The day continued under the warm afternoon sun.
"How about you guys spar? And let's do this every day?" Ling suggested.
"I like that idea," Ace said with a grin.
The three boys nodded in agreement.
"Let's start with...."
"Me!" Luffy shouted, cutting him off excitedly.
"You can go first. Blackie, come," Ling.
"I remember beating you a year ago! Hihihihi!" Luffy grinned confidently.
Blackie smirked back.
The two had sparred once before long ago, even before the Red-Hair Pirates had arrived at Foosha Village for the first time.
Luffy and Blackie took their stances.
"Gum-Gum: Pistol!" Luffy yelled.
His arm stretched forward but missed completely, hitting a tree and rebounding straight into his own face.
"That idiot," Sabo muttered as he facepalmed.
Ace just sighed beside him.
Ling let out an internal laugh.
'He really doesn't have aim as a kid.'
Blackie didn't waste the chance. He charged forward.
Seeing the incoming attack, Luffy quickly reacted.
"Gum-Gum: Balloon!" he shouted, puffing up like a ball.
"This is my coolest technique! It can deflect bullets and cannonballs!" he declared proudly. "It's cool, isn't it?"
"Well… I don't think it's cool," Sabo muttered, speechless.
Blackie wasn't impressed either. He pulled back his fist and punched the ballooned Luffy with full force, sending him flying into the air.
"How lame," Ace commented, unimpressed.
Having trained with Ling daily, Blackie had grown far stronger. He defeated Luffy in just ten seconds.
"Who wants to go next?" Ling asked.
"I'll go!" Sabo raised his hand.
"I'll go last then," Ace said, stretching his arms.
Blackie and Sabo faced off next. Their fight lasted eleven minutes, it ended in a draw.
Afterward, Ling let Blackie rest under the shade of a tree for half an hour before continuing.
Meanwhile, Luffy had fallen asleep after his loss. He finally woke up just as Ace and Blackie were beginning their spar.
Ace and Blackie clashed fiercely, their strength and speed evenly matched. The fight dragged on with neither side giving an inch. In the end, Ace managed to land a decisive blow, securing a narrow victory.
All four eventually sat down, catching their breath. The baboons had already retreated into the trees with Blackie soon after Ling said they could leave early.
"So, what do you guys think?" Ling asked.
"You're really strong, Ling! You beat all seven of them at the same time!" Luffy said, eyes still sparkling with admiration.
"I couldn't even beat Blackie. We ended in a draw," Sabo admitted, still exhausted.
"Yeah… I barely managed to win," Ace added, wiping sweat from his brow.
Luffy had dozed off again.
"It's still early. You guys want to train more?" Ling asked.
"I can still train," Sabo nodded.
"Me too," said Ace.
"Luffy!" Ace smacked Luffy on the head.
"Hey!!" Luffy yelled, jerking awake.
"Now that Luffy's up, let me summarize what our training schedule gonna be."
"Everyday, you three will continue sparring with Blackie. Since Sabo can only draw with him and Ace can barely win, I won't add any baboons yet, until you two can beat Blackie one-sided."
"And at noon, we'll punch a boulder until we can break it and continuedoing it until we can break it easily with one hit."
"This will take a year or worse years to break a boulder in one shot."
"Don't mind." Ace said, Sabo nodded in agreement.
"After that, we'll spar against each other one hundred times a day."
"That's too much… but fine," Sabo groaned, already tired just thinking about it.
"Yeah, I agree," Ace said.
"Me too!" Luffy added, bouncing again with enthusiasm.
"This is necessary if we want to beat Bluejam," Ling said, his tone calm but firm.
"I heard in Foosha Village that Bluejam has one of the highest bounties in the East Blue."
"Really?" Sabo's eyes widened.
"Can you beat him?" Ace asked.
"No. Do you guys know the Lord of the Forest? Bluejam is slightly stronger than the giant tiger."
'If my guess is correct.' Ling thought.
"What?! The strongest animal in this forest?" Sabo asked in disbelief.
"We should lay low for a while and just train." Ling said.
"You're right we're not strong enough yet." Ace agreed.
The three boys nodded and followed Ling into a clearing filled with large boulders.
"Since Luffy is weaker, he'll start on a tree," Ling said.
"Hey! I'm not weak!" Luffy shouted in protest.
"Until you can destroy a tree on one shot, you won't train on a boulder," Ling replied flatly.
"No way! I can destroy a tree!" Luffy insisted.
"Gum-Gum: Pistol!"
His fist stretched and slammed into a tree. It shook slightly… but didn't even dent.
Without saying a word, Ling walked up to another tree and punched it. The tree was broken in half on a single hit.
Ace and Sabo followed suit, splitting their own trees just as easily.
Luffy's jaw dropped.
"You can only do that because you're ten!" he said, pouting.
"I could do that when I was seven," Ace shouted.
The two launched into their hourly argument. Sabo sighed and stepped between them.
"Can you guys stop already?" Sabo separated the two.
Over the next month, the boys committed themselves entirely to training.
Every morning, they woke at dawn and hunted wild animals for breakfast. Then, they sparred with Blackie and the baboons.
After lunch, they headed straight into their boulder-punching sessions. Luffy, still lagging behind, trained on trees instead.
The day ended with their final sparring matches against each other. Before returning to Dadan's house, they'd hunt again for dinner.
After eating, they'd meditate for an hour before sleep.
By the end of the first week, Ace and Sabo could beat Blackie easily. But once Ling added just one baboon, both of them lost badly.
Luffy, on the other hand, had his own progress. Since he still couldn't beat Blackie, Ling assigned him a single baboon first.
For three days straight, he could only manage a draw. But after another four days, Luffy could finally defeat two baboons at once.
That might not sound like much but considering the two baboons coordinated attack and speed, it was impressive.
Their boulder training was far less rewarding. For the entire first week, Ace, Sabo could barely scratch the surface.
Luffy on the other hand couldn't even dent the tree he trained on. Only Ling, who had been practicing much earlier, managed to make a small dent in his boulder.
In their sparring matches, Ling is undefeated. Out of 25 bouts, he won all of them. Luffy lost every match, while Ace narrowly led Sabo with 21 wins to 19.
Still, there was progress. At the end of the week, Luffy managed to leave a noticeable dent on his tree.
During the second week, the improvements continued.
Ace could now beat Blackie along with three baboons on his own. Sabo was close behind, able to hold a draw against them.
Luffy? He could barely manage a win against four three baboons.
In the boulder training, nothing changed for Ling, Ace, or Sabo though they remained consistent.
Luffy, however, finally break the tree his been practicing since day one. His beaming face afterward said it all.
By then, Ling had reduced his daily sparring to 20 rounds. He still won every match without fail.
Luffy continued to lose all his matches, but he was learning. His aim also improved he can hit a target 5 out of 10.
Meanwhile, Ace and Sabo tied evenly at 20 wins each.
Now, after a month of nonstop training, they were noticebly stronger than ever.
Ace and Sabo could now defeat Blackie and six baboons easily.
Luffy, though not at their level yet, could hold his own in a draw against six baboons.
He was still behind, but the gap was shrinking.
In their strength training, both Ace and Sabo finally managed to put a small dent in their boulders since day one.
Yes. It's the same boulder they started.
Ling now has a large dent on his boulder, the same he started with.
As for Luffy, he could destroy a tree in one day now. With a few more weeks of effort, Ling figured, he'd be able to smash trees casually, just like them.