National Arts, Swordsmanship, and Training

In the endless void, the Golden Scales radiated a dazzling light.

Minos placed book after book onto the scales—he didn't need to memorize these books; as long as they were within a meter of him when he closed his eyes, they could be directly copied in this void.

One book after another was set on the Golden Scales. Although knowledge-based items weren't worth much here, and many were duplicates—like the Rokushiki's Soru and a certain pirate's knockoff Tekkai, the latter clearly a shoddy imitation of the former—the Scales naturally wouldn't recognize such repeated techniques. But with sheer quantity piled up, the value was still considerable. This time, Minos wanted to exchange for some memories. And memories were far more expensive than mere knowledge.

Minos also didn't put up knowledge like Haki—only similar types of knowledge could be traded as a whole with the Golden Scales, and what came back was generally similar knowledge or memories. If he put Haki up, what he'd get in return would probably be limited to energy cultivation methods like Cosmo, Nine Yang Divine Art, Magnetic Field Rotation, or Grimoire of Magic. However, under different world rules, these things clearly had no chance of being cultivated. Just like how Minos had transplanted an Evil Eye and become a Yokai, yet still had no Demonic Power—because the rules simply didn't allow such things to exist. Once Minos actually had Haki, these might serve as reference, but for now, they'd only mess up his head, with no meaning at all.

After putting up all his physical cultivation knowledge, Minos began checking the various knowledge and memories offered by the Golden Scales on the other side.

"Indiscriminate Fighting Style? What's this? Oh, that thing from the Ranma 1/2 comedy manga."

"Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms? Without internal energy, it's probably not even as good as Iron Sand Palm."

"Ten Thousand Nations Shocking Palm? A Dragon Ball thing—turning qi into lightning... If I could cultivate Dragon Ball's qi, why would I learn this? I'd just find that blind Gian for gravity training for a few years and directly punch through the entire World Government."

"Mike Tyson's boxing memories... Sorry, this isn't a boxing ring match."

"Hm? This is Tang Zichen's cultivation memories from Dragon Snake Landing? Not bad, this is pretty good."

Dragon Snake Landing was a world of National Arts cultivation. Although the National Arts there were mostly fictional, completely different from the authentic tempering of the body and control of force, at least the basic methods of training the body and integrating force could be shared. Additionally, Tang Zichen had the mental state of Autumn Wind Precedes the Cicada, which shared the same subtlety as Observation Haki's future sight. If he only looked at cultivation knowledge, it would be baffling and meaningless, but if he could obtain her memories, it would be extremely beneficial for developing Observation Haki later.

"I'll go with her!" Minos made his decision easily. He figured that even if he waited longer, there wouldn't be any more suitable memories.

"But... it seems there's still a bit left. I should be able to exchange for a little more." Glancing at the scales, Tang Zichen's memories weighed a bit higher. Minos started searching through the other side's memories again.

"I'll find some swordsmanship! My strengths are reaction speed and agility; pairing that with swordsmanship should be the best choice!"

"This is... Kojiro Sasaki's memories from the Type-Moon world? Pretty good, though Swallow Return definitely can't be used... Uh, over budget. Can't exchange."

"Let me look again..."

"Hatake Sakumo's swordsmanship cultivation memories... Over budget."

"Ma Jianxing's cultivation memories from History's Strongest Disciple... Also over budget."

"Uh... So the only extra in the end is this?"

Minos looked helplessly at the memory orb in his hand. Inside was... Katsura Kotone's swordsmanship cultivation memories.

"What's this? Swordsmanship with a Special Attack against scumbags?"

After muttering a couple of complaints, Minos still added it to the scales—at least he didn't have to worry about compatibility issues. After all, this kind of swordsmanship, perfectly grounded in reality, wouldn't be nerfed in any world. And being able to cut off a head with one slash was master-level in the real world.

It's just... Minos felt a bit creeped out...

The exchange of memories wasn't as painful as bloodline transfers, but it still left Minos feeling dizzy and lightheaded. Moreover, unlike knowledge, these combat techniques couldn't be executed just by having them in the brain—they required corresponding muscle memory. Otherwise, in battle, this would happen: Brain: "Watch me use Black Tiger Steals Heart." Arm: "Oops, aimed too low, turned into Monkey Steals Peach." Brain: "Watch me use As if sealed and closed." Face: "Blocked too slow, I'm already swollen!"

Still, with the experience from these memories, training became much easier. Even if high-level National Arts like Dan Jin couldn't be cultivated in this world, and An Jin and Hua Jin were just force conversion techniques rather than cultivation realms, the most basic methods of tempering the body and controlling it were enough to benefit Minos greatly.

So much so that on the second day of training, his performance startled Katakuri. His strength and speed hadn't increased, but his technique had improved dramatically, and he could already control his entire body's force, no longer as scattered as before. However, Katakuri remembered that it had taken him half a year of training to reach this level. Minos had mastered these techniques in just one day?

Moreover, the guy's swordsmanship had also improved a lot. No, before, he didn't even know swordsmanship—he was just a layman. Now, though his swordsmanship wasn't superb, at least no one would object to him calling himself a swordsman.

Then, excited by the hunt, Katakuri loosened up a bit and nearly beat Minos and Talon into flat pancakes...

That's how pirates trained—simple and brutal. Besides pushing the body to its limits, they trained through actual combat. Getting hit was practically inevitable.

Fortunately, as a Yokai, Minos's recovery was far superior to a human's, and he wouldn't suffer any hidden injuries. He adapted to this crude training method fairly quickly. Not that he had a choice—he wasn't Katakuri's little brother or sister. Katakuri had no qualms about going all out on him. Over the next few days, besides intense training, Minos and Talon spent their time getting beaten up.

Even after Katakuri brought them back to Flour Island, he never let up on their training, especially for Minos, whom he paid extra attention to.