Chapter 24

Chapter 24: The rules of the competition

“Devil Fruit users … “Hearing Garp saying this Roja looked at him with interest . Although Roja is very familiar with many of the devil fruits ability he still didn’t see it in front of him after so long from coming to this world .

And talking about devil fruit Roja couldn’t help thinking about Haki . So he directly asked Garp .

“Can you teach me Haki then ?”

Garp thought for a moment then said: “Well you do have the basic qualifications to practice Haki, But you will have to enter the elite camp and Z will teach you that . ”

Because there were only a few days from the competition and that obviously not enough for Roja to learn Haki . Even more, Garp said he only had the qualification to learn . So Garp felt that there is no need to force the practice of Haki in those three days .

“Ok!”

Roja also knew that practicing Haki can’t be done in just a day or two .

“Well, I will adjust my myself to the new power in those three days then . ”

Garp nodded then turned around and left the courtyard leaving Roja alone there .

After some time Roja continued his practice . He could compress the air four times now so he will try compressing it five times .

This kind of training will be harder the more progress you make .

If he could compress the air fifteen times he will be one of the top swordmen .

…

After a few days .

A ray of dawn from the horizon comes over like a golden ripple it instantly spread through the sky .

Roja woke up long ago and was already in the courtyard .

Wouch!

his hand suddenly waved and a few swords appeared as if fusing together .

whiz!

The next moment a silver-white energy burst out from the tip of Roja’s sword and made it’s way to the floor . reaching the floor it instantly exploded and made a nearly seven-meter long crack .

“So compressing the air five times is still somewhat difficult but now I can perfectly compress the air four times . And with this, I can rely on the Tobu zangeki to cut steel . ”

After seeing the crack caused by the last sword strike he nodded slightly and returned the sword into its scabbard . then said to himself “I should probably go the competition is about to begin …”

…

The headquarters training camp contains different types of tests like power testing, speed test, shooting test and so on .

The assessment like the one before is held every quarter or half hour .

However, under normal circumstances, the war would be assessed by the instructors but in a competition based assessment, they will need more than just the instructors .

And also because the recruits will duel against each other then time for the assessment would take longer too .

This type of assessment wasn’t held for a long time now .

And the elite camp wasn’t involved it only the ten group of the ordinary camp .

When Roja came to the camp where the assessment will be held a large number of recruits were there already . Some were eager some were in high spirit .

Recruits gathered around the square from three directions the fourth one was were the instructors and also the former admiral Z standing .

The Marineford camp didn’t train soldiers but trained individuals . The training didn’t pay any attention to groups .

Z come to observe and select the few that could enter the elite camp from the ordinary camp . And also he is here so he could see the fighting style of each one of those selected so he could guide them perfectly when they enter the elite camp .

The assessment will be held in the square probably .

Roja arrived there without drawing attention to himself .

Seeing the recruits arrived and were standing in front of the instructor Z slightly nodded then said .

“It’s time, quiet down . ”

Z’s voice wasn’t that loud but it sounded in the ears of everyone present there with majesty . So all people looked up .

“The battle assessment you experienced before is different from before . This time you can challenge anyone who is above you in the ranking from before . ”

Z looked at the audience of recruits and described the assessment rule briefly .

Every half a year at least there would be an assessment held . No matter what type of assessment be it like this one or like the one before it . But this one depended on the assessment before it . as you can challenge anyone above you in the ranking .

If the challenger loses, Then his ranking will remain the same but if the challenger wins he will take the loser’s place .

In this way, if the recruits stop challenging each other then the assessment will end .

The restriction is that recruits weren’t allowed to use firearms . And the higher ranked recruits can’t challenge anyone lower than them in the ranking . The challenger can’t be avoided or refused only if the challenged is injured and can’t continue fighting .

“This competition based assessment is the actual assessment and will depend on the last one . All of you should remember you ranking but will still show the ranking of the whole camp . ”

Now Z ordered someone by the side to project the ranking .

The rear general nodded and projected the ranking on the wall of the Marineford .

This was the previous ranking and many now want to see exactly who will come first for real this time .

As most of the recruit think that the previous assessment results were arranged .

The ranking goes like this :

First place … Roja .

Second place … Hina .

Third place … Drake .

Fourth place … Kasei (or Kazan) .

…

“Roja? who’s that? how did he get first place?”

“Monkey . D . Roja … Monkey . D … The first name is somewhat familiar … Ah isn’t that the same name as Marine hero Vice admiral Garp?”

Seeing this many recruits showed a surprised look .

Roja wasn’t that famous . He arrived before three months . One month was spent on the training camp with other recruits and the other two months he spent them in his courtyard so naturally other groups didn’t know who Roja was .

However, even if those recruits didn’t know about him the recruits from his group were different .

“Roja can’t be ranked first in the whole camp he can’t even rank first in the group . ”

“What a joke!”

“That result is too much, The whole camp first … do they think we’re blind or something?”

More and more recruits sneered after looking at the result .

This time most of them could only secretly sneer .

No one asked any question regarding the assessment so they immediately started . And many thought that this tempering will be exposed easily .