“W-W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? Don't eat that!”

It is already too late. He had swallowed it before I got out the first word out… It doesn't look like he is in pain… He coughs up some blood and begins to speak.

“What a weird tasting berry… Sort of tasted like blood. I'm not saying it tasted bad… Just different.”

… I don't know what to say… Or think… He just ate a sharp stone and besides some bleeding, he looks fine… Perhaps I could eat one as well? Aegis begins to speak.

“I would like one of each please.”

“Alright… Not sure how you will use the eye of the beholder though.”

“I'll just pop it out to see with it then reform it inside me. I might even be able to see around corners if I form a stalk to prop the eye out with… It will give me a weak spot though.”

“Well… I hate to say it, I'm actually afraid to replace one of my eyes. So it would work better if you had one just to be safe.”

I still need to learn from him… I hope he can still teach me without any side effects from swallowing a sharp rock… I wonder how that is going to effect him… Will he eventually absorb it or will he have to… pass it...

“Alright lets get started then. Which martial arts do you know already?”

“I've only just started learning aikido from the shogun. I don't know much though.”

“So you prefer soft form to hard form then?”

“I've never heard it said like that before. What is the difference.”

“Did the shogun teach you nothing? Soft form is focusing towards deflecting attacks made by the opponent rather than dealing damage to them. Turning force against itself. Hard form takes a more direct route to fighting. Fighting force with force… Almost everyone specializes in one type or the other.”

“Are their any types of styles that use both together?”

“HIHEHAHO, I've never heard anyone ask that before. I know one style that uses two separate parts. I only know the soft form of that style… If you mastered that, you could use it to attempt to create the counterpart… Just, suggesting using both... You sound like a crazy person.”

He laughs again and spits up a little blood… Then begins to speak again.

“What I'm going to teach you is a style that is from a different region of the world. I'm not originally from around here. Traveling far from the east… Or was it the west? Regardless, the style I'm going to teach you is called circle walking. The style I'm going to teach you is called yang form, or gentle palm. The alternate style of this set is called yin form, or hard fist… Did I get them reversed?… I don't remember...”

… Maybe learning from him might not be such a good idea…

“Alright, for training today… Try to get me to use more than one finger while defending myself.”

“… Are you serious? Even the shogun was using his whole body in defending against me. I don't mean to assume.”

“Try first before you make conclusions.”

“Well… The shogun was also injuring me more than he would normally because I can heal myself. He also said that through pain I would learn faster… Is there any chance you can do the same.”

“Of course… We'll change it from one finger to two then. If I'm going to be attacking and defending I'll need at least two fingers.”

I let out a little laugh before he stares daggers into me. I immediately realize how serious he is being. We take our stances, me with my new aikido stance. Both hands in front of me but lowered. He has is body turned sideways from me, one hand juts out almost to a point where it is fully extended. I slowly edge towards him… Unlike the shogun though, he starts moving. Walking, keeping me in the center of his pattern… How am I supposed to get close to him while keeping my guard up?

I start to move towards him faster but he only speeds up as well. In order to reach him I would almost need to rush at him, that is the strength in his fighting style. It forces you to attack at an unguarded pace. Fine then, I'll fall into his trap. If I was afraid of getting injured, I would have never fought against the shogun.

I start to move towards him. At a much higher speed, fast enough to reach him even if he speeds up. I make a grab for his clothing but he pushes my hand into my other one with two fingers. The entire time continuing to move, fast enough to get behind me with the help of the guard he just did with his two fingers. He speaks while moving.

“You said you wanted to be taught through pain. I'm sorry for what I'm about to do.”

He barely finishes his sentence before I feel one of my ribs crack. With two fingers, almost using his fingers as a knife he broke a bone. That is beyond scary if he can do it with only two fingers. I try to turn to face him but he continues to stay on my back. Poking me into submission. A few more stabs and I fall to the ground in pain. He kept his word of only using two fingers. None of the attacks he made were normal to his fighting style. He is only attacking as a means to teach me faster and help me.

I take a breather to heal myself… The bones inside me also cut into me as they formed sharp edges. Sort of like a delayed knife after his fingers struck me. I do feel as if I'm becoming more resilient to pain. If I hadn't went through the shoguns training. His first attack would have most likely had me on the floor. He is looking at me intensely, more my hands than anything.

“Did he only break your hands?… I wonder why?… Can I see something? Stick out your hand for me.”

I hold my hand out and he immediately twists it, breaking it with ease.

“Ah, I see what he was trying to accomplish. By breaking the same bones over and over again, he was trying to build up the calcium in those particular bones to make them stronger. Normally breaking a bone wouldn't permanently strengthen them. But breaking the same bone over and over again will. Especially if you do it rapidly like that. Having the bones in your arms strengthened right now while your still so young...”

