Hearing Rayleigh"s words, Ian nodded and said, “Mr. Rayleigh, I majored in swordsmanship!”Rayleigh was not surprised. After seeing Ian"s sword yesterday, he had probably guessed it, so he took out a long sword and said to Ian, “Come on!”
Rayleigh"s sword was a double-edged straight sword, with a cross hilt and a large round pommel, roughly half as long as his body height. Ian didn"t know the name of his sword, but maybe it was a famous sword. Seeing Rayleigh holding the sword casually and standing in place, Ian doesn"t dare to be careless.
The fight began. Ian rushed forward with his sword and attacked Rayleigh.
Slash! Cut! Chop! Slash! Since Rayleigh was fighting him, he was just blocking, so Ian was immersed in his mind and focused on attacking. The Devil"s Blade Yamato in his hands was used smoothly. Koshiro taught him very well, which was displayed now by Ian"s moves. This was something he has learned throughout his life…
Regardless of whether it was Ian or Rayleigh, both of them were almost reaching their extreme. Ian thought that his speed was very good now, but he did not expect that Rayleigh was much faster than him. Every time he blocks, he seems to be so flexible.
Every time their blades collide, a spark and a “Ding” sound were emerging continuously, which lasted for a long time. In just half a minute, the two have swung their sword for hundreds of times!
Of course, in this process, Ian didn"t use any of his abilities. He was there to learn Haki. If Rayleigh mistook his Nen for Haki, it would be bad. Because Haki is a thing that needs to be awakened first and then a lot of exercising to be mastered. The steps can"t be disordered. If Rayleigh skips the step of awakening because of misunderstanding, Ian won"t gain anything from this training.
At this time, Rayleigh suddenly retreated, and Ian stopped at the same time.
“Very good! I can see that your swordsmanship foundations are quite good. You must be taught by a true master.” Rayleigh nodded with satisfaction, “I have nothing to teach you about swordsmanship.”
“Yes, I mainly want to learn physical strength and Haki from you!” Ian said.
“Actually, Haki is gradually developed on the foundation of physical exercise!” Rayleigh said: “So, let"s start with physical strength!”
Under Rayleigh"s beckon, Ian walked over and sat down cross-legged while facing him.
“Now, I have to teach you the way of breathing first!” Rayleigh said: “The exercises of physical strength are simple and easy to explain, but difficult to practice. The key point is this breathing method. A correct breathing method can fully provide oxygen to the muscles and viscera of the human body, thereby accelerating the effectiveness of the exercise.”
Ian listened quietly, while Rayleigh explained, and tried to follow Rayleigh"s instructions.
The breathing method that Rayleigh gave him was very strange. When ordinary people breathe, they inhale oxygen, but when they breathe out, the exhaled air still has some oxygen, and that was the trick, this amount of oxygen, which was not absorbed by the human body, according to the Rayleigh method, was the most important part! It is necessary to consume all oxygen components through this new way of breathing.
In the beginning, Ian couldn"t do it at all, and Rayleigh kept explaining every step to him.
Gradually, when Ian mastered some tricks and was able to accomplish this way of breathing, he suddenly felt a little different with every breath.
It was a more powerful, more clear-headed feeling…
“Very well, now that you have learned this breathing method, you must first turn it into instinct!” Rayleigh said: “Then, in your daily exercise, integrate this breathing style into it!”
For the next few days, Ian had been consciously controlling every breath he takes according to Rayleigh"s method, and as time went on, he gradually got used to it, so by this time, his nightmare began.
Rayleigh formally prepared physical exercises for him. When he learned that Ian was not a Devil Fruit User, the first thing Rayleigh made him do in the morning was swimming ten kilometers in the sea!
The Mangrove No.34 was just on the edge of the island. Swimming was effortless, but swimming for ten kilometers can be fatal. It"s a total of twenty kilometers if he wants to get back, because the ten kilometers must be in a straight line!
In the beginning, Ian was able to strictly follow Rayleigh"s instructions and maintain the special breathing method during swimming. However, when his stamina gradually exhausted, his breathing began to become disordered.
On the first day, he had just swum for about five kilometers, but he couldn"t bear any more. If he hadn"t tied up a lifebuoy ring to his waist, he would have drowned.
Even so, Ian gritted his teeth and kept going, he persisted longer every day.
During this period of training with Rayleigh, Ian didn"t catch any pirate in person. All of his businesses were handed over to the family"s members, and their targets were only those small pirates with 10 to 20 million bounties.
Just as Ian thought, don"t underestimate the potential of these people. With enough strong and brave people, these pirates have been easily caught, so in a short period, the normal life of this family can still be maintained, so Ian focused on his training with Rayleigh.
