The second day of training began in a more sadistic fashion than the first.
Garp didn't dump ice water on us this time. He simply picked us both up and threw us directly into the nearest lake—still asleep, still in our pajamas.
SPLASH!
"WAKE UP! SWIM TEN LAPS AROUND THE LAKE! NOW!"
The cold water stabbed into our bones. Sabo and I jolted awake in pure shock—immediately swimming with everything we had just to stay afloat.
"Ten laps?! This lake is hundreds of meters across!" Sabo shouted while swimming.
"If you don't finish, no breakfast! And the next exercise will be even harder!" Garp shouted from the bank while sitting comfortably eating onigiri.
That old bastard was eating in front of us while we were starving and soaking wet!
But we had no choice. We swam.
The first lap was still manageable. The second started feeling heavy. By the third our arms were aching. By the fourth our legs were cramping.
"Don't stop! If you stop you'll sink!" I shouted at Sabo who was starting to slow down.
"I know!"
Somehow—perhaps out of fear of drowning or out of sheer hunger—we completed all ten laps. We dragged ourselves out of the lake with trembling bodies and breath coming in ragged gasps like we'd just run a marathon.
"Not bad. Forty-five minutes. Tomorrow the target is thirty minutes." Garp tossed towels at us. "Now get changed and eat breakfast. You have fifteen minutes before the next exercise."
Fifteen minutes?!
We changed at lightning speed and ate ravenously—rice, eggs, meat, all of it going down without being properly chewed.
"Time's up! Next exercise—climb the mountain!"
Garp pointed at the tallest mountain on Dawn Island. Its peak was hidden behind clouds.
"You'll climb to the summit. Without stopping. While carrying these."
He tossed two enormous packs at us. I nearly fell over catching mine—the weight was insane!
"Filled with rocks. Fifty kilograms each. Perfectly light for children your age."
"LIGHT HOW?!" we protested simultaneously.
"The enemies you'll face in the future can lift mountains with one hand. If you can't handle fifty kilograms of rocks, how do you plan to fight them?"
Completely insane logic but... there was truth in it.
With heavy hearts—and backs that already ached before we'd even started—we began the climb.
The first ten minutes we could still walk normally. But after that, every step felt like dragging an elephant on our backs.
"Ace... I'm not sure I can make it to the top..." Sabo panted heavily.
"We have to. If we give up now, Garp jii-chan will make tomorrow's training even more brutal."
"More brutal than this?! Is that even possible?!"
"With Garp? Always."
We kept climbing. Legs trembling. Backs feeling ready to snap. But we couldn't stop.
Garp followed behind at a casual stroll—not even breaking a sweat—occasionally making comments like "too slow" or "your posture is terrible" or "Grandpa used to climb with a hundred-kilogram rock on his back at age two."
A lie. It had to be a lie. No two-year-old could do that.
But neither of us dared say that out loud.
Three hours later—THREE HOURS—we finally reached the summit. We collapsed immediately with the packs still on our backs.
"Acceptable. Three hours and fifteen minutes. Tomorrow the target is two hours."
"Two hours?! That's impossible!" Sabo protested.
"Nothing is impossible with sufficient motivation. By the way..." Garp grinned wickedly. "Now we go back down. Running."
"WHAT?!"
"You heard me. Run back down. With the packs still on your backs. If you take more than thirty minutes to reach the bottom, you'll run up and down again until you can."
This was madness. Running down a mountain with fifty kilograms on your back? That was suicide!
But looking at Garp's serious expression—we knew he wasn't joking.
"Start... NOW!"
He immediately sprinted downward at terrifying speed.
We had no choice but to follow—running while desperately trying not to trip and roll all the way to the bottom.
We nearly slipped countless times. Nearly crashed into trees countless times. But somehow—aided by Observation Haki to predict the path ahead and reflexes sharpened by months of training—we reached the bottom in twenty-eight minutes.
And immediately vomited.
"Good! You didn't vomit midway! That's progress!" Garp clapped like we'd just won an Olympic medal.
"Progress how... we're vomiting right now..." I groaned while wiping my mouth.
"Minor detail. Now rest for thirty minutes. Then advanced Haki training."
The thirty minutes felt like three seconds. Gone far too quickly.
The Haki training this time was more intense than the day before. Garp taught us a technique he called "Hardening"—an advanced stage of Armament Haki where the entire body could be perfectly hardened, not merely darkened.
