The Law of Ueki, Volume 2

The Law of Ueki is a shonen manga by Tsubasa Fukuchi, serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday, totaling 16 volumes. The protagonist is Kosuke Ueki, a first-year student at Hinoki Junior High, who receives an incredible power from his homeroom teacher, Mr. Kobayashi: he can turn anything he considers trash into trees, with the conditions that it only works on trash his palm can cover, and that if he ever uses the power to hurt someone, his "talents" will disappear one by one. Ueki is thus drawn into a battle presided over by a hundred candidate gods: each candidate god selects a middle school student, grants them a power, and pits them against other power users; the winning candidate god ascends to godhood, and the winning student receives a "blank talent" that can become any ability. This is Volume 2 of the series. After defeating the unscrupulous strongman Hirakarao in his first fight, Ueki continues to battle under strict rules while facing the cost of using his power—the loss of his talents. As opponents appear one after another, clues about the true purpose of this war and "the law of Ueki" gradually surface. The work unfolds its ingenious power battles with a light, comedic pace while exploring the trade-off between "justice" and its price.