Roya, now understanding how he should train from here on, immediately began his cultivation.
For the next few days, Roya focused on the simplest possible exercise: gripping his sword with both hands and repeatedly practicing downward slashes.
However, the actual purpose of his training wasn’t the slashing itself, but learning to enter a state of Focus at any moment while performing the movements.
He had originally thought that completely mastering it would take at least a month.
To his surprise, however, his mental strength was far greater than he had imagined.
It took him only three days to reach the point where he could enter the state of Focus freely!
Throughout those three days, Garp simply let Roya train on his own without interfering.
It seemed that Garp also understood that Roya’s path was that of the sword.
After obtaining the swordsmanship manual for him, Garp had completely left Roya to his own devices.
…
Sunlight streamed down into the spacious courtyard.
Roya stood at one end of the courtyard, gripping Engetsu with both hands as he repeatedly swung his sword.
With every slash, several inches of faint sharpness seemed to extend from the tip of the blade, silently cutting through the air.
This was actually the embryonic form of a flying slash.
Although Roya’s body was already drenched in sweat, his eyes remained as clear as water.
It was as though he had completely disregarded his physical exhaustion and the soreness in his muscles.
At this moment, Roya had seemingly reached the point where he could maintain his Focus continuously regardless of his condition—or, more precisely, freely enter and control this state of Focus whenever he wished.
After making several more swings, Roya stopped.
“At this point, as long as I’m willing, I can enter and maintain this state of Focus whenever I want.”
Roya lowered Engetsu in front of him and stared at the edge of the blade.
The reflection of Engetsu appeared in his eyes.
Then, his pupils rippled ever so slightly, as though they had fallen into some profound state of enlightenment.
“Focus and a lack of Focus really are two completely different states.”
After staring at the blade for a moment, Roya came back to himself.
A faint smile appeared on his face, and a glimmer flashed through his eyes.
Then he entered the state of Focus once again.
He shifted Engetsu into his right hand and gripped it with one hand before turning his gaze toward the wall behind him.
Shing!
Shing!
Shing!
After several seemingly effortless slashes, Roya sheathed Engetsu.
Silence.
Straight lines suddenly appeared across the wall in front of him, crisscrossing one another.
BOOM!!
In the very next instant, the entire wall suddenly collapsed, breaking apart into countless perfectly uniform stone blocks that scattered throughout both sides of the courtyard.
This was Marine Headquarters.
The materials used in its buildings were not ordinary stone.
They were an exceptionally durable type of stone capable of withstanding cannon fire, with a hardness second only to steel and Sea Prism Stone (Kairoseki – Seastone) .
Yet under Roya’s sword, stone of such hardness was cut apart as effortlessly as tofu.
Engetsu was a famous sword with an exceptionally sharp edge, which certainly contributed to this result.
But the fact that Roya could cut through the stone so smoothly and effortlessly proved that he had truly grasped the essence of cutting through Focus.
After all, even if an ordinary person were given a Supreme Grade Blade, it would still be extremely difficult to cut a massive stone completely in half with a single slash.
When it came to cutting something apart, sharpness was only one of many factors.
The person wielding the sword was the most important factor.
If Roya encountered that Level-One Vicious Beast, the Brown-Backed Giant Ape, again, he would undoubtedly be able to tear through its defenses with ease with a single slash.
Looking at the collapsed wall and the neatly severed stones scattered across the ground, Roya showed a satisfied smile and gently returned Engetsu to its sheath.
Just then, a voice came from outside.
“What was that noise?”
Startled awake by the thunderous collapse of the wall, Garp walked into the courtyard.
Garp had just been feeling a little drowsy when he suddenly heard what sounded like something collapsing in the courtyard.
Although he was still somewhat groggy with sleep, he forced himself to get up and walk outside.
Then, in the next instant, every trace of sleepiness vanished.
Garp stared in astonishment at the collapsed wall and the countless perfectly cut stone blocks Roya had created with a single sword.
He was amazed that Roya could cut such sturdy stone so neatly, but even more than that, he felt a profound sense of frustration.
“Roya!
