One Piece: Chaos Kong

Chapter 10: Center-area Excursion

While on my knees in pain, I grabbed my abdomen while coughing out blood, dying the ground red; I even saw small pieces of organs lying in the puddle of blood, causing me to realize the severity of my injuries.

"I've vastly underestimated its power; this will put me out of commission for a day or two." Muttered Diddy with a painful expression while his mouth leaked blood.

Standing up, I wobbled my way over to the hammock and plopped myself on it, nearly falling out of it in the process; though it was still early in the day, with these injuries, I wasn't going to get anything done, so I decided to go to sleep. Unfortunately, I was also a little hungry, but it didn't look like I would be eating food soon, at least not solid foods.

'Haa, well, you know what they say; what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.' Thought Diddy, grinning as he closed his eyes and quickly drifted asleep.

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Waking up, I opened my eyes, feeling completely rested and rejuvenated after the slumber; hopping out of the hammock, I looked for the sun, only to notice it rising from the east.

'Roughly a full day, I suppose I was quite injured, though now I feel excellent; actually, upon closer inspection, my strength seems to have improved.' Thought Diddy as he stretched his body, only to notice his increased strength.

After doing a little testing, I determined that my strength had improved, even if only slightly, though that alone was a very welcomed surprise; it seems like fighting powerful opponents isn't the only way to increase my strength.

'Although that might be true, It's not like I've just discovered a cheat or loophole; I'm still required to push myself to my limit if I wish to improve my strength, just like I did with yesterday's training, granted, this isn't going to be a reliable way to increase my strength.' Pondered Diddy with a slight smile as he approached the tree and began practicing the same technique.

For the next two months, all I did was stay on the beach while practicing creating my technique, and boy, was it probably the most challenging thing I've done to date in both of my lives. Every day was filled with nothing but pain whenever I lost control and boredom from doing the same technique repeatedly until I either collapsed from exhaustion or destroyed my body.

However, what kept me going was the fact that everyday I continued to advance in the creation of the technique, granted it came with a severe cost, but from the sheer amount of power I was able to gather even without having entirely created the technique, I knew it was going to be worth it in the end. Not to mention, over the last two months, I've gotten decently stronger than before, and my body is much more durable after being constantly assaulted by an out-of-control technique.

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"Ugh, alright, that's enough; I need to take a break and do something; otherwise, I'm going to die from boredom!" Stated Diddy as he wiped the blood leaking from his mouth while panting in exhaustion.

Looking at the same tree, I had been staring at for two months, I clicked my tongue in annoyance while nearly acting on my impulses and destroying the tree, yet I held myself back as I now held a personal vendetta against this tree. When I destroy this tree, it will be with my finished technique and only that.

With a grunt, I turned around and approached the bonfire, which was currently cooking a deer; grabbing a piece of cooked meat, I quickly ate it before grabbing another two pieces of meat and devouring them as well.

'I don't think I've gone a full two months of doing nothing; even when I was learning the other six techniques, I'd still go out and fight some beasts.' Thought Diddy while looking at the forest with a contemplative expression before his eyes suddenly hardened with a ferocious glint.