Serious: The Hooded Knights prepare for the New World

Carlos couldn't believe how ignorant Izlend could be. He smacked his forehead with his palm as he climbed off the ship, naturally being the last one to leave the ship as the Helmsman. How could Izlend just act so naturally in the presence of one of the most powerful and respectful marines in current service, a war hero, an actual admiral, not to mention that by doing so he also ignored Captain Young, who outranked him by lightyears. "I'm... I'm simply speechless..." Carlos mumbled as Izlend returned to the forest, alone, again. He was getting more training done than any other person on the island, that for sure, but he was also the closest to dying painfully in any given moment, something Carlos loved to stay away from when given the choice.

"Should we just start without him?" Carlos asked, already eager to begin his own training. He didn't put out such an amazing display in his last operations, and figured he could use all the training he could get. He stretched his arms in preparation to storm the forest right after Izlend, only waiting for Captain Young, Darnel or Nishki to give him the all ok. He could just picture it in his mind, dozens of abominations storming at him from the very moment he'll place a foot inside the forest. It was a scary thought, but it was unavoidable and very necessary. But, above all, it was Darnel's choice, and Carlos learned to follow Darnel through thick and thin more than once in the past.

"FAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ferdinard laughed like a maniac once more as soon as he saw at Izlend rushing into the forest by himself. That guy... He was so reckless... Absolutely reckless. At first he did that awkward action in front of Admiral Nishki and later he left the crew and rushed into a forest with dangerous beasts. "This is quite funny!!!!! FAHAHAHAHA!" Ferdinard said to the other marines who were around and he raised his hand to his head in order to readjust his sunglasses that were somewhat falling. "I will never get to understand this guy~~~!!! FAHAHAHAHA!" he completed.

Ferdinard had an interest in Izlend... That personality he had piqued his curiosity... Even if he did not admit it, he was pretty sure that he could be one of these guys, after all... Just like Ferdinard shared the blood of a powerful villain, Izlend probably shared the blood of another powerful villain, even if he was ignorant about him when Ferdinard asked him back in Water 7. And if that really happened, the two of them had something in common...

Izlend just stared at the massive furry creature before him. It flicked its nose and few times causing its whiskers to flutter at bit before it turned its head to look directly at Izlend. "Oh shit." said the young marine leaping to his feet and pull out his sword. By the time he had turned his head back to where the creature was, all that remained was a pillar of dust. Once he had time to realize what just happened his eyes opened widely. That thing was fast, and if it had wanted to kill him, it would have done so before he even would have known what hit him. Izlend knew that highly trained people were able to do this sort of thing, but not a flipping gopher. He walked over to the spot where the creature had been, and there was a strange impression on the ground. Multiple and shallow impressions as if something had swatted the group over and over.

Izlend was dumbfounded, he had absolutely no idea what that could be from. The gopher maybe? It didn't matter at that point anyway, Izlend needed to try and find his way back to the crew, this island was much too dangerous for him to be on his own. He was more than certain that there was at least a couple others that would die if they came in without a little bit of back up. Izlend ran towards the forest once again, he didn't want to have to go back through the river little lone the forest, but he didn't have much of an option. He had almost made it back to the river when he seen a large cow looking creature. The marine didn't pay much attention to it until the wind shifted and he heard a roar. It stood up on two legs and charged at Izlend fangs bared. This was obviously not your average bovine.

Darnel took Sarah's hand and kissed it after Nishiki introduced her to the crew "A pleasure meeting such a treasure. I look forward to working with you more closely. May you explain the training course? We can talk more indept at my cabin." Darnel smiled looking at the captain ingoring the surroundings around him.

Sarah looked at Darnel strangely and didnt say anything, Nishki laughed himself off before saying "There is no need to go in to your cabin Darnel kun, we can start right now..." Nishki then turned to face the squad "Now, all of you who is not Darnel kun, you have to run in the jungle for about....... 3 hours, if you live, meet up with Miss Sarah here back at this point, please dont cheat.... Now go"

Nishki then looked to darnel, "Your training is different, follow me for a bit....."

Darnel turned serious after flatly getting turned down by Sarah. After being vice admiral you would think Darnel will be able to get some. He first took off his captain's jacket and his vest "Just because we are fighting pirates doesn't mean I have to be as dirty as one." Darnel awaited for Nishiki to lead the way "Men while I'm away Sarah is in charge. You are to follow her every command. That goes double for u Izlend. I'm sure you will see that my men are the strongest in the grand line miss Sarah. "

Nishki lead Darnel to another side of the forest, it was in the clear and there was no trees, just a stretch of grass in this area. Nishki removed his coat and his vest and threw them to one side, he also took off his tie. He turned to Darnel "You are a zoan right? Quite a powerful one too? Then if thats the case, for you, the best way for you to develop your moves is if you gain more experience in situations where you would be desperate.... your training isnt as light at the others.... well light as in.. the others wont have someone literally trying to kill them..." Nishki turned into full fledge pheonix form "First off we will spar with you at your optimum zoan form, which is the complete form... lets begin."

Sarah stood at the edge of the forest and showed the others the route to start running, dangerous things were in this forest, giant monsters of many kinds.Sarah then said "Your allowed to use whatever means to survive.... but please no doubling back..."