You brat!
What the hell did you do this time?!”
“I was just testing my sword.”
Roya had completely mastered the state of Focus, so he was in an excellent mood.
Seeing Garp’s expression, he simply grinned at him.
“Testing your sword?!”
Garp’s eyes widened even further.
“Why did you cut the wall?
Don’t you have a test stone?!”
“Because this looks cooler.”
Roya answered with complete seriousness.
Pfft!
Garp stumbled and nearly fell over.
He felt as though a mouthful of old blood was about to spurt out.
The main reason was that those words sounded incredibly familiar to him.
Whenever Garp had destroyed buildings during his battles in the past, Sengoku would angrily yell at him, and Garp would always respond with the exact same excuse:
“Because this looks cooler.”
He never expected Roya to learn it from him—and then use it against him.
“If there’s nothing else, I’ll head back to my room.”
Roya waved at Garp before whoosh!—he leaped directly onto the second floor, climbed through his window, and slammed it shut.
Garp was left standing alone in the courtyard, speechless.
After a long while, Garp finally covered his forehead and muttered,
“Seriously…
Of all the things to learn from me, he had to learn this.
If he wants to cut something, he should at least go cut someone else’s house.”
Although Garp hadn’t shouted, Roya could still hear him clearly from his room on the second floor.
Pfft!!
Roya, who had been drinking water while resting, immediately spat it all over the floor.
He had finally gained complete control over Focus, and his excitement had gotten the better of him.
On a whim, he had used the courtyard wall to test his sword.
He had expected Garp to lose his temper afterward.
Instead, Garp had come out with that ridiculous remark.
Cut someone else’s house instead…
What kind of thought process was that?!
The corner of Roya’s mouth twitched.
Fortunately, he had already spent plenty of time around Garp and had grown accustomed to the man’s eccentric personality.
He couldn’t be bothered to argue about it.
As long as Garp wasn’t planning to come after him, that was good enough.
“I can now freely control the state of Focus.
So the next stage of my training is to master the flying slash!”
Roya muttered thoughtfully.
Then, as though he had suddenly remembered something, his expression changed.
With a thought, the Sword Soul System’s attribute panel appeared before his eyes—the panel he hadn’t checked even once in the past three days.
During these three days, Roya had focused entirely on learning how to maintain Focus and hadn’t looked at his attributes even once.
Now that he had finally mastered Focus completely, with no hesitation or delay and the ability to enter the state whenever he wished, he finally remembered the Sword Soul.
“Although most of these three days were spent training my mind, I didn’t neglect physical training either.
The Enhancement Energy should have increased by at least eight or ten points, right?”
With that thought, Roya focused his gaze on the translucent attribute panel before him.
Stage Two: Ancient Sword Soul +7
Attributes: Attack Power +80, Strength +22
Special Attribute: All Things in Creation, Turn to Ashes!
— Sword attacks can freely inflict additional fire damage.
(Evolution Conditions not met.)
Enhancement Energy: 146/80
Nothing else had changed.
But when Roya’s eyes landed on the final line of the attribute panel, he froze.
The Enhancement Energy wasn’t merely full.
It had actually exceeded the requirement by more than sixty points!
What the hell?!
Roya was so astonished that he even wondered whether he had misread it.
But no.
His eyes weren’t playing tricks on him.
The Enhancement Energy had really increased this much!
Roya had originally thought that he might only gain a few points over the past few days.
He had never expected the exact opposite.
Not only had it increased—it had increased by a huge amount.
Looking at the Enhancement Energy that had not only reached its maximum but overflowed by more than sixty points, Roya recalled everything he had done during these three days.
Gradually, a look of realization appeared on his face.
“I understand.
So that’s how it works?”
He had previously speculated that the reason combat generated more Enhancement Energy than ordinary training was because combat amounted to unlocking the soul’s potential.
And now, over these three days, he had completely mastered the state of Focus.
That could undoubtedly be considered a breakthrough in unlocking his soul’s potential.
That was why his Enhancement Energy had increased by such a tremendous amount.
“In that case, everything makes sense.”