One Piece: Starting with the execution of Pirate King Roger

He pushed open the door and, guided by a waiter, sat down at a seat by the window.

"Sir, what would you like to order?"

Without even glancing at the menu, Ryan asked the waiter, "What's your most popular signature dish?"

"That is undoubtedly our 'Pan-fried Sea King Tenderloin with Black Pepper Sauce,' made with the freshest and most tender parts of small sea kings that were caught this morning from the Calm Zone."

“This is it.” Ryan said without hesitation. “And a cream of mushroom soup and a rum ice cream.”

"Let me splurge a little, just to celebrate... getting into the elite class," he thought to himself.

Soon, accompanied by a sizzling sound, a steaming hot sizzling steak was served.

It was a perfectly seared, golden-brown steak, about the size of an adult's palm, covered in a rich sauce of crushed black pepper. The aroma of butter and garlic mingled with the scent of meat, forcefully filling Ryan's nostrils.

He cut off a small piece and put it in his mouth.

The meat was so tender that it hardly required any chewing. The rich juices mixed with the slightly spicy black pepper sauce instantly exploded on his taste buds!

"what……"

Renn let out a satisfied sigh.

"This is food fit for humans!" He was moved to tears. "Compared to this, what I ate for lunch was nothing but sludge from a sewer!"

After the meal was finished, Renn leaned back in his chair, contentedly enjoying this long-lost sense of happiness.

"Sir, the total is fifty-two thousand Berries." The waiter smiled and handed over the bill.

The smile on Renn's face froze slightly.

"Five...fifty-two thousand?" He stared at the number on the bill, feeling his heart bleed. "This one meal is almost equivalent to a month's living expenses for an average family in Rogge Town?!"

He subtly reached into his pocket, actually taking out a few bills from his storage ring to pay the bill, while frantically calculating in his mind.

"The money I looted from the pirates I dealt with outside the execution platform adds up to several million Berries. By East Blue standards, I'd definitely be considered a tycoon. But with prices here of 50,000 Berries per meal... my meager funds simply can't support this kind of lavish eating every day!"

Carrying the groceries he had purchased, and filled with boundless anticipation for future "financial freedom" and "food freedom," Ryan walked towards the dormitory building.

He pushed open the door, and the pungent smell of smoke from the dormitory yesterday was gone. The room was still a mess, but at least the air was much fresher.

Smoker was exercising in his dorm room, shirtless and covered in sweat, doing push-ups with one index finger on the ground!

The wooden floor beneath him creaked and groaned under the terrifying force.

Each time he pushed himself up, he would let out a suppressed growl through his teeth, as if he wanted to vent all his frustration and confusion through training.

Ryan completely ignored his exaggerated performance.

He took out clean towels and toiletries from his luggage and began to tidy up his bed and closet, making his small area distinct from Smoker's garbage-like environment.

Ryan's disregard was the biggest provocation for Smoker.

He suddenly leaped to his feet, crossed his arms over his chest, leaned against the railing of his messy bed, and stared intently at Ryan.

After a long silence, Smoker finally couldn't hold back and spoke first: "256 Doki. Are you taking me for an idiot?"

Without turning his head, Ryan continued spreading out the sheets: "The test was very difficult. I was just lucky and barely passed."

This answer made Smoker's eye twitch violently.

He suppressed his impending rage and probed from a different angle: "Luck? Then tell me, don't you think it's a bit of a waste for someone who can even hit a Logia-type Devil Fruit user to come to recruit training camp?"

Raine quickly glanced at Smoker's expression, which showed only confusion and resentment about his own strength, with no sign of recognizing him.

"It seems he didn't recognize me as the executioner who executed Roger." This discovery completely put Rein at ease. "That's good. Since he's just curious about my strength, it'll be much easier to fool him."

He slowly turned his head, his face showing an expression befitting his age, tinged with a hint of distress and helplessness. He sighed and sat up from the bed.

"Did you feel it too?" Renn's voice carried a perfectly timed hint of confusion. "I don't know why either, but my power... is sometimes very unstable. Most of the time, I'm just an ordinary person, but occasionally... I suddenly unleash power that I can't even control."

He looked at Smoker's skeptical face, which screamed "Are you fucking kidding me?", and continued his nonsensical ramblings with a straight face: "Lieutenant General Tsuru sent me here, probably... hoping that Chief Instructor Zephyr could help me solve this unstable problem."

