The Twelfth Month

In the end, the matter was dropped. Louis had repeatedly told Stuart to surrender. When his opponent refused to compromise, he went all out and accidentally lost control. No matter how one looked at it, he had done nothing wrong.

He was symbolically confined for half a month. Although, barring surprises, there would already be a mark on his record, it did not matter. Skello's era in power was about to end.

The unlucky Mr. Stuart became the trainee eliminated that month. The only pity was that someone as outstanding as him should originally have been transferred to another department, where he might even have joined CP9 through a departmental recommendation.

"Ha ha ha ha, how cruel, Brother Louis, meow."

As soon as his confinement ended, Xiluo came over laughing. "You killed Stuart outright? I thought you would cripple him and spare his life, meow."

"Too cruel."

Louis shook his head. "We were classmates from the same training camp. How could I bear to do something like that?"

Stuart had to die. Unlike Frank, Stuart had people backing him. If he did not die now, there was no telling when he would. Louis found that troublesome.

"Pfft."

Xiluo laughed silently, his shoulders shaking as though he had heard an absolutely hilarious joke.

"By the way, Brother Louis."

Xiluo looked at Louis and asked, "Will you kill me too, meow?"

Louis gave him a long look. "Don't worry. As long as you surrender in time, there will be no problem."

They were not friends, but they had become quite familiar with each other.

"Really? You are that certain you can defeat me, meow?"

Xiluo chuckled. "Then rest easy. A cat's reflexes are very sharp, meow."

"..."

Louis smiled.

The training camp rankings, which had already seemed clear, were thrown into disorder again by Louis. Stuart, once considered the second-ranked trainee, had died at Louis's hands. Like Xiluo, Louis had displayed overwhelming strength—perhaps even more exaggerated than Xiluo's. Over the entire battle, Stuart had only landed one hit on him, and that had been strategically necessary. After taking that blow, Louis seized the opportunity and finished his opponent.

The gap was that obvious.

It was not only the trainees who were curious about whether Louis or Xiluo was stronger. The instructors were discussing it as well. Xiluo's advantage lay in his Devil Fruit. The unknown form of his Cat-Cat Fruit had greatly enhanced his strength. Louis's strength lay in his masterful proficiency with the Six Powers. If he wanted to, his opponents could not touch him throughout an entire battle. Of course, his weakness was that his attack power was still somewhat lacking.

It was not just the instructors who noticed that his attack power was a little weak. Louis himself had realized it as well. More than a year had passed since he began controlling his digestive functions. After prolonged binge eating, his Doriki Value had become very high, enough to rival Stuart, who had held first place in the training camp for a long time. Yet he was still far inferior to Xiluo when Xiluo used his ability.

He had struggled even to break through Stuart's Tekkai, let alone Xiluo's body after its enhancement by a Zoan ability.

With three months left until the graduation assessment, Louis took his training another step further.

Life Return began extending into the realm of muscles. Louis was confident that controlling his muscles would be an attempt capable of greatly increasing his individual strength. He started with the muscles in his arms: the deltoids, triceps, brachialis, and biceps. Every muscle was a small challenge. If every muscle exerted force in the same direction and avoided unnecessary loss, just how much would his strength increase?

Louis regretted that his Life Return was still not refined enough. He could control things like his internal organs, skin, and muscles, but he could not yet reach deeper levels such as muscle fibers or even bodily cells. They were too microscopic. He could not delve that deeply yet, and could only rely on time and long periods of close observation.

Sometimes, he wondered what it would look like if one day he gained complete control over every cell in his body.

Blood Rebirth? Immortality?

Perhaps neither was impossible.

As he gradually gained control of the muscles in his right hand through Life Return, Louis began researching a new technique that could significantly improve his strength: Rokuogan.

The Six Powers' ultimate technique, Rokuogan, was not a move found among the existing Six Powers. It was a technique unique to Rob Lucci, gathering the power of the entire body and releasing it in the form of a shockwave. It did not merely strike the body's surface; its powerful impact could directly assault the internal organs. Even Monkey D. Luffy, who was immune to blunt strikes, had nearly fallen to Rokuogan.

Gathering the strength of the entire body and releasing it as a shockwave sounded simple, but Louis exhausted every effort without being able to understand how power transformed into impact.

His progress in controlling the muscles of his right arm was not slow, but his Rokuogan training had practically come to a complete standstill. He had no clue at all.

And so, the tenth month passed. Louis could now control most of the muscles in his right arm.

The assessment was uneventful, and the eleventh month arrived.

On the fifth day of the eleventh month, he completed his control over the muscles of his right arm. Louis could now easily erupt with muscular force, directing all his strength in one direction. Naturally, his power increased greatly.

At the same time, his exploration of Rokuogan finally made progress. This depended on completing control over the muscles in his right arm. Once the muscles of his arm obeyed his will as easily as his fingers, Louis finally realized that Rokuogan's power might come from vibration!

The muscles vibrated, releasing power. Like Finger Pistol, which struck the air to form a long-range attack, Rokuogan might work on the same principle. After the muscles vibrated at extreme speed, that power was transmitted layer by layer before being released through the hand, blasting the air and creating an all-penetrating shockwave.

This truly was the supreme secret that could only be cultivated after mastering the Six Powers to perfection. Without Life Return, no one could hope to learn it.

He just did not know whether Kano Country's Hasshoken followed a similar principle.

The previously stagnant Rokuogan training finally began moving forward. Louis roughly understood what a formidable figure the future Rob Lucci was. His Life Return had already reached a considerable level, allowing him to control the muscles and internal organs throughout his body. No wonder he could keep up with the protagonist's growth. Two years ago, he had been evenly matched with Monkey D. Luffy; two years later, he could be evenly matched with the Revolutionary Army's second-in-command. Louis found it hard to imagine how strong that man would have become without five years undercover in Water 7.

But Louis was stronger than him. Lucci's Life Return would peak at the level of muscles, bones, and internal organs, and his control was far inferior to Louis's. Louis could clearly feel that as he grew older and his body developed, his mental power was increasing in tandem. The depth of his Life Return would continue to improve.

Time slowly passed. The eleventh month ended as Louis trained Rokuogan and controlled the muscles in his left arm. The final month of the one-year training period arrived, yet Louis did not encounter the obstruction he had anticipated. The man named Skello was remarkably steady.

The twelfth month had arrived.

The final assessment was about to arrive as well.

As usual, please give some recommendations, tips, favorites, and reading-list adds. Speaking of asking for recommendations, tips, favorites, and reading-list adds, I am reminded of Tang Sanzang from Journey to the West traveling thousands of miles to Western Paradise to seek the true scriptures. Speaking of Journey to the West, in the second half of this year... two blossoms... two blossoms.