Chapter 86: Life Core

Devil Fruits were unique. As long as Bellamy lived, his path would naturally be his alone to walk.

Bellamy naturally had his own unique ideas about how to integrate Life Return into his fighting style.

Second Gear: Spring Flyer was one successful outcome.

But his imagination didn't stop there.

The crux of Life Return was, naturally, control over life force itself.

After long periods spent honing his martial arts, Bellamy had gained a rudimentary understanding of his own vital essence and energy flow. Combining this with the timed-release nature of a clockwork spring, another peculiar idea sparked in his mind.

Could these nebulous concepts—vitality, energy—be somehow stored within his body, perhaps wound up like internal springs? And then, at a specific moment, unleash that stored life force?

Simply put, it meant finding something akin to an acupoint or a dantian within his body where he could stockpile life force. Then draw upon it when needed. It was essentially treating his vital essence, energy flow, and life force like the internal energy, or neili, found in other martial arts traditions.

If this idea could be realized, setting aside other benefits, Bellamy's stamina and endurance would skyrocket by several orders of magnitude. If physical and mental energy could be stockpiled, it meant he could potentially fight for five days and five nights straight without breaking a sweat. If life force and vital energy could be stored, then recovery from injuries could happen in the span of a few breaths.

Bellamy temporarily dubbed this technique, still purely conceptual, "Life Core."

Whether he could actually develop it... well, he wasn't exactly brimming with confidence. He could manipulate the elasticity granted by his Devil Fruit with ease, shaping it into any form, yet this nebulous concept of 'life force' remained frustratingly beyond his grasp.

"Maybe I need to enter that state of internal awareness again."

Bellamy had experienced perceiving his own body from the inside once before; the sensation had been incredibly bizarre and enlightening. If he could enter that state more frequently, it would be immensely helpful for delving deeper into the secrets of Life Return.

As for the Life Core concept...

Bellamy took a deep breath, forcefully gathering every ounce of power within his body. The power he now commanded was terrifying—what did it even mean to possess the strength of a Tyrannosaurus within a frame standing over two meters tall?

With a single, sharp intake of breath, the shirt on Bellamy's upper body exploded into shreds. Muscles like forged bronze and cast iron bulged, expanding explosively.

"Life Return!" he roared. "Now absorb it, damn it!"

Being able to release but not retract or contain—that was Bellamy's biggest hurdle with Life Return right now. This wasn't his first attempt at gathering his life force. But no matter how hard he strained, face flushing red, the life force within him remained stubbornly unresponsive. It was utterly indifferent, like a mountain peak unmoved by the fiercest gale.

Finally, unable to hold his breath any longer, Bellamy sagged, deflating like a punctured balloon.

"Too damn difficult."

So far, development progress on the Life Core technique was precisely zero. He couldn't even get past the starting line. Compared to developing Second Gear, this was orders of magnitude harder.

Bellamy ran a hand through his hair—sure enough, it had grown considerably longer again.

"Always happens." The only result of forcefully trying to gather his life force was his hair suddenly shooting out. What bloody use was that? He wasn't some Saiyan! Sure, they both had blond hair, but he couldn't exactly power up by yelling, could he?

Annoyed, he roughly tore away the inconveniently long strands, changed into a fresh casual shirt, and headed for the deck to soak up some sun, intending to mull over how to achieve that state of internal awareness again.

The weather today was perfect—clear skies and a gentle breeze.

Lounging on a beach chair on deck, Bellamy let his thoughts drift.

"If I took another dose of the Life Flower Elixir, could I enter that state of internal awareness again?"

Probably not, he figured. The first dose of any new medicine always had the strongest effect. Subsequent doses usually led to diminished returns, building up tolerance. But what he desperately needed now was the internal awareness effect, not the Elixir's other properties.

Could that specific effect be isolated somehow? Refined into a separate potion? Was that even feasible?

Honestly, when it came to Mia and Muret's actual medical expertise, Bellamy didn't have the first clue. Medically speaking, Bellamy was completely clueless—about as knowledgeable as a rock.

"Might as well ask them."

After stewing over it uselessly for a while, he finally decided to just ask. He sent someone to fetch Mia and Muret.

Still lounging in his beach chair, Bellamy casually started chatting with them, probing their medical knowledge. As a complete medical novice, his questions quickly earned him a barrage of eye-rolls and thinly veiled mockery.

"Ahem," Bellamy cleared his throat. "So, Mia... you two been busy lately?"

Bellamy had a habit of suddenly coming up with an idea and just dumping it on them. He felt a pang of guilt asking; he knew exactly how busy they were.

"What do you think?" Two more exasperated eye-rolls were his reward.

"Right, right. No need to rush things. If you get too tired, make sure to rest, yeah? Take it easy." A little preemptive placation was essential before piling on more work.

Then, he laid out his new idea for them. He emphasized that other projects could probably be put on the back burner for a bit; this new request should take priority.

"I knew you calling us over meant trouble," Mia sighed. She was getting used to the captain's sudden flights of fancy. The low-potency potion he'd asked her to develop back on Bird Dropping Island was only just starting to show some progress. Muret was swamped trying to find substitute ingredients for the Life Flower Elixir, often even busier than Mia. They'd barely had time to even attempt brewing most of the numerous recipes copied from that ancient tome. After hauling in Sea Kings, they were tasked with processing the bones and marrow. Plus, they were supposed to be researching how to concentrate the essence of Sea King flesh into pill form. They were running ragged every day, barely finding time to catch their breath.

And now he wanted them to concoct some medicine to induce internal awareness?

"Captain, you can't keep just dreaming things up and expecting them instantly!" Mia protested. "There are only two of us! We can't split ourselves in two, you know!"

Bellamy did feel genuinely sheepish. "Yeah, yeah, I know. You guys work hard." He paused. "Look, how about... how about I learn some medicine from you two?"

Medicine and martial arts often went hand-in-hand, didn't they? Learning more about this world's medical knowledge might even help him develop his Devil Fruit abilities further.

"Learn medicine?" Muret stared, momentarily stunned. She looked Bellamy up and down skeptically. "Captain... are you serious?"

"What? What's with that look? Who d'you think you're looking down on, huh?" I was a university student, damn it! he thought indignantly. Like learning a bit of medicine is going to stump me?

"Fine," Muret conceded with a sigh. "Actually, I could use an extra pair of hands. If you really want to learn, then come on." Muret, being the professionally trained doctor, ran circles around Mia when it came to orthodox medicine.

"Alright, it's settled then," Bellamy declared. "Starting today, I'll come by your workspace each day to study medicine for a while."

His main motivation was still to ease their workload a bit, hoping it would speed up the creation of the potion he wanted. Though, he also admitted to a genuine curiosity about—and perhaps a desire to exploit—this world's medical knowledge.

Being modest and eager to learn... truly one of Bellamy's greatest virtues.

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