"Mm, the way you put it is not bad."
"When my master taught me, he said Ripple links to breath, breath to blood, blood to the lungs."
"Oxygen in the blood links to the body's cells, which is the flesh. Through breathing we create ripples, letting the body generate energy."
"It is like touching water with your hand and seeing rings spread. We breathe so the cells send out ripples, then gather those ripples through the flow of blood."
Lisa Lisa nodded, weighing Shiratori Riku's point. It was heretical at the edges, but broadly sound.
"But the problem is that we cannot produce that specific oscillation without breathing, so what you suggest cannot be done."
"I can."
"Huh? What did you say?"
She stared as Riku held his breath and still used Ripple. Even hair that should not carry Ripple without blood flow now conducted it.
Because hair has no circulating blood, Ripple does not reach it. Yet his hair shimmered with Ripple.
That meant he could transmit Ripple without breath.
"How are you doing this?"
This time Lisa Lisa truly did not grasp it. She circled him twice and still saw no trick.
"Simple. Drive the vibration directly with energy inside the body. That vibration can travel not only in blood but cell to cell."
"Hair, teeth, nails, anywhere. I could even stand here and send Ripple down through the pillar to the bottom."
After receiving data on the Quake-Quake Fruit, Riku had devised a new way to guide energy. Now he put it to use.
"If I combine inner elixir with Ripple, can I replenish my own Innate One Qi?"
As soon as the thought formed, he acted. He sat down, and his body began to hum at a special frequency.
"What is he doing?"
Lisa Lisa watched, tense but not interrupting, ready to rescue him if needed.
Riku slipped into inner observation. He watched energy circulate, the five phases engendering, yet each cycle lost a little.
He tuned at a finer scale to trim the losses, set the viscera in order, then integrated the whole body.
He shaped the special oscillation into something like an eggshell and shrouded himself, sealing all energy inside.
That way his Innate One Qi would not bleed away for nothing.
Then, by a precise vibration, he converted cellular energy into life energy, turning acquired qi into Innate One Qi.
That innate power condensed into a colorless bead within him. The bead burst.
Life energy flooded every cell, and with it each cell toughened and grew.
Stronger cells yielded more life energy, which gathered again, then burst again.
Round and round his essence, energy, and spirit were honed.
In the flow he felt himself blend with heaven and earth. His Ripple frequency took on the cadence of nature.
The sun above, the wind afar, the moisture in the air - he felt fused with the world.
Deeper still, ambient energy seeped into him, joining his life-energy cycle.
"So this is grain-avoidance, drinking wind and sipping dew."
He touched the state described in Daoist texts. He could draw energy straight from heaven and earth.
For now it was a trickle. As he grew skilled, it would rise. When that time came, he would not need food.
A spark of excitement rose, and that ripple of emotion knocked him out of the state.
GURGLE!
When he opened his eyes, his stomach howled. He had converted all usable energy into life energy, which then went to strengthen his body.
He had no spare fuel. Cell by cell, his body clamored for nutrients.
He understood more keenly how vital it was to take in energy from nature while training. If you could not absorb as you refined, you might starve mid-practice.
He was already visibly leaner. With insufficient attainment, he had no choice but to replenish by eating.
"What were you just doing?"
Relief softened Lisa Lisa's face. Watching him thin so fast had rattled her. He seemed fine now, yet something about him had changed.
Though he stood before her, he was somehow hard to see clearly.
"Mm... Elizabeth?"
Riku looked at her and, after a moment of groping, produced a name.
"Hm!"
Lisa Lisa's eyes widened. How did he know her former name? Right - he was a detective, and a good one.
He must have investigated her and found her true identity.
"Tell me you did not share that with JoJo."
She drew a long breath. It was fine if he knew, as long as Joseph did not.
"I did not. I just learned it."
Riku thought she meant the Ripple matter. He had only just worked out Ripple by vibration and had not told Joseph yet.
"Good. Do not tell them. It is for their sake."
She nodded, lit a cigarette, and gazed into the distance, thoughts drifting back to that night long ago.
"Right, where do we eat? I am starving."
"Over there."
She pointed toward the kitchen. "Find Suzi Q. She handles everything in the castle."
"Got it."
Riku went to the kitchen and ate the equivalent of fifty meals. Only after converting it all to energy did his frame return to normal.
"No hulking mass. So what increased was the quality of my physique, not the volume of muscle."
He felt brimming with strength, though he knew it was an illusion born of a rapid rise.
He bundled his work on Ripple vibration, returning the acquired to the innate, five-phase cycling, and the Kunpeng Heaven-Devouring method, then uploaded it to the chat group.
Using the group's file feature, he integrated the material and patched small gaps.