Two weeks had passed since Ling first arrived in Foosha Village.
The first week had been spent recovering from his injuries, while the second had been devoted almost entirely to training. Now that his body had fully recovered, his days had settled into a routine.
Every morning, before most of Foosha Village had even woken up, Ling left Woop Slap's house and headed toward the docks to accompany Gyoru out to sea.
What had started as a single fishing trip had quickly become part of his everyday life. Ling was still nowhere close to being an experienced fisherman, but little by little, he was improving. He learned how to handle ropes and nets, recognize changes in the wind and current, and use seabirds or movement near the surface to judge where fish might be gathering.
Once they returned to Foosha Village, the work continued at Gyoru's stall. Ling helped sort the catch, clean fish, prepare whatever would be sold fresh, and preserve anything that needed to last longer.
After finishing with Gyoru, he returned to Woop Slap's house, where Makino was usually waiting with breakfast.
Without any of them deliberately planning it, the three had fallen into a routine of their own. Woop Slap sat at the table behind his newspaper, Makino brought the food, and Ling ate enough to recover some of the energy he'd already spent that morning.
Makino had quickly learned how much more he ate now that he was training. Whenever Ling finished one serving, another somehow appeared in front of him before he had a chance to ask.
He had stopped questioning it after the third day.
After breakfast came the part of his day that consumed most of his attention.
Training.
For the past week, Ling had kept things simple. He worked on his strength, stamina, balance, coordination, and general movement, gradually increasing what he could handle without pushing his body too far.
Progress was slow, but that was expected.
Now that his first full week of training was coming to an end, it was time to add something else.
His Devil Fruit.
Ling had deliberately left the Toki Toki no Mi alone during his first week after recovering. The last time it activated, he'd lost an entire year without meaning to, and experimenting carelessly with a power that only moved forward through time seemed like an excellent way to create a problem he couldn't undo.
Avoiding it forever wasn't an option either.
From now on, whenever his body needed a break from physical training, Ling intended to spend part of that time studying the Toki Toki no Mi while keeping his experiments as controlled as possible.
After finishing his first round of training that morning, Ling walked over to a nearby tree and sat beneath its shade. Sweat covered his forehead, and his breathing remained slightly heavy as he rested against the trunk.
Once his heartbeat settled, he lowered his gaze toward his hands.
Learning to control the Toki Toki no Mi was nothing like strengthening his body. Physical training was straightforward enough: work, rest, recover, and repeat.
His Devil Fruit didn't come with anything nearly that convenient.
Ling remembered everything Kozuki Toki had shown with the fruit. She had crossed enormous stretches of time and later sent other people into the future, but the story had never shown what activating the ability actually felt like.
That left him with plenty of questions.
Could he consciously choose exactly how far forward something traveled? Could he shorten the interval to minutes or even seconds? Could he send an object forward without accompanying it, or affect another person independently? Did longer jumps require more energy?
Ling stared at his palm.
'Control first.'
He closed his eyes and focused.
The power was there. He had already used it once, even if the activation had happened while he was barely conscious.
Now he needed to figure out how to call on it intentionally.
Several minutes passed.
Nothing happened.
Ling opened his eyes and looked at his hands.
"..."
'How do Devil Fruit users even figure this stuff out?'
One Piece had never exactly provided an instruction manual.
Apparently, the process was simple: eat a mysterious fruit, gain a supernatural ability, and figure out how the hell it worked on your own.
Ling almost wanted to complain about the terrible customer service.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Ling kept at it until his breathing had completely settled and the soreness in his body had eased enough for him to resume training. Then he pushed himself back to his feet and returned to work.
During his next break, he tried again with the same result.
By late afternoon, Ling had made several attempts without producing even the slightest response from the fruit.
He wasn't particularly disappointed.
Physical training wasn't going to transform him in a day, and learning to control an ability capable of manipulating time probably wasn't going to be any easier.
Ling stood near the shore as the sun gradually descended toward the horizon. The evening breeze swept in from the sea, pleasantly cool against his sweat-covered skin.
His body was tired, but not painfully so.
Tomorrow would begin much the same way: fishing with Gyoru, breakfast waiting for him when he returned, physical training, and another attempt with the Toki Toki no Mi whenever he stopped to rest.
Ling looked toward the setting sun as a small smile appeared on his face.
'Not a bad routine.'