ONE PIECE: NEN MASTER - CHAPTER 14

[Valor POV]

I had lost the spar against Inuarashi but had finally managed to figure out what my ability lacked, a type of control, finesse, only acquired through combat. So, in my books. Today, I had won.

Now, it was all a matter of training with Chain until the ability felt right, before moving to another ability. 

I had a few ideas already. Primal Mode Attack, and Primal Mode Defense. Ideas I would dive into later. When Chain feels like second nature to me.

“Let’s try again,” I muttered, putting one foot forward as I bent my knees, holding my left hand out in front of me, palm forward, while my right hand formed a fist at my waist. Then, I took a deep breath coating my body in Ren before my right hand shot forward, the air in front of me bursting violently as the earth around me cracked under the pressure of my attack, creating a sizable hole.

I smiled, I was getting the hand out of Chain. Each strike felt more fluid, more in command, and less strenuous. At this rate, I was certain I would reach an adequate level of mastery of my technique in less than a week.

Maybe less if I took an hour or two out of my sleeping schedule.

“Maybe I’ll do that,” I nodded, feeling someone near, approaching my location at a slow pace. Sakura probably. “Maybe I should scare her…” I mused at the idea for a bit, posing the prank as a type of training in the Zetsu department.

But seeing the only ones I really required to use Zetsu to prowl on, were the two lords of Zou, I felt it would be a bit overkill to use Zetsu on her, as it would go to waste. 

That, and it would also be quite mean to scare her. She means well when she bothers me, trying to push my head out of the training every once in a while.

“Well, time to say hi,” I muttered, before blurring out of sight without a sound to greet Sakura.

—------

“For the love of!” Sakura screamed as I appeared in front of her with a smile.

In the end, I had scared her. When I hadn’t even wanted to. In retrospect, I should’ve seen it coming, I mean, for her, I appeared out of thin air, I mean, nowadays only the two lords can follow my speed and match it, for the rest, I might as well teleport.

“Sorry,” I smiled, ears backward as my tail twitched in embarrassment. 

“I… I just need a moment,” Sakura muttered, taking a deep breath, before glaring at me. “You move that fast, and you keep training?!”

“Yeah,” I nodded, my tail quivering as I answered. I was excited, excited I was getting stronger, excited I was finally getting out of my Hatsu problem, excited things were working out for me better than ever.

“Fair enough,” Sakura shrugged, recovering from my jumpscare.

“So, what brings you here?” I asked, giving her a look.

“You know what, don’t play dumb Whiskers,” Sakura chuckled, winking at me.

“Whiskers?” I wasn’t sure I liked that name. It made me feel like a pet. 

“It’s the nickname your craziest fans have for you. You know, the ones that want to have your possibly overpowered babies,” Sakura replied, laughing like a mad man. “The only rank below your father, who basically acts as the priest to your church of worship.”

I shuddered, more like a cult. I had never interacted with any of my so-called fans, and yet their love for me was obsessive. Pretty sure my family it’s rich at this point, Dad basically controls the market for my unapproved merchandise.

I feel used. 

But it rarely affects me. 

It only really bothers me when Dad asks me to sign something.

Last time he asked me to sign a bunch of Valor panties, to which I said nothing, opting to peace out, by jumping out of the window to go and train with Nekomamushi.

Each time he asks, the products just… escalate to the riskier department of things. 

At this rate, I am half-expecting he will ask me to sign some dildos at some point. Valor brand dildos at that.

I dearly hope to be out of Zou by then.

“Between you and me, why haven’t you abused of your cult of followers. I mean, you are a teenager… and well, they are preettty willing,” Sakura asked, with a mischievous look, wiggling her eyebrows.

Was that really the reason she had come to bother me today, to ask me why I wasn’t banging my female followers?

“I… hm,” Good question though. Why wasn’t I having some fun every now and then? I mean, as long as I followed the correct guidelines to avoid any mishaps, and let the girls know I wasn’t looking for anything serious, it would all be in good fun.

“You never thought about it, didn’t you?” Sakura snickered behind her hand. “You seem excited about the idea though,” she added, looking at my tail.

I blinked, noticing my tail was quivering in anticipation. Stupid hormones. “Did you come here just to get me laid, or what?” I asked, glaring at her in indignation. I mean, of course, I was thinking of it, I wasn’t made out of fucking stone, but still.

“That, you can do on your own time. I came here to one, bother you, two, to take you into a fine restaurant, the hotdog parlor down the dumpster of the east, to have lunch with us,” Sakura replied, beaming at me.

I sighed, giving her a small nod. The hotdogs of that place were good, and I was hungry. “Fine, I am due for a break anyway.”

Sakura snickered, covering her mouth with one of her hands, “I wonder how many breaks you will take from now on…”

“Sakura I swear to God, I will shave you bald!” I practically hissed at her, the hair of my tail puffing out. 

“What?” Sakura giggled, looking like the most innocent thing in the whole world. “I was just curious how many breaks you would take from today forward. I mean, I really said nothing wrong…. So, tell me, oh dear, Valor, what did you think I meant by that innocent comment?”

I really needed new friends. Maybe I can just hang out with Inuarashi, he rarely bothers me, hell, even Nekomamushi, and his over-the-top attitude bothers me less.