Worldwide Smoke filed into the dojo. It was a massive room, walls decorated with all kinds of karate belts and flags of the Ryugu Kingdom. There were all sorts of training dummies and weights, along with piles and piles of bricks. Along the right wall was a mirror for students to watch their form with. Other than that, the main room was surprisingly barren, devoid of all people except the fifty-eight members of Worldwide Smoke. In the back was the master. He was an electric eel Fishman a bit taller than Shaska, with brown skin, shaggy white hair, a long neck, and a dirty, white karate gi with a black belt. He stood there with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.

Shaska walked up to him, puffing on her cigar, and said "Eh… what's up, Funagyoshi?"

"You have a lot of nerve showing up here again, Shaska," Funagyoshi growled. "And it's Master Funagyoshi to you!"

He pulled out Shaska's wanted poster. "I have trained people who went on to become wanted criminals… but their crimes are nothing compared to what you've done."

"Hey! Accused of doing."

"And not only that, the queen tells me you want to not only be trained again, but you want me to train dozens of HUMANS, too? At the expense of my other students?"

"I was wondering why there was no one else here…" Shaska mused, blowing smoke.

Funagyoshi grabbed her cigar and snuffed it on the wall behind him. "And may I remind you that this is a non-smoking establishment!"

As he turned back to face Shaska, she already had another lit cigar in her mouth, much to his annoyance. "Grrrr!"

"Look, Master Funagyoshi, I need to get my employees in top shape to a world-class fighting force. And I don't have long to do it. You're the only one I could think of who could help me."

She held up the burlap sack she was carrying and opened it. It was filled to the brim with wads of cash. "I'm sure this will be enough to cover it. Six months of almost nonstop training for nearly five dozen people will cost a pretty berry."

Funagyoshi pulled out one of the cash wads and started flipping through it. "How much is this?"

"A billion berries."

Funagyoshi's eyebrows shot up, but his expression didn't soften. "Hm…"

"Don't forget, you're on orders from the royal family right now. Actually paying you is a courtesy."

"Tell me, Shaska, what do you actually need me for?" Funagyoshi asked, putting the cash wad back. "You're already the strongest student I've ever trained. Only 'First Son of the Sea' Jimbei has come close to your power."

"Well, Jimbei's busy with his piracy right now, last I heard. He's much harder to track down. Besides, I need someone who is skilled at teaching, not just ass-kicking," Shaska said with a puff of her cigar. "I can't teach fifty-odd people by myself. You, on the other hand, can."

"And you want me to teach humans? After they've enslaved us for centuries? And murdered the hero Fisher Tiger? Honestly, Shaska, I don't know what's in your head!"

"A billion berries is a billion berries," said Shaska. "More to the point, though, I've worked with humans my entire career. They have the same wants and desires as anyone else. Namely, money. And even more to the point, did the queen not fill you in on why I need this training…?"

"She told me about an evil organization bent on world domination. But I fail to see how that affects Fishman Isla-"

"Sooner or later, they will come for Fishman Island. Minus World is spreading through the surface world like a poison. I've personally seen the end results of their ideology; they ain't pretty," Shaska explained.

Funagyoshi closed his eyes and thought for a moment.

"These humans here haven't enslaved anyone," Shaska said. "Most of them were basically slaves themselves. Hell, the one with the snake actually was a slave at one point. So, c'mon. Make a billion berries, help save the world. This shouldn't be hard, Funagyoshi."

"Fine. We'll start tomorrow," said Funagyoshi.

Shaska responded by pulling out a wad of cash from her jacket and throwing it at him. "We start today."

"Today, then," Funagyoshi said, catching the money. "We should have enough gis for all of you. Get changed and then we'll start."

—-

The members of Worldwide Smoke changed into their gis and gathered back in the main room of the dojo. The fifty Mercury Collective survivors sat in five rows of ten, while the seven officers sat up front. Schwarz, Ren, and Zinnia were allowed to keep their weapons; Johnson wasn't due to its highly advanced nature. They sat on their knees with their hands in their laps, ready for instruction. The women who had long hair had it tied back. At the very front was Shaska, who was actually wearing her hair down despite usually wearing it tied back.

