Seeing how much Bellamy valued Jio-Ken, Lao G's excitement soared. In the Donquixote Family, no one had ever paid his martial art any mind. Doflamingo had once flipped through his notes before tossing them aside like garbage. Lao G had also tried to teach a young Trafalgar Law, only to be met with disdain. To be fair, with the kind of bizarre, nonsensical moves he had created himself, it would have been a miracle if anyone had taken a liking to it. If Bellamy hadn't seen the essence of Jio-Ken at a glance, he surely would have ignored this "elderly wellness routine" as well.
"You watch from the side. If you see me do anything wrong, point it out immediately."
They still had some time, so Bellamy decided to start practicing on the spot. He took off his shirt, revealing a body of muscle that looked as if it were cast from bronze and forged from iron.
"That physique... you can tell at a glance he's put in the hard work," Lao G couldn't help but remark from the side. In his youth, he too had once been as strong as Bellamy.
"Haaa..." Bellamy took a long, deep breath, slowly regulating his breathing. All the techniques of the Jio-Ken secret art, "Battle Preservation Fist," flowed through his mind.
First, stamina.
The human body obtains new energy by digesting food, and the most fundamental form of this energy is stamina. The fact that Jio-Ken could refine this abstract concept of stamina and develop it further left Bellamy deeply impressed. He had once considered developing this fundamental energy himself, but lacking the relevant knowledge, he had no idea where to even begin. Now, with Jio-Ken as a guide, he could finally begin to deeply cultivate his own stamina.
The combat system Bellamy had designed for himself was, in essence, about absorbing, storing, and releasing energy. It seemed simple, almost artless. In reality, the absorption part alone was extremely complex. Storing and releasing were even more involved, touching upon his Devil Fruit ability and combat techniques, things that couldn't be explained in just a few words.
Without guidance, trying to create a complete system from scratch was easier said than done. Even if Bellamy completely mastered the Six Powers, King's Punch, Fish-Man Karate, and now this Jio-Ken, he couldn't be one hundred percent certain he could bring the combat system he envisioned to full fruition.
From the moment any energy is born, it continuously depletes. The only difference is the speed and amount of this depletion. Bellamy couldn't reverse this law, but he could use various techniques to greatly reduce the loss. This was the most important significance of Jio-Ken to him: to absorb, store, and compress the energy that would otherwise be meaninglessly lost, and then release it when needed.
In the nameless, abandoned warehouse, Bellamy slowly performed the first form of Jio-Ken. In that instant, he could feel a previously imperceptible force within his body quietly tremble.
Bellamy knew this was his stamina.
This feeling... it's like practicing internal energy.
To make the intangible tangible—it was a truly marvelous sensation.
Bellamy reveled in this feeling as he slowly went through the entire set of forms. The intangible forces within his body—stamina, vitality, life force—were all observed by him one by one. Following this wondrous sensation, the magical ability to see inside his own body appeared once more.
Was this an epiphany? Perhaps it was.
For the second time, Bellamy's vision turned inward, into his own body. But this time, his view contained four mysterious energies: stamina, vitality, life force, and... what was the fourth?
It's elasticity!
Seizing this golden opportunity, Bellamy followed these energies, making a complete circuit within his own body. After this one tour, his understanding of his own body had been turned upside down.
"So the Life Essence Apertures naturally absorb energy. It's just that the amount is so small each time, it's impossible to notice."
If not for this internal vision, Bellamy would never have discovered this secret. What's more, he now knew the exact number and location of these apertures, and he committed them all to memory. The gains from this internal vision were simply immense.
"Seventy-seven of them!"
There were a full seventy-seven of these energy-storing Life Essence Apertures. They were distributed throughout his entire body, forming a complete circuit both inside and out.
At the very moment of this discovery, as if struck by a divine inspiration, Bellamy controlled the four energies, split them into seventy-seven streams, and channeled them one by one into these apertures.
When all the energy had entered the apertures, an incredibly miraculous scene unfolded.
Before Lao G's horrified eyes, the nearly three-meter-tall Bellamy suddenly began to rapidly shrink. A series of bone-cracking sounds echoed through the warehouse. A short while later, a small young man of about sixteen or seventeen appeared before Lao G.
"This is impossible!"
Bellamy had only practiced Jio-Ken once! How had he suddenly reverted to his youth? Could he be a legendary martial arts genius? Impossible! Even a martial arts genius couldn't be this absurd.
How long had Bellamy been in contact with Jio-Ken? Five minutes? Ten minutes? Wasn't this a little too much? Lao G suddenly had the strong urge to curse. But the moment he met the strange young man's gaze, he quickly shrank back.
Even a fool like Lao G could see it now: having learned Jio-Ken, Bellamy had clearly become even stronger.