The next day...
The sun had just begun to rise.
"It's my third day here."
Ling sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Time to start my training. I also need to explore this power... the Toki Toki no Mi."
Then he grimaced.
"But damn... Devil Fruits really do taste awful. They weren't exaggerating in the anime or manga or t might've been worse than what they showed." He downed a cup of water.
After two days of bed rest and sweating, he winced as he caught a whiff of himself.
He lifted his arm, sniffed, and immediately recoiled.
"Hell nah."
Ten minutes later, freshly showered and dressed, Ling sat down for a quick breakfast, smoked fish from Gaimon, before stepping outside.
The morning sun greeted him warmly, its rays brushing against his skin. He raised a hand and used the finger method to estimate the time.
"Still around 6:30 a.m."
Villagers were already out and about. Fishermen hauled their nets toward the docks, and vendors began setting up their stalls for the day.
"East is the docking area, so Mt. Colubo should be to the west, right behind Foosha Village."
He paused, considering.
"Should I train in the forest?"
A beat of silence.
"Nah. Going straight to the forest is dumb. I'll train here first. Get the basics down. I can start fitness training and practice using the Toki Toki no Mi during breaks."
Decision made, he stepped away from the house and began stretching.
For ten minutes, he loosened up tight joints and warmed up his muscles. Then he started running around the village, keeping a steady pace.
The villagers glanced curiously at him as he passed, but most smiled or waved.
Ten minutes in, and he had already run 3 kilometers.
"Damn, this is exhausting… but wait I ran 3k? No walking? No jogging? Just running?"
"In my past life, even running 1k straight would've been a miracle. Is this body just that different? Or maybe because this world's gravity is stronger. Makes sense, considering how absurdly big the world is."
He took a short break.
"Alright. Five-minute break every 3k. I'll do this for an hour before moving on to the second part of my daily routine."
By the end of the hour, he'd run four laps around the village, 12 kilometers total.
Sweat poured down his back, but his breathing was steady.
"Not bad."
He dropped onto a bench near the shore and let himself recover. The sea breeze helped.
"Time to explore the Time-Time Fruit."
From here on out, his routine for the next week is this, one hour of physical training, followed by a thirty-minute break to experiment with his Devil Fruit.
Rinse and repeat.
"Let's begin."
He will be experimenting with his Devil Fruit powers every 30 minutes of break after marathons.
"I didn't dare use it last night after eating it. What if I accidentally sent myself decades into the future? That would be disastrous."
He sat cross-legged on a grassy patch, breathing steadily.
"According to what I know, Toki, the previous user could launch herself or others into the future forward in time. But that was the limit was twenty years."
"I don't want that. I don't want to skip ahead and miss everything."
I don't want to miss Luffy's adventure, maybe at one point I can aboard his ship.
"What makes this fruit good isn't just time travel, it's the instant effect. Perfect for a losing battle. I can just yeet myself 10 days forward"
But the problem was clear.
"I barely know anything about how this fruit truly works. Even in the canon timeline, only Toki had it, and she died before we saw its full potential."
"The biggest flaw? Once I travel forward, there's no way back. Unless... Toki never unlocked its full capabilities."
"But if I can... if I manage to uncover its true potential, I might just become one of the strongest in the world."
He imagined it. Traveling a mere 0.65 seconds into the future mid-fight, dodging an attack, vanishing from sight, and striking before the enemy could even register what happened.
"That alone could bypass Observation Haki, the advanced observation haki might be a slight problem. If they can't perceive me moving through time, their predictions become worthless."
He pictured dodging a barrage of meteors from someone like Fujitora.
"A quick jump a few seconds ahead... and it's like the attack never happened."
"If I ever learn Future Sight on top of this, I could be nearly unstoppable."
He exhaled, deep and slow.
"Haaah... Everything's just 'what ifs' for now."
With that, Ling stood, brushing grass from his pants. It was time for the second round of training.
He began with ten minutes of dynamic stretching.
First, he did high box jumps, 10 sets of 15 reps. After a five-minute rest, he followed it up with push-ups: incline, decline, and standard, 10 sets of 15 reps each. Another five-minute break passed.
Then came pull-ups on a tree branch. Same sets and reps. Then a rest.
Next were handstand push-ups again, 10 sets of 15. He took another five-minute break.
Afterward, he moved to close-grip pull-ups, same count. Break.
Finally, triceps dips 10 sets of 15 reps.
The whole session lasted about two hours.
Why no weights?
"The first week is about building foundation, stamina, balance, and mobility. Gotta loosen up the joints before loading them."
By the time he finished, the sun had climbed high. It was noon.
"Time to eat and dive deeper into the Toki Toki no Mi."
He made his way back to the mayor's house.
As he approached the porch, he saw Makino walking toward him, carrying a tray.
"Ling, I brought you lunch," she said with a gentle smile.
Ling hesitated. Her kindness struck a nerve.