Funagyoshi stepped out, flanked by two other fishmen, a blobfish and a clownfish fishman, both in gis with red belts. The blobfish (Sogyon) and clownfish (Masagyoshi) stood six feet tall and eight feet tall, respectively, and they knelt down in front of Worldwide Smoke.

"I hope you don't mind, but I brought my two best students here to train you, too," said Funagyoshi.

"As long as they can take a beating," said Shaska, cracking her knuckles.

"It's really annoying we have to put our training on hold just for a bunch of criminals," said Sogyon.

"Human criminals, at that," Masagyoshi added.

"They're paying good money," said Funagyoshi. "And it's what the queen wants. We have no other choices."

"What, you guys scared?" Schwarz asked with a smug smile.

"Pfft. Hardly. Humans are pathetically weak compared to us fishmen," said Sogyon, dismissively.

"Not necessarily," said Zinnia. "The women of Amazon Lily are quite unbeatable. Our empress earned herself an eighty million berry bounty with only a single campaign, and is now the strongest woman on the planet."

"I'll believe it when I see it," said Masagyoshi.

"How about this, why don't you test your strength against my top students?" Funagyoshi suggested.

Schwarz stood up, pointed at Sogyon, and said "you and me, ugly. I'll take you to school."

Sogyon stood up too, and their eyes locked, and sparks flew between their gazes.

"Let's keep this friendly, guys. A friendly sparring match," Funagyoshi said, moving to the side and out of their way.

Schwarz drew his sword, not breaking eye contact with Sogyon's beady, black eyes.

"Gyohoho…" Sogyon chuckled.

"What?"

"Hmph. It's amusing to me. You can't win without a tool," Sogyon jeered.

"Heh. If that's how it's gonna be…" Schwarz replied, sheathing his sword. "I can beat you hand to hand just fine."

Schwarz lunged forward with a punch, but Sogyon's eyes flashed red, and he grabbed Schwarz's fist. Sogyon then twisted Schwarz's arm around, causing him to scream in pain.

"Dammit! That was Haki, wasn't it?!" Schwarz shouted, unable to break free.

"You're lucky I didn't shatter your bones with my Shark Grip technique," Sogyon said.

Schwarz struggled to break free, but was still unable to.

"Why don't you give up, human?" Sogyon asked derisively.

"Because I still got loads of tricks up my sleeve…"

Schwarz spawned a hole between Sogyon's feet, then one above his head. As Sogyon fell through, Schwarz called "NEGATIVE EDGE!", intending to close the holes as he fell through. However, Sogyon's body became pitch black and shiny (invisible to Schwarz), and he just stood on the holes without being sliced in half. He was still forced to release his grip, however.

"What?! How did yo-?"

"So you still need to cheat with Devil Fruit powers, eh, human?" Sogyon asked. "Pathetic."

Sogyon opened his mouth wide and swallowed the upper half of Schwarz's body, holding him in place with his incredibly muscular lips. Worldwide Smoke was rightly disgusted by this, with Puerco's cheeks swelling up with vomit (again).

"The hell is THIS?!" Schwarz shouted, his voice heavily muffled by Sogyon's body. Sogyon wasted no time in repeatedly pounding Schwarz's gut with his Haki-enhanced fists.

Sogyon released his grip on Schwarz, who stumbled around in a daze, coughing up blood. Sogyon then finished the bout with a roundhouse kick to Schwarz's face.

"TWO THOUSAND BRICK ROUNDHOUSE!" he called as his foot connected to Schwarz's chin, sending the latter flying into the wall, leaving a visible crack. Schwarz was left unconscious. Sogyon simply bowed to his master, and then turned to Shaska.

"These are the pathetically weak humans you consort with? How disgusting."

"You're one to talk, blobby," Shaska retorted.

Zinnia held up her hand and said "excuse me. I would like to try my hand next."

Sogyon sat down and Masagyoshi stood up. "I will fight you," he said. "But don't expect me to hold back just because you're a woman. A human woman, at that."

"I would be insulted if you did," Zinnia said with a bow as she stood up.

"Is the snake gonna fight, too?"

"She is my best friend and my weapon of choice. But I am also a skilled practitioner of Kuja wushu if you would like me to fight barehanded like Mister Schwarz did."

Masagyoshi scoffed and said "come at me however you like. You're still just a human."

