A number of marines had gather around the courtyard in the center of the navel base in the Briss Kingdom. After all, it wasn't really every day you get to see a sight like this. Their eyes went up, then down, watching the green grasshopper man bouncing up and down on the spot. Not really doing anything else. Just jumping up, and down.

There was of course a very good reason behind this. After his little failed mission on Karate Island (and encounters with two rather attractive women), Anton La'croix had decided to start putting his all into his work as a marine. After all, both women had shown faith in him, and he wouldn't really call himself a man if he let them down. Even if he didn't really like being a marine, somebody had to protect the weak. And with his abilities, he may as well put them to good use.

And so, Anton had decided to so some self training, to get himself into better shape. And he was going to do that by, well, jumping. Jumping up and down as high as he could, for as long as he could. Currently in his hybrid form, Anton had been going for some time now, but he didn't seem to be really making any progress. Landing cleanly on the ground, he stopped and pondered for a moment. His legs were already strong enough to propel him pretty high. What else could he do to improve them?

At that point a small idea occurred to him. Why hadn't he thought of it before? He looked around, finally noticing the other marines that were watching him. A flush of embarrassment washed over his face. He didn't mean to make himself the center of attention.

"Erm," he said bashfully, "Could maybe one of you go and get me some weights?" One of the ensigns nodded and took off, coming back not too long later with a pair of dumbells. Accepting them, Anton gave him a grateful nod, holding onto them, Anton began jumping once again. He could feel the slight strain on his arms as he went up and down, but overall, it didn't really seem to be adding much to the exercise. After a couple of jumps, Anton stopped once again, looking at the weights in his hands with a small sense of disappointment. He blinked when another marine approached him with a second set. Anton stared at them for a moment before finally making sense of it.

"Oh, right. Four arms. Thank you." Taking them in his second set of hands, he once again began jumping. A little bit better. With the extra weight, it was proving a little bit more difficult. But really, not by a lot. He was still reaching the same height as normal, and it wasn't really putting a strain on his legs. After a few more leaps, Anton paused once again, getting a little bit irritated that this didn't seem to be working. Why wasn't he getting tired? Maybe he should have tried a different form of exercise his body wasn't so adapt to doing.

Then, before he could say anything, a couple more marines approached him, each one carrying more weights. Anton didn't get time to say anything before they tucked the weights under his arms. The weights were putting a strain on Anton's torso now, but it was proving more awkward to hold them, rather than heavy. Figuring he'd give it a shot, he began leaping again. Better this time. He wasn't reaching as high as he could before, but holding the weights was proving difficult. Two slipped out from his grip, crashing into the ground below. Anton landed, looking down at them and wondering how he could fix this.

Then, all of a sudden, a heavy weight was placed on his back, causing him to double over and drop the weights to hold it up. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the marines had managed to place a heavy crate on his back. He looked around, seeing that his fellow marines were expecting him to jump. Unwilling to saw now, he started to bounce once again. Now this was starting to put more strain on his legs, and he wasn't reaching as high as he could. He started panting as his lungs began to burn. This was working!

The problem however was that they didn't seem to realize it was enough. When he stopped to take a breather, the marines took it as a sign to put more weight. Still holding the crate on his back, Anton's eyes widened when he saw them struggling with another crate.

"Hey, wait a second-" before he could say anything else, they stacked the second crate atop him. Anton let out a yelped as he tried to hold it up. His legs trembled as he strained against the crate. He tried to make a leap, but the massive weight through him off balance. With a cry, both crates crashed down atop of him, pinning him to the ground.

The marines were silent for a moment, staring at their fallen lieutenant for a moment, waiting to see what he would do. Anton then slowly pulled his head up to look at them.

"Don't just stand there. Help me!"


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Ok, so bouncing up and down could only go so far, and Anton really didn't want to have his subordinates stacking crates atop him again. It was a good thing he had the exoskeleton, or he would have been crushed. Even with that though, his body still ached from it all.

So, with that out of the way, Anton had decided to try something else to increase his strength. Preferably something without the use of weights. It wasn't long before the lieutenant had decided that maybe going for a run would help build up some strength for him. Nothing like good old cardio to get the blood pumping and build up some endurance. And that was how, in the end, Anton found himself jogging around the navel base. However, he wasn't alone in this exercise. A number of marines had also decided to join in the exercise, and had decided to start jogging with him. Anton didn't really mind, though he did have to constantly look over his shoulder, making sure that none of them were trying to come up behind him with a crate or something. No real need to fear though. He seemed to have been putting considerable distance between himself and the others. A little bit strange, since he didn't consider himself to be really the athletic type...yet.

As he rounded the corner, he slid to a halt when he saw Captain Stelbourg, captain of the base, standing in front of him. Stelbourg as a rather well built man, bald but with a bushy black mustache, and a lean, yet muscled frame. He stood in Anton's path, looking at the lieutenant curiously. Anton stopped in front of him and saluted. "C-Captain Stelbourg sir!" he said, his body going rigid, "To what do I owe the pleasure sir?"

