Talented and Gifted, and the Library

"Uwaa!"

With a miserable cry, Talon was sent flying on the spot and crashed to the ground. Right after, Minos from the sky landed squarely on his stomach, nearly making the Oni tribesman spit up bile.

"Big Brother Katakuri is amazing!" Brulee clapped her hands in delight.

There was naturally no suspense in this fight. Katakuri basically guided the two through their moves, and once he felt he'd seen enough, a single slap sent them both down.

"Good, I've got a read on your foundations now." Katakuri crossed his arms, cool and composed. "Your talent isn't bad."

Talon's talent was middling among the Oni Tribe—far surpassing ordinary humans, but nothing impressive in Katakuri's eyes.

From Katakuri's observation, without some stroke of luck like a Devil Fruit, even if Talon trained as hard as he could from now on, at best he'd reach the level of a Yonko Crew's top executive or an ordinary Marine Vice Admiral. Decent backbone material, sure, but never a pillar.

Minos, however, surprised him quite a bit. In terms of raw physicality, Minos might be a step below Talon, but Katakuri could already tell that Minos had undergone no training at all. Compared to Talon, who'd had some combat and training since childhood, Minos's physical talent was likely even higher.

Add in his far superior reflexes compared to Talon and the unique bloodline ability of the Three-Eyed Tribe, and Minos might one day reach the combat level of a Sweet Commander or a Beasts Tobiroppo.

Both a special ability and a future pillar? Katakuri's expression didn't change much, but his eyes softened just a little.

"That hurts." Minos clutched his stomach as he stood up, but soon felt the pain fade considerably. His body's recovery speed was faster than he'd ever imagined.

The Yokai race was renowned for its tenacious vitality. Not to mention the original stories' Yokai with astonishing regenerative powers—even Hiei had experienced recovery after being cut in half. The Yokai who transplanted the Evil Eye into him had his head completely severed from the mouth up, yet still managed to recover.

While the Demon Realm's medical standards played a huge role in that, the sheer vitality and regenerative power of Yokai far exceeded human levels.

Even in the world of pirates, such recovery was shocking.

Having tested both their foundations, Katakuri didn't continue sparring with them, so he hadn't yet noticed Minos's extraordinary regenerative ability.

"Starting tomorrow, you'll train with my subordinates. Also, our crew's library has some training insights—feel free to check them out when you've got time. I'll have Mondol open the library for you."

"You can take any books you like. Mondol has the ability to copy them."

"Once you've built a solid foundation, I'll teach you Haki!"

Charlotte Mondol, user of the Book-Book Fruit, was also the Charlotte Family's archivist, overseeing the vast majority of the family's secret documents and books.

Of course, Katakuri was just saying that. Though the Charlotte Family had collected plenty of training methods, hardly anyone actually bothered to read them.

In the world of pirates, training relied far more on the body than the mind. Someone like Luffy could stare at a book for a hundred years and get nothing out of it, but if you sparred with him for a few rounds, he'd pull off those techniques in real combat.

Most pirates in this world, even if they lacked Luffy's talent, still learned faster through their bodies than their brains.

Even Katakuri, who counted as a strategic type, had barely visited that library a few times, let alone his siblings.

But at the mention of the library opening, Minos's face lit up with a smile.

Minos was confident his brain wasn't slow, but he didn't think he was the type whose body would keep up with mental learning. His excitement came from the Golden Paradise cheat. Knowledge was something you could trade for there.

He didn't have any Karma Points right now to exchange for bloodlines, items, or truly powerful things, but he could still trade for some knowledge and memories.

Even if a lot of training knowledge only worked in his own world and became useless after switching worlds, at least the simplest methods for building physical fitness should still hold up, right?

He could also trade for memories of strong fighters' battles and training. The combat systems might differ, but combat experience—especially close-quarters brawling—should still be useful in this world.

"Looks like being backed by the Charlotte Pirates has its perks. The Marines would never train me like this."

Marine training was more systematic, which meant they'd never pour all resources into a few individuals. Usually, it took layers of study, training, and assessment before they invested more.

As for pirates, especially a Yonko Crew like this, there weren't so many rules. If someone like the captain took a liking to you, resources wouldn't be lacking.

With time tight—they'd be heading to Wheat Island with Katakuri in a few days—Minos, after getting up, didn't hesitate to go find Mondol.

Talon, of course, had no interest in reading, but little Brulee offered to guide Minos to Mondol.

After hearing Brulee relay Katakuri's words, Mondol didn't hesitate and spoke directly.

"Got it. Since it's Big Brother Katakuri's orders, go on in."

Mondol, the Book-Book Fruit user—despite the name suggesting a cultured, intellectual Devil Fruit ability—had actually developed it into powers for creating monsters and alternate spaces.

Not that you could call that weak, but calling him a cultured man would be a stretch. So he didn't really care much about the books in the library.

Minos took a look around the library and found the books were a mess—training manuals, history texts, even storybooks, with hardly any categorization.

He didn't bother with that. Grabbing a big bag, he started packing up all the training books. After all, Charlotte Mondol, as a Book-Book Fruit user, could copy books easily. Even if Minos emptied the entire library, it'd only take Mondol a few minutes to replicate everything.

Sure enough, when Minos walked out with the books, Mondol just showed a bit of surprise that he could read so many. Then, with a wave of his hand, he copied a huge batch and tossed them back into the library.

In response to the readers' requests, a VIP membership ad-free feature is now available.