meditation.
This is a very magical state.
Coles used the breath-watching method taught by Instructor Kahn to balance his inner emotions by observing his inhalation and exhalation, and eventually entered a state of empty meditation.
The first day of meditation did not bring any improvement to Coles, but his heart, which was originally eager to become stronger, suddenly became calmer.
The days that followed were the same as usual.
He practiced gun skills, learned basic swordsmanship, and exercised during the day. He meditated for an hour at night and then practiced more to continuously widen the gap between himself and other recruits.
In addition to reducing Coles' sleep time, the Shadow Fruit also greatly enhances his perception in the shadow.
Therefore, during the extra training at night, his effectiveness was improved with half the effort.
Of course, in addition to these basic trainings, Coles also reserved time to develop Shadow Fruit moves and increase combat experience.
Developing the ability of the Shadow Fruit is not an easy task. First, one needs to understand the ability of the fruit clearly, and then the development of moves must also be in line with the extension of the ability.
Coles now has some ideas, but developing them is one thing and being able to use the moves to exert their power stably is another.
This requires a long period of practice.
…
Under the moonlight.
The cold wind blew quietly across the training ground.
A black shadow suddenly appeared on the training ground.
If the pirate Adulon were here, he would recognize this as his former companion, the pirate Atun.
However, now he is the Shadow Soldier Adun!
Coles stood not far away, holding a wooden sword in his hand, and gave orders to Atton.
"Come on, attack me!"
After one and a half months of recruit training, Coles wanted to see how he had improved.
Adun did not answer, nor did he take any action, because in the shadow soldier's deep consciousness, it is absolutely forbidden to attack the summoner.
Coles also noticed this problem, frowned slightly, and gave the order again.
"It's just a training match. Attack me."
Shadow soldier Atun thought for a moment, and finally followed the order seriously.
The next moment, Atton rushed towards Coles like a beast, just like the previous attack at the alley.
However, under the shadow.
Coles's perception and reaction speed had greatly improved, and he easily avoided the punch. At the same time, he began to counterattack with the wooden sword in his hand according to the basic swordsmanship taught by Instructor Kahn.
In just half a month.
Coles has already mastered the basics of swordsmanship, which means he has moved beyond the stage of just swinging his sword randomly and can now truly fight with the sword.
Under the starlight.
Two different figures, one white and one black, can be seen fighting in the training ground.
With his greatly improved reaction and perception, Coles instantly seized upon Atton's mistake and chopped it down fiercely with the wooden sword in his hand.
Kacha!
The wooden sword breaks!
Adun's shoulder was also cracked, but it recovered with the repair of shadow power.
Coles looked at the broken wooden sword in his hand and remained silent for a moment...
His power seems to be a little too great!
After throwing away the wooden sword.
Coles gave up using swordsmanship and engaged in close combat with Atton.
Coles' physical fitness far exceeds that of Atton, and his strength is enough to tear tigers and leopards apart alive, but he lacks combat experience.
However, with Atton, the pirate who once had a bounty of seven million, as his sparring partner, his combat experience is also improving rapidly.
In addition, Shadow Soldier Adun has other uses.
For example, being a target.
Under the moonlight, Coles slowly stretched out his right hand, grasped the power of shadow in his hand, and then threw it directly in the direction of Atton.
"Shadow Knight Spear!"
A black spear condensed by shadow energy suddenly stabbed out with a sound of breaking through the air.
Bang!
The knight's spear, which was pointed at the top and round at the bottom, directly penetrated Adun's body and shattered it into shadows.
Coles couldn't help but let out a long breath.
"Shadow Knight Lance" is an attacking move he developed, which was mainly inspired by the Western cavalry's charge with a knight's lance.
This move is quite powerful, but it is still somewhat unstable and requires a long time to try.
At nearly three in the morning.
Coles stopped sparring with Atton, called him back into the shadows, turned around and went to the bathhouse to take a shower, then returned to the recruit dormitory to rest.
The next day, the training was repeated again.
…
In the blink of an eye.
The time came to the third month of the recruit period.
The office on the sixth floor of the Navy Building was filled with smoke, making it almost impossible to see clearly.
Smoker leaned back on the sofa while smoking a cigar and reading the latest newspaper, which reported some major events and news happening in the world.
"Not long ago, the North Kingdom had just suppressed a period of counter-riots, and the king added a new "gun ban order", prohibiting civilians from privately owning guns."
"Portgas D. Ace! A pirate who has become famous since entering the Grand Line from the East China Sea!"
"In the windless area of the Grand Line, a ghost ship is suspected to have appeared, and many ships have disappeared inexplicably!"
At this moment, the wooden door of the office was knocked and a naval lieutenant walked in.
Smoker turned around and looked: "It's Kahn, what's going on?"
Kahn reported seriously.
"Colonel Smoker, the recruits have been training for two months. Their rudimentary combat capabilities have been formed. Now they can start sea training."
Smoker nodded as he flipped through the newspaper: "Okay, just take a patrol ship and take them for training."
Although the sea training will involve encounters and battles with real pirates, he is very confident in Kahn's strength and that there will basically be no problems with the new recruits.
"Yes, Colonel Smoker."
Kahn saluted and left.
When Kahn walked to the door, Smoker suddenly remembered something and immediately called Kahn.
"By the way, there's news from the Navy Headquarters that they are dissatisfied with your act of letting the pirate Jeff go. Although you haven't been demoted, your original promotion to Lieutenant Colonel has been cancelled."
Military merit is one of the necessary conditions for promotion of military rank in the navy. Without sufficient merit, it is impossible to be promoted to a higher rank.
"OK."
Faced with this result, Kahn accepted it calmly.
It’s not that he is not interested in promotion, but he never regrets the choices he made.
…
Rogue Town Port.
Under Kahn's leadership, fifty-four naval recruits were gathered on the shore, four of whom withdrew from the navy because they could not accept the training.
Amid the doubts and confusion of the recruits.
Kahn also began to speak: "What is the navy? Only soldiers who have experienced naval wars are real navy. In the last month of the recruit period, I will take you to the sea to fight against real pirates. Are you ready?"
“Ready!”
Hearing this, the recruits immediately became excited. After training for such a long time, they also wanted to see how strong they were now.
As for Coles, he has long wanted to fight with other pirates. After all, his strength has improved greatly during the two months of reverse training.
If there is a suitable opponent, it will be a good opportunity to verify the strength that I have improved through hard work over this period of time!
At this time, the sails have been unfurled.
Some naval forces were making preparations in an orderly manner on patrol ships.
Although smaller than standard naval vessels, patrol ships also have three decks and heavy guns, enough to confront several pirate ships head-on.
After confirming the situation of the patrol ship, Lieutenant Mod immediately ran over to report.
"Reporting to Major Kahn, the patrol ship's ammunition, weapons, medical supplies and food are fully stocked. With the addition of the fifty-four new recruits, the ship has reached the minimum standard of one hundred and twenty people."
Kahn did not arrange too many formal navy officers on the patrol ship, because this was a training arrangement for the navy recruits. If there were too many formal navy officers, it would not be effective in training the recruits.
"Okay, new recruits aboard, get ready to go!"
…