He seems to go rummaging around for a few moments. Throwing various things out of his tent. Returning with a bag full of pills.

“These are calcium pills. These will help your bones absorb more calcium to continue to get stronger as they are broken. I haven't had a use for them because I'm in great shape.”

Almost comically timed he coughs up more blood.

“But you will need them. You should also eat as much meat as possible before training to build up muscle.”

Well, I got that covered in spades. Yesterday I ate five pounds of basilisk with my new expanding stomach from the contract I made. I should naturally be able to use this meat as fuel to become stronger… After fighting the shogun and fighting the old man today… I have no doubt I'll need to eat the same amount tonight which is beyond the human limits of food consumption… This snake contract is both a blessing and a curse in that regard.

“Take one of these pills and we will begin again. With how the shogun has treated you, I'll also target the same bones over and over again… Perhaps after we're done for tonight I can break all the bones in your body a few times?”

“...Please, lets just stick with the training for now.”

“Alright.”

I take the pill and get stabbed in the chest. My rib is broken right near where my heart would be. Shit he didn't even give me time to take a defensive stance. I stand up and he's already moving towards my back. I do a spinning attack to try and catch him off guard but he easily jumps my leg and with his two fingered strike breaks the leg remaining on the ground. Shit! I thought other bones breaking hurt! My leg bone getting broken is like a different level of pain. I fall down and go to heal myself, before I can he breaks my other leg.

“Ouch! I thought you said you were sorry for what you were about to do. Now it seems like you enjoy hurting me.”

“You're a very fun punching bag. It isn't every day a healer wants to fight someone and encourages injuries. You could say I'm taking advantage of you wanting to get strong fast as a way to test out theories and the like. Also, you bring this weird food for me to eat and I'm pretty sure it is causing internal injuries. You shouldn't try to kill your teacher.”

“That wasn't food! It was a stone that would make it so you wouldn't need a transmutation circle.”

“...”

He gets up and grabs and old helmet. He begins enchanting it with a weak effect before realizing what I said was true.”

“AHHHHH!? Wait what is this!? I can do enchants without a transmutation circle… I must have been able to do it because I'm a genius when it comes to transmutation… I doubt it had anything to do with that weird berry I ate like you said.”

“… Can we get back to training please?”

I spend the rest of the day getting my bones broken over and over again. This time all over my body instead of just my arms.

Baguazhang (Circle walking) martial arts learned- (mastery level novice) Very little knowledge of the martial art itself, through luck you might be able to pull off a move

After training that day I head to pick up my other generals. Heading to Leaf first, she is covered in sweat. Her training was most likely hard, not nearly as tough as what I was put through yesterday. The shogun notices me. He is looking intently on my legs. He asks a question.

“Was that old man strengthening your legs? It appears as if he improved on my idea to strengthen your hands… If you have a few moments, I can break your legs a few more times today.”

“No, I'm good for today… How is Leaf's training going.”

“For having no classes that would improve her fighting abilities, she is a very quick learner. I would say almost learning as fast as you. If you both attacked me together you might be able to strike me a single time before I knocked you both out.”

We head to meet up with the other generals… I thought I was put through hell. This time Methodis was still conscious, even with him constantly healing, I still notice the amount of soreness of all my generals is far greater than yesterday. What did she put them through?

Nami notices me… She looks at my arms… Then my legs… Then asks the question I was afraid of.

“Hey Kite, you want to spar with me real quickly… I want to test something out.”

“If you're going to break my arms and legs to see if they are stronger… Don't bother, both of old men who are teaching me have done so enough for a lifetime.”

“It is odd they would take to an outsider so easily. I expected them to teach you halfheartedly but it appears both are going all out in your training… You are beyond an enigma when it comes to people liking you… Can you tell the female general of yours to… Not scream so much during fights… It's so distracting I can't fight against her seriously.”

“Are you talking about Green? I don't expect you to know this, on the battlefield many people fight the same way as her. Screaming and cursing as they attempt to kill another person… This is good training for you as well if you ever plan on fighting in wars. People will do whatever it takes to catch an opponent off-guard… I once caught a bandit with his pants down and ran my sword through his stomach before he managed to pull them up… That was a few lifetimes ago though.”

“Why?… Aren't we supposed to be better than the people we're fighting?”

“Well, in a perfect world we would be. If the enemy is willing to fight dirty and you're not. They already have an advantage over you. Do you remember when the pirates invaded before? That was them using dirty tactics to beat you before the fight even started. I plan on doing something similar in my fight against them.”

“… I guess that makes sense. It just seems unfair to fight that way.”

“They have hostages. They outnumber us 5 to 1. They have a very good leader. I'm going to do anything in my power to even the odds. Some things might be seen as fighting dirty. I don't care, I'm not afraid to hit below the belt if it saves the lives of my men.”