The iron door of the detention cell was roughly pulled open.
Piercing morning light suddenly flooded in.
Aiden and Smoker, who had spent the entire night in the darkness, both narrowed their eyes instinctively.
"Get out!" the instructor roared with impatience.
Aiden and Smoker walked out without saying a word.
The instructor's threatening gaze swept over the two of them.
When he saw Smoker's slightly pale face, a look of disdainful mockery appeared on his face.
"If I see you two causing trouble again, it won't be as simple as a one-night lockup!" he growled.
"Now, get moving! Assemble at the central training ground!"
Smoker's face was livid. He walked forward in silence.
He instinctively moved two or three meters away from Aiden.
His eyes darted around, and he did not dare to look Aiden in the face.
Aiden, on the other hand, acted as if nothing had happened.
He stretched his neck, which was a bit stiff from sitting cross-legged all night.
At the same time, he was secretly wondering what kind of food the cafeteria was serving today.
The two of them hadn't walked far from the detention building when a lazy, teasing voice called out from the side of the road.
"Oh? It looks like your 'exchange' last night was quite intense, Smoker."
The pink-haired woman from yesterday was leaning against a wall.
She had a lady's cigarette in her mouth and was watching them with great interest.
Smoker's footsteps stopped abruptly. His expression became incredibly sour.
However, he rarely held back his temper and simply forced a few words through his teeth.
"Mind your own business!"
After saying that, he quickened his pace without looking back.
"Tch, what an impolite man," the woman said, curling her lip with indifference.
Her gaze then fell curiously on Aiden, who was walking behind Smoker and looking as calm.
"Long pink hair, never without a cigarette..."
Aiden's heart remained completely calm.
"There's no mistake. It's the future 'Black Cage' Hina."
He ignored Hina's searching gaze.
He walked straight past her, following Smoker toward the central training ground.
When he arrived, he was instantly struck by the sight before him.
It was a massive open-air training ground so large that he couldn't see the end of it.
The ground was paved with hard blue stone, which was covered in deep scratches left from various training sessions.
Weapon racks as tall as small hills stood around the perimeter.
There were also various training machines he had never even heard of before.
The entire area was filled with a grim atmosphere—a mix of the smell of steel and gunpowder.
Hundreds of elite recruits, hand-picked from all over the world, had already assembled.
They were standing in neat, square formations.
However, inside those formations, things were far from calm.
These "favored" came from the Four Seas and the Grand Line, and every one of them was full of obvious pride.
They were checking each other out.
Their eyes were full of judgment and a strong sense of competition.
The air felt thick with tension, as if someone might start a fight at any moment just because of a provocative look.
Smoker's "I'm the best in the world" attitude naturally attracted a lot of attention.
As soon as he joined the ranks, several other tough-looking guys threw hostile looks his way.
Aiden, however, walked quietly to the very back of the formation.
He found the most inconspicuous corner to stand in and watched everything with a cold eye.
"Tch, a bunch of kids with too much hormone," Aiden complained internally.
"They have way too much energy."
Just as the atmosphere on the training ground was becoming explosive, a heavy pressure, like a massive mountain, suddenly covered the entire area without warning!
All the noise and commotion stopped instantly!
Aiden snapped his head up.
He saw a figure standing on the high platform of the training ground.
He hadn't noticed when the man had arrived, but the figure was huge.
The man was over three meters tall.
His iconic short purple hair stood up straight like steel needles.
He wore a pair of wide sunglasses that hid his eyes.
He wasn't carrying any weapons.
However, his arms, which hung naturally at his sides and were thicker than a normal person's thighs, radiated a pressure more terrifying than any blade.
The former Marine Admiral, and now the Marine Chief Instructor—"Black Arm" Zephyr!
Zephyr didn't waste any time with small talk. He shouted to every recruit:
"I don't care if you were the ace of some branch before! I don't care what Devil Fruit powers you have!"
"From today on, you only have one identity here—Marine Recruits!"
"In the coming year, I will forge you like a piece of scrap metal! If you can't take it, get out on your own!"
"Only those who stay until the end are qualified to become the 'High Wall' and the 'Sharp Sword' that truly protects Justice!"
He scanned the recruits below. Many of them had turned pale because of his intense aura.
His voice suddenly got even louder:
"Now, does anyone want to quit?!"
The entire field was dead silent. You could have heard a pin drop.
"Here it comes. The boss's favorite part: making big promises and preaching the corporate culture," Aiden thought as he stood in line.
His heart remained unmoved, and he even felt a little like yawning.
"But... this old man's pressure is much stronger than my bald boss from my previous life who only knew how to brag."
Zephyr seemed satisfied with the recruits' reaction.
He slowly raised his giant hand and pointed toward a specific area next to the training ground.
That area was filled with various precision testing instruments.
"Very well!" he announced in a cold tone.
"Before I start forging you, I need to see what you are made of! Your first lesson—The Entrance Placement Test!"
"The test has three rounds: Doriki level, pressure resistance, and real combat!"
"Let me be clear," his voice was cold and showed no mercy.
"You don't need to worry that failing one part will get you kicked out. Anyone standing here was once an elite in their branch."
He paused, and his tone became even more grim.
"However! Your total score will determine your social rank for the next year!"
"The top 10% will enter the Vanguard Class. You will enjoy the best resources and the highest priority for guidance!"
"The middle 70% will enter the Mainline Class. You will receive standard training that matches your level."
"As for the final 20%," Zephyr's mouth curled into a cruel smile.
"You will enter the Deckhand Class! You will eat everyone else's leftovers! Your training load will be three times that of the others!"
"You will have to use your own blood and sweat to wash away that shame!"
"Every month, there will be a chance to be re-ranked. Whether you want to climb up or rot at the bottom is entirely up to you!"
The crowd went into an uproar!
Shock and serious expressions appeared on the faces of all the recruits.
This kind of blunt class division was far more stressful and insulting than being disqualified immediately!
"Oh? Using performance-based classes?" Aiden thought.
"I'm very familiar with this system."
"The Vanguard Class attracts too much attention, and the Deckhand Class is too much of a hassle."
"It looks like my first challenge is how to precisely control my total score across three rounds... so I can land in the upper-middle of the Mainline Class where I won't stand out."
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