On an unnamed island, golden beaches stretched endlessly beneath azure skies. White clouds drifted lazily overhead, the air was fresh, and a gentle sea breeze rippled across the surface of the ocean. The entire island was shrouded in a thin veil of white mist, giving it an unreal, dreamlike feeling.
A five-year-old boy lay quietly on the beach.
Slowly, he opened his eyes and stared at his small, delicate hands, his gaze filled with disbelief.
"Am I… not dead? Did I transmigrate? Or was I reborn?"
The boy's name was Leon Fang.
In his previous life on Earth, Leon Fang had been a once-in-a-generation genius born into an ancient martial arts family. By the age of twenty, he had already defeated every master in the Innate Realm. Yet even then, he was not satisfied. Having mastered four internal energy techniques, his ambition continued to grow, and he attempted to cultivate an entirely new one.
That arrogance cost him his life.
A deviation in his qi caused his meridians to collapse, and he died instantly.
And yet, when he opened his eyes again, he had become a child of five or six years old.
Leon Fang had no choice but to accept reality. He had no idea where he was, or whether this world was even Earth.
"Forget it. Let's first see if this body can still be used for cultivation."
After speaking, he sat down cross-legged on the sand and began circulating the Damo Muscle-Tendon Scripture, a foundational technique designed to rebuild the body from the ground up.
The moment he entered cultivation, Leon Fang sensed something astonishing.
The spiritual energy on this island was incredibly dense.
After practicing the Damo Muscle-Tendon Scripture for only a short time, he smoothly stepped into the basics. He moved his limbs, carefully checked his physical condition, then immediately resumed cultivating without hesitation.
This technique emphasized the gradual fusion of spirit, body, and breath—uniting mental focus, physical form, and respiration through long-term, diligent practice. In doing so, it nourished the five internal organs, the twelve primary meridians, the eight extraordinary meridians, and the entire meridian network of the body.
Another half an hour passed.
Leon Fang opened his eyes in disbelief. He had already mastered the first form.
Back in his previous life, learning this single form had taken him an entire day.
He originally planned to continue cultivating, but his stomach protested fiercely. With no choice, he stood up and walked toward the forest behind the beach in search of food.
Leon Fang didn't dare venture too deep. He had no idea what dangers might exist—wild beasts, venomous insects, or things even worse.
"At my current strength, I can't fight anyone. I'll just look for something edible nearby… but my luck really is terrible. All I can find are wild fruits. Guess I'll have to make do."
After barely filling his stomach, he immediately returned to cultivation and began practicing the second form.
The Damo Muscle-Tendon Scripture contained twelve forms in total. Leon Fang was confident that he could complete all of them within three days. Only then would he truly be able to cultivate the Lesser Formless Skill.
In his previous life, he had suffered a qi deviation precisely because of this technique. But now, things were different. His martial foundation had been wiped clean, and his body had been rebuilt through the Damo Muscle-Tendon Scripture. This time, he was certain he would succeed.
The next day arrived in the blink of an eye.
It had to be said—the spiritual energy on this island was terrifyingly abundant. After cultivating through the night, Leon Fang had already reached the sixth form. If not for hunger gnawing at him, he could have continued without stopping.
Unfortunately, there was nothing left to eat near the forest's edge.
With caution, Leon Fang ventured deeper inside.
When he pushed aside the dense foliage, the scene before him left him completely stunned.
A small lake lay ahead, fed by a clear waterfall cascading down from above. The place looked like a fairyland. Even more shocking was the fact that the spiritual energy here was far denser than anywhere else on the island.
The scenery before him was beyond words.
"Damn… I'm really uncultured. All I can say is 'holy crap.'"
Wild fruits grew abundantly on trees near the lake, and fish swam freely in the water. Leon Fang didn't recognize the species, but hunger left him with no room for caution. He decided to catch a few and roast them.
After some effort, he finally managed to catch several fish. He quickly set up a simple fire, grilled them, and ate until he was satisfied.