"Well," he said, looking up at him. Was it Anton or did the captain seem, well, shorter. He remembered him being taller than him when he last saw him. "I didn't realize it was the monthly training exercise. I thought it was next week." Anton shook his head. "Oh, no sir. This isn't for the training exercise. I thought I'd do some exercise on the side, build my body up sir. The other marines just decided to join in," Anton explained. "Ah, I see," the captain nodded, "Tell me. How's it going for you?" Anton paused, tilting his head to the side in thought. "Well, it's strange sir. I've done a couple of laps around the base already sir, but I don't seem all that tired. It's weird. I mean, I know marine training was tough and all, but I didn't think I'd have this much stamina." The captain nodded as he spoke, his eyes looking over to something behind him. "I don't think they thought so either," he said, pointing behind Anton.

The lieutenant turned around to see the other marines had caught up to him. Panting heavily, Anton could see that the marines were dripping with sweat, leaning against the nearby building or sitting on the ground to catch their breath. Anton was confused. "That's strange. I mean, I know I'm a higher rank than them, but I thought they'd be on the same level as me." "Well," Stelbourg spoke up, "If I may say something, that might have something to do with the fact that you're currently in your zoan hybrid form." Anton paused and looked down at himself. Sure enough, he was still in his hybrid form. No wonder the captain looked shorter. His legs were longer. It was probably why he was able to go so far as well. Longer legs meant longer stride, meant more distance covered more quickly. "Might I suggest going back to your human form, and trying from there?" the captain suggested. Anton rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he reverted back to his human form. "I guess that makes sense sir. I mean, if my human self gets stronger, my zoan self gets stronger along with it, right?" The captain nodded. "That would make sense to me," the captain said, "Now then, let's try that again. Let's see how many laps you can do before you tire yourself out." Anton, bouncing on his feet, nodded before taking off at a jog. The other marines, having had quite enough, were simply content to sit back and half heartedly cheer their superior on.


It had been another two laps, and Anton was literally dragging himself along the ground. It was almost pitiful, compared to how well he was doing in his hybrid form. How the heck were the others able to keep standing after this? Anton wheezed and panted, slowly trying to pull himself to his feet, body swaying and threatening to fall over. The other marines watching him were trying not to stare at him, feeling a little bit embarrassed for their lieutenant.

As Anton pushed himself up onto all fours, Captain Stelbourg stood before him. Anton weakly lifted his head up to look his captain in the eyes. "You've got a long way to go," the captain spoke, "But we'll get you there. Now take a rest." And with that, Anton collapsed to the floor.


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"Alright the," Captain Stelbourg spoke up, pacing back and forth, "What you've been doing so far isn't bad, but if you're really going to really try and improve yourself, you need to work on more than just your body. You need to improve your skills as well, do you understand me?" Kneeling on the ground before him, Anton nodded sharply, several of the other marines behind him in the same position. They had all originally come to watch Anton do his 'training', but now seemed to have gotten in on the action as well. Not that the captain was complaining. Training was training after all. But right now, he was focused on the lieutenant in front of him.

"First off," the captain spoke up, "You are to remain in your human form for your training. I'm not entirely sure how you zoans work, but I'm pretty sure any training you do will benefit you most if done as a human, got it?" Once again, Anton nodded, and so did the marines behind him, despite the fact that none of them had devil fruits, let alone were zoans. "Now then, pick up your sword." Anton slowly rose to his feet, picking up his sword. The other marines were about to do the same when the captain sent them a look, causing them to back off. This was Anton's training exercise. The others would get their turn.

Looking back at Anton, the captain stepped aside, revealing two training dummies. "Alright, this exercise will work on your skills with a sword, particularly against two targets at once. In a real fight, pirates and other enemies wont just come at you one at a time. You need to learn how to divide your attention between them." he held up a whistle, "When I blow this whistle, I want you to attack one of the dummies. When I blow it again, you are to switch to the second one. I will keep blowing it, and see how quickly you can change, and how long you can go for. Understand?" Anton nodded. "Yes sir!"

"Well then, let's begin then." The captain brought the whistle to his lips and blew. With a loud yell, Anton charged at one of the two dummies, sword in hand before swinging. The dummies were made of wood, built similar to a human body, but durable enough that simply swinging your sword wouldn't wreck them in a couple of hits. Not even pausing between strikes, Anton swung again and again, striking the dummy over and over again. It wasn't long before he heard the whistle blow. As quickly as he could, Anton spun around to attack the second dummy, not pausing for breath. He knew that in a real combat situation, the enemy wasn't simply going to wait around for you to take a break before attacking you. Wood chips flew as the sword slashed again and again at the dummy.

Less time this time when the whistle blew again. Anton was starting to feel it. His sword was a bit on the heavy side, and the constant swinging, as well as having to turn around and change targets, was starting to take it toll. Striking the dummy again and again, the whistle blew a third time and he changed back to dummy number two. The gaps between blows of the whistle got progressively smaller, Anton managing to keep up and switch back and forth. However, it was clear that the lieutenant wasn't going to be able to keep up the momentum for much longer. His muscles strain from the constant attacking, the iron sword feeling heavy in his grip. It wasn't long before he was worn down to one or two attacks before having to switch targets. His lungs burned as he tried to keep breathing, his body trembling. Finally, after delivering one last slash to the rather damage dummy, the whistle blew one last time. Anton turned, trying to attack the other dummy when his legs gave out, causing him to fall to his knees.

