2 Current Drive

"You could go to the Marines in another region. It's impossible for every last Marine to be in league with pirates." Koushiro's gaze remained calm.

"To be fair, that's true, but the risk is still there. Reports get passed down layer by layer, and those moles would always find out beforehand. Besides, I'd also risk being exposed if I met with high-ranking Marines."

He might have been a pirate lackey without even a bounty, but he was still a pirate. What if someone had taken a photo of him?

"Forget it, I'm done talking nonsense with you. I'm going home to cook." Ling Donglai rubbed his stomach. He was hungry.

I was a Devil Fruit user. I couldn't swim, but I was good at eating.

Koushiro absolutely refused to teach him swordsmanship, and Ling Donglai did not intend to stay here much longer either. After all, this man had an unclear relationship with the Revolutionary Army.

He should earn enough travel money and leave this place as soon as possible, then raise his strength before getting near Arlong's territory.

As a Devil Fruit user, he had the foundation to grow stronger on his own. Besides, with a Devil Fruit that let him control his body, coupled with a Zoan's toughness, Ling Donglai would barely have the strength of an elite lackey if he went back to being a pirate.

Once he developed Love-Powered Electricity, he would more or less be able to run rampant through the backwaters of East Blue. At the very least, he would have the strength of someone worth ten million Berries, considering Arlong's bounty was only around twenty million.

He was a Devil Fruit user, and the greatest thing about Devil Fruits was that they offered opportunities—power that could send someone soaring to the heavens in a single step. That was why Ling Donglai had once been ambitious enough to plot for the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.

Though he did not know whether Enel had already eaten the Rumble-Rumble Fruit at this point in time.

As long as he obtained the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, he would start out with the power to dominate the Four Blues. So long as he did not encounter an Armament Haki expert, he could crush anyone who came his way.

Even if they had Armament Haki, they still could not stop a Rumble-Rumble Fruit user from flying.

This was the power Ling Donglai had dreamed of.

Unfortunately, his idiot captain had stuffed a Human-Human Fruit into his mouth.

Ling Donglai wondered whether the previous Human-Human Fruit user had also been caught off guard and had the fruit shoved into their mouth, only to be thrown out and left to fend for themself before eventually dying in some accident and causing the fruit to respawn.

After returning home and cooking and eating all the ingredients he had bought, threads of electric arcs flowed over Ling Donglai's body as he began another round of Love-Powered Electricity.

Only when he was full and satisfied did the Zoan Fruit's power begin to reach its peak. His flesh was continuously developed, while bioelectric currents danced wildly all across his skin.

Ling Donglai clenched his fists. Current Drive had been successfully developed!

Next, he needed to train himself to overcome his weakness to seawater.

When Devil Fruit users came into contact with seawater, their bodies lost all strength. This could be overcome through training, allowing them to retain their strength when only a small part of their body touched seawater. However, if their entire body entered the sea, they would still lose their strength.

If Arlong the Fish-Man discovered that he was a Devil Fruit user, he would very likely fight him in the water and render him powerless.

Ling Donglai went outside the village, filled a basin with some seawater, and placed his hand inside.

The instant he touched the seawater, Ling Donglai felt his body being steadily drained, growing limp and weak.

"So this is the drawback of Devil Fruit powers. This feeling... it's awful..." Ling Donglai collapsed to the side.

The feeling was much like eating a Devil Fruit. Once someone had tried it once, they would absolutely never want to try it a second time.

Yet Ling Donglai needed to train himself and improve his resistance to seawater. He had no choice but to keep his hand submerged and quietly adapt to the feeling of weakness in his body.

The people of Shimotsuki Village soon noticed something strange about Ling Donglai. Every day, the man would soak his hand in seawater, then lie there without moving.

The villagers of East Blue did not know much about Devil Fruits, those great treasures of the sea. Only pirates who had gone to sea knew a little about them.

This training continued for half a month before Ling Donglai finally felt a little better. When only a small part of him came into contact with seawater, he could still gather his strength and retain the ability to fight.

But if half his body was submerged in seawater, he could only declare GG.

At this point, Ling Donglai's small goal had been achieved. From then on, he needed to develop Current Drive and upgrade it into Magnetic Field Rotation.

However, Ling Donglai still found it rather difficult to use bioelectric currents to trigger a biological magnetic field.

Shutting himself away to reinvent the wheel was never the answer. Once Ling Donglai confirmed that he possessed the strength to roam freely through East Blue, he prepared to challenge Arlong the Fish-Man.

First, he would set himself a small goal here: win a hundred battles in a hundred victories, cultivate his spiritual power, and see whether he could awaken the legendary Conqueror's Haki.

He took all the money he had, bought a backpack full of food and water, then boarded a merchant ship and quietly waited for it to set sail for Cocoyasi Village.

Sailing a ship himself was completely out of the question. Not to mention his lack of nautical knowledge, the bizarre weather changes of the One Piece World alone were enough to drive Ling Donglai mad. Thus, whenever he went to sea, he always traveled with merchant ships.

There were two bounty hunters accompanying the merchant ship, each carrying a katana. Their faces bore sword scars, and their builds were sturdy, though it was unknown how skilled they actually were.

Ling Donglai, who often traveled on merchant ships, knew this was normal. Merchant crews generally hired a few bounty hunters to accompany them, relying on their strength to deal with any pirates they might encounter. It was a win-win arrangement.

"You trained?"

As Ling Donglai passed the two bounty hunters, one of them watched him and spoke.

"A little hand-to-hand combat. Nothing worth mentioning." Ling Donglai raised the bandaged hand.

"Training your fists is pretty rare. Why not use that spare time to practice blades, swords, or guns?" the bounty hunter asked curiously.

"No one teaches swordsmanship, and I'd have to find a good weapon too. I might as well train my fists. It's all the same anyway." Ling Donglai smiled.

"That's true. Ordinary swords and those famous blades produce completely different results." The bounty hunter deeply agreed. A swordsman's skill was all in his sword, and he could not do without a good weapon.

"How about we spar and see how well you've trained those fists?"

"I'd better not. Before setting out to sea, I gave myself the small goal of a hundred victories. If you two lose later, wouldn't that be embarrassing?" Ling Donglai waved a hand, though his words carried a clear provocation.

Once the strength in his hands grew, his heart swelled along with it.

He had long wanted one or two punching bags to test his unique martial art: Current Drive.

"We'll lose?"

The two bounty hunters looked at each other, then burst out laughing.