Under a clear, cloudless sky, white waves rolled across the sea, reflecting the cheerful sunlight. A large, three-masted commercial pleasure cruise, propelled by a friendly sea breeze, gracefully cut through the whitecaps, sailing at a steady speed.
Inside a lavishly decorated cabin, on a large bed, Sephiroth sat cross-legged, his eyes closed, his chest rising and falling rhythmically, lost in deep concentration. He was attempting something new, something that challenged the very limits of his understanding of Haki.
Suddenly!
"Ouch!"
Sephiroth abruptly opened his eyes, a reddish tinge gracing his lips as he spat blood that splattered onto the expensive carpet. A piercing pain shot through his chest, accompanied by a sudden weakness.
"No! Using this method to circulate Haki causes blood to flow backward..." he muttered, taking a heavy breath. He grabbed a tissue from the bedside table, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, then reached for a black notebook on the bed. Its pages were flipped through quickly, Sephiroth's mind wandering, until he finally stopped at a meticulously hand-drawn chart of human meridians and acupuncture points.
"Allowing Busoshoku Haki to take a shortcut from the Danzhong acupuncture point..." Sephiroth pointed to the sketch in his book, his brows deeply furrowed. "This route can indeed accelerate the circulation of vital energy and blood, thereby producing more Busoshoku Haki. However, it will also cause stagnation of vital energy in the body, leading to internal bleeding..." He sighed, disappointment etched on his face. "If the general direction remains unchanged, is there a way to expel the stagnant vital energy? After all, at present, I'm incapable of precisely and meticulously controlling Busoshoku Haki, Haki always shifts to irrelevant acupuncture points... Only if I can thoroughly solve this problem can I research the perfect energy circulation route..."
Pondering deeply, he opened a blank page in his notebook, picked up a pen beside him, and began to redraw his plan. In this world, although there were theories of Traditional Medicine, the lack of communication between islands meant that the overall theoretical level was quite backward, not even comparable to the knowledge in the books in his head, so there was basically nothing he could use as a reference or learn from. Regarding the research on Busoshoku Haki and human meridians and acupuncture points, he could only explore it himself, step by challenging step.
Generally speaking, the methods for improving the quality and quantity of Busoshoku Haki were also very simple. Either continuously train one's physique, constantly summon Busoshoku Haki during training to slowly improve one's Busoshoku Haki quality and quantity, or, during life-and-death battles, stimulate one's physical potential, allowing the quality and quantity of Busoshoku Haki to achieve rapid breakthroughs.
Sephiroth had tried the former, but unfortunately, progress was slow, as for the latter... He smiled wryly. When he combined the super regeneration and bat pseudo-elementalization abilities of his Vampire Fruit, as long as he wasn't instantly killed, or hit by Seastone, or plunged into the sea, he was basically extremely difficult to kill. With the absence of death pressure from life-and-death battles, how could physical potential be stimulated?
The Amazon Lily Island's Busoshoku Haki refinement method was only suitable for helping awaken Busoshoku Haki and rapidly perfecting Busoshoku Haki to the maximum value his body could accommodate, but it couldn't help him break through the limits of his own Busoshoku Haki capacity. Therefore, how to gradually improve the quality and quantity of his Busoshoku Haki had become the most pressing problem for him now and in the future. Sooner or later, regular physical training would lose its meaning for him...
The human body had its limits!
When he had tempered his physical body to its peak condition, if he still wanted to continue increasing his strength, using Haki to temper his physique would be his only option. The top experts in this world, after developing their physical body strength to the extreme, would all choose this path without exception. Charlotte Linlin, Kaido, and Garp were all like this. This was essentially the same principle as using Haki to forge a Black Blade. Whether it was a Saijo O Wazamono Grade Sword or an O Wazamono Grade Sword, compared to a Black Blade, there was a vast difference in terms of toughness and Haki attack amplification.
Was the difference between a physical body that had been tempered by Haki for years also like this?
If not, if victory was determined solely by physique, the Giant Race, with an average height of tens of meters per person, would be the rulers of the world. Where would the Four Emperors, less than ten meters tall, have a chance to dominate?
