The next day…
The sun had just begun to rise.
"It's my third day here."
Ling sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Time to start my training. I also need to explore my power… the Time-Time Fruit."
Then he grimaced.
"But damn… Devil Fruits really do taste awful. They weren't exaggerating in the anime or manga—or it might've been worse than what they showed."
He downed a cup of water.
After two days of bed rest and sweating, he winced as he caught a whiff of himself.
He lifted his arm, sniffed, and immediately recoiled.
"Oh Hell nah."
Ten minutes later, freshly showered and dressed, Ling sat down for a quick breakfast—smoked fish from Gyoru—before stepping outside.
The morning sun greeted him warmly, its rays brushing against his skin. He raised a hand and used the finger method to estimate the time.
"Nice it's still early in the morning."
Villagers were already doing their usual work. Fishermen hauled their nets toward the docks, and vendors began setting up their stalls for the day.
"The docking area is on that side, Mt. Colubo is right behind Foosha Village."
He paused, considering.
"Should I train in the forest?"
A beat of silence.
'Nah. Going straight to the forest is dumb. I'll train here first. Get the basics down. I can start fitness training and practice using the Toki Toki no Mi during breaks.'
'No time should be wasted! For the next ten years, I will solely focus on getting stronger.'
Decision made, he stepped away from the house and began stretching.
For ten minutes, he loosened up tight joints and warmed up his muscles. Then he started running around the village, keeping a steady pace.
The villagers glanced curiously at him as he passed, but most smiled or waved.
Ten minutes in, and he had already run three kilometers.
'Damn, this is exhausting… but wait, I ran three kilometers? No walking? No jogging? Just running?'
'In my past life, even running one kilometer straight would've been a miracle. Is this body just that different? Or maybe because this world's gravity is stronger? Makes sense, considering how absurdly big the world is.'
He took a short break.
"Alright. Five-minute break every three kilometers will do."
"I'll do jogging for an hour before moving on to the second part of my daily routine."
By the end of the hour, he'd run four laps around the village—twelve kilometers total.
Sweat poured down his back, but his breathing was steady.
"Not bad."
He dropped onto a bench near the shore and let himself recover. The sea breeze helped.
"While resting I will explore and analyze the Time-Time Fruit."
From here on out, his routine for the next week would be one hour of physical training, followed by a thirty-minute break to experiment with his Devil Fruit.
Rinse and repeat.
"Let's see." Ling pondered.
'I didn't dare to use it last night after eating it because, what if I accidentally sent myself decades into the future? That would be disastrous.'
He sat cross-legged on the grainy sand, breathing steadily.
'According to what I know, Toki, the previous user of this fruit could launch herself or others into the future. But they say the limit was twenty years.'
'I don't want that. I don't want to skip ahead and miss everything.'
'I don't want to miss Luffy's adventure… maybe at one point I can befriend him and board his ship.'
'What makes this fruit good isn't just time travel—it's the instant effect. Perfect for a losing battle. I could just yeet myself ten days forward and by the time I arrived they would probably be gone.'
'If not, I would just repeat it until they'll lose patience and leave me alone.'
But the problem was clear.
'I barely know anything about how this fruit truly works. Even in the canon timeline, only Toki had it, and she died before we saw its full potential.'
'The biggest flaw? Once I travel forward, there's no way back. Unless… Toki never unlocked its full capabilities.'
'But if I can… if I manage to uncover its true potential, I might just become one of the strongest in the world.'
He imagined it—traveling a mere 0.65 seconds into the future mid-fight, dodging an attack, vanishing from sight, and striking before the enemy could even register what happened.
'That alone could bypass Observation Haki… though advanced Observation Haki might be a slight problem. If they can't perceive me moving through time, their predictions become worthless.'
He pictured dodging a barrage of meteors from someone like Fujitora.
'A quick jump a few seconds ahead… and it's like the attack never happened.'
'If I ever learn Future Sight on top of this, I could be nearly unstoppable.'
'Imagine if I awakened it too, I could use a domains like in Jujutsu Kaisen or Julius time reversal magic from Black Clover.'
He exhaled, deep and slow.
'Haaah… Everything's just "what ifs" for now.'
With that, Ling stood, brushing sands from his pants. It was time for the second round of training.
He began with ten minutes of dynamic stretching.
First, he did high box jumps—ten sets of fifteen reps. After a five-minute rest, he followed it up with push-ups: incline, decline, and standard—ten sets of fifteen each. Another five-minute break.
Then came pull-ups on a tree branch. Same sets and reps. Then a rest.
Next were handstand push-ups—again, ten sets of fifteen. He took another break.
Afterward, he moved to close-grip pull-ups, same count. Break.
Finally, triceps dips—ten sets of fifteen.
The whole session lasted about two hours.
Why no weights?
'The first week is about building foundation—stamina, balance, mobility. Gotta loosen up the joints before loading them.'
By the time he finished, the sun had climbed high. It was noon. His stomach growled.
He held his tummy. "Time for lunch."
