I was currently standing in the line with other recruits waiting to get our own cadet uniform. After waiting for 15min, it was finally my turn and i walked in front of stoic looking middle aged man.
"From now on, you will be addressed as Cadet 535. Here is your uniform". The uniform we got consisted of a white, short-sleeved shirt emblazoned with the Marine emblem, a simplified gull with the word "MARINE" underneath it and on the back, a white neckerchief; dark blue trousers; and a baseball cap also with the word "MARINE" across the front.
After registering, all cadets were sent over to the academy. The academy was not a place that every cadet have expected to see, the North Blue Marine Academy was located in a huge island. The island was barricaded with huge, greyish walls. Cannons were mounted in top of the huge walls in all directions. Clearly, this place did not give the impression of an academy, it looked more like a stronghold.
While i was walking the hallways of the academy, i was looking at the pictures in the wall of previous graduates and there i saw my own father as young.
Black D. Jack - Graduate of Year 1451 - Current Marine Rank: Vice-Admiral
I felt immense pride after seeing my father being one of the pictures in the wall, of course not all graduates end up in the wall, only those who have succeeded being marine and at same time it gives recruits more motivation to train.
Marine Academy lasts 3 to 4 years. The most talented ones can graduate in 3 years and get sent towards Marine Headquarters located in Grand Line. Others will be sent to other seas or will stay in North Blue in other strongholds.
I finally finished touring the academy, well only the important parts like where library, canteen and training hall was located, so after finding them i started walking towards my room where my roommates should already be in. As i opened the door i saw small room with few closets and 4 beds also my roommates was also there, one of them had buzz cut hairstyle while looking very serious, while another one had long hair with braids and the third one looking very lazy while laying on the bed.
''Yo bro, my name is Porza, what about you?'' said young man with long hair and braids to me and offered handshake
''Nice to meet you, my name is Dante.'' I said while shaking his hand
''Nice to meet you! That serious looking one is called Mereo and that lazy guy is Borsalino.'' said Porza while looking with displeasure towards others in our room.
''Nice to meet you all please take care of me.'' I said after bowing to them
''Naaah, you guys should take care of me since i am youngest and all.'' said Borsalino jokingly
''...'' The serious one just kept reading book while ignoring everyone else in the room.
...
After the first day of blending in the academy, next day we finally started our training in the Academy, it was nothing crazy, just pushups, running, which did give some trouble to other kids with bad stamina, but for me it was as easy as it gets after all since i was young my dad has been training me that including physical workout.
Mine and other recruits current Marine rank is Chore boy after all we just arrived as recruits, well it's actually not actually official marine rank, it's just what rank instructors give to the recruits.
While we were training in more physical workouts, i saw few different recruits wearing yellow neckerchief instead of white, they are devil fruit users who gets specialized training, my dad has been telling me all sort of stories about devil fruits, at young age i have always thought that i was like a fairytale, but that fairytale has been shattered after i have seen them using their powers, one of them can turn as a snake and Borsalino one of my roommates too had yellow neckerchief and i heard he had Logia-type Pika Pika no Mi, which allows him to use light or something, sounds kind of op now that i think about it.
''Gather up cadets!'' yelled the Instructor and instantly all the recruits fell in the line quite messily.
''Cadets! From now on you will decide what kind of training you want, weapon training or martial arts training!''
'Hmm, Dad taught me little bit swordsmanship so i guess i will choose that.' I thought while seeing the instructors ask from every cadets until it was finally my turn.
''Cadet 535, Which training will you choose and if you choose weapon training tell us your preferred weapon too.'' said Instructor
''Yes sir! I will choose Weapon Training with sword!'' I said after saluting towards Instructor
''Alright, go to Hall Nr.3.'' said Instructor after walking towards another cadet, so no further ado i started walking towards Hall Nr.3, after touring yesterday i did came across this hall, it was closest to library after all so it was easy to remember.
Arriving to the hall i saw over 50 recruits, i guess swordsmanship training is quite popular after all so i guess they split them to multiple halls. I walked towards the other cadets who were already standing in line and joined the line with them.
