Chapter 51: Chapter 42.2

The last year and a half had been rough, Ricky thought.

Strength mattered in the Marineford Academy, but unless the cadet had an overwhelming strength, then it would only barely matter enough to cover for other deficiencies.

And that was current predicament or Sasha’s and him.

They were strong enough to win most ranked matches, but after the first assessment Sasha had been ranked dead last, and he had not fared much better.

Considering the fact that they had joined the year late, it had been an extremely arduous task to reach the top thirty in rankings by their second year.

This was doubly so for Ricky who didn’t even really want to be a Marine.

Training with swords? Who even likes swords?! Fighting against monsters? Who would want to?!

All Ricky wanted to do was work six hours a day in some office and then spend the rest of his time in leisure.

If it wasn’t for…. ‘Ugh.’

Being careful not to let a sigh escape, he just stared up at the bunk above him.

It wouldn’t be long before the Instructors rushed in the room and berated anyone who wasn’t dressed properly or whatever else they thought the cadet needed a good tongue-lashing for.

After eighteen months, he had just got accustomed to sleeping less. His biological clock set to coincide with the time when he was supposed to get up.

Despite the negative, Ricky thought that his time here hadn’t been all bad, at least he had been with Sasha every day.

He had also met many very high-ranking Marines, ranging from the Hero Garp to the Admiral Red Dog.

Thinking about those higher ups, Ricky had to say they were all pretty weird. It seemed that Aramaki was not a normal higher-ranking officer.

Interrupted in his thoughts as the other cadets in the room began to stir, and Ricky quietly got up, made his already tidy bed, and finally put on his slippers.

With that done, he walked over to Sasha’s bunk, put his hand on her shoulder and nudged.

“Come on, they’ll be here soon.” He said quietly.

Rolling over, Sasha looked up with some slobber on her cheek. Her hair was a mess and after noticing who it was, she just grunted and wiped her face before standing up and getting ready.

Her actions may have been unattractive to some people, but not to Ricky.

Sasha was the prettiest girl he had ever seen.

Of course, it was true that there weren’t too many girls his age in Vallipo, but that wasn’t all it was.

As she readied herself, Ricky watched her out of the corner of his eye and what he saw was the same thing he had seen almost every day they had spent together.

Her confidence was evident in her every move.

She was strong, thorough, sharp as a tack, and the fact she was easy on the eyes didn’t hurt.

Ricky couldn’t say it out loud, but she was the single force that could have made him give up a life of leisure.

Sure, he liked his other friends. Bill was a good person, reliable as a rock, who was always apt to give a helping hand. Ranse knew how to be funny and was always up to something. Even Fia was cool to hang around, knowing a little bit about just about everything, and plus liked to cook.

But none of them were the same as Sasha, Ricky thought, as the Instructors feet was heard in the distance.

The noise was audible in the room, and the cadets all started scrambling. By the time the doors opened, and the light turned on there was two rows of fifteen recruits standing at attention.

Looking side to side, Ricky thought about the Rankings and how they should be updated soon. Drake and Saga had left a few months ago and now the order was:

1: Ain

2: Shuzo

3: Bins

…

26: Riccio Occhiali

28: Sasha Zima

Sasha was more skilled than Ain with a sword, but the top three positions were relatively unassailable at this point.

The Rankings were determined by a point system and even though they never spoke about it, Ricky knew that Sasha knew that the vaunted position of ‘Rear Admiral’ was a dream.

As far as Ricky could see it, their best case scenario was to reach Captain – but there was no way of telling if they would even reach top twenty by the end of the year.

Standing at attention, Instructor Zephyr walked in the room, and Ricky felt all of the eyes in the place turn despite not a head moving.

Z was the Marineford Academy’s Head Instructor. He was always there during evaluations and would sometimes offer help, but he had never before been the person to do the morning check.

Passing the cadets one by one, Zephyr stopped at one unfortunate soul and looked her up and down: “Cadet 28, Why is your hair not tied up?”

Ricky wanted to look over, but it was impossible to see clearly. Though they slept in the same bunk room, the boys’ and girls’ cots were in separate areas.

