Looking at the chill rising in Bullet's eyes,
Roy's expression remained calm, and he continued in an even voice.
"You're strong now, but not strong enough. This world is vast, and the seas are full of powerful people. How far can you get on brute force alone?"
"Right now, you're a beast kept in a cage, lording it over the army of this tiny country?"
Roy's words instantly darkened Bullet's expression. Though he was reluctant to admit it, he did crave challenges and enjoy the feeling of growing stronger. Without realizing it, he had indeed felt constrained.
Seeing Bullet lost in thought, Roy extended his invitation again. "Join us, Bullet! This country is too small. Come with us, and you'll see a wider world and meet stronger opponents."
Roy's voice was enticing, and he reached out with his mental power to quietly stir Bullet's desire.
"We have the same goal. We both want to get stronger, but the path I'm taking is more interesting than figuring things out on your own, isn't it? Only by leaving this country can you see greater power, like... this."
Roy coated his palm in Armament Haki and waved it at Bullet.
"At the very least, if you stay with us, I can give you the 'challenges' you need."
Bullet remained silent, staring at Roy's waving hand as the desire inside him grew stronger. The campfire crackled, and the atmosphere around them grew tense.
Tesoro and the others hardly dared to breathe, all waiting for his answer.
Bullet brushed his right hand over the medals on his chest. After a long while, he spoke stiffly, though he sounded less ready to attack on the spot. "You expect me to betray my country and become a pirate with you on a few empty words?"
"Even if I want power, I can find it myself. Why should I join you? What gives you the right?"
What a hassle. I can tell Bullet's resolve has already wavered, but he still has feelings for this country! Roy thought.
Suddenly, Bullet fixed his eyes on Roy, his fighting spirit boiling over. He wanted to beat Roy, who had stirred up his feelings, to death, but he also hoped Roy could give him a reason, and give himself an excuse.
"Beat me, like... defeat me completely, right here!"
"Alas! Does it still have to come down to strength?" Roy sighed.
Roy told Tesoro and the others to step back. Looking at Bullet, he knew words had done all they could. He took a deep breath and slowly spread out his Observation Haki.
"As you wish."
Bullet dragged his weary body back to the barracks. His fight with Roy had ended without a winner.
Lying in bed, Bullet stared blankly at the ceiling as Roy's words echoed in his mind over and over: "This country is too small."
"Bastard!"
Bullet slammed his fist into the wooden board. "Damn you, Roy!"
The camp on the back mountain.
Tesoro was poking at the campfire in boredom.
"Boss, it's been three days. That guy isn't coming, is he?"
"He'll come."
Roy sat cross-legged on a boulder, surrounded by mental power.
"How do you know?" Savi looked at Roy curiously.
How do I know? Can I tell you I've read the original story? He shot an annoyed glare at the two men who had interrupted his training.
"Get back to training."
As soon as he finished speaking, Roy's lips curled up, and he said in a low voice, "He's here."
A moment later, rustling came from the forest, and Bullet's tall figure appeared at the edge of the camp. He wore the same green uniform, but his gaze had softened considerably.
"Here to train?"
"Let's fight again."
Without answering, Bullet walked straight into the open space.
Neither side fought at full strength this time. Roy fought Bullet using only hand-to-hand combat to hone his fighting skills.
After the fight, Bullet didn't leave immediately. For the next few hours, he silently put himself through an intense workout off to the side.
At dusk, Bullet prepared to leave. Before entering the woods, he stopped and asked with his back to Roy, "How long will you stay here?"
"Who knows?" Roy replied indifferently.
And so the days passed. Bullet occasionally came to the camp on the back mountain to fight Roy, then trained with Roy and the others afterward.
Roy also taught Bullet how to train his Haki.
It had to be said that Bullet was truly gifted. After Roy used his mental power to let him experience the sensation of Haki twice, Bullet successfully drew out his own Haki and began refining it from then on.
Roy didn't slack off either. While refining his Armament Haki, he continued developing his abilities. To help Tesoro and the others grow stronger quickly,
Roy also shifted the focus of his ability development to manipulating "gravity."
At first, his core ability had been the immense mental power he gained from transmigrating, which had allowed him to awaken Observation Haki early on. Though he could sense what was in other people's hearts, he couldn't interfere.
After eating the Telekinesis-Telekinesis Fruit, his mental power grew stronger once again, and he could also give it physical form.
At first, he used it to manipulate things around him. Unlike the Golden Lion's Float-Float Fruit, whose power granted objects he had touched the ability to float and allowed the user to control them at will,
Roy's Telekinesis-Telekinesis Fruit ability was more direct. He could freely manipulate any object within the range of his Observation Haki, and he could also give his mental power physical form to block attacks, concentrate it into impacts, and so on. But it wasn't without drawbacks.
The larger the area he controlled and the more things he manipulated, the harder it became. Using the ability also constantly consumed the user's stamina and mental energy. (The Telekinesis-Telekinesis Fruit also consumed mental power.)
Roy had originally planned to use the Float-Float Fruit as a model, but later discovered he couldn't do it. Once he realized that, he understood that if he wanted to establish himself on seas full of powerful people, he had to delve deeper into this power.
"The essence of gravity is the curvature of spacetime caused by mass... Could my own telekinetic power perhaps simulate or even directly control that curvature?"
Roy fell into thought.
He tried to concentrate his mental power to its utmost, attempting to sense and influence a certain field within an object and the space around it.
It was an extremely difficult process.
At first, he could only make the path of a falling leaf deviate by the tiniest amount.
But he didn't lose heart. He spread his Observation Haki to its fullest extent and used it together with his mental power to perceive the most minute connections between matter and space in exquisite detail.
"No, that's not it. It's not pushing, it's granting... or rather, changing its attraction to the earth."
In a flash of inspiration, Roy tried using his mental power to construct a temporary, reverse gravitational source beneath the target object, or directly strengthen the gravitational connection between the object itself and the earth.
Sweat kept rolling down his forehead as his mental power operated at high speed.
At last, after countless failures, a stone in front of him suddenly sank downward. With a crack, a web of fine fissures appeared in the ground beneath it!
"It worked!" Roy shouted excitedly.
It was still crude and consumed an enormous amount of energy, but he was heading in the right direction.