Boom!
With a loud noise, the ground within a few hundred meters around turned into mochi, violently surging.
Countless thick tentacles, wrapped in dense black Armament Haki, assaulted Shano like a storm.
This move is called "Rainy Mochi."
It is one of the ultimate killer moves that Katakuri can unleash in his Awakening state, and each tentacle contains terrifying penetration power.
Meanwhile, Shano's figure flashed back and forth between the mochi tentacles and the thunderstorm. Despite focusing all his attention, he still got hit from time to time.
Yes.
Seeing that Shano's physical strength far exceeded expectations, Katakuri directly changed the rules, significantly increasing the difficulty.
Shano was required to purely rely on his Observation to sense and anticipate, avoiding his onslaught and the continuous lightning strikes from the sky in an environment where his senses were impaired.
Any mistake would break his dodging rhythm, causing his body to endure dozens or hundreds of attacks in an instant.
Each training session lasted an hour, with a two-minute pause for Shano to reflect before immediately starting the next round.
Under such harsh demands, Shano felt like a newbie freshly out of a Newbie Village, stark naked, facing a mad-dog level boss as a disabled person.
Throughout the entire night.
He took at least a thousand hits and hundreds of thunder strikes. Restricted from using any Haki, even he had several bruises and blood marks on his body's surface.
However…
The improvement was equally rapid.
With time passing, the number of dodging failures decreased continuously.
In the first few rounds, he failed in triple digits every time, but it slowly reduced to dozens, then to ten-odd times...
By the time night passed and dawn broke, he failed only nine times in the latest round.
The positive feedback was timely and frequent. Shano practiced more energetically, and Katakuri gradually sensed something was amiss…
...
Time flew by.
In the blink of an eye, it's been seven days.
In the morning, Shano stood calmly on a black rock peak in the center of Thunder God Island amidst the thunderstorm, eyes closed.
"The last round."
Katakuri stood not far away, face pale with heavy dark circles, looking like he was nearly drained dry, his voice weak:
"Sir, are you ready?"
Shano did not answer, just nodded slightly.
Swoosh!
Katakuri instantly activated his ability, transforming the surrounding black rock ground into a sea of mochi, and countless tentacles entwined with Armament Haki arose from the ground.
Simultaneously, lightning clouds in the sky surged madly, as several bolts struck down simultaneously!
This onslaught was much more ferocious than seven days ago, almost an upgraded version, yet Shano's figure moved through the attack gaps like a ghost.
His movements looked slow, yet he avoided attacks from all directions with minimal exertion, appearing calm and composed as if strolling leisurely.
Finally, the time ended.
Katakuri staggered, almost falling back but barely supporting himself with his palm, half-kneeling and half-sitting, gasping heavily.
It was too torturous!
Over the past seven days, he barely rested apart from eating and drinking.
Not only did he have to maintain his Awakening state long-term, but also constantly adjust attack rhythms, ensuring each training round precisely challenged Shano's limits.
By now, he was utterly exhausted... even more worn out than having ten fights with enemies of equal strength.
Clearly, as the instructor, he should have been the relaxed one, yet why was it so painful!
And looking at Shano?
Still energetic, glowing with health. Throughout these seven days, he kept in this state, instantly recovering to peak condition even if showing slight fatigue after a hearty meal.
Now Katakuri finally understood the look in the crew members' eyes from earlier Endgame. He couldn't help but start wondering...
With this person's physique and recovery ability, if a dispute arises with mom in the future, how long would it take mom to bring him down?
Five days and five nights?
Probably not enough...
Before a victor could be decided, mom… likely starved to death?
"Compared to the first day, I've gone all out, doubling my attack speed, constantly changing rhythms and adding many disruptive moves."
Katakuri looked at Shano approaching, chuckled bitterly, and shook his head:
"In this situation, to have zero mistakes five times in a row, this kind of progress is truly terrifying... Sir, when it comes to Observation, I'm afraid I no longer have the qualifications to guide you."
