Chapter 7: Life return
After the scholar went his merry way, Mark sat in the study with a happy smile on his face.
'It is possible; I can become stronger if I will myself to.'
So what if my body refuses to follow orders? Mark smirked because he knew the solution to this problem.
'No issues, that's where the technique 'life return' comes into the picture!'
Life return; this was Mark's technique of choice.
"A technique where the more you master it, the more your control over your body increases."
Tapping his seat, Mark was thinking about this and eating grapes; he was being fed by a servant right now.
'Rob Lucci decreased his muscle and bone mass using this technique, so why can't I increase it?'
'If he can go from super buff to regular buff, I can go from a normal man to a buff dude, right? Nothing is stopping me from doing that.'
Mark knew from the scholar, that this was possible to do; the human body just needs a command to start producing muscle or stop production and start reduction.
If that's the case, what better way to command your body than to use life return?
'And even if it doesn't work, I'll have a useful technique at my disposal.'
'From digesting food quickly, healing wounds, and even manipulating my hair like Kumadori, I can do many things with life return.'
This was like a superpower on its own, but not many people paid attention to this incredible ability.
Civilians of the One Piece world were mostly illiterate; piracy was a staple here, and history and human advancements in science were erased from history.
It's normal for people here to not understand the absolute goldmine hiding before them.
But Mark came from a world where dedicated people worked on everything, fictional powers included.
'Body manipulation is extremely broken; the more I develop this technique, the more unstoppable I become.'
'I can even become immortal, in the truest sense, unaging and unkillable.'
Wounds can be healed, and lifespan can be increased as long as the human body reproduces cells that it normally doesn't.
And this was just scratching the surface of how broken the technique of life return can become in the hands of someone with modern knowledge like Mark.
'This will be the technique; this is what I will learn; this is what will give me a body comparable to Zoan devil fruit users.'
'And in due time, maybe even comparable to monsters in the new world; in the end, they too are human, right?'
Mark had decided to get this technique under his control first.
'And to do that, I'll have to make sense of whatever this thing is.'
Picking up the technique of life return, Mark twitched his lips.
'A millennium in the sea. A millennium in the mountains. Inhaling the wind, swallowing the mist, I lived as a hermit and completed my training, and lo! I mastered this Life Return technique. In nature, from the hair on one's head, from one's vital organs to the tips of one's toes, even to the end of one's "short hairs," there is not a single spot that cannot be controlled with one's consciousness!!!'
This was what was written in the book about the technique.
Yes.
That was it.
"What the hell, man?"
Mark muttered speechlessly; he simply didn't understand this kind of vague stuff.
Where was the technique's use? How exactly was it working? How did it activate? There was nothing about that at all.
Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Mark sighed, which made the maid who was serving him, shiver, and then she begin sobbing and bowing frantically.
'Ugh.'
He groaned at that once again; he was already very stressed; he really hoped the maid didn't do these useless things.
He wasn't going to execute her, alright!
"Get up; don't make a fool of yourself."
"You are doing well; get back to your work. I quite like the grapes."
Hearing Mark's careless words, the maid got up as if she was pardoned; thanking him profusely, she generously began feeding him again.
Mark was exhausted; it will take the servants in his quarters some time to understand that if they work normally, he would have zero issues with them.
He too made mistakes; he was also human; it happens.
'But I understand, messing up your work in a noble household can turn pretty badly.'
'Being cautious is fine. Now where was I?'
Yes, how to train life return; he can't exactly leave this luxurious life behind and become a sage to train this technique, right?
Because that's not happening; he was a celestial dragon; he will not do something that crude.
There had to be a better way, and Mark had already thought of a way that suited him more.
'Alright, I have an idea; the core of this technique is controlling the body. I'll start from there.'
Mark had his observation haki unlocked; he could observe and connect with his body, feel it, and every corner of it perfectly.
All he needed to do was understand how everything was working and get used to manipulating those functions using his willpower.
'Something similar to this was possible in my old world too; there were all kinds of amazing people.'
'Some could eat metal, some could control their heartbeat, and some could even control their body temperature to survive harsh winters.'
So this was one hundred percent possible; all he needed to do was keep training his observation Haki and keep feeling his body with it.
'Nice, now I have a plan; unlocking life return is the agenda.'
Mark was happy; he had a way to get stronger now, and he wouldn't be slacking off either, when he attempted to unlock the technique.
His Observation Haki will be trained all the time, pushed again and again in different ways; even if by some chance he couldn't unlock life return, he'll have observation haki mustered fully.
'It's a win-win for me.'
Mark happily started his training again; he observed the grapes in the hands of the maid and her jumping heartbeat, signifying how excited she was.
He felt happy as well; it was always a good thing if there was someone to share your joy with.
Chapter 8: Happy birthday
Today was a bustling day in the holy land, as today was the birthday of Saint Mark.
He had just turned twenty, the gifted celestial dragon Mark Rose, was going to celebrate his birthday party and everyone was invited.
"Saint Mark, it's my honour to meet you, allow me to present this as a token of my gratitude."
A celestial dragon of lower birth than Mark, was presenting a plate of colourful fruits with beautiful swirly patterns to Mark.
"Chris! My pal, do not be so distant, come on in, please enjoy the occasion!"
Mark smiled and took the platter filled with devil fruits from Chris, who seemed thrilled at the prospect of Mark remembering his name.
"I will Saint Mark, thank you."
Smiling happily Chirs went inside, he might be smiling right now but he was very stressed.
