Two days later, at Marine Headquarters, in the Fleet Admiral's office.
"Botched pursuit, one Headquarters warship destroyed, thirty-two Marine officers and soldiers dead in the line of duty. Gion—do you have anything to say for yourself?"
Seated behind the massive desk was the current Fleet Admiral—Steel Bone Kong.
His musclebound frame stretched his uniform tight, like he'd been cast in iron. His voice boomed like a great bell, heavy with unquestionable authority.
"No excuses." Gion stood straight as a spear and answered calmly. "The deaths of our comrades are entirely my responsibility. I failed to complete the pursuit."
"Hmph." Kong snorted through his nose, the pressure rolling off him filling the office. "Your responsibility? Over thirty lives and a warship lost, and all you have to offer is the word 'responsibility'?"
He pulled a document from the drawer and tossed it on the desk.
"Effective immediately, you are suspended from all field operations and reassigned to the Elite Training Camp as a special swordsmanship instructor. When you've put away that smug arrogance of yours, you can go back to sea."
"Yes, Fleet Admiral." Gion saluted without a trace of argument.
But as she turned to leave, her mind couldn't help returning again to that cold, pure arc of sword aura.
…
The two-week survival training on the deserted island came to an end.
After Rain wiped out the remaining Skull-Splitter pirates, the last two days passed without incident.
When the instructors' transport ship arrived on schedule, every recruit looked… bright-eyed and energetic. Some might even say glowing.
Back in Marineford, all recruits assembled once more on the central training field.
Zephyr stood on the platform, gaze sharp as lightning, slowly sweeping over every recruit below.
He had expected to see a group of battered, dirty survivors with hardened eyes.
Instead, he saw a crowd of fresh-faced, ruddy-cheeked recruits who… all looked like they'd put on weight.
For a moment, he almost lost his serious expression.
He paused, then, sticking to the script, raised his booming voice. "Good. Looks like over the last two weeks, you all ate… quite well."
He had been about to say "ate a lot of hardship," but looking at all those healthy, rounder faces, the last half of the line just wouldn't come out.
The scene was painfully awkward for a beat.
Down below, the recruits all wore embarrassed expressions. Many subconsciously touched their fuller stomachs, their eyes sneaking toward the calm figure at the very back of the formation.
They'd called it deserted island survival—but someone had basically moved a full kitchen over.
New dishes every day, and sometimes even dessert. Life had been better than back in Marineford. Of course they'd gained weight.
"Ahem." Zephyr coughed again and forcibly changed the subject, face snapping back to sternness. "Still, you all did well this time. Everyone returned, and there were no casualties. That's a first in the history of this camp."
He didn't say a word about the patrol warship offshore, or the Marines who had died to protect them.
In this sea, sacrifice was that common.
Looking at this group of recruits—fatter, yes, but undeniably more steady and composed than before—Zephyr finally gave a small nod.
"Barely acceptable as Marines."
He paused, then raised his voice, full of encouragement.
"Since you've learned how to survive, from today on, you'll learn how to fight!"
"Your next courses—Rokushiki, firearms training, and live-combat swordsmanship!"
"Your detailed schedules are posted on the dormitory bulletin board! Tomorrow at 0600, your new hell begins on time!"
"For now—dismissed!"
…
The next morning after survival training ended, the Elite Camp returned to its usual order.
In the massive indoor training hall, hundreds of recruits sat cross-legged on the cold floor in absolute silence.
After two weeks of being cut loose, they were almost excited to be back in structured classes.
Physical instructor Shuzo walked to the front. His powerful voice echoed through the hall.
"Listen up! Starting today, you'll begin touching the realm of real 'superhumans'—the Marine Rokushiki!"
"And your first lesson is the technique that tests your will and control over your body the most—Tekkai!"
Shuzo didn't bother with abstract theory. He explained the essence in the simplest possible terms.
"Pay attention! The principle of Tekkai is this: in a single instant, you force your blood to surge, pour your awareness into your body, and mobilize every muscle fiber to compress and harden in perfect sync! That's how you get steel-like defense on a purely physical level!"
He drew in a deep breath, dropped into a horse stance, and tensed his muscles all at once.
"Tekkai!"
With a shout, the skin of his exposed upper body darkened, taking on a metallic sheen.
Another instructor stepped up with a heavy wooden practice sword and swung it down on Shuzo's arm with everything he had.
Crack!
The wooden blade snapped in two on impact, splinters flying. Shuzo's arm didn't even show a white mark.
The sight made every recruit suck in a breath, eyes burning with intensity.
So that's how it is, Rain thought from the back row. I remember the manga mentioning it—Tekkai is basically an extreme form of bodily reinforcement, a sort of beginner's, watered-down version of Armament Haki. For someone like me, who already has [Top-Tier] Armament…
He sank his focus into the system interface.
Right as the instructor finished explaining the principle, a new icon popped up in his [Skills] tab—Tekkai (Basic).
And the next second, something happened that even caught him off guard.
The skill rank behind Tekkai started climbing at visible speed:
Tekkai (Basic) → Tekkai (Intermediate) → Tekkai (Advanced).
In just an instant, it stopped at [Advanced].
Rain understood immediately.
Rokushiki is just pushing basic body mechanics to the limit and wrapping it in a unique method so it's easier to teach and standardize.
For someone who already has the higher-tier version—Armament Haki—these low-level skills don't even need points. Straight to full power for free.
On that thought, he checked how many Sin Points it would take to upgrade it to [Top-Tier].
The system's response came right away: each individual Rokushiki technique caps at Advanced.