Five Years

The battle continued for a full hour.

Finally, after an explosion that shook all of Shandora as if the air itself had burst, the flames and thunder descended from the sky and landed before the bonfire, transforming into the figures of two boys.

At that moment, the two of them were visibly battered, covered in wounds and panting heavily. It seemed that if someone gave either of them the slightest push, they would collapse.

Although they looked as if they had fought to the death, both wore expressions of exhilaration. Then, as if by unspoken agreement, they came to the roasted dinosaur meat and began feasting like prehistoric monsters.

The mountain of roasted dinosaur meat visibly disappeared within just a few minutes under their ravenous appetites. In its place were their bellies, swollen like balloons.

Then the two of them took a deep breath. Their bulging bellies visibly shrank, turning into smooth abdomens with eight-pack muscles. At the same time, the wounds on their bodies vanished.

These two were naturally Ye Mu and Enel.

Five years had passed since they narrowly escaped death from the jaws of the Sky Island Ruler.

Five years could be considered long or short, but regardless of how one looked at it, those five years had been incredibly fulfilling for Ye Mu and Enel.

After narrowly escaping death from the Sky Island Ruler five years ago, the two of them had come to recognize each other completely. They then lived in seclusion together as brothers in the forests of Upper Yard, constantly improving themselves through training.

Their progress over those five years had been extremely obvious.

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

Ye Mu could not claim to have memorized the entire plot, but he did understand the world of One Piece. He knew what mattered most for anyone who wanted to become powerful in this world.

Of course, at the beginning, the two of them focused primarily on developing their Devil Fruit abilities, supplementing that with physical training.

After all, at only six years old, their first priority was survival. Developing their Devil Fruit abilities was the most effective and quickest method.

Naturally, they had not neglected physical training either. There simply were not many variations to it. Their methods were straightforward: push-ups, sit-ups, running, carrying weights, and other exercises that challenged the limits of their bodies.

Whether it was because the basic physical qualities of all living creatures in this world were exceptionally strong, because of Sky Island's unique environment—more than ten thousand meters above sea level, with thin air and low oxygen—or because Devil Fruits also had some effect on the body, combined with the abundant nutrition in the food of this world, especially the countless giant beasts on Sky Island, no one could say.

The result was that after only two years of training, the strength of the two had undergone a earth-shattering transformation.

That was also the year the two returned to Shandora and, working together, defeated the Sky Island Ruler and completely occupied the place.

By then, the two had gained enough power to protect themselves on Sky Island. Under those circumstances, Ye Mu changed their training plan.

He began shifting their entire focus toward strengthening their bodies.

Looking across the world of One Piece, one could discover a fundamental truth: being strong because of a Devil Fruit was not true strength. A strong body was what truly mattered.

Whitebeard, Kaido, Big Mom, Garp, and the three Admirals had all verified this principle without exception.

Haki was even based on the strength of the physical body.

After carefully studying the matter for a while and confirming that his idea was feasible, Ye Mu and Enel began their own Sea Cloud Gravity Room and Nirvana training plans.

The so-called Sea Cloud Gravity Room was inspired by the Gravity Room from the anime Dragon Ball.

Before this, the two had challenged the limits of their bodies through various basic exercises. Although their strength had increased tremendously, there were always areas they failed to train or places where their development was uneven. They could not comprehensively exercise every cell in their bodies.

Thus, Ye Mu thought of the Gravity Room from Dragon Ball. However, in the world of One Piece, the two of them clearly could not obtain such a thing—at least not for the time being.

That was when Ye Mu thought of something else.

Seastone.

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

The first two could both nullify a Devil Fruit user's abilities and leave them completely powerless.

In a sense, they actually had an effect similar to that of a Gravity Room.

However, Ye Mu obviously did not have any Seastone. There might have been some on Sky Island, but after searching for a while, the two still could not find any.

So Ye Mu thought of something else.

The clouds of Sky Island.

The clouds of Sky Island were like the seas of the Blue Sea. Because they contained a special substance similar to Seastone, they could render Devil Fruit users powerless.

Furthermore, Sky Island's clouds were highly malleable and could be shaped into all kinds of forms.

Unfortunately, in the era Ye Mu lived in, the people of Sky Island seemed to have only a rudimentary understanding of the use and study of sea clouds. They were much more familiar with using the various Dials.

Ye Mu clearly was not a scientist, so he had no choice but to find someone specifically for the job.

As it happened, he really did find such a person on Angel Island.

That person was Pagaya, the father of Conis from the original story.

At that time, Pagaya was only in his twenties. He had just gotten married, but he was already highly skilled at construction and research, and was a famous Waver mechanic throughout Sky Island.

After Ye Mu explained his ideas and requirements to him, the man quickly created a sea-cloud version of the Gravity Room.

Moreover, Pagaya was able to go a step further. The sea-cloud Gravity Room he created could adjust the density and mass of the sea clouds inside it, thereby altering the degree to which they suppressed the two men's Devil Fruit abilities.

In the end, the sea-cloud Gravity Room lived up to Ye Mu's expectations. With its help, the two men's physical training entered a period of rapid development. Since the sea-cloud Gravity Room trained the body comprehensively, Ye Mu also did not have to worry about ending up like some of the powerful figures in One Piece, with strange physiques, oversized heads and thick necks, or disproportionate bodies.

The muscles developed under the sea-cloud Gravity Room had extremely elegant lines, and the various parts of their bodies were close to the golden ratio.

This left Ye Mu extremely satisfied. After all, strength lasted for a moment, but being handsome lasted a lifetime!

Seeing how capable Pagaya was, Ye Mu had initially considered tricking him into joining his side and becoming the scientist and shipwright of his future crew. But when he saw that Pagaya was living well on Sky Island and had just gotten married, especially after Pagaya later had a daughter and built a blissful family life, Ye Mu completely abandoned the idea.

Still, he gave Pagaya a job.

That was to build a pirate ship for Ye Mu's future pirate crew. For that purpose, he even gave Pagaya some ancient technology that he had copied from Shandora.

Of course, because the technology was far too advanced, mastering it completely would not be easy. Fortunately, Ye Mu was not in a hurry. He planned to set out to sea at the age of sixteen, which left him five years.

Although there was still no sign of progress on the ship, the sea-cloud Gravity Room was already more than satisfactory. It had multiplied the effectiveness of their training.

Besides the sea-cloud Gravity Room, another discovery gave Ye Mu the possibility of embracing an infinite future.

This was the ability he had named Nirvana...