Chapter 29: Justice from Above?
Ryuji took some rice grains from his pocket to feed the crows, smoothing the feathers on the back of its neck with his finger. "I understand, I'll go right away."
Just as he withdrew his hand, a dark shadow dove down rapidly from mid-air, its claws pointing straight at the crows in Ryuji's hand.
It was Little Red.
Ryuji was quick-eyed and nimble-handed, grabbing it in one fell swoop and stroking the back of Little Red's neck twice without a word.
"How audacious! For a mere mount to feed other Crows behind this King's back is one thing, but to dare show disrespect to this King is truly outrageous!"
Little Red's claws scratched incessantly, its red eyes staring intently at Ryuji. "Let go at once, or this King will show you the meaning of Justice from Above!"
"Justice from Above?"
Ryuji's lips twitched as he imagined a white "missile" dropping from the sky and smashing into his head during their usual travels.
Seeing the change in Ryuji's expression, Little Red acted like a victorious general, haughty and arrogant:
"Now you know this King's power! Offer up a tribute and this King might consider forgiving you, my mount!"
Ryuji smiled, lifting his hand to release Little Red into the air. He began walking north, and after dodging Little Red's playful attack, he asked, "What kind of tribute do you want?"
"Shiny things, of course."
Little Red flew beside Ryuji, speaking with its head held high.
"Fine, when I get back from the Train Station, I'll get some for you... Now, lead the way."
Ryuji shook his head. Truly a Crow, always liking random bits and bobs.
"North, just go straight."
Little Red perched on Ryuji's shoulder, preening its feathers as it spoke softly.
The man and Crow moved quickly, passing by the Kochou family residence. After obtaining some medical supplies like Hemostatics, Ryuji continued north toward the newly built Train Station without stopping.
"Open System panel."
Ryuji chanted internally. The panel opened, and he ignored the trivial details, locking his gaze onto the military merit points.
[military merit points: 1000]
A bright four-digit number!
The corners of his mouth curled slightly. It had been nearly a month since he arrived in the Demon Slayer World.
Initially, he thought he'd have to kill countless demons to exchange for rewards, but now it seemed it wasn't that difficult.
Not bad, not bad. At this rate, when the plot starts and it's time to hunt Muzan, he'd give him a big surprise!
"System, what can I exchange with my current military merit points?"
[Basic Taijutsu Training Manual, Basic Marksmanship Training Manual, Basic Navigation Knowledge Manual...]
A long list of basic manuals appeared before Ryuji's eyes, almost obscuring his vision.
"Stop, I'll browse myself."
Ryuji stopped the System. The ones it listed were all basic things that were of little use.
He checked the exchange page himself and found that even the lowest-tier common Zoan-type Fruit required 15,000 military merit points.
"Wait, why is the Navy Six Styles cheaper?"
Ryuji looked at Navy Six Styles: Paper Arts, which was 500 points cheaper, and asked, "If I've already learned it, does it reduce the cost?"
[Yes.]
"Then what Rank is this Paper Arts?"
[mastered. All Navy Six Styles Moves are at mastered.]
mastered? That's not worth it!
Ryuji quickly calculated in his head. There were seven Ranks in total: Prototype, Threshold, Entry, mastered, Proficiency, Accomplishment, and Grandmaster.
mastered was only the fourth Rank, and it could be improved through training anyway.
4,500 points to exchange for a single Navy Six Styles Move at mastered... and if he wanted other Moves, he'd have to exchange again... it was too inefficient.
It would be better to save up and directly exchange for a Zoan-type Devil Fruit.
Even a common Zoan-type Devil Fruit provided a visible boost to strength; just physical toughness alone was on a different level.
Plus, there were the Beast and Hybrid forms.
With enough talent, one could even reach Lucci's level!
"Sigh, I'm still short on military merit."
Thinking this, Ryuji quickened his pace. After all, demons meant military merit... While traveling, he began trying to use Stone Breathing to replace his normal breathing—the practice of Total Concentration.
