Spaghetti with meat sauce, crispy bacon, fried eggs, grilled fish Ethan Chen devoured plate after plate like a man possessed. The empty dishes piled up beside him at an astonishing rate, leaving the other people in the mess hall completely dumbfounded.
He really was starving.
To survive last night's intense ordeal with both 2B and Hina two powerhouses with stamina that could humble any man Ethan had spent his newly earned mastery point on enhancing his recovery ability. The effect was immediate: his skill cooldowns were halved, his physical stamina regenerated rapidly, and his energy reserves soared. He could even carry Hina around like a packed lunch, strolling through the room, leaving their marks on the sofa, table, and windows.
At the time, he hadn't thought much of it. Even after waking up, he had enough strength left to press Hina against the wall for another bout. It felt like he couldn't get tired.
That illusion broke the moment they stepped out of the captain's quarters and entered the mess hall. At the first bite of a delicious breakfast, his hunger hit him like a freight train, and he could no longer restrain himself from devouring everything in sight.
But no matter how much he ate, the food seemed to vanish as soon as it entered his stomach, rapidly converting into energy to refuel his depleted body.
Hina sat beside him, chin resting on one hand, watching silently as he stuffed his face.
Only when Ethan finally let out a satisfied belch did she wave off the naval chefs from bringing more.
After draining the last glass of milk, he leaned back and exhaled in relief.
"Finally full."
"You have talent," Hina commented. "Converting food into stored energy this is the basis of 'Life Return.' It's also how many strong fighters maintain their stamina through prolonged battles."
She finally understood how Ethan had lasted so long last night. Apparently, he had been using this method all along. Not exactly the most dignified application of such a skill, but undeniably effective.
"Life Return?" 2B asked, intrigued. She could absorb energy through food too, though as an android, her body was fundamentally different from humans or humanoid lifeforms.
"It's a technique that allows you to control every part of your body organs, muscles, energy flow at will," Hina explained. "It helps accelerate digestion, redirect energy to key parts of the body, and perform feats that defy normal physical limits."
"If you master it, you can even animate your hair to move like limbs."
She raised a hand and demonstrated, her long pink hair twitching to grasp a cup of milk on the table. It slipped just before reaching her, and she caught it mid-air, finishing it in one gulp.
"I'm not great at controlling hair, but you get the idea. You can also harden fingers like bullets, kick with blade-like force this is what we call the 'Six Powers' in the Navy."
Ethan shut his gaping mouth. "Can you teach me that?"
"I can. If you join the Navy."
"Yeah, no thanks. I'll figure it out myself."
"Suit yourself," Hina shrugged. "But teaching yourself might cost you years of detours."
Ethan smiled. He had a system. All he needed to do was invest more points into mastery and recovery, and mastering the Six Powers or surpassing them was just a matter of time.
More importantly, he had to avoid ever running out of stamina again at a critical moment.
He hadn't expected that "Life Return" would be the foundation of this world's physical combat.
Thinking back, it all made sense. In the Enies Lobby arc, there had been that CP9 agent with long hair who used Life Return to control his hair like weapons and launch devastating attacks.
In a world like this, where gluttons could gorge themselves round like balloons and revert back to perfect abs a second later or even regrow missing teeth it was obvious that such feats were tied to energy manipulation.
It was a baseline ability for the strong.
"Come on, now that you're full, don't just sit there like a lump," Hina said. "You're coming with me for training."
"My pleasure."
Ethan misunderstood. He thought she meant more… intimate "training" back in the room.
But what Hina meant was real, physical training.
At the dock, rows of sailors were already sweating under the sun, practicing drills.
"So," Hina asked, "feel like sparring with my men?"
"Gladly." Ethan cracked his neck and stretched his limbs. "I could use the workout."
He also wanted to gauge his current strength to see where he really stood.
Hina nodded and called out:
"Form up!"
The moment her voice rang out, the dockside activity stopped. The sailors marched into formation with thunderous footsteps, standing tall and silent before their commanding officer.
She paced in front of them, her voice loud and clear. "Training is not just about swinging fists every day. Real strength is forged in combat through applying what you've learned to defeat your enemies and uphold justice!"
"Today, to help you experience something different from sparring with your usual comrades, I've invited the hero who saved the village from pirates. Applaud!"
Thunderous applause echoed across the dock.
But as the clapping faded, a tall sailor stepped forward and frowned. "Captain Hina, you're not seriously asking us to spar with that pretty boy, are you?"
The sailors had heard plenty from the villagers about the white-haired swordswoman who single-handedly annihilated a pirate crew, and the man who had only shown up at the end with a harpoon to land the finishing blow.
The difference in contribution was obvious. If anyone here was sparring material, it had to be the pretty boy.
The moment he said that, laughter broke out among the sailors. To them, Ethan with his pale, unscarred skin and delicate features hardly looked like a warrior. He looked more like someone who lived under a woman's protection.
2B's eyes narrowed, irritation prickling at her. She had the urge to smash those grinning faces into the ground.
Hina wasn't pleased either.
"Silence!"
Her voice silenced the crowd instantly.
None of them dared challenge Hina's authority.
"Pick whoever you like," Hina said to Ethan. "Let me see what you're made of. If you don't meet the standard, my promise from last night won't stand."
She was referring to the matter of officially setting sail. The East Blue was the weakest of the four seas, but that didn't mean you could survive without strength. Not even with 2B's protection.
She couldn't always be there to shield him. A man without strength would only end up dead or worse.
Better to keep him leashed like a pet.
"Be careful," 2B said softly. "Wear your protective gear so you don't get hurt."
Ethan nodded and walked to the supply crates to retrieve some basic armor.
Naturally, this action provoked a fresh wave of laughter from the sailors.
In their eyes, only cowards wore protective gear during sparring. Real men took hits and gave them back bare-fisted.
But once again, Hina's sharp glare snapped them back into silence.
They dared not test her patience.