As for the money on that check, Ian went to the bank and took out his money. Although Rayleigh didn"t charge his tuition, Ian did his best as a disciple. After finishing training him every day, Ian takes Rayleigh and goes to gamble together with Ian"s money.
Over time, Ian felt a little strange, Rayleigh"s Haki was obviously so powerful, but why does he lose every time he gambles?
When Ian mentioned this to him, Rayleigh laughed and said, “If you cheat when you gamble, what"s the point of gambling?”
Hearing this answer, Ian couldn"t help shaking his head. He didn"t understand his thoughts.
Although Lucius" bounty has not been used to recharge diamonds and draw cards for the time being, Ian felt that it was worth it. Compared with his bottomless pit system, Rayleigh"s gambling expenses were not so high, at least. In one month, he only spent a little more than 8 million Berries…
Rayleigh was gambling just for fun, not to make money, so it was not an addiction.
When staying with Raleigh, Ian has always remained in the disciple role. He was treating Rayleigh as if he was Koshiro in Frost Moon Village.
Rayleigh didn"t say anything about that, in fact, he was quite satisfied with Ian. Ian was indeed not very qualified, but he was willing to work hard. And once during this time, Rayleigh went back to Shakky, and naturally, she talked to her husband about Ian"s appearance and personality.
Not only did he learn more about Ian, but he also heard from Shakky about Ian"s thoughts about the Pirates and the Marines.
Rayleigh didn"t mention that to Ian, but when he was teaching him, he tried harder. When Ian was able to swim the full 20 kilometers back and forth, Rayleigh gave him another practicing method.
Rayleigh"s exercises were very hurtful, but Ian insisted on persisting while gritting his teeth, and kept moving forward.
In this way, two months later, Ian"s body was much stronger, and suddenly in his mind, the systematic prompt sound came.
“You have unlocked the Primary Level of the Physical Skill!”
Ian opened the system platform and checked it.
[Primary Physical Skills: increase all attributes by 5%, current proficiency (0 / 20000)]
This surprised Ian a little. He didn"t expect that this Physical Skills to have such a property.
It actually increases all attributes according to the percentage. Doesn"t this mean that the higher the level and the attribute, the higher the benefit of Physical Skills?!!
At present, the three basic skills Ian had were all different. The Swordsmanship was available from the beginning. And the Primary Physical Skills have been unlocked probably by the long-term physical exercise, while the Nen Skills was acquired after his first card was equipped. Only the Physical Skills was obtained by Ian through his own efforts.
In addition to adding a bonus to all of his attributes, the most important thing about the Physical Skills was that Ian can finally use some of the skills of the physical-type cards!
The appearance of primary Physical Skills made Ian work even harder.
However, with the progress of the training, Ian found that it was not easy to increase the proficiency of Physical Skills. Taking swimming as an example, he swam 20 kilometers on the first day, which increased his proficiency by 20 points, but the next day he has swum the same distance, but it only increased by 19 points. It seems that doing the same exercise repeatedly makes a gradual decline in its proficiency growth.
Ian estimated that this may be linked to his own physical improvement, that is, if he wants to maintain the same growth trend, he must continue training harder and harder.
The growth of strength is not easy. In order to become stronger, he has to work really hard.
The gradual formation of physical skills has also brought obvious benefits to Ian. He seems to have experienced an increase in his Swordsmanship. This growth has not been reflected in the proficiency of Swordsmanship, but he still feels this way. It"s like the feeling that his Expert-Level Swordsmanship is no longer obscure when he first advanced his Nen skills.
This made Ian realize that foundation skills have some small details in common…
In such training, the days pa.s.sed day by day. One day, when Ian dragged his tired body back to the stronghold, Hawking told him that he had some friends waiting for him inside!
Ian felt a little odd. Who are these friends that come looking for him in the Sabaody Archipelago!?
As a result, when he walked into the newly built house, he finally understood what was going on. Who else would it be if he wasn"t Ace?
“Ian, are you back?” When Ace heard his footsteps, he turned around. His cheeks were bulging. He was eating the food prepared by Lorraine and Elena, and he said as he ate: “It was not easy to find you!”
“You have come this fast to the Sabaody Archipelago?” Ian looked at him in a daze.
“Yes!” Ace nodded and said, “Since we separated that day, my companions and I have been traveling along the route. It"s not easy to come here!”
Ian sat down and asked him, “Are you going to New World next?”
“Of course!” Ace held his hat and grinned, “My boat is already coated! I"m here to ask you something.”
“What is it?” Ian asked.
“It"s this!” Ace took out a piece of paper, which looked like an invitation, and said: “A strange bat gave me this. It says, We want to invite you to join the Shichibukai…”