Meteor

As a modern man, a wage slave who spent his days tightening screws, being "in Cao Cao's camp while his heart was with Han" was a survival skill.

Put simply, once you were familiar with the job, your body could keep working on the product while your mind wandered off wherever it pleased.

That habit had helped Gray get through the long, dreary hours at work.

But his restless mind had brought him to a standstill when he tried to meditate.

After just a minute, his whole body felt like it had ADHD. This spot itched, then that one. He wanted to reach over and scratch, and he couldn't picture anything in his mind at all.

"Smack!" Diamante saw what was going on and brought the scabbard at his waist down on Gray's back. "Calm down!"

"Ugh—ow!" Diamante hadn't held back at all. Gray felt like his back was already bruised black and blue.

"Hmph! If you can't even stand this much pain, what will you do in a fight? Your enemies won't go easy on you!" Diamante snorted. He was harsh, but he was telling the truth.

The truth was a sharp blade!

Honesty hurt the most!

Gray had no comeback. He could only calm himself down again and enter a meditative state.

Smack!

"Again!"

Smack.

For at least half of the hour, Gray felt like he'd been beaten. There wasn't a single spot on his back that wasn't swollen and covered in dark bruises.

"Enough. That's it!" Those words were like music to Gray's ears. Gritting his teeth, he glared at Diamante.

It wasn't because Gray hated him. His back hurt so much that he was grimacing.

Gray: "What is it?"

"It's noon. Time to eat!" Diamante turned and headed into the next room. "Eat plenty of meat. You'll recover faster!"

"Also, go find Trebol later. He's got some training ointment that'll help you recover."

"Got it!"

Diamante: "You can do the meditation training on your own from now on."

"Don't slack off. I'll check on you now and then. If you don't meet the standard..."

The way he let his voice trail off made Gray understand the consequences. "Got it! Got it!"

"I won't slack off on a skill that'll make me stronger."

"See that you don't!"

"Whew—damn, that hurts!" After taking the ointment back to his bedroom, Gray put it in a large wooden tub and soaked himself to ease the pain in his back.

The moment he climbed into the tub, the pain in his back flared up.

It felt like putting menthol balm on an injury. It hurt, but there was also a faint cooling sensation that felt pretty good.

Painful, but pleasurable!

It hurt like hell, but it worked remarkably well.

He'd had Sea King meat for lunch, and now he was soaking in the medicated bath. Through the glass door behind him, Gray could clearly see the swelling go down and the bruises fade.

"Whew. I know you're doing this for my own good, but one day, I'm still going to beat you up!"

"Not for any other reason. I'm just petty!" Feeling the pain in his body, Gray knew this was only the first time. It definitely wouldn't be the last.

He'd have to get used to the pain if he wanted to keep training!

Half an hour later, after finishing his medicated bath, Gray sat on a little stool in the courtyard, radiating a lazy, drowsy air.

After slacking off for a little while, Gray forced his sleepy brain to boot up. "All right. Time to start training again, huh?"

"For a stationary target, I need to hit the bullseye every time from thirty meters!" His arm had recovered thanks to the medicinal bath, so Gray started practicing his throwing again.

Whoosh...~ Thunk!

After training for an hour, Gray realized something was off. "Wait! Why do I think I have to rely on my arm to hit the target?"

"Isn't my Devil Fruit power part of my strength too?"

"The power of rotation isn't just about making the throwing knife faster and more powerful. While it's spinning, I can use air resistance to change its trajectory, making it more likely to hit the target."

"And after it hits the target, I can make it spin back to me!" He'd thought of this because he'd gotten distracted during training and started thinking about beautiful women. That led him to Esdeath.

Thinking of her reminded him of the Three Beasts who served under her, and of the Imperial Arms wielder with the returning axe.

Once he had an idea, he put it into action!

He threw another stone shard, then used his power to make it spin in the same direction, increasing its rotation to boost its impact. As it spun, he focused on feeling the air resistance, adjusting its speed so the throwing knife would hit the target.

Thunk!

The stone shard struck the target and bounced back, losing a great deal of its force. Gray had to use what remained of its momentum to make it spin back into his hand.

He reached out with his right hand to catch the shard between his fingers!

Thud!

Gray: !!!

All right! It was a great idea, and the move looked cool, but the stone shard was still a hundred thousand miles away from his hand.

The shard flew straight into Shark Chili's head as he slept nearby. The sharp, ringing sound told them that it was a solid head.

"Chirp!" Shark Chili woke with a start and stared at Gray, bewildered.

For some reason, a phrase popped into Gray's mind: A little confusion never hurt anyone. Just the right amount of force!

A mischievous thought crossed his mind, but he kept a straight face and tried to fool Shark Chili, feeling guilty. "It's nothing! You must've been having a nightmare!"

"Go back to sleep. I'll keep watch for you. Trust me—we're partners, after all!" Gray gave him a thumbs-up. His confident, determined expression left Shark Chili, who wasn't very bright to begin with, thoroughly confused.

"Chirp~" Unable to figure it out, Shark Chili gave up thinking about it and curled his head into his snake body, still puzzled.

Young Shark Chili didn't know that to a modern man, friends were people you protected from harm—but that didn't mean you couldn't pull a prank on them yourself!

When there was no danger around, "friend" was just another word for "the person most likely to get you into trouble."

"Whew, I got away with it!" Gray let out a long sigh of relief and thought guiltily, "He's already dumb. Was it really okay to mess with him like that?"

"Is this going to weigh on my conscience?"

"Wait! Do I even have a conscience?" He patted his chest. It was flat, unremarkable, and utterly still.

"Oh, right. I'm a man. I don't have a conscience!"

"Then we're good!" Having put the matter behind him, Gray focused on his training again.

Whoosh~ Thunk!

He didn't catch it.

"Again!"

Whoosh~ Thunk!

Thud!

"Chirp!"

"Ahaha! I didn't do it on purpose."

"Chirp!" Shark Chili glared at Gray, puffed up with anger, then ran to the far corner. He didn't want anything to do with that rascal.

"Haha! Don't worry. I won't hit you this time!" After several practice runs, Gray was starting to get the hang of it.

"This time, I'll definitely pull it off." The stone shard left his hand, and his Devil Fruit power made it spin even faster.

Bang!

The stone shard bounced back from the target. As it neared Gray, he used his power to cancel out its remaining spin and caught it securely.

"Finally, I did it!"

"I'll call this move Meteor!" Having given the first move of his career a suitably grand name, Gray struck while the iron was hot and kept training to get more familiar with it.

Whoosh.

Bang!

The sound of stone striking stone rang out again and again. Like a kid who'd just found a new toy, Gray threw himself into training with burning enthusiasm.