At The Peak of One Piece

At noon, Victor had lunch at the dojo, then headed to the small cottage in the forest to study blacksmithing. On the way, if he ran into suitable prey, he'd take it down and bring it along.

"Heat control, deformation temperature of metals, timing, quenching, annealing, tempering…" Victor had a photographic memory, so everything Kouzaburou taught him stuck instantly. All he needed afterward was hands-on practice to gain proficiency.

These were just foundational concepts. Different metals, alloys, and ores all behaved differently. Victor still had a lot to learn, but he wasn't in a rush—studying a little each day was enough.

During training, he also had to swing a heavy hammer. Kouzaburou would point out exactly where to strike, how much force to use, how long to hit for, and so on—it wasn't something one could master overnight.

As evening approached, Victor would head deep into the forest to hunt and bring back plenty of meat. The next day, he'd bring a large portion to the Isshin Dojo and have lunch with Koushirou and Kuina. Koushirou didn't eat much, but Victor made sure Kuina had a hearty meal.

Victor's daily routine quickly fell into a rhythm.

In the mornings, he ate breakfast in the forest, then strapped a large boulder to his back and ran to the dojo. Sometimes he would spar with Koushirou or talk swordsmanship, sometimes tell Kuina a story. Other times, he'd just practice techniques or meditate on sword intent.

At noon, he'd eat at the dojo, then run with the boulder on his back to the blacksmith's cabin in the woods. Later in the day, he'd go deep into the forest to hunt and test out sword forms. Time flowed steadily on.

…

A month later, inside Koushirou's meditation room:

"Sensei, do you know a place with a lot of powerful beasts? Ones stronger than me, at least. I want to go on a training journey," Victor said to Koushirou.

Half a month ago, Victor had fully mastered Yubashiri, but Observation Haki still hadn't awakened. It wasn't that he lacked talent for Haki—it was just that he was already too strong. He'd never faced a real life-threatening crisis. Without such moments, the chances of spontaneous awakening were slim. Koushirou was stronger than him, but would never go all out to kill him.

Maybe Victor's body didn't think the danger level was high enough to warrant activating Haki. That might be the downside of having such strong natural talent. If you haven't stepped through the right threshold, then no matter how refined your body is, it can't act on something it hasn't encountered. So Victor decided to do what Luffy did—seek out powerful beasts to trigger Haki under life-or-death pressure.

Koushirou understood Victor's intention immediately and admired his determination. Realizing the issue couldn't be solved in the short term, Victor had chosen a more dangerous but effective path.

What Koushirou didn't know was that Victor wasn't the type to chase danger. He preferred control—over his life and his destiny.

But time wasn't on his side. In twenty years, the world would undergo a cataclysmic upheaval. He didn't know what kind of person Imu was, or how that upheaval would unfold. So he had no choice but to use his limited time to grow as powerful as possible. He wouldn't leave his fate in anyone else's hands. So risking danger now felt necessary.

"There's one place I know," Koushirou said. "It's in the Calm Belt between the East Blue and the Grand Line. From here, entering the Calm Belt from East Blue isn't far."

He paused for a moment, recalling something.

"A long time ago, when I was journeying around the world, I once sailed across the East Blue. That night, a violent storm hit—raged on all night. There wasn't a trace of light over the sea, and our ship ended up being blown into the Calm Belt. We got pushed deep into it by the storm's inertia. Even though we weren't far from East Blue, the Sea Kings sensed us from below and surged to the surface. To survive, we rowed with everything we had and eventually made it to an island."

Victor thought to himself, Lucky guy. Didn't get eaten and even found an island in the Calm Belt.

If Koushirou knew what Victor was thinking, he probably would've given him a few good whacks.

"When we got to the island, the ship was already badly damaged—no way to sail again soon. Food supplies were running low. There were about a dozen of us, and I was the strongest, so the hunting job fell to me. Once I went deeper into the island, I realized the beasts there were far too powerful. I saw a Sea King come out of the sea and fight one of the island's beasts to a draw. Their strength far surpassed my own back then. Even now, I wouldn't be able to defeat the strongest creatures there," Koushirou said with a sigh.

"For food, I had no choice but to fight desperately. In the end, I only managed to survive on that island by breaking through my limits when my life was in danger. I never dared to venture deep into the island—the aura there was far too dangerous. We only stayed in the outer areas, hunting, cutting trees, repairing the ship, and camping. It took us over twenty days to fully repair the ship before we could finally leave." 

"Sensei, do you have a map of that place? I want to go see it," Victor asked solemnly. 

"There's no map. Even if there were, you wouldn't be able to use a compass in the Calm Belt. Back then, we used Log Poses to record a few Eternal Poses. I'll give them to you later," Koushirou said, seeing Victor's determination. 

"I'll definitely come back alive," Victor declared firmly. 

Koushirou stood and went to his room. Victor remained seated, lost in thought about how to get there. The Calm Belt itself wasn't the issue—it was the Sea Kings that posed the real threat. Their senses were sharp, and the slightest disturbance would bring them to the surface. 

Victor considered Geppo (Moon Walk). If he could master it, he'd be able to avoid the Sea Kings entirely. It would also be a useful skill in the long run. Geppo probably wasn't too difficult—if Sanji could learn it just by running, then speed was the key. With his natural talent, there was no reason he couldn't master it. 

"Don't assume Sanji's running speed was actually slow just because the anime made it look that way. If they animated his real speed, you wouldn't even see his movements—it'd be impossible to follow. The portrayal just downplays it for clarity." 

The principle behind Geppo was rapid kicks against the air to generate upward force. It was slightly more plausible than the old martial arts trope of "stepping on your own foot to fly"—at least the reaction force had a real source. The challenge now was figuring out how to use that minimal force to walk on air. 

Victor recalled that in the anime, Geppo always produced loud noises when used. He guessed those were sonic booms, which made sense—using the explosive reaction force to propel oneself upward. 

Doing the math, a sonic boom required breaking the sound barrier (roughly 340 m/s). Soru (Shave), one of the Six Powers, involved kicking the ground dozens of times in 0.36 seconds to generate explosive force for instant movement. The exact number of kicks likely depended on the user's strength—more kicks meant greater speed and distance. 

Assuming 30 kicks for Soru, each kick would take 0.012 seconds. If each step covered about 1 meter, then the minimum speed to perform Soru would be 83 m/s—already fast enough to be invisible to the human eye. 

By rough estimation, Geppo required four times the speed of Soru. 

"In other words, I should master Soru first, then push it to an advanced level before attempting Geppo. That'll make the process smoother. Right now, my speed is already beyond normal perception, but I'm not even at the beginner stage of Soru. I never focused much on speed training before… With my body's natural talent, I could improve quickly. Maybe I should master Geppo before setting sail. Ugh." 

Victor sighed inwardly. His previous training had been too balanced—he hadn't prioritized speed. Now, he'd have to waste more time catching up. A flicker of regret crossed his mind.