Chapter 63: Lodging

“… Greater than I thought.”

“Great job.”

After being stopped by Strawberry, Gumir wasn’t angry or ashamed, but instead, he smiled, revealing a face completely different from how fierce he used to look.

His sternness was aimed at the recruits for their benefit.

He lost his fingers because of his lack of strength, became disabled, and had to retire and become an instructor. Because of that, he hoped that every recruit that he trained became stronger and stronger. So, they won’t end like him.

There was a total of forty teams in the newcomers’ camp of the headquarters. Each instructor had one to ten teams under his charge. Perhaps the strongest disciple was not one of his trainees every year. However, in terms of overall strength, his teams were always the strongest!

Gumir didn’t care about the damage of his uniform, smiled, and walked towards Ron. After sighing, he immediately said: “Your strength has exceeded mine. If we were outside, I wouldn’t be able to rely on my Six Powers… However, you should not be complacent because of this. There is an innumerable number of people stronger than me out there in the new world.”

“You lack strength when it comes to physical powers… this should be noted, even if you are a devil fruit user, having a strong body is a great asset. Without it, you won’t be able to master high-level Haki. You can’t reach the summit of the sea just by the devil fruit ability.”

Gumir’s praising, and serious counseling made Ron a little stunned.

The pressure brought by Gumir was so immense during the fight that made Ron go all out. Fortunately, there wasn’t any serious injury.
Although Ron knew the course to follow, that he only needed to delve into magic to surpass everything, he still nodded thoughtfully at Gumir.

“I see.”

Seeing that Ron was not arrogant, he smiled again, saying:

“Okay, with your current strength, you can already apply for graduation, in advance, but I suggest you stay in the newcomer camp for some more time. The chief instructor, Mr. Zephyr, will take turns teaching the recruits every week. He used to be an admiral, whether it is combat experience or teaching level, he is far superior than me. “

In fact, without Gumir suggestion, Ron was not in a hurry to graduate. After all, he joined the HQ to obtain a stable period here, with cultivation time.

He would wait until he masters the third-level magic at least, before doing such a thing. But it shouldn’t be far away, at most one month, he should be able to grasp the third-level magic!

Seeing that there was no conflict between them, but instead, they became more friendly, Yamakaji and Strawberry smiled at each other.

“Your name is Ron, right. I had heard of you when I was in the East Blue last time, and I specifically asked the marine branches there about you, if you were willing to

join the marines.”

Yamakaji smiled, puffing smoke out: “I was disappointed when I heard that you had no interest in joining our ranks. I didn’t expect you to come directly to the headquarters. Indeed, it was the best decision to come here. It would a pity wasting such talent serving in the East Blue.”

Strawberry said calmly: “Keep up the hard work, you shouldn’t be satisfied with such strength. Considering your age and current power, you may be able to reach higher places than us. But that could be obtained only through hard work. With talent alone, you won’t be able to surpass the current vice admirals.”

The HQ rear admirals, such as Gumir, were very strong, but there was still a big difference between them and the Vice admirals.

The rear admirals in this department were more or less ‘weak’. Like Gumir, although he was proficient in the marine six powers, he got neither the Color of Observation Haki, nor the Color of the Supreme King. But he reached a decent level of Color of Arms Haki.

As for the HQ vice admirals, which were far inferior to the admirals, they almost didn’t have an absolute weakness compared to rear admirals. They mastered both Haki and the marine Six powers. If there was something like attribute analysis diagrams, their attributes would basically be represented as a perfect hexagon with no defects and weaknesses.

Some of them might have one or two attributes that would be more prominent. By the time they become outstanding in all aspects, they could become a candidate for the Admiral position… As for the admirals, it would be a larger and a perfect hexagon.

Hearing the vice admirals’ advice, Ron responded with a smile.

“Let’s call it a day.”

Gumir nodded and opened his eyes to the many marines not far away, and then glanced at Ron again, laughing: “Ron, you are still in the tenth team, but you don’t need to follow their training drills, you can practice on your own.” (E/N: Hmmm… really!? just what he wanted!)

Ron’s strength and talents were a particular case. Naturally, it would be suitable for him to do normal training as the other recruits. ‘Reaching such a level would be more suitable to follow specific training and target your weaknesses or increase your proficiency in your prominent skills.’

Anyway, training with 500KG and 1000KG weights, was not in line with the magician’s design and style.

…

Behind the HQ building, there was a house.

“Bwahahahaha, kid, you fought the instructor on your first day?”

Garp sat on the living room sofa eating donuts, and grinned at Ron, who just came in. Actually, Garp did the same thing as he did, on his first day at the newcomer camp, he fought with his instructor, but he was beaten badly by him.

After that, he kept pestering the instructor for fight practices, and he didn’t even recall how many times he was severely beaten before he gradually started to land some punches back.

“I was chosen to teach the six moves.”

Ron shrugged his shoulders and explained that he didn’t want to ruin his image of the true magician by learning these techniques.

After explaining his reason, Ron asked: “Where is Nami?”

Only graduated officers at the marine headquarters were eligible to bring their relatives to live in the small town behind the fortress, Marineford Town. The recruits did not have such privileges.

Although Nami could apply for the “Navigator” training camp, because she was too young, only 15 years old, and also, she did not want to join the marines, which could prevent her from gaining extra money. So, she told Garp that she had no relatives and no place to live.

Hearing that, Garp solved the problem for Nami without hesitation, proposing that she could stay with him temporarily. Anyway, he had a big villa, and he was living alone there.

“Upstairs.”

Garp responded casually, reading the newspaper on the coffee table.

Ron put on his slippers and walked upstairs. After glancing at several rooms upstairs, he switched to the spiritual perspective and found Nami’s room.

Nami was sitting cross-legged on her bed, her eyes closed, with a calm expression, and she was meditating.

Unlike Ron, she didn’t need to spend time learning how to unlock derivative runes and magic. In addition to practicing the magic she acquired from Ron, she used meditation to enhance her spiritual power.

Ron did not disturb Nami after he found out that she was meditating. After all, Nami’s mental strength improvement would also benefit him, he could get a small amount of resonance feedback through the magic marks.

Entering the next room, Ron immediately started to meditate.

Garp didn’t say that he could live here, but Ron thought that he probably wouldn’t mind. Anyway, with the strength he showed today, it was a matter of time before he could apply for a separate residence.