After waiting for 30 minutes. Hall had already 100 cadets so i guess they won't take anymore people to this hall and instructor started talking.
''Hello everyone! My name is Lieutenant Commander Hatch and i am your swordsmanship instructor!'' Lieutenant Commander Hatch said and then unsheathed his sword.
''Marine's swordsmanship greatest level where it can reach is called Tobu Zangeki! Also known as Flying Slash Attack, let me show you.'' said Instructor and got into battle stance and then swing his sword which released some sort of compressed air blade which cut straight towards training dummy in other side of the hall and cutting it half.
''''Wooow.'''' all cadets were very impressed, i guess they haven't seen anything like it, but i was different. There i was standing thinking only one thing.
'Average.' I kept thinking, it was nothing like my father who once sliced mountain in half and since i learnt from him, i don't think i can learn from this instructor which made me quite depressed. I came here to learn, but i guess i made mistake for joining this swordsmanship class..
After that we kept learning from the instructor how to wield sword etc, but in my opinion it just looked clumsy and inefficient, but i didn't of course say it aloud, i am just mere Chore boy. If i point it out i will get kicked out and this is only my second day in academy!
After 2 hours of training, we had our own free time which some people used to go rest back in their room after exhausting training, but i was different and i headed towards library.
After opening door to library, i noticed old woman sitting in the desk 15 meters from the door, so i walked towards her and then she looked at me and asked.
''Cadet, what you doing here?'' asked old woman with curious look
''Hello ma'am! I am here to do research!'' i said after saluting towards old woman, she was still a marine and higher rank than me.
''Oooh, research about what?'' asked old woman curiously
''About marines!'' I said
''Oh, it's in the history department in the floor 2, you will find it easily from there.'' said old woman after losing her interest.
''Thank you!'' I said while saluting and made my way towards second floor and there i saw ''History'' Sign and walked towards there and i saw many old looking books and few books which looked quite new. I started looking for books anything related to marines and finally saw, ''Way of the Marine'' it looked kind of interesting so i took it and walked towards one of the tables and sit down.
I opened the book and started reading.
''The duty of the Marines is to maintain a law and order throughout the world and impose the will and might of the World Government. They are therefore considered the key strategic development force in the World Government and are expected to obey its orders at will.'' after reading that it left me somewhat bad feeling to mouth, i thought that Marine's duty is protecting civilians, but after reading that weren't marines only World Government's workers?
After that i just shook my head from my thoughts, i thought it was only my immaturity, but that only lasted for moment after i started reading again and saw something about Absolute Justice so i decided to read that too since it sounded interesting.
''Many Marines follow a strict motto of "Absolute Justice", when it comes to prosecuting those who violate the government's laws. It is a central tenet of Marine doctrine. Supporters of Absolute Justice believe that the eradication of all evil and illegal activities, even if this requires sacrificing innocent lives or engage in immoral acts.'' after reading that i was shocked.
'What the fk?' I cursed, if my mom would be hearing me cursing she would give me slap from her famous slipper and send me to the Shadow Realm with it.
Absolute Justice in my opinion just sounds like excuse what those high ranking marine's use to justify their wrong doings and not admit their crimes. How is sacrificing innocent lives in anyway justice? It is a murder.
After that i just closed the book and put it in same place i took it from and started walking out of the library absentmindedly not even greeting the old woman in the desk and i kept walking towards the dorm thinking what kind of justice i want to hold on to.
Definitely i will stay far away from so called Absolute Justice bullcrap, i will have my own justice which will keep Civilians as priority. It should be marine's responsibility to keep civilians save, that should be our responsibility and not serve World Government!
With these angry thoughts i returned to the dorm.
...
Next Day.
It was quite similar to the second day in the Academy, it started with 20km run and ended with swordsmanship training, which still had no use for me, while i kept training using my father's method, the so called Instructor kept saying that i am doing wrong and that i should fix things i did etc, it made me go almost crazy!
And with these thoughts 3 Months went by and it was time for first test..