"Hmmmm? Not trying to make it easy for me are you?" Darnel turned into his full hybrid form, since his full hyhrid form doesn't have arms. His skins changed into scales, his arms grew in muscle, his mouth turned into snout with fangs, and his legs fused into one tail. "I hope you don't mind if I utilize my hybrid form. You know arms and all." Darnel didn't await for the cue to begin the match. He swung his tail horizonally like a whip toward the admiral.

"Yes sir Admiral Nishki sir!" Carlos called while saluting. This was it, the moment of truth, he was about to enter one of the most dangerous parts of the world, and fight his way out. Such a task countered every primal instinct that Carlos had, but challenged his will to better himself at the same time, and like many occasions before, his will was going to prevail. He had one goal in mind: Stepping into the forest as a marine lieutenant, and stepping out as a swordsman to be reckoned with, and that's exactly what he was going to do. "Here I go!" He called, releasing his nerves as he dashed towards the tall trees of the forest, not looking back at what might be the final direct ray of sunlight he'll ever see, and a moment later, his body faded through the leaves and branches, no longer visible.

[Time Skip]

It's been 15 minutes since Carlos first stepped into the forest, and so far he was surprised by the overall peace. Aside from random roars and shouts that echoed from dozens of meters away, he was yet to encounter a single sign of a wild animal, needless to say a monster. As Carlos saw it, this could mean what of two things, either he was extremely lucky, or he was in a place that the other animals were smart enough to keep away from,and he prayed the first option was right.

Leading his way through thick bushes and mud, Carlos could barely see where he was going, or what he was stepping on, but to his surprise, one additional step got him past the row of bushes and into a clearing, that had a large swamp stretching across it. It was dark, with the tall trees around him blocking the sunlight, but it was bright enough to see that there was nothing in, or around the small swamp, filling Carlos with relief. Unfortunately, just as he exhaled his worries, his ears picked up a sound, a bug buzz, only inches away from him.

Turning his gaze in fear, Carlos spotted a tiny firefly, buzzing through the air as it circled him, with its illuminating backside revealing its location. "Fhew, you scared the hell out of me little fella" Carlos sighed as he rubbed the back of his head, extending his other arm to allow the firefly to safely land on his index finger. "What such a fragile being like you is doing in such a place?" Carlos asked as he gave the shiny bug a closer inspection. It looked as tiny and harmless as an everyday firefly, and its light even supplied Carlos with a weird sense of safety. "How can you survive here? Even I could kill you right now" Carlos joked, but the laughter didn't have time to arrive. Before Carlos even managed to chuckle at his own words, another buzz was heard.

"You brought a friend?" Carlos asked as he turned to face the new sound, but unlike the previous one, this buzz wasn't close at all. The sound escalated, becoming as loud as a helicopter's propeller as nearby treetops began shaking. The more Carlos waited, the more sounds could be heard, as if a fleet of attack helicopters was heading his way. The sounds got closer and closer quickly, making leaves fly off of nearby bushes and trees and circle in the air. It was loud enough to make the ground beneath Carlos' feet shake. "What the hell's going on?!" Carlos shouted, and a blazing light that erupted into view was about to answer his question.

(Please don't join Carlos, this is a personalized training I designed for him)

Izlend walked back towards the river, he knew what was lying in wait. He also knew that if he didn't go back into the forest he would never be strong enough. Even if it killed him, he would stay in that accursed hell hole. He had to do this, to do it for himself and those he want to protect, for those who he had failed to protect before. Taking a step into the water, it wasn't long before the Bananawani were swarming from both up and down stream. One of the massive beasts leaped from the water opening its large toothy mouth, trying to swallow the young marine whole. Clamping down, its mighty jaws enclosed around Izlend's body, it closed tightly. Izlend could feel the spray from the river and the slimy saliva from the gator drip on the exposed parts of his skin that weren't protected by his uniform.

Dependably, Izlend stabbed his sword into the gator's mouth over and over again trying to get it to open again. It was pure luck that beast's teeth had missed their mark, or he would have been crushed to death. "SHIT SHIT SHIT! It can't end like this, I've been so worthless, no matter how much I've gain, it's never been enough....Fine, if you don't want to spit me out, I'll come out the by force." Izlend said leaping down the throat of the Bananawani that had been trying to swallow him for quite some time now. Hacking and slashing all the way down, Izlend almost drown in the gators blood from all of the wounds he had inflicted on it internally. Muffled roars and thrashing threw Izlend around as the Bananawani desperately tried to cough up its most recent meal. However, unfortunately for the gator Izlend's blade was dug much too deep for him to come out that easily. Izlend hung on for dear life until the trashing and muffled roars of pain, free, and rage subsided.

Picking a direction, he wasn't exactly sure what was up and down, but he kept cutting. Even through the thick bones, his instincts were running wild. Frantic, he was frantically gouging out chunks of flesh trying to break free of his certain death. If he didn't get out soon, he could suffocate. As if finding a way out wasn't enough to worry about, the Bananawani's body began to cave in and then expand back out. Izlend was certain, the other Bananawani were making a meal out of dead or dying specimen. If Izlend didn't hurry, he would in an even worse situation. A flood of water, blood, and biol knocked Izlend back causing him to submerge in it. He had done it; he had gotten through the gator's thick skin to the outside world.

