One Piece: The Template System-Chapter 128: Water 7 - 14

The dust from Prime Garp’s six-hour decimation of the Straw Hat crew was still settling across the infinite white floor of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. The air was heavy with the residual, terrifying pressure of the Marine Hero’s aura.

Luffy, Ace, Zoro, Sanji, Ben, the Giants, and the rest of the crew were pushing themselves up from the rubble, their muscles aching despite Ben’s healing magic, their pride thoroughly checked.

Garp stood in the center, arms crossed, looking at the bruised but unbowed pirates.

"Now I know exactly what you all are capable of," Garp announced, his voice carrying the weight of a master teacher who had just assessed a class of highly problematic, over-powered delinquents. "The warm-up is over. Now... I will start actually training you."

A collective gulp echoed through the void.

Usopp’s knees knocked together so violently they sounded like castanets. Nami hid behind Robin. Even Zoro and Sanji broke out in a cold sweat. They had just thrown everything they had at this man for six hours, and he hadn’t taken a single step backward. What kind of hellish, torturous, soul-crushing regimen was he about to unleash upon them?

Garp uncrossed his arms. He raised a single, thick index finger to the sky.

"Step one of my ultimate training program!" Garp roared, his eyes widening with absolute, deadly seriousness.

The crew braced themselves. Zoro gripped his swords. Luffy clenched his fists.

"FOOD!" Garp bellowed.

WHAM.

Every single person opposing Garp—from the massive Elbaf warriors to the tiny reindeer—instantly lost their footing, face-planting into the white tiles in a perfectly synchronized anime-fall.

"FOOD?!" Luffy’s head snapped up from the floor, his eyes instantly turning into giant, sparkling stars. All fear evaporated, replaced by the primal instinct of the rubber man. "YEAAAAAAH! TRAINING IS AWESOME!"

"You nearly gave me a heart attack, you old geezer," Sanji groaned, pushing himself up and dusting off his ruined suit.

"Bwahahaha!" Garp slapped his stomach, which let out a rumbling growl that rivaled a Sea King. "You can’t forge iron in a cold furnace! A warrior needs fuel! If I’m going to break you down to your atoms, I need you properly fed first!"

Garp turned his sharp gaze toward Ben, who was casually brushing dust off his shoulder.

"Hey, Magician," Garp pointed a thick finger at him. "Can you make food? I want a hundred steaks, right now."

Ben pushed his glasses up his nose, smiling faintly. "Garp-san, I am not a chef. Cooking is an art form best left to the professionals. However... I can provide the canvas."

Ben stepped forward and used Momo Yaoyorozu quirk, visualizing the molecular structures of everything a high-end culinary workspace required.

"Creation."

A soft, iridescent light washed over the white tiles.

In a matter of seconds, an entire industrial-grade outdoor kitchen materialized from nothingness. Gleaming stainless steel countertops, massive, multi-burner gas stoves, deep fryers, and a massive brick oven appeared.

But Ben didn’t stop there. He reached into his Spatial Pouch—the one equipped with stasis fields to prevent rot—and began tossing out ingredients like a magical Santa Claus.

Massive slabs of premium Sea King meat, marbled perfectly. Crates of fresh vegetables, sacks of rice, exotic spices from Alabasta and Skypiea, and entire wheels of aged cheese thudded onto the prep tables. He even conjured a set of perfectly balanced, razor-sharp chef’s knives, gleaming in the artificial light of the void.

"The kitchen is yours, Chef," Ben gestured grandly.

"Vivi-chwan!" Sanji spun around, slipping instantly into his element. "I need you on prep! We are feeding a small army of monsters! Let’s show this Marine what pirate cuisine tastes like!"

"Right behind you, Sanji-kun!" Vivi smiled, tying an apron over her combat suit and grabbing a cutting board.

The heavy golden door of the Time Chamber creaked open again. Mini Merry marched into the white void, pulling a small wheeled cart behind her loaded with high-energy electrolyte drinks. She was already wearing a tiny, bright red tracksuit, a terrycloth sweatband around her forehead, and her signature aviator sunglasses.

TWEET! TWEET!

She blew a silver whistle hanging around her neck. "Listen up, recruits! Hydration station is open!" Merry announced, switching seamlessly into a fierce PT-instructor persona. "Gotta keep those muscles lubricated before the old man breaks ’em! Drink up, stretch out, and fall in line! We ain’t got time for cramping on my field!"

