Developing Abilities and the Self-Made System

Half a month later, the sea was calm. A group of soft-skinned young masters had taken on the duties of sailors, and after being battered by wind and sun, their skin had yellowed somewhat.

Though their words carried a sense of gloom and boredom, not one of them voiced any complaint. Without a doubt, brainwashing these weak-willed young masters was no harder for Roy than swatting a fly.

Moreover, Roy had obtained quite a bit of useful information from their Dream Memories. In particular, the memories of swordsmanship training in many of their minds were immensely valuable to him. Thinking of the powerful swordsmen who had died by his hand before, Roy felt somewhat regretful. If he had possessed this Devil Fruit Ability back then, he could have squeezed every last bit of value from them before killing them.

Over the past half month, Roy had figured out the general abilities of the fruit. Its core ability was the conversion between the real and unreal within dreams, which could also be called manifestation. Of course, with his current strength, he was still far from being able to turn dreams into reality. Being able to briefly project a dream into the real world was already quite good.

Roy had initially wondered whether he could use this ability to project powers from other worlds—wouldn't manifesting something like a Rinnegan or a Zanpakuto be incredibly cool? Unfortunately, Roy's power came from a Devil Fruit. In other words, the things he manifested could not violate the rules of this world; he could not manifest things that could not possibly exist in this world.

But after giving it some thought, Roy realized that this ability was still extremely useful. If nothing else, if he suddenly manifested a Sea Stone Weapon in battle, it would be an absolutely fatal blow to Devil Fruit users.

As he thought, a virtual screen appeared before Roy's eyes.

Name: Roy

Age: 16

Devil Fruit Ability: lv5 (Hypnosis, Dream Stealing, Dream Control)

Swordsmanship: lv6??? (Iron Cutting)

Combat Rating: North Blue Overlord

Now, don't misunderstand. Roy had not transmigrated with some sort of system. This was merely a low-tier system he had created himself with his fruit ability. It had no point-allocation or purchase functions, and simply displayed Roy's status in a straightforward manner.

More importantly, it filtered out useless and redundant information for Roy. After all, searching through other people's Dream Memories for useful memories was an enormous undertaking, and absorbing too many memories from others could easily cause memory disorder, until he no longer seemed like himself. That was absolutely not a result Roy wanted.

At best, this thing could be called a system. At worst, it was simply a portable computer that could appear at any time. And given the Pirate World's black technology, something of this level did not exceed the world's limits, so Roy had successfully conjured it within a dream.

As for the swordsmanship and Devil Fruit Ability levels, Roy had classified them according to his own strength. Level 5 was roughly where Roy had been before his swordsmanship breakthrough, enough to barely count as someone noteworthy in the Four Seas. Above level 5, one could be considered an overlord of the Four Seas and qualified to enter the Grand Line.

However, this system was ultimately classified according to Roy's own perspective, so he was not certain what level his current swordsmanship had reached. For now, he would call it level 6.

The Dream-Dream Fruit leaned toward spiritual abilities, and with Roy's mental will, he had quickly developed it to the upper limit of this stage. He could not help but sigh that Devil Fruits truly were treasures of the sea; their potential for development was simply unparalleled.

However, the Dream-Dream Fruit's development was only in its first stage. All the abilities he currently controlled were support-type. Roy finally understood why a fruit that seemed so powerful to him was virtually unknown in the Pirate World.

On one hand, this fruit could be said to rely entirely on the user's development, and in its early stages, it possessed almost no offensive power at all. It was nearly entirely a support ability.

On the other hand, even after its abilities were developed, they were difficult to wield without powerful spiritual cultivation. An ordinary person could never casually plant dream seeds in another person's dreams as Roy did. Thus, this fruit was as useless as chicken ribs to others, to the point that no one could even be bothered to record it in the Devil Fruit encyclopedia.

But for Roy, it was entirely different. Hypnosis on the dream level could easily build a team utterly loyal to him. Dream Stealing allowed Roy to continuously absorb powerful nourishment. Every enemy he defeated could provide him with their combat experience, even their swordsmanship inheritance. Dream Control also allowed Roy to train endlessly within dreams. Although training in dreams could not strengthen Roy's physique, it could constantly hone his combat techniques and swordsmanship realm.

And this was only the initial stage of the fruit's development. Roy still had many abilities in mind that had yet to be developed. Once his development of the fruit reached another level, he would be able to realize those ideas one by one.

Roy could clearly feel his strength increasing every day. In merely half a month, he felt that his strength had risen by more than twenty percent. One had to know that Roy had already been considered a monster-level figure in the North Blue. A twenty percent increase on that foundation was simply unimaginable, not to mention that Roy had made such progress in only half a month. It was utterly astonishing.

Walking out of the cabin and ignoring the worshipful gazes of the others, Roy came to the bow and looked over the placid sea as he made plans. "Once I return this time, I can begin forming my own Pirate Crew. I'll search everywhere for promising crew members. This sea does not lack strong people; what it lacks are those who can recognize talent. I'll sail while challenging powerful opponents, especially swordmasters with formidable swordsmanship, constantly accumulating strength and improving myself, while also searching for ways to develop my fruit."

"Hmm, it would be best to find methods for training the Six Powers and Haki as well. But even in the North Blue, those two things are scarce. In all the vast North Blue, only Marine officers who came from Marine Headquarters, or the North Blue's Underground Emperor, the Vinsmoke Family, are likely to possess such methods. Heh, neither is an easy target. But that's what makes it fun. A life full of challenges is life itself."

Suddenly, an enormous black shadow shot upward from beneath the sea. A gigantic, ugly head emerged from the water, its two scarlet eyes as large as millstones fixed on Roy and everyone aboard the ship with a bloodthirsty gaze. An ordinary person would have been terrified beyond measure at the sight.

This was a Lord of the Coast, several times larger than the one that had appeared in the East Blue. Every time it surfaced, it brought a storm of bloodshed, and the wails of countless people were its favorite music.

Yet this time, no one aboard the ship reacted to its appearance. Even the formerly cowardly young masters showed no fear. They stared with burning eyes at the figure dressed in black fitted clothing—the pillar of their faith.

Roy lightly tipped the hat on his head and placed his right hand on the hilt of his sword. The blade left its sheath, then returned to it. Without paying any attention to the enormous figure crashing down behind him, he silently headed toward the captain's cabin.

"Announcing my arrival to the world with the death of a Lord of the Coast? Interesting." Roy paused, then shouted, "Set sail! Destination: Angolo!"