"Watch this."
Garp raised his hand. Deep black coated it completely—far darker and far more solid than ordinary Armament.
"This is Hardening. With this, even a legendary sword cannot cut my skin. Even Devil Fruit attacks can be dramatically reduced."
He struck a large tree with his hardened hand.
CRACK!
The tree split in two—a clean cut as if sliced by a blade.
"Now you try."
I attempted to follow. Channeling spiritual energy to my hand. Imagining not just a thin protective layer but a thick coating of steel.
Dark color appeared on my hand—but faint. Nowhere near as deep as Garp's.
"Good for a first attempt. But still far off. Keep training until the color is as deep as mine."
Sabo tried too—but even basic manifestation still eluded him. He was visibly frustrated.
"Don't be discouraged, Sabo," Garp said while patting his head. "You have talent in Observation Haki. Focus there first. Armament will come naturally as you keep training."
"But Ace can already do it..."
"Everyone progresses at their own speed. What matters is that you both keep moving forward. Don't compare yourself to others. Compare yourself to who you were yesterday."
Genuinely wise words from the man who had thrown us into a lake at three in the morning.
Training continued without a break until evening. Sparring against Garp—where we were hit many times but gradually got better at avoiding him. Devil Fruit control training—where Garp had me create various fire shapes with high precision.
"Make a fireball the size of a marble. Now the size of a fist. Now the shape of a spear. Now the shape of a shield. Faster! Control needs to become a reflex, not something you have to think about!"
Exhausting but immensely useful. My control over the Mera Mera no Mi improved dramatically—I could now reshape fire as I wanted within seconds.
That evening, after a large recovery dinner, Garp called us outside.
"Tomorrow is the last day. And it will be the hardest."
We swallowed hard.
"But before that, there's something Grandpa wants to show you."
He walked to the open area. Stood in a relaxed stance.
"Both of you, attack me with everything you have. Use everything you've learned. Haki, Devil Fruit, weapons, anything. Don't hold back."
"Huh? Attack you, Jii-chan?" Sabo asked hesitantly.
"Yes. This is a test. Show me how far you've come in these two days."
Sabo and I looked at each other. Then nodded.
This was the chance to pay him back for two days of pure suffering!
We attacked simultaneously—me from the right with a flaming punch wrapped in Armament Haki. Sabo from the left with his staff and Observation Haki timed to perfection.
Garp just stood there.
As our attacks were about to connect—
He vanished.
Not fast. He VANISHED.
"Where did—" I hadn't finished speaking when I sensed a presence directly behind me.
"Too slow."
Garp tapped our backs gently—but with just enough force to send us both sprawling face-first into the ground.
"That was Vice Admiral level speed. You couldn't even see it, could you?"
We nodded weakly—we genuinely hadn't been able to track it at all.
"That is the level you must reach one day. Speed that even trained eyes cannot follow. Power that can shatter mountains. Haki that can dominate thousands at once."
He looked at us with grave seriousness.
"The world out there is full of monsters. Yonko who can sink an island with a single punch. Admirals who can alter the climate. Shichibukai who can command thousands of living corpses. And that doesn't even include the hidden threats that even Grandpa isn't allowed to speak of."
Hidden threats. The World Government? Im-sama? The Ancient Weapons?
"So don't be satisfied with the strength you have now. Keep training. Keep growing stronger. Until nothing in this world can hurt the people you love."
Those words struck deep. Garp spoke from experience—the man who had lost his sworn enemy Roger to an execution, who watched his own son Dragon become the world's most wanted criminal, who carried the constant fear that his grandchildren would share the same fate.
"We understand, Jii-chan," I said with renewed conviction. "We'll become stronger. Far stronger."
"Good. Now sleep. Tomorrow you'll need every last bit of energy you can gather."
That night I couldn't sleep soundly. My mind kept turning over Garp's words about the monsters waiting in the world outside.
Yonko. Admirals. Shichibukai.
One day I would face all of them.
And I had to be ready.
No weaknesses allowed.
No room for hesitation.
Only pure strength and unbreakable resolve.
The flame of destiny burned brighter than ever before.
Fueled by an ambition that kept growing larger.
Tomorrow was the last day of training with Garp.
And I would make sure not a single moment of it was wasted.
TO BE CONTINUED