The situation was worse, however it also brought hope. Now Izlend had no air to breathe as he was completely submerged in the fluids and the opening was nowhere near large enough for him to exit through. On the bright side he had regained a sense of hope which drove him to cut away at the opening, expanding and widening it further. Hack and slash, slash and hack, he worked at it so hard, so hard he blacked out for the exhaustion. Adrenaline, such a funny little drug, it's natural, made from the body when it experiences certain situations. This was one of those situations, adrenaline, a shot of it caused his body to shake as he slashed one final time slicing open a large hole. The muddy river washed him away, downstream away from the swarming Bananawani. His limp almost lifeless body just went with the powerful flow, he wouldn't have been able to resist it if he wanted to.

Nishki immediately used his legs to jump up and turn into full pheonix mode flying above the tail which was aimed at him. As he flew above, his brilliant blue flames were blazing. Nishkis then grinned in his pheonix form "Now, lets test the waters as to how you do in your full mode....." Nishki barraged down and aimed kicks with his talons from above, these were very basic kicks nothing amazing destructive.

The bright light was aimed directly at Carlos' face, like a search light following an escapee. The firefly that rested on Carlos' finger flew off and up towards the bright orb in the sky, as more arrived at the scene. The wind that the unrecognizable orbs produced was powerful enough to create waves in the small swamp, blow entire branches off of nearby trees, pluck bushes out of the earth, it was even difficult for Carlos to stand in front of such a force. He squinted his eyes and shadowed his eyes with his hand, trying to understand what he was facing.

They were fireflies. Huge, monstrous fireflies, each the size of a fishing boat, about 8 of them, though it was difficult to count with so many blazing lights pointing straight at Carlos. His face turned white with fear and his eyes stretched in horror as he faced the flying monsters, their wings tearing his eardrums apart. "Holy... hell..." He mumbled, too shocked to even draw his swords, not that they would help him reach the flying bugs.

The fireflies suddenly assumed a formation, pointing their wings down at Carlos. The sound erupting from their wing beats escalated even further as the bugs flapped them faster and faster, to the point where they appeared as nothing more than a sparkling blur. And then, the sudden realization hit Carlos like a raging bull. He picked his legs and began running for his life, blasting through the muddy waters of the swamp as they stained his clothes, gushing thank to the wind the bugs produced. "Oh no... Oh no" He mumbled as he ran, his hair flying in all directions. He recognized that feeling from the endless amount of sword fights he had. The sudden decrease in air pressure, the familiar flow of air and the whistle of vacuum, but he just couldn't believe it.

"Oh no... Oh no... OH NO!" He mumbled as he kept sprinting, the bugs now flying after him with their lights aimed in a circle around him. He passed the clearing and reentered the forest area once again, and then it happened. The buzz of the wings turned into a roar of wind as a powerful air wave blasted towards Carlos like a missile, hitting the ground right behind his feet. The impact blasted earth and mud everywhere, and sent a powerful gust in all directions that made Carlos lose his footing. He rolled on the ground and immediately jumped back to his feet, looking behind him to confirm his worries. The smoking crater behind him left no room for mistakes. The fireflies were capable of sending air waves with their wings, big fast and deadly enough to rival those of every swordsman.

Carlos swallowed his spit, amazed by the advanced ability of the monstrous bugs, but where were the bugs now? They seemed to have dispersed after their attack, with only the constant buzz of flapping bug wings echoing around Carlos as a reminder of their presence. Could he have survived? Was the battle avoided? Carlos was filled with hope at that point, looking around him to make sure no fireflies were nearby, but just as he did, the blinding flash of 8 search lights blasted around him, with the 8 fireflies rising from all sides, aiming their lights at him to prepare for another attack.

[[ Captain Sarah Young]]

She was in the sky, using geppou to monitor the progress of these kids, a few of them were clearly struggling , but the number one idiot in all this was clearly Izlend, he had gone in head strong and had gone in recklessly, harming himself. This sort of behaviour could cost his squad in the future, however she could sense that he had alot of heart and desire to be strong. Sarah decided to just watch him before heading back to the beach.

Izlend stabbed his blade into the muddy bank of the river and fought the current to pull him out of the dirty little river. Lying in the mud, his body sunk in it making it all that much harder to pull himself farther onto shore. Izlend coughed for a few moments trying to get the various liquids and gunk out of his lungs so he could begin to breathe better. It didn't help all that much. Struggling onto the shore, he was able to pull himself completely out of the water; however he was still in a good bit of the mud. Thrashing a bit he flipped over onto his back as he clung onto his sword's handle with the blade laying across his chest.

A spray of water and mud splashed over the young man as Bananawani lunged out of the water. Its entire body was mid-air as its powerful jaws began to clamp down taking in the mud and water near the shore as it tried to consume Izlend. However the movement in the gator's jaws stopped a fraction of a second after its head was severed. Blood from the Bananawani’s body squirted into the river turning it a sickening copper color. The head landed a few feet to Izlend's left and the body fell into the river causing a wave to wash over the shore. Scrambling to his feet Izlend drew his sword out of the mud. A wobbly second later, Izlend stuck the sword back into the ground to stabilize himself once again.

