Six days had passed since Ling first began helping Naguri with the unfinished ship.
During that time, his routine had settled into something simple. Every morning, he helped Naguri with the ship, and every afternoon, he returned to his camp to spar with Blackie and his six cousins.
It was now the seventh day, which meant Naguri's promised training finally began today.
Ling arrived at the cove shortly after sunrise and immediately noticed the missing axe. It normally rested beside the remaining sections of ironwood by the time he arrived, but this morning Naguri was sitting outside the cave instead, his hammer-headed staff lying beside him.
Ling looked from the empty chopping area to the old man.
"So we're training today?"
Naguri glanced up.
"That was the deal, noshi."
A small smile appeared on Ling's face. He had been waiting all week for this.
Naguri picked up his pipe and pointed toward an empty spot across from him.
"Sit."
Ling's smile faded slightly.
"...Sit?"
"You wanted me to teach you, didn't you?"
"Yeah."
"Then sit."
Ling lowered himself onto the ground.
'Wasn't expecting that.'
Naguri took a slow pull from his pipe before speaking.
"You asked me to teach you Haki."
Ling nodded.
"Haki is important, noshi. But it isn't where we're starting."
Ling's eyebrows rose slightly, though he stayed quiet.
Naguri let the smoke drift from his mouth.
"Before worrying about Haki, you need to train yourself."
Ling glanced down at his hands.
"I've been doing that every day."
"You've been making yourself stronger every day."
Naguri tapped his pipe lightly against his knee.
"There's a difference."
Ling looked back at him.
"Getting stronger has its place. But strength won't fix the way you move, and Haki won't fix it for you either."
Ling thought about that for a moment.
"So I've only been working on one part of it."
"More or less, noshi."
Naguri took another pull from his pipe.
"Keep doing what you're doing. Just don't confuse building your body with learning how to use it."
Ling nodded slowly.
Naguri chuckled and pushed himself to his feet.
"Besides, you've already been doing some of my training for six days."
Ling paused.
His eyes slowly moved toward the fallen ironwood.
Naguri followed his gaze.
"What did you think I had you cutting it for?"
"Your ship."
"That too."
Ling looked back at him.
'This old man definitely enjoyed not telling me.'
Naguri walked toward the remaining sections of ironwood and picked up the axe.
"Come."
Ling followed.
Naguri handed him the axe and nodded toward one of the thicker pieces.
"Show me how you've been doing it."
Ling adjusted his grip and swung.
Thunk!
The axe bit into the ironwood, but only barely. When Ling pulled it free, the cut wasn't even half an inch deep.
He struck again.
Thunk!
Another shallow mark appeared beside the first.
After several swings, Ling had only managed to leave a rough cluster of cuts across the surface.
Naguri raised a hand.
"Enough."
Ling stopped and lowered the axe.
Naguri took it from him, glanced at the marks, then stepped toward another section of ironwood.
"Watch."
He raised the axe.
One swing.
Crack!
The blade tore clean through the ironwood, splitting the section apart in a single strike.
Ling stared at the fallen piece.
'One swing...'
Naguri lowered the axe.
"You're stronger than you were six days ago."
Ling glanced at the shallow marks he had left behind, then at the cleanly split wood beside them.
Naguri rested the axe against his shoulder.
"But you're still wasting too much."
Ling looked at him.
Naguri didn't explain further.
Ling's eyes returned to the ironwood.
"...Technique."
A smile appeared beneath Naguri's beard.
"Good, noshi."
He set the axe aside.
"Those six mornings weren't wasted. But you're spending more strength and stamina than you need to."
Naguri picked up his hammer-headed staff and stepped into the open space beside the ship.
"That's where we're starting."
He raised one finger.
"Fluidity."
A second.
"Control."
Then a third.
"Precision."
Ling repeated the words quietly.
"Fluidity. Control. Precision."
Naguri nodded.
"They work together."
Ling waited.
Nothing else came.
He looked at Naguri.
"...And?"
Naguri's mouth curled upward.
"And what?"
Ling gestured toward the staff.
"I know what the words mean. That doesn't tell me what you want me to do."
"No-shi-shi-shi-shi-shi!"
Naguri stepped back.
"Then watch."
He moved the staff through several strikes.
One swing flowed naturally into another, his hands and body adjusting as the weapon changed direction. There was no pause between motions, but nothing looked hurried either.
Naguri stopped.
Ling replayed the movement in his head.
"You never reset."
Naguri's smile widened.
"Fluidity."
He turned toward another piece of ironwood and struck it lightly.
Tap.
Then he repeated almost the same motion.
Crack!
A chunk broke away.
Ling's eyes narrowed.
"The movement barely changed."
"The force did."
Naguri stepped several paces away and drove the end of his staff directly into the center of the damaged spot.
"Precision."
He withdrew the weapon.
Ling looked at the mark.
'Simple when he does it.'
He glanced at Naguri.
"So you're teaching all three today."
"Yes."
Ling studied Naguri's expression for a second.
"...There's a catch."
Naguri grinned.
"I'm teaching them today, noshi. Learning them will take longer."
'There it is.'
Naguri walked toward the open area beside the unfinished ship.
"But before any of that, I need to see what I'm working with."
Ling stood and followed.
Naguri stopped near the center of the clearing and set his staff aside.
"Come at me."
Ling raised his hands.
Naguri glanced at him.
"One more thing. No Devil Fruit."
Ling's expression changed.
"For the spar?"
"For my training."
Ling stared at him for a moment.
"Completely?"
"Unless I tell you otherwise."
Naguri folded his arms.
"If there's something wrong with the way you fight, I want to see it. Your fruit doesn't get to hide it for you."
Ling considered that before nodding.
"Alright."
"Good."
Naguri raised one hand.
