The training hall rang with raucous cheers as the assembled marines urged on the powerfully built man seated at one end of the table. Vice Admiral Dalmatian grinded his teeth, veins bulging in his thick neck as he focused all his intensity on the task at hand. His zoan-enhanced muscles strained as he poured every ounce of his prodigious strength into the contest before him.
At the opposite end, Monkey D. Luffy had a challenging grin at his uniformed opponent. The pirate captain had to put in effort, this was a Vice Admiral after all. So of course he would be a challenge. But even then, Luffy was slowly pushing him down.
"C'mon boss! You can take this rubber freak!" One of the marine soldiers shouted, one from the Dalmatian's man no less. But even then it didn't help much.
"No one beats the boss!" Another one cheered.
The marines crowded around Dalmatian, shouting encouragement to their commander. They cast scornful glares at Luffy and his piratical ilk – Roronoa Zoro, Sani, and Coby looked decidedly unimpressed by the marines' hubris.
Dalmatian snarled, face reddening. "You're going down, pirate scum!" He poured every fiber of zoan might into his straining arm, seeking to crush Luffy's hand through main strength.
"Shishishi… we'll see…"
Vines bludged, muscles inflated with new blood, and surprisingly Luffy stopped for a second. Droplets of sweat beaded Dalmatian's brow. His muscles twitched and strained like coiled steel cables being stretched to their limits. Yet still, that infuriating grin taunted him from across the table.
Luffy couldn't help but chuckle. "Wow, you're really trying aren't ya?"
The marine's eye twitched, with an enraged bellow, Dalmatian triggered his full zoan transformation. White fur with and black sots rippled across swelling muscles. Deadly claws extended from his fingertips, scrabbling for purchase on Luffy's hand.
His dog zoan boosting his abilities to another level.
Gasps arose from the gathered marines as the cheers got louder. In his hybrid beast form, Dalmatian redoubled his titanic strength, the metal table underneath groaned as the pressure intensified.
If it was any other table, it wouldn't have lasted this long, but it was especially made to test strength in the marines. Mainly calculating doriki. So it could stand quite a bit of punishment.
Coby gritted their teeth anxiously, sending his own cheers to his captain. Only Zoro seemed unperturbed, arms folded over his chest as he observed the contest. Luffy's smile actually widened, relishing the challenge.
Ever so slowly, despite Dalmatian's increasingly bestial efforts, the vice admiral's arm began to bend back. Gasps turned to cries of dismay among the watching marines as inch by inch, Luffy asserted his dominance.
"Shishishi… you are fun and strong."
Dalmatian's other hand that was holding the table dug in with his claws as he tried everything to not let his struggling arm fall. Sadly it wasn't enough.
With a final burst of power, Luffy slammed Dalmatian's hand down in a thunderous impact that shook the training hall.
"I-I lost?"
"You are strong! Shishshi… but I'm stronger" Luffy laughed, raising both arms gleefully.
Beside him, Coby whooped while Zoro smirked.
The marines stared, dumbstruck by the defeat of their commanding officer. Dalmatian regained human form, clutching his battered hand with a look of utter disbelief.
"But…but how? You must have cheated!" He spat accusingly.
Luffy just grinned, cracking his knuckles. "Nope! I'm just strong." he said, "And you aren't half bad either…"
Grumbling bitterly, Dalmatian stood up. Even though Luffy meant those words, it was hard to take in from a kid half of his age, especially after losing to him.
Luffy also stood up, extending his hand, "That was a good match."
"I'll beat you next time," he said, with a bit of bitterness. But there was a hint of respect in it.
Dalmatian like the other vice admirals were tall. Just short of nine feet in hight, but he was a head shorter than Luffy, who was standing at an impressive ten feet.
Of course, this wasn't Luffy true hight, but he was keeping himself at that height while he stayed here. Mainly for the intimidation factor.
And also it worked as training as well. Since this was the main hight he fought in when going Gear Four Lion man. Getting used to it might help in the long run.
The swordsman stepped forward, "It's my turn…" he said, to the marines, "Anyone's up for challenge?"
While Luffy was unbeatable, the same couldn't be said for Zoro. Well, technically he was unbeatable. Zoro was strong, no doubt there, but there were a few close calls when the rare admirals challenged him, the previous day. So some wanted to test their luck.
Luffy moved back, grinning thinking about the past week. It's already been that long since he was staying here. The marines were almost used to them.
Luffy also took the time to navigate and walk through the important places here. Marineford wasn't anything special. Just an island with overpowered marines bunching together.
There wasn't anything much to do here, actually. He couldn't train or go all out here. The few pirate ships that him and his crew busted were also kind of weak.
In actually Coby was having a lot of 'fun' here than anyone. Every time any islands near Marineford had any powerful pirate sightings, Garp would take him there to show the 'true justice' of the marines. So he was getting quite strong in those moments.
Luffy unfortunately couldn't do that. Why? Well, for him they weren't much of a challenge. But he did get out of Marineford alongside Zoro, Kuina, Sanji, and Coby to fight rowdy pirate groups.
Technically as a warlord, he did work for the world government so sometimes Sengoku would request a few pirate crew that he needed to take out.
He could of course deny the requests, but he didn't. It was boring as it, so why not. And Morgan was using that opportunity to publish every accomplishment he did in his newspapers.
In all honesty, all of the pirate groups he fought were weak. Even new-world pirates weren't much of a challenge for Zoro, Kuina, and Sanji. So he was kind of eager to get back with all of his crew.
And he could after tomorrow's meeting. 'Tomorrow should be interesting… I wonder how I should try to recruit Jinbe?' Luffy mused, thoughtfully. 'But then again, my reputation might work against me… Jinbe did seem cautious about the other warlords… hmm… I wonder if Ace spoke to him about me. Eh… I will think about that later. I had Hatchan on my crew. Maybe he could convince him. Who knows?'
He was trying to make a good impression towards the marines for now. While many marines viewed him in a good light, just because of the newspapers, some were still skeptical. That's why he was trying to keep up a good image.
Zoro beat another opponent as the marines groaned. The swordsman in question grinned. "Anyone else up for it?"
"Me!" One answered and Luffy frowned when he recognized the voice. It was a bit hard to see since a lot of marines were cowding the place, but soon they parted The marines parted as a purple-haired marine walked towards them. A grin on his face, "You up for a match, Mr. Warlord?"
"Huh, if it isn't Sinbad… didn't know you wanted to lose that badly."
Vice Admiral Sinbad in question snorted, "Yeah, we'll see about that…"
He said looking at Luffy. Wanting to challenge him, Luffy couldn't help himself as a predatory grin dawned his own face. Maybe this would be a challenge
But before that, Zoro spoke up, "Oi, it's my turn." he said to both Sinbad and Luffy. He then narrowed his eyes towards the marine, "I'm much, much stronger than before."
"Huh, would you look at that, two cabbage heads against one another?" Sanji chimed in earning glares from both Zoro and Sinbad.
Hearing that Luffy and a few others laughed, mainly Sinbad's colleagues. X-Drake and Ain. But there was another one laughing.
"That's a good one Sanji." Someone said from behind Ain, a blue-haired girl who wasn't a marine, "But Yeah, Sinny… don't underestimate Zoro. He's strong."
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