His savor was green. Literally, Izlend's savor was a giant green praying mantis with human looking clothes on. The clothes were that of a martial artist that they wear during training. It was roughly the size of a tall human; however its body was styled much differently. The mantis looked back and Izlend and then vanished, much like the gopher had previously. Limping over to the spot and leaning over, Izlend noticed dozens of impressions in the mud. Even with all the feet the insect had, there shouldn't have been that many prints. It was just like the time the gopher had disappeared, obviously there was some type of technique behind this. Standing back up, Izlend noticed the mantis in a tree overhead looking down upon him, and as soon as their eyes met the mantis' body shook a bit before once again disappearing.

Seeing dark figures in the water, Izlend knew he had to get out of there before he had to fit yet more of the Bananawani. Limping away as fast as he could, Izlend clear the area before the beast began to gobble down the fresh kill in the river. Just to be safe Izlend decided to climb a tree, a tall one that not even the massive Bananawani's could break down or get to him. He climbed high enough to the point some light began to filter in through the thick canopy or leaves overhead. Despite his exhaustion, fear drove the boy past his limits yet again, allowing him to climb high into the tree. Once on a branch he felt safe on, he leaned back against the main body of the tree. Almost instantly the boy passed out without any concerns of falling off of the tree.

Waking up, Izlend's arms were searing with pain, he was hanging from a vine. His fingers firmly gripped around the plant, Izlend pulled himself up to the branch he had fallen asleep on. Despite a radiating pain from his shoulders down to his fingers, Izlend felt a lot better than he had before. It was dark, so he had likely been asleep for hours, maybe longer. From the pain he was certain he had fallen off the branch not long after he had passed out. Well that was if he had only been sleeping for the amount of time he has estimated. Sitting back down he examined his hands, they weren't blistered or anything. He was used to this kind of training and his hands have experienced days of gripping his blade. Leaning back for a moment, Izlend felt something sharp cut into the back of his head. Turning his view, he could see that it was a gouge cut into the tree; it almost looked like an arrow point to something. It was as if someone with a blade had been up in the tree and cut a mark out of it. Looking over to the next tree, Izlend could see another; similar mark to the one on the tree he was currently at.

Leaping over to the next tree, Izlend felt the mark with his fingers; it was likely that it was the same blade that had cut the first one. Once again as he stood up the young man could see yet another mark on the next tree and a mark on the one after that. Someone was clearly trying to lead him or someone to them if not mark their own way around the forest. Leaping and swinging from tree to tree, Izlend followed the marks, venturing further into the darkness of forest on the island located in the Calm Belt. The level of the forest Izlend was currently traveling in was surprisingly monster free; this allowed him to make quick work of the distance between him and the maker of the marks.

When he arrived he was flabbergasted, in the center of the island there was a massive tree. A bit bigger than all of the rest, it had cave sized holes in it where various animals lived. Using vines to get to the tree, Izlend couldn't help but staring directly up at the wildlife the buzzed around him. Looking down he could see some of the baboons that he had fought earlier, they hadn't seemed to notice him; yet. At the very top of the tree, Izlend could see the figure of what he was certain had led him to this place. The praying mantis with the weighted training clothes was looking down at him with its front arms/legs crossed. In a short time Izlend made his way to the top of tree as well. He stood next to the mantis and looked down at all the animals below. There were tons of species on the island, and this tree was likely home to a vast majority of them. Izlend took a deep breath and looked at the mantis that had leaded him here.

"This place is the hierarchy of this island." the Mantis said not taking its eyes off the domain below. Izlend just about fell over, when he realized that the giant bug; was talking. He decided then he wasn't going to ask anything as stupid as you can talk when the mantis was clearly doing so. "So I'm guessing the strength level goes up as the tree gets taller?" asked Izlend. "Yes" was the only reply he got. "And the baboons I fought earlier are clear down there?" he asked looking down. "Yes, they're relativity weak individually, but in numbers they can be quite threatening." replied the praying mantis. "I see... So obviously strength isn't the lone determining factor." said Izlend. "Again, yes. It's survival of the fittest, whether that's a group working as one or one working along, it doesn't matter." was the reply. "What about the bananawani? They seemed pretty strong, where are they?" asked Izlend. The mantis gave the boy a look like a normal person's raised eyebrow. "Other than the obvious reason, this tree is home only to those intelligent enough to claim it." he said as his reply made Izlend feel like an idiot. "Let me guess mister mantis, you're the strongest one of them all?" Izlend said with his usual toothy grin. "Negative, I'm just the most deadly; that is until mating season." said the mantis.

Carlos blasted through bushes and twigs as he bolted across the island, while 8 searchlights followed him across the sky, creating a vortex of leafs and dust with their incredibly rapid wing beats. Carlos felt it again, a sharp drop in the air pressure along with a yanking felling aimed upwards, the fireflies were preparing another attack. It wasn't hard to predict where the attack was aimed at, considering the light the fireflies produced, but that didn't make dodging it any easier since the fireflies easily out-sped and out-maneuvered Carlos.

