The next day basically went the same as yesterday, we had a day until the amateur competition and we needed to work as hard as possible. We both woke up in the early hours of the day and got to running on the beach, hoping to work our stamina. He was considerably faster than me and over the course of a few minutes he lapped me around the entire island.
He advised me to sprint in a short burst then jog rather than jog the whole way, which did make a lot of sense, and it managed to get me a skill when I did do it a few times.
Sprint (1/25)
Each level in this skill increases your speed by 0.1x when activated
+100 EXP for upgrading a skill via natural means
I could sprint without using this skill but when I used the mental command to activate it, my energy drained way quicker and I needed to preemptively stop it before I fully gassed out and I needed to waste a few minutes recovering, instead I'd try regather my stamina while doing something more mild like jogging.
Then I realised something, no pain no gain, I would use this skill every time I sprinted to put more stress on my body so that I would get more gainz when I recovered.
And after trying that a few times, my body started slowly adapting to it and surely enough.
Through training or extensive use, you have increased your Constitution score by 1
+500 EXP for increasing a stat via natural means
Constitution has reached 10
Height increase: 5'7- 5'9
You have levelled up
You have 3 stat points to allocate
"AAAGH!" I screamed as it felt like my spine, legs and arms were being ripped off and extra skin and muscle formed to accommodate the extra length of bone not only in my legs but all across my body to ensure I was as proportionate as I was before the lengthening
"Wuh?… What happened?" I said to no one in particular as I got back up, I felt a lot taller, even if it was the height difference of two inches, I felt like I was seeing things from a completely new angle.
"Dang… Cool!" Was all I had to say, this was probably most men of my stature's dream but for me? I don't think I could explain a sudden height increase, but I really fuckin' needed to do that, so I needed to figure out my lines NOW.
In the meantime, I'm gonna get back to running, I might as well improve myself while I find out what I need to say.
Checking over my notifications, I realised I managed to break into level 8, and I had extra stat points to spend.
It was hard to decide what I wanted, all of my physical stats were around 9-10 including perception. If I evenly balanced them out, the bonuses would be too minor, so I needed to pick something. Ben told me I'd need to evade all the hits which requires good perception and agility, and I know I need to pressure my opponent enough so that their only option is defence, so my final verdict is agility as that helps me achieve both of my goals while perception only achieves one, albeit at a higher level.
My speed was now a 14, I threw some combos in the air and felt much faster, albeit at the cost that I needed to spend extra stamina, which I only just realised.
I guess I gotta get running then to make up for that.
Two levels in sprint and one constitution upgrade later, Ben told me that the warmup was finally done and that we were able to move onto the real training. I almost dug a hole in the sand and buried myself alive when he said that it was only just a warmup, but I managed to compose myself.
We started the second section of training by doing some work on the mitts, and that was when he realised my increased height and speed.
"You look different." He said
Luckily I had a reply in my back pocket if he said something about this.
"Crazy thing about my devil fruit." I said as I pounded my fists into the pads. "It can give me totally random things like extra inches to my height."
"Wow, that's nice." He said.
I'm not gonna go over the rest of the training as it wasn't notable, the main things I'd like to mention though was that he made me go through 5 opponents in a row, due to my increased agility, I was able to overwhelm them with strikes at the start of the round in order to cause lots of damage at the start, and capitalise on that for the rest of the fight, taking it slow to recover my energy and targeting weak spots that I had created with my initial burst. This did make me incredibly tired but my regeneration did allow me to recover quickly after that flurry of blows as long as I managed to keep evading the strikes they were throwing afterward.
This did give me a new skill-
Flurry of blows (2/25)
Each level in this skill increases your striking speed by 0.1x
+200 EXP for upgrading a skill (2x) via natural means
And award me another level in boxing.
We did a variety of other exercises from there that managed to increase my Strong Punch skill by two and increase my strength by one by the end of the day. Ben and I decided to sleep early tonight so we had time to prepare before the tournament.
We made our way to the venue, it was a large stadium placed in the middle of the island, the entrance had some neon lights in front of some glass that read:
West Blue Central Fighting Tournament
That was when I figured out what blue I was in, which took me a surprisingly long time now that I think about it.
Isn't Ohara in the west blue?
Oh well.
I signed up as a fighter for the amateur tournament, they already recognised Ben though and let him through to his personal locker room. I was shortly escorted to a massive locker room filled to the brim with people, I wasn't expecting to go into a room where everyone was half naked or just straight up naked, so I tried my best to just change into my training gear and go to the waiting room, which was also packed with people.
"How many god damn people are in the amateur tournament." I muttered to myself, I thought I had to fight four guys after all.