Captain Stelbourg watched him silently for a moment before approaching him. He held out a hand to the lieutenant, who took it and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. "Not bad, for your first time," Stelbourg said, giving him an encouraging smile, "You lasted quite a bit out there. Go and take a breather. We'll continue your training when you're rested." Anton nodded, barely able to speak as he staggered over to a bench to sit down, dragging his sword behind him. Meanwhile, Captain Stelbourg turned to the watching marines. "So, who's our next contestant?"


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"Are you all rested and ready to go?" Captain Stelbourg addressed the lieutenant before him. It had been a couple of hours since Anton's little training exercise with the dummies. Honestly, Anton had been right and ready to go after the first our, but the captain had insisted on him waiting. He wasn't entirely sure why. Maybe it was to give the other marines a chance at the exercise. Many of them were certainly tired out by it. After that they had decided to sit out the rest of the training, and leave it all to Anton. The red haired lieutenant nodded. "Ready to go when you are sir." he replied with a salute. The captain nodded and smiled. "Glad to hear it, because this next little exercise took me a bit to set up. Follow me." Anton blinked, curiosity getting the better of him, before following him.

He followed the captain towards the outskirts of the naval base, a couple of interested onlookers in tow. Anton was confused. Why were they leaving the base? It wasn't long though before the man got his answer. Not too far outside, away from the cities, there looked to be some sort of course set up. The thing included everything, from rope swinging and climbing, to crawling under barbed wire, to even wall jumping and platforming, complete with water filled pitfalls. It was becoming very clear what Stelbourg meant about setting this thing up. "We normally use this in basic training for the new recruits," Stelbourg explained, "Time them to see how far one can get through it before failing. I'm sure you've gone through one of these yourself?" Anton nodded. He remembered him having to go through something similar during his training. Stelbourg nodded and continued, "Well then, you're familiar then with what you have to do. Get through this course as fast as you can, all the while not relying on your Devil Fruit. Now, normally when you do this, if you fail one of the obstacles, you simply redo the obstacle until you pass it. But in this case, very time you fail, you're going to have to do the course all over again from the start." "Wh-What?" Anton stared at the captain with wide eyes. He remembered when he went through something like this. It had taken him a long time to get through it, and that was without having to start it all over again. Stelbourg nodded. "That's right. And I'm going to be timing you to see how long it takes you." He pulled a watch out of his coat pocket, "You have until three. One. Two. Three!"

Anton yelped, not expecting to have to start right away. He quickly scrambled to the starting line, and just ran right over it. All he had to do was get through the course, as fast as he could. Compared to some of the previous missions he had done in the past, this should be easy, right?

Well, not exactly. While some of the obstacles were simple enough, such as crawling under the barbed wire (made slightly difficult by his coat constantly being snared on the barbed wire), there were others that were proving not so easy. The wall jumping for example would have been something easy for him to do in his hybrid form. In his human form though, he continuously slipped, falling into the water about three times before he finally managed to get it down pat. The platforming proved a bit easier, though the first time he had underestimated a jump, slipped, and fell into the water again. The poor man was dripping wet, and constantly having to go under the barbed wire was tearing up his coat. The constant dips in the water wasn't helping. The water was cold, causing his muscles to cramp up, and were making his hands slippery. The obstacles proving the most difficult were the rope climbing and swinging, and that's because his hands were getting so wet he continuously lost his grip and fell (and much to his chagrin, simply sliding down the rope in the wall climb made him go back to the start. More cold, more wet, more muscle cramps. Not to mention falling in water did a number on one's stamina.

He had no idea how long he had been going at it, but by the time he was done, he was panting, sore, and dripping wet. His coat was torn in numerous places by the barbed wire, and his red hair was plastered to his face. He was almost wondering how the heck he had managed to get through all this during his basic training. "Time!" the captain spoke up, approaching the cold and sore lieutenant. Anton looked over at him, watching the captain looking at his watch. "On hour, seventeen minutes. Not the best I've ever seen, but certainly not bad, considering the conditions. How do you feel?" "Do you really need to ask?" Anton muttered, and the captain chuckled. "No, I guess not. Well, take heart. The sun's starting to go down, so it looks like your training's coming to an end for the day." Anton blinked and looked up at the sky. Indeed the sun was beginning to set, turning the sky a brilliant orange. Stelbourg patted the young lieutenant on the shoulder. "You did pretty good today, all things considered. If all this didn't at least add some muscle to you, I don't know what will." Now that Anton thought about it, he had done a lot today, hadn't he? A small, satisfied smile spread across his face, easily noticed by the captain. "There you go. Now go get yourself cleaned up and have a rest. Tomorrow's another day." Anton nodded, giving him a look of silent thanks. After today, he couldn't wait until he had a nice hot shower, and some sleep. Though he knew he was going to be very sore in the morning. That was going to suck.

Overall though, he had a feeling all this was worth it.


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