Garp stopped poking the stove and looked down at the tiny girl. "Bwahahaha! I like this kid! She’s got Marine drill instructor energy! Who is she?"

"My daughter," Ben smiled proudly. "And the ship’s spirit."

"A ship that yells at you to do cardio?" Garp laughed louder. "Incredible!"

While the symphony of sizzling meat, chopping vegetables, and boiling water began to fill the sterile void with heavenly aromas, Garp walked over to Ben. The Prime Marine Hero looked at the conjured stoves, poking the solid steel with a heavy finger.

"You literally made this out of nothing," Garp noted, his voice dropping its boisterous edge, replaced by a sharp, tactical curiosity. "It’s not an illusion. It’s real metal. Real fire. Can you create anything?"

"As long as I understand its exact molecular structure, chemical composition, and the mechanics of how it works," Ben replied calmly, watching the flames dance on Sanji’s stove. "Yes. I can create anything."

Garp rubbed his chin, a devious, terrifying smirk slowly spreading across his face.

"Anything, huh?" Garp cracked his knuckles. "Then listen closely, Magician. I’m going to need you to build me some toys. If we are going to use this time chamber to its fullest, we can’t just spar. I need equipment."

"Name it," Ben said, pulling out a conjured notepad and pen.

"I need weights," Garp began, ticking items off on his fingers. "Massive ones. Tens of thousands of pounds. I need solid iron poles, thick as ancient trees. I need spiked bats, blindfolds that block all light, boulders the size of galleons, and... an obstacle course. Something with swinging pendulums, pitfalls, and maybe some automatic cannons."

"Oh! Papa, make the pendulums swing irregularly!" Merry chimed in, leaning over Ben’s notepad with a devious grin. "Core stability training! And make the weights extra heavy for Uncle Zoro! He needs to work on his glutes!"

Ben didn’t blink. He just jotted it all down. "I can fabricate automated defense turrets and reinforced tungsten structures. Consider it done."

Garp looked at Ben, genuinely impressed. "You’re a terrifying variable, kid. You be causing a lot of headache for Sengoku in the future."

"I aim to please," Ben smiled.

"FOOD IS READY!" Sanji roared, kicking a massive platter of steaks onto a conjured dining table.

The feast was a blur of violence and chewing. Luffy, Ace, and Garp ate like starving wolves, fighting over the largest pieces of meat, occasionally punching each other in the face to steal a sausage. The Giants, eating from massive cauldrons, laughed as the D. family brawled over dinner.

It was warm. It was loud. It was happy.

It was the last moment of peace they would know for a very, very long time.

The First Month: The Forging of Monsters

After the final bone was picked clean, Garp stood up. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and walked to the center of the white void. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Ben had already been at work. Behind Garp, an absolute nightmare of a training ground had been constructed. Mountains of solid iron plates, towering wooden striking posts bound in rough rope, and miles of weighted vests and cannonballs littered the area.

"Listen up, brats!" Garp’s voice boomed, erasing the post-meal lethargy instantly. "We have roughly fourteen months in this room. That is enough time to turn a weakling into a soldier, and a soldier into a monster. But only if you survive."

He pointed a finger at the crew.

"I have divided this first month into four distinct phases. I am not here to teach you fancy techniques or secret martial arts. The New World doesn’t care about tricks. It cares about raw, undeniable baseline strength. If your vessel is weak, your spirit will leak out when it shatters. We are going to build vessels of iron."

Garp’s eyes swept over them, locking onto the heavy hitters.

"Nami, Usopp, Chopper, Robin, Ariel... and the duck," Garp addressed the support and tactical team, pointing at Caroo and utilizing Vivi’s alias. Thanks to the magical illusion ring Ben had crafted for her, the Marine Hero was completely oblivious to the fact that the royal Princess of Alabasta was standing right in front of him. "Your physical limits are lower. You will follow the standard hell-regimen. It will push you to the brink of death, but it will not cross it."

He then turned his gaze to the others. Luffy, Ace, Zoro, Sanji, Ben, and the four human-sized Giants (Dory, Brogy, Oimo, Kashii).

"But you nine?" Garp’s grin was downright demonic. "You are the frontline. You are the monsters. You don’t get the standard regimen. You get the Abyss. I am going to break you until your bones turn to dust and your lungs bleed. And since the Magician here can heal you at the end of the day... I don’t have to hold back."

Luffy and Ace swallowed hard. Zoro grinned.

"Let’s get to work."

Week 1: Break the Body

Goal: Destroy Weakness. Build Raw Durability.

The first week was not training. It was torture.

