Begin Cultivation

The Big Top sailed eastward across the ocean, following the route charted by the Square-Faced Navigator.

Waves rippled across the undulating sea, leaving a distinct trail in the wake of the ship.

Buggy clutched his burning mouth, glaring in annoyance at Shuma, who was grinning carefree behind him. The rest of the pirates on board had suffered the same fatal blow, their lips swollen beyond recognition.

Shuma had been in charge of the cooking for the past two days. No one knew exactly how much chili he had added, but his food was so addictive that it was like opening Pandora's box; even knowing it would be excruciatingly spicy, they couldn't help but finish every bite, only to realize afterward that their mouths were grotesquely swollen.

Fortunately, after a few days of being beaten and tempered, Shuma finally realized that others didn't share his love for spice. He reduced the amount of his local specialty, the "Destruction Pepper." According to him, he had only sliced a tiny sliver into the pot, which shouldn't have been spicy at all...

The mere thought of the massive pot of Destruction Peppers Shuma had brought aboard made Buggy's teeth ache.

As for Mohji's Devil Fruit ability, it appeared to be the Paramecia-type Store-Store Fruit. It allowed him to absorb external damage into his own body, storing it in a spatial form, and then channel that power into himself or his weapons. It wasn't just damage; he could store any physical object within the space inside his body.

While it seemed incredibly powerful, careful judgment suggested it was a fruit that leaned toward passive skills. Without absorbing damage, he couldn't launch a powerful counterattack. Furthermore, the capacity for stored damage was limited; once that limit was exceeded, the damage he sustained would only be exacerbated.

However, there was no such thing as a weak fruit; the extent to which it could be developed depended entirely on his own training.

"We're here."

Standing on the deck, Buggy finally spotted the island ahead. Based on his memories, he was certain he had reached his destination. The Square-Faced Navigator nodded in confirmation, though he couldn't fathom why Captain Buggy would want to come to such a terrifying place.

The island was deathly quiet—a silence devoid of any signs of life, broken only by the sound of waves crashing against the shore and the breeze rustling through the bushes.

"Drop anchor, we land here." At Buggy's command, he leaped from the deck. As he landed, his body buckled under the weight, and he nearly failed to stand. This feeling, still fresh in his memory... yes, this was the island he had visited a year ago.

Cabaji and Mohji didn't dare be careless, slowly climbing down the ropes lowered from the ship as the external discomfort grew increasingly intense.

"So this is where we'll be training!"

Although they would be staying for a while, Shuma was instinctively excited by the sight of the strange island. He took a massive stride and jumped onto the beach without a second thought, only for his entire body to slam into the sand like a cannonball, pinning him firmly to the ground.

"So... so heavy!"

Buggy watched Shuma get humbled and rubbed his own red, swollen lips, a sense of petty revenge satisfied. "Shuma, I forgot to tell you. This is... Gravity Island..."

"The structure of this island is different from ordinary ones, and the gravity that binds you is much stronger..."

Cabaji jumped to the ground when he was a meter or two away from the surface and walked over, continuing Buggy's explanation: "The gravity on the outermost edge of the island is about two to three times that of a normal island, and the deeper you go, the stronger the gravity becomes."

This was Gravity Island, formed by gravity radiating in rings from the center!

For the physical strength of humans in this world, an increase of two or three times gravity wasn't impossible to endure. However, compared to ordinary weighted training, this essential increase in gravity felt as if lead were being poured into every part of one's body, creating a deeply uncoordinated sensation.

It was like taking a fish that had lived in freshwater and throwing it into the sea; it would soon die. That sudden contrast created an unbearable sense of discomfort.

However, it was precisely by training in such a high-pressure environment that one could stimulate and release their potential, growing strong enough to survive.

Compared to those who had been training consistently since childhood, Buggy and his crew were already far behind. If they wanted to surpass those people, they had no choice but to take the dangerous shortcuts that ordinary people dared not tread!

They pitched tents and lit campfires, and the Buggy Pirates officially established their base on the island.

Adapting to the multiplied gravity was a long, arduous process. Buggy raced against time, training in the Six Powers by day and honing his Devil Fruit abilities by night.

The two officers who had followed Buggy for years watched their captain drag his exhausted body around, yet he still gritted his teeth and persisted. Inspired and secretly determined, they forced themselves to train as well. Even Shuma, usually lively and scatterbrained, cleared his mind and began to train in earnest.

After several days of study and practice, Buggy discovered that he had made absolutely no progress with the Six Powers.

Even with the techniques and insights from Gray's notebook, he was, at the end of the day, a layman. The Six Powers were not something that could be learned so easily.

After all, this was a martial art refined and perfected by the world's largest military organization over hundreds, if not thousands, of years!

I was too naive, after all... Buggy thought to himself. Not to mention reaching a level of "mastery," even the basics were this difficult. This forced him to temporarily change his original plan.

He had originally intended to master the Six Powers and train his Devil Fruit ability within a year or two, and finally learn Life Return.

But in reality, a year or two was far too short. Even with the external pressure of Gravity Island to squeeze out his potential, it would be difficult to achieve the desired results.

After weighing the pros and cons, Buggy decided to first master the three offensive techniques of the Six Powers: Shave, Tempest Kick, and Finger Pistol.

Mastering just these three would take at least a year or eighteen months, and that was in the most ideal scenario.

Waking up early each day, Buggy began to focus his attention on learning "Shave."

Shave involved kicking the ground more than ten times in an instant, using the resulting explosive reaction force to move. The more times one kicked, the faster one could move.

Buggy tensed his body and began to kick rapidly against the sand. However, his high-concentration, rapid-fire footwork on this gravity-enhanced island looked like slow-motion footage from a video; not only were his movements strange, but they also looked somewhat ridiculous.

After attempting dozens of kicks and sprints, he still couldn't find that sense of fluid, rapid movement.

Over the next few days, Buggy practiced "Shave" relentlessly, until he finally realized that he seemed to have fallen into a misconception.

That was the idea that anyone's body could learn the Six Powers...