It was Ling's first day on Mt. Colubo.
For ordinary people, wandering this deep into the mountain alone was practically asking for trouble. Wild animals roamed freely through the forest, and many of them were far larger and more dangerous than anything that should reasonably exist.
Before Ling worried about training, however, he needed somewhere to stay.
He adjusted the bag over his shoulder and looked through the surrounding forest. Gyoru had given him some basic advice about spending time away from the village. Having a reliable source of fresh water nearby was important, but setting up directly beside it was usually a bad idea. Animals needed water too, and Ling had no interest in waking up to something large wandering through his sleeping area.
'Close enough to reach easily, but far enough that I'm not sitting beside every animal's drinking spot.'
Ling thought about the parts of Mt. Colubo he remembered from One Piece. Luffy, Ace, and Sabo had once hunted a giant alligator somewhere around a large body of water deeper in the mountain. He didn't know the exact route from Foosha Village, but the area should have plenty of freshwater and fish.
'That should be a good place to start.'
Ling headed deeper into the forest.
It took him nearly thirty minutes of steady running before the trees finally opened onto a secluded lake surrounded by thick vegetation. Ling slowed near the shore and crouched beside the water, looking over the area.
"Yeah... this should work."
He didn't plan to stay directly beside the lake, so he began searching the surrounding forest for somewhere close enough that reaching the water wouldn't become inconvenient. After several minutes, he found a small clearing roughly ten minutes away at an easy run.
Trees surrounded most of the open ground, while the soil beneath his feet was firm and relatively dry. Ling walked around the clearing, checking the nearby trunks and undergrowth for anything suggesting large animals regularly passed through.
He didn't notice anything obvious.
'Good enough.'
His gaze eventually settled on one of the taller trees near the edge of the clearing. Several thick branches stretched from its trunk high above the ground, with one wide enough for him to lie across comfortably.
"That'll work."
Sleeping above the ground wasn't exactly comfortable, but for now it would keep him away from most of the smaller animals wandering through the forest at night.
Ling climbed the tree and pulled himself onto the branch. After testing it beneath his weight, he leaned back against the trunk and looked over the clearing below.
Fresh water nearby, enough open space to train, and somewhere to sleep.
For a temporary base, that was enough.
After resting for a few minutes, Ling climbed back down. With his temporary base handled, the next thing he needed was a training partner.
He wasn't planning to pick a serious fight with whatever beast happened to cross his path. Instead, Ling carried the food Makino had packed for him deeper into the forest.
'Luffy once convinced a monkey to spar with him by offering food.'
Ling glanced down at the wrapped bundle in his hand.
'I'll try the same thing. Better than seriously fighting animals every time I want to train.'
He continued through the forest for several minutes, occasionally checking the undergrowth while keeping an eye on the branches overhead. The ground became rougher the farther he went, with thick roots twisting across the soil and bushes crowding the spaces between the trees.
A sudden rustle came from above.
Ling stopped and looked up.
A large monkey crouched on one of the branches, staring directly at the food in his hand. Its nose twitched twice before its gaze settled completely on the bundle.
Ling's eyes widened slightly.
It looked remarkably similar to the monkey he remembered Luffy training with.
'Seriously? That was fast.'
The monkey launched itself from the branch.
"Whoa—"
Ling vanished just before it crashed into him.
A second later, he returned to the same spot as the monkey landed several steps beyond him, skidded through the dirt, and twisted around in confusion.
Ling steadied himself. He hadn't consciously decided to use the Toki Toki no Mi. The moment the monkey attacked, his body had simply reacted.
'So it's already becoming instinctive.'
The monkey lowered itself again, but Ling quickly raised one hand.
"Wait!"
The animal paused.
Ling pointed toward the food.
"I'll give you some if you help me train."
The monkey stared at him.
Ling stared back.
After several seconds, a wide grin spread across the animal's face before it slapped both hands excitedly against the ground.
Ling blinked.
'It understands me.'
He placed the food safely beside a nearby tree and stepped farther into the clearing.
"Alright. Come on."
The monkey charged immediately. Ling met it head-on, and their fists collided with a dull impact that pushed both of them several steps backward.
The monkey recovered first and rushed in again, but Ling shifted his head aside and caught its wrist as the fist passed beside his face. He stepped closer and drove his other fist toward its stomach.
The monkey knocked the punch aside with its free arm, then suddenly jumped and twisted through the air. Its arm slipped from Ling's grip as the movement pulled him off balance.
"What—"
By the time Ling recovered, the monkey had already completed the flip and curled both legs toward its chest. Ling barely raised his arms before its feet slammed into his guard, sending him stumbling backward as a sharp sting spread through both forearms.
The monkey landed neatly, pointed at him, and erupted into a series of shrieks while slapping one hand against its knee.
Ling stared at it, his eyebrow twitching.
'Damn... I just got outsmarted by a monkey.'
The animal continued laughing.
Ling couldn't help grinning.
"Again."
The mockery stopped immediately. The monkey dropped onto all fours, its grin returning as Ling raised his hands, and a moment later they charged each other again.
For the next several rounds, the clearing became their makeshift training ground.
Ling quickly learned that the monkey was far more troublesome than its appearance suggested. It didn't simply rush forward and throw wild punches. It jumped between trees, changed direction without warning, took advantage of its longer reach whenever Ling tried to close the distance, and happily repeated the same tricks whenever they worked.
Ling adjusted as best he could. Sometimes he slipped past an attack and countered cleanly; other times he misjudged the monkey's movement and took a fist to the shoulder, chest, or arms. Whenever he pressed too aggressively, the animal twisted away, sprang toward a nearby tree, and returned from another angle before Ling could properly reposition himself.
