Ling was mid-run, suddenly a low growl stopped him in his tracks.
He looked ahead. Five wolves was blocking his path.
The biggest one stepped forward and snarled.
"Tch… seriously?"
"I wouldn't mind a free workout."
He cracked his fingers.
The wolves started circling him.
Ling lowered his stance, hands open. Ready for whatever has to come.
A wolf charged.
Ling ducked under its bite, grabbed its fur mid-motion, and slammed it to the ground.
Another lunged from behind.
Ling jumped to the side. The wolf missed by inches, its teeth grazing his shirt.
He spun and drove his elbow into its ribs. It yelped and stumbled back.
Two more came at once one high, other was low.
Ling shave forward instead. He slipped past the high one, planted his foot, then kicked the low one square on the snout.
The last wolf hesitated.
Ling met its eyes, his breathing was still calm.
"Well?"
It growled, crouched low… then stopped. Its ears twitched. After a moment, it backed away.
The rest followed, tail was tucked.
Ling exhaled slowly.
"That's a great warmup."
He shook off the dirt, adjusted his breath, and kept running deeper into the forest.
30 minutes later, his meditation started.
After meditating under the shade of a tree, Ling opened his eyes slowly.
The morning light was warm now.
He stood up and stretched his arms. He heard a branch snapped above him.
Dexter landed on the ground, beating his chest like a drum.
"You're early," Ling smirked.
"Good. Let's go."
They moved to the same spot they sparred yesterday. Footprints, and dents in the dirt are still visible from yesterday spar.
Ling cracked his knuckles.
"Same rule. No holding back."
Dexter nodded, crouched low, then charged.
Ling blocked the first punch, redirected the second.
A palm strike grazed Ling's cheek.
"Tch."
He twisted his body, ducked under a wild swing, and throw a clean jab into Blackie's chest.
The monkey flipped back and landed in a crouch, smirking with his fangs out.
They circled each other.
Ling feinted left, and Dexter didn't fall for it.
He ducked and jabbed Ling's side.
The hit connected.
Ling winced, grabbed Dexter's wrist, twisted, and used his weight to flip him over his shoulder.
Dexter rolled with it, landing on all fours. Both breathing heavily.
"Again," Ling said.
They clashed again.
Punches.
Dodges.
Grabs.
Counters.
The fight lasted for awhile. When they finally stopped, both were lying on their backs, staring at the sky.
"Not bad..." Ling whispered.
Dexter grunted.
After their spar, Ling and Dexter lay on the ground, catching their breath. Neither spoke or grunted.
Finally, Ling sat up and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"I'm starving."
Dexter nodded like he understood. His also stomach growled.
Ling grabbed the food basket where he kept the caught fish earlier. He already cleaned and skewered them when he had his breakfast.
The smell of grilled fish filled the air.
Ling handed one to Dexter and took one for himself.
He leaned back against the tree and glanced at Dexter.
"Hey, do you think I can go against the giant bear with a scar?"
The fish fell from Blackie's hand. Shock of what he heard.
Dexter then stand up making a gesture that his crazy and asking for death.
Understanding what it means, Ling continued eating. Seemingly thinking about something.
They ate in silence, only the sound of the chewing and occasional chirps of birds keeping them company.
Ling looked at the trees swaying above.
"By the look of my observation and haki training, It might take a few years to master the basic."
"Also, my shave and moonwalk will probably take the same time too."
Ling sighed.
Dexter looked at him, but still tearing into his fish.
After they finished, Ling stood up and dusted his pants.
"Alright. Enough rest. Time for armament haki training."
"Let's go break some trees."
Ling stood in front of a big three, and formed his fist into a punch.
"This is how Garp trained in his teens till to this day, his studen Kuzan also did this, and Coby too. Punching hard things without using haki made them so strong that obliterating a mountain is eqsy for them."
"Though they used a warship as a punching bag, trees will do for now, and then move to punching boulders after."
He took a deep breath and punched the tree.
The pain shot through his knuckles. He gritted his teeth, took another stance, and hit again.
And again.
By the fifth punch, he was crouching, holding his wrist and it was visibly bleeding.
"Fucking hell! Okay, that's not gonna work yet."
He sat there for a second, breathing through the sting. Not only his hands are bleeding, but also they were already swelling.
He took a deep breath, and readied himself for another session.
"Due too the sudden pain, my handsare numb."
He walked up to the tree, braced himself again, and punched.
"Pain is just an illusion..pain is just an illusion...pain is just...."
Ling kept blubbering.
One after the other. His knuckles is hurting as hell, but he kept going.
One punch.
Two.
Ten.
Twenty.
Hundreds.
The tree dented a little.