Once his stomach was full, Leon Fang gathered branches and leaves nearby and constructed a crude wooden cabin to serve as shelter.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
Leon Fang finally completed the Damo Muscle-Tendon Scripture. At this point, he had officially stepped into the realm of a martial artist.
At that moment, a strange book suddenly appeared in his mind.
Its title was "The Martial Compendium of Jin Yong."
Leon Fang was no stranger to Jin Yong's novels. However, many of the techniques described in those stories simply did not exist in reality.
"Don't tell me… I have some kind of cheat as well?"
Completely bewildered and unsure how to use it, Leon Fang ignored the book and continued cultivating the Lesser Formless Skill.
Suddenly, the book in his mind trembled.
The cultivation method for the Lesser Formless Skill unfolded clearly before him, as if it had been engraved directly into his consciousness.
Leon Fang was ecstatic.
"Does that mean… I can also cultivate the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms and the Dugu Nine Swords?"
He tested it again and again. After confirming that cultivation was indeed possible, Leon Fang was so overjoyed that he nearly lost control.
Once the initial excitement faded, he forced himself to calm down.
Cultivation still had to continue.
The Lesser Formless Skill was a supreme internal energy technique passed down by the Carefree Sect, possessing unimaginable power. Its defining trait was its formless and traceless nature. Once mastered, as long as the user understood another martial art's movements, they could rely on its profound energy to perfectly imitate—甚至 surpass—the original technique. It was a divine art that embodied the pinnacle of Daoist martial philosophy.
This was precisely why Leon Fang, despite once being invincible, had insisted on cultivating it in his previous life.
Spring passed, autumn arrived.
Two years slipped by unnoticed.
The Lesser Formless Skill had been fully mastered half a year ago.
During the following six months, Leon Fang focused entirely on martial techniques. After all, possessing internal energy without matching combat skills was meaningless.
Within that time, he mastered four supreme martial arts: the Dugu Nine Swords, the Six Meridian Divine Sword, the Vajra Great Palm, and the Dragon Claw Hand, reaching their absolute pinnacles.
At this moment, Leon Fang had stepped into the Heavenly Realm—a level that only the patriarch of the Fang family had ever reached in his previous life.
Confidence surged within him.
Now seven years old and already a Heavenly Realm master, Leon Fang boldly ventured deeper into the island in search of food. What was there to fear? He was certain that one day, he would ascend to the realm of a Martial God.
But what happened next completely shattered his understanding of the world.
Leon Fang hadn't gone very far when he encountered a gorilla nearly three meters tall.
He wasn't afraid in the slightest.
Charging forward, he unleashed the Vajra Great Palm, attempting to send the beast flying.
To his shock, the gorilla was completely unharmed.
Instead, it bared its fangs and charged straight at him.
Leon Fang dodged in time and watched as the massive tree the gorilla struck toppled to the ground.
"How can this thing be so strong…?"
No matter whether he used the Vajra Great Palm or the Dragon Claw Hand, he couldn't injure it at all.
Enraged, Leon Fang grabbed a tree branch, infused it with internal energy, and unleashed the Six Meridian Divine Sword.
At first, he completely suppressed the gorilla, forcing it to scream repeatedly.
But what happened next left Leon Fang utterly stunned.
The gorilla picked up a branch of its own—and began imitating the Six Meridian Divine Sword.
At the beginning, its movements were clumsy and awkward. But as the battle continued, Leon Fang's expression changed again and again.
The gorilla learned at an astonishing speed.
Before long, it was using the Six Meridian Divine Sword fluently, matching Leon Fang blow for blow.
"Aaah—! No way! No way!" Leon Fang roared. "I refuse to believe it! You're just an animal, yet you're more talented than me?! And now you're even using the Dugu Nine Swords?!"
What Leon Fang didn't know was that he was already in the world of One Piece.
And by sheer coincidence, the island he was on was inhabited by a tribe of apes possessing terrifying learning abilities. Aside from Devil Fruits, they could easily master anything—whether swordsmanship, Armament Haki, or even advanced martial arts techniques.
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