"As for that punch last night..." Renn gave an incredibly "sincere" apologetic smile. "Perhaps, my unstable state flared up again. Sorry, I hit a little too hard."

Chapter 25 is still about protein feed.

The elite training camp truly began the morning after the placement test.

There were none of the teaching methods I had imagined.

"Before you learn how to kill, you must first learn how to survive on the complex and ever-changing battlefield!"

"My name is Xiu Zuo. I was once the adjutant of Chief Instructor Zefa. From now on, I will be your physical training instructor!" An instructor stood at the front of the group, his voice loud and powerful.

"Today, your only task is to squeeze out every last drop of your strength!"

The first training exercise was a cross-country run around the island with a 300-kilogram load.

The entire team was led by Xiu Zuo himself, while the other physical training instructors, like fierce sheepdogs, constantly shuttled back and forth on both sides of the team, looking for the "lambs" that had fallen behind.

They would suddenly rush to a recruit's side without warning, their rough hands grabbing the recruit's wrist like iron clamps, pressing down hard on the pulse with two fingers.

After a few seconds, it will unleash a deafening roar:

"Your heart rate has dropped! Are you just taking a walk here?! Get running!"

Accompanying the roar was the leather whip that left a bloody welt on the back! The crisp crack of the whip and the new recruits' groans of pain became the background music for this island-circling training exercise.

With Rein's "advanced" physique, this level of weighted running was indeed no different from taking a walk for him; his heart rate was so stable that he could hardly feel any fluctuations.

Unlike those eager-to-show-off geniuses who rush to the front, he doesn't deliberately feign exhaustion. Ryan simply maintains a completely natural and relaxed demeanor, keeping pace with the group in the middle.

For him, this level of training was simply a change of scenery and a chance to breathe fresh air. He didn't intend to stand out too much in the training camp, otherwise he would inevitably be entrusted with important responsibilities in the future, working overtime and going on missions every day, which would completely contradict his life plans.

He blended into the crowd, neither conspicuous nor falling behind, perfectly integrating into the daily rhythm of the elite class.

Next up was the second training exercise – deep-sea pressure training.

The recruits were taken to a rocky shore near Marineford.

The icy seawater lapped against the slippery moss, making it extremely difficult to even stand still.

Their task was to use a specially made rope, thicker than an arm, to try to pull up a huge rock that was submerged hundreds of meters deep in the sea.

This is not just strength training, but a brutal test for muscles.

"One, two! Pull! One, two! Pull!"

Instructor Xiu Zuo's roar echoed like war drums along the coast.

The recruits all had ferocious faces, bulging veins, and muscles taut to their limits. Every exertion of force was accompanied by a suppressed growl.

And Rennes, too, was just another face in the crowd.

This amount of weight and pulling force wasn't even a warm-up for him. He spent most of his energy mimicking the ferocious expressions and heavy breathing of the people around him.

Just then, a short, startled cry rang out.

Rosinandi, who was in the group, was not very coordinated to begin with, and the moss under his feet was extremely slippery. He stumbled and the rope in his hand slipped out of his grasp! He lost his balance and was pulled by the huge force, screaming as he slid down into the dark trench!

The two recruits standing not far from him not only did not help, but exchanged a malicious glance, ready to watch the clumsy recruit make a fool of himself.

Renn, who was not far away, saw all of this.

The name he heard during roll call yesterday morning echoed in his mind again, carrying a lingering sense of familiarity.

His gaze unconsciously locked onto that head of messy, brilliant blond hair that stood out conspicuously in the sunlight.

"I remember now, it's Corazon, that clumsy yet gentle man who's like a fool."

In Raine's mind, there was an image of the man in the snow who, in order to save a child, was shot multiple times but still died with a smile on his face.

"Honestly, when I read comics in my past life, I felt that this guy with the big blond hair shouldn't be treated like this by fate."

Although the current situation is not fatal, being hit by the reef could easily result in a few broken bones.

In the blink of an eye, Raine seemed to be overwhelmed and suddenly slid to the side!

He pretended that he was also being pulled unsteadily by the boulder under his feet, and suddenly staggered a big step toward Rosinandi.

In that seemingly unbalanced step, his military boots "inadvertently" stepped hard on the rope of Rosinandi, which was taut due to the enormous tension, and crushed the rope firmly against the edge of the wet reef under his feet!