A blast was heard, and another air blade was hurled down right behind Carlos' feet, easily lifting him off the ground and sending him crashing several meters away, while creating a crater around the impact area as nearby trees got yanked out of the ground, or cut to shreds. Lying on his back, Carlos took a deep breath. He was covered in mud, bruises and scratches, his uniform no longer resembling that of a marine but more of a barbaric ape. He was exhausted, beat and terrified, the fireflies were too far away, too quick and too powerful for him to deal with. He watched helplessly as the eight searchlights pointed at him once again, signaling the incoming attack, but he was too tired to even get up of his sprawl.

He closed his eyes, feeling the familiar decrease of air pressure occurring all around him once again, almost yanking him up from the ground. That feeling was becoming too familiar, Carlos faced it so many times before, trying to prove he was a better swordsman, the best swordsman. His eyes then shot open. 'The best swordsman!' He thought as he allowed the blinding light fry his eyes. 'Would the best swordsman lie helplessly? Would the best swordsman allow his opponents to circle him without a fight? Is that who I turned into? A weak coward that is too scared to face bugs?!' He thought, before opening his mouth and screaming "NO!".

He launched his legs up, immediately assuming an upright position with his pair of trusty hook swords already grasped firmly in his hands. The vacuum turned stronger, making Carlos' hair dance in the wind as he looked up at his flying tormentors. "You think you can bring down Carlos Vivo THAT EASILY?! You think the greatest swordsman alive would let you mock him like that?! HOW ABOUT YOU TRY AND SEE?!" He shouted at the bugs, his voice muffled by the gushing wind, and as the last syllables left his throat, the air blade was fired.

It was stronger and wilder than anything Carlos ever faced before, unrefined and unfocused, making it difficult to deal with, but Carlos wasn't going to give up, not now. "Shell Art:..." He called, extending his hook blades forward, with the tip of each hook pointing out to the side, "REVERSE BOOMERANG!". The wave of sharp air blasted at Carlos with full force, but was immediately redirected by the swordsman's hooks, who expertly split it in half, dragging each half to a different side. Carlos moved with blinding speed, performing his most powerful technique, the one that allowed him to best many swordsmen in the past, who was now facing its strongest challenge. His hook blades than collided behind his back, each completing a crescent motion with a wave of air dragged behind it. The waves than collided as well, forming a powerful explosion.

As a gigantic cloud of dust was formed where Carlos stood a second ago, any rational being would consider him dead, except he was no longer standing there. Carlos' figure blasted out of the smoke cloud the moment it formed, catapulting towards the fireflies like a rocket, propelled by the force of the explosion. "Let's see how you like me now!" He screamed as he aimed himself at one of the fireflies, before flipping in midair and extending his hook blades out. The hooks were stabbed deep into the giant bug's back, stopping Carlos' flight and allowing him to balance himself on the firefly, who now entered a panic state. Brown blood splattered out of the wound, mixing with the mud that already covered Carlos, but he no longer cared. He jerked the hooks inside the bug, making it take a sharp turn towards a second bug. "Forget steering! Piloting is way better!" He roared.

Darnel was somewhat impressed that the admiral was able to dodge his tail whip. Nishiki wanted to see Darnel's full zoan form even though he wouldn't have any arms. Then darnel remembered that he was more agile and flexible in this form. Darnel slithered his body left and right performing his"Snake Dance" technique. The technique worked by Darnel's long slim body moving left and right very fast avoiding Nishiki's talons. "Hey look" Darnel said to Nishiki hoping to get the admiral's attention before spitting a purple venom spat toward him. The poison wouldn't have any lasting effects due to Nishiki's regeneration abilities.

Nishkis kicks were being dodged, this was promising, already Darnel was showing awareness, and as Darnel tried to trick him, as he said that, Nishki twirled and aimed a talon for Darnels face, hoping to kick the kid. Nishki was very experienced with this sort of thing, he knew that there was nothing to look at, when fighting one on one it was rule number 1 to never let anything else distract you "Nice try , if i was still a green Lieutenant that would work, haha"

Darnel was kicked in the face by the admiral falling flat on his ass. It was then when Darnel realized the huge power gap between and Nishiki. This was the power of an admiral. This would be the third time Darnel was bested by an flying opponent. "I see i wouldn't expect anything less from the man who stands on the top. I undestand how u made admiral." Darnel grinned respecting the admiral "But I'm planning to become an admiral myself I don't need competition for fleet. Lets see how you do when I use my other forms." Darnel turned into his armor point where his scales covered his body creating armor. He wanted to show what he could do, so Nishiki can take him more seriously.

(Before the events of the thread)

Victor was getting hot and sweaty... but not in that way. Victor was on a beach; shirtless and tired. A ball and chain was tied around his waist and a senior officer was sitting on it barking at him to run faster. As his bare feet dug into the sand, beads of sweaty rolled down his forehead, each coming to the same point on his chin and dripping down to be kicked by his ever moving legs. His right shoulder was just about healed up at this point but the doctors advised him to avoid using it... but to hell with that.

"Run boy, RUN!" The officer was getting more irate by the minute. Dressed in full uniform, the man was getting just as hot as Victor was all while sitting on that ball.
"You keep RUNNING!, you hear? You had to wait at Marineford while your comrades went off to fight that sandman off in who cares where... so while they're out there fighting with the honor of the marines on their backs, I'm going to have you run. You've got that rokushiki stuff you asked me to teach you down already so I'm going to make you feel like you're in the middle of that fight! I'm going to make you feel HELL!!! I want you to RUNNN!!!"

