In just a short moment, he had awakened two new abilities ,and even in his cub form, their power was already astonishing.
And this… was only his basic bloodline talent.
Humans really couldn't compare to wolves, how unfair!
Looking at the tiny creature in front of him, Shanu couldn't help but feel a little envious.
He couldn't just comprehend skills out of thin air; he had to rely on hard training to grow stronger.
"Use this move. But if you keep firing at full strength, you'll probably burn out after a few shots, right? So just keep the power to a minimum, save your energy, maintain your speed. Got it?"
"Awoo!"
Gin nodded hard, then tried again, spitting out a faint blue stream of electricity as thin as a finger.
This time, it didn't even pierce through the tree trunk nearby, but its speed was still much faster than a flintlock bullet.
"That's it, smart!"
Shanu smiled and gave a thumbs-up.
"Alright then, let's officially begin training!"
A sparring partner this talented and obedient, where else could he find one?
And the daily payment? Just ten boxes of strawberry milk.
The cold wind carried shards of snow across the mountain peaks, yet in the blink of an eye, a warm spring breeze brushed by once again.
In what felt like no time at all, six months had passed.
With Gin's help, Shanu had mastered Kami-e to perfection.
At the same time, his Armament Haki had also shown significant progress.
At first, he could only faintly sense that power when recalling his fight with Garp.
But now, he could already partially envelop and harden small areas of his body.
Atop the mountain
Boom!
The thick steel plate before him suddenly caved in, leaving a massive crater. Shanu slowly drew back his fist, still wrapped in swirling black Haki.
"The destructive power of Armament Haki really is terrifying."
He grinned. Without that Haki reinforcement, the same steel plate would've only dented a few dozen centimeters at best.
Two or three months ago, he had already noticed that the mountain near Cocoyashi Village couldn't take his training anymore.
So, he had Scarface and the others buy steel plates from nearby towns. Once they were completely wrecked, they'd melt and reforge them into heavier, thicker ones.
Rinse and repeat.
Glancing at his system panel, Shanu saw that his Armament Haki had officially been rated as Beginner level.
Considering he only practiced it in the afternoons every day, this progress was already excellent.
But to reach Intermediate, to truly master Haki, Shanu estimated it would still take a long period of grueling effort.
He wasn't in a rush, though. He was satisfied with his progress.
After all,
Even that laughing fool, Nika, had needed two full years of personal tutoring under Rayleigh to master Haki.
And as for that "200x effort" prodigy…
Well, that kind of top-tier genius was one in a thousand years, far too rare.
In the following months, several tempting items appeared again in the System Trade Market.
First among them
[Enhanced Brain Sealing Technique]
Type: Training Manual
Price: 4000 Points
Description: Through meditative practice, greatly enhances mental strength. Once mastered, it automatically constructs an invisible barrier around the user's consciousness, blocking all forms of mind control, telepathic intrusion, or bodily manipulation.
Seller's Note: "I stole this from the principal's office. I don't know this world well, but a teacher named Kuro invited me to his room tonight to 'talk.' Should I go?"
Since obtaining the system, this was the most expensive non-scenery item Shanu had ever seen.
But without a doubt, worth every point. No, more than worth it.
For a transmigrator full of secrets, this was one of the most desirable skills imaginable.
Especially in the One Piece world, where Devil Fruits that could manipulate minds and bodies were everywhere.
Even ignoring the Puppet-Puppet Fruit he'd seen firsthand, just counting off the top of his head,
Big Mom's Soul-Soul Fruit
Viola's Glimpse-Glimpse Fruit
Pudding's Memory-Memory Fruit
Sugar's Hobby-Hobby Fruit
and Doflamingo's String-String Fruit
So many abilities,each more bizarre than the last.
Even top-tier Haki masters could be caught off guard.
So he bought it on the spot, no hesitation. After reading through it, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the training requirements weren't even that high.
All it took was one to two hours of meditation every morning, in peak mental condition, sustained for a few months.
In addition, after Copper Head and Iron Bones, Shanu spent 1200 points on the third part of the Flesh Furnace Technique, called Thick Skin.
As the name suggested, mastering it would greatly strengthen the outer layer of his skin,
forming an invisible membrane that reduced blunt-force damage significantly.
Extremely useful in combat, especially in a world where most strong fighters relied on fists, kicks, or blunt weapons.
Shanu thought, once he mastered this and combined it with his ever-growing physique…
Tsk.
Maybe he could even take one of Kaido's Thunder Bagua attacks head-on.
And so, Shanu drafted a new training plan.
He ranked the Enhanced Brain Sealing Technique as top priority, meditating on the mountaintop every morning.
Next came Thick Skin and the long-awaited Life Return(Seimei Kikan).
He didn't neglect his Haki training either, while Rankyaku remained at the bottom of the list.
In his plan, once he mastered Life Return and had no new skills to study, he'd pick up Rankyaku in his spare time.
Time quietly flowed on.
Day after day, Shanu trained relentlessly. Except for his yearly trips in late autumn, he hardly ever left Cocoyashi Village.
As the day he would officially set sail approached, he began spending more time with his family.
Sometimes, just like the old days, he helped Bellemere pick oranges, clumsily assisting in the kitchen; Other times, he'd sit laughing with Nami, studying maps or playing geography quiz games; And sometimes, he'd stand by the coast, wearing a serious expression, personally coaching Nojiko in her training…
And thus, time slipped away, quietly, little by little.
Before he knew it, more than two years had passed in a flash.
From the autumn of Year 1513 to the late spring of Year 1516.
Out in the vast ocean, major events were unfolding one after another, some reported in the news, others hidden from sight.
And yet, none of it seemed to have anything to do with the little backwater village of Cocoyashi in the East Blue.
As summer approached, the black-haired youth named Shanu welcomed his eighteenth birthday, and with it, his official coming of age in this world.