"As you wish," Zinnia said as Ruth uncoiled from around her and assumed her bo staff form.

Zinnia dashed forward and thrust Ruth's head at Masagyoshi, who deflected it with a palm strike. Zinnia followed up with a flip forward, going for a leg sweep as she landed, but Masagyoshi's eyes flashed red, and he managed to jump over her foot. She attempted an upward thrust at Masagyoshi's chin, but Masagyoshi once again deflected. This time, he capitalized on her miss by punching her square in the nose.

"One Thousand Brick Fist!" he called as the attack connected.

Zinnia went flying backward, crashing into the back wall of the dojo. As she picked herself up and wiped the blood away from her now broken nose, Masagyoshi dashed forward, leapt over the crowd of Worldwide Smoke, then delivered a flying kick to her gut.

"Shark Flight!" he called as he drove his heel into her gut, driving her into the wall and leaving a visible crack in it.

Zinnia keeled over and began coughing up blood, but Masagyoshi wouldn't relent. Instead, he picked her up by the throat.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Funagyoshi shouted as his student raised his hand for a knife-edge chop. "If you hurt her anymore, she won't be able to train!"

Masagyoshi dropped Zinnia, who landed with a thud and a weak "ow" a few moments later.

Funagyoshi then turned to Shaska.

"Shaska, these are your strongest fighters?"

"There's the bald guy, too," Shaska said nonchalantly.

"I'll pass, darling," Lulupo said.

Funagyoshi crossed his arms and said "it looks like we have one hell of a way to go in six months, then. If all these people have to be a well-trained fighting force… you guys are gonna have to put a lot of work in."

Funagyoshi picked up a brick from the nearby pile and said "alright then, how's this for motivation? No one eats until someone breaks this brick."

"That it?" Shaska asked. She held out her hand and blasted her Haki at the brick, causing it to shatter. A frustrated Funagyoshi went and picked up another.

"Anyone besides Shaska, the blond kid, the snake girl, or the bald guy, has to break one of these bricks," he explained, before crushing it in his hand and picking up another one.

Murmurs began to arise over the rest of Worldwide Smoke.

"Are we gonna starve…?"

"What else is new…"

"And for the record," Funagyoshi added. "I can break ten thousand of these in a row. Shaska here can probably do even more. You won't be ready until you can break these bricks a thousand times over."

Murmurs of self-doubt continued to wash over the students, until Roxanne stood up and said "I'll do it."

"Interesting…" said Funagyoshi. His eyes flashed red for a brief moment. "Very interesting… I don't sense very much power from you, girl. Impress me."

He held out the brick as Roxanne stepped forward. "Try not to break your hand," he added.

Roxanne focused and took a deep breath. All eyes were on her. She had only been training with Lulupo for a week, but as far as she knew, she was the only one besides the four people mentioned that could possibly break the brick.

"You can do it, darling!" Lulupo exclaimed. "Just think of that horrible princess!"

Something triggered in Roxanne's mind as he said that: the memories of her happy life with Andy, followed by the cheerful grin on Balthasar von Rusila's face as she brutally murdered him. Roxanne's eyes shot open as she raised her hand and brought it down on the brick as hard as she could.

"HI-YA!"

And to everyone's surprise, the brick broke. Of course, Roxanne had to pull her hand back and blow on it. It was her first time breaking anything, and it hurt like hell.

"Well, color me impressed!" Funagyoshi exclaimed. "You have the air of a housewife. A human housewife. Yet you managed to break the brick!"

"Haaaa… thanks? I guess?" Roxanne said, nursing her pulsating hand.

"Well, thanks to the housewife here, you all get dinner tonight!" said Funagyoshi.

"Good job, lady!" called Freddie.

"Thanks a bunch!" said another voice.

"When's dinner?!" shouted another member of the crowd.

"What do you mean, 'when's dinner'?" Funagyoshi asked. "It's still light outside! You still have boatloads more training to do for the day!"

The non-officer students collectively groaned at this.

"Hm. This reminds me of basic training for the Marines," Johnson mused.

"But first…" said Funagyoshi. "I'd like to go a round with you, Shaska. See what's changed since I last saw you."

Shaska nodded and blew smoke, then said "fine by me."

"But this dojo might be a little small for fighters of our caliber," she added with a sly smile.

TO BE CONTINUED