Across the vast sea, hundreds of Marine officers flailed their limbs, struggling forward in all sorts of strange and awkward positions.
"Strange, how come Black Hair Bro is lagging behind?"
"How odd!"
"Could it be he's wooing Isca, perhaps?"
As they swam, the officers noticed something was off. Usually, Roya was at the front, leading the pack during swimming training, but now Roya was trailing behind them.
Something was definitely wrong!
At the rear of the group, Isca deliberately slowed her pace, choking on water as she called out, "Roya-senior, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, don't worry about me."
Roya glanced at Isca.
The girl looks quite pleasing to the eye in her swimsuit, especially those fair, long legs and that rounded little butt. If it were before, he would definitely have taken a moment to appreciate the view, but now he had something far more appealing on his mind.
The Six Styles.
What's a woman compared to training?
The Six Styles, the pinnacle of Marine Close-Combat Skill, could be said to be the most systematic and advanced martial arts techniques in this world.
Iron Body, Finger Gun, Storm Leg, Paper Drawing, Moon Walk, Shave.
Each of the Six Styles possesses unique techniques and effects.
Take Iron Body, for example. It's not as simple as just coating oneself in Haki; that wouldn't be considered a Close-Combat Skill.
Accelerating in a straight line? Please, anyone can do that.
The core principle of Iron Body lies in accelerating blood flow, speeding up muscle movement, thereby making the flesh as hard as iron.
For example, when facing an attack of equal force, the damage received is different depending on whether a person is prepared or not.
The reason is that when attacked, people instinctively tense their bodies, making their muscles hard, while other parts of the body instinctively prepare to receive the impact.
And Iron Body is about maximizing the body's defensive response.
Haki is just the icing on the cake.
The other Six Styles are similar, such as Paper Drawing's redirection of force, Moon Walk's mastery of leg strength, and Shave and Storm Leg's bursts of speed.
In Doll's words, the Six Styles are actually the best means of maximizing the potential power that humans already possess.
This is also why the Six Styles have high requirements for one's physique.
"Moon Walk, and Paper Drawing!"
Roya felt the flow of the seawater, wanting to break through the limits of speed in the water, to swim as fast as a fish. Moon Walk and Paper Drawing were essential techniques to master.
Among them, Moon Walk is about exerting leg strength to increase movement speed, applicable not only in water but also in various environments, while Paper Drawing is about sensing the flow of surrounding resistance, thereby finding the easiest path to dodge and advance.
"Bang!"
The waves behind Roya exploded, and he abruptly propelled himself forward by more than ten meters, plunging into the seabed as if diving.
Soon, Roya's head emerged from the water.
"Wrong direction."
Continue trying!
Swimming is an excellent way to practice Paper Drawing and Moon Walk, because changes in ocean currents are clearer than the airflow changes caused by enemy attacks, and with the help of seawater, the force exertion techniques of Moon Walk are easier to succeed.
It's like learning the Rasengan, progressing through several stages from breaking balloons and water balloons to the most difficult solid ball. The Six Styles are similar, it's difficult to achieve success in one fell swoop.
"Bang!"
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Clusters of water exploded!
Several stunned fish floated on the sea surface.
The bizarre situation stunned the East Blue officers.
"Is Black Hair Bro using explosives to fish?"
The next day, the third day...
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Fish were being victimized every day.
The only difference was that Roya gradually caught up with the group.
Not only when swimming and dynamiting for fish, but also during weighted runs, Roya would occasionally burst forward for a distance, sometimes jumping into the sky, sometimes falling headfirst into the ground.
He also behaved strangely in other training exercises.
The officers understood.
Everyone has different quirks.
Black Hair Bro must be trying out some novel new way to play!
Half a month later.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Clusters of waves exploded one after another, the distance between them almost the same, the frequency of the explosions gradually increasing, while the splashes became smaller and smaller.
In the blink of an eye, Roya surpassed the other officers. It was less like swimming and more like sneaking beneath the surface of the sea, moving as fast as a dolphin. He surfaced occasionally to breathe.
Even the most oblivious officers noticed the obvious change.
"Hey, brothers, have you noticed that Black Hair Bro's fish bombing is becoming more rhythmic?"
"Indeed, it is!"
"The splashes are getting smaller too!"
"I'm still waiting to pick up fish for an extra meal!"
Free climbing training.
Roya was like a spider, rapidly climbing up the nearly vertical rock wall, moving so fast that he left everyone else in the dust, leaving clear finger marks on the smooth rock face.
Weighted run training.
Roya carried a five-ton weight on his back and strode forward like the wind, easily surpassing everyone, leaving only a shallow layer of footprints on the sand.
Far ahead!
Within half a day, Roya successfully completed the Physical Training.
It seemed that a qualitative change had been triggered by quantitative accumulation. Roya's sudden explosion not only shocked the officers, leaving them dumbfounded, but also left Doll speechless.
She couldn't be mistaken.
In just half a month, Roya had initially mastered the use of the Six Styles. Among them, Paper Drawing and Moon Walk progressed the fastest, and the progress of mastering the other styles was also surprisingly fast.
If things continued to develop at this rate, Roya might actually learn the Six Styles by the end of the Training Camp, and most likely more than one.
Could this kid really be a martial arts genius, one in a million?
Late at night, The World.
As his physique grew, the time he could maintain "The World" also increased, from two hours at the beginning to being able to maintain it for a day now.
Roya wiped away his sweat.
There's no such thing as a martial arts genius, it's just that he works ten times harder than other students, and has the patient guidance of an Instructor.
Roya came to the Training Field, looking at Doll in the center. Although he didn't have much contact with her in reality, he didn't know how many times he had interacted with Doll in The World.
"Instructor Doll, please guide me!"
"..."
Doll didn't respond, directly launching an attack on Roya, but her attacks were basically non-lethal, more like practicing feeding moves, deliberately demonstrating the Six Styles.
The two exchanged blows.
Roya recalled what Doll had said to him that night when she guided him.
"Human power is limited. Even if one is as strong as an Admiral, pure physical strength cannot compare to that of the giants."
Giants, the most powerful race.
The five-ton weight that made him struggle was not even qualified as a toy for giants. The strong among the giants can even handle tens of thousands of tons.
Humans cannot defeat giants with brute force alone, and cannot even beat some strong beasts.
Monsters like Charlotte Linlin can only be regarded as exceptions.
But "skill" allows humans to have the power to fight against giants, against those powerful races and creatures.
From simply using weapons, to systematically learning Close-Combat Skill and Swordsmanship, to the Six Styles, and even using Haki, these can all be regarded as the category of "skill."
The power of "skill" has no limits!
Roya could clearly feel that his physique had reached a bottleneck, and it would be difficult to have major changes in a short period of time, but he would not be inferior to those geniuses.
What they were competing for was skill!
Before leaving "The World", Roya found the Power Index Tester, it had been half a month since the last test.
"Bang!"
He kicked the tester with all his might with his right foot!
"Ding ding ding~ ding!"
The value on the display screen jumped rapidly.
"Ding!"
[402]