The Celestial Dragons' Training Method

Miming watched the wall draw closer and closer, then slammed headfirst into it. He could not even scream, but then he saw his body turn into black smoke and pass straight through the wall.

Beyond the wall was a pillar, followed by another wall.

Miming quickly calmed down. This was the world of One Piece—anything could happen. Beaming, he even struck the Titanic bow pose, spreading his arms to feel the wind. The whole world was slightly faded within the black mist, while his body had become like a ghost, able to pass directly through walls. As long as he could overcome his fear, this was more fun than a roller coaster.

"As expected, Saint Miming possesses extraordinary potential." Anubis's golden wolf head emerged from the black mist. He praised, "To adapt so easily to my Wind of the Underworld... I look forward to seeing just how astonishingly powerful you will become in the future."

"I am the descendant of one of the twenty kings who created this world!" Miming declared proudly, while the other man looked impressed.

No matter how powerful you are, as long as you are not a Celestial Dragon, you have to play along when I'm showing off.

A valley surrounded by hills and temples appeared before him. This was the training ground reserved for the Five Elders.

"This is..." Miming grew excited. "The Twelve Zodiac Palaces? You're Saints, right?"

Anubis's eye twitched. Even with his mask on, it was obvious.

"It is the Twelve Gods," Anubis replied in a muffled voice. "The Palaces of the Twelve Gods."

A group of Twelve Gods, all wearing masks as well, were already waiting for Anubis on the steps. At the sight of Miming, they all bowed their heads in salute. Though they did not perform the grand prostrations others did, their etiquette was still impeccable.

Miming's gaze swept over the Twelve Gods, and he suddenly felt as though a violent gale had swept him away and hurled him off a cliff. He took a step back and steadied his mind. When he looked again, the figures before him seemed as towering and insurmountable as mountains.

They varied in height, fat and thin alike, but all wore golden masks that radiated sacred majesty.

Gods?! They weren't humans—they were gods?

That thought suddenly came to Miming, and his knees trembled as he wanted to kneel in worship.

But he could not!

Miming desperately gathered his will and gritted his teeth as he held firm. I'm a Celestial Dragon! I'm the man who will rule the world and marry the Empress—!

The scars on the Boa sisters' bodies and their tearful, broken expressions flashed before his eyes.

Even after becoming a Celestial Dragon, he had failed to stop it. He had not even recognized them immediately. Only Miming himself could understand how intense that regret was. He had talked about protecting them, yet without the corresponding strength, how could he save them?

Miming's face twisted. Clenching his teeth, he roared, "You lot! Enough—!"

The oppressive aura vanished, and the world before him returned to normal. The Twelve Gods still looked imposing, but he no longer needed to crane his neck to look at them.

"Please forgive us, Saint Miming." A man over eight meters tall bowed before him. His mask was a colorful flower larger than a tabletop. "The Five Elders ordered us Twelve Gods to make Saint Miming an expert in Haki in the shortest possible time. Therefore, it is necessary to understand Saint Miming's talent."

Anubis stepped among them and said expressionlessly, "After all, the best way to awaken Haki is also to experience Haki."

"Then let us begin with the most basic Six Styles." One of the Twelve Gods, holding a sword in his arms, spoke.

"The Navy Six Styles?" Miming was no stranger to the Six Styles. His only concern was whether his small body could endure such terrifying physical training. Based on his knowledge of the plot from his previous life, he should not even meet the basic requirements to learn the Six Styles.

"Of course not." Anubis's words left Miming stunned.

"How could the Navy possibly possess the true Six Powers?" The Twelve Gods all let out sinister chuckles. "What we mean is—the Six Styles of the Gods!"

"Each of the twenty kings who created the world was the strongest hero of his nation. Under the guidance of the gods, they united and exhausted every effort to create the Six Styles in order to defeat the enemies of the gods. It possesses the power to slay gods!"

"The Navy Six Powers are merely a superficial, simplified version of the Six Styles of the Gods, created so ordinary people can train in them."

"Only the Five Elders and Celestial Dragons acknowledged by the Five Elders are qualified to cultivate the true Six Styles of the Gods. Practitioners must be descendants of kings!"

"This is why the Celestial Dragon bloodline is so noble!"

Miming was utterly stunned by those words. So the Navy Six Powers were a simplified, weakened version of the Six Styles of the Gods? The training methods were so easy to obtain—within the Navy, anyone who rendered meritorious service could exchange military achievements for the chance to learn the Six Powers. In the CP intelligence agencies, the Navy Six Powers were also mandatory training.

What shocked him even more came next. Anubis's body released dense black mist. At the same time, the other Twelve Gods scattered and surrounded Miming. Dense mist also poured from their bodies, but each was a different color: gold, red, green, purple, blue, white...

"We will reforge Saint Miming's body so that it can meet the requirements of cultivation." The voices of the Twelve Gods sounded from every direction and converged as one, as though all their thoughts were linked.

The multicolored mist gathered together and formed a whirlwind, sweeping Miming's body into the air.

Miming immediately felt the agony of his soul and flesh being torn apart together, and he screamed hoarsely. Yet after only a second, his cry was swallowed by the wind. His body had already been shattered and broken down into individual cells, into even more minute particles, swept away like grains of sand. Within the vortex, it mingled with the mists of the Twelve Gods, but his consciousness remained unextinguished!

The voices of the Twelve Gods rang out from every direction. "Bestowal of Life! Only true Celestial Dragons, descendants of kings, can possess the power bestowed by the gods!"

Miming felt his consciousness gradually dissipating, but through his experience resisting Haki, he desperately held onto the last shred of clarity in his mind.

Gradually, he began to sense all kinds of things.

Those mists were actually pure qi. Spiritual energy, true qi, primordial qi—whatever the hell it was, it was the origin of life. It only looked like mist because its concentration was too high. His body had been destroyed, forcibly ground down into the origin of life, and fused with the qi around him.

Every kind of qi was different. The black qi was filled with the essence of death and endings. The golden qi teemed with vitality; it was the energy of the soul. The azure qi was filled with the power of nature, while the white qi represented purity and would cleanse everything...

Gods. If any one of those powers could be fully mastered, it would grant the power of a god!

The Twelve Gods—every single one of them possessed enough power to destroy every living thing in this world!