Chương 25: 00025. Unexpected trouble.

Early the next morning Zephyr woke up and prepared to start his day. There was still over an hour before dawn. But he was always the first to get up before he checked on the trainees to make sure they were also getting up. He didn't stay at the training camp though and had his own house hidden on the island.

After he dressed, he quickly left to go to the training camp and found Garp's grandchildren already awake and training. He frowned slightly as he watched them, since they were currently running as they carried overly large packs strapped to their backs.

He shook his head, they weren't his trainees or grand kids, why should he care about how they trained? Zephyr went inside the barracks and found his son as he tried to wake the others up. He smiled slightly to himself before he yelled out, "Trainees! I want you outside and ready in five minutes!"

His voice was so loud it shook the building slightly and even made some of the trainees fall out of their bunks. He smiled to himself as he turned around and walked outside to wait for everyone. Within minutes everyone was lined up outside as they waited for Zephyr's instructions.

He glanced over the trainees and noticed a few half asleep or not properly dressed, but overall it wasn't that bad. After a few moments Zephyr pointed towards the trail Garp's grandsons took as he said, "I want you to run laps through that trail till breakfast. I expect everyone to complete at least five laps!"

His son responded first as he said, "Yes, sir!" Before he moved towards the trail. The other trainees quickly followed up and within moments all of them were gone.

Zephyr followed along a few minutes later to make sure none of them slacked off. He also wanted to see how quickly the group caught up to Garp's grandsons. The trail they used was a little over two miles long and it looped around the outside of all the training courses.

As Zephyr jogged down the trail he thought about how he should schedule the spars between Garp's grandsons and the trainees. He didn't want to overwhelm the boys, but he also needed to give them a challenge. After five minutes Zephyr finally encountered a few of his slower trainees and once they noticed Zephyr, they quickly increased their pace.

It was about ten minutes later when he encountered a few more trainees, but that was it. Garp's grandsons carried such heavy packs, he was sure they should have met by now. Another five minutes passed before he heard, "What time is breakfast, oldman?"

Zephyr whipped his head around to scold whoever just talked but froze in place for a moment. Behind him were all of Garp's grandsons, but how did they get there? He was sure he would have noticed them if they took a break somewhere.

Ace, the one in the lead, said, "Hey oldman, are you okay?"

"Who are you calling oldman you little brat? And where did you come from? I know I didn't see you on the trail." Zephyr asked with a frown.

"It's because you're slow, this is our second lap." Ace said as the boys all caught up with him.

"Second lap?" Zephyr asked.

Marcus nodded as he said, "Yeah, we normally do ten laps before breakfast. That's why Ace asked when it was, in case we needed to increase our pace."

"Breakfast should be ready in an hour or so from now." Zephyr said as the boys started to pass him.

Ace waved as he said, "Alright thanks for the information oldman."

"You little brat, I told you I'm not old!" Zephyr yelled after the boys who increased their speed and were already fifty feet ahead of him.

Ace raised a hand in the air and gave a thumbs up as he said, "Whatever you say oldman."

Zephyr gritted his teeth before he said, "It's Garp's grandson, you knew it would be like this."

A minute later all the boys were out of sight as they continued to increase their pace. As Zephyr kept running, he didn't see anyone for the next ten minutes. When Zephyr finally met another person on the trail, they came from behind him as they said, "On your left oldman!"

Zephyr wanted to punch the little brat but still moved slightly to the right before the boys sped past him. Zephyr watched the boys in shock as he realized they just ran over two miles in about ten minutes. Just what the hell was wrong with Garp's grandchildren?

He watched them a little bit yesterday and thought he knew how strong they were. But this… This just didn't make sense to him. Just how hard has Garp pushed these kids when he trained them? Weren't they all under ten years old?

As Zephyr thought about how Garp trained the boys he heard people as they approached from behind him. A few moments later his son appeared along with a handful of others and started to pass him. Zephyr smiled for a moment before he schooled his face as he thought, 'It looks like those boys will be useful.'

It was about an hour later when everyone finished running and Zephyr was happy. While Garp's grandchildren completed ten laps, Nicholas and some of the trainees finished six laps and looked a little haggard. The rest barely completed five laps and were about to collapse, they would need more training.

After Nicholas and his group finished, they walked over to the brothers who stood in front of the makeshift buffet line. Once they were close Nicholas said, "That was pretty good. How many laps did you complete?"

Ace glanced over towards Nicholas as he said, "Just our normal ten."

Another boy next to Nicholas puffed out his chest as he said, "We'll be able to do that soon enough."

Ace couldn't help himself as he laughed at the boy before he said, "You should already be able to run ten laps without issue."

Ace pointed over to the backpack he used as he said, "I bet you couldn't run a single lap with that on your back."

"It's just a backpack, I could easily do it." The boy said before he moved towards it to pick it up.