"Enough with the yelling!" Even Victor couldn't stand him at this point. "The next person who yells around here, I swear, I'm gunna..."

"SIR!" A young marine was running toward the two from the opposite direction.
"What is it recruit?"
"Both of you are wanted in the war room. We have just received word from the front lines that several rescue ships were dispatched and are headed back now. They need officers in the war room to help clean up..."
"Oh, God..."

(Present time)

Victor stood on the bow of a private marine ship headed for Rusukaina. Even before the war, Darnel had debriefed the crew on his plan to hold a training regime there. It was strangely difficult to find a marine crew that was willing to sail to Rusukaina and even more difficult to find one that would dock on the beach. The roaring of the island was becoming louder and louder as Victor got closer. He already spotted the marine ship that arrived first, presumably the one that carried Darnel and the rest there.

"Hope they don't mind that I am a bit late." Victor grabbed his right shoulder. It no longer hurt but now, it was itching with excitement.

He had no idea...

While Darnel was sparring with admiral Nishki, Ferdinard was taking a look at the battle from afar. His superior officer was quite strong and he seemed to be capable of keeping up with the powerful marine whose feats were well-known to the force and the whole world. "FAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ferdinard laughed. "It is the first time I pay attention closely to the moves of Admiral Nishki... And I must say that I am quite impressed! FAHAHAHAHAHA!" he commented.

The mantis' cave looked like that a human martial artist. Training stations and human like comforts. Izlend looked at the large cave like hole in the tree that seemed all too human. This really made the young man wonder how such a species could just evolve on such an uninhabitable island. The mantis had said that only the creatures smart enough to call this place home live here, so could there really be creatures stronger than the mantis, but just too dumb to live in a place like this?

Izlend's thoughts snapped back to reality as the mantis walked back into the main room. Apparently sometime when he wasn't paying attention the mantis left the room; Izlend didn't even know it had more than one room. Shaking his head, Izlend turned his attention to the mantis. The bug man was carrying something; well it was obvious what it was, but not why. In his claws the mantis had a black and white training uniform, much like the one he was currently wearing. "What's that for?" Izlend asked.

"You." replied the mantis after a short pause like it should have been obvious. Honestly, Izlend's clothes were trashed from the previous encounters with the bananawani. "Ohhh I see..." said Izlend feeling pretty stupid. He held out his arms and waited for the mantis to drop the clothes in them. Izlend had fallen face first when the heavy weighted training clothes were dropped into his arms. "Holy shit! This thing weighs a ton....!" Izlend said struggling back to his feet with the garments. "Incorrect, the approximate weight it two tons." said the mantis as calculating as ever.

Slowly he place on the clothes, it took him nearly an hour to get it all on. It didn't feel as heavy as when it was all in one spot, but he could still barely move. "Uh, I don't think I can train in this. It would just slow me down to the point I wouldn't even gain anything from it." Izlend said trying to move around. "That's fine, you won’t be training." the mantis said pulling back. "What do you meeaa....?” Izlend was about to ask when he was cut off short. The mantis punched him so hard he flew out the hole and began falling. "You'll be battling in it!" yelled the mantis from above.

Falling down rapidly Izlend tried to stab his sword into the tree to stop. Even with the heavy clothes he was able to get the blade in the tree. However, that didn't stop him from falling. Keeping his grip on the blade tight it was ripped out of the tree after it cut a large gash in the bark. The move was enough to keep him from being killed when he hit a tree branch on the way down. Falling further and further he kept up the same pattern of stabbing and mashing into large branches to keep a slow pace to the bottom. This not only caused him to take a long time to get down, it also gave him quite the beating. From the bottom most branches it was a good 20 foot fall to the ground. Dust and dirt shot up into the air as he belly-flopped hard onto the earth. He even managed to leave a small crater in the shape of his body where he landed.

The fall knocked the breath right out of him, making him unable to get up, or so he thought. As the earth rumbled, Izlend looked up seeing dust fly from what he thought was from the small earthquake. However he quickly realized that earthquakes don't have fur or sharp tusks like the giant hog did that was running at him. Even with his two ton training clothes he leaped from his laying position and evaded the hooves of the monster boar. It charged again, a dust trail followed the pig as it ran at amazing speeds. This time Izlend was unable to dodge and took the brunt of the powerful head butt flinging him high into the air. With his blade, Izlend dug it into the tree. The young man dangled about twenty feet about the ground just under the branch he had last fallen from. The pig was about half the size it needed to be to get to the young man. Izlend just hung there as the angry pig grunted and howled as it cut marks into the tree with its tusks. It was just waiting for the boy to drop.

Izlend knew very well that he couldn't hold on for much longer with all the extra weight. He decided to do it on his terms, so he pulled out the sword and dove in head first. Izlend drove the sword down at the pigs thick skull. It was like hitting a brick wall; the damned beasts head was as hard as a rock. Izlend and his sword merely bounced off, barely even stunning the massive wild boar.

