Luke first felt the smoothness of Yamato’s skin beneath her thin clothes. Then he felt her stomach slowly begin to swell. Clearly, this time Yamato was not using [Life Return] to absorb the red bean soup as she drank it, but was letting it accumulate in her stomach instead.
As Yamato gulped it down, her belly expanded faster and faster, until it became round as a ball.
Luke was once again amazed by the sheer “elasticity” of people in this world. Back when he had read the early parts of One Piece, he had not found it strange when Luffy ate himself into a ball—Luffy was a rubber man, after all.
But later in the manga, he had seen plenty of people instantly turn fat after overeating, such as Kid. Their stomachs were as elastic as rubber, capable of expanding enormously without bursting.
Of course, Luke thought this was also related to one’s physique. Only the strong could have that degree of elasticity. If one’s Constitution was insufficient, binge-eating would probably still make them explode.
As Kaido’s daughter, Yamato had been born with the powerful physique of the Oni race. Years of growth had only made her body tougher. Even with her belly inflated into a sphere, she showed no obvious discomfort.
Instead, she set down the huge pot with a satisfied expression and rubbed her round stomach. "I’m a little full."
The instant she finished speaking, there was a rrrip. The stitching along the side of Yamato’s clothes split, and then the entire side seam tore apart under the pressure.
But Yamato was so forthright—and identified herself as a man—that she did not care in the slightest about such minor details. She was only a little troubled. "It’s been so long since I ate like this. My clothes are ruined... and I really liked this outfit."
With her clothes split open, the Will of D sprang right out into view. Luke had an unobstructed side view, and quickly grabbed the edge of Yamato’s clothing, holding the torn fabric together for her. "Demonstrate first. I’ll mend it for you tonight."
Yamato nodded. She took a deep breath, and Luke could already feel a certain rhythm stirring within her body through his palm.
Then, as Yamato slowly exhaled, she shrank like a deflating balloon. Her belly gradually flattened as well.
Throughout the process, Luke kept his eyes closed and focused on what he felt. But honestly, sensing this ability through touch alone was still far too vague.
Once Yamato had completely shrunk back down, she looked at Luke. "So? Did you learn it?"
Luke fell silent for a moment, then shook his head and withdrew his hand. "It’s a little abstract, but I feel like I vaguely caught onto something. Let me try it first."
With that, he lowered his head and started eating. Before long, he had eaten enough for his own stomach to bulge.
Luke imitated Yamato, inhaling deeply before slowly breathing out.
Then...
Nothing happened.
It was a little awkward, but Luke did not give up and continued trying.
After several fruitless attempts, Luke sank into thought.
In the original story, characters who knew [Life Return] had never explained any training related to the technique. It was simply treated as an ability they naturally possessed, so Luke had initially assumed it would not be difficult to learn.
But now he realized that precisely because the original story had never mentioned how it was trained—and everyone used it as though it were only natural—it was difficult to learn.
Take Yamato. She had completely learned [Life Return] through the power of “I figured it would work.” What exactly was he supposed to use as a reference? Was he supposed to just figure it would work too?
Luke sat there and tried for a while longer. His belly still did not shrink immediately, but he discovered that imitating Yamato’s breathing and exertion did accelerate his digestion to some extent. He no longer felt quite so stuffed.
"Let’s get back to work first. We have plenty of time. I’ll try again at lunch."
Luke stood up. Since he could not digest everything at once, he could hardly keep eating. He planned to do some physical training—and train Yamato a little while he was at it.
"Didn’t you say you were going to tell me stories? Hurry up and tell me."
Yamato followed after him. Her worries came quickly and went just as quickly, and she seemed to have completely forgotten what had happened before breakfast.
Luke naturally would not go back on his word. A smile appeared on his face. "Then let me tell you a story about a monkey..."
Time passed quickly. After a morning of labor, Luke and Yamato each sat atop a large rock in the mine, holding a huge pot and preparing to eat.
"Brother Luke, hurry up and tell me! What happened after the monkey was pinned beneath Five Finger Mountain?"
Yamato asked anxiously, like a reader waving monthly tickets and demanding an update.
"Don’t rush. Finish eating first, then I’ll continue."
Luke smiled. He had merely casually told Yamato a bit of Journey to the West, yet she had become completely hooked.
But thinking about it carefully, it made sense. Yamato was the sort of person who could practically climax just from reading Oden’s journal. She had grown up in the closed-off land of Wano, where entertainment and information were scarce.
Besides, the early portions of Journey to the West were full of colorful elements like adventure and freedom. A child Yamato’s age could easily become addicted to it—and she already possessed a heart that yearned for adventure and freedom.
"All right... Oh, right, how is your Haki training going? Once we get out, we’re going to join forces and defeat Kaido."
Yamato remembered that, in exchange for the stories, she was supposed to teach Luke how to become stronger.
"I can already use the Ryuo technique of Armament Haki proficiently. My Observation Haki is only decent, though. What I most want to learn right now is that technique of yours for eating quickly."
