Stronger?

Early in the morning, Haru ran around the neighborhood.

While running, Haru made his body heavier by using his gravity magic.

The school would start at 8 o'clock in the morning, and he had a lot of time before he went to school.

It hadn't been two weeks since the entrance ceremonies, but there were a number of new students who had made a debt from gambling within the school. He felt a bit empathetic to them since they had made a debt even though they were in high school.

But well, he would do nothing and only watched on the side.

There was a lot of unfairness in this world, and he wasn't a saint nor hero who would help everyone in need.

'But I might need to become a hero in the quest maybe...'

Haru wasn't sure, but a quest on the "group chat" would send him to another world with various quests. It wouldn't be weird if he was told to become a hero or something.

It might not be related to his previous thought, but he realized that his body was strong.

In the past, he thought that his body which had been transformed into the body of Aquaman had only an ability to breathe underwater, talk to sea creatures, enhance conditions such as strength, speed, durability, and stamina.

But he had realized another ability which was very strong and that was immune to an energy-based attack and intense heat resistance. Of course, it might be because there were a lot of versions of Aquaman in the story which made his strength quite inconsistent. But he tried his best to make his body into the strongest version of Aquaman.

But even so, he felt that it was still very hard, or it might be impossible to defeat the strongest monster or people in the world of Toriko with his physical strength alone.

In the "group chat", the world of Toriko might not have any magic or strange ability, but all the powerhouses in that world had a very strong physical ability which was able to destroy a planet with a single punch and some of their physical ability was able to wreck apart anything on conceptual level.

If he wanted to be safe from anything and had the power to protect his loved one, he felt that he needed to reach the strength of "Eight Kings" from the world of Toriko.

The "Eight Kings" are eight beasts, each from a different 'King' species of animal, individually regarded as the most powerful beings in the world. They serve as the absolute rulers of the eight major continents of the Gourmet World and have since ancient times. The Eight Kings have tremendous power and even the world's strongest individuals cannot act carelessly when in their presence.

Those "Eight Kings" are "Dragon King", "Wolf King", "Crow King", "Snake King", "Deer King", "Whale King", "Monkey King", and Horse King".

Even if he used an awakening on his "Horo Horo no Mi", he didn't dare to say that he was able to escape fully from the "Eight Kings" since he was sure that they had an ability to damage a soul using a "Back Channel".

The Back Channel is an alternate realm between the physical world and the World of Souls, where time and space work differently. However, unlike the World of Souls, time still flows in the Back Channel, thus allowing living beings to enter it without repercussions.

It seemed at first glance that everyone in the world of Toriko might use a physical ability, but that wasn't the case.

There was also an existence of "World of Souls" in the world of Toriko.

The World of Souls is the name of the afterlife in the world of Toriko.

The only ways to enter this domain are either through the Food Spirit Doors or death; however, living beings cannot enter the doors for the world beyond because it does not have a flow of time like the living world.

The Back Channel is a lesser realm created by superphotonic speeds making tears in the barriers between the physical world and the World of Souls. It is tied closely to the World of Souls and can be accessed by living beings to avoid dangers or reach locations at a faster rate and while in the Back Channel living beings may be able to see the souls that lie beyond.

Knowing that he knew that he needed to become stronger, especially the last battle in the world of Toriko might start in his 3rd year of high school.

If his ability was only the body of Aquaman then it might be hard for him to stay alive on that battle, but he had a lot of abilities, especially the latest reward which he had gotten on the previous quest.

Ocean.

Haru felt that his body was complete after he had the ability to "Ocean" from the "group chat". He had to admit that it was a very cheating ability since he was able to create a sea on another plane to trap someone while also controlling the entire sea.

But the ability of "Ocean" wasn't only all of that since he was able to turn his body into the water itself and also controlled the water too.

Up to 60% of the human body was water, which meant...

But even though this ability was very strong, he knew that he wasn't the strongest.

There was a lot of ability which couldn't be explained with logic such as a "Nakama power", "plot armor", "sudden power-up", etc.

His power might be strong, but if he suddenly faced someone who had such a cheat — he knew that his power might not work, and he needed to do something else.

The more he thought the more he realized how weak he was.

But he didn't think that it was necessary to create a training arc since he often went to train on the "training ground" on the "group chat".

It might be expensive, but he didn't want to cut down his time with his girlfriends in this world and various worlds. If a few points could save that time to make him get stronger then he would use it without hesitation.

His focus was on the ability of Jewelry Bonney which he had gotten from the quest in the world of Infinite Stratos.

He had a feeling that Jewelry Bonney's ability wasn't a simple age manipulation, but it was more than that. Devil Fruit of Jewelry Bonney's didn't have an official name, and her ability might be more than an age manipulation.

Haru had a lot of hypotheses about this ability, but he needed to train and test it more. If possible then he wanted to achieve the "awakening" state of this ability the same as his "Horo Horo no Mi".

Sweat was pouring from his pores and he felt very refreshed running in the early morning. He thought about running through the stairs on his shrine. Thinking about the problem of Eli and Nozomi, he hadn't found a solution for it. He knew that to save that school, it needed to make some achievement which would become an appeal to the new students next year.

'So what do I need to do?'

His running speed was quite fast, and it didn't take him a long time before he almost reached the top of the stairs on his shrine. He was about to climb up, but he saw three familiar figures.

"I, I'm tired Umi-chan!"

"You can't complain! We need a strong body to perform!"

"H, Honoka-chan!"

"........"

'What are they doing?'

Looking at three stupid yet cute girls, a smile unconsciously formed in his lips.