Capítulo 106: Part 11 - Sanji 1/21
The rays of the dawn sun reflected off the perfectly smooth surface of the water, creating the impression that, thanks to the morning calm, an immense mirror extended to the horizon, reflecting the dawn's light. It was an extraordinarily beautiful and serene scene. Even the ship, large enough to be the size of a five-story building and resembling a giant golden fish in both color and shape, did not spoil the picture… which couldn't be said about the occasional sounds coming from the ship. No, the vast majority of the ship's inhabitants were still in the cozy embrace of Morpheus, so they weren't the source of the noise. The culprit disrupting the morning idyll was a light-haired young man who periodically leapt from beneath the water's surface to his full height, only to take a deep breath and dive back down again. And he did this every two and a half to three minutes.
Moreover, when the guy jumped out of the water with particular force, you could clearly see the steel… well.., let's call them shackles secured to his ankles. In fact, his legs were not only bound with iron from his ankles up to his knees but also wrapped in an anchor chain welded to that iron. The chains extending from his legs were held in his hands, disappearing underwater. Judging by how tightly the blond's arms were strained, it was clear that at the ends of the chains, underwater, there was either a heavy load or something to which they were attached to.
The scene took place near the fish-shaped ship, close to a large wooden platform styled to resemble the fish's fin. In fact, there were two such platforms, on both sides of the fish ship. Next to one of them, just five or six meters away, the guy was "splashing around." He definitely wasn't drowning. If he were truly drowning, he would be trying to reach the platform, not just splashing in one place… Of course, there was also the possibility that the length of the chains prevented him from reaching the platform, but then why was he silent? The guy could have screamed to alert the ship's inhabitants, but he remained quiet. It was also possible that the ship's inhabitants were responsible for the chains on his legs, meaning no matter how much he shouted, no one would come to help him. However, such thoughts would only occur to someone unfamiliar with the situation; the reality was much simpler: the guy was training.
The point of the training was to let the weight secured at the ends of the anchor chains drag him deep underwater and then, despite the load, to resurface using only the strength of his legs. Clearly, this method of training put an unimaginable strain on his leg muscles, not to mention the lack of air. A normal person wouldn't engage in such activities. Correction! A normal person simply couldn't engage in such activities: they would be instantly dragged to the bottom with no chance of rescue. Nevertheless, even though this training method was far from safe, it was precisely these kinds of workouts that allowed the guy to improve himself most effectively. Moreover, he knew that any other training within the bounds of ordinary logic would never yield the desired result. Why? Because a person can defeat any monster except when the monster is another person. Therefore, a human-monster could only be defeated by another human-monster. That's why the guy trained in ways that would never occur to an ordinary person. The blond's goal was a human-monster, so if he wanted to reclaim his life, he needed to become a human-monster himself. Ordinary logic had no place here.
When the sun had risen noticeably above the horizon and the ship's inhabitants began to wake up and prepare for the new day, the guy finished his training. After jumping out of the water one last time, right next to the ship's "fin," the blond released the chains from his hands and grabbed the fin, which immediately submerged underwater almost entirely. A loud, synchronized curse from dozens of voices echoed from the ship's "interior" without delay. Although the ship tilted only slightly due to the guy's actions, it was sudden and unexpected, so many were caught off guard… just like the previous few hundred times. It had become something akin to a morning ritual.
When the guy supported himself with his hands on the fin to get out of the water, the wood under his hands distinctly creaked. The creaking wood, combined with the tilted ship, spoke volumes about how far the guy had gone beyond ordinary human logic. He could already be considered a human-monster, but the blond was well aware that his strength was still insufficient. He needed more power, more! Otherwise, he wouldn't succeed.
Sitting on the edge of the fin, which had completely submerged and further tilted the ship, the guy grabbed one of the anchor chains extending from his legs and began to pull. After drawing about ten meters of chain to the surface, the blond tensed sharply, and a massive steel ball, matte black in color, was pulled out of the water. The ball was two meters in diameter and undoubtedly weighed several tons. After retrieving the ball, the guy took hold of the chain on his other leg. As expected, he soon pulled another steel ball, a complete duplicate of the first, into the light. Two cast steel balls and about twenty meters of anchor chain—everything together weighed at least fifty tons by any modest estimate. Ordinary logic took a vacation and went home.
Removing the "shackles" from his legs, the guy looked grimly at his reddened skin. The immense weight of the steel balls had caused the shackles to chafe his legs mercilessly, despite any padding. Sighing wearily, the blond took a large tube of cream, which had been prepared in advance and had been lying on the "fin" until now. Squeezing a palmful of cream from the tube, the guy rubbed it on his red leg, and after applying the cream to the second leg, the blond, now wearing only black swim trunks, walked across the "fin" to the ladder leading to the ship's double doors. On one of the steps lay a towel and bandages that had been prepared in advance. Sitting on the steps and taking the bandages, the guy began to wrap his cream-coated legs. After finishing, the blond dried himself with the towel, draped it over his shoulder, and went to stow his "training equipment."
After hauling the steel balls and chains into the ship's lower hold, the guy climbed up to the fourth floor to his room. Throwing the towel to dry on the wardrobe door, the blond took a hanger from the same wardrobe, which held a black double-breasted suit with a blue shirt and black tie. Putting on his everyday suit and black heavy boots, the guy scrutinized himself in the mirror. In response, a blue-eyed blond with a long strand of hair covering his right eye and a strangely arched eyebrow on his left eye looked back. The small mustache under his nose and the black goatee, combined with a rather expensive and elegant suit, gave the guy the appearance of a well-bred gentleman.
"Sanji, you damn snot-nosed brat, get your useless ass over here right now!!!" roared across the ship the voice of the old man Zeff, also known as the pirate 'Red Leg' Zeff, now the owner of the Baratie restaurant and the head chef of the said restaurant.
"Damn old man," muttered the blond, who was identified as Sanji.
Grabbing a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from the nightstand next to his bed, he left his room and, guessing roughly where the 'damn old man' had yelled from, headed to the common room, lighting his second cigarette of the day along the way. The first one had been smoked almost as soon as he opened his eyes after sleeping… or sometimes even earlier.
Even before he could enter the restaurant's common room, Sanji could already tell from the murmur of voices that something noteworthy had happened. Indeed, as soon as he opened the double doors, he saw that all of the staff of the famous floating restaurant in the East Blue had gathered around one of the round tables where old man Zeff was seated. Nearly forty people were excitedly chatting, apparently discussing the morning newspaper.
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder