[Pirate King Training Plan: Day Two.]
[Automatically adjusting based on physical condition and status. Sleep time: half an hour. Achieved. Please wake up immediately for morning training... Countdown: thirty seconds.]
Not long past midnight, the warning sounded in his ears.
He really wanted to go to Nami's room right now, wake her up, and ask what time 'morning training' was supposed to be.
Of course, the consequences of doing that would be severe.
When he was studying the theory yesterday, the materials seemed to mention something about specific time periods.
Luffy's fists clenched.
At this hour, even the training maniac Zoro had just finished bathing and lain down in bed.
"This is seriously messed up."
Habit is a terrifying thing.
Luffy got up, left the room, and went out onto the deck.
Life was like... if you can't resist, just lie back and endure it.
Faced with Garp's oppression, Luffy had gradually gotten used to it.
Now, this voice was just like Garp's fists. At least with his grandpa, Luffy could resist a little and talk back, but against this voice, he couldn't resist at all.
Having to run to the bathroom was the light punishment.
That kind of socially catastrophic punishment... even someone as shameless as Luffy didn't dare try it lightly.
He didn't want his crewmates to start calling him 'Captain Jet-Propelled' or 'Mr. N-Times-a-Day' later on.
The moonlight barely illuminated the deck, and the sea breeze carried a chill.
Luffy stood in the center of the deck, his hands tightly gripping a barbell.
This was the most basic physical training; he'd experienced it long ago with Garp.
"Nine hundred ninety-seven... nine hundred ninety-eight..."
"This is really enough. I really want to fight."
Luffy thought this physical training was so boring. What kind of Pirate King just holed up on a ship training every day?
Didn't they all rise to greatness through battles with pirates and Marines?
Luffy remembered this was the East Blue.
Garp often picked his nose and said the East Blue was the weakest sea. Since setting sail, Luffy had indeed felt it. Forget pirates, they hadn't even seen many Marines.
There wasn't a single worthy opponent!
Creak.
The door to the deck was pushed open.
Zoro yawned, habitually stretching his muscles, ready to begin his unwavering morning training.
It was a habit he'd had since childhood.
In terms of talent, he was inferior to many, but in terms of effort, probably no one could surpass him...
However, the next moment, his movements froze, his jaw seemingly losing support and nearly hitting the deck.
"Hey, Luffy, when did you get up?"
Zoro was instantly wide awake.
...
"Twelve-thirty," Luffy panted in reply.
"Twelve-thirty?"
Zoro's eyes widened, his pupils shaking.
Forget 12:30 AM, had Luffy even seen the Going Merry at 4:00 AM?
He clearly remembered when he fell asleep; the clock in the stern had just struck twelve not long before.
Which meant... this guy Luffy had gotten up not long after he himself had lain down... almost in the middle of the night?!
Yesterday's full day of abnormal training could still be explained as the captain's whimsical madness, but this, on the second day, was definitely not normal!
The Luffy who, just a couple of days ago, could barely be pried out of bed by Nami, was now sweating buckets, lifting a barbell that looked exceptionally heavy.
"Are you okay? Did you make another bet with Usopp or something?" Zoro asked suspiciously.
"What kind of stereotype is that?!" Luffy gave him a dead-fish stare.
"So you've been possessed by a ghost or something, right?"
"Have you even seen a ghost to be talking about ghosts?!" Luffy felt a bit less confident.
Calling that voice a ghost wasn't entirely wrong.
But would they believe him if he told them?
And even if they did believe him, what could they do?
Better not to say anything.
"But can you even keep going like this?"
Zoro looked Luffy up and down.
Sporting two prominent dark circles under his eyes, his face pale with a sickly, weak yellowish tinge, his body trembling slightly, looking like he might collapse and die at any moment.
He looked even worse than after a major battle.
Zoro was genuinely worried he might drop dead right in front of him.
The old Luffy, faced with such an insulting question, would definitely stick his neck out, pout so hard you could hang an oil lamp on it, and let out his signature carefree laugh:
"I'm a rubber man! You're the one who can't handle it, Zoro!"
His voice would be full of bluster.
But now...
"Just let me sleep first," Luffy said.
"You should have gone to sleep ages ago," Zoro said, exasperated.
Then he watched as Luffy closed his eyes and started snoring.
Did he fall asleep that fast?
Just as Zoro moved to take the barbell from Luffy's hands, the previously sleeping Luffy revived on the spot, full of energy. "Alright, recharged!"
"...Are you really a rubber man?"
Luffy immediately demonstrated his rubber elasticity, stretching his arm out long. He boasted proudly, "I can do it anywhere! Wanna see?"
"No, no, that's fine," Zoro had zero appreciation for this kind of innate talent.
"Hahaha, don't be so gloomy! Even though you'll never surpass me, I am the captain after all!"
Luffy grinned cheekily, slapping Zoro on the shoulder.
This bastard.
"You guy..." Zoro resisted the impulse to draw his sword and cut him down.
Taking a step back just made him angrier the more he thought about it.
"Hey, Luffy, this kind of training is boring, right?" Zoro also understood Luffy's personality well.
Even if he didn't know why Luffy was grinding harder than him now, just looking at Luffy's face told him it was pure torture.
"You have a better idea?" Luffy's eyes lit up.
"How about we spar for training?" Zoro grinned.
"Huh? You mean I punch you once, you punch me once?"
"No. You punch me once, I punch you ten times," Zoro said.
"Zoro, do you think I'm an idiot? Do I look like an idiot to you?" Luffy retorted.
Even if he was a rubber man, he couldn't just take punches like that. Zoro's fists hurt.
[Prompt. Detected crewmate Zoro's suggestion offers significant improvement. Insufficient time remaining in morning training session. Can proceed to next step. Accept Roronoa Zoro's invitation. Countdown: three minutes.]
The death-knell-like countdown buzzed in his mind.
"Let's do it, Zoro!"
Luffy felt fortunate he was a rubber man; otherwise, that pendant would have been the death of him.
Even he knew this was a stupid idea!
"You sure?"
Zoro looked at Luffy suspiciously, up and down. He was very confident in his own fists.
"Tell you what, I won't take advantage of you. If you can last until morning, I'll handle your share of the chores for a month!"
The men's chores were the most troublesome. Before Nami came aboard, when it was just Luffy and Zoro on their little boat, they didn't even want to bathe.
However, after Nami joined, she became strict about hygiene.
Even Luffy didn't want to be stared at by Nami with that 'trash' look.
It's not like it excited him or anything!