Five Years

This kind of battle went on for a full hour...

In the end, only after an airburst that shook all of Shandora like the air itself had exploded did the flames and thunder descend from the sky, landing before the bonfire and turning into the figures of two boys.

At that moment, both of them were visibly battered, covered in wounds and panting hard, as if they would fall over if someone gave them the slightest push.

Though the two of them looked as if they had fought each other to the death, their faces were filled with exhilaration. Then, as if by tacit agreement, they went over to the roasted dinosaur meat and began feasting like prehistoric monsters.

The mountain-like pile of roasted dinosaur meat visibly vanished under their ravenous eating in just a few minutes, replaced by the sight of their bellies swelling up like balloons.

Then the two of them took a long breath, and their bulging stomachs visibly shrank at once, becoming flat, even abdomens with eight-pack abs. Vanishing along with them were the wounds on their bodies.

These two were naturally Ye Mu and Enel.

Five years had passed since that day when they had escaped death from the mouth of the Lord of the Sky.

Five years could be called long, or it could be called short. But long or short, to Ye Mu and Enel, these had definitely been five extremely fulfilling years.

Ever since the two of them had escaped death from the Lord of the Sky's mouth five years ago, they had completely acknowledged each other. Then, as brothers, they had gone into seclusion together in the forests of Upper Yard, constantly improving themselves through training.

Over these five years, their progress had been extremely obvious.

This was all thanks to the training plan Ye Mu had devised.

Although Ye Mu could not claim to know the plot inside and out, he was at least someone who understood the world of One Piece, and he knew what mattered most if one wanted to become strong in this world.

Of course, at the very beginning, the two of them mainly focused on developing their Devil Fruit abilities, supplemented by physical training.

After all, for two six-year-olds, the first priority was survival, and developing their Devil Fruit abilities was the most effective and fastest way to do that.

Naturally, they had not neglected physical training either. It was just that there were not that many tricks to it. Their methods were all very simple: push-ups, sit-ups, running, weight training, and other ways of challenging the limits of their bodies.

He did not know whether it was because the basic physical qualities of all kinds of life in this world were already very strong, or because of Skypiea's unique environment—an oxygen-poor environment formed by the thin air ten thousand meters up in the sky—or because Devil Fruits also had a certain effect in remodeling the body. On top of that, the food in this world was extremely nutritious, especially the countless giant beasts on Skypiea.

As a result, after only two years of training, the two of them underwent a world-shaking change in strength.

It was also in that year that the two of them returned to Shandora once more, joined forces to defeat the Lord of the Sky, and completely took over the place.

By this point, the two of them already had the strength to protect themselves on Skypiea. Under these conditions, Ye Mu changed the training plan.

He began shifting the entire focus of their training toward strengthening their bodies.

Looking across the world of One Piece, one truth became clear: having a powerful Devil Fruit was not true strength. Having a powerful body was.

Whitebeard, Kaido, Big Mom, Garp, and the three admirals all proved this without exception.

And Haki was built on the foundation of physical strength even more so.

After studying it carefully for a while and confirming that his idea was feasible, Ye Mu and Enel began their own Sea Cloud Gravity Room and Nirvana Training Plan.

The so-called Sea Cloud Gravity Room was actually inspired by the gravity chamber in the anime Dragon Ball.

Before this, the two of them had challenged their physical limits through all kinds of basic training. Although their strength had also grown by leaps and bounds, there would always be places that might not be trained properly or were left unbalanced. It could not train every cell of the body in all directions.

So Ye Mu thought of Dragon Ball's gravity chamber. But obviously, in the world of One Piece, at least for the time being, the two of them had no way to obtain such a thing.

So Ye Mu thought of something else: Seastone.

As everyone knew, in the pirate world, Devil Fruit users had three great nemeses. The first was seawater, the second was Seastone, and the third was Haki.

The first two both had the effect of nullifying a Devil Fruit user's powers and leaving them weak all over.

From one perspective, this was actually quite similar to a gravity chamber.

But Ye Mu obviously did not have any Seastone. There might have been some on Skypiea, but the two of them searched for a while and never found any.

So Ye Mu thought of something else.

That was Skypiea's clouds.

One had to know that Skypiea's clouds were like the Blue Sea's ocean. Because they contained a special substance similar to Seastone, they had the effect of weakening Devil Fruit users.

And Skypiea's clouds were highly malleable, able to be shaped into all sorts of forms.

Unfortunately, in the era he was in, the people of Skypiea seemed to have only a very shallow use and understanding of sea clouds, though they were quite familiar with using all kinds of dials.

Ye Mu himself was obviously not some kind of scientist, so he could only look specifically for someone else.

As luck would have it, on Angel Island, he really did find such a person.

It was Pagaya, Conis's father from the plot.

At this time, Pagaya was only in his twenties and had just gotten married, but his hands-on skills and research ability were already very strong. He was already a well-known waver repairman throughout Skypiea and the surrounding area.

After Ye Mu explained his ideas and requirements to him, the guy quickly created a sea-cloud version of a gravity room.

Moreover, Pagaya was able to draw inferences from one example. The sea-cloud gravity room he created could even change the suppressive effect on their fruit abilities by adjusting the density and quality of the sea clouds inside it.

In the end, the sea-cloud gravity room did not disappoint Ye Mu's expectations. With the help of the Sea Cloud Gravity Room, the two of them entered a period of rapid development in their physical training. And because the Sea Cloud Gravity Room trained the entire body in all directions, Ye Mu did not need to worry about becoming like some of the strong people in One Piece, with strange-looking bodies, huge heads and thick necks, or disproportionate physiques.

The muscles developed through training in the Sea Cloud Gravity Room all had very beautiful lines, and every part of the body was almost in golden proportion.

This made Ye Mu very satisfied. After all, being strong was temporary, but being handsome was for life!

And after seeing how capable Pagaya was, Ye Mu had originally wondered whether he should trick him into staying by his side and make him the scientist and shipwright of his future ship. But when he saw that Pagaya was living perfectly well on Skypiea, had just gotten married, and especially later had a daughter and a happy family life, Ye Mu completely gave up on the idea.

However, he still gave Pagaya a job.

That was to build a pirate ship for his future pirate crew. For this, he even gave him some ancient technology he had copied from Shandora.

Of course, because this technology was far too advanced, mastering it completely would not be easy. Fortunately, Ye Mu was in no hurry. His plan was to set out to sea when he turned sixteen, and he still had five years.

However, while shipbuilding still showed no real progress, the Sea Cloud version of the Gravity Room was enough to satisfy him. Its training effects had multiplied several times over.

And besides the Sea Cloud version of the Gravity Room, another discovery gave Ye Mu the possibility of embracing an infinite future.

This was the ability he called Nirvana...