Garp’s philosophy was simple: The body must collapse before the spirit does. And then, the spirit must force the broken body to stand back up.

Every "morning" (measured by Ben’s internal clock), the crew woke up to the sound of Garp shouting.

Well, Garp and his new assistant.

TWEET! TWEET! TWEET!

"Listen up, slackers!" Merry yelled through a small, conjured megaphone, pacing the line of groaning pirates in her tracksuit. "Drop and give me five thousand! ONE! TWO! ONE! TWO! Come on, squad! My grandma has more hustle than you, and she’s a literal wooden boat! Feel the burn! Embrace the pain! Let’s get those gains!"

"Why is the she yelling at us about gains?!" Usopp cried, mid-squat.

"Less whining, Uncle Usopp! Deeper on the squat! Engage the quads! Don’t make me get the yardstick!" Merry blew the whistle right in his ear. TWEET! "Caroo! Don’t you dare play dead! You’re a majestic bird, act like it! Give me fifty wing-flaps! Double time!"

"QUACK!" Caroo wheezed, weakly flapping his wings while lying on his back.

The physical conditioning was beyond inhumane. For the "Standard" team, it was 5,000 push-ups, 5,000 squats, and 5,000 sit-ups. Nami cried openly, her arms shaking like overcooked jelly. Usopp vomited twice before breakfast. Vivi tried to maintain her royal dignity, but ended up face-planting into the tiles by push-up number 3,000. Chopper had to constantly shift forms just to distribute the lactic acid buildup across different muscle groups.

Even Robin was caught in the meat grinder. For once, the ever-composed archaeologist wasn’t reading a book with a serene smile. She was on the floor, pushing herself up with trembling arms.

"Excellent form, Auntie Robin!" Merry cheered, clicking her pen on the clipboard. "Keep that back straight! Tighten the core! You’re an inspiration to us all!"

But for the "Monsters"?

15,000 reps.

"Lower, Zoro!" Garp roared, sitting comfortably on a lawn chair, eating rice crackers from his infinite pouch. "Your chest isn’t touching the floor! Start over from zero!"

"Damn you... old man..." Zoro wheezed, a massive pool of sweat forming beneath him, his arms trembling violently under the strain of the 10,000th push-up.

Next was the run. Ben had created a treadmill-like track of dense, uneven terrain that looped infinitely within the void.

The Standard team ran 20 kilometers carrying heavy stones.

The Monsters ran 50 kilometers. But they didn’t just carry stones. Ben had fabricated specialized, hyper-dense tungsten vests.

Luffy ran with ten tons strapped to his chest. Because his Devil Fruit nullified blunt trauma but didn’t grant infinite stamina, the sheer weight threatened to snap his spine.

Ace ran beside him, completely forbidden from using his flames, relying entirely on the Super Soldier Serum to keep his heart from exploding.

"Keep moving!" Garp shouted, occasionally throwing a cannonball at the back of their heads just to keep them alert. "Your enemies won’t wait for you to catch your breath!"

By midday, they moved to the striking posts.

"Punch the wood!" Garp ordered. "No Haki! No Devil Fruits! Just skin and bone!"

Thwack. Thwack. Thwack.

Hours of striking solid, rough-hewn oak. Sanji kicked until his shins were bruised black and blue. Luffy punched until his rubber knuckles were raw and bleeding, the friction wearing away his skin. Ben, despite the physical enhancements of the Thomas Andre template, felt the agonizing burn of his human flesh tearing.

In the evening, the horror shifted to endurance.

"Plank position!" Garp commanded.

The crew held planks on the hard white tiles. For an hour. Two hours.

And Garp didn’t just let them rest. He walked among them.

BAM.

Garp kicked Sanji in the ribs. The cook collapsed with a groan, coughing up saliva.

"Did I say you could drop?!" Garp yelled. "Get back up! If you take a hit in a fight, you don’t stay down! Brace your core! Take the impact!"

He walked over to Dory and Brogy, kicking the human-sized giants with enough force to dent steel. They gritted their teeth, their faces contorted in agony, but they held the position.

Nighttime brought no relief. Sleep was a luxury.

Just as the crew fell into a dead, exhausted slumber on the floor, Garp would strike.

CRASH.

A massive boulder would shatter near their heads.

"WAKE UP! AMBUSH!" Garp roared, diving into the pile of sleeping pirates, throwing punches and kicks in the pitch black.

They weren’t allowed to fight back. They could only block, dodge, and survive the flurry of blows while their bodies screamed for rest.

