Two years had passed since Michael's spar against Garling, and his strength continued to grow. Michael did not stop training the things he had learned while sparring against Garling. At first, it was not controllable, as it would only activate two out of ten tries, but as Michael sparred against the official members of God's Knights daily, his proficiency increased. Garling even thought that Michael could now graduate from training to officially join the God's Knights—something that Michael rejected, as he knew that he was still not satisfied with his strength. He was also planning to explore the world to find enemies that would push him, as unlike the God's Knights' sparring, the pirates were ruthless and would not hesitate to kill him if they got the chance.
Michael's Devil Fruit application also grew. His control over the Hakai Hakai no Mi became even more refined—he could now disassemble and reassemble whatever he touched, as he once transformed a block of stone into a statue of himself. He was still limited by the need for physical contact, as he had not yet awakened, but the disassembling of objects became faster. Before, there was a 0.1-second delay; now it was down to 0.000001—something that might not seem like much, but it made all the difference between being killed or dodging. His teleportation could now also be used with someone else, but that person had to be in physical contact with Michael, and Michael needed to maintain his focus the entire time; if not, he could kill the person.
Michael's relationship with the other Celestials and God's Knight trainees, however, remained distant, as Michael did not want to be associated with the disappointments in the families—those who wasted their talents.
Now, Michael could be seen sparring against Gunko and Sommers simultaneously, as both of them could barely manage to fight Michael equally. This growth showed how insane Michael's talent was; he could even fight against Shamrock equally now.
"Ibarrier," Sommers said, as he created a wall of thorns that erupted from the ground. As Michael approached and slashed his sword toward Sommers, Sommers then counterattacked Michael.
"Ibarush!" Sommers attacked Michael as he summoned more than a thousand thick briars behind him, then sent them rushing point-first at Michael—something that Michael did not mind.
"Arrow Rush!" Gunko then increased the speed and rotation of the vines to increase their speed and not give Michael any room to dodge.
"Disassemble," Michael then countered, as he hit the briars that were attacking him. They suddenly divided into multiple small box-like thorns, their momentum suddenly halting. Sommers and Gunko then prepared for Michael's assault as Michael used his Devil Fruit to disassemble himself, suddenly appearing behind Gunko.
"Slash," Michael attacked, simply naming his attack as he slashed his sword toward Gunko while using the technique that would disable Gunko's immortality. Gunko, who was hit by the attack, screamed in pain as Benimaru did not hold back, making sure that Gunko was divided into five different parts, also applying his Devil Fruit abilities while slashing.
Sommers, who saw this, tried to run comically as he did not want any pain coming from Michael. He knew that once Michael disabled his immortality, he would bear the full brunt of that pain. But Michael did not let him, as he also teleported to approach Sommers from behind and slashed him with multiple cuts. Sommers then cried out in pain as their spar ended with Michael winning against two of the strongest members of the God's Knights.
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"Can't you hold back a little, Michael? Seriously, it hurts every time you do that," Sommers complained as they sat down to eat. Michael had just disabled the ability he used to cancel their immortality. Meanwhile, Gunko quietly enjoyed her favorite dishes, indulging herself as usual.
"Nope. I'm going to hurt you every time we spar—consider it payback for all those painful lessons," Michael replied, shoveling steak into his mouth. He was starting to get tired of it. Sure, it was still delicious, but he craved something different, like the cooking of Zeff, the mentor of the man who would become the greatest chef in the world.
Maybe I should sail to the Baratie. Blow off some steam with some real food, Michael thought, practically drooling at the idea. Gunko and Sommers noticed the look on his face but didn't say anything. They knew food was one of the few things Michael truly cared about.
As they were eating, they were interrupted by Killingham, who looked like he had just woken up from a three-day nap, which was probably true, given the nature of his Devil Fruit. Killingham plopped down at the table and waved over a servant to bring him food. He clearly intended to join the gang for the meal.
"You look terrible, Killingham. Did you just wake up?" Sommers asked as he scooted over to make room. Out of all of them, Sommers was the only one who could tolerate Killingham's laziness and clumsiness.
Midway through the meal, a CP0 officer entered the room and made an unexpected announcement: the Five Elders were summoning Michael. This caught him off guard—he hadn't been summoned by them even once in the past two years. His first thought was that it might be related to him rejecting the offer to officially join the God's Knights and end his training.
"Did they say what it's about?" Michael asked, trying to read the CP0 officer's expression. But the man remained completely stoic—professional to a fault.
"Forgive me, Saint Michael. The Elders did not disclose their reason. They simply issued the order, and I complied without question. I'm sorry I can't offer more clarity," the CP0 officer replied with a slight bow.
"No, it's alright. I know how unreasonable they can be. Let's just go—I'd rather not keep them waiting," Michael said as he stood up from the table and left the dining room without another word.
Sommers and Killingham simply continued their conversation, unfazed, while Gunko kept eating in silence, clearly uninterested in anything that wasn't on her plate.