Luke said. His Observation Haki was not low-level, but he still felt that it was far from the level of [Observation Killing] or seeing the future.
After mastering Ryuo, his attack power had risen by more than a full tier. Combined with turning it into a passive ability through the Origin Seed, he would become an enduring, violently unstoppable superhuman in an actual fight.
"Then give it another try, Brother Luke. My clothes are already ruined anyway."
As Yamato spoke, she lifted the huge bucket and boldly exposed the side of her breast. Luke found it difficult to look directly at her, but he still placed his hand on her stomach.
If he could not learn it in one attempt, then he refused to believe he would never learn it.
After another bout of Yamato’s hearty gulping, her belly grew large again.
Meanwhile, in Udon Prison’s surveillance room, Queen watched the scene with veins bulging on his forehead. "Those two idiots are about to drink all the red bean soup!"
Beside him, Babanuki, the warden with an elephant head protruding from his stomach, was sweating profusely. "Lord Queen, please don’t be angry. I’ve already arranged for fresh ingredients to be delivered. There will absolutely be enough for you."
Everyone in Udon Prison knew that Queen, one of the Three Calamities and a lead performer, loved red bean soup more than anything. Anyone who dared steal his red bean soup would face a truly miserable end.
Thus, even if prisoners usually earned a large number of food tickets, they would not exchange them for red bean soup. They were afraid of angering Queen.
At the same time, Queen was not the only one enraged by the sight on the surveillance feed. Far away on Onigashima, Kaido was furious as well.
"That brat—what the hell is he doing with Yamato?!"
Kaido glared darkly at the screen. He had already been angry when he first saw this scene in the morning. Now his rage was about to blow through the roof.
"Don’t be so angry. Didn’t Yamato say she’s teaching him how to digest food quickly?"
Black Maria said with a smile. She had not expected Kaido to have this side to him.
"Hmph."
Kaido snorted and said nothing more, though his expression remained displeased.
The main reason was that he had sat there watching all morning, only to listen to that brat ramble about myths and legends. He had not gotten the “training Yamato” program he had been looking forward to at all.
And he strongly suspected Luke had made those stories up. The image of the Bull Demon King in them seemed to bear a bit too much resemblance to him, which made Kaido extremely unhappy.
Still, seeing as Luke appeared to be gradually guiding Yamato toward normalcy, Kaido would endure it for the time being.
Back at Udon Prison, Luke withdrew his hand and stared thoughtfully at his palm.
"Well? Did you catch the trick?"
Yamato wiped her mouth directly with her wrist and asked Luke.
"I think I understand a little. That strange absorption ability isn’t just your stomach working."
Luke pondered aloud. "It seems that, in that instant, your entire body is absorbing the food. Your stomach is only the central medium."
Yamato grabbed a flatbread. "I didn’t really understand that, but it’s good if you got something out of it."
Luke’s analysis was not without reason. Through two rounds of experience and observation, he had concluded that [Life Return] was an absorption ability involving the entire body.
Or rather, when ordinary people absorb nutrients, their stomachs first process the food before sending those nutrients throughout the body.
[Life Return] was simply faster and more violent. In that instant, every cell in Yamato’s body was mobilized, joining hands to form invisible channels throughout her body.
Those channels connected to her stomach, then instantly began frantically absorbing the food’s energy. It was as though every cell in her body participated in the process of “digestion.”
Digesting food this way would naturally be incredibly fast. The cells could directly receive nutrients, and that high-speed metabolism could heal injuries to the body.
And when there were no injuries, as in Yamato’s case, each cell became an individual little warehouse, storing energy until it was needed and gradually released.
Once that energy exceeded the cells’ storage limit, the body would transform in order to accommodate more energy. The energy used for that transformation would be the excess energy.
The ultimate result was an increase in Constitution.
Because the body’s natural development generally pursued balance, as Constitution increased, physical attributes such as Strength and Agility would also rise slightly.
So Luke felt that he had discovered the “training method” for raising stats in the world of One Piece: eat!
In the original story, Luffy fought enemies and leveled up throughout his journey. Besides accumulating combat experience, his stats had undoubtedly increased as well, though readers did not notice it clearly in the manga.
But Luffy’s stats had definitely risen. That growth had not come from defeating enemies and leveling up, but from the long-term benefits of [Life Return].
After thinking it through, Luke recalled the sensation from earlier. He took another deep breath and tried to mobilize his entire body to absorb the food in his stomach.
He inhaled deeply several times in a row without succeeding, but it was not entirely ineffective. The congested sensation in his stomach had lessened considerably, and he no longer felt so bloated.
Delight appeared in Luke’s eyes. "Yamato, let me feel you up again tonight. I think I’m close to finding the trick."
Yamato had no objection and nodded boldly. "It’ll be best if you can learn it. I’m still waiting for you to get stronger so we can defeat Kaido together."
Far away on Onigashima, a certain old father watched this scene as the veins on his forehead grew even more prominent.
After eating and drinking his fill, Luke glanced at the prisoners who were too old and weak to earn enough food. Then he turned to Yamato, having thought of another new problem.
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