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A few simple tests were enough for Kyle to confirm it—his "cheat ability" really could add points and level up any skill he learned.
And killing things earned him system points.
He just wasn't sure if… well, dying counted. Could self‑kill be exploited as a bug?
"Bogard, get this kid a Navy trainee uniform."
"From now on, he's with me!"
Garp's booming voice echoed across the deck.
Kyle looked up at the man in the beige suit standing off to the side, hat pulled low, quiet as a shadow—just like him.
Bogard glanced at Kyle, nodded, and headed off.
Then another figure stepped out from the ship's cabin—a tall guy moving lazily, sunglasses covering his eyes. The moment he saw Garp, excitement flashed across his face.
"I heard HQ is trying to propose you for admiral again!"
"Vice Admiral Garp!"
Garp grinned. "Hahahahaha! Admiral? I'm not interested in something that boring."
Kuzan looked stunned. "But… admiral is a big deal!"
"Why would I waste my time babysitting those Celestial Dragon scumbags?" Garp snorted. "Being a vice admiral is way more free!"
He laughed again, loud and carefree.
Then he pointed at the silent figure beside him—the practically invisible Kyle. "This is Kyle. Just recruited him."
Kuzan blinked, then studied him. "If Vice Admiral Garp thinks you're worth taking in, you must be pretty strong."
Kyle raised his head and looked at the man who would someday become one of the Three Admirals.
Then said nothing.
Kuzan scratched his head awkwardly. "Oh, great. Another quiet one, just like Bogard."
Garp suddenly slapped his forehead. "Right! Almost forgot. You killed the entire Donquixote family, and even crashed into a Celestial Dragon. So what can you actually do?"
"Being a Marine isn't easy. You wanna survive fights, you need skills."
Kyle pressed his lips together. "I never said I wanted to be a Marine."
"Hahahaha! Of course you're becoming a Marine! What, you planning to be a pirate instead?" Garp laughed.
Kyle shrugged. He didn't argue. At the moment, he didn't really have anywhere else to go.
"Donquixote… that's a noble family name, right? And he clashed with a Celestial Dragon?" Kuzan's eyes widened.
Then that shock turned into excitement—a blazing admiration.
Kuzan in his early twenties was all passion, rebellion, denial of everything rotten in the world. Someone who dared raise a blade at nobles… someone who dared stand up to a Celestial Dragon… he admired that from the bottom of his heart.
Because deep down, bound by rules and status, he wasn't sure he could do it himself.
Meanwhile, Garp kept questioning Kyle, trying to understand the boy he'd taken in.
"You know swordsmanship?"
Kyle shook his head.
Garp didn't mind—he wasn't great with a sword either.
"Hand‑to‑hand combat?"
Another shake.
Garp raised a brow.
"Marksmanship?"
Silence.
Garp stared at him like he was a strange creature.
"Have you had any physical or strength training before?"
Kyle shook his head yet again.
Garp opened his mouth but no words came out. Kuzan's eyes almost popped out of his skull.
"You never trained in anything. Then how did you kill the entire Donquixote family and escape from a noble's mansion?" Kuzan blurted.
"They couldn't kill me. So I killed them."
Kyle answered seriously.
After a pause, he added:
"I bit, I smashed rocks, I used whatever knife I grabbed."
"I always found a way."
The two men went silent. They could almost imagine the madness he must have gone through—facing the brutal guards of a noble house and somehow fighting his way out.
Garp took a long breath. Remembering that bastard Cullens who'd been trying everything possible to get this boy killed, he clenched his fist in anger.
"I'll train you myself!"
"But you'd better be ready. My training methods… get people hurt."
Kyle nodded.
He craved strength. Maybe it was all the suffering, the deaths, the hopeless moments—but something inside him burned.
Bogard soon returned with the Navy trainee uniform. Kyle changed quietly and washed his face.
"Looking sharp!" Kuzan gave him a thumbs‑up, eyes full of respect.
Kyle smiled faintly.
Garp, cape of justice on his back, arms folded, looked at the black‑haired boy in uniform and couldn't help smiling too.
"Kid, how old are you?"
"Seventeen."
"About the same as Kuzan then. Maybe you two will get along."
"Bogard, you should talk more, too," Garp joked.
Bogard nodded silently.
"Besides Conqueror's Haki, you really don't know anything else, right?" Garp asked.
"I guess you could say that," Kyle admitted.
"That's fine. Drawing on a blank sheet of paper is what I'm best at," Garp grinned.
He tossed Kyle one end of a thick rope.
Kyle caught it, confused.
"We're heading for the New World soon. No time to waste. Your training starts right now!"
Garp stepped forward.
"And make sure you hold tight. If you let go, we're leaving you behind!"
With a roar of laughter, he kicked Kyle right in the backside. The rope snapped straight, and the black‑haired boy shot across the air like a meteor, crashing into the ocean hundreds of meters away.
"Bogard! Full speed ahead!"
"No point wasting time here!"
Bogard quietly signaled the nearby sailors.
The warship surged forward instantly.
Meanwhile, Kyle was fighting for his life. The sudden plunge underwater nearly drowned him; Garp hadn't even asked if he could swim.
"This is murder!"
"This isn't training at all!"
Out in the endless sea, he finally felt the raw terror and how tiny he truly was.
He glanced at the fifty points on his system panel. After a moment of hesitation, he didn't use them. Boosting Conqueror's Haki wasn't going to help him here.
"Hang in there, Kyle!"
"By the way—nobody's ever passed Vice Admiral Garp's training!" Kuzan shouted from the ship.
"…Is that supposed to be encouragement? Sounds more like a threat," Kyle thought miserably.
Dragged behind the speeding warship, the waves hit him like iron fists. Every breath was seawater. Every moment felt like he could die.
And then, one hour and eight minutes after training began…
Kyle died.
His system points went up to 51.
He drowned.
But that brush with death awakened something—he now knew how to swim.
Turns out, in life‑or‑death moments, people really do unlock hidden potential.
He also felt his muscles tighten, his strength align—his whole body worked better than before.
Gritting his teeth, he grabbed the rope tighter.
What can't kill me… will make me stronger.
Let the storm hit even harder.
"..."
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