"Saying something like that is a bit too humble, Katakuri!"
Shano laughed heartily, reached out to help him up, and sighed, "You worked hard."
He said this sincerely.
No matter whether Katakuri stayed purely to protect the interests of the Charlotte family, actively befriending him, or had ulterior motives, quietly probing the details of his ship.
But in these seven days of training, from planning to real combat, without a doubt, he truly gave his all.
The results were also outstanding, far exceeding some ordinary teachers, almost catching up to those three strikes from Teacher Kai.
Now, Shano's Observation strength has greatly increased, and although it can't compare to Katakuri himself, compared to most opponents of the same level, he's no longer at a disadvantage, finally making up for his previous shortcoming.
"No need to be so polite."
Katakuri stood up with difficulty, though his face was still pale, after hearing this, a gleam flashed in his eyes, and he smiled slightly:
"To be able to help Sir Shano is also my honor. If you remember this friendship in the future and come to our tea party on time, that's better than anything else."
These past days, spending day and night together, his evaluation of Shano has been steadily rising.
This young man, much younger than himself, not only possesses formidable strength but also clearly has untapped potential and seems to have room for further improvement.
Such a monster, entering the New World, this seemingly stable Four Emperors landscape is destined to be thrown into upheaval, it won't remain calm for long.
Of course, if he were alone, wandering the seas, with his temperament, there wouldn't be a need to be so deferential.
But the Charlotte family is large, with a bunch of younger siblings still in need of protection.
For the sake of his siblings, assisting Mom for many years, exhausting all efforts, only then finally established the lasting existence of Ten Thousand Nations.
Such a person, can only be befriended, must not be provoked...
...
That evening, the specialized Observation training officially came to an end.
Katakuri was also preparing to bid farewell and embark on his journey back to Ten Thousand Nations.
At this time, a banquet was indispensable.
To express his gratitude, Shano specifically asked Zeff to fully utilize his culinary skills, making a large table of delicious dishes, with dozens of desserts prepared, just the donuts alone came in over a dozen flavors.
Chocolate hazelnut, strawberry cream, caramel sea salt... an array covering more than half the table.
Was it really tailored to his taste?
Katakuri held back and held back.
In the end, he couldn't hold back any longer, he beamed with joy, grabbing a handful of donuts in each hand, stuffing them into his mouth with gusto.
In no time, he devoured all the donuts, turning himself into a plump round ball.
The crew who had been viewing this guy as a high-cold strongman, at that moment, the persona collapsed, leaving them dumbfounded.
As dusk deepened, watching this round ball holding his belly "Duang" jumped off the ship, waved with a smile, and then turned and left.
Yes, just like that, he left...
Without even using a ship.
The way he traveled was a bit like Aokiji, using his awakened ability to turn the sea underfoot into mochi, then swaying and wobbling, like jelly, propelling himself continuously into the distance—
"Devil Fruit, truly miraculous things."
Watching this scene, Shano once again sighed sincerely.
Even the most useless fruit, in the hands of a gifted person, can be used wondrously.
Of course, there are also cases where a powerful fruit is wasted by a loser...
"Master, master~!"
Just then, a voice called out from behind.
"Hm?" He responded absentmindedly.
"Come with me, I think I found that Rocks' treasure Katakuri was talking about!"
"Huh?"
Shano turned his head, astonished, "There's really treasure?"
The next second, he suddenly realized something was wrong: "Who's talking? Who called me master?"
The voice was unfamiliar, though it sounded like a youthful, cute girl, but didn't match with Nami, Nojiko, or any of their voices...
"Here, look over here~"
The girl's voice came again, and Shano followed the sound to an empty dining table.
He saw a white cat with pointy ears kneeling on one knee, right paw over her chest, giving a bow, then raising her head with a mischievous wink:
"It was me calling you, master~"