After Sephiroth finished redesigning the new energy circulation route, he took out his pocket watch, checked the time, and found it was already half past eleven in the morning. Therefore, he did not continue his experiment. Instead, he got out of bed, opened the door, and headed towards the tourist merchant ship's restaurant, preparing to have a meal to replenish the nutrients his body needed after the strenuous training session.
After completing the mid-term examination, upon returning to the Marine Academy, they received one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.
The good news was that after the mid-term exam, each of them received a full month of free vacation, a blessing amidst the demanding training schedule. During this time, they could apply to follow a Marineford warship and patrol the seas. If they were lucky, they could even capture pirates and earn a certain amount of merit, which would be uniformly awarded when they graduated from the Marine Academy in the future. Of course, they could also choose to do nothing and spend the entire vacation eating, drinking, and having fun, as long as they could return to the Marine Academy on time to register when school started.
As for the bad news... After school started, the Marine Academy would hold a unified examination for the first half of the semester's cultural courses, covering subjects like military theory, navigation, firearm principles, and so on.
As a top student, cultural courses were no problem for Sephiroth. Therefore, Sephiroth planned to use the vacation period to return to Water 7 and retrieve the Doa Doa no Mi that he had buried under the villa. After some time of careful consideration, he truly couldn't bear to let others use the fruit. If possible, he wanted to keep it for himself...
For this, he had already asked Tesoro to help him find the technology that allowed weapons to eat Devil Fruits! In the original Pirate King story, weapons could eat Zoan Devil Fruits, and Cyborgs could even possess Paramecia Devil Fruit abilities... He felt that perhaps weapons could also eat Paramecia Devil Fruits! In Crocodile's Baroque Works, Mr. 4 even had a cannon that ate a Dachshund Fruit, which proved that this technology shouldn't be exclusive to the Marines, it was most likely technology developed by Vegapunk during the MADS illegal research team period. If that didn't work, he would personally go to Vegapunk's hometown, the mechanical island of Baldimore, infiltrate Vegapunk's laboratory, and steal all the technology within... Ambitious plans filled his mind.
After Sephiroth entered the spacious and bright restaurant, he casually found an empty table and sat down, enjoying the tranquil and luxurious atmosphere. He waved his hand into the distance, and a waiter dressed in a black suit and bow tie immediately walked over, a professional smile on his face.
"Sir, what would you like to order?"
"Fruit salad, steak, cheese lobster, hmm!... And a bottle of champagne! That's all," Sephiroth replied, his tone relaxed.
"Very well, Sir!" The waiter smiled professionally, nodded, then turned and quickly walked towards the kitchen, as if amazed by the order.
Sephiroth leaned back in his chair, casually taking a cigar from inside his blue suit, lighting it, placing it in the corner of his mouth, taking a deep puff, then exhaling a plume of white smoke, enjoying the soothing aroma of tobacco. During that time, he had been either training to become stronger or hunting pirates. Suddenly returning to the peaceful life of ordinary people, he truly felt a strange sense of comfort and calm.
That's right! Essentially, I'm a comfort-seeker! Only in the strict environment of the Marine Academy can I train and become stronger with self-discipline every day. Now, I just want to relax and unwind... If there was a beautiful young woman in my arms right now, that would definitely be even better!
Sephiroth's face beamed with a brilliant smile. He reached out and picked up the champagne brought by the waiter, then poured it into a glass. He took the cigar from the corner of his mouth with his left hand, slightly raised the flute glass with his right, and said emotionally:
"To a peaceful and beautiful life!"
Boom!
Boom!
"Passengers, please be alert, there are pirates here!!!"
The sudden roar of cannon fire immediately caused an uproar among the guests in the restaurant. The Captain's shouted announcement, broadcast through a Den Den Mushi, truly ignited fear and panic, which spread rapidly like wildfire.
"What should we do? The pirates are here, where should we hide?"
"Mommy, I'm so scared! Waaah...!"
"If the pirates board the ship later, we'll put on life jackets and jump off the ship to escape..."
Listening to the chaotic voices, Sephiroth couldn't help but sigh lightly, the sense of comfort he had just felt instantly evaporating.
"Damn it! The wine tastes awful now!" he grumbled, the smile on his face fading into an annoyed expression.
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