Deep in the night, inside the mind world called "The World."
"Demon Bamboo Strike!" Vergo roared.
His black bamboo stick, glowing with Haki, smashed into Roya's chest with terrifying force. Two rows of ribs cracked instantly! The blow went right through him, bursting out his back in a spray of blood!
"Argh!" Roya gasped, coughing up blood as he collapsed.
"The World!"
Instead of healing himself in the mind world, Roya forced himself to shut it down. The terrible damage he'd suffered instantly appeared on his real body.
"Senior Roya!" Lu Yun cried out, shocked to see Roya suddenly spitting blood.
"I won't die," Roya mumbled.
He lay down on the medical table, closed his eyes, and started "The World" again. This time, he didn't fight back, and quickly lost consciousness.
Right away, "The World" began to use his body's energy to fix the damage.
Just like yesterday! Lu Yun thought.
Carefully, Lu Yun opened Roya's clothes, revealing his bloody, mangled chest, with the same strange light as before. She quickly grabbed a small clock and placed it within the glow.
"Tick-tock… Tick-tock…"
The clock's hand, which had been moving forward, stopped and began to spin backward, as if turning back time.
Just as I thought!
Soon, the wounds were completely healed.
Roya's body looked thin and drained again.
Lu Yun looked at Roya, who had opened his eyes, and asked curiously, "Senior, how do you feel?"
"Hungry!" Roya said, his eyes gleaming with a wild hunger.
"Food is ready, but try this first," Lu Yun said, pulling out a tube filled with a strange pink liquid. She handed it to Roya with a sly smile. "It's a High-Concentration Nutrient Solution, I made it today. It's strawberry flavored!"
"Strawberry…" Roya frowned as he took the tube and quickly drank it down. In less than a minute, his starved body had absorbed it all.
The hunger pains faded a bit.
Roya raised an eyebrow. "Not bad, but I need more."
"If we had better equipment, we could make a lot of it," Lu Yun said, sounding a little sad.
The warship didn't have much to offer. If they were at the Research Institute on Punk Hazard, with plenty of supplies, they could produce tons of the stuff every day.
Roya nodded slightly.
Once things get better, I need to get this girl a proper lab. I don't expect her to invent anything new, just being able to copy some of Vegapunk's stuff would be worth a fortune.
He got up and went to the next room, where the table was piled high with hot, delicious food.
Time to eat!
"How did the experiment go?" he asked.
"It's definitely the Power of Time!" Lu Yun said, holding up two clocks. One of them was set half an hour behind the other.
That was exactly how much time he had spent fighting Vergo in "The World."
Roya paused, then went back to eating.
He didn't have any clear plans for developing "The World" right now, but he had learned a lot during the fight.
Late that night, feeling the power inside him with nowhere to use it, Roya snuck into the training room.
"Ha!"
His fist slammed into the iron wall, leaving a clear mark.
"This feels wrong," he muttered.
Roya stood firm, pulling his fist back, closing his eyes, and focusing, preparing for his next punch.
After being hit by Vergo's Demon Bamboo Strike, he had realized something important.
Vergo's attack was much stronger than ordinary punches. Strength and Haki were important, but the most terrifying thing was the powerful force that went right through him, making it impossible to defend.
That was why he was so badly hurt!
"Penetrative Haki!"
Roya opened his eyes suddenly, Haki swirling and gathering on his fist, and unleashed it against the iron wall in front of him!
"Bang!"
The iron wall shook violently!
"Wrong!"
Hardening, using Haki, sending out Haki.
He had mastered these basic Haki skills. The next step was Penetrative Haki.
Against enemies with stronger bodies and Haki than his, only Penetrative Haki would let him hurt them properly. Otherwise, he'd be like Luffy at the start, barely scratching Kaido.
Vergo's Haki was stronger than his!
It would be hard to catch up to his opponent's body and Haki, which had been trained for years, in a short time. So, he had to try to catch up in how he used Haki.
Technique depends on talent!
When it came to understanding things, Roya believed he was the best, as shown by how quickly he learned the Six Styles.
"Penetrative Haki and the idea of a one-inch punch must be similar, both sending force into the target's body."
Roya took a deep breath, his mind filled with scenes from martial arts movies.
His ancestors had long explored different ways to use force skillfully. He had never learned them properly, but he had watched a lot of movies.
This was his advantage!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Inside the warship's sleeping quarters.
Smoker woke up with a start.
He had dreamed that he was being beaten up. In the dream, it felt like invisible fists were repeatedly pounding on his head, annoying him endlessly.
After waking up, he faintly heard the sound of punches. Clearly, this sound was the reason for his nightmare.
"Who is it, so late?"
Smoker got dressed and followed the sound to the training room, where he saw Roya practicing his punches. He frowned.
It had only been two days, and this guy couldn't resist training. But it seemed that his body had recovered well.
Smoker took off his coat.
Since he was wide awake, he might as well train too.
"Bang!"
The iron wall next to him vibrated.
Roya paused, seeing Smoker next to him, but he didn't say anything and kept practicing.
The two of them remained silent, hammering away at the iron wall. Roya's punches were slow and not very strong, while Smoker's punches were more powerful, leaving fist marks on the iron wall.
It wasn't until four in the morning that they both stopped.
"I'll grab my shirt and head back," Roya said.
He still had to pretend to be a patient, and stay in the medical room for at least a week. The next voyage would probably be very dangerous, so even if it didn't help, he had to put on a show to lower the enemy's guard.
Smoker was covered in sweat, with blood dripping from his fists. The iron wall in front of him was full of holes, covered in sunken fist marks.
Even with Haki protection, his fists were still made of flesh and blood.
"Huh!"
Smoker turned to look at the iron wall where Roya had been practicing, and stopped in surprise. There were only a few dozen fist marks, and they were all very shallow.
"Is he just pretending?"
No.
Smoker frowned. Knowing Roya, he wouldn't be so bored. That guy was always very serious about his training.
But why was the iron wall in front of him…
Smoker felt that something was wrong. He carefully looked at the iron wall where Roya had been practicing. When he went to the back of the wall, his eyes widened.
The back of the iron wall was covered in bumps, and many of them were cracked, almost bursting open.
"Penetrative Haki!"
Damn it, that guy has moved ahead again!
*
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[T/N:
Latest Chapter translated on Patreon - Chapter Access up to Ch 272
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Here are the novels I'm currently translating:
-> Naruto Paradise: An Evil Uchiha's Rise
-> One Piece: I'm Destined to Be the Son-in-Law King!
-> Young Master, Please Become Hokage!
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]