By the end of Week 1, the crew was a mess of shattered bones, torn muscles, and shattered egos.

Every night, Ben dragged himself to his feet, barely able to lift his wand, and cast the Golden Fleece restoration aura. The golden light healed their physical wounds, knitting bone and closing cuts. But the mental fatigue... the sheer exhaustion... that remained.

"Your bodies are healed," Garp would say, looking at their panting, trembling forms. "But your minds are still weak. Tomorrow, we fix that."

Week 2: Advanced Perception & Reaction

Goal: Refine Observation Haki and Intent Tracking.

If Week 1 was about breaking the body, Week 2 was about overloading their minds.

"You brats have already awakened basic Observation Haki," Garp paced in front of the bruised crew. "You can sense a punch. You can dodge a cannonball. Congratulations, you meet the bare minimum to not die instantly in the New World. But if you rely on basic tracking, an Admiral will kill you before your brain even registers the light."

He tossed a pile of thick, black blindfolds onto the floor.

"Put them on. We are pushing your Kenbunshoku past the basics. You must sense the attack even when I mask my intent. You must predict the trajectory before my muscle even twitches."

The crew hesitated, but tied the thick cloth around their eyes. The world went dark.

"Now," Garp’s voice echoed from all directions in the void. "Survive."

FWOOSH.

A rock, thrown with the velocity of a sniper bullet, ripped through the air. But Garp had completely masked his presence. There was no killing intent to read.

THWACK.

It caught Luffy squarely in the forehead despite his active Haki. He flew backward, yelling in surprise.

"Ooh! Right in the dome!" Merry’s voice echoed from her megaphone; she was sitting safely next to Ben. "Minus ten points for spatial awareness, Captain! Keep your head on a swivel! Don’t let your focus drop!"

BAM. CRACK. OOF.

Garp began a relentless, high-speed barrage of thrown debris. He threw rocks, wooden planks, and empty barrels. Because their basic Observation was being actively tricked by Garp’s mastery, the crew panicked.

"Stop trying to feel my anger!" Garp roared, throwing a rock that nailed Zoro in the ribs. "I’m not angry! I’m just throwing rocks! Read the displacement of the air! Read the ’voice’ of the stone itself! Expand your awareness!"

The Monsters were battered. Zoro, whose Haki usually locked onto a swordsman’s bloodlust, was taking heavy hits. Sanji was constantly tripping as Garp ricocheted rocks off the floor. Luffy, relying on animal instinct, dodged a few, but his chaotic nature made him a magnet for punishment.

Usopp, however, found his rhythm first.

"Eeeek!" Usopp shrieked, diving wildly to the left.

A rock zipped precisely through the space his head had occupied a millisecond prior.

"I saw it!" Usopp gasped, his hands trembling. "I didn’t hear it... my Kenbunshoku... it flashed! I saw the rock hitting me before it even left his hand!"

The Falcon Serum had already heightened his sensory input, but under this extreme pressure, his Observation Haki was pushing past basic sensing and briefly flirting with genuine future prediction.

"Good, Long-Nose!" Garp praised, immediately throwing three rocks at him with curved trajectories. Usopp dodged two perfectly, but the third caught him in the gut. "But don’t get cocky!"

For the rest of the week, Ben amplified the horror. He used his magic to conjure an intricate, deadly obstacle course in total darkness. Swinging pendulums covered in blunt spikes, pitfall traps, and automated turrets firing rubber bullets.

The crew was forced to run the course blindfolded.

They fell. They were crushed. They were shot.

But slowly, agonizingly, their Haki refined.

Zoro cleared his mind, sinking into the quiet void of the swordsman. He stepped forward. A pendulum swung. Zoro didn’t look, and he didn’t try to sense the trap’s malice. He just felt the "breath" of the iron. He tilted his torso an inch to the left. The spike grazed his shirt, missing his skin entirely.

Sanji began to weave through the automated turret fire, sensing the mechanical targeting lasers through the minute electrical shifts in the air before they even fired.

Luffy, forced to stop relying on just his reflexes, began to open his mind to the entire room, predicting the chaotic bounces of Garp’s projectiles. Their basic Observation was transforming into a razor-sharp, wide-net radar.

Week 3: Armament Densification and Flow

Goal: Harden Under Stress and Unlock Emission (Ryuo).

"Your muscles are torn. Your stamina is deeper, and your senses are sharper," Garp announced at the start of the third week. "Now, it’s time to forge the armor. We are upgrading your Busoshoku."