Dexter watched from a nearby branch, tilting his head like he thought Ling was crazy.
"Heheheh." Ling laugh.
"This can make me strong just watch, Dexter."
He kept punching.
This kept going for a few hours until his next meditation.
Finishing his meditation it was running again.
He ran to the opposite side where he ran this morning.
Until....
The growls came from all sides.
"Again, huh?" Ling muttered, stopping in his tracks.
Four wolves this time.
His hand was still swelling, dried blood all over it, so using them against the wolves was a dumb idea.
But...
"No more running."
The first lunged. Ling ducked low, grabbed it mid-air, and slammed it to the ground with both hands.
AAHH!
Pain shot through his hand, making Ling face contort and gritted his teeth.
"I FUCKING FORGOT ABOUT MY HAND!!"
The wolf he slammed laid unconscious.
Two came at once. Ling couldn't think through the pain so he skipped half a second into the future, sidestepped one, and drove his knee into the wolf's spine.
The last one hesitated.
"Come," Ling said, still pissed from his idioticness.
The pack leader lunged.
The alpha wolf met a straight kick to the snout. Nose and jaw cracked. Blood drip from it's mouth and nose.
He stood over the bodies, breathing steady.
"This world is really exciting," he whispered, his excitement naking him forgot about the pain.
He wiped his bloodied hands on the grass and kept running. Ling put one of the wolves on his shoulder and jog back to his camp.
Back at camp, he set to work.
Fighting the pain from his hand, he sharpened two sticks, tied them across a frame with some vines, and propped them up over the firepit.
He made a drying rack.
"Hahaha maybe I should get a turtle shell as a rain catcher."
"This is literally like son of the forest."
After skinning and cleaning the wolf, he sliced the meat into thin strips and hung them to dry.
"Should last me two days," he muttered, stepping back to look at his work.
His stomach growled louder than usual. He rubbed it.
"My appetite's getting bigger....."
He sat down by the fire, tossing in a few dry leaves.
The smoke curled into the trees, mixing with the scent of drying meat and pine.
Ling closed his eyes for a second.
Ever since he ate the Devil Fruit, Ling had been pondering how to unlock its full potential.
He had already mastered the basics—how Toki used the power of time travel. But he knew there had to be more.
"I should name my first technique… 'Time Skip'..." he muttered, nodding in approval.
The ability to jump one second into the future had saved his life against the bandit.
Now, it was time to experiment with something new.
"For my next ability…" He hesitated.
"Should I try that?"
Ling stood up and walked into the forest, searching carefully. Minutes later, he returned with four young flowers, their roots still intact.
He dug shallow holes near his camp and planted each one.
Why flowers?
He had a theory.
"Clockwise," he whispered.
"That'll be the name of this skill."
His goal was simple, to accelerate the growth of the flowers. If he could manipulate time to age living things forward, it's a massive boost to his overall strength.
Just like Ain with her Return-Return Fruit, she's able to rewind a living being's age by twelve years.
Or Bonney, whose Age-Age Fruit could manipulate the age of both the living and non-living.
"My fruit might be in the same league… maybe even stronger," Ling thought.
"The Time-Time Fruit sounds more superior than both of them. Although Bonney's fruit is really broken, she can choose someone's future and use their ability."
Shaking the thought. He focused on one flower, holding his hand above it.
"Clockwise."
Nothing happened.
He can tell this experiment will take longer than 'Time Skip'.
Again.
Still nothing.
He stared at the freshly planted flowerbed in silence.
"Everything takes time," he said quietly.
With a small sigh, he adjusted his posture, crossed his legs, and began to meditate for the next hour.
Ling's training routine continued steadily over the next couple of weeks. Wake up early. Meditate. After breakfast, he'd run for an hour, then settle again into meditation.
His sparring sessions with Dexter became easier each day. Ever since his second day in the forest, Ling had started to notice a gap between him and Dexter. Dexter is falling behind now.
Ling asked him if he had any friends who might want to join their sparring. Sure enough, the next day, Dexter returned with one baboon.
From then on, each day Dexter brought one baboon, then two, then three... and so on.
After every sparring session and a quick lunch, he'd move on to Armament Haki training. On week two, he managed to destroy two trees, including the first one he started with.
His Observation Haki was progressing too. He could now dodge two consecutive strikes while blindfolded.
He can tell his his focus and intsincts are improving slowly, but nonetheless he's happy on his progress.
Meditating is doing its wonders.
His stamina had noticeably improved alongside his strength. He could now use Shave continuously for half a minute, though his limit remained two kicks per instant.
Right now, Ling had just finished his bath and breakfast. He stretched lightly before setting off for his morning jog, the forest air crisp and cool around him.