10 Little Monster
The following morning Orion was awake early as usual but instead of practicing the Heavenly Demon Sacred Art in his room he was running towards his parents room excited about what's to come today.
"Dad, wake up! It's time to train!"
As he burst through the door he saw his father was just putting on his shoes. Marcus looked up at his excited son as he was putting on his shoes.
"Haha you're up early. Looks like someone's excited to start training!"
Orion could barely contain his excitement as he thought about starting his training.
"Dad what are we doing for training today. Weighted running? Combat training? Weighted mountain climbing?"
"Haha slow down there Ori… Remember what I said yesterday, for the next year we're only going to focus on building your foundation, so nothing to intensive."
Orion realised that he was getting ahead of himself due to his excitement and forced himself to calm down.
"So, what will I be doing for training?"
Seeing that he was able to calm his excitement pleased Marcus greatly.
"So, in the morning's we're going to go swimming as it'll help train all of the muscles in your body without putting too much stress on them, which could hinder your growth."
Even though Marcus said quite a lot, all Orion heard was swimming. It was common knowledge that all devil fruit users were essentially hammers, as they couldn't swim, only sink. As a devil fruit user, he was no exception.
Understanding what was going through his head, Marcus said with a smile.
"Do you really think I'd try and kill you on your first day of training? The water surrounding the island is unique in that devil fruit users don't become hammers when submerged."
Shock was plastered to Orion's face as he heard that. Not even in the books in his fathers or uncles studies had he heard of water that didn't affect devil fruit users and the books that were there had information that he hadn't heard of even from the original works but this…
This was truly the first he'd heard about such unique waters.
Seeing him in shock made Marcus smile. His son was incredibly gifted at most things, and usually it was difficult to surprise him so on the odd occasion that he was able to surprise him, Marcus would take great pleasure in it.
"So, every morning we'll go for a little swim. After lunch we'll do some devil fruit training, so you become more skilled in using it."
Hearing that Orion could barely wait to get started.
"Dad hurry let's go. I've never been swimming before!"
[At least not in this life!]
As he was hurrying his father so they could start his training, he heard the sound of his mother's voice from the kitchen.
"Ori, breakfast is ready!"
As he heard that he realised that in all his excitement he was rushing to leave without even eating breakfast, which was a must for him.
Over the last 2 years he realised that his appetite was more than double a grown man from his last life.
Hearing that breakfast was ready he darted straight for the kitchen.
After eating 3 adult sized portions of breakfast he dragged his father out the door, shouting goodbye to his mother who was shaking her head helplessly at her eager son.
After a 20 minute walk, the duo arrived at a small waterfall. As they did Orion had to stop to admire the beauty of it.
The water cascading down from the top was sparkling silver giving it an almost ethereal feel as it crashed against the rocks at the base. As the water flowed off the rocks it'd magically turn from silver to an azure blue making the flowing pool of water at the bottom look like a naturally formed serenity pool. Even the grass on the embankment they were stood was a vibrant shamrock green.
The serenity pool was 100 meters long and 20 meters wide.
Marcus didn't interrupt Orion's admiring nature around him. Eventually Orion regained his senses.
"I had no idea somewhere so beautiful on this island even existed."
Marcus smiled as he replied.
"It's my own little private paradise. Anyway, shall we begin?"
Orion nodded as he remembered why he was here.
"Ok, so first thing's first, although the water looks calm, the speed of the current is nothing to scoff at. The closer you get to the waterfall itself the faster the current."
As he said that he picked up a small rock and let it fall into the water. By normal standards a rock like that would sink as soon as it touches the water.
As soon as it hit the surface of the water it shot down stream like a bullet as it was carried by the currents.
Although he was expecting something out the ordinary, he wasn't expecting that.
He was brought out of his daydream by the sound of Marcus' voice.
"Your goal for the next year is for you to be able to swim all the way to the mouth of the waterfall without stopping."
Marcus then lead him to the end of the stream where the water was shallow, and the current had vanished. It was there where he taught Orion how to swim. Orion had to pretend to learn from the beginning, so it took him 2 hours before he was able to "pick it up".
Even though for Orion that was him being slow, Marcus was still startled by how fast he picked it up, but he remembered the talent his son had shown before and shook his head helplessly at his little genius of a son.
After learning how to swim Orion began his battle against the currents. It wasn't till he began trying to swim up stream did he realise how difficult this year was going to be.
No matter how much power he put behind his strokes, the furthest he could travel was a few centimetres.
[This is only training my foundation?!]
Whilst Orion was attempting to swim upstream, Marcus was stood eyes closed on one of the rocks under the waterfall. He was wearing nothing, but a pair of white shorts and a pitch black katana in his right hand facing his front.
He was allowing for the water to crash against his bare chest and Orion could only imagine the pressure his body must've felt.
Marcus was stood perfectly still for what to Orion felt was eternity but was in fact only 5 minutes.
Suddenly his eyes opened, and a tyrannical aura erupted from him. He swung his sword vertically and Orion was half expecting for a sword wave to fly out, but nothing happened.
It wasn't till Marcus sheathed his sword did Orion see a change.
The waterfall stopped falling at the halfway point. It had been cut in half and it seemed as if the space was distorted, preventing the water from continuing its fall despite gravity standing on its side.
"Hahaha I finally broke through!"
Whilst Marcus was enjoying his new found success, Orion had closed his eyes and let the scene of Marcus slashing his sword replay in his mind over and over again.
Orion felt as if he was on the verge of grasping something, but he had no idea what it was.
There was a small stick to the right of him on the shore. He subconsciously picked it up and held it in a similar manner to Marcus before his attack.
Marcus saw Orion attempting to imitate him and shook his head with a smile.
Just as Marcus was about to scold him for biting off more than his little mouth could handle, Orion made his move.
He swung his sword in an identical manor to his father. As he did, a blade of wind shot out the stick slicing through the water.
The wind blade only travelled 5 meters before fizzling out.
Though the effects were not even comparable, Marcus was shocked by his sons display.
[Although he was using the wind from his devil fruit I still felt a hint of sword essence. Which means he took a step towards comprehending becoming "one with the sword". This brat truly is a little monster!]