Garp held a massive, solid oak bat coated in his own terrifying, invisible Haki.

"Most of you already know how to use Armament Haki," Garp explained, looking at Luffy, Ace, Zoro, Sanji, Ben, and the Giants. "You can turn your limbs black. You can hit Logias. But let me make this clear: against a Yonko or an Admiral, that brittle black armor of yours will shatter like cheap glass."

Garp stepped up to Zoro.

"Put your arms up, Swordsman. Coat them."

Zoro raised his forearms in a cross guard. He concentrated, and his skin instantly turned a deep, metallic black.

Garp didn’t hesitate. He swung the oak bat with terrifying force.

CRACK.

The bat slammed into Zoro’s blackened forearms. The sheer, overwhelming density of Garp’s Haki instantly fractured Zoro’s defense. The black coating splintered like cracked porcelain, and the sound of bone micro-fracturing echoed in the void. Zoro gritted his teeth, his knees buckling, but he didn’t scream.

"Your coating is too rigid!" Garp yelled, winding up again. "Don’t just paint your skin with spirit! Condense it! Pack more willpower into a smaller space until it’s infinitely dense!"

CRACK.

He hit him again. And again.

Sanji was ordered to ignite his Diable Jambe and kick solid blocks of steel. "Your fire is hot, and your Haki is present!" Garp demanded. "But they are separate! Weave the Armament directly into the flames! Compress the heat with your spirit!"

Ben conjured dense iron plates. The crew was forced to punch them.

Luffy, stripped of the Seastone cuffs but forbidden from using Gear Second or Third, stood before a solid boulder of granite. His fists were already black with Haki, but Garp wasn’t satisfied.

"Stop relying on just the surface hardening!" Garp kicked Luffy in the back of the legs, correcting his stance. "If you want to hurt someone like a Yonko or an Admiral, a thin coat of black paint isn’t enough! Your Haki is spread too wide! It’s like an inflated balloon! Compress it! Layer it! Pack your willpower so tightly into your fist that it becomes infinitely dense!"

"Yeah! Listen to the old man!" Merry yelled through her megaphone. "Contract those fibers! Maximize the density, Captain! Turn that rock into gravel! Push through the resistance!"

Luffy growled, wiping sweat from his mouth. He stood up, staring at the granite boulder. He pulled his blackened fist back. Instead of letting his Haki spread like an aura, he focused entirely on compressing it, crushing his willpower down layer by agonizing layer until his arm trembled under the sheer density of his own spirit. His arm didn’t just turn black; it took on a heavy, deep purple-metallic sheen.

BAM.

Luffy’s fist hit the granite. The boulder didn’t just crack. The sheer, overwhelming density of the strike caused the entire massive stone to instantly pulverize into fine, powdery dust, collapsing completely under the weight of his condensed Haki.

"Better," Garp grunted. "That’s true hardening. Now do it ten thousand more times until your fist feels like a solid mountain."

Usopp, who had yet to awaken Armament Haki at all, stood sweating on the sidelines.

"As for you, Sniper," Garp pointed a spiked iron bat at him. "You don’t have the armor yet. Your goal this week is to find that spark! I’m going to beat you until your spirit realizes it needs a shield!"

Garp charged. Usopp shrieked, sprinting across the Time Chamber with Garp hot on his heels.

"Find your armor, Sniper!" Garp roared, swinging the bat.

Usopp tripped over a stray iron plate. He was cornered. Garp swung the bat directly down toward Usopp’s face with terrifying speed.

"GYAAAAH!" Usopp screamed, squeezing his eyes shut. In a moment of pure, unadulterated panic, he focused every single ounce of his latent willpower into protecting his most prominent, vulnerable feature.

CLANG!

The spiked iron bat bounced off with a loud, metallic ring. Garp blinked, pausing his swing.

Usopp opened one eye. He looked down.

His entire long nose had turned pitch black, gleaming with a flawless, impossibly dense coating of Armament Haki.

Usopp immediately realized what he had done. He stood up, puffing out his chest, pointing his shiny black nose at the sky.

"BEHOLD!" Usopp declared triumphantly, striking a magnificent pose. "THE INDESTRUCTIBLE NOSE OF GOD USOPP!"

Garp just sighed, rubbing his temples with his free hand. "That is the absolute stupidest application of Busoshoku I have ever seen... but it counts. Now do your arms, you idiot!"