Once there the boy grabbed the pack and went to lift it up but struggled to even budge it. He started to sweat as he attempted to lift the pack and after a few moments turned back to look at Ace as he said, "Bullshit. There is no way you used this pack on your run, it has to weigh at least two hundred pounds."

Ace wore a confident smirk as he walked over to the pack and casually lifted it off the ground. Everyone around him was stunned as he said, "It's two hundred and fifty pounds."

"How is that even possible? Doesn't that weigh more than you?" Nicholas asked in disbelief.

Ace dropped the pack back down as he said, "Ya, but we all worked our way up to this weight."

The rest of breakfast went smoothly as Nicholas and his group chatted with Ace and the others. Once they finished eating, Ace and his group split off to train as Zephyr took the trainees to the obstacle courses. Once they were settled in, he let his assistants take over while he went to check in on Garp's grandsons.

What he found left him speechless as he watched the boys do his normal training regiment at a breakneck pace. It wasn't just the speed but they were all weighted down as they did it. Zephyr watched them till they finished and still didn't believe it. They easily completed a workout that took a normal marine all day to complete.

During lunch Zephyr thought about who he could pit against the boys in spars and realized none of the trainees would be a challenge for the little monsters. Actually who said they needed to spar with only one person at a time Zephyr thought as he smiled.

After lunch finished Zephyr said, "Hey you little brats. Are you ready to spar?"

Ace nodded before he glanced at Luffy as he said, "Looks like you'll finally be able to beat someone in a spar."

Luffy frowned slightly as he said, "I've beat Marcus before."

Sabo patted Luffy's shoulder as he said, "That's because he takes it easy on you."

"No he doesn't! I win fair and square, right Marcus?" Luffy asked as he turned to look at his brother.

Marcus moved one hand behind his back and crossed his fingers as he said, "Yup, I never hold back when we fight."

Luffy nodded his head as he said, "I told you!"

Ace and Sabo snickered before Zephyr said, "Come over here you brats."

Zephyr led everyone to the dirt ring that acted as a sparring arena. It was located in the same clearing as the barracks, but it was on the other side. Once there he pointed to Luffy as he said, "You're up first, let's see what you got."

Luffy stuck out his tongue at Ace as he moved into the arena and waited for his opponent. Zephyr glanced over everyone before he pointed at three of the weakest trainees as he said, "You three, go up."

After they made it into the arena, one of them asked, "Who is supposed to fight him first, sir?"

Zephyr smiled as he said, "All of you. Now stop wasting time and fight."

"But isn't that unfair, sir?" One of them said before Luffy knocked him out with a single punch. The other two followed their companion a moment later before they even realized what was going on.

Luffy held up the peace sign as he stood over his defeated opponents and asked, "Who's next?"

What followed was basically a one sided beatdown as Luffy took down almost thirty trainees before Zephyr switched out Luffy for Marcus. Marcus easily defeated another twenty people before Zephyr sent out one of the better prospects of the training camp.

As the person came forward, Eternal Rest which currently rested on Marcus's back started to shake. At first Marcus didn't understand why until he looked at the person in front of him.

He stood a foot taller than Marcus and wore glasses that covered his eyes. His black hair was mostly hidden by the hat he wore, but it couldn't hide his distinct lightning bolt like sideburns. The most notable thing that alarmed Marcus was the half eaten sausage patty stuck to the side of the boy's face.

Marcus's blood ran cold as he took in Vergo's appearance and was only pulled out of his thoughts when Zephyr said, "Fight!"

The older boy charged at Marcus with an attack, Marcus attempted to dodge but Vergo was faster and seemed to have more experience fighting as he landed a solid blow on his stomach. The wind was completely knocked out of Marcus and the blow lifted him off his feet and tossed him over ten feet away. Where he rolled across the ground a few times before he came to a stop.

Marcus thought about getting back up but instead stayed down, he didn't need to continue fighting today. When Marcus didn't move to stand back up Zephyr asked, "Is that all you got?"

Marcus took a little longer before he sat up and nodded his head. Zephyr looked at the boy in disappointment before he said, "Fine, get out of the ring."

"You're next, get in the ring." Zephyr said as he pointed at Sabo.

As Marcus moved next to his brothers Luffy said, "I beat more than you and didn't lose a fight, that means I'm stronger than you."

Marcus patted Luffy on the back as he said, "Of course, Luffy. But quiet down for now and let's watch Sabo fight."

Luffy moved a little closer to the ring to watch the next fight as Ace stood next to Marcus and asked in a hushed tone of voice, "What was that? Why did you lose on purpose?"

As they watched Sabo fight with Vergo, Marcus said, "My sword was shaking."

Ace kept looking forward towards the fight but his eyes shifted slightly to glance at Marcus as he asked, "Like when we fight people with bounties?"

"Yeah."

Ace's eyes narrowed as he asked, "What do you want to do?"

"Let's talk to Gramps about it, he'll know what to do." Marcus said as he clenched his fists.