Listening over carefully, Ricky heard Sasha said in a voice that was dark as tinted glass: “My hair tie broke in my sleep.”

With a ‘tsk’ Zephyr continued: “Cadet 28, the commissary gives out shoestrings and hair ties at no cost, is that right?”

Sasha: “Yes Instructor, but as it broke in my sleep and not at the commissary, I had no other way to get one. Does that confuse you?”

When she said this, several cadets snickered, but Ricky wanted to sigh. Not at the Head Instructor but at Sasha who had escalated a situation she couldn’t win.

As Ricky expected, Zephyr didn’t take light of what he could view as insubordination.

“Cadet 28, I understand your plight, and don’t worry we will correct this situation together when after breakfast I give you a nice haircut.

Now, did any of that confuse you?”

Ricky couldn’t see the look on her face, but knew it had to be bad, but all he heard was a more forceful: “No.”

Ricky couldn’t see, but the big man seemed startled by the girl’s curt reply. When Zephyr responded he had an edge to his voice: “What was that Cadet 28?”

“I said, No, Head Instructor Zephyr.”

Perhaps thinking that cutting her hair would be enough, Zephyr continued making checks and didn’t reply to her.

Zephyr was a more or less fair Marine, after all.

After the checks were done, the cadets walked to the cafeteria and Ricky took his place next to Sasha.

She looked serious but didn’t complain.

As for Ricky himself, he knew that they had been less than fairly treated… but that was the way of the world he reasoned.

They were talented but were always thrown into a situation where they wouldn’t excel.

Sasha, for example, was almost always matched up against a top ranked Cadet. First had been Drake, then Saga, and now Ain.

He on the other hand had almost always been matched against Bins or Shuzo, and most of the time not allowed to use his swords.

Given that they were always ranked near the bottom, how was it possible that they consistently matched against the cadets in the top 10?

‘Well…’ He thought.

Firstly, neither of them had Devil Fruits which could play a major factor, but most probably, Ricky thought: ‘We haven’t signed the extended service contract.’

Out of all the Cadets at Marineford Academy, only he and Sasha hadn’t learned any of the Six Powers and as a result were only in their six-year contract.

There hadn’t been for any particular reason they hadn’t learned those moves, but Ricky had the Rumble Arts and Wave Step which was more than enough for him, and Sasha was disinclined to do anything besides train in the Angle and Polygonal Sword Arts.

Sitting down with breakfast, Ricky looked at Sasha and said: “Did you hear what we’re doing today?”

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She looked at him, and he tried not to let her notice as he lost his breath.

“I saw it was survival training. Shipwreck I think.”

He nodded; this was a common training tactic for Marineford Cadets.

Officers from Headquarters were assumed to be the cream of the crop, and those from the Marineford Academy even more so.

The reason for this was because they were trained for almost every eventuality.

Seeing him not talk, Sasha spoke again as she ate: “This time they may have actual sea kings in the simulation. I was told it’s due to a recent incident that happened only a month travel from here.”

Speaking with stuffed cheeks, Ricky replied: “Oh? Sho closhe to Marineshford?”

Nodding her head, Sasha spoke with a deep but feminine voice: “A never-before scene island appeared, and an experienced Captain had to survive multiple attacks.”

Ricky hadn’t heard about any of this, recently he had to put in actual work on his swordsmanship.

If anything, he was curious where Sasha had heard it. She was almost always training and almost never had news because of it.

Swallowing his food, Ricky asked curiously: “How did you hear about it?”

After taking a gulp of juice, the girl continued and said: “I heard the incident involved the Science Division, but nobody I asked knew if Bill was involved.”

‘Ahh’ Ricky thought, that made sense.

He didn’t know how strong Bill and the other had gotten, but Sasha’s character would never allow her to sit idle while a friend was in trouble.

Ricky: “Well, I doubt the Commodore would let Bill be put at risk, so he’s probably fine.”

To this Sasha simply nodded, and the two continued to shovel food down until they had to head out.

Among the first to reach the practice field, Ricky saw that there had been several areas set up. One area even had a full-sized frigate smashed and laying on its side.

Marineford Academy spared no effort on the cadets and this scene wouldn’t be nearly as shocking if it wasn’t for the presence of a chair in the front of the area where the cadets would gather.