This proved Izlend wouldn't be able to beat the thing without thinking. It was faster than him, way stronger, and on top of it, he had a pretty fucked up rib cage. It was smashed up pretty badly from the last attack. Once it gained its wits about it, the beast charged. This time Izlend went for the underbelly. He dove down and rolled under stabbing his sword into the pig’s gullet. The only problem was how thick the damned things skin and fat was, it ended up just dragging him 300 feet instead of spreading the hogs intestines across the ground like he had wanted.

Barely getting his sword back, Izlend struggled as he pushed his way back up to his feet. He was really feeling the weight of the clothes now, but he didn't have time to even think about taking them off as the hog was once again charging. This time Izlend leaped to the right of the pig. Unfortunately the long tusks of the hog gored his left arm leaving it hanging there barely attached with a ton of blood pouring out. This stunned the boy, and almost caused him to miss his opportunity. He drove his sworn into the pig’s side just before its hip bone. If it had hit the hip bone it would have failed and Izlend would have been in the same situation as before. Using his sword and the thick fur on the hog he slowly pulled himself onto its back. The hog reared and tired to buck him off, however Izlend merely dug the blade in deeper and hung tight. Making his way up the hogs chiseled back was extremely hard as he had to hang onto the hair rather than use his sword. Getting into position, Izlend stood on his knees and thrust the blade into the back of the pigs head, it one and probably only weakness. Separating the brain from the brain stem, the pig instantly fell over and died.

Using the sword as a cane, Izlend slowly dragged himself over to the tree. There was a large wallow dug under the tree, most likely where the pig had been living, until now. As he seen that the hog would no longer need it he heaved himself into the hole. It would provide safety for the night, and give him some time to recover. He hoped that the presence of the heaped over hog would deter any would be predator for at least one day. Falling asleep or maybe passing the young man slept soundly through the night.

Awakening the next day, he found his wound had been treated during the night. Testing out his arm, he had very limited function, but still an improvement from the other day. Getting up he walked over to the pig and cut off some meat. Within half of an hour Izlend had gathered fire wood, lit it, and began cooking some bacon. The smell began to attract some unwanted attention so Izlend greedily gobbled the chunk of tasty meat murder and headed back to the tree. With one jump, he was able to make it half way towards the next branch, leaving him to clumsily climb the remaining ten feet.

Once he had gotten back up to the branch he looked up. It was at least another 50 feet to the next hole, which Izlend assumed had another of the animals in. Slowly he climbed the distance, once he had made it another 30 feet higher he stopped on a branch to rest. His good arm hurt like hell, his bad arm was numb and bleeding while his hands were one big blister. Izlend was tempted to jump gain, but his legs felt like they were on fire and could give out. Mid jump from this high up, his legs giving out wouldn't be a good thing. It would take Izlend another four hours to climb the remaining 20 feet. By the time he was able to reach the entrance it was nearly dark. He hoped this would give him an edge over the foe waiting inside.

Walking into the cave, Izlend heard a familiar growl. Slowly walking into the small amount of light that was inside the cave, Izlend could the creature out to be a dog. Izlend was astonished that a dog was able to make it up this high and that it was stronger than the boar. Hearing a loud metallic clank, Izlend moved to the side pulling out his sword. Sparks flew as Izlend's blade clashed against the dog, dealing no more damage than a scratch. Turning around, Izlend could see the dog in the dimmed light provided by the setting sun. The damned dog was completely made out of metal.

How in hell was he going to beat something he couldn't even cut? At least he didn't have to worry about being crushed. No this time he was going to be torn to shreds one piece at a time, which sounded much better. The dog lunged again, this time Izlend blocked its teeth with his blade. What he didn't expect was all of the power behind the lunge causing him to smash into the back wall of the tree cave. Izlend wished to high heaven that he still had some juice and pressed the button to release the stored electrical energy, but nothing happened. Izlend pushed against the sword with all he had and managed to get out of between the wall and the dog. Pulling his sword free, the dog began to circle Izlend in a large half moon arc shape.

Once again the dog lunged at Izlend, however this time he leaped out of the way at the last second. The mutt smashed into the back wall. It shook its head for a second, clearly dazed by the hard wood the tree was made out of. It wasn't had strong as the metal the dog was made out of, but it was more than enough to cause it to pause before leaping in again. Izlend took the opportunity to lunge at the dog with the tip of his blade. Jabbing into the dog’s side caused it little more than irritation. The blade ricocheted off the dog’s side and nearly hit its own master. After that, Izlend determined any more tactics like that would be just stupid.

Time and time again Izlend dodged and the mutt slammed into the back wall. Eventually the wall began to crack, while the dog showed only slightest amount of lasting dizziness. If this kept up any longer, Izlend would likely succumb to fatigue before the dog would to daze. Even if he was downed by a blow, how in the hell would Izlend even kill it? Izlend didn't think he could win this one, yet he didn't give in. Then it hit him, the dogs teeth weren't made out of metal. That meant that chances were, neither were its insides. A grin spread across Izlend's face as he took, for the first time a fighting stance against the dog. When the dog charged, Izlend didn't move, this time he was fixed in position ready to strike. However before he could finish the battle the dog stopped, it knew it was beaten. The wise dog bowed before leaping down the tree.

