Hello guys, Sorry for the delay, I was at work and had to sort out some research for the biology college . Drop some stones?
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Pain, in every part of my body, was all I could feel.
"Huff... Shit, this body has no stamina at all." Training has always been hard, but training in One Piece? The more masochistic your training, the faster you get strong.
About a month had passed since I started using the reefs around the island as a hunting ground. The food usually fights back, but who cares? More training for me anyway.
With this stable food source, training became something viable, and with training, the changes in this body began to accelerate even more until they reached some kind of linear phase.
While wiping the sweat from my face, which had built up during some squats, I started heading toward the ocean. My source of drinking water is finite, so I prefer to use it for drinking rather than wasting it on a survival premium bath and ruining my spring.
Reaching the beach, I managed to see my reflection in the water. Every change that good nutrition brought me — I had grown, not just in height, but I looked like a damn bodybuilder.
I have no way to measure my size, but using wild pineapples as a parameter, knowing that each one is what? 10 centimeters? And knowing that I measure about 25 pineapples, I must be around 2.50 meters tall.
Besides being extremely muscular now — not exactly shredded or anything, but with a lot of mass — which, let's be honest, is a way better shape than my old skin-and-bones self.
My hair also grew a lot. Chipped stones aren't exactly the best option for a haircut. Another thing that changed considerably was my horns.
The stub had grown a lot, but seemed to stop growing a few moons ago, reaching about half the size of the horn that was whole before. Besides their size, they seemed to be moving? Shifting from the front of my head to the sides, like Kaido's.
"Seems to be some kind of biological signal? Maybe this body is going through Oni puberty? Shit, ye makes sense, some kind of sexual display." Leaving that aside, I needed to find some kind of weight — simple exercises were starting to lose effect.
Back at my humble camp, now with a damn roof over my head — 'Having a bird shit on your head is not the best way to wake up' — I started thinking about how to make my training at least a hundred times harder.
"There are some really big rocks near the spring, they'd make good primitive weights. Swimming could also be good training, but the reef waters are way too calm." Looking at the sea horizon, sitting on my improvised bed, I seemed to see a red fin. "No fucking way. Nope, not swimming past the reef."
"Fighting... Shit, am I really considering this?" Not that I wouldn't find an opponent who could kick my ass in 10 seconds flat — the real problem would be the wounds.
"Every scratch is a roulette wheel... Get an infection out here, in this forsaken place, and it's certain death." But the bits of memory from my past life helped me significantly when it came to fighting. "I know how to throw a few punches, a bit of box, and I know how to kick well... huh? What was the name of that martial art again? Ah! Muay Thai."
'But there's a small problem... These martial arts were made by normal humans to fight other normal humans. In One Piece? I won't give in so easily...' After a few seconds of silence, I finally made up my mind.
"Shit, that's it. Fuck logic, I'll just use Muay Thai and Box. It's all I've got anyway."
Decided, I stood up, grabbed some cloth scraps, and wrapped them into a kind of improvised glove. "I want to train, not cripple my hands. Haha... Shit, I'm going crazy. Now, how do I set up a box stance again?"
[Time Skip]
[3rd POV]
"Rule number one: FUCK THE STANCE!!!"
Our protagonist Goraku found himself in a rather peculiar situation. After a few days of practicing on tree trunks and defenseless crabs being kicked to death by an Oni with a thirst for vengeance, Goraku decided to look for a challenge with an old acquaintance.
"Hey! Scaly ass! You're gonna kill us both like that!" Now, on top of the giant lizard, he held on desperately while the beast tried everything to get rid of the crazy Oni who had jumped from a tree and started throwing elbows at the poor creature.
[1st POV]
"Shit, okay then, I'll stop you myself, bastard."
The lizard kept rampaging through the forest, crushing bushes and knocking down thin trees. Every time it slammed against a trunk, I had to hold on like a maniac not to be thrown off. Each shake made it feel like my arms were about to rip out.
'If I don't end this quickly, I'm dead.'
Forcing my body forward, I managed to crawl along the rough hide to its neck. Its muscles vibrated, hard as steel.
"Shit... The hide's too thick... The eyes are my best shot."
I grabbed tightly onto its eye sockets. The lizard seemed to sense the danger — HISSSS! It started thrashing, slamming its body against tree trunks and crushing me in the process. The pain burned like fire, but I didn't let go.
"Alright... now comes the nasty part!"
With a scream, I jammed my fingers straight into the monster's eyeball.
The lizard went berserk. It rolled, smashed its head into the ground, and dragged me through dirt like a ragdoll. My shoulder popped, my body scraped against wood and stone, but the more it thrashed, the deeper I dug my fingers in.
"NOW YOU'RE GONNA DIE, YOU BASTARD!!!"
With my other hand, I gripped its sockets tight, planted my feet at the base of its skull, and gathered every ounce of strength I had left. I pulled back, trying to force its head open. Crack.
HISSSS! The lizard screamed one last time, a mix of rage and despair. Then came another sharp snap. CRACK. Its body went limp, collapsing sideways.
"Huff... more bruises, huh? At least... not too many deep cuts..."
I rolled off its carcass and hit the ground face-first. The taste of blood and dirt mixed in my mouth, but even exhausted, I managed a weak laugh.
"Weak... I'm still weak... but at least..."
I looked at the dead beast — my first true opponent in this world. "At least I'm getting somewhere... one step at a time."
"...Now how the hell do I drag this back to camp? Ah, fuck! I should've lured it closer, shit." Looking at my new task, I couldn't help but feel a bit (a lot) tired. "Well, at least it's meat. Protein, baby."
[Camp]
"Tastes good, kinda like chicken." Watching the sun set on the horizon with a lizard leg in my hand, I couldn't help but notice how much I had changed. A few months ago? I'd never have imagined any of this.
"I'm going to survive... And after that? After that, I'll thrive. Who knows what this crazy world has in store for me?" Raising the leg high and smiling, I toasted. "A toast to this victory, to this world... Ahh, just imagining what's out there gets me fired up."
"Well... Tomorrow's just a dream away. I need sleep to recover from all this crazy shit." As I lay down on my improvised bed, I couldn't help but think it had been a good day.
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