2 years have passed since his first training. He was now 7 years old, and he had already reached the state of Breath of All Things, meaning he can cut whatever he wants to cut and leave what he did not intend to unharmed, the spar against Shepard was going greatly, where Shepard is now forced to use armament haki, even if its just to harden his sword, since Thorne has the strength to crack his sword if he is not careful.
Thorne also have the foundational strength required for learning the armament haki now but Thorne delay it and just focusing on the Observation haki, which he was very talented, considering that it was the very first haki that Luffy awakened and the special ability of Roger, he could now see 5 seconds into the future, like Katakuri but still have to focus greatly.
We can now see Shepard and Thorne sparring against each other, with most of the attacks of Shepard's attacks being dodged, with Shepard not using his Observation Haki negation to even the playing field with Thorne still in 2 years of training and with the weights that was now as heavy as a mountain weighing on him in each limbs and not being able to use Devil Fruit, it was an unbelievable sight, one that manage to attract the attentions of the other recruits who was used to seeing Thorne fight against Shepard.
Shepard slashed towards Thorne, who saw the future and dodged while using his momentum to attack with his sword towards Shepard, who parried it. Thorne then used his feet to kick against Shepard to create a distance between them while simultaneously drawing his pistol. Then, he fired at Shepard, who used his Devil Fruit to counter.
"Hey, I thought no using Devil Fruit," Thorne protested, since he knew that he would be no match against Shepard when he uses his Devil Fruit combined with his strength.
"Hehehe, I lied dumbass," Shepard reply, while wrapping his whole body with Thorns while also putting numerous traps in their battlefield, Thorne then fights back as he started straining himself more, as the weights increased their strength and with more power he show, while Shepard was just playing with him, using the Thorn Thorn Fruit and armament haki to counter everything he throw, the only consolation is that he was not hit as much since he has a great Observation Haki, but even still that is being a burden since he would not be able to see the future if he did not concentrate.
The battle continued, where the longer they fought, the more strength Thorne had to exert to swing his blade and dodge. The battle reached a boiling point where Shepard managed to create a prison full of thorns and trap Thorne, which forced him to directly receive the attack of Shepard, which was a fist wrapped in armament haki and his Devil Fruit powers.
Thorne was sent flying, where he hit a wall of thorns that Shepard created when they were just about to start fighting, leaving Thorne with puncture wounds all over his body.
"Just surrender, there's no shame in that," Shepard said to Thorne, who was just silent and still bleeding while catching his breath.
"Don't think you've won just yet, you know how stubborn I am," Thorne said, forcing himself to stand up despite the weights dragging him down, paired with his exhaustion, but his body was surpassing its limit, with each second he was standing, powered only by his will power, with a grin in his face.
'Hmmmm, why does he keep smiling when facing a stronger opponent?" Garling thought, which reminded him of the battle of Rocks against Garp and Roger, they are always smiling too, especially when facing dangers beyond their current capabilities.
'Perhaps my son is just a battle maniac, and enjoys fighting so much due to the Devil Fruit affecting him.' Garling then thought, since he knows that Zoan devil fruits have their own will and choose their owner,
Back to Thorne, he was then attacked by a thorn whip created by Shepard, covered in Armament haki, making sure that this attack would put Thorne down, until he could not get up anymore. It was one of the missions the Supreme Commander Garling gave when it came to teaching his son, intending to push Thorne further and further. The whip approached closely as moments passed, until suddenly it was nearing Thorne's face. Thorne unconsciously released his conqueror's haki for the first time, it was incredibly strong that it wilted the thorns that were attacking him. After this moment, Thorne then fainted.
But the aftermath of his unconscious released of Conqueror's are seen, Shepard, looked around him, every recruit passed out, and some of the guards, only the official members of the God's Knight are not, but even then, some of them felt the weight of this Conqueror, sweating as if they are targeted themselves.
Garling, who watched his son awaken his supreme king haki, despite being 7 years old, became even more prideful. He decided that he would let his son take over the training of Thorne, to ensure that he would push himself much further than in the hands of Shepard.
"Shepard!" Garling called Shepard, who was standing in the field.
"Yes, Supreme Commander?" Shepard approached Garling in an instant, while bowing his head.
"Bring him to the infirmary, and from now on, Shamrock would handle his training," Garling said to Shepard, who just looked at Garling with a shocked expression, considering that Thorne had not yet learned how to use his Armament and his conqueror had awakened.
"Supreme Commander, If you don't mind me asking, Isn't Thorne too young to undergoes the training he would face in Shamrock," Shepard said asked to Garling who just looked at him and asking him to elaborate.
"I mean, Supreme Commander, since I know, the training that Shamrock would give will be directly coming from your lessons to him in his training days, which Shamrock started doing on his 18th year old birthday." Shepard then elaborated, knowing that Shamrock undergoes training from Garling at that age, and he knows that it was a brutal one.
"I don't need you to question my authority and my decisions. If I deem Thorne ready, he is ready, I don't need anyone's opinion on that matter, even if the 5 elders cannot do anything to stop me," Garling said to Shepard, who just bowed his head.
"Yes Supreme Commander, I'll put Thorne in infirmary and inform the doctors to notify me when he wake up," Shepard just answered, knowing that he was crossing a line, questioning his superior.
"Dismiss," Garling then dismissed Shepard, who just lifted his head and immediately went to Thorne's side to lift him, until he realized that the weights Thorne wearing was too much for him to lift, so he deactivated the weights, and removed the sea stone shackles to activate the Devil Fruit of Thorne to help with his natural recovery, the moment he removed the sea stone, Thorne suddenly woke up, he noticed that Shepard was kneeling in his side.
"What happened?" Thorne then asked Shepard, while noticing that his body was lighter,
"You fainted," Shepard answered while shocked at the immediate recovery of Thorne.
'What a strong Devil Fruit,' Shepard then thought to himself,
"How embarrassing, I shouldn't have fainted just because of exhaustion," Thorne said, while standing up,
"Do not worry about it, you unconsciously released your supreme king haki, that's why you fainted, but you need to eat, so you can recover faster," Shepard said to Thorne, who stood.
"Servant, I need lots of food," Shepard then said to the servant waiting on his side, who then immediately moved towards the kitchen to follow the orders of his master.
After a moment, the food arrived, which Thorne immediately consumed as fast as he could. The food that was prepared kept disappearing as if he were inhaling it, and more and more servants brought food, until Thorne ate food that could feed a hundred people. Thorne, who was so full that he lay down just a moment, was then informed by Shepard that he would be his training partner no longer,
Thorne marched to the Supreme Commander's office. Inside, he found Garling and Shamrock discussing something.
"Supreme Commander. Commander," he said with a bow.
"Why are you here, Thorne?" Shamrock asked.
"I heard you'll be training me. I want to know why you think I'm ready." Thorne said to Shamrock.
"Yes, I would be, Supreme Commander thinks it's for the best since you already unlocked you're supreme king haki," Shamrock answered.
"That's not what I asked, I want to know why you think I'm ready, not what the supreme commander's thoughts are," Thorne clarified to Shamrock.
"Hmmmm, does that matter?" Shamrock said to Thorne, who just stood silently for a while,
"I guess not, see you tomorrow then, Commander," Thorne said to Shamrock. Thorne then bowed his head and left the office, leaving Garling and Shamrock discussing.
"Do you think he's ready, Father?" Shamrock asked Garling.
"I do, plus he would be a great addition to our strength, with my plans for the future," Garling replied to Shamrock who just nodded, noting the great ambitions of Garling with Shamrock as his enforcer.