"Cough, cough... Still not working..."
After persisting for half a minute, Ryuji started coughing. His breathing became labored, and his lungs felt like they were burning. It took him a long time to catch his breath.
He frowned deeply. This shouldn't be happening.
Since he could learn Stone Breathing, his talent shouldn't be that bad. Why couldn't he do it?
The trio of youngsters only took a few days to master Total Concentration Breathing.
There was no reason he couldn't.
Recalling the sensation carefully, it felt as if his body was rejecting the Breathing Technique.
Uzui Tengen had said he had a triple disconnect, one of which was between the Breathing Technique and his body. Since then, whenever he tried to focus on the breathing rhythm, he felt uncomfortable.
Could it be that he needed to evolve a Breathing Technique suited to himself... At this thought, Ryuji's temples throbbed. Was this a mandatory path for transmigrators?
How ridiculous.
However, if he were to create a new Breathing Technique, there were no derivatives of Stone Breathing in the original story.
So... what should his breathing be?
Earth Breathing? Mud Breathing? Or Molten Breathing?
Thinking this, Ryuji shook his head to clear his mind. These names sounded unreliable.
"Instead of thinking about these ridiculous things, why not try wrapping Haki around my lungs..."
Once this thought arose, it was like a wildfire that Ryuji couldn't shake from his mind.
The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. After all, if wrapping could increase the strength of his fists, the alveoli should be similar.
It's all flesh... Action follows thought. After all, the bold feast while the timid starve!
He began trying to wrap Armament Haki around his lungs, hoping to strengthen the alveoli so they could hold more oxygen.
"If I can harden it later, I'll call this Move 'Black Lung'."
Ryuji quipped to himself.
He wasn't overly cautious about wrapping the alveoli; he used very little Armament Haki, splitting it into tiny strands.
He hadn't expected to be able to achieve this level of control.
This way, even if it failed, losing a few alveoli wouldn't matter as long as it wasn't large-scale damage.
He still had that much medical common sense.
Upon first contact, it felt like a wire brush scrubbing his throat—stinging and hot!
"It's not working... wait! It seems to be working!"
Ryuji had intended to disperse the Armament Haki, but in the next second, it wrapped around the alveoli with ease.
The process was unexpectedly smooth!
In an instant, a massive amount of oxygen surged in through his breath, giving him immediate oxygen toxicity!
It made his head spin a little.
But he soon adapted. His blood began to race, his muscles cheered, and his body felt no discomfort; instead, he felt like he had endless strength!
More importantly, his body was gradually adapting to this breathing rhythm, creating a resonance!
He did it!
Ryuji stopped and looked at his hands in disbelief. It was really that simple? He succeeded?
This was a bit ridiculous!
"Mount, are you tired? Then this King shall let you rest for a bit," Little Red said from Ryuji's shoulder, head held high.
Ryuji ignored it, his mind entirely focused on the mechanical voice that had just sounded.
[Detected that the host, through extensive training and the guidance of Marine Instructor Zephyr, as well as other Marine Officers Uzui Tengen and Himejima Gyomei, has successfully evolved his own Breathing Technique!]
[Unnamed Breathing Technique: An audacious fellow who got lucky. Through a life-threatening attempt, he completed a unique Breathing Technique in one go! Please name it.]
Ignoring the System's snark, all Ryuji wanted to do now was throw a punch. Now that his Breathing Technique and body were in resonance, his strength had improved again.
He absolutely had to throw a punch right now!
His right fist suddenly clenched, then swung out rapidly!
The sonic boom and shockwave funneled into the alley, making the surrounding glass rattle loudly.
"Whew..."
Exhaling a mouthful of turbid air, he marveled. Just a normal punch had this much power?
"Right, it's decided. I'll call it Haki... uh, Fist Breathing."
Ryuji scratched his head. Being terrible at names, he really couldn't think of anything better.
He originally wanted to call it Haki Breathing, but it felt awkward to shout out... so he changed it to Fist Breathing.
[Naming complete: Fist Breathing.]
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