This birthday was less a party, and more a gathering of every powerful family in holy land.
Everyone important was here. Mark was after all the heir to Rose family, and a newly appointed God's Knight!
Coupled with his good looks and bachelor status, Mark's importance was very high.
After Chris went inside, he found another celestial dragon of noble birth amongst them.
"Charlos! How have you been?"
Charlos looked up from Rose family's mermaid tank, and frowned at Chris as snot dripped from his nose.
"Chris? Go away, I am busy."
Chris didn't get discouraged by the rude words, he only tried talking to Charlos because he was Mark's best friend.
Being Mark's first friend and everything.
"Okay Charlos, I'll be off."
Though he didn't get discouraged, he knew he wasn't respected because he wasn't a direct heir, that is also one of the reasons he had come here.
Like countless others, he had come to build connections with Mark Rose.
Finding a large gathering of men and women, where people of similar status as his were standing, he decided to join in.
"Oh it's Chris, come join us."
Asked a man who was on the same level of nobility as him.
"Oh? It's my utmost pleasure."
Chris walked up to the group and saw who was causing everyone to gather around.
Giving his best smile he spoke to the girl in question.
"Shalria! You look as pretty as ever."
Shalria looked over to the newest addition around her with a haughty expression.
"Of course! It's my dear Mark's birthday today, how can I, Shalria look anything less than the best around."
Chris didn't reply and just smiled, because he knew this was a minefield, answering this will be result in a boom.
"Hah, your Mark? Please, don't kid yourself, he barely knows you."
"Your brother Charlos is his friend, it's got nothing to do with you."
And there it was, the boom.
Chirs slowly backed away as he watched Shalria's face twist with anger, she angrily looked at an equally pretty girl, if not even more pretty.
"Why you?! Gunko you shameless harlot! Don't think I don't know why you refuse to wear any pants!"
"Mark would never want to be with someone as cheap as you."
Gunko's face turned ashen when Shalria's words painted her in a very different picture, than what she intended to show.
Gunko was of lower birth than Sharlia, but she too was a newly promoted God's Kinght, she wasn't about to lie down and take this.
"You have some nerve spreading baseless rumors, when It's you who purposely wants to get close to Mark."
"You think he'll like you, just because your families are allies? Please, don't kid yourself."
Shalria's hand reflexively went to her waist, she was about the shoot Gunko.
Then she remembered that Gunko was very strong, and she doesn't have her gun with her.
So she decided to keep telling Gunko how much she sucked instead.
"Haha, good joke, Mark and I are childhood sweethearts, he was there the day I was born!"
"And you Gunko, you only like him because of his potential."
"You want to become a high ranking celestial dragon, by joining the Rose family."
Gunko scoffed, it was true but this wasn't something to be said out loud.
"You have no grace Shalria, your beauty is wasted on you."
"Only someone shallow like you would think, that I approached Mark because of his potential."
Saying something she herself didn't believe, Gunko continued before Shalria's incensed face.
"The admiration I have for Mark is genuine, it has no relationship with his abilities or status."
Ending with painting herself in a favourable light, Gunko quickly dodged the slap thrown her way.
"Shalria! How dare you! I'll have your head!"
As Gunko and Shalria were about to fight, they were restrained by a voice from afar.
"Oh! You guys are here, are you having fun?"
Both Shalria and Gunko's faces changed, they quickly fixed their appearances they put on their best smiles.
It was their image which will determine if they can join the Rose family. Mark silently watched the fight stop and breathed a sigh of relief.
'Father bragged too hard, the elder's took notice of my powerful observation Haki, and directly named me a God's Knight Candidate.'
'They can't help it, most celestial dragon's are too useless, the standards are pretty low the position wasn't even hard to get.'
Mark didn't think that living a normal life was something so utterly unique, that even the five elders were alarmed.
Mark's father bragged too much about him, causing the elders to know him, coupled with his friendly relationship with many heirs, he was directly appointed a seat amongst the God's Knights.
'This is what they would like us to believe, but Im was definitely involved in this somehow.'
'Maybe he (she?) was the one who found potential in me after the elder's recommend me.. something to think about.'
Mark knew the elder's were not only smart, they were also strong.
Saint Ethanbaron V Nusjuro carried a mito grade sword and was an awakened skeletal horse Yokai.
Anyone with eyes could see they were powerful. They were even named warrior gods.
For them, Mark had shown obvious interest in strength and had a rational mind, this made him prime God's Knight candidate.
'My new position aside, the twenty years of training I did wasn't in vain.'
'The constant daily practice sessions, two decades of nothing but observation haki practice has made me extremely good at it.'
'And best of all, I have finally unlocked it today.'
Life return.
That was unlocked by Mark today, it has been sixteen years of constant practice, sixteen whole years of endless grinding.
'Now that I have it, I can finally become monstrously strong.'
Mark's preparations were complete, he had learnt a lot throughout the years, and the technique life return was perfected by him.
Tody would be the start of Mark's rise, his two decades of penance will pay now off.
'After this party, I'll take my first step towards real strenght.'
'Not just in observation Haki, but real all around strength.'
Soon Mark was done reminiscing about the years, and was currently talking and laughing with his fellow celestial dragon's.
His noble life wasn't comparable to a barbaric one of the pirates, it wasn't all about eating meat and fighting enemies for him.
It was about gaining strength while living the best life imaginable.
He was a celestial dragon, the god of this world, he will next come down to the lower realm and claim it all for himself!
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200+ Power
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