hey, black-faced ice guy, what kind of training is next?!"
Hearing that nickname, Alber's face darkened and he refused to speak.
Marco had no choice but to ask Kuma instead.
Kuma explained,
"We still have to go to another island and fight the baboons there."
"Baboons?"
"They're a kind of large ape. They're also called Human Mimics. They imitate our movements, and even our fighting techniques."
After Kuma's explanation, the three of them finally understood what the next round of training would be.
Their curiosity immediately flared up again.
They arrived at the port, boarded a boat, and were soon transported to Baboon Island.
There was a crumbling old palace on the island.
At the moment, Slardar was leading people in repairing it. In the future, a town would be built there.
Kuma kindly explained,
"The area near the castle is safe. Slardar already dealt with the baboons on this island. Even the baboon leader is scared of him."
"They usually don't dare enter this territory. But once we leave the castle grounds, the baboons will attack us…"
They had impressions of Slardar already.
The members of the War God Pirates were all pretty distinctive.
And Slardar, with his vicious-looking face and anglerfish-man traits, was especially memorable.
The group entered the forest together.
Before long, large baboons began appearing among the trees. None of them carried weapons in their hands.
All the weapons they had once made by copying humans had already been confiscated and destroyed by Slardar and his men.
On top of that, under Ares' orders, Slardar periodically brought people to teach these Human Mimics how to read and speak, fed them on a regular basis, and even had them receive guidance from the gold-medal instructor Kaido.
They were trying to tame and win over this group of Human Mimics.
The baboons gathered together, but did not attack right away.
One of them stepped forward and shouted wildly.
"Oora oora!"
Then it pointed at Alber and, with great effort, spat out a single word.
"You!"
Alber stepped forward and started fighting the baboon.
He quickly defeated the first one, then the second.
He only lost when he got to the third.
After that, the others stepped up one by one to challenge the baboons, until finally it was Marco and the others' turn.
Each of them found even one baboon hard to deal with.
They could barely win against one, and then they were done.
Jozu and Vista were about the same.
Alber said smugly,
"You still need a lot more training."
"…"
The three of them immediately turned dark-faced.
Then Marco's fighting spirit surged as he declared,
"I'm not going to lose to you!"
Kuma said,
"This is only the first stage of training. Once you can defeat these baboons, then… then you'll be able to challenge the Baboon King."
"And after that, you move on to the next island for training."
???
The Baboon King?
The next island??
Marco, Jozu, and Vista were completely dumbfounded.
Just how many training programs do you people even have?
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