Chapter 135: Ten-Fold Overlapping Wave Slash

The Swan had been sailing across the open sea for a full half month. Fortunately, there was enough food stored in the cabin, so the three of them had no reason to worry.

For Nami, however, those fifteen days had been like descending into hell. Her life had become utterly bleak.

Training room, below deck.

Smack!

Smack! Smack!

Smack! Smack! Smack!

Amid the dull, heavy blows, the girl’s anguished cries rose without end. Whenever Coby heard those sounds, every hair on his body stood on end, and he did not dare go anywhere near the room.

“Too slow. Too slow again.”

“Fear and panic will only make you die faster!”

“Your fists should be aimed at vital points. Vital points! No matter how exhausted you are, every attack must strike a vital point.”

“Keep going. You think you have no strength left, but that is only your brain deceiving you. Defeat it. Control it. Continue drawing out the power within your body.”

“Can’t go on? An enemy won’t so easily let you off just because you’re tired.”

…

Tang Shen’s cold voice rang out. In his hand, he held a wooden training ruler, which he brought down heavily upon Nami. It cleaved through the air with a piercing shriek. Though it was only a ruler, with Tang Shen’s strength, it could easily carve a hole in the cabin.

Nami looked utterly pitiful. Her maid uniform had been reduced to little more than strips of cloth, while marks from repeated blows covered her fair thighs, arms, and abdomen. Cold sweat streamed down her body from the pain.

The Slip-Slip Fruit could make her body astonishingly smooth. Anything that touched her skin would automatically slide away, creating zero friction. In other words, Nami had now achieved physical immunity!

“As expected, there is no such thing as the weakest Devil Fruit.”

Tang Shen sighed with emotion. In his memories, the Slip-Slip Fruit had seemed almost useless, and its owner had been little more than comic relief. But after truly coming to this world and facing such an ability, he found himself with very few ways to deal with it.

Nami had been pleased with herself for only two days, however, before Tang Shen discovered that this power could not defend against energy-based attacks, such as shock waves or explosions.

And so, the training ruler became Nami’s nightmare. Relying on his mastery of basic swordsmanship, Tang Shen could barely compress the air with the ruler and form shock waves, using them to put Nami through enhanced training.

Smack!

The air wave produced by the ruler struck Nami hard on her rounded backside. She had been too slow by a fraction when dodging, and the pain nearly brought tears to her eyes. After thirteen consecutive days of merciless beatings, Nami swore that one day she would take revenge on the bastard.

Yet what surprised and delighted her was that, after all these days of training, she had discovered that she could now defend against certain basic attacks. She could even find opportunities to strike back once or twice.

Of course, her fists landing on Tang Shen were no different from acting spoiled.

“All right. That’s enough for today.”

The training ruler finally came to a stop. To Nami, Tang Shen’s words sounded like the voice of heaven itself.

With gratitude and excitement at having survived the ordeal, Nami nearly burst into tears.

Tang Shen, however, had his own considerations. This little thief-cat was ultimately no Kuina or Zoro. Her natural foundation was inferior, and, combined with her lazy personality, the fact that she had reached this level was already remarkable. Too much of anything could be harmful; it would be a shame to ruin his cherished little pet through overtraining.

After training Nami until every last ounce of her stamina had been drained, he could enjoy the pastries carefully prepared by Coby. Life was still quite pleasant.

Yet in accordance with his daily routine, Tang Shen did not leave the training room immediately after squeezing the final shred of strength from Nami. He drew his long blade and, beneath Nami’s nearly numb gaze, began performing an extremely repetitive and monotonous series of movements.

Draw the blade!

Slash!

Draw the blade!

Slash!

Draw the blade!

…

It was as though the same scene were being played on an endless loop. The long blade traced streaks of light through the air, and the distance and force of every slash were precise to the slightest degree.

Tang Shen was like a machine that knew nothing of rest, endlessly repeating the same motion. If not for the beads of sweat gradually running down his body, one might have thought that time itself had stopped.

Whenever Nami witnessed this scene, the hatred and anger filling her heart would gradually turn into bewilderment.

She could not understand it. This bastard was like a demon. She could search the entire world for the vilest words with which to describe Tang Shen: cruel, cold, sadistic, utterly lacking in gentlemanly manners, rough, savage…

And yet, when she looked at Tang Shen before her, only one word appeared in her mind.

Diligence.

Diligence beyond that of ordinary people.

Unparalleled diligence.

Why?

Why did he push himself so desperately?

Nami could not understand, but Tang Shen knew perfectly well.

He had discovered that this world was not as simple as he had imagined. Players could recover and resurrect without limit, but their bodies honestly recorded everything.

In other words, even someone who knew nothing at all could, by investing enough time and effort into a single pursuit, potentially become the very best in that field.

Ten thousand consecutive swings of the blade might consume very little stamina individually, but together they still placed an enormous burden on the body. His arms grew sore, numb, and swollen. His chest heaved violently, burning with pain, as if he were inhaling not air, but flames.

Yet Tang Shen’s eyes shone with the fierce brilliance of torches.

With every swing, his control over his strength grew more polished. By the end, it had reached a level of exquisite precision. The long blade seemed to have become a part of his body, responding as naturally as his own hands.

One slash came faster than the last, leaving afterimages of the blade in the air. Astonishingly, Tang Shen’s next strike landed upon the phantom image left by the previous one.

The seemingly intangible afterimage became a little more solid.

The Layered Blade Technique.

This sword art, which he had comprehended in the past, possessed far greater potential than he had initially imagined. Before, he had been able to complete four layers.

Now, he had reached the astonishing number of seven.

Seven afterimages of the blade rapidly merged together. The fused image was nearly indistinguishable from reality.

Was seven the limit?

Not yet!

Tang Shen gave a low shout. His stamina was instantly drained, and three ferocious afterimages merged rapidly into the blade’s phantom image. In an instant, that blurred phantom blade became almost completely real.

Under Nami’s stunned gaze, she saw another blade appear in Tang Shen’s hand.

Slash—

The substantial blade image swept forth.

Crack!

The air erupted with a piercing sonic boom. The strike easily tore through the Swan’s cabin, carving out a savage gash dozens of meters long. Along its path, the iron-hard wooden deck shattered explosively, and splinters shot into the walls like bullets.

“…”

Nami stared, utterly dumbfounded.

“…”

Coby, who had been scrubbing the deck, stiffly turned his neck and looked at the slash mark that had flown past him. He stood frozen as though petrified.

Tang Shen let out a long breath. As he examined the results of the slash, his eyes gleamed.

The destructive power of that strike had completely surpassed its theoretical limit.

The corner of his mouth lifted into a satisfied smile.

“I’ll call it… Tenfold Waves.”