The Twelve Gods' Assessment

Because they had hope, they no longer felt each day was so unbearable. Even when they were sent to work for Shalria, crawling across endless lawns like dogs alongside the other slaves to pick out thorny weeds and stones, their hands and feet slashed bloody every day, they no longer felt they could not endure it.

Marigold had once wanted to protest. She thought that if they told the steward they were Saint Sanming's personal slaves, they should be able to avoid such work. But Hancock and Sandersonia immediately talked her out of it. Miming and Cairns could not keep protecting them without blinking, and such a protest would only end far worse.

A year passed in the blink of an eye.

At the Twelve God Temple Palace in Pangaea Castle, Miming underwent the Twelve Gods' assessment.

A rustling sound like fallen leaves arose across the vast plaza before the hall, yet not a single figure could be seen.

Yet the Twelve Gods' gazes remained fixed on one spot, roaming back and forth across the field with the rustling.

Is that even a person? Miming cursed inwardly. No matter how hard he moved, he could not shake off the other's gaze. Then again, it was only natural. His combat power might not even amount to a tenth of theirs.

The Twelve Gods' golden masks looked as emotionless as deities, as did their eyes. But when Miming finished his demonstration, they all nodded.

"One year to reach the third level of Shadowless. Not bad," Anubis said. "Now, let Vajra take a look."

A warning suddenly rose in Miming's heart, and he immediately poured all his strength into his arm and raised it before him.

Anubis had already vanished. The next instant, a violent gale carrying fierce Haki slammed into Miming and sent him flying backward.

Before Miming could adjust his landing posture, he desperately concentrated his Haki in his abdomen. The next instant, Anubis flashed into the air and drove a kick into Miming's stomach, smashing him into the ground like a cannonball.

As the dust cleared, Miming panted and crawled out of the crater, spraying out a mouthful of blood.

A golden light descended from the sky and enveloped Miming, stopping his injuries from worsening. Then came a burst of agonizing pain that made Miming scream hoarsely. Yet afterward, his entire body felt at ease. His injuries had fully healed, and his strength was completely restored.

The advanced form of Life Return—Life Bestowal!

It felt like a deflated balloon being forcibly inflated. His wounds were still spurting blood, and no matter how many times he experienced it, it hurt unbearably. That pain clearly told him just how vast the gap in strength between them was! A casual puff of air from the other side was enough to make him explode!

Fear rose uncontrollably in Miming's heart. No one in the outside world had ever heard of such terrifying power. That was a good thing. At least there were still people who dared to resist, so there was no need to despair completely.

The more he learned about the Celestial Dragons' strength, the more terrifying it seemed. If the World Government truly got serious, the Twelve Gods joining forces could surely wipe out the Four Emperors, right? Every one of them could absolutely fight a Four Emperor to a draw!

It felt as though, if gods truly existed in this world, they would have long since bowed their heads before the Celestial Dragons.

"Acceptable." Anubis expressed his satisfaction. "Vajra has barely broken through to the second level as well."

"Next, train an offensive technique." One of the Twelve Gods beside him was also satisfied with Miming's training progress and took the initiative to guide him. "Are you interested in swordsmanship or fist techniques?"

Miming considered it. Each had its own advantages and disadvantages.

Swordsmanship was really the skill of wielding weapons; it was not limited to swords. Its key point was that, with a weapon in hand, one could unleash extremely powerful strength.

The advantage of fist techniques was that one could still display great strength without a weapon.

Whether Marines, pirates, or even the Gorosei, eighty percent of people generally chose to train fist techniques, because swordsmanship had a greater influence on one's state of mind. Not everyone met the conditions for training it.

But Miming had a different idea. Since he could train either way, he might as well train whichever showed results faster.

"Is there any style that would let me awaken Life Bestowal first after training it?" Miming asked.

If the purpose of mastering all the Marine Six Styles was to awaken Life Return, then the true power of the Six Styles of the Gods should be the ability to awaken Life Bestowal, right?

"Seeking quick results?" One of the Twelve Gods wearing an eagle-headed mask said, "You do not need to train all six styles. You only need to train one of the last two. Since you wish to make Life Bestowal your goal, try Vacuum first. If you have talent, swordsmanship offers the greatest early gains. But if you lack talent, you will gain nothing and may even damage your state of mind."

"Then I'll train Vacuum first." Miming made his decision at once. His mind was now as firm as a rock. He simply did not believe his state of mind could still be damaged.

"Then I will teach you." The Twelve God in the eagle-headed mask said, "My name is Sword God Bael. The sword on my back is Canary. When your training ends, if you can see Canary, you will have passed."

As his words fell, Anubis and the other Twelve Gods vanished and departed, leaving only Sword God Bael behind.

Miming's eyes widened. Generally speaking, swordsmen always carried their beloved famous blades with them. Leaving everything else aside, merely producing a famous sword from one's collection was impressive enough. Yet Sword God Bael before him possessed none of a swordsman's aura. Even his sword was carried on his back, and not even its hilt could be seen.

Bael began giving Miming a simple explanation.

The Marine Six Styles had no swordsmanship, but they did have Rankyaku, which used the body to whip up Vacuum into wind blades and slash at opponents. It sounded like a watered-down version of Vacuum.

Vacuum, however, was not limited to the human body. From the very beginning, it taught one how to use weapons to create Vacuum.

With the Marine Six Styles' Rankyaku, for example, the slash was formed by supersonic compressed air. Thus, if one first mastered Soru, mastering Rankyaku would be easy. It could be regarded as an upgraded technique of Soru; as long as one reached the required speed, one could naturally learn it.

But the essence of the Six Styles of the Gods' Vacuum lay in the transmission and isolation of force. How to create a Vacuum within matter of any density could both destroy an object from within and make a weapon indestructible.

This concept already involved extending the energy within one's body outward in the form of waves, making it entirely different from the first four styles. If mastered, it would bring a qualitative transformation to Life Return and begin to touch upon the domain of Life Bestowal.

The other offensive technique, Flying Missile, focused on enveloping and bursting. Once mastered, it could likewise enter the domain of Life Bestowal. But Flying Missile did not emphasize talent and one's state of mind as much as Vacuum did. It was more about cultivating and strengthening one's state of mind when one's talent was ordinary.

Miming considered himself talented, so the first thing he needed to do was pass the trial of Iron Cutting.