For a moment Izlend was perplexed, the dog was way stronger and the attack only had a small chance of actually working. However he soon remembered the words the mantis. He remembered that it wasn't necessarily the strongest one sitting on a higher branch, but the most deadly. What's more deadly that an active human mind? Izlend spent the rest of the night recovering the lost energy in the dogs cave. The whole night he slept soundly as he knew, he was moving up the food chain.

Victor found no one on the beach. There was only footprints headed toward different parts of the island and several crater in the sand where some great force had been used. He wanted to wait for someone to meet him on the beach before going into the jungle. There was no telling how dangerous the natural inhabitants were. However, seeing how Darnel had considered this to be an intense training scenario, it would be foolish to charge in headfirst.

Victor spotted someone on the island... well technically not on the island. It was a woman and she was floating in the air studying something carefully. She looked like a marine...

Victor used his own Geppou to quickly gain altitude. However, the woman seemed more learned in the Rokushiki form. Victor couldn't sustain it for great periods of time so he only ascended to three-fourths the height she was at.

"Excuse me,
Lieutenant Commander Victor Gray of the Hooded Knights reporting.
May I ask who is in charge here on this island?"

Nishki slided a kick into the side of Darnels armor being blocked this time, His pheonix form was smiling as the blue blaze danced around beautifully in the sky. "good, your learning fast... make sure your always prepared, and always aware......." He then swooped his wings, to turn back into his human form to land a cannon punch at Darnels scaled body.

Darnel put his his arm up blocking the kick from his scale body "Always prepared? always aware? I think you have forgotten why they call me snake eyes." Darnel was then taken by surprised when he swooped his wings turning into his human form. Nishiki then landed a punched on Darnel. The blow actually hurt even Mantra's shockwave couldn't even damage hid armor. Darnel backed up a bit launching his leg upward to kick away Nishiki's punch. He then use his snake's neck point to stretch his neck and give the admiral a headbutt. Nishiki was vulnerable in his human form, so Darnel had to take advantage.

Ferdinard was still looking at the battle of the two men. That sparring... It was a remarkable sight for the eyes. The quick movements of the two marines were great enough and was bringing pleasure to Ferdinard. Darnel was using all his transformation against the powerful admiral and yet Nishki seemed to be able to handle him with ease. So that was the power of an admiral, the power of one of the 3 greatest weapons of the marine force. "Hm... That guy... He is probably on par with Maximillion... Fahaha." Ferdinard thought while looking towards Nishki and then he kept staring with attention. He looked and looked and looked... And while he was looking, various images were coming in front of him... They were images of his childhood, when Ferdinard was battling with Maximillion all the time.

[Flashback]

On a short island in west blue, at the beach, two children are fighting each other. One of them is a child with sunglasses on his eyes. He has red hair. He wears a blue havanah shirt with flowers on it and short blue pants. He is wearing dark blue sandals and he has a serious look on his face, a very serious look. The kid seems to be around 8 years old, a very young child but seemed to be quite powerful.

[Introduction Box]
[Ferdinard Maimou - 18 years ago]

The two kids are kicking each other in the face with powerful and swift kicks. While the first kid looks quite strong, the second kid (Ferdinard) is actually as powerful as the other child. The other child is dressed with a black suit that fits his small size, the suit of a man who behaves much like an aristocrat, a man who was thinking of himself as a noble. That person was none other than Ferdinard's cousin, the person that he hated the most in his entire life, Maximillion Maimou.

[Introduction Box]
[Maximillion Maimou - 18 years ago]

"You stupid jerk! You are a weakling! Why are you trying to act like a boss?" Ferdinard said to Maximillion while punching him in the face with a powerful punch.
"I might be the weakling but you are the idiot." Maximillion offended his cousin after he got the punch in the face. "You might be strong but I am smarter."
"Says who?" Ferdinard questioned him.
"Says me!" Maximillion yelled, showing some kind of emotion, something unusual for him. It looked like he was feeling some kind of excitement, something that he would rarely to never feel in the future. When he said those words, he moved his hand forward and he launched a small but still powerful ball of compressed air that hit Ferdinard and broke his glasses. It was a powerful technique. "This is strategy... I figured out a battling style to defeat you.".
"Strategy? NONSENSE!" Ferdinard said before he moved his hand in a similar way and launched a same if not a more powerful shockwave that struck his cousin and sent him flying several meters away.
"How did you do that, you idiot? Were you watching me while I was training?" Maximillion questioned him.
"As if... I just remembered how you did it... With my strength, I don't have to actually train a lot to do this.
"YOU!!!" Maximillion said and then both of them spoke together at the same time
"I HATE YOU!" they both said.

[Flashback ends]

"That bastard... He keeps improving and improving while I am staying behind... I am not an idiot as he thought... I am as smart as he is and stronger than he is physically! Just because he has a fruit, that does not mean that he will defeat me when we are going to have our match! I am the strongest one of the family and not him! And I will eventually prove it! FAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ferdinard whispered and started laughing loudly before he turned his back away from Nishki and Darnel who were training. Afterwards, he rushed towards the forest with his Shockwave Rush technique. He was about to start his very own training session. He hated seeing the others and his cousin progressing while he was left behind. After all, he had to take down Maximillion...