Spanda

In the state of Kami-e, the body softened to the extreme, and its ability to dodge was pushed to its limit. Even a gust of wind could make the body react, but at the same time, its defensive ability was weakened to the extreme.

Yerika knew this, which was why she attacked without the slightest fear. If her strike landed, she might end up with a hole in her chest, but Louis's body would undoubtedly be pierced clean through.

"Naive."

Louis scoffed. His right leg relaxed slightly, then sprang back like a rubber band, instantly binding Yerika's right hand.

"Damn it!!!"

Yerika gritted her teeth, but no matter how hard she struggled, her right hand remained firmly trapped.

"This is... over."

Louis spoke as he partially ended his Kami-e state, and the elasticity of his body immediately diminished considerably.

"Ah!!!"

Yerika screamed. As the elasticity and flexibility of Louis's body diminished, the cords binding her limbs began to tighten. Her right arm was wrenched behind her back, dislocating her shoulder, while her prominent chest was crushed flat and her ribs creaked.

"Die!!"

Yerika still refused to give in. She opened her mouth wide and lunged to bite Louis's head, which was on her shoulder.

"What a tenacious woman."

Louis didn't care. He ended Kami-e in his right hand.

"Smack!"

"Mmmph!!!"

Yerika's voice turned muffled. An arm reached around from her other shoulder and pinched her cheeks.

"Still not giving up?"

Louis continued tightening his hold on Yerika, increasing the pressure every time she breathed out. Before long, her face had turned bright red, and her consciousness began to fade.

As breathing became more and more difficult, Yerika finally passed out.

The fight was over.

Slithering free from Yerika's body like a snake, Louis fully ended his Kami-e state. He frowned slightly; his body felt awful, and it seemed that muscles all over had been strained. The injuries weren't serious, but they showed that this technique wasn't suited for prolonged use. Besides, relying on a hold to suffocate someone was far too inefficient. Louis silently rejected this use of Snake People.

Although he had completed his Kami-e training in just a week, Louis's training wasn't over. For the next three weeks, he worked on strengthening Kami-e and expanding its applications.

He focused on two areas. The first was improving his control, which allowed him to wrap his body around Yerika like a snake. Normal Kami-e made the body as soft as paper, but it wasn't nearly soft enough to let someone freely change their shape. The second was increasing his strength while in the Kami-e state, which allowed him to squeeze Yerika unconscious.

Of course, constricting people wasn't Snake People's primary use. Louis had only gotten the idea on a whim and wanted to see if he could pull it off. In fact, Snake People had been developed to be used in combination with techniques like Tekkai and Finger Pistol.

One thing Louis could be sure of: no handcuffs or prison cell could hold him now.

"Incredible! So incredible, meow!"

After Louis stepped down, Xiluo exclaimed, "That was Kami-e too, meow? It was just like a Devil Fruit ability! How did you do that? It's unbelievable, meow! Brother Louis, you're amazing, meow. You beat that woman Yerika so easily, just as expected, meow."

"I just got lucky."

Louis replied casually.

"Lucky? How can you call that luck, meow?"

Xiluo laughed. "That woman Yerika was just too stupid. She rushed right up close to you. Brains are part of strength too, meow."

Louis smiled without comment.

If Yerika had really used Geppo to keep her distance and harass him, he would probably have had to use Life Return to attack with his hair. The difference between his Doriki Values and Yerika's wasn't that great. After a month of stuffing himself, his body had grown much stronger, and his improvement had definitely outpaced hers. With his overwhelming advantage in the Six Powers, he had no reason to lose.

In any case, the practical test was over, and Louis had won the first round and advanced.

By that evening, the results of the written test from the day before were out too. John, still unconscious after Xiluo had badly injured him, had scored zero in the practical test and average marks on the written one, making him the first trainee to be eliminated. From then on, no one ever saw him again.

The second month arrived at an unhurried pace, and Louis's training proceeded according to plan. He continued using Life Return to control his digestive tract, but progress was slower than he'd expected, because the contents of his intestines made it genuinely difficult to control. It took about half a month to finally complete the task. From that day on, Louis officially entered a period of rapid growth, able to feel his body getting stronger every day.

After finishing his digestive system, Louis turned his attention to his body hair. Apart from the hair on his head, people had plenty of other body hair, such as fine hairs. With his experience controlling his head hair, this process went much faster. By the end of the second month, he had gained control of most of the fine hairs on his body.

While training Life Return, Louis hadn't neglected the Six Powers either. He could more or less bring his Kami-e training to a close. Next, he began training Soru; it was about time he learned a movement skill. Otherwise, he'd be powerless to fight back against an opponent who kept their distance and attacked from afar.

Soru training focused on explosive power, achieved by kicking off the ground repeatedly in rapid succession to move in bursts. In terms of technical difficulty, it was far simpler than Kami-e, so it wasn't hard to master.

The second month passed slowly, and the second test arrived as scheduled. There was no need to mention the written test. This time, Louis faced a nobody whose name he couldn't even remember. He didn't even use the Six Powers, taking him out with a single blow.

By now, the three strongest trainees in the camp were widely acknowledged to be Stuart, Louis, and Xiluo. Xiluo didn't seem to be very popular.

In the third month, Louis continued working on his fine hairs. He had already decided that after the fine hairs, he'd move on to the skin. That would be a huge undertaking and might take a long time, but there was no doubt it would be useful. He had also finished training Soru. He hadn't developed any advanced applications; it was simply faster and easier to control. He began training Geppo.

The tranquil training routine was disrupted by the arrival of someone.

"Hey, kid!! Where's the bathroom?"

The person standing in front of Louis was someone he had never seen at the training camp. He stood with his legs crossed, his face bright red, and his body shifting restlessly.

Louis was a little surprised. The man had barged straight into his training hall, and he looked vaguely familiar.

Louis pointed toward the bathroom and began trying to remember who the man was.

"Ah! That's better. I finally feel better!"

The man came out of the bathroom looking refreshed. He stared at Louis in surprise. "Wow, they've got kids this young in the CP9 training camp?"

"Hahaha! Hey, kid, want to work for me? I'm Spandine, the head of CP9."

Now he remembered who Spandine was.