Training Hard or Hardly Training? [Red]

[Ryuske]

It was exactly O-Nine-Hundred Hours, Nine AM in civilian terms. The sun was just barely up in the sky, enough to where it wasn't dawn, but not enough to were it was directly above the heads of the marines at work on their ship. Many of the marines were preforming basic duties, cleaning the ship from top to bottom, maintenance checks to make sure everything was up to standard, the usual works for Marines who weren't on duty or fighting. The Officers of course were preforming the more serious duties, making sure they had hadn't lost supplies, keeping an eye out for ships that aren't scheduled to be out, and of course keeping the crew in line. The ship they were working on itself was stopped at a harbor, with most of the crew on shore leave or doing their jobs. However one Enlisted Man, a Seaman Apprentice. was on the deck not to work, but to train. For most Enlisted Men, the manual labor was their training. Working for hours at a time physically, getting every small detail right, and being punished if they didn't. For many who were used to it, it was harsh. This one however was used to those conditions, and with harsher repercussions. If he tailed to get the exact amount by even a few plants, him and his family would either go a day without that week, or the next. Of course since doing such manual labor, be it on the ship he currently stood on or the farm he once lived on, required such physical labor, this risked inadvertently setting one back weeks as the repercussions slowly became worse and worse. For him, his training was much more intense. With a blindfold not only did he have to dodge the attacks of a superior officer, but mentally he had to keep track of the movements of other officers on the ship. This required a heavy focus of Haki, to the point where many of the attacks were only barely dodged. The crewman however couldn't believe what he could see all at once. Even after having trained with this for three years, he wasn't used to seeing so many people at once. The man could see only life, the ship, the wooden dock, none of it was there. But what was there were the works on the dock, giving boxes of supplies to a marine, full of animals for food later, including lobster. The men on the deck of course were doing their job to the fullest. They were out in the open where anyone could see them, they had to be. Those who were experienced were only just now hitting the wall, running out of energy after two hours of working. The new ones however were exhausted, and had been since O-Eight-Hundred. The men below deck, down where others couldn't see were much more relaxed however. They took their time doing their jobs, a rookie mistake. They'd likely end up late and get punished, or rush themselves and mess up, ending up with an even worse punishment. However they did at least have camaraderie down, talking with each other and working together rather than competing. The Commanding Officer was talking into a Den Den Mushi, seemingly to someone of high rank, since he was standing at attention rather than sitting for the rather length conversation. What the Enlisted man however was focusing on two people in particular, the Warrant Officer in front of him, and the crew member in the Crow's Nest. The officer was the focus of his training. During the beginning of the fight, the enlisted man was unsure how he w as supposed to dodge a blade being swung at him and keep focus on the ship. However as the fight progressed, he had noticed the man had an attack pattern, which he would repeat. The pattern was simple enough: Jab towards one of the Enlisted man's joints, jab towards torso, slash at chest, slash at limbs, move to strike gut or head with hilt, and then kick away. Once he had the flow of his fighting style memorized, the Enlisted man could dodge him while focusing on the others. Of course the Warrant Officer wasn't foolish enough to make it easy, moving with such speed the Enlisted man would have to keep his body ready and never relax, lest he be hit. The crew member in the Crow's Nest was the exact opposite however. His movement's were irregular and unpredictable. One second he would be relax, next moving frantically to random sides of the nest. The crew member's aura was also unstable and unfocused, unlike the Warrant Officer, whos aura gave off an almost robotic tone as he preformed the same dull moves over and over. Something was off about the crew member, however it wasn't that he seemed afraid. More so it was as if he was waiting for something, something that would be great. Every now and then the Enlisted man would of course drag his attention away from those two, seeing what the other crew members were doing, or count the fish currently around the boat. After a full two hours and twenty minutes of the repeated events, the Enlisted man noticed something breaking the calm. The Warrant Officer who had once been near roboticly preforming the same movements over and over again had changed, or at least his aura had. The Aura suddenly flared, clearly indicating he was going to strike at the Enlisted man's right arm. The enlisted man didn't have time to dodge, he only had time to do one thing. As soon as the blade touched the man's arm, it seemed to stop, as if it had hit another metal object. The Enlisted man looked up at the Warrant Officer with a smile, laughing a bit. "You almost got me there." He commented in his normal relaxed, much to the Warrant Officer's annoyance. Rather than withdrawing the blade, the Warrant Officer merely kept pushing, effectively flipping the ill prepared Enlisted man into the air before he slammed into the ground. As the Enlisted man let out a groan from hitting the floor, the Warrant Officer began to berate him. "You shouldn't be so relaxed. You should have been prepared to dodge that attack. You forced yourself into that corner." As the Warrant Officer sheathed his blade, he continued talking while walking over and smacking the Enlisted man with his sheathed blade. "Your use of Busoshoku was also too slow. I cut your first layer of skin. If anyone above my skill had been cutting you'd have stopped the blade after it was already and inch in." Rising to attention, the Enlisted man gave a salute, as if thankful for the beating and berating. "Thank you sir!" The Warrant officer began to turn, taking a few steps away before again his aura flared. This attack was going to be long ranged, and aimed for the Enlisted man's head. As the Enlisted man quickly ducked, crouching his entire body down, he could feel the breeze of a long narrow object fly past him. Judging by the dullness of the breeze, the Warrant Officer had to had just launched his sheathe at him. He sensed the next attack, the warrant officer was going to slash at his chin. The Enlisted man had moved too suddenly and with too much effort, he couldn't stop himself in time to dodge. Again when the blade hit the Enlisted man, it failed to cut, but the sheer force did send the Enlisted man flying from one side of the deck to the other. Waiting for the Enlisted man to pick himself back up, the Warrant Officer would leave this time. "Ryuske Hikari, you have permission to remove the rag. Feel free to take shore leave. Regardless of whether you do, your time ends at Thirteen-Hundred. The ship will be leaving as soon as the Vice Admiral boards. If you are not on, you will be left." The Enlisted man nodded, as he heard the Warrant Officer assign a Petty Officer to fetch his sheathe from the water. Taking off the blind fold, the Enlisted man was temporarily blinded by the sudden light. As his eyes adjusted, he wondered: why should he do next?

-tag- Petty Officer Ratchet -words- I don't care -notes- if Ratchet has been on vice admiral Kiyoti's crew for long, she is pretty much used to seeing Ryuske in a blind fold -music- Here

MADE BY VEL OF GS