"Come."
Ling moved first.
His opening punch went toward Naguri's chest, but the old man shifted aside. Ling immediately changed direction and attacked again, only for Naguri to avoid that one too.
'He's watching.'
Ling pressed harder, mixing feints with sudden changes in direction and abandoning attacks whenever Naguri moved out of place. There was no fixed rhythm to anything he did, but Naguri continued slipping around him with short steps and small turns.
Nothing landed.
'Annoying.'
Ling rushed toward his side and threw another punch.
Naguri turned.
Ling missed.
Before he could recover, a finger pressed against his forehead.
Flick.
"Ow!"
Ling stumbled backward and grabbed the sore spot.
Naguri laughed.
"No-shi-shi-shi-shi-shi!"
"You could've just said stop."
"I did, noshi."
"After."
Naguri's laughter faded as he looked Ling over.
"You fight like a wild beast."
Ling lowered his hand.
"...Is that good or bad?"
"Both."
Naguri picked up his pipe.
"Nobody taught you."
"Not really."
"I can tell."
He mimicked one of Ling's attacks, throwing a punch before stopping, pulling his arm back, shifting his feet, then attacking again.
"You don't follow a fixed style. If something doesn't work, you change it. If an attack feels wrong halfway through, you abandon it and try something else."
Ling watched him.
"That doesn't sound bad."
"It isn't."
Naguri repeated the motion, deliberately exaggerating the pauses between each movement.
"That's why you're difficult to predict."
Then he stopped.
"But everything you do is rough, noshi."
Ling's eyes narrowed.
Naguri punched again, pulled back, shifted, then attacked once more.
"Every movement dies before the next one starts."
Ling looked at the exaggerated motions before glancing toward the ironwood behind them.
"Fluidity."
"Exactly."
Naguri raised one hand.
"Come here."
Ling approached.
"Hit me."
Ling punched.
Naguri shifted aside, and Ling immediately started pulling his arm back.
"Stop."
Ling froze.
Naguri pointed toward his stance.
"Look."
Ling glanced down. His shoulder had turned forward, and most of his weight rested on one leg.
Naguri tapped his arm.
"You already moved this."
Then his shoulder.
"This."
His finger moved toward Ling's side.
"And this."
Naguri stepped back.
"Why throw all of it away just to start over?"
Ling looked at his position again.
Naguri returned to where he had been standing.
"Again."
Ling attacked.
Naguri moved aside.
This time, instead of immediately resetting, Ling let the missed punch carry his shoulder forward. His other side naturally came around, and he followed with a second fist.
Naguri caught it.
"Better."
Ling glanced at their hands.
'That felt smoother.'
They tried again.
Ling attempted to recreate the movement, but this time he pushed too hard and forced himself into the next attack before his balance had settled. His foot slipped half a step.
Naguri caught him by the shoulder.
"Too much."
Ling straightened.
"You told me to use the movement."
"I did."
"And I did."
Naguri shook his head.
"You chased the next attack."
Ling paused.
Naguri pointed toward the ground beneath his feet.
"Don't move just because you think you're supposed to keep moving, noshi."
Ling looked down at his stance.
"Fluidity isn't about never stopping. It's about not wasting what the last movement gave you."
Naguri tapped the ground once with his foot.
"Your position. Your balance. Your momentum."
Ling looked back at him.
'So don't force the connection.'
Naguri reached toward him.
Ling shifted aside. Another hand followed, forcing him to lean away and turn his shoulder. His first instinct was to straighten himself, but he stopped.
'Use what's already there.'
Ling attacked from where he stood.
Naguri blocked the punch, and the contact pushed Ling's arm outward, turning his body with it. Ling let the movement continue and brought his other fist forward.
Naguri caught that one too.
"Better, noshi."
Ling stepped away.
'Okay.'
They continued from there.
Naguri changed the angle and timing of each approach while Ling worked on breaking the habit of resetting after every dodge or failed attack. Whenever Ling moved too far, stiffened his body, or forced a transition that wasn't there, Naguri corrected him.
"Relax, noshi."
Ling shifted his shoulders.
"I am."
Naguri flicked his forehead.
"Ow!"
"You're not."
Ling covered the sore spot.
Naguri raised his own shoulders slightly and stiffened his arms.
"You do this whenever you're expecting something."
Then he relaxed again.
"Stay loose. You can't move properly while you're fighting your own body."
Ling lowered his hand.
Naguri raised his stance once more.
"And breathe."
Ling gave him a look.
Naguri simply waited.
Ling exhaled through his nose and raised his hands.
"Fine."
"Good. Come."
The rest of the morning passed through repetition.
Naguri sometimes used only his hands and sometimes brought out his staff, but the lesson remained the same. Ling kept slipping back into old habits, and Naguri kept correcting him until the movements gradually stopped feeling quite so unnatural.
Near noon, Naguri swept the staff toward Ling's shoulder.
Ling ducked beneath it.
Instead of straightening and resetting, he stayed with the motion. His weight was already forward, so he stepped around Naguri's side and punched.
Naguri blocked.
The impact knocked Ling's arm outward.
Ling let his shoulder turn with it and brought his other fist forward.
Naguri caught it.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Naguri looked down at the fist in his hand before releasing it.
"That one."
Ling lowered his hands.
'I felt it.'
Naguri pointed the staff toward him.
"Remember that feeling, noshi."
Ling nodded.
"Again?"
Naguri glanced toward the sun.
"No. It's time to eat."
Ling followed him toward the cave.
"I finally get it once and we're stopping?"
Naguri looked back at him.
"You managed it once and already think you understand Fluidity?"
Ling paused.
"...No."
"No-shi-shi-shi-shi-shi!"
Ling dropped onto one of the stools outside the cave while Naguri began preparing lunch.