Squeak-!

The rope made a screeching sound as it rubbed against the rocks, and the immense friction momentarily halted the rope sliding into the sea for a fraction of a second.

That fraction of a second of pause gave Rosinandi, who was about to be dragged into the water, a chance to catch his breath! He felt the pull on his hands suddenly loosen, and his survival instinct made him immediately straighten his posture, grab the remaining rope tightly, and use all his strength to stabilize his body.

At the same time, Ryan himself cried out "Ah!" as if he had stepped on someone else's rope and lost his balance again, rolling on the ground before finally grabbing his own rope again in a "disheveled" state.

The whole process was chaotic yet logical, looking like an accident caused by physical exhaustion.

Instructor Xiu Zuo's furious roar followed: "Useless thing! You can't even hold the rope steady! Get up and keep going!"

During the brief rest period, the recruits collapsed on the ground like dead dogs, panting heavily.

Rosinandi, like a big golden retriever covered in mud, limped over to Rennes, his face filled with relief at surviving the ordeal and uncertain gratitude.

“Um…Raine?” he asked hesitantly, “Just now…was it you…”

Ryan was leaning against a rock, looking exhausted. Hearing this, he weakly opened one eye and looked at him blankly: "Huh? What?"

"It's... my rope, it seemed like just now..."

"Oh, you mean that?" Ryan looked like he had just realized something but was still shaken. He said breathlessly, "Don't even mention it... I slipped just now and almost got pulled down too. I stepped on something... Luckily, I didn't trip you."

Seeing Ryan's sincere yet fearful expression, Rosinandi's doubts vanished, replaced by an even stronger sense of gratitude.

He was convinced that Ryan had deliberately fallen to save him, even at the risk of being scolded by the instructor!

"No...no! You've helped me a lot!" Rosinandi quickly waved his hand, looking at Ryan with utmost sincerity. "Anyway, thank you! Ryan! Really!"

……

After a day of training, Ryan couldn't wait to head to the cafeteria.

Today is the first meal after the official class assignments, and he still clings to the last glimmer of hope.

"Yesterday's communal meals might only be temporary. Now that we've been divided into classes and there are class distinctions, the food for the elite classes should at least look like that of elites, right?"

However, when he walked to the window reserved for the elite class and saw that the cafeteria lady was still scooping out that indescribable grayish gruel from the pot, his last hope was shattered.

Undeterred, he held his tray and looked past the crowd towards the monster class's dining area, which was separated from the others, not far away.

The food there was indeed different—everyone had an extra piece of meat on their plate compared to them.

Smoker was poking at the nearly charred steak with his fork with a look of disgust, as if he were poking at a rock.

Ryan withdrew his gaze and expressionlessly shoved the "protein feed" into his mouth.

Although the food in the cafeteria was terrible, Renn could clearly feel that this scientific training, combined with the cafeteria's "protein feed," had indeed produced a slight, almost imperceptible, improvement in his physique.

"At this intensity... if the training volume could be increased tenfold and maintained continuously for ten years... perhaps, on my own, I could also hone my physique to the threshold of the [top level]."

"A monster who reached the rank of lieutenant general at headquarters at the age of 26 through sheer physical strength... anywhere would be considered a true genius."

But the moment that thought arose, Renn ruthlessly extinguished it.

"But...ten years?"

"Living like animals for ten years, eating this kind of pig feed every day? Are you kidding me!"

"I don't have that kind of patience."

Renn swallowed the last bite of "feed," feeling the warmth and fullness in his stomach.

"The path to genius is too tiring. I'd rather find a shortcut."

Chapter 26 Smoker Left Behind

The hellish, purely physical training lasted for two weeks.

When Chief Instructor Zephyr gathered the now much stronger recruits at the port, almost everyone thought that an even more brutal second round of physical hell was about to begin.

However, Zephyr pointed to a giant naval transport ship outside the port.

"Starting today, we will begin a two-week survival training program on a deserted island without supplies!"

On the large screen behind him, a map of a grotesquely shaped island lit up.

"The target location is an uninhabited island, 'Gigantia,' located 300 nautical miles southeast of headquarters!" Zephyr stepped forward and pointed at the map with his pointer.

"The voyage takes a day and a night. The island has a changeable climate and is home to a large number of unrecorded wild beasts. Occasionally, some foolish pirates will use it as a temporary base."