"How many days has it been?"
"Eight days."
"It's still early. Back then, it took me six months to get the feel for it."
Sabito stood on a birch tree branch, accompanied by Makomo, silently watching below...
Roy hugged the large tree, doing slightly better than before, managing to stay awake for two hours.
"Six months is already quite fast." Makomo absentmindedly squatted on the branch, drawing circles: "The master always praised my intelligence, saying I was the quickest to grasp 'Breathing' after you. But in the end, it still took me nearly a year."
Sabito chuckled, "Your spirituality doesn't lie here."
"And also..." Sabito gazed into the boundless mist, speaking with a hint of nostalgia: "The fastest was Giyu."
"He was truly gifted, learning 'Breathing' in three months, and in three years of training, he could cut through boulders. It's just a pity he was a bit timid back then."
"What about him?" Makomo glanced at Roy below with her bright eyes: "I think he's more impressive than any of us."
"Maybe he can break Brother Giyu's record."
Sabito stroked his chin, pondering...Could he?
Eiichiro Oda, that fellow, really is unfathomable....
"Hiss... Huff..."
After two and a half hours, Roy finally couldn't hold on and fell asleep against the tree trunk.
The familiar feeling of falling came over him—
The young man flipped over and climbed out of bed, once again returning to Kukuroo Mountain.
He swiftly got dressed, ran, ate, did electric therapy, and again grabbed the willow tree in the garden.
Illumi woke up in the pit as usual, later than Roy for several consecutive days, seemingly numb... paying no attention to Roy, waiting only for the numbness inside to fade before heading down the mountain.
The score had to be settled after breaking the eighty straight wins streak.
Illumi wanted to physically tear out the opponent's heart, celebrating his opening of the Acupoints.
Of course, compared to the annoying fellow beside him, that Emission Nen user was merely a side dish, but if he could... take Roy's heart... Illumi felt he would surely tremble with excitement.
"Tone down your Evil Thought...you're disgusting me..."
Roy hugged the tree with eyes closed, as if asleep....
Illumi hung his head low, shoulders shaking, suppressing a low moan. His arm stretched out, his long black hair wildly dancing, startling a group of sparrows resting in the willow tree,
"Heh heh, is that so... you'd better pray you don't have a day of weakness... then I'll chop off your head and make it a pillow, hugging it to sleep every day."
Illumi glared at him with those blank, lifeless eyes, left in a huff...
Roy kindly advised him, "Move slightly to the left, don't step on Milluki's crap."
Unfortunately, it was too late... Illumi awkwardly lifted his right foot, face hard to describe....
Who can be blamed for that?
He personally ended Milluki's joyful childhood by designing him a hellish training regime.
Thus, he couldn't blame Milluki for retaliating by pooping near his pit.....
"Caw—"
Several crows with clouds that blocked out the sky dropped a few tail feathers,
Roy could nearly hear Illumi's inner turmoil, anticipating Milluki would suffer horribly in the following days, so after finishing his morning tree-hugging training, he headed to the kitchen.
Still unable to find that feeling of 'merging with the trees,' Roy planned to whip up a couple of dishes to change his mindset, so he told Wutong in advance to prepare the ingredients and picked up the spatula.
"Steamed fish" and "Stir-fried beef" were the lunch dishes he prepared for himself today.
Compared to chasing the chef away previously, this time Roy allowed them to watch, even explaining some key points when in a good mood....
After about half an hour, the two home-cooked dishes were soon placed on the table.
Wutong stood by to serve him while he ate,
But instead of immediately starting, Roy asked him to set another bowl and chopsticks on the opposite side, and before long...
With a familiar 'old wind' blowing by...
Roy respectfully called Grandpa before digging in, clearly having learned from the last hunger lesson.
Grandpa's eyes widened, not caring about anything, he dug in like a storm, swift as lightning, ultimately eating more beef slices and half a fish head than Roy...
After eating, the old man was satisfied and surprisingly didn't leave, instead asking Wutong to make him a cup of coffee to aid digestion.....
While leisurely picking his teeth with a toothpick, he said, "How's it going, grandson?"
"Is hugging a tree fun?"
"Grandpa, it's not 'hugging' but 'embracing.'" Roy's head was filled with black lines.
"What's the difference?" Maha glared at him sideways, "The old man hugging your granny's time can't match the time you've spent embracing trees."
"So, plan on marrying a tree in the future?"
Roy: "....."
Remained silent.
Maha took Wutong's offered coffee, took a sip, and still ignoring him, casually said, "People are people, trees are trees, mistaking people for trees displeases people, mistaking trees for people displeases trees too..."
"How can a person become a tree?"
Roy listened attentively.
After finishing the coffee, Maha walked to the window, looking through the sunlight at the willow tree in the garden with a hint of reminiscence: "Therefore, there's no need for people to treat trees as people, nor for trees to understand how to be people... If forced, that's 'pushing'..."
"People will be confused, and trees will be dissatisfied..."
"So what should I do?"
"Isn't there already an answer in your heart?"
The old man turned back and squinted at him with a smile: "It's all about going with the flow..."
Going with the flow...
Roy pondered this sentence, did Grandpa mean for him not to deny his 'human' position by forcing himself to think about the 'tree's' life?
But like this, if a person can't become a tree, how can he integrate with trees and blend with nature?
Roy contemplated briefly, raised his head full of confusion, and another glance revealed Grandpa's figure nowhere by the window, only the corner of the curtain lifted by the wind proving he had been there, as well as... the empty dishes on the dining table....
"Young master, have a cup of coffee first." Wutong considerately offered him coffee.
Roy drank it, full of thoughts, left the kitchen, returned to the garden, leaned against the willow tree to sit down.
The rough bark of the willow felt a bit uncomfortable, while the thousand drooped silken strands danced in the wind, tickling his neck... The young man wore earrings of the sun and mountain, this time he didn't think too much.
Never mind the 'tree,' 'human,' 'Zetsu,' 'Breathing'...?
Simply relaxed, he cuddled against the willow tree and napped....
"Cicada chirp... chirp..."
The cicada sang accompanied by the breeze...
In a daze, Roy's eyelids drooped, in his haze, a picture emerged....
Within the picture, a man holding the hand of a pregnant woman was digging a pit in the garden, planting a small tree, happily telling his wife: "This symbolizes new life."
A few years later, the small tree grew, the man brought a child over, teaching him how to water the tree...
Years passed again, the child grew but insisted on going to the Dark Continent, resulting in the man dragging him to the tree for a good scolding...