At the Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
You can see a large number of the headquarters' employees running and training in a wide square.
The group split off from the others and continued to widen the distance between themselves and the others at the back. "How do I catch up to them?" a young, handsome youth thought.
Erebus made a tired expression as he looked ahead.
"Even some of the Marine recruits are catching on; this joke is just too much."
Just a month ago, Erebus found himself inexplicably in the world of One Piece. He also became the future Admiral Sakuzuki A.K.A Akainu, nephew and the enemy of all pirates.
This is eleven years after the Golden Age of Piracy.
Erebus was so scared when he arrived here; it wasn't that surprising. After all, if you suddenly found yourself in another world, anyone would feel scared. The world of One Piece is his favorite world. He couldn't help but get excited when he thought about the devil fruits abilities and the swords that could cut mountains like nothing.
Well, Erebus thinks this is a perfect start. After all, he is Akainu's nephew. He was close to the world's strongest people.
But who would have thought that just two days after arriving here, he would be thrown into Marineford's training camp?
Originally, Erebus didn't feel great about going to the Marine training camp; he estimated that all the people there didn't know about Rokushiki.
The problem is that they don't understand it as well as Erebus; even though they are all more powerful than him.
The others had been there for a month, and even though he worked hard to catch up, it was still difficult to do so.
This left Erebus helpless.
"This is the Marines' headquarters; here, most of the recruits are elite. Even the admiral-level officers, such as Sengoku and Zephyr, began their careers at this training camp."
Thinking to this point, Erebus felt hopeless as well.
Just… if he cannot be outstanding in this training camp, he estimated that if he were to go out and face any normal pirate he would get slapped to death. So Erebus thought about quitting.
He is now the nephew of Akainu, the "Mad Dog." In the future, the government will confront the revolutionary army. Garp chased the pirate king, Roger, who was the strongest in the world. There was also Luffy, Eustass's nephew, the original protagonist from One Piece.
Each one of them is so outstanding.
With such a background, it's no wonder that Erebus feels so pressured. After all, the Marines, the Pirates, and the Revolutionary Army all possess great power. Furthermore, even mere recruits are stronger than him, and maybe someday they will just start bullying him to vent their anger.
Even the Marine headquarters is not totally safe; in addition, the future wars, if I were to join, I would just die. If someday something wrong happens, I will be dead. I feel so wronged.
He shook his head in an attempt to forget all of this confusing and upsetting information.
"Those things are in the future; let's concentrate on training and getting stronger."
He felt so heavy after the training finished. Erebus sat down and closed his eyes. He stayed like that for a while before seeing a hazy space.
In the center of that space, he could clearly see a dry tree suspended in midair.
It exists in his head. This was how it was after his soul fused with the original's body. Erebus calls this the God of Trees.
If you look closely, you can see that this dry tree has a small square screen attached to its body, like a TV.
With a thought of Erebus, the screen lit up and a simple game-like system appeared on it.
The first stage: Withered God of the Tree 10 (did not meet the strengthening conditions).
Attribute: Attack Power 30
Stamina: 10 out of 10
"Why did the stamina stop rising even after all this training? Is 10 the limit?"
Erebus looked at the property bar and spoke to himself.
And it seems there isn't any system in place that would explain this to him. This system hasn't even talked to him once.
Erebus had been trying to discover its function all by itself for so long.
At first, it was like this: The First Stage: Withered God of the Tree 0.
After that, Erebus discovered that by practicing and fighting would increase the energy points and when those points reached a certain value, it would strengthen the Withered God of the Trees within his soul.
The strengthening goes from the Withered God of Tree 0 to a Withered God of Tree 1 and so on.
Initially, Erebus did not notice any changes, but when the power level reached 5, he could feel that his first power had significantly increased.
Until it reached 10, although Erebus was still at the bottom of the rankings, but you could feel that he wasn't someone who had just entered the scene.
Erebus believed he could rely on this system and strengthen himself infinitely, allowing him to stand above the Four Emperors and the Three Admirals.
Who would've thought that the strengthening would cease at 10? It seemed like it had reached the limit of strengthening and could no longer go on.
However, in the Properties Bar, it said "Did not meet the conditions for strengthening."
Erebus felt that if he fulfilled that condition, it would bring about a qualitative change in his powers.
But he hasn't found the way yet.
What is this so-called "condition"? What is it?
Erebus read the words and began to meditate once more.
The rest time was over, but Erebus still couldn't think of anything while the commander's voice reached his ears. So, he opened his eyes and returned to practice.
Soon after, another day of training had ended.
Erebus and the other recruits were not as weak as normal people. However, since his performance was poor, even if someone looked down on him, he would simply ignore them.
After the end of the training session, Erebus will leave the training grounds.
The Marine headquarters has a huge courtyard and can accommodate hundreds of thousands of people training in the square. Also, there is housing for the soldiers' families within the fortress below.
Of course, Erebus didn't live here.
He was taken by Sakazuki to Marineford; this is his new home now.
Sakazuki wasn't home. Erebus didn't know where his uncle had gone. He was too lazy to care. He took a shower and resumed studying the sword in his mind.
However, Erebus rushed out of the bathroom to see someone sitting on his sofa. His uncle had been missing for a week now. He didn't know when he would be back, but there he was.
At this time, Sakazuki was sitting there smoking his cigarette. When he saw Erebus, he frowned.
"How have you been in the last few days?"
Still the same as usual.
Luo Ya mumbled and then smiled a little while watching Sakazuki and said "I didn't see you for a week, but that frown is still there as usual, you old man."
Sakazuki's expression instantly stiffened and sparks of blood almost shot out.
This sentence was really well-said; it didn't seem like an insult at first, with his nephew smiling expression. It resulted in ten thousand points of internal injuries.
His mouth twitched as he stared at Erebus. Dark red magma flowed from his fist and he growled, "Erebus, you damned kid, do you really think I'll let you get away with this?"
"Tsundere as usual, huh? Haha!" Luo Ya laughed then shrugged his shoulders at Sakazuki before going back to his room.
But at this time, Sakazuki suddenly jumped at him and said, "Erebus, come and eat my magma."
This guy really wants to defeat me now.
In Erebus' mind, this idea suddenly appeared; to be honest, he had already experienced his magma fist several times.
But when he turned around, the thing that was in front of him wasn't Sakazuki's fist, but…
a simple yet elegant black sword!
