Pew! Pew! Pew!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Deep in the same barren mountain forest as before, streaks of golden light kept firing one after another, shattering stone after stone into dust.
Standing two hundred meters away, Rorschach continued extending his finger and firing photon bullets in a steady stream.
In just a few short minutes, the long rows of stone targets he had set up were all reduced to rubble.
"Very nice."
Rorschach lowered his hand and nodded in satisfaction.
It had already been half a month since he started training here.
During those two weeks, neither Deadpool nor Helen Cho had introduced any new customers to him.
And as for the ordinary walk-in customers? Unsurprisingly, none of them had lost their minds enough to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on something that looked this suspicious.
So his current sales mission remained stuck at two Devil Fruits sold.
That did leave Rorschach a little disappointed.
But when he thought about it carefully, it made perfect sense.
Devil Fruits had an extremely high barrier to entry. They were never going to be easy to sell.
Better to let things happen naturally.
In any case, with his current strength, surviving in this world was no longer a problem.
Especially after training around four hours a day for the past half month, his progress had been dramatic.
At this point, Rorschach had basically reached the level of never missing.
Every single stone target had been struck dead center. Even the rare shots that drifted slightly still never missed the target entirely.
And that was only talking about accuracy.
In an actual fight?
He wouldn't need to fire carefully placed single shots at all.
He could unleash photon bullets continuously, like a machine gun.
From a raw combat standpoint alone, Rorschach was already very powerful.
At least for this point in the timeline.
"Next... let's try the Photon Rod again."
Rorschach took a slow breath, extended his right hand, and activated his ability, gathering photons within his body.
Like countless fireflies converging into one place, particles of golden light began collecting in his palm.
After about fifteen seconds, a glowing golden rod formed in his hand.
It was roughly thirty centimeters long and five centimeters thick, still crude and rough around the edges—nowhere near Kizaru's Ama no Murakumo Sword.
But Rorschach was still excited.
The first time he had attempted this, he hadn't even been able to form something as simple as a cylinder.
Now?
His progress was obvious.
With a sharp exhale, he swung the Photon Rod hard at a large stone in front of him.
Crack!
Fragments of rock exploded outward as a deep dent was carved into the stone.
The rod wasn't just a physical weapon—it was a condensed mass of energy.
So when it struck something, it wasn't simply blunt force. The photons themselves were tearing into the target.
The effect was excellent.
"And finally... Light Dash."
Rorschach's eyes sharpened.
With a thought, his ability activated again, and his entire body transformed into a glowing figure of golden light.
Or more accurately—
He became light.
Then that shining body shot forward in a brilliant flash.
Whoosh!
A streak of gold flashed through the air—
And slammed straight into the mountainside.
Boom!
A crater exploded open halfway up the hill, showering broken stone everywhere.
Cough! Cough! Cough!
A dirt-covered Rorschach crawled out of the rubble, brushing dust off himself in a thoroughly miserable state.
"As expected... this really is a high-difficulty move."
He couldn't help sighing.
Once he turned into light, he became effectively weightless. Shooting through the air like a beam wasn't the problem.
The real problem was controlling direction.
Especially at light speed.
At that kind of velocity, even the slightest deviation became a massive error. He had practiced this move countless times over the past days, and not once had he landed exactly where he intended.
Even so, Rorschach was still very satisfied.
To be honest, what he could do already was absurdly impressive.
"Time to head back."
He slapped the dirt off his clothes and quickly made his way down the mountain.
…
Meanwhile, at Helen Cho's research center—
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Thunderous applause filled the room.
Everyone gathered there was clapping with genuine emotion, their eyes fixed on the woman standing in the center of the crowd.
Dr. Helen Cho.
Wearing a white lab coat, elegant and beautiful as ever, she stood beneath the lights like some angel who had descended into the mortal world.
Expressions of shock, disbelief, and burning excitement filled every face around her.
Because just moments ago, right in front of all of them, Helen Cho had healed a paraplegic patient.
She had performed a miracle in the history of medicine.
And the truth was, this wasn't even the first miracle she had performed in the past half month.
There had already been many.
But even so, every single time they witnessed it, it still shook them to the core.
Because it was simply too unbelievable.
"A miracle! I can't believe it—this is a miracle!"
"My son... my son really stood up again!"
"Dr. Cho, I don't even know how to thank you!"
A middle-aged couple in their fifties stood there in tears, gripping Helen's hands so tightly they nearly dropped to their knees in front of her.
Beside them, their son—a man in his late twenties—looked completely dazed.
He slowly lowered his head, feeling his legs again.
Legs he hadn't truly felt in years.
Paralysis.
Had actually been cured?
With a thud, the young man dropped to his knees in front of Helen.
"You don't have to do this."
"Please, get up."
It took Helen quite a while to calm the family down. In the end, she personally escorted them out with all the patience and courtesy in the world.
Then she stood by the blinds and looked down at the family embracing each other below, crying and laughing at the same time.
In that moment, Helen felt something deep inside her chest grow warm.
What she was doing mattered.
She was saving people's lives.
She was giving people hope.
"Doctor... you know, if I weren't your assistant—if I hadn't seen all this with my own eyes—I'd think it was complete nonsense."
"You're creating miracles."
Her assistant spoke from the heart, staring at her with awe.
Helen let out a long breath.
"No. I'm not the one creating miracles."
"The one who created the miracle... is Shop Owner Rorschach."
The Healing Fruit was just too extraordinary.
Compared to it, even the Regeneration Cradle seemed to fall far behind.
And after personally treating several patients over the past few days, that feeling had only grown stronger.
The technology she had once been so proud of suddenly didn't seem nearly as dazzling anymore.
"After half a month of practice, I've completely mastered my ability."
"I can now heal extremely complex conditions."
Her gaze lowered slightly as she began thinking about someone else.
"I just don't know... whether it can help that old friend of mine."
After a brief moment of thought, Helen took out her phone.
Then she dialed a number saved under the name—
Bruce Banner.