He made his way back to the mayor's house.
As he approached the porch, he saw Makino walking toward him, carrying a tray.
"Ling, I brought you lunch," she said with a gentle smile.
Ling hesitated. Her kindness struck a nerve.
"Sister Makino… you've already done so much for me. You and the mayor. I've been thinking… I might leave Foosha Village and stay on Mt. Colubo."
Her smile vanished.
"What are you saying, Ling? You think we're helping you because we expect something from you?" she snapped, her voice rising.
Ling's eyes dropped to the ground.
"I'm sorry," he muttered.
"It's just… I can't repay you. And living in the mayor's house without even contributing—it doesn't sit right with me."
At that moment, the mayor returned from his midday errands and overheard the conversation.
"Ling, I don't care how long you stay. You're just a child. Living alone in Mt. Colubo isn't safe."
Makino nodded beside him, arms crossed, her silence loud with agreement.
The mayor continued, "And you're just ten years old. What space do you even take up in my house? You're still small. Now eat your lunch and do whatever you want after that."
Ling accepted the tray and sat down to eat.
After apologizing to Makino, the three of them sat down together. The mood lightened, and Ling could feel their sincerity.
When the meal ended, both Makino and the mayor returned to their work, leaving Ling alone again.
Before she left, Makino made sure to pile extra food on his plate, insisting, "You need to eat more. You're still growing."
Ling nodded, chuckling softly.
"Thanks, Makino."
Once the house was quiet again, a thought struck him.
'I've got an idea for training my Devil Fruit ability. I'll experiment using something simple… like rocks.'
He stood up and stepped outside, scanning the ground until he gathered ten small stones. Each fit snugly in his palm.
To keep track, Ling used a piece of charcoal to mark every rock with a unique symbol—crosses, circles, dots, lines—anything to distinguish one from another.
"Let's see if I can send these forward in time, just seconds at first. If they disappear and reappear, even for a moment, it'll show how well my control on my abilities id."
'The experiment was ready. Time to test the true nature of the Toki Toki no Mi.'
Ling sat cross-legged outside the mayor's house, the ten marked rocks lined up neatly in front of him.
"Let's start small… 0.65 seconds into the future. Just a blink."
He held the rock tightly and focused. His breath slowed as he willed the power within him to activate.
A strange sensation rippled through his body, like his veins were pulling away from the present. He directed that force into the rock.
It shimmered faintly… and then vanished.
Ling's heart skipped. "Did it work?"
He waited.
Five seconds.
Ten.
A full minute.
Nothing.
The rock didn't return.
He frowned, crossing out the first entry in his chart.
"Okay. Maybe too small a window? Or I misjudged the return function… if it even has one."
He grabbed the second rock.
"Two seconds this time."
Same sensation. The rock flickered, shimmered—and vanished.
Hope surged.
Two seconds passed.
Nothing.
Five seconds.
Still nothing.
Ling cursed softly and marked another failure. His third, fourth, fifth, and sixth attempts followed with time jumps ranging from five to eight seconds. All failures.
By the seventh rock, frustration had set in.
He inhaled deeply. "One last focused try. Ten seconds this time."
He placed the rock on his palm, summoned the ability again, and poured it in.
It blinked out of existence.
One… two… five… eight…
Ten.
Pop.
The rock reappeared, landing softly on the grass.
His eyes widened.
"No way…"
He lunged for the paper and scribbled furiously, underlining the success three times.
"Ten seconds forward. Came back perfectly. That means… I can do it."
Eager now, he grabbed the eighth rock and repeated the process—same technique, same time.
The rock vanished.
Ten seconds passed.
Nothing.
He waited longer. Still nothing.
He scowled, crossed it out, and tried again with the ninth. Then the tenth.
Nothing.
He sat there, staring at the chart, sweat beading on his forehead.
'So it wasn't a fluke… but it's inconsistent. Or maybe I hit a limit?'
Ling leaned back, letting the warm wind brush against his face.
'Still… it's a start.'
Ling picked up another rock and tried again. Then another. And another.
For hours, he repeated the process—focus, activate, send forward in time—only for the rocks to vanish and never return.
Still, no success.
But Ling didn't falter. He wasn't discouraged. Patience was part of the grind.
'Training takes time. Nothing worth mastering ever comes easy.'
The sun dipped low, casting golden hues across the village. By the time he glanced at the sky again, it was already a little dark.
He stood, stretching out the stiffness in his limbs.
"Time for my evening run."
Without wasting a second, he took off down the path—feet pounding rhythmically against the ground. A full hour. Twelve kilometers. No shortcuts. No walking.
By the time he returned, the stars had begun to shimmer faintly in the deepening twilight.
Makino and the mayor were waiting for him on the porch, dinner laid out on a small wooden table.
"You're just in time," Makino said with a smile, handing him a bowl.
After dinner, Ling thanked them both, took a quick shower, and crawled into bed.
His muscles ached, but in a good way. His mind buzzed with ideas and questions.