The Twelve Gods' Assessment

With hope came the feeling that each day was no longer so painful. Even when they were sent to Shalria's place to work, crawling like dogs alongside the other slaves across the endless lawn to pick out thorny weeds and stones until their hands and feet were scraped bloody every day, they no longer found it unbearable.

Marigold had once wanted to protest. She thought that if they told the steward they were Saint Sanming's personal slaves, they might be able to avoid this work. But Hancock and Sandersonia immediately talked her out of it. Miming and Cairns could not possibly protect them without blinking forever, and such a protest would only lead to an even worse outcome.

A year passed in the blink of an eye.

At the Twelve God Temple in Pangaea Castle, Miming was undergoing the Twelve Gods' assessment.

A rustling like falling leaves echoed across the broad plaza before the temple, yet not a single person could be seen.

The Twelve Gods' gazes remained fixed on one point, drifting back and forth across the plaza with the rustling sound.

Is he human? Miming cursed inwardly. No matter how desperately he moved, he could not escape the other party's gaze. But that was only natural. His combat power was probably not even one-tenth of his opponent's.

The Twelve Gods' golden masks looked as emotionless as those of actual deities, and their eyes were the same. Yet when Miming finished his demonstration, they all nodded.

"After one year, you've trained Shadowless to the third level. Not bad," Anubis said. "Now let's see Vajra."

A trace of warning suddenly rose in Miming's heart. He immediately poured his strength into his arms and raised them in front of himself.

Anubis's figure had already vanished. In the next instant, a violent gust carrying fierce Haki slammed into Miming, sending him flying backward.

Miming had no time to adjust his posture before landing, so he desperately concentrated Haki in his stomach. In the next moment, Anubis appeared in midair and kicked Miming in the stomach, smashing him into the ground like a cannonball.

As the dust and smoke cleared, Miming gasped and crawled out of the crater, violently spitting out a mouthful of blood.

A ray of golden light descended from the sky and enveloped Miming, halting the worsening of his injuries. Then came an intense wave of pain. Miming cried out hoarsely from the agony, but afterward his entire body felt refreshed. His injuries had completely healed, and he was brimming with strength.

The advanced form of Life Return—Life Bestowal!

It was like forcibly inflating a deflated balloon. Blood still sprayed from his wounds, and no matter how many times he experienced it, it was still unbearably painful. This pain clearly told him just how enormous the gap between them was. The force in a casual breath from his opponent was enough to make him explode!

Miming could not help feeling afraid. No one in the outside world had ever heard of such terrifying power. That was a good thing, at least. There were still people bold enough to resist, so things would not become completely hopeless.

The more he understood the Celestial Dragons' strength, the more terrifying they seemed. If the World Government really decided to act, could the combined strength of the Twelve Gods wipe out the Four Emperors? Every one of them could definitely fight the Four Emperors to a standstill!

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

"Acceptable." Anubis nodded in satisfaction. "You've barely broken through to the second level of Vajra as well."

"Then let's train an offensive technique next." One of the Twelve Gods beside him also seemed satisfied with Miming's progress and took the initiative to offer guidance. "Are you more interested in swordsmanship or fist techniques?"

Miming thought it over. Both had their advantages and disadvantages.

Swordsmanship was actually the technique of using weapons; it was not limited to swords. Its key point was that, with a weapon in hand, one could unleash tremendously powerful strength.

The advantage of fist techniques was that they allowed one to display powerful strength even without a weapon.

Generally speaking, whether they were Marines or pirates—and even among the Gorosei—roughly eighty percent of people chose to train in fist techniques, because swordsmanship had a greater influence on one's temperament, and not everyone met the conditions for training in it.

Miming, however, had a different idea. Since he could train in either, he would practice whichever one produced results faster.

"Is there a technique that can awaken Life Bestowal first after being trained?" Miming asked.

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

"Are you pursuing quick results?" one of the Twelve Gods wearing an eagle-head mask asked. "You don't need to train in all the Six Styles of the Gods. You only need to master one of the latter two techniques. Since you want to aim for Life Bestowal, try Vacuum first. If you have the talent for it, swordsmanship offers the greatest improvement in the early stages. But without that talent, you'll gain nothing and may even damage your temperament."

"I'll train in Vacuum first." Miming made his decision immediately. His mind was now as firm as a rock, and he did not believe he could still damage his temperament.

"Then I'll be the one to teach you." The Twelve God wearing the eagle mask spoke. "My name is Bael, the Sword God. The sword behind me is Canary. When your training ends, seeing Canary will count as passing."

As his voice faded, Anubis and the other Twelve Gods all vanished, leaving only Sword God Bael behind.

Miming widened his eyes. Swordsmen generally carried their beloved swords and famous blades with them. Aside from anything else, simply drawing a famous sword and showing it off was already cool enough. Yet Sword God Bael displayed none of the bearing of a swordsman. Even his sword was strapped to his back, with not even the hilt visible.

Bael began giving Miming a simple explanation.

The Marine Six Styles had no swordsmanship, but they did have Rankyaku, which used the limbs to create a Vacuum and form wind blades that slashed at an opponent. From the sound of it, this should be a crippled version of Vacuum.

Vacuum, however, was not limited to the human body. One began by learning how to use weapons to create a Vacuum.

Take Rankyaku from the Marine Six Styles. It was a slash formed by compressing air at supersonic speed. Therefore, if one mastered Soru first, mastering Rankyaku would be easy. It could be viewed as an upgraded technique of Soru; once one reached the corresponding speed, one would naturally learn it.

The essence of Vacuum from the Six Styles of the Gods, however, lay in the transmission and isolation of force. It involved creating a Vacuum within matter of any density, allowing one to cause destruction inside an object while also making a weapon indestructible.

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

The other offensive technique, Flying Missile, focused on wrapping and bursting. If mastered, it could likewise enter the domain of Life Bestowal. But unlike Vacuum, Flying Missile did not place such a strong emphasis on talent and temperament. It was more about cultivating and consolidating one's temperament when one's talent was merely ordinary.

Miming believed himself to be talented, so the first step was to pass the Iron Cutting trial.