By the end of the week, the crew’s Haki had undergone a massive evolution. Their black hardening was visibly darker and denser, possessing a faint, metallic gleam. Their strikes didn’t just thud; they echoed with a concussive, internal devastation. The invisible armor wasn’t just forming anymore—it was being perfected.

Week 4: Controlled Chaos

Goal: Endless Horde Stamina Simulation.

"You’ve survived the basics," Garp cracked his neck, stepping into the center of the arena on the 22nd day. "Now, it’s time for stamina and crowd control."

Garp nodded to Ben. "Magician. Bring out the fodder."

Ben stepped forward. He raised his hands, his eyes glowing with the ancient, terrifying magic of the Medea. From his spatial pouch, he pulled out a handful of what looked like jagged, fossilized teeth.

He scattered them across the white tiles.

"Dragon Tooth Warriors: Rise."

The pristine white tiles morphed into dark, muddy soil. From the dirt, skeletal hands burst forth. Hundreds of heavily armed, spectral skeleton warriors—the legendary Spartoi of the Age of Gods—dragged themselves to the surface, wielding rusted swords, spears, and heavy shields. Their empty eye sockets burned with eerie purple fire.

"What are those?!" Nami shrieked, clutching her Clima-Tact.

"Infinite sparring partners," Ben smirked.

"Endurance drill! Stamina test!" Merry barked through her megaphone, sitting on the pillar next to Ben, a stopwatch in her hand. "Phase four begins now! No slacking! No taking breaks in the mud! Keep your heart rates up and your guards higher! Let’s see some hustle, everyone!"

"You have no food," Garp announced, crossing his arms. "You have no water. And for the next seven days, you have no rest. You will fight the Magician’s army."

"But there’s only a few hundred of them!" Luffy grinned, cracking his knuckles. "We can beat them in ten minutes!"

"He’s not stopping at a few hundred," Garp grinned sadistically. "He’s going to keep summoning them. Infinitely. For exactly one hundred and sixty-eight hours."

Ben waved his hand lazily. Another hundred skeletons ripped themselves from the ground. Then another hundred. The rattling of bones filled the Time Chamber.

"Begin," Garp roared.

For the next seven days, it was an absolute, unending meat grinder.

The Straw Hats and Giants threw themselves into the skeletal horde. It was a cycle of pure violence and exhaustion. Every time Zoro cut down fifty warriors with a single Haki-infused slash, Ben simply raised his hand, and fifty more grew from the dust of the fallen. When Sanji incinerated a platoon with his blazing Diable Jambe, a new platoon marched relentlessly through the flames.

"Coordinate!" Ben yelled from the safety of a high stone pillar he had conjured, casually tossing more dragon teeth down into the fray. "Don’t waste energy on overkill! Precision strikes! Flow your Haki to conserve stamina!"

They tried. Zoro and Sanji launched synchronized attacks to clear wide swaths. Ace provided massive walls of covering fire. The Giants acted as unmovable fortresses, crushing hundreds with every swing of their Uru weapons.

But the horde was truly endless.

They were starved. They were dehydrated. They were operating on zero sleep, their bodies running purely on adrenaline and the absolute refusal to die beneath a sea of bones.

On the final day of the month, the muddy battlefield was a shattered ruin of bone dust and broken weapons.

The Straw Hat crew lay scattered across the mud, completely buried under small mountains of crushed skeletons. They were covered in dirt, bone ash, and sweat. Their chests heaved as they gasped for air. None of them could stand. Their muscles had entirely given out, their stamina completely drained to the absolute zero percentile.

Garp stood in the center of the destruction. He looked down at his grandsons and the crew of lunatics that followed them.

They were broken. They couldn’t lift a finger.

But as Garp looked into their eyes, he didn’t see defeat.

Luffy’s eyes burned with a fierce, unyielding light. Zoro was glaring at him with the intensity of a demon. Sanji, despite lying face down in the mud, was trying to push himself up with one trembling arm.

Their bodies had collapsed. But their spirits hadn’t even cracked.

A slow, wide, incredibly proud smile spread across the old Marine’s scarred face.

"Month one is complete," Garp announced, his voice echoing in the ruined void. "You survived the crucible."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a rice cracker, tossing it into his mouth.

"Time’s up! Whistle blows!" Merry shouted through the megaphone, blowing her whistle one last time. "Hit the showers and drink your protein shakes, recruits! Because month two is going to make you wish you were still doing squats!"

"Take a nice nap," Garp crunched loudly, nodding in agreement with the ship’s avatar. "Because the little coach is right. Month two is where it gets difficult."