My Journey In One Piece!

Sea Kings were surprisingly easy to cut into, especially when they weren't focused on you and were more concerned with trying and failing to get back into the water.

'Huh, just realized I've never eaten any fish since arriving here.' I thought to myself, scratching my chin with a hand covered in slime as I continued cutting the now dead Sea King. I had decided that instead of hauling the whole thing back to my home in the jungle, I'd cut it up on the beach into pan sized pieces, cook and smoke the meat, and then haul whatever was left back.

"Why can't you store food?" I asked aloud as I glanced down at a rock, where Mobile Inventory watched me wash the slime from my hands and chin. I received a low hiss in response, and I rolled my eyes before walking over to the bonfire I'd started to cook the meat in bulk.

"Whatever. I guess I'll have to eat this quicker since you don't want any." I muttered.

I felt the black snake slither up my leg, wrapping around my torso before resting its head on my shoulder.

"Oh? So you apologize now?" I teased.

I received no response, just a small hiss. I sighed and slumped my shoulders. "I really need to meet another person."

=-=-=-=-=

'I need to get stronger.'

I nodded at my thoughts as Mobile Inventory and I devoured the Sea King steaks at a rapid pace. It was surprising how wonderful the meat tasted.

"The underlying taste of beef works so well with the rich salty fish flavour." I commented, more to myself than anything. I wasn't much of a foodie or someone who particularly enjoyed eating—it was more of a necessity than a pleasure for me. But this Sea King? It made me regret not trying different foods before arriving here.

I looked down and raised an eyebrow at the sight of Mobile Inventory opening its mouth wide, wolfing down its portion of the food.

"Good, isn't it?" I asked, though I received no response.

Shrugging, I turned back to my own food and continued devouring it.

'I need to get stronger if I want to eat more of this.'

=-Day 416-=

It turns out the Sea King had boosted my healing because by the next day, I was fully healed and bursting with energy. I decided it was time to step up my training, focusing beyond just training my senses. Specifically, I had decided to learn something I'd first seen in my favourite part of One Piece, the six techniques of Rokushiki.

The first one, the one I remembered most vividly was Soru. As far as I could recall, it was simply executed by kicking the ground ten times extremely quickly. How quick? I wasn't sure, but I knew that if I kept practicing what I did understand, I would eventually be able to pull it off at least once.

"Wish I paid more attention to the other techniques though." I sighed, pushing my hair out of my face. My gaze dropped to the underside of my feet, which were covered in scars from the lack of care over the year I'd been here.

Looking up from my feet, I observed the straight path I'd flattened out. I walked to the starting point assuming a running stance. 'Koby was able to use it in a few months, I think?' I scoffed at the thought.

"If he can do it, so can I."

I tensed my legs, shifting weight onto my toes as I fixed my eyes ahead. I took a deep breath, then stepped forward.

'One.'

I kicked the ground hard.

'Tw—Why am I upside down?'

With a quiet groan, I landed flat on my head. 'This is going to take a while.' I thought, sighing in frustration.

=-Day 420-=

The days blurred together as I repeated the same routine, with only a few minor changes. I had stopped wearing the blindfold for most of the day except when hunting or sleeping. The same went for Mobile Inventory, much to its displeasure. The rest of my time was spent trying and failing to master Soru. I had hoped that once I set a goal to use it within two months, the System would reward me with a Quest but I hadn't received anything from it.

"Fucking broken thing." I muttered aloud, spitting out a mouthful of dirt as I got back on my feet.

"Will I actually be able to do this?" I snorted, the doubt creeping into my mind. But then, I thought to myself. 'We just need to try harder.'

With a firm nod, I stood up and resumed my training.

=-Day 424-=

Running.

It was something that should be instinctual to every living being. Yet Soru, which I had pictured as a form of running, was now making me want to pull my hair out.

"At least I made it to the third step." I muttered, groaning as I stared up at the night sky.

'It's still not enough, though.'

I raised my tan arm to the sky and opened my fingers, letting the stars slip between them.

"No matter where you are, they're the same everywhere." I whispered, a hint of wonder in my voice. With a sigh, I let my arm fall back above my head. 'I've rested long enough.'

With that, I stood and made my way back to the starting position, ready to repeat the process once again.

=-Day 431-=

Four steps.

That was my limit before I lost control and collapsed. In that moment I realized I had been thinking about it all wrong. But I was already too deep into this approach to change it without proper guidance.

Instead of simply kicking off the ground as fast as possible, I had been treating it as a problem of getting from point A to point B in the fewest steps. The idea made sense, but in practice it forced me to accelerate beyond what I could sustain. Each movement required a balance between explosive speed and precise footwork, a delicate rhythm of force and redirection.

At four steps, I could still maintain control. Beyond that? I wasn't just pushing forward, I was losing balance unable to properly anchor myself before the next step. I needed something more. And while I had an inkling of what it was and knew how to fix it, I refused to build an over reliance on the thing that could fix it. 'I just need to up my senses.' I thought, sighing as I looked down at my hands before slamming them into my ears, causing them to ring and deafen me.

=-Day 442-=

Balance.

That was something I realized more and more as I trained my visual and remaining senses other than my hearing. I needed to enhance my balance to maintain the footwork required in my Soru if I wanted to push beyond the four-step limit.

'Now this is a stupid idea.'

I had two options to try. The first was running across vines since they were everywhere, and hoping they didn't break under my weight. If they did and I touched the ground my "punishment" would be no food. The other option, which I dreaded more was running on falling logs. These were logs I had chopped down and would be sent rolling down a hill. The challenge would be to leap from log to log without falling and getting crushed by the logs.

Sighing, I jumped onto a tree branch and eyed a vine, barely wider than my foot. I stepped onto it, only for it to snap under my weight.

'Shit.'