I laced up my boxing gloves and started my warmup, which mainly consisted of shadowboxing and stretching.
Waiting in this room was incredibly boring, I had no one to talk to and my anxiousness was building.
The speakers rang out, and a voice was heard coming out of it.
"To decide the fighters for the amateur tournament, all of the fighters who want to attend must undergo the preliminary round."
I took in some deep breaths, something felt off, I needed to collect myself.
"The last 16 people standing in this waiting room will go on to fight in the tournament, you all have to fight each other to-"
And chaos ensued.
A fist immediately rocketed into my face, but I managed to dodge that and send a Strong Punch into my opponent's gut, followed by two precise straights to the back of the head, which managed to slump the guy.
I surveyed my surroundings, the entire waiting room was undergoing an all out brawl, heads were being bashed against walls, people were being tossed into each other, screams of agony echoed against the walls.
And I was convinced I was gonna die.
A man rushed me and caught me off guard, hitting me square against the jaw with a good right straight
-20HP
He tried to throw a jab but I slipped that, sent a hook to the back of the man's ear and threw another hook with my other hand into the guy's face, sending him kareening onto the floor.
I needed to find a good open space where I could try and rest out and have enough space to put my footwork to my advantage.
I activated Sprint and ran around the room, bashing into people and jumping onto people in heavily congested areas to try and gain a vantage point and find an open space.
I made a mad dash for that place when I did find it and deactivated sprint immediately, trying to catch my breath and recover as soon as possible.
A few people tried to approach me but they were quickly dispatched, I was shocked at how effective I was but then again, I increased an incredible amount, it simply makes sense.
Some people did try to form small groups of 3-4, considering multiple people were able to come out and compete in the tournament, it did make sense to do so.
Those gangs still pissed me off though, they tried to group up on people, run off and find their next prey, and one of their targets happened to be me, considering I was tired after dealing with several random opponents.
The moment they surrounded me, I knew what to do and I activated Flurry of blows, increasing my speed by 20%
I then attacked each and every member with terrifying efficiency, spamming Strong Punch until every single one of 'em fell to the floor, unconscious.
You have levelled up
You have 3 stat points to allocate
Flurry of blows (3/25)
+100 EXP for upgrading a skill via natural means
Strong Punch (8/25)
+100 EXP for upgrading a skill via natural means
All in constitution, that Flurry of Strong Punch drained basically all of my stamina, I needed to recover it quickly and increase my stamina cap for future fights.
I felt a quick burst of energy wash over me as I allocated my stats and regained whatever 3 in constitution meant stamina-wise, which was enough to keep on fighting.
The next few minutes were rough but I got by, I got through some people, ran around like a headless chicken looking for new open spaces and waited for the number of people to thin out by themselves.
I had enough free time and a lack of my encounters due to me going in strategic spots, which allowed me to regain most of my stamina back, if I had to put a number on it, I'd say there were only 30 people left, which meant I wasn't too far off from securing a place in the amateur competition.
The system seemed to reward my strategy by awarding me another level in a skill I had genuinely forgotten about.
Battle Strategy (3/50)
+100 EXP for upgrading a skill via natural means
Most of the fighters were waiting it out, looking carefully and not getting into fights, rather, they were waiting for the fights to get to them.
Which meant that no one was gonna start 'em, which meant I to take the initiative, and that meant choosing my opponent carefully, I surveyed the battlefield and saw a man catching his breath, holding his arms and trying to hide in the shadows without much success. Something told me I shouldn't pick on the man who looked the weakest though, that guy might've been hiding something, my eyes shifted towards a very composed man who was standing still like a statue, arms crossed.
I activated sprint and I gambled on this guy being the actual weakest one, only appearing strong. Someone wouldn't show weakness here unless they wanted to get targeted, no, I needed to find the one who didn't want to get targeted.
I reached the man in a matter of seconds, in that time I activated Flurry of Blows and sent a Strong Punch into the guy's jaw, knocking him out instantly. I deactivated everything immediately and we continued to play the waiting game.
Another man tried to dash at the weak looking guy and just as I thought, the meek looking man dispatched the guy immediately.
This song and dance went on for 30 minutes until finally the numbers were whittled down to 17
Tension was building up, no one wanted to be the last one out just before they got a chance to go to the tournament, no one wanted to take a risk, we were all waiting for eachother.
"Ahem, everybody." A man in the corner said, I could barely see the guy, he looked uscathed, like he was just sitting there the whole time.
"I want to resign."
The loud booming voice came out of the speakers again.
"And the 16 people have been decided, you all have 20 minutes to rest before the fight, good luck!"