He used the Toki Toki no Mi whenever instinct demanded it, but otherwise kept the ability in reserve.
By the time both of them finally slowed down, sweat covered Ling's face and his limbs felt considerably heavier than when they had started. The monkey wasn't doing much better, its breathing quicker as it dropped onto the ground and watched him expectantly.
Ling retrieved the food Makino had packed, and the two eventually settled on a thick tree branch overlooking the surrounding forest.
The monkey immediately reached for the bundle.
Ling slapped its hand away.
"Wait. At least let me open it first."
The monkey glared at him.
"You already beat me up enough. Have some patience."
It made a disgruntled noise but withdrew its hand.
Ling unwrapped the food and divided it between them before leaning back against the trunk. The monkey immediately began eating, apparently satisfied now that it had received its share.
Ling took a bite and looked through the canopy. Sunlight filtered between the leaves, illuminating scattered patches of forest below while a gentle breeze moved through the branches.
For a while, neither of them made much noise.
Ling's gaze eventually dropped toward the food in his hand.
Years ago, beneath the palm tree outside his family's home, he had sat beside Selene while the two of them ate coconut ice cream together.
The house, the bakery, the familiar streets of Cozia...
'Selene...'
She was alive. The last thing Ling knew was that she had been heading toward Loguetown after separating from the Red Hair Pirates.
He wanted to find her.
But the morning's fight came back to him, along with everything the monkey had exposed since.
Ling lowered his gaze.
'Not yet.'
A hand crept toward his portion.
Ling caught the monkey's wrist.
"...That's mine."
The monkey stared at him.
Ling stared back.
After a moment, its other hand slowly moved toward the food.
Ling's eyebrow twitched.
"Don't push your luck."
Once they had finished eating and rested for a while, Ling climbed down from the tree.
"One more round?"
The monkey immediately hooted before dropping from the branch beside him.
Ling grinned.
"Let's go."
They continued sparring on and off throughout the afternoon.
By then, Ling had begun recognizing some of the monkey's habits. It preferred attacking from above whenever possible, often redirected his strikes instead of meeting them directly, and became noticeably more aggressive whenever Ling managed to land several hits in succession.
Knowing its habits helped, but the monkey still moved through the trees far better than Ling could follow. More than once, he thought he had cornered it only for the animal to leap over him, catch a branch, and swing behind him before dropping back into the fight from another angle.
Gradually, Ling stopped chasing every opening it offered.
When the monkey retreated, he watched instead of immediately following. He paid closer attention to its shoulders, hips, and balance, trying to notice the movement that came before an attack rather than focusing only on the fist itself.
The next time the monkey launched itself from a low branch, Ling caught the shift earlier and moved aside before its feet reached him. He countered with a punch toward its ribs, but the monkey twisted away and clipped his shoulder with one hand as it passed.
Ling stumbled, recovered, and turned to find the monkey already grinning at him.
"So close."
They went at it again.
Sometimes Ling read the movement correctly, while other times the monkey still caught him before he could react. As the afternoon passed, however, he started noticing its attacks a little sooner.
By the time Ling finally called an end to the sparring, sunlight had begun fading between the trees. His clothes were covered in dirt, his arms ached from repeatedly blocking blows, and several fresh bruises had begun forming beneath his shirt.
The monkey hadn't escaped untouched either. Ling had managed to land several clean hits during their later exchanges once he became more accustomed to its movements, though he still lost more exchanges than he won.
For his first day, that was enough.
Ling gave the remaining food to the monkey and watched it climb into a nearby tree.
"Same time tomorrow?"
A distant hoot answered him before the animal disappeared through the branches.
Ling wasn't entirely sure whether that meant yes.
He decided to take it that way.
By the time Ling returned to his temporary base, evening light was filtering through the trees.
He climbed onto the thick branch he had chosen earlier and leaned back against the trunk, stretching out his sore legs. His body ached whenever he moved, though none of the bruises seemed particularly serious.
Ling raised one arm and examined the mark beginning to form near his forearm.
'That monkey is strong.'
Strength hadn't been the biggest problem, though.
Whenever Ling pressed forward, the monkey changed angles, used the trees to escape, or repositioned itself before he could follow. Even when he predicted an attack correctly, knowing where he needed to move didn't mean he could reach that position quickly enough.
It was the same weakness the bandit had exposed that morning.
'I'm too slow.'
Ling looked down at his hands.
'My Devil Fruit controls when I'm here.'
His eyes narrowed.
'But it doesn't control where.'
The thought from earlier returned.
'Rokushiki...'
Ling remembered the techniques used by Cipher Pol agents and certain Marines. Each pushed the human body beyond its normal limits, but right now only one mattered to him.
'Soru.'
That was the speed he was missing.
His Devil Fruit could remove him from an attack for a second, but once he returned, he still had to move using his own body. If he couldn't reach an opening before his opponent recovered, knowing exactly when to reappear only helped so much.
Soru could change that.
There was still a little daylight left.
Ling dropped from the branch and moved into the open clearing. He planted his feet and focused on the sudden burst of movement he remembered seeing countless times before.
Nothing happened.
Ling frowned and tried again.
Still nothing.
He adjusted his stance and repeated the attempt several more times, but the result never changed.
Eventually, Ling stopped.
"...Right."
He remembered exactly what Soru looked like, but that gave him no idea how to make his own body perform it.
'This might take a while.'
Ling climbed back onto the branch and settled against the trunk as the last light disappeared through the canopy.
Tomorrow, the monkey would probably knock him around again, and Soru clearly wasn't going to appear just because he knew it existed.
A small smile appeared on his face.
'One thing at a time.'