Sasha had no doubt seen it too, and he heard her mutter ‘trifling’ under her breath.

It was a sentiment he agreed with and was determined to speak up for her when he saw Zephyr and the other instructors walk out of their office in the far side of the field.

The thirty cadets stood in a sort of semi-circle as the large man began to speak.

“Cadet 28, front and center!”

Sasha didn’t acknowledge Ricky as she stepped forward.

Standing barely over six feet tall, she was absolutely dwarfed by the nearly twelve-foot-tall former Admiral.

From a distance it would have looked like a small child accompanied by their parent.

But despite the physical presence of the former Admiral, Sasha stopped just far enough away to be able to look him in the eye.

Seeing this made Ricky nervous, but also strangely excited.

As Zephyr began to speak, two more normal sized humans carrying handbags were coming up from behind him.

“Ms. Zima, do you know why we have dress codes?” then, not letting Sasha answer, Zephyr continued: “Because Marines have standards!”

Ricky saw as Sasha’s eyes began to burn, and he knew he couldn’t stop her when she spoke out of turn.

“I know the dress codes. As I said to you, Former Admiral Zephyr, my hair tie just broke during the night an-“ “You don’t seem to understand, Cadet 28!”

Saying this, Zephyr turned his head to the rest of the cadets before starting again.

“Marines have standards! That’s all we have, and that’s how we remain strong!

You know about the dress codes, Ms. Zima?

Well tell me, what do you know about Military Social Etiquette?”

After Zephyr said this, he spoke for a length of time on how to address superior officers and general behavior expected of Marines.

All this while, Sasha stood front in center as the example of ‘how not to act.’

For all of this, Ricky felt like exploding, but what could he do?

He knew if he spoke up the best-case scenario was a reprimand, but as worst they could be kicked out of the Academy.

So as Zephyr spoke about ‘how to handle yourself at a formal party’ Ricky just watched Sasha stood in front of the eyes of everyone, not buckling at all to the pressure.

Ricky thought about his next action, and as Zephyr finished his diatribe, Ricky stepped forward and spoke up: “Head Instructor Sir!”

Hearing the cadet, Zephyr walked over and stood in front of Ricky.

Ricky was a couple inches shorter than Sasha, which made the difference between he and Zephyr stand out even more.

“Do You Have Something To Add, Cadet 26?”

Ricky was not as stoic as Sasha, but still powered through his next sentence.

“Sir! I had broke Cadet 28’s hairband last night as a joke! I didn’t expect it to be you who gathered us in the morning!”

This was of course a lie, but Ricky hoped it would help Sasha not get shaved bald.

As for Zephyr, he looked at Ricky like this kid was an example of what he was just saying.

“This is why we have standards!

Cadet 26 did not know I would be there in the morning, but he knew the proper etiquette! And look at what not following those standards have cause.

Now you cadets are lucky, had your lives been in this boy’s irresponsible hands, then what?!”

After saying this, Zephyr walked back near the barber’s chair.

“Had Ms. Zima shown the respect demanded by her superior, there would have been no punishment.

Had Mr. Occhiali not played against his comrade, her lack of respect could have been hidden.

But this is what happens when Standards are not kept, do you understand?”

To his question, twenty-eight cadets shouted: “Sir, Yes Sir!”””

As for Sasha, she knew Ricky had lied, but didn’t react one way or the other.

In the end, both Cadets had their hair shaved and lost a rank. This made it hard to see how they were going to last after the end of the year.

But strangely, Ricky found it better.

Without having to worry about being scored, he actually had fun doing this survival mission.

The Academy even had brought in sea kings, one of which was a giant eel which Sasha had nearly cut in half.

After the day was over, the two bald friends were in the cafeteria.

Ricky was only thinking that Sasha had a perfectly shaped head when she was delivered a letter.

Ricky: “You got mail?”

Sasha didn’t answer and opened it up. Inside was several sheets of paper, and after glancing over them looked up and said: “They’re from Bill, he wants us all to get together on Vallipo in a few months.”

Thinking that was odd, Ricky just responded: “Oh, sounds fun.”