That night’s conversation with Caleb was a turning point for our dormitory. Gradually, everyone began to talk, and I slowly learned that the Black guy who spoke to me on the first day was Anthony Marcus, from the “White Demon,” one of the three largest pirate groups in the universe. Their captain has a head of ghostly white hair and is one of the three elders of the Pirate Alliance Council. He came to the training camp after being betrayed by his girlfriend, disheartened and discouraged. He was the best among us—every time we had group sparring practice, he could win easily. The big white guy who slept on the bunk above him was Tucker Hogan, from a little-known pirate ship called the “Orca.” Of everyone, I got along with him the best, because we came here with the same goal—ships! Like me, he wanted to have his own pirate ship, be his own captain, make his own pirate rules, and never be bossed around again. Next to them slept Orlando Baker and Hagler Thompson. Orlando Baker came from a mid-tier pirate group, the “Venom Eagle.” He had terrible luck—out of nearly fifty people on his ship, he drew the short straw, a one-in-fifty chance, and was tied up and sent to the planet Maloka by the whole crew. Hagler Thompson was also Asian and shared a surname with Instructor Thompson, but they weren’t related. Hagler Thompson came from the “Angry Serpent.” He was a rule-breaker; originally, his captain wanted to exile him, but it just so happened that their boxer died, so he was sent here as a replacement. Sleeping on the bunk above me was Kyle Morton, from the “Dire Wolf.” Their captain, “Lone Wolf” Lalber, was a legendary figure—he once led their “Dire Wolf” to break out of an encirclement by three cruisers from the Principality of Lieshan, earning him great fame in pirate circles. Although his pirate group was much weaker than the three major pirate groups, he was still one of the top candidates for the next Pirate Alliance Council elder.

Chapter Five

A year later, my daily morning squats had increased to 300 kilograms, and before afternoon training, I was also doing 200 reps of 100-kilogram bench presses. The weight for morning cross-country runs had also increased to 80 kilograms. Now, I could break a 30-inch wooden stick with a single kick, making me one of the best among the new trainees. Among the veterans, Marcus had become our nightmare in combat training—he could already break a 27-inch iron rod with one kick, almost on par with Instructor Thompson. Every time I was paired with him for practice, I’d be knocked down in less than ten seconds. Marcus had become the second “demon king” of our entire training camp—the first, of course, was still Instructor Thompson.

No one doubted that Marcus would make a name for himself in the ring and quickly earn a fortune. In the dorm, we already joked that if we ever ran out of money, we’d have to go find him, and Marcus would answer us with that uniquely warm, honest smile of his. Instructor Thompson was still every trainee’s nightmare, including Marcus. He did things his own way, shouting and yelling, changing up his punishment tools every day—from ancient whips and batons to the most modern electric shock collars, he used them all. I tried my best to complete my training tasks every day, being careful not to anger him. For a whole year, we’d been curious why no one but the instructors ever went to those houses behind the training camp. I knew Marcus must know, since he’d been here the longest, but he wouldn’t tell us. Until one day, after training, Instructor Thompson shouted Marcus’s name, called him out, and announced that he would enter that row of houses the next day. A flash of joy crossed Marcus’s face, quickly followed by a trace of fear. Instructor Thompson didn’t say much more and left. We were puzzled. Back in the dorm, we pressed Marcus for answers, and only then did he tell us: that place was the arena. If you could make it through there, you could become a real boxer.

“The arena? What’s that?” I asked. Marcus said, “It’s a place where people fight wild beasts!” “What?” we all exclaimed in shock. Marcus gave a bitter laugh: “As long as you can walk out of any of those rooms, you pass. The first room is the easiest—inside is a Maloka dire wolf. The next room has a Maloka thunder leopard. After that is a giant python brought from planet Vaughn, and then there’s the Anlock arrow-maned bear from planet Anlock!” The first few didn’t faze us much—the Maloka dire wolf and Maloka thunder leopard were tough, but we figured we could handle them now. But the Vaughn giant python was on a whole different level. Planet Vaughn was the most dangerous planet in the Oruk star system, and the Vaughn giant python was the top predator there. An adult Vaughn giant python could grow up to ten meters long and thirty centimeters thick, easily coiling up a full-grown lion and crushing all its bones. After that, the Anlock arrow-maned bear was one of the most ferocious beasts in the universe. Arrow-maned bears had a ring of long, arrow-like manes around their necks, filled with deadly poison, and all the manes could shoot out like arrows. An adult Anlock arrow-maned bear could stand nearly three meters tall, weigh six hundred kilograms, and could easily smash rocks and break logs dozens of centimeters thick.

We all gasped. “Which animal are they making you fight?”