Daily Life

"Phew, that didn't last long!" In just half an hour, the intermittent use of Direction Rotation to manipulate his Life Magnetic Field had completely exhausted the Armament Haki within Gray's body.

With his Haki depleted, it felt as though his very essence had drained away, leaving his entire body feeling hollow and weak.

"Forget it! That's enough effort for today!" After struggling to get up and wash, Gray collapsed onto his bed and was fast asleep within ten minutes.

The next morning, after breakfast, Gray brought the three of them to the ship's Training Room.

"Old man! We've got two newcomers. Could you help teach them the basics of martial arts and the precautions for physical training?"

Hearing this, Lao G, who had walked in with them, didn't refuse. Instead, he danced about with gusto, striking his signature 'G' pose. "Leave it to me!"

"G!"

He was a man who refused to let his age define him. It was truly something else to be out here working as a pirate at his time of life.

The kicker was that, aside from maintaining his peak strength, his Combat Fist hadn't seen much improvement in years.

This was the legendary case of: all passion, no skill!

However, beyond his strength and age, his seniority actually became an advantage when it came to teaching the family members the basics of martial arts.

Having seen so much, he was better equipped to instruct the family members and tailor his teaching methods to each individual.

After dumping Monet and the other two with Lao G, Gray stopped worrying about them and began his own training.

Gray walked to the center of the Training Room, where Diamante was practicing basic sword stances with a training blade.

"Oh! Are we starting?"

"Of course!" After a firm reply, Gray didn't wait for Diamante to prepare; he clenched his fist and swung.

"Always the same, no creativity at all!" After a casual quip, Diamante swung his sword to meet Gray's fist.

Clang!

The moment they collided, Gray's fist—which wasn't even coated in Armament Haki—emitted the sound of clashing metal.

"Seriously, this again!" Even though he was prepared, the force Gray brought with him, combined with the power of his own swing, was redirected by Gray the moment they collided, turning the attack back onto himself.

"Training martial arts with you is such a pain!" After grumbling, Diamante used ten percent of his strength while holding back twelve percent to prepare for Gray's counterattack.

Clang!

Punch after punch, Gray gave his all to his martial arts.

The instant his fist met the sword, he used his fruit ability to rotate the force of the attack directed at him, along with his own momentum, and applied it all back onto Diamante.

Vector Rotation, or as it could be called, Direction Rotation, was the defensive technique Gray had developed for himself over the past two years.

It was his method for fearing no blade, and a move he could use freely while honing his martial arts.

Unless something major happened, Gray never missed his morning training.

He started with high-intensity martial arts drills to exhaust his stamina as quickly as possible, and once he was spent, he moved on to gravity training. This method of pushing past his limits to squeeze out every drop of energy allowed his body to grow faster.

Clang!

After one final collision, Gray pulled back his fist and looked at Diamante. "Warm-up is over!"

"Bring it on!" As long as Gray didn't use his Sky Crystal Flying Wheel, Diamante was confident he could block any martial arts attack Gray threw at him.

With his Observation Haki fully engaged, a red glow flared in his eyes. Diamante knew that Gray's storm-like assault was about to begin!

"Here I come!" Whether in his line of sight or within his Observation Haki's perception, Gray, who had just stepped forward, vanished from his spot in an instant.

Clang!

The moment his Observation Haki sensed Gray's reappearance, Diamante swung his sword toward his left side.

Gray's figure, having vanished from his original position, appeared exactly there.

This wasn't because Diamante's Observation Haki had reached the level of future sight; rather, he had sensed Gray's presence the moment he materialized, and his superior physical reflexes allowed him to strike immediately.

"Is the Spin-Spin Fruit's ability really this broken?" Every time Gray vanished and reappeared, the pressure on Diamante grew.

The change in attack patterns brought about by spatial movement was disorienting; if he didn't know Gray's situation and if this weren't just a martial arts sparring session, he wouldn't even be qualified to stand before Gray.

Gray's teleportation attacks were indeed startling. However, because Gray was still young and only using teleportation for martial arts, he couldn't fully unleash the high-speed attack patterns that spatial teleportation offered; he only possessed the mobility of high-speed movement.

Because Gray's physical strength wasn't yet sufficient, his neural responses and overall physical coordination couldn't keep up with the instantaneous changes following a spatial teleport.

The moment Gray finished teleporting, there was a delay before his neural responses allowed him to attack again. Combined with the fact that his physical speed was inferior to Diamante's, that was what gave Diamante the chance to counter.

"Attack! Attack! Keep attacking!" There was no need to worry about whether his opponent could keep up, nor any need to consider defense; he just needed to attack to his heart's content.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

"Fighting is... exhilarating!" Gray felt refreshed and invigorated at this time every day.

In this world, no one could refuse the thrill of fists meeting flesh.

Over the past three years, Gray had inevitably been tainted by the local culture.

No matter how cool or powerful his fruit ability attacks were, he would never give up his martial arts training.

Martial arts, fruit abilities, and Haki—these were the three pillars Gray intended to develop indefinitely. Only through such comprehensive growth could he minimize his weaknesses.

Clang!

"Has this brat already grown to such a degree?" After struggling to parry another attack, the immense force sent Diamante sliding backward uncontrollably.

"Brat! If you keep this up, I'm going to get serious!" As a master swordsman, unleashing flying slashes was a basic ability; he hadn't used them earlier because they were currently on a ship, and he feared damaging the vessel.

Moreover, simple slashes were useless against Gray. Even if he didn't counter attack for attack, Gray's mobility through spatial movement made him impossible to hit.

However, one must not forget that he possessed Armament Haki. Diamante wouldn't dare speak so boldly if they were fighting in the sky.

But on solid ground, with Gray only using his fruit ability to supplement his physical training, Diamante could confidently say, "Even if we fought for three days and three nights, I would not be defeated!"

"Fine! Fine!" Only training physical combat abilities, combined with the constraints of being on a ship, was indeed too limiting.

"I just happened to learn a new ability, so let's use this to fight you once!"

Diamante: ??

"Then let's give it a try!" Diamante secretly prepared himself, Heaven knows what kind of ability he's developed; it's better to focus on defense first!

But clearly, it wasn't a new ability related to Gray's fruit.

While Diamante braced himself, Gray's figure vanished from his spot once more. By the time Gray reappeared behind Diamante, his raised fist was already coated in a layer of black substance.

"Nani!" Sensing this through Observation Haki, Diamante was shocked for a split second before imbuing his sword with Haki and immediately swinging it toward Gray.

Clang!

The black fist collided with the black sword, and intense wind pressure whipped through the air. Throughout the entire Training Room, everyone's gaze had long since been drawn to this spot.

"Armament Haki!"