While the Fleet Admiral's office was finalizing the matter of Hammer's assignment,
Hammer himself had already arrived at the trainees' barracks.
After bringing him over, Lisk gave some instructions to the barracks supervisor and left.
Soon, Hammer was shown to his room.
To his surprise, it was a private room.
What Hammer didn't know was that Lisk had just fought to get that single room for him.
Risk had seen something extraordinary in Hammer.
"This single room's actually pretty nice."
A single bed, wardrobe, desk, and bathroom are all included. Not bad at all.
Hammer lay down on the bed to rest, just about to drift into sleep, when he suddenly shot upright.
He remembered something.
Jumping up, he ran to his luggage, rummaged around, and pulled out an envelope.
Taking out some Belly, he hurried out the door.
Half an hour later, Hammer arrived at the hospital entrance, carrying three fruit baskets.
"Excuse me, can you tell me where I can find Sakazuki, Borsalino, and Dragon are staying?"
Yes, the thing that had popped into Hammer's head was visiting his fellow recruits in the hospital.
After all, it was thanks to his handiwork that the three had ended up hospitalized on the first day.
He felt pretty guilty about it.
Of course, there were two other guys he felt sorry for as well, but Hammer figured he should focus on the important connections for his future.
He promised himself that if he got the chance, he'd make it up to the others, too.
Victim #1: "…Right, I don't matter!"
Victim #2: "…Nice job, man!"
After asking around multiple times, Hammer finally arrived at a hospital room.
He knocked on the door, and a lazy voice came from inside:
"Come in~"
Pushing the door open, Hammer saw three patients with broken right arms lined up in beds.
From the window to the door: Dragon, Borsalino, and Sakazuki.
When the three saw Hammer walk in, their faces flashed with a bit of anger.
But when they noticed the fruit baskets in his hands and his sheepish expression,
their mood softened.
Hammer quickly placed the baskets in front of each of them.
Looking embarrassed, he said:
"I'm really sorry, guys. It was my Devil Fruit ability that caused you all to get hurt today."
Borsalino lazily opened his basket, pulled out a banana, and stuck it in his mouth.
"What a Scaary~ ability you've got there, Hammer-kun, my poor poor right arm~"
His sarcastic tone made Hammer's eye twitch.
But he knew that's just how Borsalino was, so he ignored it.
Dragon, on the other hand, burst out laughing.
"Don't take it to heart. The sea's full of strange Devil Fruits.
You didn't do it on purpose."
Sakazuki's eyes flashed with a strange glint. Ignoring the other two,
He looked straight at Hammer and asked:
"Can you control your Devil Fruit power of enchantment? Or are the effects entirely random?
Hammer nodded.
"It's random. Like today, I didn't know I'd give the test machine a rebound effect."
Just as Hammer was about to continue explaining,
a hearty laugh sounded from outside the hospital room.
"Dragon! I brought you something fun..Bwawahahaha!"
It was none other than the legendary Marine hero, Garp.
But as Garp entered the room, he looked… odd.
His clothes were tattered, his nose was bleeding,
one eye was bruised, and in his hand, he clutched a standard longsword.
Still, the joy in his eyes was unmistakable.
The four inside the room were all dumbfounded.
"Dad… what happened to you…?"
Dragon stared in disbelief at his battered father, clueless about what had happened.
At that moment, Hammer noticed that the longsword in Garp's hand looked very familiar.
"Vice Admiral Garp, that sword…"
Before Hammer could finish his sentence, Garp's cheerful voice rang out:
"Oh? You're Hammer, right? Bwaahaahaha! I stole this sword from that old man Kong!"
"This sword's incredible, you know, it can unleash flying sword slashes!"
Sakazuki: ???
Borsalino: ???
Dragon: ???
"Dad, have you gone senile? There's no way it can do that."
"If you said a skilled swordsman could unleash flying slashes, I'd believe you…"
"But you, a guy who fights with his fists, there is absolutely no way you can do that."
Dragon rolled his eyes at his father in exasperation.
Borsalino and Sakazuki had the same skeptical look.
Especially Sakazuki, as a swordsman himself,
he knew what flying slashes were.
"Ah, you kids don't get it! Watch closely!"
With that, Garp swung the sword…
Hammer immediately ducked his head.
As expected, this sword…
The sword aura tore through the air. The next second
*CLANG!"*
A massive sword scar appeared on the hospital wall.
Chunks of stone shattered and scattered everywhere.
With a crash, debris scattered all over the ground.
"Garp, you bastard! You actually ran to the hospital, give me back my sword!"
Seeing the hospital wall shattered, Fleet Admiral Kong and Sengoku immediately tracked down Garp's whereabouts.
"Oh no…"
While Garp was still showing off, Fleet Admiral Kong leapt up, burst through the window, and pinned Garp to the ground. Sengoku followed right behind, and just like that, a fleet admiral and an admiral were wrestling the so-called "Hero of the Marines" to the floor, completely ignoring the four dumbfounded Marine rookies in the hospital room.
"Kong, Sengoku, let me go! AAAHHH!!! You two bastards, give me back my sword!"
Pinned down, Garp could only watch helplessly as Fleet Admiral Kong snatched back the longsword.
"Pah! You bastard, you even dared to steal from me! A sword that lets even me launch flying slashes.
With the longsword recovered, Fleet Admiral Kong looked pleased with himself and kept showing it off until he suddenly noticed four pairs of eyes staring at him.
The next second, Kong froze.
The four young Marines, including Hammer, were staring wide-eyed at the three of the top officers brawling right in front of them.
"Sengoku, lets move!"
Sengoku snapped back to his senses, quickly teamed up with Kong, and together they hurled Garp out the window. The two of them then leapt out into the night, disappearing without a trace.
Leaving behind the four bewildered rookies, who just stared at each other in confusion.
"A sword that can let anyone launch slashes…How scary~ Hammer-kun, don't tell me that sword was your handiwork?"
Borsalino, always sharp, immediately grasped the core of the situation.
Sakazuki and Dragon both turned to look at Hammer, waiting for his reply.
"Uh… yeah, I made it. That longsword was imbued with the ability to unleash slashes—anyone can use it to strike with a slash, even if they can't use sword techniques."
Shock. Truly shocking.
This Devil Fruit ability was insanely overpowered…
"What are the odds of making more?
Sakazuki's eyes were already burning with excitement. If this kind of weapon could be mass-produced, he could lead the Navy to wipe out all the pirates.
Unfortunately, the dream was full of promise, but reality was cold.
"I spent an entire day forging and only got that one sword… what do you think the odds are?"
Sakazuki: "…."