Life return

As the scholar went his merry way, Mark was sitting in his study, smiling happily.

'It is possible, I can become stronger if I will myself to.'

So what if my body refuses to follow orders? Mark smirked because he knew the solution to his problem now.

'No issues, that's where life return comes into picture!'

Life return, this was Mark's technique of choice.

"A technique where the more you master it, the more your control over your body increases."

Tapping his seat, Mark was thinking about this and eating grapes, he was being fed by a servant right now.

'Rob lucci decreased his muscle and bone mass using this technique, so why can't I increase it?'

'If he can go from super buff to regular buff, I can go from a normal man to a buff dude right? Nothing is stopping me from doing that.'

Mark knew from the scholar that it was possible to do this, the human body just needs a command to start producing muscle, or stop production and start reduction.

If that's the case, what better way to command your body than life return.

'And even if it doesn't work, I'll have a dangerous technique at my disposal.'

'From digesting food quickly, healing wounds and even manipulating my hair like Kumadori, I can do many things with life return.'

This was like a superpower on it's own, but not many people paid attention to this incredible ability.

Civilians of the one piece world were mostly illiterate, piracy was a staple here, history and human advancements in science were erased from history by Im.

It's normal for people here to not understand the absolute goldmine hiding before them.

But Mark came from a world where dedicated people worked on everything, fictional powers included.

'Body manipulation is extremely broken, the more I develop this technique, the more unstoppable I become.'

'I can even become immortal, in the truest sense, unaging and unkillable.'

Wounds can be healed and lifespan can be increased as long as the human body reproduces cells that it normally doesn't.

And this was just scratching the surface of how broken the technique of life return can become in the hands of someone like Mark.

'This will be the technique, this is what I will learn, this is what will give me a body comparable to Zoan devil fruit users.'

'And in due time, maybe even comparable to big mom, in the end she is a human too isn't she.'

Mark had decided to get this technique under his control first.

'And to do that, I'll have to make sense of whatever this thing is.'

Picking up the technique of life return, Mark twitched his lips.

'A millennium in the sea. A millennium in the mountains. Inhaling the wind, swallowing the mist, I lived as a hermit and completed my training, and lo! I mastered this Life Return technique. In nature, from the hair on one's head, from one's vital organs to the tips of one's toes, even to the end of one's "short hairs", there is not a single spot that cannot be controlled with one's consciousness!!!'

This was what was written in the book about the technique.

Yes.

That was it.

"What the hell man."

Mark muttered speechlessly, he simply didn't understand this kind of vague stuff.

Where was the technique's use? How exactly was it working? How did it activate? There was nothing about that at all.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose Mark sighed, because of which the maid serving him shivered and began sobbing and bowing frantically.

'Ugh.'

He groaned at that once again, he was already very stressed, he really hoped the maid didn't do these useless things.

He wasn't going to execute her alright!

"Get up, don't make a fool of yourself."

"You are doing well, get back to your work, I quite like the grapes."

Hearing Mark's gentle yet firm words the maid got up as if she was pardoned, thanking him profusely, she generously began feeding him again.

Mark was exhausted, it will take the servants in his quarters some time to understand that if they work normally, he would have zero issues with them.

He too made mistakes, he was also human, it happens.

'But I understand, messing up your work in noble household can turn pretty badly.'

'Being cautious is fine. Now where was I?'

Yes, how to activate life return, he can't exactly leave this luxurious life behind and become a sage to train this technique right?

Because that's not happening, he was a celestial dragon, he will not do something that foolish.

There had to be a better way, and Mark had already thought of a way that suited him more.

'Alright, I have an idea, the core of this technique is controlling the body, I'll start from there.'

Mark had his observation haki unlocked, he could observe and connect with his body, feel it and every corner of it perfectly.

All he needed to do was understand how everything was working and get used to manipulating those functions using his willpower.

'Something similar to this was possible in my old world too, there were all kinds of amazing people.'

'Some could eat metal, some could control their heartbeat and some could even control their body temperature to survive harsh winters.'

So this was one hundred percent possible, all he needed to do was keep training his observation Haki and keep feeling his body with it.

'Nice, now I have a plan, unlocking life return is the agenda.'

Mark was happy, he had a way to get stronger now, and he won't be slacking off when he attempts to unlock the technique.

His Observation Haki will be trained for all that time, pushed again and again in different ways, even if he by some chance didn't get the technique down, he'll have observation haki down pat.

'It's a win win for me.'

Mark happily started his training again, he observed the grapes in the hands of the maid and her heartbeat signifying how happy she was.

He felt happy as well, it was always a good thing if there is someone to share your joy with.