"Huff… huff…" Ethan panted heavily, feeling his heart burn as if on fire. The world spun before his eyes.
The sun blazed overhead, sweat pouring down his back like rain, soaking his uniform. Yet Ethan clenched his teeth and kept jogging, gasping for air.
His legs felt like they no longer belonged to him. He longed to sit, to rest even for a moment but the thought barely surfaced before he crushed it with sheer will.
An hour passed. Most recruits had finished their hundred laps, collapsed on the ground, exhausted. Akainu, Kizaru, and Green-Axis looked the most relaxed. Next came future Vice Admirals like Oni-Spider, Itachi, and Akashi Yamashita. Though still young, they were strong.
"That monster does he plan to run himself to death?" Momoko, Tsuru's sworn sister and a future candidate for Marine Admiral, stared in shock. Across the training field, a soaked young man continued to jog, his ragged breaths audible from a kilometer away.
"Hmph. He's asking for it. Overtraining like this will destroy his body sooner or later." A rough-faced youth sneered, eyes full of hostility. He had been infatuated with Momoko, who had just shown concern for Ethan, and it made him uncomfortable.
"Jotaro, how can you say that?" Momoko squinted, clearly angry.
"But if he keeps pushing like this, it's dangerous. This kid has been here only a week, and he's already fainted five or six times from training this level of determination is unheard of." Another stern-faced teen admired Ethan. Though he himself was an Animal-type Devil Fruit user with strong regenerative abilities, Ethan's intensity stunned him.
"This is such a pain…" Green-Axis yawned lazily, standing up and brushing dust from his uniform. He let out a long, cold exhale.
"What are you doing, Green-Axis?" Akainu's deep voice cut through the air. The young Marine barely twenty, had already eaten the Magma-Magma Fruit, though his power was still developing.
"Look at that lonely guy seems like he finally found a friend." Another young man, the lecherous Kizaru, chimed in.
Both looked down on Ethan. As natural-type Devil Fruit users, they considered themselves inherently superior, while Ethan possessed only a seemingly ordinary Ancient Zoan.
To Akainu, no matter how hard Ethan worked, he would never surpass a Logia-type Devil Fruit user. For them, Animal-type users were easy to dismiss.
Moreover, Ethan was reserved and solitary. Besides training, he interacted with almost no one. Perhaps Green-Axis was his only true companion.
"Being around this kind of person is exhausting," Green-Axis muttered. He ignored Akainu, rubbing his head before following Ethan. Ethan had already run 120 laps.
Hearing footsteps behind him, Ethan turned, gasping. "Huff… huff… what are you doing?"
"I'm keeping you company. I hate seeing you alone," Green-Axis shrugged. This was sincere he genuinely wanted to befriend Ethan.
"Then give me some cool air I'm burning up," Ethan said, chest pounding like a drum.
Heat radiated from him.
"You…" Green-Axis's expression darkened. White frost erupted from his body, chilling the air instantly. Ethan shivered, feeling revitalized, as if reborn.
"For the first time, your ability is really useful like a natural popsicle," Ethan admitted.
"Don't talk to me, or I might hit you," Green-Axis gritted his teeth. His words were sharp first time Ethan noticed the effect? Natural ice sticks? Did he think he was a freezer?
Watching Ethan and Green-Axis push themselves, Momoko stood, inspired. "Maybe I should start training harder too," she thought, following them.
"Momoko… you…" Jotaro looked irritated but trailed behind her.
Soon, Yamashita, Oni-Spider, and other trainees began running as well. A wave of training enthusiasm swept the field. Some, like Akainu and Kizaru, did not join; to them, Natural-type Devil Fruit users were not worth the effort.
Zephyr observed silently. He understood that true strength wasn't determined solely by a Devil Fruit. Every power was built on physical conditioning.
If a Devil Fruit was the skyscraper, the body was the foundation. Only a solid base could support reaching the clouds. For anyone with Haki, even Logia-type powers were as fleeting as air.
Akainu and Kizaru hadn't grasped this yet, relying too heavily on their fruits, unaware that true strength came from within. Perhaps Zephyr had warned them, but clearly, they had not listened they were too young.
"Ha… ha… 148… 149… Only one lap left," Ethan counted, soaked in sweat, collapsed as if his bones had melted, chest heaving violently.
"Well done. Not only did you finish 100 laps, but you ran an extra 50 excellent, truly excellent." Zephyr smiled for the first time, impressed by the overachievement of the recruits.
"Rest here for two hours. Then carry heavy iron blocks and do a thousand squats. Rules are the same: no finishing, no food." His expression was stern. Yamazuka and others were shocked at the next phase of training. Nearly everyone collapsed, crying, but no one dared challenge Zephyr's authority.
"Sir, may I continue?" Ethan asked quietly, sitting up, eyes calm.
"Yes. You exceeded the quota, spent extra energy refuel," Zephyr nodded, turning to a servant. "Prepare fifty meals and deliver them within twenty minutes."
"Yes, Vice Admiral Zephyr."
"Sir, we want food too."
"All who overachieved get to eat," Zephyr added. "Add fifty more portions then."
Ethan knew that with ample food and his Devil Fruit recovery, he could regain half his strength in two hours, enough for the next task.
Twenty minutes later, a mountain of food nearly filled the room. Ethan grabbed handfuls, devouring it furiously. The pile visibly shrank.
Thanks to his Devil Fruit, he could consume enormous quantities and extract nutrition as if by magic. A normal meal now equated to dozens of portions not even counting post-training bingeing.
"Gurgle… gurgle…" It was as if he hadn't eaten in eight lifetimes. Plates stacked around him, towering higher.
Everyone watching felt their scalps tingle. They had seen this before, but it never failed to shock them.
After finishing, Ethan sat cross-legged, faint flames flickering across his body. He had discovered two days prior that clearing his mind during rest strengthened both the temperature and control of his flames.
He had established a strict routine: daytime for physical, Haki, and Devil Fruit training though he had yet to formally start Haki while evenings focused on refining his Devil Fruit power.
He refused to waste a moment, wishing each day could stretch into a year. Every session, he overachieved, because only by exhausting himself could he stop worrying about Lily's safety.