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"Haha, you're definitely not going to die."
The old man laughed softly.
The moment his laughter faded completely, Rayleigh raised the hand gripping his wooden staff.
In the next instant, the weapon shot forward, accompanied by a whistling rush of wind. Within the blink of an eye, the rapidly flying staff had already reached the blindfolded young man.
"Sure enough, this sneaky old guy is at it again."
Obviously, this scene wasn't new to Kyoma. Although the black cloth still covered his eyes completely, he'd been on guard since their conversation began. As for why he was so skilled at anticipating these sudden attacks, well, he'd rather not elaborate on that. It was all painful lessons learned throughout the entire day.
When the whistling sound grew closer and the sharpness of the staff's tip transmitted to the surface of his skin, Kyoma remained seated in place. His head tilted slightly to one side.
The sharp sensation suddenly vanished. At the same time, Kyoma's right hand shot out. Despite his covered eyes, he moved as if he could see perfectly, his fingers firmly grasping the wooden staff that passed by his head.
Feeling the solid wood beneath his grip, joy flickered across his face.
Kyoma tore off the black cloth.
What met his eyes was the blood-stained wooden staff in his hand, dark red and thickly layered. All of it was his own blood.
He turned his head toward the spot where he'd been sitting before. Similarly, it had blood all around.
Kyoma drew in a sharp breath. He'd known that failing to avoid Rayleigh's strikes all day would leave him in bad shape, but he hadn't expected it to be this severe and extensive. If someone unfamiliar with the situation saw all this blood on the ground, they'd probably think a pig had been slaughtered here.
He pointed at the old man, who regarded him with an amused smile.
"You old man, aren't you afraid of beating me to death?"
Hearing this, Rayleigh showed no guilt whatsoever. He produced a mirror from somewhere and tossed it to Kyoma.
"Kyoma, your body is much stronger than you think."
Kyoma caught the mirror and stared at his reflection.
He was covered in dirt, his clothes stained with blood, his body marked with countless wounds.
Judging by the injuries, they weren't only caused by the wooden staff's strikes but also from friction with the ground after being knocked away, plus scratches from passing through grass and flowers.
If an ordinary person had suffered so many wounds simultaneously, they would've become a bloody mess by now.
But Kyoma was completely different. After his wounds tore open and bled for just a short while, his skin immediately recovered at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The wound on Kyoma's face, which had just made intimate contact with the earth, had already healed in less than a few minutes.
After wiping off the blood, his skin was smooth as if nothing had happened.
Kyoma was shocked.
Rayleigh didn't seem particularly surprised. After all, he'd traveled the world with Roger and witnessed monsters with extraordinary talents like Kaido and Big Mom. Compared to them, Kyoma's performance was nothing particularly special.
The only thing that made him slightly curious was whether Kagura, who shared a similar hair color with Kyoma and maintained some close connection with him, also possessed this innate physical talent.
****
As dusk approached, Rayleigh prepared to leave.
Although he'd placed the Straw Hat Pirates' ship at a hidden place for safekeeping, he worried that any accidents might occur if he stayed away too long. He needed to return before dark.
Having said that, Kyoma didn't ask him to stay for dinner.
"Then I'll come again tomorrow at noon." After speaking, Rayleigh walked away while drinking from his wine jug.
Kyoma didn't get up to see him off because he was too exhausted.
Last night, he'd been so excited he couldn't sleep.
Then he'd gotten up early in the morning to wait for the summoning of a new character.
Just after the summoning, Rayleigh had arrived, and then he'd spent nearly an entire day training in Haki.
He was now hungry, tired, and sleepy.
"Character panel."
[Character: Kyoma]
[Age: 24]
[Race: Human (91%), Night Rabbit (5%), Elf (4%)]
[Ability: Conqueror's Haki - Awakening (17.06%), Pyro Vision - Mastery (14.39%), Observation Haki - Awakening (1.07%), Armament Haki - Awakening (0.35%)]
After a hard day of training, Kyoma smiled when he saw the two new abilities added to the ability column.
More importantly, after observing the changes in the data, he'd finally figured out the difference between [Awakening] and [Mastery] listed behind each ability.
[Awakening] was the preliminary stage before [Mastery]. If an ability remained in the [Awakening] state, it meant he was still learning and couldn't 'actively' use it. After reaching [Mastery], he could wield it with ease.
It was like when he'd summoned Klee.
He'd immediately mastered the Pyro Vision.
The young man leaning against the tree stretched out his right hand.
With a slight mental command, the air suddenly grew hot.
Red energy, attracted by something, began gathering continuously toward his palm.
It condensed into a fireball the size of a basketball.
Kyoma felt the temperature of the flame in his hand.
It was extremely hot, burning the air itself, more violent than natural fire, as if it would explode the moment he released it.
However, this violent flame seemed to be part of his body. Though it clearly burned in his palm, he only felt warmth.
What surprised him even more was that with his mental control, the flame in his hand could move freely, leave his palm, and dart around him at flickering speed within a few meters.
When it reached about fifteen meters from his position, the sense of control suddenly disappeared.
The flame abruptly stagnated, then its form suddenly expanded, like a balloon inflated past its limit.
It burst with a bang.
"Boom!"
With a thunderous explosion, the suspended flame detonated.
Wrapped in fire, it blasted the air apart. Black smoke billowed upward as a blackened pit several meters wide appeared in the ground.
"Fireball?"
Looking at the crater caused by the explosion more than ten meters away, Kyoma stood stunned. He inexplicably remembered the traditional skills of anime characters he watched and played in games from his previous life.
Thinking of this, Kyoma's mind became active.
"Since the fireball technique works, then..."
Kyoma suddenly took a deep breath.
He positioned his hands in front of his mouth like a trumpet, mobilized the Pyro Vision energy throughout his entire body with his mind, and released it all at once as he exhaled.
"Fire Style, Great Fireball Jutsu!"
A swift breath of flame gushed from his mouth, cone-shaped, five or six meters long.
The scorching flames baked the air and ground like a flamethrower.
The air boiled. The grass burned and gradually turned black.
"Cough... cough..."
But after maintaining it for five or six seconds, the cone of flames suddenly stopped.
Kyoma's face turned pale as he coughed breathlessly.
"It actually worked, and the effect is almost the same as the original technique." (T/N: This is true, this jutsu has two forms, the ball of flames form, and flamethrower form.)
Although his face looked terrible, Kyoma's dusty and tired features revealed genuine surprise.
He was as happy as a child who'd gotten candy.