"Makino... you've already done so much for me. You and the mayor. I've been thinking... I might leave Foosha Village and stay on Mt. Colubo."
Her smile vanished.
"What are you saying, Ling? You think we're helping you because we expect something from you?" she snapped, her voice rising.
Ling's eyes dropped to the ground. Shame curled in his stomach.
"I'm sorry," he muttered. "It's just... I can't repay you. And living in the mayor's house without even contributing, it doesn't sit right with me."
At that moment, the mayor returned from his midday errands and overheard the conversation.
"Ling," he said firmly, "I don't care how long you stay. You're just a child. Living alone in Mt. Colubo isn't safe."
Makino nodded beside him, arms crossed, her silence loud with agreement.
The mayor continued, "And you're ten years old. What space do you even take up in my house? You're still small. Now eat your lunch—and do whatever you want after that."
He accepted the tray and sat down to eat.
After apologizing to Makino, the three of them sat down and ate lunch together. The mood had lightened, and Ling could feel their sincerity. When the meal ended, both Makino and the mayor returned to their work, leaving Ling alone again.
Before she left, Makino made sure to pile extra food on his plate, insisting, "You need to eat more. You're still growing."
Ling nodded, chuckling softly. "Thanks, Makino."
Once the house was quiet again, a thought struck him.
"I've got an idea for training my Devil Fruit ability. I'll experiment using something simple… like rocks."
He stood up and stepped outside, scanning the ground until he gathered ten small stones. Each fit snugly in his palm.
To keep track of them, Ling used a piece of charcoal to mark every rock with a unique symbol, crosses, circles, dots, lines, anything to distinguish one from another.
"Let's see if I can send these forward in time—just seconds at first. If they disappear and reappear, even for a moment, it'll prove I have at least some control."
The experiment was ready. Now, it was time to test the true nature of the Toki Toki no Mi.
Ling sat cross-legged outside the mayor's house, the ten marked rocks lined up neatly in front of him.
"Let's start small… 0.65 seconds into the future. Just a blink."
He held the rock tightly and focused. His breath slowed as he willed the power within him to activate. A strange sensation rippled through his body—like his veins were pulling away from the present. He directed that force into the rock.
It shimmered faintly… and then vanished.
Ling's heart skipped. "Did it work?"
He waited.
Five seconds passed.
Ten.
A full minute.
Nothing.
The rock didn't return.
He frowned, crossing out the first entry in his chart.
"Okay. Maybe too small a window? Or I misjudged the return function… if it even has one."
He grabbed the second rock.
"Two seconds this time."
He focused again. Same sensation. The rock flickered, shimmered—and vanished.
Hope surged.
Two seconds passed.
Nothing.
Five seconds.
Still nothing.
Ling cursed softly and marked another failure. His third, fourth, fifth, and sixth attempts followed—with time jumps ranging from five to eight seconds. All failures.
By the seventh rock, frustration had set in.
He inhaled deeply. "One last focused try. Ten seconds this time."
He placed the rock on his palm, summoned the ability again, and poured it into the stone.
It blinked out of existence.
Ling stared, silently counting down.
One… two… five… eight…
Ten.
Pop.
The rock reappeared, landing softly on the grass.
His eyes widened.
"No way…"
He lunged for the paper and scribbled furiously, underlining the success three times.
"Ten seconds forward. Came back perfectly. That means… I can do it."
Eager now, he grabbed the eighth rock and repeated the exact process. Same technique, same time interval—ten seconds.
The rock vanished.
Ten seconds passed.
Nothing.
His chest sank.
He waited longer. Still nothing.
He scowled, crossed it out, and tried again with the ninth. Then the tenth.
Nothing.
He sat there, staring at the chart, sweat beading on his forehead.
"So it wasn't a fluke… but it's inconsistent. Or maybe I hit a limit?"
Ling leaned back, letting the warm wind brush against his face.
"Still… it's a start."
Ling picked up another rock and tried again. Then another. And another.
For hours, he repeated the process focus, activate, send forward in time only for the rocks to vanish and never return.
Still, no success.
But Ling didn't falter. He wasn't discouraged. Patience was part of the grind.
"Training takes time. Nothing worth mastering ever comes easy," he reminded himself, wiping the sweat from his brow.
The sun dipped low, casting golden hues across the village. By the time he glanced at the sky again, it was already past six.
He stood, stretching out the stiffness in his limbs.
"Time for my evening run."
Without wasting a second, he took off down the path, feet pounding rhythmically against the ground. A full hour. Twelve kilometers. No shortcuts. No walking.
By the time he returned, the stars had begun to shimmer faintly in the deepening twilight.
Makino and the mayor were waiting for him on the porch, dinner laid out on a small wooden table.
"You're just in time," Makino said with a smile, handing him a bowl.
After dinner, Ling thanked them both, took a quick shower, and crawled into bed.
His muscles ached, but in a good way. His mind buzzed with ideas and questions.